It was one of those moments where everything seemed to be happening, it was what couldn't be described as anything less than "the shit hitting the fan". One of those moments where the blood pressure boils and adrenaline numbs the body, the mind barely able to process everything going on. It was one of those moments he had heard people talk about, but for the first time Dave Karofsky was having one of those life moments while standing in the middle of the locker room, of all places, between the boy who should have been tucked away safely at that private school of his and the boys who were supposed to be his best friends. They had been shouting, continuing a fight, a hate that had been building for a while now, they had been simply vocal until it had appeared, pulled from concealment out of the pocket of a Letterman jacket,. And that's where Dave's world began to blur together and tid bits of information came out in brief, timely lines like a Twitter with only half the character allowance:

More Shouting.

Movement.

Fast Movement.

Protect Kurt.

Make things right.

Correction: Made things right.

Protected Kurt.

Shock. Everyone stood shocked.

It was at that moment that Dave realized he was having one of those adrenaline induced moments, because, the thought hit him, this should be hurting more than it was. He always imagined knives as being very painful objects but the one currently located inside his body only felt somewhat uncomfortable a fact that somewhere in the back of his mind he wished he could be able to laugh at.

And then he saw Kurt's face.

And then it hurt.

"Sorry." He muttered, noting the musically talented boy's face held the same expression of horror it had had after their first kiss. "Shouldn't have been a coward. I get that now." I get that now, the voice repeated in his head and his mind processed that those were crappy last words. Very crappy last words that he couldn't fix because the adrenaline was now wearing thing and for being a self-proclaimed 'tough guy' he couldn't take it any more, so he closed his eyes.

And then he opened them.

It took him a second to process the fact he was now squinting into the sun standing outside of McKinley High, with no trace of pain registering in his mind at all. Looking down he noticed the fact he wasn't wearing his blend-in-with-the-rest-of-the-jocks-jacket and was holding a bag he hadn't seen since his freshman year which led him to scramble for his pockets. He wasn't as surprised to a rock of plastic instead of the sleek flat design of a cell phone that had been purchased just before he had been expelled. He looked around confused as everyone seemed to past him without fear. He saw that Berry girl from the Glee Club walking with her head held high past him, the Asian Glee girl wasn't to far behind offering a slightly nervous smile. His eyes glanced around for a few seconds and it dawned on him; it was his freshman year. There was movement in the corner of his eyes turning his attention to a boy, or man, Dave wasn't sure which was more appropriate, leaning against a tree a mess of black curly hair pulled back into a puffy ponytail, wearing a badly knotted tie around the neck of a white button down that has rather crudely been tucked into a pair of jeans, and a pair of black sneakers.

"Not many people get second chances." The unknown boy…man…young adult pushes himself of the tree and makes his way closes to where Dave seems rooted to the spot. "They're kind of hard to pull together." He explains placing his hand on Dave's shoulder and bore's his eye's into David's with one final thought, "So don't fuck it up this time, alright?" With that the guy disappears.

Blinking into the direction of where the warning came from a shout echoes across the parking lot, "Please don't." Karofsky spots Azimio, his friend since preschool standing next to the group of jocks and with out seeing the victim he already knows what he'll find.

"Check this out." Azimio lightly slaps his should as he approached, "That Hummel kid thought he could dress like that and get away with it." Though as Dave looked he noted that it was one of Kurt's quieter outfits, a couple of the bigger guys get ready to lift the scrawny boy by the time Dave finds his voice, "Don't." Suddenly fifteen sets of eyes are on him and his best friend is whispering in his direction, f"What the hell do you think you're doing, man?"

Suddenly Dave remembers why he kept silent, the fear he's trying not to acknowledge, but his eyes land on Kurt's face a mix of confusion and fear and gratitude are sent and Dave's voice speaks up again, "He hasn't done anything to you." They don't let him get any other instructions out and a within a minutes Dave Karofsky finds himself on the inside of dumpster.

"Well, thank you for trying." Kurt says after the jocks dissipate, attempting to pull himself out but failing. Dave, however pulls himself over with ease and reaches out to help the smaller boy.

"You going to be okay?" Dave asks.

"Yeah, should have brought a change of clothes." Kurt remarks and Dave's hear breaks a little.

"You shouldn't have to." He mumbles.

Kurt shrugs, "Ways of the world." He pauses eyeing the boy who tried to save him, "I'm surprised you care. Kind of pegged you as a standard jock. Its not like we really talked since you stole my scarf in the fourth grade. I really liked that scarf by the way."

Dave squints at they turn to walk to the school as the bell rings out across the parking lot. Trying to think of what to say (because I was until I mysteriously time-traveled seemed like it would cause more problems than solve any) he settles with a quick shrug, "I dunno, maybe I should be, but its high school right, fresh start, turning a new leaf."

Kurt nods his approval, "I like the sound of a fresh start." He stops and extends his hand, "Hello, I'm Kurt Hummel, I will be the kid who gets thrown in dumpster, but won't care because I know I'm better than them."

The smile broke widely across Dave's face as he took the extended hand, "Dave Karofsky." I'll be the boy who tries to protect you from that. This time around, he promises himself, he'll get it right. He'll get it sooner than he did last time.

First things first: I don't own Glee, or Twitter, or anything really…

Alright so this came to me in the middle of my Hanukkah party, I have no idea why, but it pestered me the whole night so as soon as everyone left I typed it up and ta-da here it is.

Its up to all of you whether on not this stays a one-shot.

And I would like to take an opportunity to thank everyone who has read all my other Karofsky/Kurt one shots…as well as everyone reading this. Would love to know what you think