After the hellish night at Prom, Dave Karofsky decided that the rest of the school year was going to be just as bad.

'Do they know?' was a constant thought on his mind as he walked down the hallways. 'Why else would they have voted for me? I was protecting Kurt, after all.' The main focus for the rest of junior year was to lay low and continue to watch over Kurt any way he could. It didn't mean he was going to be singing out his preference for dick (or at least, what he thought was his preference- he's not quite sure yet.) But if he could help out Kurt in little ways, he'd do it. He made a promise, and he tried to not go back on those, even if the promise started out as blackmail.

He'd tried being as straight as could be, he'd switched from hockey to football to raise his status as school. He made pointed comments at girls and made homophobic slurs at the guys to make sure they didn't think he was gay. He had tried staying away from the glee club losers when they did that half-time show, only to have that backfire on him and do it anyways. People were still making gay remarks at him, and he didn't even want to think about how close Hudson had gotten with that one little side comment. Prom was just the final piece that had made Dave want to change everything.

He didn't want to become the closeted unhappy guy with a wife and 2.5 kids, waiting for his gayness to explode like a time bomb. 'I mean, how do I know I'm 100% gay? Okay, there was Kurt and Sam's butt wasn't that bad, and there might have been that cute cashier at Home Depot…' thought Dave. 'There might be girls too. Maybe.' Okay, so he may be lying to himself a little. All he knew was he wasn't happy how things were now, and there needed to be a change. His main goal: "be himself" or whatever crappy cliché that always reminded him of that Hilary Duff song about becoming a butterfly. From there, he'd start the next step of his plan of "The Undouching of Dave Karofsky." He'd started with the somewhat successful motives of the Bully Whips, but now it was time to work on it without Kurt's hopefulness and Santana's blackmail to go off of. If he was going to make himself better, he was going to do it for himself, no one else.

'If I can just get used to all of this,' thought Dave as he sat in English class for the fifth-to-last time. 'Only one more week, and it's no pressure from the hockey team, football or Cheerios. A whole summer to straight—sort myself out.'

Hearing the bell ring, he grinned to himself. 'Now only four more days. Look out, world, a new and improved Dave Karofsky is gonna be coming your way.'

After probably one of the most perfect moments of his life, Kurt Hummel was one Cloud Nine. 'A boy, my boyfriend, just said he loved me! And I said it back! This is the perfect mood to be writing Act II of my play!'

Kurt Hummel had plans. Not only was he going to write Pip Pip Hooray and spend the whole summer with Blaine, he had other projects as well. There was always the back-to-school clothes shopping that took most of the summer to do, but this summer he planned on helping educate one Dave Karofsky.

'He's made such progress in little time,' mused Kurt as he sorted through school papers to throw now that the school year was over. 'Even if it was catalyzed by blackmail.'

Nonetheless, Kurt could acknowledge a good plan when he saw it, and Santana was definitely an on par schemer. And ever since prom, Dave hadn't continued the Bully Whips, but he did see him glare down a few football players from slushying him. Dave had nodded to him in the hallways, and even helped pick up his books once. And Kurt Hummel calls that progress.

'Now it's time to help the progression a little more,' thought Kurt. 'Dave Karofsky, get ready to be educated in the ways of the gay.'

First off, Dave knew he wanted to change into someone he liked more. And he knew that one of the things he regretted most was pushing his parents away. The farther away they were, the less likely they were to guess his secret. But those office meetings with his dad made him realize he missed him, and how proud he used to be of his grades and athletics. It was starting to eat him, how he couldn't be totally honest with his own parents- he wanted to be. So it was time to initiate Mission Parental Love.

"Hey Dad, you got a minute?" called Dave as he looked about the den. He was in here somewhere in the pile of papers, he was sure.

"Yes, David? Is there something you need?"

"Well, it's nothing I need, just wanted to know if you'd want to go fishing this weekend," said Dave as he scuffed his footed socks on each other. Paul lifted his head up from his paperwork, a look of surprise evident on his face.

"Go fishing? Why, we haven't done that since your freshman year! I thought you hated it."

"I never really hated it," started Dave, tongue poking the inside of his cheek. "I just thought it wasn't cool to hang out with you, so I quit… But I'd like to try it again."

"Okay David, we can do that," said Paul with a small smile. "I'd like to do it too. This Saturday, seven o'clock sharp?"

"Sure thing, Dad," He turned to have leave the paper-filled room, and headed toward his room. Dave nodded as a slight smile graced his lips.

'First step complete,' Dave thought happily as he rummaged through his closet for his fishing gear under a layer of clothing and other debris. Honestly, Dave didn't really care for fishing but if it got his dad to spend time with him, it will be worth it. The big fear that scared Dave was telling his dad. 'How do you go about telling?' wondered Dave. 'He seemed okay with Kurt, but will he be okay with me? Is having his own son be gay too far?'

There was only one way to find out, and he knew that his mother probably wouldn't care too much, despite her religious upbringing. She had seemed to be much more upset that he was bullying rather than why or who he bullied. His fear of telling his parents just stemmed from the attitude of the town. He knew the kinds of calls Kurt got—he'd helped with a few of them. If one person knew, even if was his parents, the more likely for it to spread to everyone else. And at the time, even now, he was afraid of what people would think.

But this summer was about a fresh start, something completely different. Even if he didn't come out any time soon, Dave would call it progress to acting like himself again, even if the self he saw now wasn't how he had planned it.

Dave hoped he could keep that attitude as time progressed.