Authors notes: Okay folks, here we are, the final chapter! Thank you so, so much for your continued support and encouragement, I love all of you haha! I hope you have enjoyed the story and I hope you find the ending satisfactory!

This is the longest fic I have ever written and I am very proud to say I've actually finished it (I usually bail before I finish fics!)

So yes, thank you again and I hope you all enjoy

'Kurt, what are you doing up?' Blaine tutted from his seat, glancing over his book at his friend.

'Blaine?' Kurt gasped, assuming his friend would have left by now. 'What are you still doing here?'

'I was going to leave,' Blaine smiled as he walked over to Kurt, 'but the book got interesting.'

'Oh,' Kurt replied as his eyes scanned over his phone, 'okay.'

Blaine sat down on the end of the bed and said, 'what are you doing Kurt?'

Kurt sighed heavily and put the phone back on the counter. 'Nothing, I was just checking something.'

Blaine smirked and raised his eyebrows, 'sure.'

'I was.' Kurt insisted with a weak smile, knowing he wasn't fooling anyone.

Blaine paused before asking, 'what did you ask him?'

'I just asked if he was okay,' Kurt answered vaguely before grabbing the phone when he got a response. He opened it before sighing heavily, holding it out to Blaine.

"Fuck off Hummel"

Blaine sighed and looked over at his friend who was holding his head. 'Okay, he's probably just mad. I'm sure he doesn't-' Blaine stopped himself before asking, 'Kurt, can I ask you something?'

'Uh huh.' Kurt muttered as lay back down on his bed.

'Why do you care so much?'

Kurt said nothing.

'I mean, yesterday you didn't give a damn about Karofsky,' he continued, 'why do you suddenly care what he thinks?'

Blaine waited in silence for his friend to respond. He could see the emotions on his face, furrowing his eyebrows like he was trying to work it out himself. Kurt looked up at Blaine and said, 'I don't know. I just do.'

Nodding he asked, 'you like him?'

Kurt shrugged.

'How can you? How can he have changed so much?'

'I don't know. There is just something different. It's like I saw the real him. He didn't want me too, not at first,' Kurt explained, the words flowing freely now, 'but once he let his barriers fall down, he became this completely different person.' He looked at Blaine and said nervously, 'do you think I'm mad?'

Blaine chuckled lightly and shrugged, 'maybe. Maybe you're completely normal. I don't know.'

'That doesn't really help.' Kurt scoffed, leaning against the wall behind his bed.

'I'm sorry,' Blaine chuckled, 'this is all new to me as well. I never experienced anything like this,' his voice softened a little, 'this never happened to me. I guess you're lucky.'

'How do you mean?'

'Not only did you loose a bully, but you got to see it happen for yourself,' he locked eyes with Kurt and said; 'you got an apology.'

"Are you okay?"

Dave had almost thrown the phone across his room when he was woken up by Kurt's text – anything to distract himself from the twist in his stomach. He hated the fact that, despite everything, he was still happy when he saw it was from Kurt.

He typed out a harsh response, one he would come to regret, and crashed back down on the bed. He saw on his phone that it was only around 9pm, and he was already feeling a little better, even after just a few hours sleep.

He was lying in the darkness, already knotted with guilt when he saw he did not get a response, when he heard a tapping at the door.

'You awake son?' William asked as he poked his head into his son's bedroom.

'Yeah...' Dave replied.

William crossed the room with some familiar bags over his shoulders. Placing them on the floor, he sat down on the bed and said, 'I thought you might want to get dressed into your pyjamas or something.'

'Right. Thanks.'

There silence in the room until William spoke again, 'your mum is gone.'

Dave closed his eyes in the darkness and said, 'right.'

'Are you going to be okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine.' Dave said firmly.

'Okay son.' William replied gently. He reached down and lifted up the box from under the bed. 'I brought you this like you asked. I assumed it was something special.'

'Thanks.' Dave said quickly, taking the box from his dad and putting it on the other side of the bed.

William smiled a little and stood up. 'Goodnight David,' he placed a hand on his son's shoulder, 'I'm glad you're here.'

William was just about to close the door when he heard his son say a quiet goodnight.

It was 2am when Kurt woke up again, having fallen asleep not long after his talk with Blaine. He looked to his side and saw Blaine curled up in his chair, his mouth hanging open a little as he slept at an awkward angle.

Checking his phone, he saw there were no new messages from Dave. Maybe it was from the refreshing sleep or maybe it was the talk with Blaine, but Kurt realised he was no longer in the mood to be ignored.

As quietly as possible, he put on his jacket and headed for the staircase. He was on the third step when Blaine's voice echoed through the room, 'where do you think you're going?'

Kurt couldn't help but laugh quietly, folding his arms. 'I have to go and see him.'

'And why must you do that exactly?' Blaine yawned, stretching as he walked over to his friend.

