A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took so long! Gah. I feel like I haven't updated in forever. So, the song in this chapter is "Dangerously In Love" by Destiny's Child. I didn't utilize all of the lyrics. Santana sang the whole song, mind you, but I really only used the bits that were super relevant to the story. I probably didn't even need to explain that. OKAY. Anyway. Love you guys, and reviews are always appreciated.

Disclaimer: Don't own Glee. Don't own Destiny's Child. Don't own a Taser.

Dave wasn't thinking about anything. He was drifting listlessly down the hallway with a far-away look in his tired eyes, but he wasn't thinking about anything. His gaze fell to the gleaming tiled floor and the slow shuffle of his sneakers as he walked.

He didn't see the hand reaching out for him. Grabbing hold of his collar and tugging him hard into the janitor's closet. The sudden contact jolted him from the thoughts that he most definitely wasn't having, and he blinked into the darkness of the enclosed space. His eyes widened as the light switch was toggled and a dim, flickering light illuminated the face of his apparent captor.

Kurt.

Dave opened his mouth as if to speak, although he was unsure if any sound would come out. He didn't have time to find out, though, as Kurt looked into his eyes and spoke softly to him, stilling Dave instantly. "I know this is maybe the worst possible place for me to do this, but I have some things that I need to say to you and this is the only place I could think of where nobody would ever expect to find us. So, can we talk?"

The taller boy's eyes roamed around the small room, his face pained with the memories of their last encounter in the dingy space. His gaze met Kurt's again, and he gave a slight, tenuous nod.

Kurt eyed Dave and let out a slow breath. "I- I need to know something."

Dave stared, waiting.

Kurt's gaze momentarily fell to the floor. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest. He sighed deeply before looking once again into Dave's eyes. "If you had it to do all over again, would you do it all the same?"

Dave shot Kurt a rather flustered look. "Do what again, exactly?"

Kurt sighed again, but this time it was softer and accompanied by a slight chuckle. He dropped his arms to his sides. "All of it. The whole thing. Would you do it all again?"

Dave shook his head and shrugged simultaneously. "I don't know, Kurt. That's a loaded question. I mean, I- yes. No. I- I'd still want to feel these things that I feel for you. But I'd never want to hurt you. And, God, Kurt. I've hurt you so much. And I am so freaking sorry for all the pain I've caused you. I know you've forgiven me for all of the locker slams and taunts but that doesn't mean I forgive myself. I hate the way I used to be towards you, Kurt. And I hate that because of all of that, I've guaranteed that you'll never fully trust me. Not the way you trust Blaine. And I just-"

Kurt interrupted Dave's rant, pressing the palm of his hand flat against Dave's chest. "No, Dave. That's just it. I do trust you. That's why it hurt so much to find out that you were lying to me about Sam. I just didn't expect that from you. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe I built you up in my mind to be the perfect guy; the only one who loved me for me. The one who'd never intentionally hurt me. And then you pulled that stunt and it just-" Kurt hesitated, bringing his gaze up to meet Dave's. "It killed me the whole time to see you with him, do you know that?"

Dave nodded his head slowly, a frown on his face as he took in Kurt's tear-filled eyes and heartbroken expression. "I know. I wanted it to. As bad as that sounds. But I had to watch you and Blaine be together every day, and it was so hard, Kurt. I just wanted you to know what it felt like. I know it hurt you, and I'm so sorry. If I could do it over, I'd tell Sam it was a horrible idea. At the time I honestly wasn't thinking. I just- I wanted you to want me like I wanted you."

Kurt's eyes darted quickly away from Dave's. He chewed on his lower lip, hoping that when he spoke his voice wouldn't come out as shaky as he was imagining it would. "Wanted." he echoed softly, the gloomy undertone not lost on Dave.

Dave took a step towards Kurt and decided to be brave. He placed a finger underneath Kurt's chin and tilted his head up so that their eyes met. He paused there for a moment, admiring the glistening cerulean pools. Then his gaze lowered to Kurt's gorgeous, pouting lips. He'd have given anything to kiss him right then, but he knew it wouldn't be right. Not in this grungy closet. Not when Kurt is upset. Not when Kurt isn't his to kiss. His breath hitched in his throat as his eyes once again met Kurt's, the gut-wrenching honesty of his statement causing his words to come out deep and just a little bit shaky. "I will always want you, Kurt."

