Your Heart Can Tell You No Lies
Title: Your Heart Can Tell You No Lies
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: PG
Summary: Brittany crossed over and hugged her tightly, before pulling away and saying, "It's okay. I won't tell anyone- You're probably like a superhero or something." Her brow furrowed. "My own superhero. Because I named you and everything."
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 4400~
Author's Note;; So I totally stalled on GKEAF and my other fics. Therefore, you get a new one. Have you watched the episode of Supernatural where there's a skinwalker who turns into a dog? ...yeah, this took a little bit of inspiration from that. It's basically fluff, and it might turn into a a whole series of one-shots, I'm not sure. I quite enjoyed writing this. If you've any prompts for this 'verse, please do drop me a line on here or LJ or tumblr. I made a mistake and my tumblr got kicked into the black fires of oblivion, but I remade it! (certifiable-insanity , in case you're wondering).
Happy reading!
The harsh sounds of the front door being wrenched open then slamming shut had Santana sitting upright; squinting slightly as she carefully crawled off the bed so as not to wake the other occupant up, then padding silently through the bedroom door to check it out.
After all, she didn't want any harm coming to the girl she loved on her watch.
Hair prickling on the back of her neck, Santana cautiously made her way down the stairs and past the kitchen, stopping every once in a while to listen for anything out of place. Tonight, it was comfortingly quiet. Some nights, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce kept the children up with their bickering and shouting; and others, Mr. Pierce would end up storming out and staying away until dinnertime the next day. On the worst nights, Mrs. Pierce would wake the children and usher them into the car and drive to the Fabray's, where Mrs. Fabray would answer the door in a dressing gown and lead them up to the bedrooms. Mrs. Pierce and eight year old Emily would take the spare room, Brittany and Santana would slip into Quinn's, and seventeen year old Hannah into Amanda's. Fifteen year old Quinn had long since stopped asking what had happened- If the Pierces were in her home, it meant that Mr. Pierce was in one of his drunken rages again.
But tonight was quiet, save for the soft breathing of Mrs. Pierce in the living room. Santana wavered, torn between wanting to go back upstairs and snuggling with Brittany, and checking in on the woman. But then again, Mrs. Pierce was family, and Brittany was sleeping pretty soundly, considering.
With a sigh, Santana walked into the living room and hopped onto the couch, crawling into Mrs. Pierce's lap and allowing the woman to hug her around the neck tightly and place a kiss on the top of her head. Santana kissed her on the cheek, then settled down to provide a listening ear. She didn't understand a whole lot about what was talked about- divorce, custody, rent and bills-, but Mrs. Pierce always felt better after ranting sessions. It really was the least Santana could do, seeing as how the Pierces had taken her in three years ago, a few weeks after she'd been caught sleeping outside by some busybody and got some kind of State service called on her.
She couldn't remember much from before she was adopted by the Pierces. She didn't really want to. This was when her life was as good as it ever was; she didn't want to dwell on 'what happened's and 'what might have been's. Or any other 'what's, really.
Once Mrs. Pierce's breathing evened out, Santana carefully squirmed out of her grasp and moved upstairs silently, pausing to check in on Emily and Hannah before joining Brittany back in bed. The girl shifted a little, feeling around in her sleep before settling down again with her fingers curled in the hair at Santana's nape.
}{}{}{
Brittany woke the next morning to a wet nose snuffling against her cheek and she giggled, blue eyes blinking open blearily to see a familiar brown gaze. "Hi, San," She greeted the other, doing a full body stretch and feeling satisfying pops as the kinks worked themselves out.
Upon seeing that the girl was fully awake, the brown and white husky let out a soft howl, thumping her tail and panting cheerily in Brittany's direction.
As Brittany set about her morning routine of getting ready for school, Santana stared at a hanging wall calendar then placed a paw on the blonde girl's lap, shaking her head. It seemed that Brittany had, once again, forgotten that it was a weekend. It was a regular occurrence, and she usually slept in then, but today happened to be a cool Autumn's day and Santana wanted to, for lack of a better phrase, go sniff at trees. And usually, it was Brittany that walked her.
