Dave examined all the silverware on the table. A multitude of forks and spoons lined the sides of his plate, like a small army waiting to attack. The image made Dave chuckle.

Blaine sat on the opposite side of the table, nervously picking at his salad. Dave watched as Blaine would spear several pieces of lettuce, dip them in dressing, bring the fork half way to his mouth, then put it back down again, all while looking passed Dave into the distance, his mind obviously elsewhere.

Dave didn't know exactly how to break the ice.

"You know, the last time I was at a restaurant was with Kurt."

Blaine looked up at the mention of Kurt's name.

"Yeah, we went to this place called Breadstix in Lima." Dave chuckled. Blaine furrowed his brow.

"Breadstix?"

"Yeah." Dave shook his head. "It's kind of like Olive Garden. The schtick is you get unlimited breadsticks, but they were more sticks than bread."

Blaine smiled weakly.

"Yeah. And the food's pretty awful. But we have a lot of history in that place." Dave's face fell as he lost himself to a memory. "I always promised myself that as soon as I could, I would take Kurt to a nice restaurant."

"I took him to The Chart House," Blaine offered sadly.

"Oh, yeah?" Dave smiled and nodded. "I heard that place is nice."

"It was," Blaine agreed, remembering Kurt's head on his shoulder as they looked out at the water, sitting at their table until the waiters became annoyed with them, subtly trying to find ways to get them to leave. Blaine knew Kurt wouldn't admit it, but all of the wait staff's fussing made his dominatrix want to stay, just to piss them off.

"Thad said you guys went down to Long Beach," Blaine said, trying to move the conversation along further.

"We did," Dave confirmed.

"How did that go?" Blaine asked, genuinely interested.

"I start school Monday," Dave said proudly. Blaine smiled.

"Good." Blaine nodded. "Good for you."

"Thank you."

Dave watched Blaine's eyes sink back to his plate, his fork once again negotiating the lettuce.

"Look," Dave said, sitting up straight. "Don't worry about Kurt leaving."

Blaine looked at Dave, his eyes hopeful. Dave laughed.

"He loves you, man," Dave said. "He just wants you to be honest with him, that's all."

Blaine dropped his head again.

"I was being honest." Blaine picked up his fork again, not looking into Dave's smirking face.

Blaine sighed.

"Kurt told me about you and him." Blaine didn't know why he said it. Part of him didn't want Dave judging him after what Dave had done. "About the bullying, I mean."

Blaine thought Dave would be furious, probably threaten him and leave. To his surprise, Dave just looked sad.

"I figured he would," Dave said. "I didn't think he could hide that tattoo from you for long."

"He did." Blaine felt the need to reassure Dave. "He wouldn't let me see it for a while."

Dave smirked.

"Did he tell you the part where I tried to hang myself in my closet?"

Blaine's eyes went wide as he looked into Dave's face. Dave looked down at his own plate now.

"Yeah." Dave shook his head. "I transferred schools after the prom thing. I just wanted to finish out the school year and play football without my teammates hearing rumors about me." Dave sank down in his chair a little. "Kurt promised he wouldn't out me, but I wasn't worried about him. I was worried about me."

Dave sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Anyway, it was Valentine's and I wanted to woo him, you know. Win him over. At the time, he was in love with some douche...Darren, I think his name was. I sent Kurt love letters and flowers, all signed from his 'secret admirer'..."

Blaine sat forward, hanging on to Dave's every word.

"I even showed up to his school incognito...dressed as a gorilla gram." Dave smiled, his cheeks quickly turning red.

Blaine chuckled.

"You...in a gorilla suit...that's incognito?"

"Yeah." Dave shook his head. "I was a little head over heels at the time. I invited him to Breadstix, and told him I loved him."

"What happened?" Blaine was enthralled, caught up in this story he had never even imagined before.

"He turned me down. Nicely, but still." Dave shrugged. "But someone from my school saw us together at the restaurant and told every one on the team."

Blaine went cold. He was angry again, but this time on Dave's behalf. In Blaine's mind, teenaged Blaine emerged again, trying to find a way to make the past better for Dave, trying to help defend him against cruel kids and a short-sighted world.

"You know," Dave scoffed, "I made Kurt's life a living hell for months, and when the same thing happened to me, I couldn't even take it for a week...my supposed best friend telling me he never wanted to talk to me again. My mom telling me I had a disease, and maybe I could be cured..."

Dave's words hit a chord, and Blaine shifted his eyes down to his own hands, fighting back tears.