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut and leaned into Dave, burying his face in the front of Dave's shirt. Dave wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, pressing a kiss to Kurt's temple. "You're killing me, Kurt. But please- please don't be sad. I can wait. I can be your friend. I can't promise I'll be super psyched about it, but I can-"

He stopped abruptly as Kurt jerked away from him. "No." Kurt said, shaking his head almost frantically. "You shouldn't have to- I shouldn't- just give me some time to think. Please. I swear I'll fix this."

"Wh-" Dave couldn't even form an intelligible sentence before Kurt was out the door, leaving him alone and bewildered and breathing in the lingering scent of Kurt and bleach.

x-x-x-x-x

Dave plunked down into his seat in first period, managing to slip in just as the late bell rang. He was just getting settled when he felt a fingernail poking into the nape of his neck. He grinned, knowing exactly who it belonged to.

"'Sup, San?" he said, turning around to flash his smile at her.

She returned the smile. "B told me that you were the one that convinced Artie that breaking up with her was the best thing for everyone. So I just wanted to say-" she paused momentarily to consider the agitated teacher that was currently eyeing them and lowered her voice a bit, "thank you. Thanks for helping me get my girl."

He shook his head, still smiling. "I didn't do anything. I just told him to go with his feelings. Anybody could've done that."

Santana looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe. But anybody didn't. You did. And I love you for it. I meant to tell you that way sooner, but I was distracted by- um, you know, stuff." she said with a blissful, slightly mischievous smile.

Dave smiled and nodded. He missed the days of being happily distracted. The delicious, mind-wiping potential of every kiss, the unsubtle gazes from across the room, the constant thoughts of getting them alone for just a few perfect moments. He shook his head to check his wandering thoughts. "So I take it everything's going well?"

Santana beamed. "It's perfection. I told her I loved her for the second time that day after glee practice. Only this time, there was nothing stopping us from being together. And I'm going to sing to her today in glee club but she has no idea and-" She stopped gushing as she noticed Dave's crestfallen look and her face contorted into a sympathetic frown. "Oh, honey. I'm sorry. I didn't even- have you talked to Kurt lately?"

Dave sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

But the truth was, he did want to talk about it. With Kurt. He wanted, no, he needed to know what Kurt meant when he said he was going to fix things. The hopeful part of him wanted desperately to believe that Kurt was finally going to leave Blaine and be with him. But the rational part of him had to acknowledge that if patterns were indicative of anything, Blaine would somehow manage yet again to snake Kurt away from his grasp at the last second.

Dave groaned and slammed his head against the desk as their Calculus teacher directed their attention to a number sequence written on the chalkboard. "Find the pattern." she said, and Dave wondered briefly if she was capable of reading his thoughts.

x-x-x-x-x

Santana took the floor in the center of the choir room, Mercedes and Tina taking their spots in the background.

"This is for Brittany. You're my heart, baby." Santana announced, smiling and gazing adoringly at Brittany with glistening eyes.

I love you
I love you, I love you
Baby I love you, you are my life
My happiest moments weren't complete if you weren't by my side
You're my relation and connection to the sun
With you next to me, there's no darkness I can't overcome

Dave grinned as he looked from Santana to a beaming Brittany. After a few more seconds of looking between the two girls, he couldn't stop himself from chancing a glance at Kurt.

He gasped, suddenly breathless. Kurt was looking right back at him, an intensity in his eyes that made Dave's stomach flutter. He sat there unmoving, watching Kurt watch him, feeling a pang in his chest every time he heard the word love. He wondered if Kurt was feeling the same.

Kurt was shamelessly staring at Dave. He knew he shouldn't be. Blaine was right next to him, and Kurt was aware of how very obvious he was being. But he didn't care. Hearing the word lovebeing sung over and over again, it only made him want to look at one person. He only wanted one person. So he steadily gazed at Dave, unable to hide the sudden smile that overtook his face.

