This chapter is dedicated to the web browser Opera. With their latest update and new 'stacked tabs' functionality, I am going to figure out how to have a browser's babies. Because I love opening tons of tabs but hate seeing them open. And also, Opera just rocks. Now if only they could get an LJ-switcher function...

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TWO ALIKE

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"He just lets you buy whatever you want?" the other-Kurt marveled, stepping into Kurt's massive walk-in closet and staring around him in wonder. "God, Dad would have killed me if I spent... this vest is over $400 alone!" His eyes were wide, hands held in front of him, fingers twitching as if they itched to touch, but he didn't dare dirty any of the designerwear hanging in Kurt's closet according to an intricate organizational system that took into account designer, style, color, and season. "I hope you have your closet insured... this is tens of thousands of dollars in clothes alone! Is that a new McQueen!"

"I never pay full price," Kurt said smugly. "You'd be amazed at what a bit of bartering can get you. Go on, pick something out. If you're me, I can't be caught dead wearing that Wal-Mart trash... though I can approve of your attempts to upstyle it."

The other-Kurt looked embarrassed again, drawing his arms around his shirt. "It's not like I have unlimited funds to waste on clothing," he muttered.

"It's not a waste," Kurt argued, "and you know it. Here." Since the other-Kurt wasn't making any move to pick things out, Kurt stepped up to the challenge, snatching up a pair of Calvin Klein skinny jeans, a Ralph Lauren turtleneck, and the McQueen sweater the other-Kurt had noticed. "This will do for now. But first, you need to get cleaned up. Don't tell me you've forgotten where the bathroom is..."

"I don't know," other-Kurt answered, reluctantly stepping out of the closet. "The basement was unfinished when I was thrown out."

"When was that?" Kurt asked softly, gesturing toward his bathroom. "When you... when you came out?"

"Yeah." Other-Kurt stepped into the bathroom, looking around in awe again. "This is all for you?"

"Pretty much," Kurt answered. "I mean, sometimes Finn comes down, but he prefers the upstairs bathroom. So you've been on your own for a year?"

"Three," other-Kurt answered, turning to look at Kurt. "When I was fourteen..."

"I didn't come out until I was sixteen..."

"Well... maybe your dad didn't force the issue." Other-Kurt sighed, running his fingers over Kurt's plush towel. "He... was especially drunk one night, and belligerent-"

"Dad rarely drinks more than a beer at a time," Kurt argued. "He's never drunk."

"Well, bully for you." Other-Kurt clenched his hand into a fist on top of the towel bar. "Ever since Mom died, Dad just drank more and more, and got meaner and meaner. He'd... he'd hit me. I'd always have to wear long sleeves and high necks to hide the bruises. But all the teachers thought it was just the bullies at schools making me walk stiffly, so they never bothered to ask. And I didn't tell them. I didn't want to go into foster care. If my own father didn't give a shit about me, why would some stranger?"

Kurt listened, horrified, his own arms creeping around his waist, hugging himself. My dad loves me, he thought to himself. He'd never hit me... But he had been afraid of him, hadn't he? In middle school, when Kurt was realizing just what it meant to be gay, he had been so terrified that his father would turn on him. Throw him out. And then he'd end up like this other-Kurt, bitter and hurting. A prostitute.

"I have to finish school," other-Kurt was saying. "I have to. I'm taking as many AP classes as I can. I'll find the money for the tests somehow. I need to get scholarships so I can go to college and get out of Lima. So I can make a life for myself. I don't want to suck cock in alleys my whole life. I'm better than that..."

"It's okay," Kurt said softly, stepping toward other-Kurt and setting his hand lightly on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay. You're here now. And Dad... Dad will never throw you out, and he will never hit you. You'll be safe, and you can stop... stop whoring yourself out. You'll go to school with me, and together, we'll get out of Lima. Everything will get better."