Title: Earning the Right to My Silence
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: through Furt
Warnings: bullying, homophobia, panic attack
Pairings/Characters: Karofsky, Azimio, Kurt, Finn
Word Count: 1,776

Summary: There's a line you don't cross, even when you're the one putting people in their place. Azimio's not sure when Dave stepped over it.

Notes: Written for a prompt on the angst meme a little while ago. I need to find a new plot to write about or something, I feel like this one is all I do. Title is from "Blood on the Ground" by Incubus. Thanks to boysinperil for betaing, any mistakes left are my own.

"Look who's here," Dave says, glaring across the parking lot as they're leaving football practice. Azimio follows his gaze to find Hummel leaning against his SUV, talking on the phone.

"What's he doing back?" Luke asks.

"Don't know." Dave starts heading over there, the rest of them trailing after him. Azimio's surprised to realize how much he missed shoving Hummel around after he pushes him against the side of the car, knocking Hummel's phone out of his hands.

Hummel spins around, demanding, "What do you want?" His eyes widen a bit when he realizes that Azimio's not the only one there. Dave, Luke, and Nick are all standing behind him.

"Haven't seen you for a while," Azimio says, taking a step forward. Hummel just pulls himself up straighter as he realizes he's surrounded.

"That's the point of transferring," he says. "So I don't have to see all your ugly faces anymore." He's looking down at where his phone is laying on the ground, so Dave kicks it under the car. Hummel looks back up at him warily. "What do you want?" he asks again.

"I just want to have a little chat," Dave says. "We didn't get to talk after I came back to school. After you got me expelled." He's clenching his fists and Hummel tries to take a step back, but he's right up against his fancy car so there's nowhere for him to go. His eyes dart around the four of them for a moment, and then he rushes forward, shoving Nick back a couple steps. Hummel's taller than Nick, but he's skinnier, and Nick shoves him back towards Dave, who grabs his upper arms and yanks them behind his back. He tries to kick his heel back into Dave's shin as he struggles against the grip on his arms, but Dave brings a knee up sharply into his back and Hummel twists. Nick punches him once, twice, snapping his head to the side, and now Hummel's hanging a bit from Dave's grip, gasping.

Azimio steps forward. "You keep begging to be hit," he says, punching Hummel in the stomach. The blow knocks the breath out of him and he tries to curl forward. He's stopped by Dave tightening his grip, jerking him back upright. "We're just gonna give you what you want."

Azimio's getting ready to punch him again but he hesitates. Hummel's eyes are as big as saucers and he's frozen, staring straight ahead. Then Dave shifts his grip again and Hummel starts thrashing against the hold Dave has on him. "Let go!"

Dave's got an arm wrapped around Hummel's chest now, trying to keep him still, and Hummel's kicking and yelling. Azimio just stares at them, while Luke and Nick step back, looking around nervously.

"Would you shut up?" Dave slaps a hand over Hummel's mouth, only to have Hummel bite him. "Fuck!" He drops Hummel back to the ground, but pulls him up and slams him up against the car a second later.

Hummel's still thrashing and fighting for all he's worth. He's trying to kick Dave, but his angle's all wrong. He's still yelling, "Stop it! Get off of me! No no no."

It's not until the yelling has turned into pleading and Dave's got a grip on both Hummel's wrists, pinning him to the car with his body, that Azimio realizes what's actually happening.

He grabs Dave's shoulder, pulling him back harshly. "Let him go."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dave demands. "He's finally shut up."

Hummel hasn't actually shut up, he's just quieter. "No no. Let me go. Let me—please."

"C'mon man, get off of him," Azimio says again. Dave's big, but Azimio's bigger, and he shoves his way in between them until Dave finally lets go of Hummel's arms and takes a step back.

Without Dave holding him up against the car anymore, Hummel sinks to the ground, curling in on himself. Azimio feels a bit sick, watching him.

He kneels down next to Hummel, reaching for his shoulder. "Hey."

Hummel jerks away from him before Azimio has even touched him. "I..." He looks up at the others for help, but they're even more confused than he is. Azimio turns back to Hummel. "Look, I didn't mean..." he falters, trying to figure out what he's even asking. "Did you think we were going to rape you or something?"

"What?" Luke asks, surprised. "What the hell, man? Gross."

Azimio frowns at him. "Not helping, dude," he says, even though he was thinking the same thing.

"Why would–"

Dave interrupts, "He's just being a drama queen. Get up." He leans down to grab Hummel's arm again, but Azimio blocks him. "What the hell?"

"Leave him alone," Azimio says.

Dave glares at him. "You're the one that punched him," he points out.

Azimio shrugs. Punching someone because they're a loser who nearly got your best friend kicked out of school is different from pinning a kid to a car and holding him down when he's pleading with you. Hummel had been scared of something else, and Azimio doesn't really want to think too much about what it was.

