Hatred is sort of a learned behavior.

Stop and think about it. Anyone and anything you consider yourself was probably somehow based on the opinion of somebody who has a pretty big influence of your life--- be it friends or family... For example, say there was this person in your class at school. He's not really a bad kid. He's quiet for the most part and isn't causing you any harm pre say. Yet, for whatever reason, every single person you care about is expressing their hatred towards this boy. You would grow to hate him too, right? Be really honest with yourself here. In all actuality, if we were faced with a situation similar to this one, we'd hate the boy, because the people who tell you to hate this kid have judgments you have grown to trust.

Now say, for example, you had a sudden lapse of judgment and you realize there isn't much of a reason to dislike this boy in the first place. However, your love ones are still quite fixed on their beliefs. Would you befriend the boy anyway, like you truly want to? But if you did, what would your loved ones think? Would they hate you, too?

It's the classic "Romeo and Juliet"-esque forbidden love type of story. It's your own morals and beliefs against the prospect of self-image. Which one is more important? Sure, maintaining the self-image is the easier option. But it isn't always the best.

Here we have a story of true love conquering all, as clich� as that sounds. We have two soulmates overcoming all obstacles just to be together, despite what the people they care about think. But it wasn't always like that. Hatred is a learned behavior, after all.

Meet Kurt Hummel.

Eighteen years old, senior at William McKinley High School in a little town called Lima, Ohio. Very fashion savvy, the only countertenor in McKinley's glee club, the New Directions, of which he was a very active member, extremely musically inclined. And also very proudly gay.

Sure, he'd gotten tons of crap for it. Kurt could hardly remember a day when he hadn't been terrified of incoming slushies walking the halls in between classes. He'd heard close to every insult to gay people known to man. Did it hurt him? More than he'll ever admit. Did it make him want to curl up in an oversized fluffy blanket and just weep for hours at of a time? Yes, it did. But did he push forward and keep fighting despite it all? Yes, he did, to the very best of his ability.

It helped that he did love who he was. He loved being able to plan elaborate outfits weeks in advance to be absolutely positive he looked his very best. He loved watching and rewatching and rewatching musicals every free second he had. He loved making his whole street deaf with his squealing when the new issue of Vogue came in the mail. He loved singing in the New Directions. He loved being a part of something special.

As much as he loved all that about himself, it was hard finding people other people who did too. Kurt was the only out gay kid at McKinley, and he would never really admit it, but it did bring him down a bit. He wanted to be able to love somebody, to be able to hold someone's hand in the hallways, to be able to slow dance at his prom... But he tried not to let that get to him. Because when you're different... when you're special... You just have to get used to being alone.

Kurt wasn't alone, though. Not really. He had lots of friends in the New Directions. They all loved him and cared for him and wanted to protect him. They all protected each other. Kurt had Mercedes and Rachel, the two best friends a kid could ask for. Sure, they were as annoying as hell at points... Rachel in particular. There was hardly a day when Kurt didn't want to rip her head off or stuff a sock in her throat. But they understood Kurt more than anybody, and he was so grateful for them.

Kurt also had his family. He had his dad, Burt Hummel. Burt Hummel was a good man. He loved Kurt more than anything and he accepted Kurt's sexuality and dealt with it perfectly. He was a great father.

Kurt's mother had died when Kurt was only eight years old. It was hard for Kurt at first. Kurt was very quiet for a couple years after she left, barely speaking in school, or even to his father. He loosened up in high school, especially because of glee club. Kurt kind of had a crush on Finn Hudson, the male lead of the New Directions, during sophomore year (it's sort of a long story which Kurt hates telling, because it is rather embarrassing), and in a failed attempt to bond with Finn more, Kurt had introduced his father to Finn's mother, whose husband had also passed away. Long story short, Carole Hudson became Kurt's stepmother. Kurt loved Carole a lot. Carole love Kurt a lot in return. She was the mother figure in Kurt's life that he had been missing for the past ten years.