I am in love with you
You set me free
I can't do this thing called life without you here with me
'Cause I'm dangerously in love with you
I'll never leave
Just keep loving me the way I love you loving me

Puck nudged Sam's arm gently. "Babe- hey, look at this." he said, gesturing between Dave and Kurt.

Sam gasped and clamped a hand over his grin. "Ohmygod!" came out muffled through his fingers. He moved his hand away and bit his lip. "They are so in love. Oh, shit, how cute are they?"

Puck nodded in agreement, grinning proudly between the two of them. He wrapped an arm around his own boyfriend and his smile got even bigger as Sam's face nuzzled into the crook of Puck's neck.

Every time I see your face, my heart smiles
Every time it feels so good, it hurts sometimes
Created in this world to love
To hold, to feel, to breathe, to live you
Dangerously in love, yeah

Sam was nudged again, this time by the boy on his left. He turned to see Finn looking past him, his brows furrowed into a worried expression. He followed Finn's gaze and quickly identified the source of his concern. In his seat next to Kurt, a furious Blaine was flickering his heated gaze back and forth between an oblivious Kurt and Dave.

Sam directed Puck's attention to Blaine's frightening demeanor, and the mohawked boy grimaced. "Holy shit-" he muttered to Finn and Sam, "Dave wasn't fucking kidding. That boy is some kind of scary."

Finn and Sam just nodded silently, staring between the three boys.

Dangerously
Dangerous, dangerously in love with you
Oh, I love you, I love you, love you, love you, love you, love you

Dave should've been more careful. More subtle. But he couldn't. All he could think was how entrancing Kurt's eyes were, even from across the room. And how badly he wanted to kiss the soft smile that had appeared on Kurt's face. Kurt was always beautiful, but that smile, it elevated him to a whole other level. He was certain in that moment that Kurt was utter perfection, and he couldn't make himself look at anything or anyone else.

If he had been more aware of his surroundings, he would have noticed the murderous glare that Blaine was sending his way. If he'd just shifted his gaze to the right of Kurt for a fleeting moment, he would have caught it. But he couldn't tear his eyes from Kurt, so the warning flash of Blaine's glowering demeanor was thoroughly lost on the lovestruck boy.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you
Dangerously in love

Santana's gaze didn't stray from Brittany until the final note was sung. The room erupted into applause, albeit some of it was mindless. She happened to glance in Kurt and Blaine's direction on the way back to her seat, and she immediately noted the hostility on Blaine's face. She followed his gaze across the room to a sweetly-grinning Dave, and followed his gaze back to Kurt.

Santana reclaimed her spot next to Brittany. "This is not good." she said, mostly to herself. She turned around to bring it to Sam's attention, only to find three worried sets of eyes already looking at her. She flickered her gaze between them and then spoke in a hushed tone. "How long has this been going on?" she asked, gesturing with her eyes towards a smitten Kurt.

Puck and Sam shrugged and shook their heads.

Finn cleared his throat. "From what I've seen, it was kind of always on." He rolled his eyes at their incredulous faces. "What? I live with him. He's my stepbrother. And maybe I'm more observant than you think."

Santana countered his eyeroll with one of her own. "Whatever, Nancy Drew. You got a plan for dealing with Batty McAngrypants over there, or what?"

Finn shook his head.

Santana looked pensive for a moment. "I say we lock him in someone's trunk."

Finn raised a curious eyebrow. "Then what?"

Santana sighed, eyeing Finn. "Then nothing. Elapsed time is good like that."

Puck chuckled. Sam elbowed him in the ribs. "Are you suggesting we leave him to die in the trunk of one of our cars?" the blonde said, disbelieving.

Santana looked insulted. "What? No! We obviously wouldn't use any of our own vehicles. And no, we wouldn't let him die. Just leave him in long enough to warn Kurt and Dave and come up with a decent plan for how to handle the little shit."

Finn and Sam were wide-eyed staring at her. Puck looked as though he thought the idea was plausible.

"Uh. That's not going to work, Santana. Because as far as I know, that's kidnapping." Finn said.

"Fine." she said, annoyed. "I'm fresh out of ideas. I'll leave it to you three braintrusts. Let me know what you come up with."

