The Laws of Thermodynamics - Chapter Nine

[sunmontue]

Title: The Laws of Thermodynamics

Pairing: Kurt Hummel/David Karofsky
Rating: G (will be NC17)
Word count: ~1,300 words
Warnings: None. 
Summary: AU Glee. Dave is a nerd, and Kurt is a Cheerio. Kurt needs a tutor to pull his GPA up. Cliche but fun.
Author’s note: By this stage you should have read the first three chapters of “Spankies and Pompoms” – reading on my LJ is probably easiest because it has all the follow-on links in order they should be read.

For people that aren’t familiar with my writing style, I don’t draw out angst/drama for chapters. I usually have my characters talk to each other and it’s all resolved far too quickly.  Usually. 

THERMODYNAMICS CHAPTERS:

CHAPTER ONE   CHAPTER TWO   CHAPTER THREE   CHAPTER FOUR    CHAPTER FIVE   CHAPTER SIX    CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT

SPANKIES AND POMPOMS:

PART ONE   PART TWO   PART THREE 

He doesn’t know what to say or do and his lips kind of tingle, but he knows it’s just the increased flow of blood to his lips caused by the stimulation of the nerves there. Logic doesn’t stop his lips tingling though and he licks them tentatively, and he’s not sure if it’s his imagination or if it kind of tastes of something different. Obviously Hummel, Kurt, no, Hummel, knows that he’s gay, but kissing him hadn’t been planned, or wanted or… he’s confused. Hummel had looked sick, or terrified, or… something not good anyway when he’d pulled back, just before he started apologizing. He doesn’t get it, and there’s no way in hell he’s admitting what just happened to anyone.

Mercedes and Lucy would just giggle and say they told him so, although if Kurt does like him then why did he run away? Does he suck at kissing? Oh god, he sucks at kissing. It’s not like he’s ever had any practice. So Kurt Hummel doesn’t like him, which suits him fine, because he doesn’t like him either. He looks at his reflection in the mirror and grimaces. Liar. Letting out a long breath he scrubs his face with his hands, wondering when he actually started to like him. Not just what he looks like, because he isn’t blind, but the other parts of him. The way he sucks on a pen when he’s thinking about a problem. How he seems to have so much energy he never stops moving, feet and legs constantly shifting even when he’s sitting still. He likes his smile, the real genuine ones.

He can’t concentrate now and he’s glad he isn’t the one going and sitting a test, the chemistry class he has isn’t going to be any fun. Although maybe the distraction is exactly what he needs. He opens the door and glances both ways before heading to class. Lucy gives him a concerned look, he’s actually a minute or two late but because it’s never happened before the teacher lets it slide. She writes a note in the margin of his book, asking if he’s alright and he replies with a short sharp nod and instead decides to focus on orbital shells.

When school lets out he’s come up with a plan. Kind of. Normal. That’s how he’s going to act, as if everything is completely normal and like the kiss didn’t happen. That way Kurt doesn’t need to be embarrassed and they can just pretend that nothing out of the ordinary happened. He doesn’t need to hear Kurt’s false apologies and he definitely doesn’t need to hear him say that he hadn’t meant to kiss him. He pulls his car into the drive and gets out, his steps slowing as he sees him standing at the front door, arms crossed and normal might be completely out of the question.

“Hello.”

“Hummel. Hey. How was the test?”

“We’re back to Hummel are we?”

Wow. It’s like they’ve dropped back in time by eight weeks, Kurt has anger pouring off him, and he feels like he needs to take a step back, unused to him like this, and it reminds him starkly exactly how much he’s actually relaxed around him. He has no idea what to say though, one hundred percent certain anything he does say is going to be taken the wrong way and used against him, and he’s going to be pissed off about it all regardless. He has to pick something to say though, because silence would probably make Kurt madder.

“I can call you Kurt if you want.”

“Oh, you’re asking my permission now? You didn’t seem to think you needed it earlier today.”

“What the hell? What are you talking about?”

“You called me Kurt!”

“I… did I? Uh… sorry?”

He doesn’t really remember calling him Kurt, but he’s been using the name so much in his head now it doesn’t surprise him if it slipped out. He sees the muscles on Kurt’s jaw tense up and somehow he’s made him even angrier. Brilliant.

“Sorry? You’re sorry?”

“Okay, I think you might be over reacting a bit. I mean, I called you Kurt. You’ve called me a lot worse.”

He feels like an ass the second he says it, but he’s getting pissed off that Kurt seems to be furious at him for a simple slip of the tongue. Fuck, this is why he doesn’t like him. He shakes his head and crosses his own arms, mirroring Kurt’s defensive posture.

“I’m not angry about you calling me Kurt! I don’t care about that!”

“Could have fooled me! You’re standing in front of my house yelling at me about it!”

“I’m yelling at you because you let me think that you were straight! And then I kissed you and I felt awful and you still didn’t say anything! You weren’t going to tell me! I can tell! You would have just let me sit there and feel like shit and not done or said anything!”

“I’m not straight,” he says it quietly, confused.

“I know!”

“You didn’t know I was gay?”

“No!” Kurt screams, and he doesn’t get it. How did he not know this morning but know now?

“I thought you knew I was gay. I mean… you kissed me.”

“No! I mean… yes, I kissed you. But I thought you were straight. And I still kissed you.” The last is mumbled quietly, without the previous heat and he finally breaks eye contact and looks away and it hits him then, how vulnerable he must have felt afterward, the apology for kissing him and then…

“Oh. That’s why you ran away…”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly going to stick around and wait for you to punch me.”

“I wouldn’t punch you.” He wouldn’t punch anyone.

“Oh.”

They stare at each other, uncomfortable silence stretching between them and he has no idea what to say. It’s like the early days of tutoring, when they kept to the bare minimum.

“How was the test?” and “Why didn’t you tell me?” all come out in a jumbled mess as they both try and reinitiate conversation at the same time.

“You lot already made fun of me and my friends for being geeks. You think I wanted to give them more ammunition?”

“I… I’m sorry about all that. I…”

He wants to tell him it’s okay, but he can’t. He knows how badly some of his friends have been hurt by Kurt and the other Cheerios, and even now if everything is pretty friendly and much better, there is still the remembered hurt. His own hurt.

“How did you figure out that I wasn’t straight?”

“Oh, that. Blaine told me.”

“Right.”

For some reason he looks embarrassed by something, but he’s too busy being amazed Blaine actually managed to speak to Kurt coherently to dwell on it.

“I think I’m going to give tutoring a miss if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure, course.”

“Uh, I think I did pretty well in the test.”

“Cool.” Wow, their conversation skills have skidded to an abrupt crawl and he can only hope that Kurt feels just as awkward as he does.

“Okay then. See you later Karofsky.”

“You can call me Dave you know.”

The shy smile and glance away are obvious enough social cues that even he realizes them for what they are and he suddenly feels a little warm. Kurt Hummel kissed him. Kissed him because he wanted to, even when he thought he was straight.

“Okay. See you tomorrow in school Dave.”

“See you tomorrow Kurt.”
 
 
CHAPTER TEN