Breakfast was a mix between brilliant and foul, as always- over the years, Santana had developed a moderate tolerance for kibble-; but she mainly sated herself by licking frootloops and cheerios out of the girls' hands. Emily and Brittany took great pleasure in offering their dog handfuls of cereal, and once in a while, Hannah wiggled a couple in front of Santana's face enticingly. Mrs. Pierce would sigh, but had given up reprimanding her children a long time ago. Mr. Pierce was noticeably absent.
After the dishes had been done, Santana bounded to the front door and scraped at it, whining pleadingly. Mrs. Pierce flicked the drying towel at Brittany, playfully whacking her on the backside and gestured at the clearly eager dog, shooing her daughter out of the house.
Two blocks away, there was a quiet playground. Most of the children who would be playing at it had jumped ship to a newer, more elaborate playground that had been opened a year ago, leaving this one woefully abandoned. However, that meant that Santana and Brittany could hang out there all day without anyone casting weird looks at them.
Handing Santana the bag which she had swiped from her room before they left the house, Brittany sat on a swing and kicked her legs idly. A couple of minutes passed, then a slender brunette girl with dark eyes and who looked no older than sixteen appeared from behind some trees, her gaze darting from side to side as she warily walked over and took the swing next to Brittany's.
"Hi San!" Brittany chirped, blue eyes bright. She reached out between them, and Santana linked their pinkies, smiling slightly.
"Hey, Britt." Swinging their joined hands, Santana's smile grew wider; more mischievous. "Thank you for feeding me again. Kibble is just... Ugh."
Apologetic, Brittany apologized, "Sorry San. Mummy doesn't believe that you'd prefer real people food. I try to tell her that you're a real person too, but she never believes me."
And thank the gods for that, Santana thought. She could see that talk going down so well.
There was a pause, then: "San?"
"Hmm?" The older girl hummed inquiringly, already knowing what was coming.
"Tell me again?" Uncharacteristically shy, Brittany wound a blonde curl between her fingers and dropped her eyes, gnawing at her lower lip.
Santana grinned, moving to clasp Brittany's hand in hers more fully, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles.
It was summer, and two nights ago had been particularly bad. As was her wont, Santana slipped out of the apartment she stayed in with her alcoholic uncle and shifted, loping around the quiet town before finding a suitable bench to sleep on for the night. It may have been summer, but the nights still got cool, and it would only be inviting trouble if she stayed out as a girl.
She hadn't meant to sleep till this late, but the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by children- toddlers, really-, reaching out to her and cooing with delight. That was fine; she'd seen and played with some of them before. So she licked a cheek here and nosed a chest there, tail thumping good naturedly as the adults scratched behind her ears and the children pulled at her thick fur. Someone held out a bit of bread with peanut butter on it, and she followed them, panting jovially.
The next thing she knew, a collar was being tightened around her neck and she was being heaved into the trunk of a car and a couple of hours later, she'd been dropped off at the local pound (or wherever there was a large number of other dogs).
She hadn't dared shift back- she didn't want to end up in a scientist lab and be tested upon!-, so she stayed in a cell with a few other dogs, unhappily forcing herself to chow down dry dog food and lap up water from a bowl. All in all, she could grudgingly admit that her life could be far worse. She could be back at the apartment with hardly any food and an uncle she loathed. He hadn't even allowed her to go to school.
The other dogs were poor company during the day, but on some nights, she shifted back and talked to them for hours on end. They seemed to like her better as a human, for it was during then that she could scratch at their bellies until their legs waved.
Over days, dogs came and went. Some were adopted, others had foster care homes. There was a sign in the main kennel that informed Santana that this was a no kill shelter, which allowed her to breathe more comfortably. She certainly didn't want to die as a dog under a needle.