Finn was also like the brother Kurt had never had. Kurt never had any siblings--he didn't know he even wanted one until Burt and Carole got married. Finn was a great (straight and not even worthy to be romantically involved in, Kurt knew now) guy and he acted like a real brother to Kurt, protecting him and supporting him through everything.

So, despite the hard times presented to him by the jocks at McKinley and the utter lack of potential love interests, Kurt did have friends and family that he cared about, and that cared about him in return.

Now, if you asked anybody who was familiar with the Hummel family what they were like, they would all point out one thing in particular.

The Hummels hate the Andersons. And the Andersons hate the Hummels.

The Andersons were another family in Ohio. It was a pretty large family, consisting of many different branches in different locations. They were a rich family with a lot of history in Ohio. Rumor has it that one of the earliest Andersons actually helped found most of the towns in the Lima area. Whether it was true or not was unknown. Whatever the connection, the Andersons were a high class family in Ohio.

The Hummels on the other hand couldn't be more opposite. It was a small family- only Kurt's nuclear family and his grandparents lived in Ohio. They were by no means rich. Burt Hummel owned a tire shop. They had only been in Ohio for a couple of generations.

Now, people had trouble pinning a certain origin to this rivalry. Maybe it was inevitable? Nobody really knew. But somehow, all Andersons were bred to hate the Hummels. And all Hummels were taught to hate the Andersons. And that was that.

Outsiders did find this mutual hatred rather silly. And it was, really. But not to the Hummels and the Andersons.

Kurt had only ever met an Anderson once. He was too young to remember it fully, but he did remember that on the very first day of his second year of preschool, there had been a little boy in his class. When the teacher called attendance, the second Kurt heard the name "Anderson" and saw the little boy with the curly mop of dark hair emit a half-hearted "here", Kurt burst out of his seat and started talking a mile a minute, like Kurt was known to do.

"Anderson? My daddy told me that Andersons are all bad. He says that they are snotty and rich and take baths in their own money. I bet you are like that, too. Because my daddy is the smartest man and he says that you are not good people."

Hatred is a learned behavior.

He didn't mean to make the boy cry, really. He was just repeating what his father had told him. But the boy did cry. He had a complete meltdown, really. Kurt didn't get to see the full of it, because he was pulled out of class and scolded for his harsh words. Kurt didn't see what exactly he did wrong. He didn't like this boy, and he got in trouble for expressing it.

He never saw the Anderson boy again after that.

Now, as a senior in high school, Kurt had more important things to think about than the Andersons. He was going to New York come next school year for college. He and Rachel had fought tooth and nail to get into some of the best schools for musical theater in the country, and both had their sights set on NYC. After all, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

But the problem with trying to get into New York's most acclaimed schools was that you're record has to look pretty damn good. Which was why Kurt and Rachel had been taking advanced classes for years.

And then that is how Kurt ended up in trigonometry in his senior year.

Math came pretty easy to Kurt. He was able to understand the material enough to always get good grades and ace all of the tests. The teacher loved him and he actually kind of liked math. Rachel on the other hand... See, Rachel was known for being a star and being good at pretty much everything. Except for math. Rachel always struggled with math. It was the only subject that didn't come naturally to her. But she knew that she needed to pass with flying colors to ever get into a good college, so she worked really hard for her grades. The only reason she was in trigonometry with Kurt was because Kurt tutored Rachel and kept her up to speed (in return for voice lessons, but Kurt didn't like to admit that to anyone).

It was in November when Blaine showed up in Kurt's trig class.

The first think Kurt noticed when the new kid wandered into the classroom with the teacher was how incredibly short he was. He was barely even taller than Mrs. Ewald, their trig teacher, who was kind of known for being extremely short.

The second thing Kurt noticed was his clothes. Now, Kurt knew one or two things about fashion (okay, understatement of the century, he knew quite a few more things than just one or two). Kurt knew what styles were up and coming, he knew what styles were starting to fade, and he knew what styles were long gone. Kurt also knew that the sweater vests and bowties that the new kid were sporting were never in style, ever. He looked like a toddler right out of family picture day. Kurt scowled before allowing himself to examine the rest of the boy.

