"OK, so Pandora and Spotify are must-haves. And then of course, you're going to need your standard social apps, Facebook, Insta. Have you got a Twitter?"

Blaine watched, a bit overwhelmed, as Kurt took over his phone and proceeded to download app after app. This was, of course, after they set up his phone on the Wifi network and got his email and text messaging alerts selected.

"Um, no. I don't," he admitted.

Kurt downloaded the app anyway.

"What about Skype?" Blaine asked, thinking of Beth.

"Oh yes," Kurt confirmed as his fingers flew over the screen. "Definitely. What's your skype handle? I'll add you."

He handed Blaine's new phone back to him and swiped back into his own phone. Blaine logged into the Skype app. Almost as soon as he did, the familiar "boop boop" sound of an incoming call rang out in the room. "Oh, who's that?" Kurt asked. "Somebody's popular."

Blaine felt himself flush. But he accepted the video call and, holding up his phone to make room in the frame for Kurt to scoot into it, said "Hey Beth. Say hi to my friend Kurt."

Kurt leaned in to see until he was practically shoulder to shoulder with Blaine, their backs against the bed. In the video, he saw a girl with blond hair and blue low lights.

She smiled. "Hey!"

Kurt grinned and waved. "Hi," he greeted her.

"Sorry to interrupt you guys. I didn't realize you had company, Blaine." She smirked in that way that Blaine knew meant there was something she wasn't saying.

"Yeah – it was kind of – a last minute thing." He smiled apologetically.

"I can go," Kurt offered. "Give you guys some privacy."

Blaine and Beth both said "no" at the same time. Beth laughed. "It's fine, Kurt. Blaine can call me later. You guys have fun. But Blaine – you owe me an update. Don't think I've forgotten." The last came out as a pointed admonishment. Blaine averted his eyes, the fact that Jeremiah hadn't called him still stinging his ego.

When he returned his gaze to the screen, he caught the flash of concern in her expression, but she recovered quickly. "Nice meeting you, Kurt."

"Yeah, you, too."

"Bye, Beth." Blaine hit the hang-up button and exhaled a breath.

"Update, huh?" said Kurt, curiosity clear in his tone. He glanced sideways at Blaine, who was blushing.

"It's nothing," he insisted. "Let's just, finish setting up these apps, yeah?"

Kurt shrugged. "If you insist."

He took the phone from Blaine and opened up Pandora. Blaine's stomach growled and, as if responding to a cue, he pushed himself up off the plush carpet of his room. "You want something to eat?" he asked Kurt.

Kurt shook his head. A few minutes later, Blaine returned with two bottles of water and an apple. He offered out a water bottle to Kurt and took a big bite out of the apple just as Lady Gaga started to play out of the iPhone speaker.

"Do you really box?" Kurt asked as he handed the phone back over to Blaine. Blaine took it with his free hand.

"I did, yeah. I haven't really…not since." His mood deflated and so did his expression.

"Since your mom," Kurt supplied quietly.

Blaine nodded.

"I don't think I could do it." Blaine looked at Kurt. Kurt continued without looking back at him, "I just…don't believe in fighting violence with violence."

Blaine nodded, his jaw clenching. "Yeah, but if you don't stand up to bullies, they'll just keep doing what they do."

"Yeah, but there are better ways to stand up for yourself than by hitting someone."

"Like how?" he asked, his eyes focused intently on Kurt's face.

Kurt avoided Blaine's eyes with his own. He shrugged.

"I don't know," he said finally, shaking his head. "With words?"

"Is that how you do it? With words?"

Kurt said nothing right away. Actually, the longer Blaine watched him, the more he looked like he might cry.

"Honestly, I used to think so. But now…I really wonder if standing up even works, or if it just makes everything worse."

"Are things worse?" Blaine asked quietly.

Kurt hugged his knees, drawing them into his chest. "Yes. And no. I don't know." He went silent for a long moment, though, as Blaine watched his face, he could see Kurt's eyes start to water a bit, as much as it was clear Kurt was fighting not to cry.

"I am the only person out of the closet at our school. And I-I..I try to stay strong about it," he said, his voice quavering, "but… there's this Neanderthal who's made it his mission to make my life a living hell." He shook his head, as a rogue tear streaked down his left cheek. "And nobody seems to notice."

Beside him, Blaine held his hands firmly in his own lap. He wanted to do something more than sit there, listening. But he was too afraid to move. He was too afraid of breaking the spell. He knew where Kurt was. He knew what it was like to go to school where no one…cared. He knew what it was like to be tormented, and even if people noticed, they'd act like he deserved it – like, just because he was gay, his life was going to be miserable, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"And then, I decided to do something about it."