'I'm sick of being ignored.' Kurt said confidently, folding his arms.

Blaine grinned at him, amazed to see what a few hours sleep could do. 'Want me to come with you?' he asked with a groan, yawning again.

'If you'd like,' Kurt shrugged, 'or you could sleep in my bed and pretend to be me in case my dad checks in?'

Blaine laughed as quietly as he could, putting his arms around his friend and hugging him, 'that I will happily do.'

'For fuck sake...' Dave murmured as he heard his phone go off again. 'Fucking Hummel...' he muttered under his breath as he opened the message and saw it was indeed from Kurt.

"I'm on my way over."

Dave sat up quickly and reread the text, making sure his eyes weren't tricking him. When he saw that it definitely said what he thought, he typed "don't you fucking dare" and threw the phone onto his bed, lying back down. Moments later he got another message.

"Too late. Half way there."

Fighting the smile on his lips, he shook his head and fell back, waiting.

Taking a sip from his coffee, Kurt drove towards the Karofsky household with a strong determination. He was not going to be ignored, not after all he'd gone through. He needed to talk things out and he was going to make sure Karofsky would listen to him. He wasn't going to give him a choice.

Pulling up in front of the house, he pulled out his phone and sent another text "I'm outside. Let me in."

Moments later, a simple response of "no" arrived

Kurt smirked and rolled his eyes, 'what a baby.' He typed out a response as he got out of the car, "if you don't let me in, I'm going to start singing outside your front door."

"I'll be down in a minute."

Kurt chuckled victoriously and waited for the door to open. It swung open but there was no one there, and as Kurt went inside he saw Karofsky going back up the stairs. Kurt internally groaned - this was not a good start.

'Huh?' William grunted, jolting awake, 'what was that?'

James rolled over to face his husband and grinned, 'don't worry about it. Go back to sleep.'

William, bleary eyed and half asleep, did not need to be told twice.

James smiled as he heard the gentle shuffling of feet and the closing of doors before joining his husband in sleep.

'What do you want Hummel?' Dave grunted as he fell back onto his bed.

'I don't like being ignored,' Kurt shrugged as he joined him on the bed, 'so I thought I'd come and see you.'

Dave sat up as soon as Kurt sat down and glared, 'it's a little late, don't you think?'

Kurt flinched at his angry expression, realising this wasn't going to be easy. 'I'm sorry.'

'Whatever.'

'I take it things went okay though? With your mum?' Kurt asked gently.

'Oh sure,' Dave spat, 'fucking peachy.'

Silence fell over the room before Kurt asked, 'you understand why I went though, right?'

'Yeah,' Dave glared, 'because you're chicken shit and you bailed.'

Anger flared up inside Kurt and he hissed, 'I am not chicken shit! Jesus Christ David,' he exclaimed, 'I was terrified! How on earth was I meant to react to all of this?'

'Maybe the same way I did,' Dave snapped, 'actually sticking around and facing it?'

'Would you have done the same for me?' Kurt asked, surprising him.

'Huh?'

'You heard me. If you came into my life and found out my families big secret, came out to said family and was attacked by certain members of said family,' Kurt ranted, 'would you have stuck around?'

Dave looked at the smaller boy closely for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders. Kurt scoffed and said, 'that's what I thought.'

'What?' Dave hissed, 'I didn't say I wouldn't.'

'You didn't need too. Cut me some slack would you? I'm not Superman, I can't handle everything all the time!' Kurt hissed back, 'I've already apologised, what more do you want?'

'Oh just piss off would you Hummel? You've already told me you haven't forgiven me! You're not even my friend, why do you even care?' Dave snapped, his voice rising dangerously loud. When there was no response he gingerly looked at Kurt from under his eyebrows. He saw a very angry boy.

'You don't think I'm your friend? Is that what you really think?' Kurt asked, his jaw tight as he spoke. 'You really think after all this, after all the shit we've been through together,' he continued, 'that I don't consider you a friend?'

'You said earlier-' Dave began pathetically.

'That was then!' Kurt snapped, his own voice getting louder. 'So much has changed! Everything is different now!'

Dave felt his heart race increase when Kurt got to his feet. He sat up to stop him leaving but froze when he saw that he just wanted to pace.

'I really thought we were getting to know each other, you know? Sure we had a long way to go,' Kurt ranted, 'you're still a loud mouth idiot who speaks before he thinks but god, I thought we were getting better! Apparently I'm the only one who thought this!'

'Hummel-'

'You know what Karofsky,' Kurt emphasised, 'I've apologised enough already. If you don't wanna accept it and move on, act like a man once in your life, then that's fine, I'll just go.'

Dave clambered too the door before Kurt could leave. They glared at each other, staring each other down. Dave crumbled first.

'I accept your apology, all right? Jeez...'

