Like, a Burglar Alarm? - Glee - PG13 - 4/5
Days passed, then weeks.
Finn and Carole moved in and then back out after Finn’s colossal fit over the basement. He had been right. The word fag from Finn was crushing.
What made it worse was the fact that his dad heard it. That he’d come to Kurt’s defense. He knew it was a show of support, of choosing family over self, but it just hurt. It made him feel weak and useless.
He called Brittany that night and she made soft, soothing noises on the other end while he cried to her.
Even Finn stopping Karofsky and Azimio, in a rubber dress no less, didn’t fix everything. How was that supposed to just magically heal it all?
But Brittany kissing his cheek at the end of the day before skipping off to link pinkies with Santana, either ignoring or oblivious to the glare the Latina was sending them, helped. Maybe it didn’t make it perfect, but it helped.
Then they were destroyed at Regionals, and Quinn had the baby. It was exciting and depressing at the same time.
When Brittany found out Beth had been given away, she frowned, teary eyed.
“I thought we were all going to be aunts and uncles,” she said softly.
“Brittany, only the brothers and sisters of the parents are aunts and uncles,” Tina replied.
“Oh. But…” She trailed off, staring out the bus window. When everyone else was busy in conversation again, she muttered, “I thought we were a family…”
Kurt reached over the seat to take her hand and smiled. “We are, Britt. We are.” She smiled back, and then they were talking about what they would do now that Glee was going to be canceled. It wasn’t fair.
But then they were granted another year. No one really knew why or how, but they were going to celebrate the chance.
A week after school ended, Kurt took Brittany back to the clinic for more testing. They did it once more over the summer. Now three times she had come back okay, and doctor wanted to see her again in November.
Most surprisingly, at her second visit she had been asked to stop having sex for a few months. Brittany didn’t know why; she’d explained that most boys didn’t want her around unless they were having sex, and Kurt had seen the frown on the doctor’s face.
Between the two of them, Brittany realized that the tests could be inaccurate if she kept having sex because she kept exposing herself.
“But I’m using the condoms, Kurtie!”
“I know, Britt, and I’m happy, but they can’t do everything for you. Some things can get around them or they might break. Can you just stop for the summer?”
“Okay, Kurtie. I can do that. I never see anyone but Santana over the summer anyway.” She had smiled so endearingly, and he grinned back.
When the school year started, she came up to Kurt after the first Cheerio practice. “Kurtie, do I still need to not have…” She paused, glancing around, before leaning closer and whispering, “Ess-Eee-Eks?”
Kurt barely contained the laugh. “Well, Britt, it would help with the tests, but it’s your body and your decision. Just promise that if you do, you’ll use the condoms, okay?”
“Okay!” She kissed his cheek again before trotting off to the locker rooms. Kurt shook his head after her.
He was surprised but privately pleased when Brittany stopped talking to Santana. When he asked her about it, she told him that Santana had said she was just using Brittany as a warm body. As a replacement for Puck.
That was finally the last straw for him.
Kurt cornered Santana after Glee practice that day, smiling and asking about help with a song. As soon as they were alone, however, his demeanor changed.
“I can’t believe you.”
“Excuse me, Ladyface?” she scoffed, glancing over her nails.
“No. Your behavior is inexcusable.”
Santana rolled her eyes. “What is it, now? Are you upset that I don’t like your outfit today?”
“This has nothing to do with your irrelevant opinions on my masterful taste in clothes. This is about Brittany.”
“God,” she sighed with another eye-roll. Her head slumped over onto one shoulder. “What has she been saying?”
“You’re a bitch. You realize that, don’t you? I mean, I can’t listen to a single thing out of your mouth without thinking ‘what a bitch’.”
“Is this going somewhere?”
“I just don’t understand how you can treat her like you do. You know she adores you, idolizes you, loves-”
“Don’t even go there, gayboy,” she hissed, her head shifting from side to side on her neck and one hand coming forward to snap her fingers. “You don’t know anything.”
“Oh please. She and I have been talking for months. We’re close, and you’re hurting her.”
“How?”
“You told her she was a warm body, Santana!” he shouted, letting his bag drop to the choir room floor. “Didn’t you think how that might make her feel?” The pinched look on her face was all he needed to know. “Are you deluded enough to think that Puck is your one?”
“No, but that doesn’t make him any less mine.”
“Santana, just because you’re sleeping with someone doesn’t mean you have ownership over them. And I’ve watched you treat Brittany and Puck like possessions over the years. Neither one appreciates it.”
Santana rolled her eyes again and turned to leave.
“I’m not finished here!”
“Well I am,” Santana said with another head-bob then stormed towards the door. “So go lecture someone else.”
“Do you realize she didn’t know what condoms were?” he called after her. Santana froze and turned around.
“What?”
“Those two days she and I went out, my dad caught us kissing and told us to use protection.”
“So?”
“And she didn’t understand. I had to explain.” Santana just stared at him. “How could you let her get the reputation she has without going over the basics, Santana?”
“I…”
“What, Santana? She said you were there sometimes, how could she not know?”
“I thought she did. When I was there, we always did. I had her on the pill. I told her not to let anyone push her around. I just… I didn’t know she didn’t know.”
Kurt watched as she started to cry. It was surprising, because he hadn’t seen her cry before. Not since the first grade when an older girl had pushed her down and scraped her knee. And that had been a totally different type of crying. Seven-year-old Santana had been screeching in Spanish, hitting the third grader, the tears flying from her face with each swing of her head, there from the moment of humiliation and pain before turning it all around.
Now it was just a single line of tears slipping down her left cheek, smudging her makeup a little.
“I didn’t know.” This simple sentence was emphasized by the loud bang of her textbooks falling from her arms.
Oddly, Kurt found himself feeling sympathetic for Santana. He had assumed she would have known, too.
“I took her to the Alan County Health Partners.” Santana let out a sob, her right hand rising to cover her mouth. “She’s been three times. They haven’t found anything, and, as far as I know, she hasn’t had sex since June. She has an appointment in November, and then they’ll declare her safe.”
“Oh God,” she moaned. “I’ve gotta find her.” Then Santana was bolting out of the room, her books lying in a pile on the floor.
Kurt gathered them up and headed towards his locker to get ready to go home. In the hall, Santana was holding tightly to Brittany, apologizing and kissing her face and apologizing again, still crying. Brittany was wide-eyed and uncertain, but when Kurt smiled at her, she smiled too and hugged Santana back. He gathered the books he needed to take home, then made his way to the girls.
“Santana?”
“What?” she demanded, wiping at her nose.
“You left your books.” He held them out and she snatched them back.
Then she muttered, “Thanks,” and he knew she meant for more than the books.