Chapter Text
Kurt knows why the laws were put in place.
- To promote healthy unions
- To prevent infidelity, STD’s, unwanted pregnancy, and simple human loneliness
- To produce productive members of society based on the idea that if you are content at home it will have a positive impact on your quality of work and attitude towards your fellow man
He knows how the process works.
- At twenty-one years of age citizens undergo a standard mental and physical health evaluation
- If deemed eligible (and most people are), they are added to the national registry
- At the end of the process unions are assigned based on compatibility, factoring in likes and dislikes, sexual preference, health history, and religious and political beliefs.
There’s a twelve month trial period, at the end of which either party can request a termination. It gives an illusion of choice, but is mostly a formality. Government approval is needed for any relationship termination, and is rarely awarded. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred you’re stuck with your assigned partner for life.
Most people are excited about being assigned. It’s a rite of passage, a hallmark of adulthood. They don’t take into consideration the fact that they have no choice in the matter - it’s simpler this way. Gives them a sense of security.
Kurt Hummel is not most people.
He’s resigned to his fate - he’s been aware that things would be this way since he was a child - but he’s not happy about it. He doesn’t think he could ever be happy about it. He’s his own person, always has been, with his own thoughts and ideas and he has never, ever liked the idea of someone else making decisions for him. Especially not big decisions, ones that are going to drastically effect his future.
But, logically, he knows he’s lucky.
His GAS (Government Assigned Spouse) lives in Westerville, just two hours away. He could have been assigned to someone who lived halfway across the country and gone through the unpleasant process of fighting for them to live here. He could have lost that battle and ended up being shipped all the way to California or Alaska or some other place far away from his family and friends and everything he calls home.
Blaine (that’s his name - Blaine Anderson) could have been ugly. It’s a shallow thing to worry about, Kurt knows, but he can’t help it. He’d been relieved when he’d opened the file and found the photo attached to be that of a very nice looking young man. Dark, curly hair (too much product, but maybe he didn’t know any better), big brown eyes, and a charming smile. Kurt prefers taller boys, but he isn’t going to complain about the fact that Blaine is two inches shorter than him. He won’t feel at all embarrassed about being seen with him in public, and that’s all that matters.
Blaine has a nice job, too, earning a respectable salary for someone in their age range and with plenty of opportunity for future advancement. From what Kurt can tell from his file, Blaine is responsible and dependable. He is popular and respected among his peers and well liked by his superiors.
It could be worse. It could be a lot worse. But somehow that’s still not enough to reconcile Kurt to the idea that in three weeks he has to pack up his belongings and start a new life with a complete stranger.