Kurt scoffed and folded his arms, 'real mature.'

'Okay Kurt,' Dave tried again with dramatic emphasise, 'I whole heartedly accept your sincere apology.'

Kurt smirked, 'if this is what you're like when you've had some sleep, I think I prefer you when you're tired and vulnerable.'

'Yeah that's not gonna happen.' Dave said confidently, sitting down on the bed and praying Kurt would do the same.

Taking a seat next to Dave, Kurt crossed his legs and said, 'are you going to be a jerk on Monday?'

'I dunno,' Dave shrugged with a slight grin, 'maybe.'

Kurt smirked and said, 'I've seen you cry numerous times today, don't forget that when you try and hassle me.'

'That a threat?' Dave asked, knocking him very lightly with his shoulder.

'You bet, and I have the memory of an elephant. Just, FYI.'

'Noted.' Dave said, rolling his eyes.

A peaceful silence fell over the room before Dave quietly asked, 'are you really my friend?'

Kurt turned to face him and smiled a little. 'Dave, I've seen a lot today. I've kicked you in the nuts; I've seen you argue like a little brat with your sister, I've seen you sulk and throw tantrums,' Kurt continued before Dave could protest, 'I've seen you cry, and I've seen you hug. I've seen you relax and rest. I've seen you reconnect with your family. I've seen you stand up.'

The pair met each others eyes, locked together. 'I've seen you protect me, and I've held your hand when you needed protecting,' Kurt said softly, looking deeper into those hazel eyes than he had ever done before; 'I think that's a pretty solid start.'

Dave's heart was racing in his chest. He wanted so much to reach out and kiss him, to hold him and thank him. He knew he should speak, say something, but he knew if he did, he'd ruin it. He couldn't do anything.

'I'd better be going,' Kurt said with a gentle smile, standing up and heading for the door.

Dave watched him walk away before saying, 'wait a second. I've got something for you.'

Kurt turned to look back at him, his eyes sparkling with intrigue. 'Really?'

'Yeah,' Dave murmured as he reached down to get the box, 'don't open it until you get home though okay?'

Kurt took the box and smirked, 'what is it?'

'It's stupid but you might get the answers you want but just... just open it when I'm not here, okay?' Dave repeated, his tone genuine.

Scanning the plain white box for clues, Kurt nodded and said, 'I promise.'

Dave nodded.

'I'll see you later?'

'Right. Bye Kurt.'

Sleep beat his curiosity by the time he got home, so the box remained unopened until late Sunday morning. After saying his goodbyes to Blaine, he went back down to his room and opened the mysterious white box.

Surprised didn't cover how he felt. Inside were pages and pages of writing, some long and some short. Not sure where to start, Kurt emptied the contents of the box onto his bed and reached for the first page. As his hand brushed over the sheets, he noticed a hard lump. Digging through the notes, he held up a familiar object – a little plastic bride and groom.

He felt a lump rise in his throat but he swallowed his nervousness away and went on to reading. He must have read for nearly two hours. Pages and pages of half written letters, post it notes and even the occasional sketch (usually a vaguely familiar scene from the school). They weren't dated so Kurt had no idea how old some of these were but there were some that related to certain situations.

The kiss

The confrontation

The theft

The threat

It was all there, Dave's own thoughts. Not always coherent or grammatically correct, the teenage boy had poured his heart onto those pages. Assuming nobody would ever see them, he was brutally honest. Sometimes he was so honest, Kurt felt that lump return and again he forced it away.

Putting these confessions back in the box, he put it away somewhere safe; making sure nobody would find it. Those were private, another secret that he would share between himself and Dave Karofsky.

The next Monday was rather tiring for David Karofsky. He learnt of Adams condition before school – a variety of broken bones but nothing life threatening. He was suspended from football and hockey until his nose healed, and he was the butt of numerous jokes from his friends about his black eyes and missing teeth.

'Hummel finally loose it and hulk out on you huh?' one laughed, slapping him on the back.

Internally groaning at the mention of Kurt's name, Dave finally managed to separate himself from his friends when they headed off to practise at the end of the day. It was the first moment of peace he'd had all day and he was extremely grateful for it.

He was putting away his things in his locker when he heard footsteps in the hallway. Ignoring them, he only turned to look when he felt a hand on his.

Before he could speak, Kurt reached onto his tiptoes and kissed him gently on the cheek. He flashed him a grin, his cheeks flushed before he darted away down the corridor towards the choir room.

Dave stared after him with his mouth agape. It took him a few moments before he realised a note had been slipped into his hand. He opened the neatly folded paper and saw a note that read:

"I forgive you."

Authors note: Yes yes I know, mushy ending but hell, this is a Kurtofsky fic after all! So there you go folks!

I've really enjoyed writing this; I hope you enjoyed reading it :) I may come back to this little universe at some point but until then, bye! xxxx