Kurt Hummel was always different compared to the other boys.
The other boys liked football and basketball and thought girls had cooties; Kurt liked baking cupcakes and playing dress up and his best friends were a couple of girls from his class.
Kurt knew he was different.
He knew that the other boys talked about him behind his back, and above all he knew what his classmate's parents would say about him.
"Is that a boy in girl's clothes? What are his parents teaching him?"
"That poor boy. His family's probably too poor to buy boy's clothes."
"That's Kurt Hummel. My son says he actually prefers dresses and skirts. One Halloween he even dressed up as Sleeping Beauty."
But Kurt never had a second thought about those comments. His parents were not poor, and they said that wearing girl clothes was just a sign of how unique he was.
Kurt, only in kindergarten, didn't know what 'unique' meant. But it sure sounded pretty, and it reminded him of 'sequin', and he did love sequins. Never once did the pretty, sequiny word seem synonomous to 'different'.
The rest of kindergarten and first grade went by without a hitch.
Kurt continued wearing what most people would deem girl clothes, and the other boys stopped talking about him.
Second grade, his mother died. Kurt couldn't remember ever feeling that sad, and all he wanted to do was sleep. His dad would let him sleep with him, but for weeks all he could do was stare at the ceiling.
Slowly, they adjusted. Burt would make Kurt's lunches and always attended his tea parties in the back yard.
Kurt would make sure the house stayed clean, and he made sure his dad remembered all of his appointments.
It was rough sometimes, but it worked.
Third grade was when things got rather difficult.
Kurt had a crush; and it wasn't like the other boys who had crushes on Brittany and Santana, no. Kurt liked a boy. Kurt liked Finn Hudson.
Kurt did everything, from baking small cookies and leaving them on his desk to cheering at his baseball games.
But Finn didn't like it. He thought it was weird that a boy was doing all of these things that only girls do. And, what was with all the dresses? Kurt was a boy, right?
All too soon, Kurt learned what Finn thought. What made it worse was that Finn actually liked Quinn, and she wasn't even in their class!
From that day, Kurt swore that he would do his best to like girls and be a 'normal' boy.
As soon as he got home, he sat down on the floor and dug through his dresser until he took out the jeans and t-shirts that his relatives would send him for Christmas.
They were boy clothes, because Kurt was a boy.
...
Kurt held up the boy act for a good couple of months.
He dressed in ripped jeans and black shirts with army jackets, he played every sport, including baseball, and he even had a few girls with a crush on him.
Being a boy wasn't that hard, Kurt decided.
But then in January, right after Christmas break, a new boy came around.
Kurt had been in his usual seat near the back, reading a Goosebumps book, when the principal walked in, towing a small boy with her.
"Class, I would like to introduce you to somebody," she said, pushing the boy out infront of her. "This is Blaine Anderson. He's going to be in your class from now on, and I hope you guys can welcome him."
With that, she left the poor boy in the front of the classroom, alone infront of 18 pairs of eyes.
Blaine was about Kurt's height and very skinny, with an unruly mop of short, curly black hair and hazel eyes that were staring intently at a boy in the back of the room with bright blue eyes.
Those eyes.
Blaine heard his new teacher mention something about choosing whatever seat he wished, and that soon they'd start their math lesson.
Blaine nodded a little as he quietly made his way to the back of the room, sitting at the desk next to the boy with blue eyes.
"I'm Kurt Hummel," the boy told him, his eyes sparkling.
Blaine looked at Kurt and smiled.
"That's a pretty name," Blaine whispered,bewildered by the fact that such a beautiful boy was looking at him.
Kurt smiled and blushed a little.
Nobody but his parents ever called him beautiful.
It felt nice.
...
The rest of the school year went by in a blur.
Blaine and Kurt became fast friends, becoming nearly inseparable.
They told each other everything, and Kurt had never felt so carefree and loved.
It was the best feeling in the world.
Until the day school let out for the summer, and Blaine came over to spend the night.
Blaine and Kurt spent the afternoon playing video games and card games, talking about everything 10 year old boys were interested in.
Kurt took Blaine up to his room, already in pajamas, sliding into the bed next to Blaine.
"Kurt...I don't mean to pry...but when you were in the bathroom I tripped over a shirt that you left on the floor," he whispered.
Kurt felt his heart speed up.
He knew exactly what was coming. All the names, all the comments that he was only invincible to until he realized that not caring about them just made it worse the moment that you realized you actually did care.
And Kurt couldn't deal with losing his best friend so quickly.
"Why do you have girl clothes?" Blaine finished.