Time passed, and Santana lost track. She was going completely crazy with no company save for the animals and carers who brought them on walks and talked to them during the day, but she didn't know how to get out. There were fences- Always fences. Fences and leashes and collars.
So, she decided, her best way out was to get adopted.
}{}{}{
This car ride was much more comfortable, though her ears were still ringing with cries of "That one, that one!". Instead of being forced into the trunk, she was allowed to sit on the floor of the backseat, head in a child's lap as the fur around her face was petted.
They seemed an ordinary family- Parents, and three daughters. All of them had various pale grey (she was a dog, she was colour-blind) shades of hair and light grey eyes. She especially liked the way the corners of their eyes crinkled when they smiled.
All in all, she concluded, she could have done a lot worse. And it wasn't like she was going to stay there for long.
They called her Dog. It was Mr. Pierce's idea. But when everyone vehemently protested, they decided to sleep on it and pick a proper name the next day.
The children delighted in sneaking her scraps under the table- Mostly vegetables and sometimes pieces of chicken, and they giggled when she licked their fingers clean. After weeks of nothing but dry dog food, this was heaven.
It wouldn't hurt to stay another day or so.
}{}{}{
After dinner, they chained her to a kennel in the backyard.
In. The. Backyard.
She wasn't an outdoors person! Hell, she wasn't an outdoors dog. She'd only slept on benches at the park because she had to. This... This was against all the rules. It was blasphemy. Santana voiced her displeasure by howling at the top of her lungs, annoying the neighbours and causing Mr. Pierce to come out and smack her sharply on the muzzle. She'd yelped, then continued crying. She hadn't gotten out of the shelter and away from fences to be chained.
Mrs. Pierce finally let her into the house, where Santana scrambled up the stairs and under the nearest bed, hiding away from Mr. Pierce and his heavy hands. The sounds of the two parent Pierces arguing with each other had her slinking further under, until Brittany (whose room she had run into) closed the door and got down on her hands and knees to peer at the frightened looking dog.
"They always do this," She reassured their new pet, holding out her hand enticingly. "Don't be scared. You can sleep on my bed tonight."
Slowly, warily, Santana crawled out, leaning into Brittany's strong palms and revelling in the neck scratch. For a young girl, she knew all the good places to just dig her fingers in. She was so good at the art of scratching, that Santana dozed right off.
Next time she woke up, Brittany was just about to climb into bed. When she saw that Santana was awake, she patted the covers and smiled, saying something about how having the dog in her room would keep her from having hairballs. Santana tuned it out, gleefully leaping onto the mattress and draping her head over the girl's abdomen. Brittany giggled, smoothing her hand over the top of Santana's head fondly.
"You need a name." Santana wuffed in agreement, and the girl giggled again. "I really wanna think of a name for you. It'd bind you to me forever, or something."
Santana snorted.
}{}{}{
A week later found Santana still staying with the Pierces. It wasn't like she really had anywhere to go, so she wasn't in any hurry to leave. Besides their inane urging of her to eat (eugh) dogfood, they seemed pretty awesome.
Except for the fighting. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce were always fighting whenever their daughters were tucked away in bed. During the day, they were the perfect parents. But at night, they just quarrelled endlessly.
Sometimes Santana thought that their relationship thrived on that.
}{}{}{
One thing Santana realized about Brittany was that the girl was rather odd. She said the darnest things, and sometimes the dog got completely confused, but it was all harmless. No one paid much attention to what she said.
Except Santana. She had really grown to like the Pierce girl, and sometimes longed to be able to carry out a conversation with her. Most of the time, though, she just nodded her head and lolled her tongue in answer to whatever statement Brittany made.
It seemed to please her well enough.
}{}{}{
Another thing Santana found out was that Brittany didn't have a whole lot of friends.
Whenever they headed to the park, there were a few people her age whom she would greet cheerfully enough, but Santana never missed the slight slump of her shoulders when none of them replied. She would also catch wistful blue eyes staring at the children running around boisterously and yelling, but she was never invited to join. More often than not, Brittany would just hang around with this really small girl with dark hair (Santana assumed that she had either black or brown locks) called Rachel.