"And then?" Blaine whispered. He felt bad drilling Dave for information, but he had to know that Dave had repented for the things he had done, for those horrible bruises marring Kurt's beautiful skin.

"My dad found me, and took me to the hospital. My dad could accept me, my mom couldn't. They broke up. But, Kurt...he visited me in the hospital. He helped me focus on the good, helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life. In a lot of ways, without Kurt, I wouldnt' be here." Dave looked into Blaine's watery gaze. "Kurt's a man people can rely on. He's always there when you need him, and he's always honest. So many people he loved...well, they weren't the same."

"How do you mean?" Blaine put the forkful of salad in his mouth, pulling the lettuce off the tines and chewing thoughtfully.

Dave's eyes shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, there's me, of course. Then his dad. The problems with his heart. That's not his dad's fault, of course, but it's hit Kurt real hard. It started in high school, and, you know, at that age you still think your parents are going to live forever." Blaine nodded, not saying a word that would interrupt Dave's story.

Dave seemed to battle against what would come next, but decided to continue.

"That high school boyfriend of his..." Dave shook his head, a disapproving frown on his face. "Kurt was so in love with him. I think he was his first. Kurt was a year older. He graduated first, but he stayed in Lima, waiting for his boyfriend to be done with high school. Anyways, this Darren guy, he convinced Kurt to move to New York, and when Kurt was there, Darren cheated on him. Kurt couldn't forgive him."

Dave waved his hand dismissively, ending that particular topic.

"Finn and Rachel."

Dave's eyes drifted over the table. He bit his lip, feeling guilty for talking about his best friend behind his back. "I know he won't admit it, but sometimes he feels like they let him down, you know? For dying and leaving us with four kids."

Blaine nodded. He did know.

Dave looked at Blaine pointedly.

"He needs to know he can depend on the people he loves." Dave's voice was even. "He just wants the truth, Anderson. So, what's the truth.?"

Blaine swallowed hard.

"The truth is... the house was mine," Blaine said, holding Dave's gaze.

Dave almost looked incredulous. Blaine desperately needed Dave to understand.

"The listing was mine." Blaine sounded defeated. "I was selling the house."

Dave's eyes went wide.

"I've been trying to sell it for the last few years."

"Why not just tell him that?" Dave asked.

Blaine let his fork drop to his plate, sitting back in his chair. Blaine pushed his hands through his hair. He covered his eyes, like a child, knowing it would be easier to say to the dark.

"Because I was ashamed."

Dave waited patiently for Blaine to explain.

"I didn't lie to him. The house was the first thing I bought when I came to California and became an actor. But the house wasn't for me." Blaine sighed. "It was for my parents."

Dave sat up straighter, watching as the shadow of a grimace crossed Blaine's features, chased by a look of shame, followed by regret.

Dave thought he knew what Blaine was feeling, had just seen it play out across his face.

"I came out to my parents my sophomore year in high school," Blaine started, his voice heavy. "And that's when I stopped being their son."

Dave's heart broke.

He moved, settling into the chair beside Blaine.

"They didn't hit me, or yell at me, or lecture me, or threaten me," Blaine said with tears in his eyes. "No. What they did was way worse. They ignored me. I ceased to exist from the moment the words 'I'm gay' left my mouth."

Dave settled a hand over Blaine's. He could feel Blaine trembling.  

"I tried everything to get them to love me again."

Blaine's voice broke.

Dave squeezed Blaine's hand reassuringly.

"I joined the debate team, model U.N., got straight A's, student body president, lead soloist of the glee club. Nothing worked."

Blaine took a deep breath in through his nose, slowly releasing it through pursed lips.

"When the casting call went out for Sing, I signed up. I figured if I got on the show, then my parents might be proud of me again. If not, well, I would be out of the house and moving on with my life."

"What if you didn't get on?" Dave asked quietly, trying to understand young Blaine Anderson.

Blaine turned to look at Dave, his eyes wide, hopeless.

"There was no other alternative," Blaine said seriously and Dave knew. He and Blaine were a little more alike than they even realized.

"So, you got on the show," Dave prompted gently.

Blaine nodded.

"I told my parents over dinner." Blaine sniffled. "They didn't look at me. They didn't say a word. I packed my bags that night, emptied out my bank account, and I left."

Blaine squeezed Dave's hand.

"After my first season on the show, after I became a big hit and my face was everywhere, I thought for sure this would all blow over. They'd have seen me, of course, and be proud of me. Everything would be all right."

Dave could hear the hitch in Blaine's voice, the teenage boy in the body of this man telling a story no one else had ever heard before.

"I wrote to them every day. I never heard back, but that was all right." Blaine wiped stray tears from his eyes. "Finally, I thought, if I was going to get them back, I'd have to do something big. So, I bought them the house."

Blaine looked up, eyes focusing and refocusing as he blinked away more tears than he could fight.

"I sent them the keys and the picture from the listing. I thought for sure they'd move out here with me. But they didn't. They sent me a shoebox with all of my letters in it...unopened...including the one with the keys."

Dave didn't know what to say. He didn't know where to look. Blaine gripped Dave's hand for dear life.

"I held onto that house, every day thinking they would call me and want to be my parents again. I had the whole thing planned. They would love me and accept me and live with me. The next time I heard from them was when I turned twenty-one. They forwarded me a letter from their lawyer informing me that the trust my grandparents had left me had been officially turned over to me, and I needed to sign some paperwork to get it. And that was the end of that."

Blaine turned to Dave, and Dave almost didn't recognize him. His eyes, red rimmed and swollen from bleeding hot tears, his skin drawn and pale, his tense jaw shuddering.

"Dave," Blaine squeaked. All at once, Blaine crumbled, as if his whole body had just given up being a solid mass and tried to disappear. Dave caught him in his chair, wrapping his arms around him, letting Blaine sobbed into his chest. Blaine tried to speak, choking around words. Dave shushed him quietly, soothingly rubbing a hand up and down his arms.

"It's okay," Dave repeated, feeling Blaine's whole body shake in his arms.

"I can't lose him," Blaine finally managed to say. "I can't. Him, and you, and the kids...I can't lose you."

Dave sighed, holding Blaine tighter, shielding him from the eyes of nosy onlookers who might want to get a cell phone pic of the famous Blaine Anderson breaking down in the middle of a restaurant. He even glared at one or two people who tried to look around them, until they turned back to their meals.

"You're not going to lose us, Anderson," Dave reassured him.

Dave rolled his eyes and smiled. How did he get himself into these situations? Where was all the excitement in his life before they had met Blaine Anderson?

"Look..." Dave handed Blaine a napkin. Blaine gently blotted his eyes. "Kurt loves you, and Eva loves you. The kids adore you and I..."

Blaine looked up at Dave, eyes wide, imploring.

"I...don't hate you."

Blaine chuckled.

"You have to tell him." Dave's eyes softened as he spoke.

Blaine shook his head, fiddling with the napkin in his hands.

"I don't know how."

"Just one word at a time," Dave said. "Just like you told me. Tell him. He deserves to know, and he deserves to hear it from you."

Blaine nodded. Dave put a strong arm around Blaine's shoulders, patting him hard on the back.

"Just stay with me, Anderson."

Dave drove straight to the house. Kurt was sitting on the sofa watching Moulin Rouge, tears pouring down his cheeks, a half eaten cheesecake beside him on the blue sofa cushion. Kurt barely acknowledged Dave when he walked in, but watched him carefully as he shuffled the children one by one out to the van.

"Where are you all going?" Kurt asked sadly as he watched his entire support system walking out the door.

"Uh, nowhere," Dave said. "I'll be right back."

Dave and the children left, leaving Kurt alone to watch Christian and Satine sing "Come What May".

Dave returned alone not long after, his hands heavy with suspicious looking, unmarked, white plastic bags. Again, Dave ran passed Kurt and into the dining room. Kurt saw the lights dim.

"Dave?" Kurt called, not yet willing to get off of the couch. "Dave? What are you doing?"

"Just give me a second, Kurt," Dave called back.

Kurt heard Dave taking plates out of the cupboard and silver ware out of the drawer. He wanted to give Dave more time, but after a few minutes, Kurt's curiosity got the best of him, and he went into the dining room to find him.

Dave had lined the dining room table with candles, and lit them one by one. Kurt watched with a small smile on his lips as Dave poured out two glasses of white wine.

"What are you doing, Dave?" Kurt asked, taking a seat at the table.

"I thought after your long day I would get you some dinner." Dave smiled back at Kurt. "And then maybe we could talk."

Kurt breathed in deep as Dave started serving dinner. It was something from a nearby Italian place that Kurt had noticed on their drive with Blaine. Dave didn't really cook much, but that was fine. Kurt didn't mind cooking. But when it mattered, Dave came through.

"Dave..." Kurt sighed.  "Thank you so much for this."

Kurt watched as Dave moved quickly around the table, the dim candle light reflecting off his skin. Kurt took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. The house was uncustomarily quiet. For once, it was pleasant. A little lonely, but pleasant.

"It's nice having a quiet meal," Kurt admitted. "I feel like you and I haven't talked in forever."

Dave handed Kurt his plate of food. He sat down, looking at Kurt who looked back at him through the tapers. He reached across the table for Kurt's hand. They sat together in the glow of the dim light. Dave took a moment to stare across the table at Kurt's sparkling blue eyes. Dave had envisioned a moment just like this for as long as he could remember.

This moment didn't belong to him, though.

He cleared his throat.

"Kurt, there was something I need to talk about with you," Dave began.

Kurt smiled back at Dave. He looked into his honest, hazel eyes, a nervous smile flitting at the corners of his mouth. Kurt looked over the romantic candlelight and the wonderful smelling food. Kurt giggled. If Dave were anyone else, Kurt might think that he was going to ask him to...

Kurt suddenly became very cold.

What if Dave thought Kurt had broken up with Blaine? What if Dave actually asked him to marry him?

Kurt sighed as the thought settled strangely beneath his skin. It wasn't the direction he had imagined his life heading, but it was good enough, right? They were friends. They loved each other in their own way, even though Dave's love for Kurt most likely outweighed Kurt's love for Dave. Kurt could learn to love Dave that way, couldn't he? Relationships take time, and work, and lots and lots of practice. They'd make mistakes along the way, but they'd work through them, and grow together stronger because they made the effort.

He'd give Dave the benefit of the doubt. He owed him, right?

The way he should have with Blaine.

Kurt swallowed, realizing this moment between him and Dave had gone on for quite some time...aware that all of his emotions probably showed on his face.

"Kurt..."

Kurt sighed. He wasn't prepared for this decision. He needed to think. He wanted to run all of a sudden. Run away from this moment. Run away from this life.

"...do you love him?"

Kurt visibly startled, and his hand slipped slightly from Dave's grasp.

"What?" Kurt asked. He didn't expect that particular question.

Dave took Kurt's hand again, and squeezed it, smiling.

"Do you love him?" he asked again with emphasis.

"I...I..." Kurt sputtered. Dave chuckled and shook his head

"Yes, you do," Dave said. "I know you do."

Kurt sighed, and dropped his head, squeezing Dave's hand back.

Kurt knew how he behaved with Blaine in front of Dave, knew how he shamelessly kissed and hugged and touched him. But he couldn't remember ever saying those words with Dave in attendance. He guessed by doing that he was sparing Dave's feelings.

He should have known he wasn't hiding anything. Not reallly.

"You know, I had a long talk with your boy today," Dave began. "And you two are so ridiculous. You both look at each other like the sun rises and sets in each other's eyes." Kurt blushed, smiling. "So I have to ask...why are you being so stubborn?"

"What do you mean?"

"He wants to take care of you, Kurt! That's what a man does when he's in love! He wants to be part of your life...this life..." Dave released Kurt's hand to gesture around at their home. "He wants this, you and the kids, and to a degree, even me." Dave ducked his head, smiling a little. "You're not going to find someone else like that anywhere, Kurt. And, if you love him back, then there's no reason why you should let him go."

"But, he lied to me!" Kurt said exasperated. "He lied about the house!"

"No, he didn't," Dave said evenly, staring pointedly into Kurt's eyes. "He didn't lie. The house was his. You didn't give him a chance to explain."

"I don't understand." Kurt tried to pull his hand away, but Dave wouldn't let him. He covered it with his other hand and held it tight. "When did you suddenly become his biggest fan? Why are you defending him?"

"Because I know how he feels!" Dave's voice raised a bit, freezing Kurt in his seat. He hadn't heard Dave raise his voice since high school, and even just that little bit chilled Kurt just a bit. Dave took a deep breath, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Kurt," Dave let go of Kurt's hands, not wanting to make Kurt uncomfortable. "I have been in love with you for so long." Kurt nodded, looking at his lap. "I know what it feels like. I know Blaine a lot more now, and the two of us...we're kind of the same."

"How?" Kurt sniffled, not looking back at Dave. "How are you the same?"

"Well, I'll tell you," Dave said. "I think you should finish your dinner, get yourself put together, and then go pick up the kids...let Blaine tell you his side of the story."

Kurt thought over Dave's words as Dave tucked into his lasagna. Kurt narrowed his eyes.

"Dave? Where are the kids?" Kurt asked.

Dave chewed, then swallowed. He looked up at Kurt with a smirk as he cut off another bite with his fork.

"They're at Blaine's."