"So, what do you think?" Rachel emerged from the fitting room, wearing a chic black number.

"Too formal. Try for something younger, and simpler. Here, let me pick out something for you," Kurt said kindly, and got up from his chair. He'd been dying to pick out something for Rachel-fashion was his forte, and most certainly not Rachel's. She had tried on about 20 outfits already, none of which pleased either of them.

They'd only gone to two stores, and it was nearly two hours since they had arrived at the mall.

Kurt tried to be patient with her. He let her talk about everything related to her as she picked out clothes, saying "yeah" and "mhm" every few minutes so she wouldn't bother him about not listening to her.

Normally he'd just tune his friend out, but Kurt did actually listen to her. Listening to Rachel's problems let him temporarily forget his own. Rachel had all of the typical high school girl problems (hair won't curl properly, too much homework, etc), yet Kurt could tell that there were hidden issues underneath; there was always something more. He could see right through her: he wondered if anyone could do that with him.

He barely said anything, though; he let her release everything she wanted or needed to say, even if they meant absolutely nothing.

Kurt left the dressing room and explored the store, looking for the dress he had spotted seconds after he had entered the store. It was a deep cranberry and knee-length, subdued yet still Rachel-esque. Kurt looked through the rack for her size.

"Do you need any help, sir?" Kurt nearly jumped when he heard a voice behind him. He turned around; a young woman smiled at him, awaiting his reply. She was tall and blonde; with gaudy hoop earrings and lipstick that matched the dress he was looking for but did not suit her at all.

"Yes, actually, do you have this dress in a...uh...a 4? I'm going to grab a 5, but I don't know if it'll be too, er, big on her..."

"Sure! Let me check in the back," the girl said, and headed towards a door hidden towards the back of the store. Kurt, feeling a bit awkward after their short conversation, began looking through a nearby rack of skirts, thinking of how he could improve them when he began working in the line of fashion (Kurt wanted to go to college in New York for fashion; he had only told Burt about his dream, who seemed pretty open to it).

"Okay, we have it! Here you go!" The girl (her name tag read "Stacey!", which was probably why she always sounded so happy all of the time) returned with the dress in her arms, handing it over to Kurt. He took it, double-checking it for the correct size.

"Who's this for, your girlfriend?" She said, leaning over on the rack as she stood across from Kurt.

Kurt laughed. "No, it's for a friend. I'm helping her...I'm gay."

There was an awkward silence. The girl began to make a face, her visage mean and foreboding. She crossed her arms and backed away.

"You're an abomination! Ugh, get away from me," she spat, and walked away from Kurt.

Tears sprung to his eyes; Kurt looked down at the dresses in his arms. Everyone at the store was looking at him. It wasn't many, but Kurt could feel their stares on his trembling figure as he tried not to cry.

"Hey," a hand touched his back lightly; Kurt flinched and turned around. Rachel. He had never been more relieved to see her. "Let's get out of here."

She took the dresses. "Wait here," she told Kurt as she began to walk away. She found the woman who had yelled at Kurt helping a young girl nearby (the silence had passed as quickly as it came).

"Hereyougo," she flung the dresses in the worker's arms. The woman had a bewildered look on her face. Rachel then turned to the girl. "You don't want to be like her when you grow up, being a discriminating...witch!" She stopped herself before she cursed. Rachel turned back to Kurt, grabbed him, and semi-dragged him out of the store because his legs didn't seem to work properly.

They walked to the Starbucks in the food court; Rachel sat him down in a chair at an empty table for two in front of it as she got on line.

Kurt's mind was blank while he waited for Rachel. He felt like his whole nervous system had been paralyzed. He knew, deep down, that there was just a matter of time before he broke.

Rachel returned with a decaf coffee for herself and a hot chocolate for Kurt. She handed it to him, he took a sip; the liquid was scalding, so he immediately put it back down and waited for it to cool.

It was the quietest Rachel had ever been. She watched Kurt, who was slightly hunched over in his chair, staring down at his drink. Finally, she decided it was time to talk about what happened.