The girl was well enough- She usually shared her snacks with Brittany, and Santana liked her the more for it. Sometimes, Rachel would even bring something special for the blonde's dog, and Santana would lick her fingers clean.
Sometimes, Quinn would join them. The Fabray girl didn't go to the park very often anymore- She spent most of her time at home, or tagging after her sister at the mall.
Santana sulked whenever Brittany went with them. She couldn't go.
}{}{}{
A month after she started staying with the Pierces, Brittany was suddenly shoved to the ground while they were walking back to the park.
Dave Karofsky stood there with his gang of merry brothers, a smug grin on his face. He sneered a word- Idiot-, then kicked over Brittany's lunchbox and aimed a smack at Santana before turning to walk away.
The faint scent of salt and copper filled Santana's nose, but she pushed it aside in order to yank the leash out of Brittany's clenched fingers and launch herself at the boy.
She barked, she snarled, she bristled and growled, teeth snapping at his heels as she drove him away. When faced with a set of bared teeth, the boys suddenly weren't quite interested in sticking around and vanished down the street, accompanied by the sound of Santana's enraged calls-
"Yeah, you better run!"
Filled with exhilaration, Santana turned back to Brittany, who was staring at her with wide eyes. Confused, Santana stared down at the ground- Or, rather, at her very naked, decidedly non-furry, self.
Oh, crap.
Within two seconds she had shifted back, plastering a look of complete innocence on her features. She padded back to Brittany and sniffed at her skinned knee- so that had been the smell-, before whining and licking at her arm comfortingly.
Brittany scratched at the underside of Santana's jaw, breathing, "Rainbow?"
Yeah, they called her Rainbow.
Santana snuffled wetly against her palm, but Brittany's eyes had hardened uncharacteristically. "You are gonna be in big trouble, bad dog," She scolded as she got up on her feet, a little shakily, "Why didn't you tell me that you could become a person? Bad dog!" And then she smacked lightly at Santana's ribs.
The dog whimpered.
}{}{}{
Back at home, Brittany dragged Santana into her room and closed the door, staring at her dog with arms folded across her chest.
Santana stared at her with what she hoped were convincing puppy-dog eyes, ears going back and her form wilting slightly. It seemed to work, for Brittany crossed over and hugged her tightly, before pulling away and saying, "It's okay. I won't tell anyone- You're probably like a superhero or something." Her brow furrowed. "My own superhero. Because I named you and everything."
Nodding her head in agreement, Santana breathed a sigh of relief. Then cringed, when Brittany suddenly told her:
"You should change now and take a bath. You looked all dirty and stuff. I've never seen a dirty superhero."
}{}{}{
Being able to take a proper shower after weeks was a luxury that Santana could definitely get used to- Getting sprayed with a hose didn't count. She had gotten to rinse off the grime she was sure coated her entire body. It was just a little uncomfortable, since Brittany insisted on being in the bathroom while she was showering.
"I have to, or my parents would think that we have a ghost!" She had argued, then tilted her head to the side. "You're not a ghost, are you? Or are you Casper? Is that your name? What's your name?"
Safely behind the shower curtain, Santana sighed.
Then nearly bashed her head into the wall when Brittany wrenched open the curtain and stared at her, clearly awaiting a reply.
"Well?" She demanded, "What's your name?"
Yanking the curtain closed again, she flushed hotly before muttering, "Santana."
It seemed to appease Brittany for a while, because she managed to shower and towel dry (without getting out) in silence.
}{}{}{
Even though Santana was older than Brittany by a good two years, even at twelve, Brittany was more gangly than she was. The clothes she passed to Santana were loose and baggy and covered in patterns that made Santana want to scratch her eyes out now that she could see in colour again.
Back in Brittany's room, she burrowed under the covers- just in case she needed to shift back suddenly- and took her first good look at the person whose company she had so enjoyed while she was on four legs.