He noticed his hair, dark and obviously gelled back with a considerable amount of product. He noticed his glowing hazel eyes, whose gentle gaze made Kurt's heartbeat all but stop completely. Despite his obvious flaws, this new kid was fine. Nothing a quick makeover couldn't solve, anyway. Kurt would be sure to put that on his list of things to do.

"This is Blaine, he's new at McKinley, so please, go easy on him," Mrs. Ewald said, clapping Blaine on the back and motioning towards the room.

"How old are you? Like twelve? What the hell are you doing in trig?" shot out one of McKinley's resident nerds somewhere in the back of the room.

"I'm seventeen, and I was homeschooled, so I'm ahead in all my classes," Blaine said coolly, sitting down in the only empty seat, which of course happened to be right next to Kurt.

"Hi, I'm Blaine," he said softly to Kurt, offering a polite smile, which Kurt returned.

"Kurt," he whispered back, sticking out his hand for Blaine to shake, which he did eagerly.

"So, what are you guys doing in trig? I started it at home but I don't know where I am compared to you guys."

"We're on chapter two... we just finished the laws of sines, so we're probably moving on to cosines today."

"Oh, then I might be a little bit ahead. That's okay, I could probably use a review." Kurt quirked an eyebrow at Blaine's comment, but ignored it overall. He was quick to change the subject, suddenly curious to know more about this mysterious new kid.

"So you are a junior?" Blaine bit his lip, as if he was struggling to find words to answer such a simple yes or no question.

"Yeah... My parents wanted me to be ahead so I can get into a good college..." Kurt replied with an understanding smile.

"Same, but I'm a senior and I'm only in trig. How'd you manage to get so far ahead?"

"I'm just a quick learner, I guess..." Blaine sighed, breaking eye contact.

Kurt bit his lips, clearly puzzled about everything that had to do with Blaine. He shifted his concentration back to the lesson, ever so often letting his gaze wander to Blaine, who was taking notes. Kurt did find that odd, because there wasn't much to take notes on anyway. It was all in the text book, and was pretty easy, even for Rachel, who was currently sitting at the other side of Kurt doodling little hearts in her notebook with her and Finn's initials inside her notebook. And he said he was ahead in trig?

The class went on much in the same manor--Kurt's concentration on the lesson wavering the more Blaine continued scribbling in his notebook. Kurt got to the point where he was just aching for the class to be over just so he could possibly have another word with Blaine. He was quite literally watching the second hand of the clock get closer and closer to the end of the class period.

Kurt was the first one to jump out of their seat the second the bell rang to signal the end of the class. Rachel tried to drag him out so they could walk to Advanced Physics together, but Kurt saw Blaine struggling to pick up a stack of textbooks, so he made up some excuse to Rachel about needing to ask Mrs. Ewald a question and dismissed Rachel, who slumped away with a pout.

"Hey!" Kurt grinned at Blaine, who smiled up at him.

"Hey."

"Here, let me help me with that," Kurt said, grabbing some books from Blaine. "So what do you have next?"

"Uh... AP US History with Mr. Daniels?"

"Oh... wow, that's a higher class than mine..." Kurt trailed off. This kid was a junior and was in the highest level history class McKinley offered? That was certainly odd.

"Yeah, I'm ahead in history too, I guess," Blaine said, not meeting Kurt's eye. Kurt sensed that this was somewhat of a sore subject for him, so he tried to lighten up the mood as they exited the classroom together and began walking down the hall towards Mr. Daniels' classroom (which was actually on the other side of the school from the physics classroom, but Blaine didn't need to know that).

"Well that's cool!"

"Yeah, I guess."

The silence that followed was drenched in awkward. Kurt was desperate to get this kid to like him, in an odd way, so he kept the momentum going.

"So... Blaine, huh?"

"Blaine, yup." Kurt grinned.

"You have a last name, Blaine?"

"Um... yeah." Blaine paused. "Yeah, I do."

"Awesome. I have one too," Kurt joked, smirking. "So, what is yours?"

"Anderson. Blaine Anderson."

Well, shit.