Chapter Text
Warnings: mention of attempted suicide
Dave was sitting on his bed, thinking, when he heard a knock. He knew it was his father and felt a twinge of guilt for closing the door when the man had explicitly asked him not to. "Come in Dad," he mumbled, "I'm sorry I forgot about the door thing." He looked up as his father walked into the bedroom.
Dave had a feeling he was going to feel guilty every time he laid eyes on his father for a very long time. The man looked worn down and physically drained. He had found his son unconscious after an attempted hanging. How on earth had he been so stupid? How had he not realized what kind of pain that he was going to put his father through? He knew his mind wasn't right then but it wasn't fair. "It's no problem Dave. How are you, buddy?"
Dave watched his father sit awkwardly on the bed and then moved back a little bit. He could tell his father had something to tell him. "I'm fine Dad," he mumbled. "I was just enjoying the quiet. You look like...something's up though."
His father shifted a little bit, nodding and looking him in the eye. Dave didn't flinch away from his gaze. "Do you remember your cousin and uncle on the West Coast?"
Dave nodded. He vaguely remembered them. "That guy's a sheriff," he mumbled. "Your sister who died...her husband..."
"Well, we've been thinking about where you can attend high school for the rest of your senior year, Dave," the man said seriously. Dave saw where he was going with anticipation and dread. "His son goes to this school, Beacon Hills High and it's...it's a good school. It's far away and you can have some distance from all of this. It's pretty quiet and stuff...It'd give you distance and change of pace. That's good, right?"
Dave thought about what his father was saying for a moment. The idea of attending a new high school scared the shit out of him, especially one that was all the way in California, but at the same time there was something to be said about starting fresh and finishing it off. There were a lot of good colleges on the West Coast that he could get accepted to. It was a new beginning and well, it'd get him away from a lot of things that he was scared of. It was a good idea, as much as it made him sick.
"I'm...really scared about it, but I do want to get away," he told his dad, smiling a little when he saw the relief pass over his father's face. The man looked aside and Dave knew that it was because of the drama with his mother. She still had not accepted that he was gay and it was causing a lot of relationship strain for his parents. "It'd be good, yes," Dave mumbled, trying to encourage his father into not feeling bad. "I'm definitely in favor of the idea, Dad. It'd be a good new beginning for me."
It didn't take that long for plans to get finalized in Dave's move to Beacon Hills. It was only a few days later that he found himself typing up an email to Kurt. He wanted to explain to the boy he was in love with for so long what he was doing, even though Kurt probably couldn't care less. It had been Kurt's words that saved him from the worst of his despair after all, and he deserved to know that Dave took them to heart and was going to try. He was going to try his best to become a better man and live for the future.
Dear Kurt,
I know this probably isn't even of any interest to you at all, but I'm moving. I'm moving to the West Coast, actually. My cousin and uncle live in this little town Beacon Hills. It's supposed to be nice and a good place where I can finish my senior year and find myself. Sounds cool, right?
Anyway, I'm really going to miss you. I also wanted to thank you for all you've done for me. It was your words that got me thinking about the future in hopeful terms. I hope maybe we can talk again sometime when we're both in college or successful or whatever... Send me tickets to your first Broadway show? I'll say that I knew him first.
Anyway, my contact info is attached. Bye.
Dave.
-
"Hey Stiles, come over here for a sec." The teenager walked over to his father, to see the man sitting at the kitchen table over a pile of paperwork.
"Yeah Dad?" he asked.
"Do you remember your mother's brother Paul and his kid Dave?"
Stiles thought for a minute and yeah, he remembered them, but vaguely. He only saw them a few times. The last time he'd really talked to either was around the time of his mom's death, which was a traumatizing time in which he wasn't making new memories by far. "Yeah I remember 'em, Dad. What are you getting at?" His father was obviously considering something pretty serious by the way he was staring off.
His father gestured for him to sit down; something that he was well aware meant sit down immediately. "David went through a very hard time this year," he said. "I was talking to Paul and we think that he could benefit from finishing his senior year at Beacon Hills High School. I know we've had our share of...problems around here, but I think that Paul is right."
"Once again Dad, what are you getting at?"
"David's gay, Stiles," his father said, much more bluntly. "He was bullied pretty badly for being gay and wound up attempting suicide. He's doing a lot better, but Paul thinks that he'll benefit from some large scale distance from Ohio."
Stiles was honestly a tad taken aback by that. He knew Ohio was a different place but he couldn't imagine even the worse giving gay dudes a hard time. C'mon, Danny was out and everything and nobody gave him any trouble. Yes, Jackson contributed to his protected status, but still…being gay wasn't anything bad or whatever.
While he sat quietly, not saying anything, his father continued. "Promise you'll keep after him and make sure he's comfortable here?" he asked seriously.
That made him snap out of it. "Of course I will dad," he mumbled.
"Thanks. You're a good kid Stiles."
Well, that was nice to hear once in awhile. As his dad walked away, he thought about the suicide attempt thing. He was pretty thankful that he lived where he did. He wasn't gay or anything, well...yeah he wasn't gay or anything, but everyone should feel free to be as gay as they wanted to be.
Beacon Hills was a good place to live. Well, except for the killings and the werewolves and the hunters...
Yeah, he wasn't sure his cousin was any better off, but at least he was safe to be who he was.