Hummel hasn't said anything, and his breathing sounds funny. Too fast and too loud. "Hey, just calm down, okay?" he says. "You gotta breathe, man."

Luke squats down next to him. "Is he having a panic attack?"

"How would I know?" Azimio shrugs.

"My aunt has them sometimes," Luke says. "You need to breathe," he tells Hummel. "Just slow down."

Hummel doesn't even seem to hear him. His breathing gets louder, if anything.

Nick digs his phone out and starts dialing. "What are you doing?" Azimio asks.

"Calling Hudson. They're, like, related now. Aren't they?"

Azimio shrugs. He can't remember if they are or not but either way, Hudson was always friends with Hummel so maybe he'll know what to do. It's uncomfortable, kneeling on the cold asphalt like this, but Hummel is still huddled in a ball against his car, gasping.

"It's okay," Azimio tries, reaching out to pat his back only to have Hummel flinch away from him violently. "We aren't going to hurt you, okay? Really." He knows how stupid it sounds, since just a few minutes ago they'd been ready to beat Hummel up. Had beaten Hummel up, he thinks, cringing a bit at the way Hummel's left eye is already starting to turn red. He's never really felt bad about beating the kid up before, but right now he just feels sick.

"Yeah, we didn't mean…" Luke trails off, standing over them and awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. "We didn't mean that," he finally says.

Azimio isn't sure Hummel is even listening to them anymore.

It's a relief when Hudson finally shows up, still in his football gear and jogging across the parking lot to them. "What the hell?" he asks when he gets closer, slowing to a stop and staring at the scene in front of him.

Azimio jumps up and backs away from where Hummel is sitting with his hands raised. "We didn't do anything."

Hudson just looks at him in disbelief, then focuses his glare on Dave, who's been hanging back. "Stay away from him."

Dave rolls his eyes. "I didn't do anything to him. Little fag just started freaking out."

Hudson grits his teeth and kneels down in front of Hummel. "Kurt? You okay?" Hummel doesn't say anything, but he doesn't flinch like he did every time Azimio had tried to talk to him either, so Hudson grabs his arms and starts pulling him to his feet. "Come on, up. Where are your keys?"

"Um," Nick holds out the keychain that fell on the ground earlier.

Hudson snatches it out of his hands, glaring, and unlocks the door, manhandling Hummel into the car. Once he's slammed the door he turns back to the other boys. "What did you do to him?"

He's looking at Dave, but Azimio answers, "We didn't know he was gonna freak."

"Seriously," Luke adds. "We didn't mean that we going to… y'know."

Hudson doesn't know. "What?"

"We were just gonna shove him around a bit," Nick says. "But then he thought we were gonna, like, rape him or something. That's when he freaked out."

Hudson looks surprised. Even though Dave hasn't said anything, all of his anger is directed at him. He gets up in Dave's face. "Stay the hell away from him, got it?"

Dave just smirks. "I didn't do anything to him."

"Yeah, right," Hudson says, glaring. Dave stands his ground, and Hudson finally turns away and walks around to the other side of the car, opening the door.

"Hey, wait," Azimio says. He leans down to reach under the car for Hummel's phone, jogging around to hand it Hudson. He takes it silently. "We really didn't mean to make him freak out like that," Azimio says again. He looks around Hudson to where Hummel has huddled in the passenger seat. "Really, man. Sorry."

"Just leave him alone, alright?" Hudson says. "He already had to switch schools because of you guys, can't you just leave him alone?" His tone is almost pleading.

Azimio looks down. "Sorry," he says again.

Hudson doesn't look like he believes him, and climbs into the car.

After the SUV has sped away, the four boys are left standing in the parking lot, studiously avoiding looking at each other. Dave finally breaks the silence. "Fuck, let's go," he says, turning and heading towards his car. Azimio and the others watch him for a moment, then Azimio jogs after him with a wave over his shoulder to Luke and Nick. Dave's his ride, after all.

He catches up halfway there and is silent for a few strides, hands jammed in his pockets. Dave's staring straight ahead as he walks. Azimio swallows, glancing at his friend. He forces himself to ask, "What the hell was that back there?"

"What d'ya mean?" Dave asks.

Azimio looks at the ground. "You know what I mean. That shit with Hummel."

Dave's stride doesn't falter as he says, "Not like he wasn't asking for it."

Azimio jerks to a stop, staring at Dave in shock. He hadn't meant beating Hummel up, because whatever today had started out as it had ended as something completely different, and it had been Dave's idea to go over there in the first place and it had been Dave holding Hummel down and…

"You coming, man?" Dave asks. He already had the driver's door of the car open, leaning against the roof as he raised an eyebrow at Azimio.

"Yeah," Azimio says, trying to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach.