Kurt Hummel's so bright I gotta wear shades

Fic summary:  An unlikely friendship forms. Dave learns to love himself, Blaine learns to trust love, and Kurt learns that love is both simpler and a lot more complicated than he expected. AU from 3.05 with canon elements.
Chapter summary: Dave and Burt have a talk. ~2,800 words
Notes: This will likely be the only chapter I’ll be posting this week as I have spontaneously decided to take a mini-vacay with my partner. I should be back to the semi-regular schedule next week.
Rating: PG this chapter

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Note: Chapters on AO3 are numbered differently due to factors beyond my control.

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Chapter 16: Amends

On an overcast Saturday afternoon in early April, Dave drives his father's car to Hummel Tires & Lube and asks for an oil change.

The guy who waves him into the garage is not Burt Hummel. Neither is the guy who's working on a tiny Volkswagon on the next lift over. But when Dave steps out of the car and hands his keys over, he spots Mr. Hummel standing in the doorway of the front office, studying a stack of papers in one hand and scratching under the bill of his cap with the other.

It's the first time Dave has seen him in person since making his insufficient apology in Principal Figgins' office a year ago. But he couldn't have forgotten what he looked like, even if it hadn't been for all the campaign ads and interviews and photos that, for a while, popped up on Dave's homepage a dozen times a day along with the oft-repeated phrase The arts were my son's refuge.

Burt Hummel never specified who Kurt needed refuge from. Dave didn’t need him to. He already knew.

Fic summary:  An unlikely friendship forms. Dave learns to love himself, Blaine learns to trust love, and Kurt learns that love is both simpler and a lot more complicated than he expected. AU from 3.05 with canon elements.
Section summary: Dave is the star of an off-season football game. His life will never be the same. ~6,500 words.
Notes: We are past the point 3.14 "On My Way" happened in the canon timeline; it didn't happen in this fic and it will never come up. Yay! Here’s what I did take from canon (reminders from the Second Interlude that are still relevant here: Dave was a member of the hockey team in season 1 (it’s mentioned in 1.08, “Mash-Up”). Scott Cooper was the hockey team member who led the slushying of the football team in 2.11, “The Sue Sylvester Shuffle.” Rick “The Stick” Nelson is the member of the hockey team who ran for class president against Kurt, Brittany and Rachel in Season 3. Finn appears in this chapter; sorry if that inadvertently makes anyone sad.
Warnings: Bullying, homophobia, homophobic language, passing reference to possible, long-past suicidal thoughts (um, but this is not an angsty chapter, so how did that stuff end up in here?)
Rating: NC-17 again. Woot!

Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Interlude | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Second Interlude

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Chapter 12: Gamechange

A high school all-star football game is, perhaps, one of the most ill-conceived ideas Kurt has ever heard of. As if most of the jocks didn't already think highly enough of themselves. As if the schools didn't already make it clear that athletics were more important than academics (because Kurt has yet to hear of an all-star valedictorian poetry-and-math slam), or that brute force is more important than character.

Notes: This chapter is so dependent on canon that it can be read as a standalone 3.05 ("The First Time") reaction fic. At the same time, it's integral to Fidelity, so ... read it on its own or with the rest (or not at all). It's up to you. Starts out sad, ends up with 6,000+ words of NC-17 yay-sexytimes. Additional author's notes, etc. at the Prologue, which you can get to by clicking on "prologue" in my taglist in the sidebar.

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Chapter 2

It turns out that tonight is not the best night of Blaine's life.

If it had ended the moment he exited Scandals, it might have been. But outside of that refuge, everything goes awry. Love and desire, it turns out, are not enough to get him and Kurt to the place they’ve both said they want to go.

Jamie wrote a Klaine prompt. I was inspired.

So here it is: the beginning of a very long fic. There should be about 30 more chapters before hiatus ends. I'll post up to once a day, but not more often than that, per the prompter's request.

Summary: That first time they go to Scandals, about the only thing that doesn't end up in disaster for Blaine is when he asks Dave Karofsky to tutor him in math. An unlikely friendship forms among Dave, Blaine and Kurt. AU from 3.05, but with many canon elements through the end of season 3.

Or: Dave learns how to love himself, Blaine learns how to accept love, and Kurt learns that love is a lot more complicated -- and a lot simpler -- than he ever imagined.

Pairings: Klaine throughout, others listed in chapter headings. NC-17 overall. No archive warnings (but you can see my general warnings).

Notes: Thanks to anxioussquirrel, gingerandfair and judearaya for betaing, and nachochang for cheerleading my craziness. Also, LJ readers, some of my posting may just refer you to AO3, tumblr, dreamwidth because many of my chapters are longer than LJ character limits allow. Dreamwidth allows commenting from LJ users, and AO3 allows anonymous/guest commenting.

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Prologue

In April, after meeting with Dave in Principal Figgins' office to lay out the terms of his return to McKinley, Kurt goes back to his house to figure out the logistics of his decision. He sits down at his vanity with a piece of paper, planning to draw up a proposed schedule for seeing Blaine during the week, but what comes out instead is, "Things For Which I Might (Or Might Never) Forgive David Karofsky."