Sam, Puck, and Finn spent the rest of glee practice alternating between watching Blaine, Kurt, and Dave, and tossing around potential plans. Puck offered that he had a Taser in his truck, but the submission was met with two disapproving glances. Finn suggested that maybe it would be best if they got the doomed love triangle alone and made them talk it out. Sam vetoed that, saying that Blaine would either charm Kurt away from Dave again or he'd get aggressive. "Obviously Dave could take Blaine in a fair fight, but what would that look like to an outsider?" Sam said, glancing intensely between Puck and Finn.

Puck nodded knowingly. "Like Karofsky the big, bad bully was back in action."

"You're right, Sam." Finn said, rather dejectedly. "We can't risk it."

Sam sighed. "So then what are we-"

"That's it for today, guys. See you all tomorrow." Mr. Schue loudly announced. Maybe he knew that more than a few glee club members weren't paying much attention to him.

Kurt turned and said something quietly to Blaine, then grabbed his bag and bolted out the door. Blaine's gaze followed Kurt out the door before returning to the object of his animosity. Dave was staring, dumbfounded, at the doorway. As most of the glee club shuffled to collect their things and leave, Blaine made his way across the choir room towards Dave, who was standing by the time the furious boy reached him.

Blaine narrowed his eyes at Dave, the hostility apparent in his voice. "You- What do you think you're doing? Stay away from Kurt."

Dave arched an eyebrow at Blaine's sudden lack of arrogant authority that usually went along with these conversations. He shook his head. "I don't think so, Blaine. Not this time."

Blaine smirked. "You think you've won? I don't remember conceding. And you don't know how very much I'm capable of doing to keep what's mine."

Dave grimaced at the acerbic tone of Blaine's words. "You can't hurt him. I won't let you threaten Kurt again. I can protect him from you."

Blaine laughed in Dave's face. "You'll look like a stalker. An emotionally unhinged, obsessive stalker. I promise you."

Dave rolled his eyes. "Oh, fucking please. If anyone would know about being emotionally unhinged, it'd be you."

x-x-x-x-x

Out in the hallway, a small, worried group had congregated.

"Should we maybe just let it play out?" Finn questioned hushedly to the others.

Sam was leaning against the locker bank directly outside of the choir room door, monitoring the two boys inside. "I don't know, it sounds like they're about to start swinging."

Santana groaned in frustration. "I still say we should just take him and-"

"No!" Finn whispered gruffly. He didn't really have a plan, exactly, but he knew what they definitely couldn't do. They couldn't lock Blaine in a trunk, they couldn't tase him, and they couldn't let Dave and Blaine just fight it out. "Santana and Brittany. Go find Kurt. He's the only person who can end this."

Sam nodded. "And at the very least, he needs to hear some of the things that his douchebag boyfriend is in here saying."

Santana eyed the boys before settling her gaze on Finn. "Right, dicktator. And what big, important thing are you all gonna do while we're gone?"

"We're going to make sure things don't get out of hand. Separate them if we have to. But hopefully you can find Kurt by then. I drove him to school this morning, so he couldn't have left." Finn said, ignoring her tone.

They all bristled as they heard Blaine screaming at Dave. "WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LEAVE IT ALONE?"

Puck threw his hands in the air. "That's it. I'm getting my Taser."

"Santana!" Finn said urgently.

Suddenly less insolent and more worried, Santana jolted. "O-okay, we're going!" She grabbed Brittany's hand and the two of them took off down the hallway.

x-x-x-x-x

Dave ran his hand through his hair, subconsciously trying to calm himself. Everything about Blaine's demeanor was quite literally screaming that things were escalating, and he really didn't want to have to knock the little prick out. He clenched his jaw and planted his feet, deadset on staying in his current spot, which was safely out of punching-range of Blaine. "Dude, please just calm down. It's not this serious. I don't know what you think-"

Blaine's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh, that's hilarious. You're telling me to calm down? You. You're a closetcase bully who came out to rave reviews when you should have been shunned. You know, I never understood how they could all embrace you the way they did. Because to me, you're nothing." He let out a cold, bitter laugh and it made Dave shiver. "But then, you're the nothing that's trying to steal Kurt away from me. And now you're telling me to calm down. That's... not going to happen, I'm afraid." He took a step towards Dave, a slight smirk creeping over his face.

"You don't want to do this." Dave said, shaking his head imploringly.

Blaine took another step forward, glaring sharply at Dave. "Don't I?"

Dave kept his hands at his sides as Blaine crept closer, ignoring the urge to send him flying. "I'm not gonna fight you, Blaine."

Blaine came to a stop mere inches from Dave's face. His eyes were darker than Dave had ever seen them before, and Dave wasn't sure if it was just dilated pupils or if maybe Blaine was some kind of demonic hellspawn. He was leaning towards the latter.

"You sure about that?" Blaine asked, a smug grin playing at the corners of his mouth. "It doesn't make you want to hit me when I say that Kurt will never be yours?"

Dave clenched his fists reflexively, but otherwise kept his position. "No. Nothing you say can make me hit you. I know that's what you want. Then you'll say I beat you up for no reason and Kurt will hate me and fall back into your arms and- No. I'm not gonna give you the satisfaction."

Blaine closed his eyes for a moment. "Mm. You think you've got me all figured out, don't you?"

Dave nodded almost imperceptibly. He still didn't quite trust himself to move completely with this smug asshole so close to him. "I'd say so, yeah."

"Then I'm sure you saw this coming." Blaine growled, thrusting his face forward and capturing Dave's mouth with his own.

Dave grunted a mixture of shock and protest. He tried to back away, but Blaine clamped his arms around the back of his neck, digging his fingernails in deep. Dave winced and attempted to shove him to no avail. Blaine's lips crashed roughly against his as Dave continued his attempts to pry the smaller boy off of him. Just as he got decent enough leverage to give a good, hard push, he felt Blaine's teeth sinking into his lower lip. Hard. He whimpered and gave another shove, this one sending Blaine reeling backwards.

Blaine stumbled back a few feet before righting himself. He stared expressionless at Dave.

"Wh-what the fuck is wrong with you?" Dave stuttered, wiping the wetness from his mouth and looking down to find blood on his hand. He licked his lip and was met with a metallic taste and a slight sting.

Blaine shook his head, a glimmer of something utterly terrifying in his eyes. "No, David. What's wrong with you? You just attacked me."

Dave stared in disbelief at Blaine. "You wouldn't-"

Blaine grinned like a killer about to plunge the knife into his latest victim. "Oh, but I would. I told you, I'm capable of so much more than you realize. I have to admit, this isn't really what I'd call a carefully thought out plan, I'm actually more or less winging it. But I'd say it's going well so far, wouldn't you?"

Dave clenched his fist and shifted slightly, and Blaine smirked. "Do you want to hit me now, David? Go ahead. It'll only add to my story of how you savagely forced yourself onto me."

"But I'm the one bleeding." Dave said, gesturing to his lip.

Blaine nodded. "Yes, well, that's because I bit you in a fearless attempt to get your hulking mass off of me. And in that endeavor, I was successful. Next I'm going to run for help with tears streaming down my face. Brilliant, no?"

Dave was wide-eyed gawking at Blaine. "You're unbelievable. You're fucking crazy. You can't possibly think that's gonna work."

Blaine shrugged. "Maybe I won't convince most of your loyal fanbase, but I'm okay with that. And let's not forget: you've already forced a kiss on Kurt before. It's not that much of a stretch to make him believe that you'd do the same and more to me."

Dave shook his head fervently. "No. I wouldn't- he'd never-" he fell silent suddenly, and Blaine's smirk turned into a wide grin.

"Let's be real here, David. Who do you really think Kurt's going to believe?" Blaine inquired snarkily. "You.." he snarled, his distaste apparent. "Or me?"

"I don't know." Dave said, gazing over Blaine's shoulder. "Why don't we ask him?"

Blaine spun around in the direction that Dave was looking and froze when his eyes locked on Kurt, standing in the doorway, positively seething.

"K-Kurt, um. How long have you been there?" Blaine half-mumbled, still frozen in place.

Kurt glared icily back at him. "Long enough."