"Kurt...do you want to talk about it?" She said softly. Kurt looked up at her, his blue eyes filled with pain. It was hard for Rachel to look at.

"I don't-I guess I should. It's just...it's been hard for me. I don't think you know how hard." He paused, taking a second to compose himself. "I get beaten down every day. Not literally, well, sometimes, but people just diminish me until I feel like nothing. I get slushied often, more than the glee club. I get pushed and shoved around, but nothing is worse than the words, and the looks. I've been called every name in the book, and I always get stared at in the hallways, like I'm some kind of animal or evil thing, I don't know," he tightened his grip around his drink, his knuckles turning white.

"What I don't get is why people are so awful about it, you being gay," Rachel jumped in, realizing that Kurt was close to his breaking point. "It's not like it's a new concept. It shouldn't be such a big deal, and people shouldn't use sexual orientation to judge whether you're an 'abomination' or something."

"She was probably some sort of Bible freak, the whole 'the Bible said Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve'," Kurt mumbled, thinking of the worker.

Rachel laughed. "Probably. Don't worry about it; anyway, her makeup was definitely a sin." She drank her coffee. "We always talk about my relationship. Have you, uh, met anyone?" She asked awkwardly, trying to change the subject.

Kurt scoffed; Rachel was the one who always talked about her relationship, and the last part of her sentence was hilarious. "No! You think any boys at school would go out with me when most of them are homophobic?! I don't even know anyone who's-" Kurt stopped himself mid-sentence. Should he tell Rachel? He closed his eyes, sitting back in his chair.

"What, Kurt?"

Kurt sighed. "I kind of...know someone. Someone else who's gay. But we're not together or anything," he added quickly. It was a foreign thought, that he could have adifferentkind of relationship with his friend, but for some reason Kurt's heart skipped a beat as he thought about it.

"What's his name?" Rachel leaned close to him with interest.

"The truth is, I don't know!" Kurt laughed. Rachel threw him a confused look. She opened her mouth to speak, but Kurt cut her off and explained the whole situation.

"That's so interesting! You just kind of 'met'" (she made quotation marks with her fingers) "by chance! That sounds like a cool project too. Not enough people read today! I wonder what its real purpose is..."

"I don't really know myself, it's his project. I'm just helping. I don't know that much about him, and vice versa. He was busy tonight, so I don't have to worry about him being lonely." Kurt smiled.

Rachel drained her cup and checked her phone. "I guess we can leave. I can just wear some of my old clothes, it's alright. I don't even think Finn will notice!" They laughed, and got up from the table. Kurt took his hot chocolate in one hand and held his arm out to Rachel.

"Shall we?" Kurt asked, smiling at her.

"Let's," she replied, interlocking her arm with Kurt's. They walked away from the food court, their heads held high. Kurt felt light and gay (as in happy), since he'd finally let go of his secret, which he suspected had been weighing on his chest. It was more of a "spur of the moment" thing, telling Rachel. He hoped that it was the right choice.

As they were leaving, Kurt heard a voice from the speakers:

"Now in the area in front of Macy's, we welcome...The Warblers!"

Kurt was confused; he'd never heard of the Warblers before...were they a band? He turned to Rachel, who grimaced.

"Who are the Warblers?" he queried; obviously she had heard of them before.

"They're a glee club. While they are composed of a bunch of hot, incredibly talented guys, they're our greatest competition."

Kurt felt his stomach lurch into his throat. "I can't 'be here' on Wednesday, because we have an event with my school's glee club (does your school have one? Are you in it?)". Could it be...?

"Rachel, can you tell me more about glee club? I think I'd like to join." They walked out of the mall into the parking lot towards Rachel's car, the cold wind piercing their skin. Rachel's hair whipped around as she turned to Kurt, a genuine smile on her face.

"Sure! I think you'll be a great addition," Kurt grinned back at her, feeling the happiest he'd been since finding BDA, despite the night's awful events.