Brittany was, to put it in a nutshell, adorable. Her long hair was of pale blonde, which explained why Santana sometimes wondered if she had white hair. Her fringe flopped into her face, sometimes covering these blue blue blue eyes. Santana thought her extremely pretty. So pretty that she reached out with one unsure hand, hesitated, then stroked her cheek gently. Brittany leaned into the touch, examining Santana's face as Santana examined hers.
"You're really pretty," Brittany finally told her, "You're pretty as a dog but you're more pretty when you're a girl, Sanana."
"Santana," She corrected idly, not really caring what Brittany called her at this point. Santana, Sanana, Banana, hell, even Rainbow. She didn't give a shit. "You're pretty too."
Brittany beamed.
}{}{}{
After that, it was easy to get into a rhythm. When no one was home, or when they went out on walks to secluded places, Santana would change, and she and Brittany would talk. Sometimes, when the shouting got especially bad but they weren't bundled into the car to drive to the Fabray's, Santana would hold Brittany as they hid under the blankets, soothingly running her hands up and down the girl's arms.
Or, all three of the Pierce children would camp out in one room and Santana would lick at their faces reassuringly once in a while- As a dog, of course. Hannah, by this time, was more or less used to it, though it didn't make her any less sullen. Emily would always ask, why why why?, but neither of her sisters had any reasons for her.
Then Mr. Pierce would leave, and Mrs. Pierce would come find them and they'd curl up on one bed together, with Santana banished to the floor.
Not that she really minded, since Brittany usually slept there with her.
For some reason Santana didn't really care to break apart, she really liked Brittany, and all thoughts of leaving were more or less tossed out of the window. She didn't like leaving Brittany for any amount of time at all.
When school started and Brittany had to spend hours away and Santana was chained to the doghouse, she sulked and pined.
And howled, and disturbed the general peace of the neighbourhood until Mrs. Pierce started allowing her to walk with them to the school. Then, slowly, Mrs. Pierce stopped accompanying them and Santana undertook the responsibility of making sure that Emily and Brittany got to and from school safely, like a champ.
And she stopped going home, choosing instead to loiter outside the school and wait for them to reappear.
(She tried breaking in once or twice, but it resulted in her being punished and chained in the backyard for the whole of the next day so she stopped trying.)
}{}{}{
Santana had never been to school for years (she was taken out when she was twelve), so she couldn't help when Brittany was almost literally tearing her hair out about it.
While Brittany slept, though, sometimes she would sneakily try to read through her schoolbooks and make sense of them- Science fascinated her, but math completely escaped her.
(Later on, when Brittany learned algebra and calculus and the like, Santana would get completely lost. Why were there letters in math?)
}{}{}{
Then one day, Brittany asked, "Would you ever leave me? Please don't." And Santana could only stare at her incredulously and whine.
And later that night, while cuddled in bed with her, Santana stroked blonde hair off a sleeping Brittany's face and promised, "I won't."
Blinking at an older (but no less adorable and pretty) Brittany, Santana concluded, "I stayed because of you." Softly, she murmured, "I love you."
Brittany looked really surprised, and Santana cringed. Was that impromptu bit too much?
Silence stretched, and Santana made to turn away, flushing darkly. She'd figured the reason why she got all huffy and/or pissed while as a dog whenever Brittany was preparing for a date was because she was jealous. And she had to have had a legitimate reason as to why she was jealous, right?
"Do you mean that?" Brittany asked, gripping on to a tanned (how she kept tan, she had no idea) wrist.
"Forget I said it," Santana ordered gruffly, staring at the ground, refusing to look at the girl next to her.
She startled, when Brittany stood and heaved herself into Santana's lap, arms clinging to her neck and lips pressing gently against hers.
It was, as far as proper first kisses went, pretty awesome.
"Silly," Brittany murmured, her forehead against Santana's, "I love you too."
yeah. I might make this into a whole series of one-shots. drop me prompts!
Thank you for reading. xx