Blaine had to stop himself from inhaling sharply at that. He knew what that meant. He knew whatever had happened was not going to be good.

"I used my words," Kurt said, and laughed wiping his cheek with his hand. "And that Neanderthal? He…he kissed me. Just…" Kurt began to tremble, his quiet words dropping off to silence.

Blaine had not expected that. "I…wow."

Kurt wiped at his cheek again and laughed again – but it was the sort of laugh that seemed to be designed only to stop him from crying in earnest. "Yeah. And now he's worse than ever. Pushing me, calling me names, just…terrifying me. And…there's nothing I can do about it, is there?"

Blaine felt a blaze of anger rise from his gut. "We can't just let him get away with it, Kurt."

"We can't out him either."

Blaine almost protested, but ultimately, he had to agree. He'd been outed and his life had been a living hell because of it. The difference, though, was that this "Neanderthal" was bullying Kurt, and Blaine had never bullied people to hide his sexuality.

"No, I know," he said finally, though he didn't really like it. "But he can't be allowed to get away with it either."

"And what exactly do you propose we do?" A hint of annoyance tinged his tone.

"Honestly, Kurt, I wish I knew," Blaine said. "I don't know what we can do. When it happened to me, I let bullies chase me away. That's something I really regret. Not that I had much choice, but I honestly wish I'd been able to do…something. Anything."

After a pause, Blaine said, "No matter what, Kurt, I've got your back. You might be above fighting violence with violence, but I'm not." He gave Kurt a half-hearted smirk, whose scandalized expression was priceless.

"Come on," he said, and patted Kurt's knee with his hand. "Let's get something to eat. Food always makes me feel better."

Kurt watched Blaine get up before following suit. With a small smile playing on his lips, he followed the older boy out of the room and down the hall to the Berrys' well-stocked kitchen.

Rachel tapped her foot impatiently. She'd arrived home and, surprised at seeing Kurt's car in the driveway, had proceeded into the house and headed first to the living room, then to the kitchen, and then to her bedroom. When all three places failed to turn up her friend, she headed straight for the den. Er, the former den, where she found the door closed.

Pounding on the door and demanding Kurt present himself didn't seem like the best idea, so instead she'd retreated to the kitchen table to wait. They would come out eventually, she was sure.

When she finally heard the sound of the door opening and the boys making their way towards her she folded her hands, straightened her spine and set her jaw.

They walked in with almost happy expressions on their faces and as soon as they saw Rachel, the smiles slipped right off their lips.

"Rachel," Kurt said with forced casualness as he took in Rachel's posture. "When did you get here."

"Et tu, Kurt," she responded pointedly. "And here, I thought you and I were actually friends. But I see I can't even trust you not to fraternize with the enemy."

"Wow," Blaine said with an incredulous laugh and a shake of his head. Deciding the best course of action was to ignore her, he turned his attention to the fridge. "You want water, Kurt? Or tea?"

But Kurt was fuming and didn't answer him straight away. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Rachel. "What do you want, Rachel? Controlling the Glee Club isn't enough for you so now you want to control who we're friends with, too?" He'd have asked if she was really that insecure, but he already knew the answer. "Blaine and I are friends, Rachel, get over it."

Blaine, who'd heard what he'd said, but was still trying not to engage with Rachel, just froze where he was, one hand on the refrigerator door and the other around the neck of a bottle of Peach Iced Tea. He straightened slowly. "Maybe I should just…"

He was going to go – let these two work it out – but both replied with a simultaneous, "No!"

"You know what, Kurt," she said, holding up her palms in dramatic mock-surrender. "You want to be friends with a juvenile delinquent, fine. You want to waste your precious free time on him, rather than helping your real friends win sectionals, that's your call. But I won't be a part of it."

Neither she nor Kurt heard Blaine's grumbling protest of "am not…"

Rachel stood to leave, but the quiet rage in Kurt's words stopped her in her tracks. "I love you, Rachel, I do. But right now, I don't like you very much at all. Come on, Blaine." Then, he turned on his heel and stormed back to Blaine's bedroom. The dark-haired teen followed, a bit awestruck, and only glanced back once to take in the image of a flabbergasted Rachel standing motionless in his…her…kitchen. Smiling to himself, he decided Kurt was an OK guy to have at his back in the right kind of circumstances.