fic: the rules
Title: The Rules
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: I'll go with PG this time, I guess.
Summary: “Santana has never liked Quinn Fabray.”
Spoilers: Nope, pre-Glee.
Notes: This is the (first) sequel to “Puppies and Power Rangers”. (And I totally creeped on Lima, Ohio to get the name of that church... and the name of the priest...)
The first time Quinn sleeps over at Brittney’s house, Brittany and Quinn are both seven and Santana is six and three quarters.
………
Santana has known Quinn since before she can remember because they both go to the same church (St. John’s) and the same mass (nine o’clock sharp) every Sunday morning. And Mr. and Mrs. Fabray and their two daughters sit right beside Mr. and Mrs. Lopez and their three children.
Every Sunday morning.
Little Santana always sits there bored and angry for the entire service because she never gets to take a toy with her like her brothers do (“Because you never behave like your brothers do!”), and the way little Quinn Fabray sits there in her Daddy’s lap listening to Father Michael like a perfect little angel just makes Santana even angrier. Because after mass, Mrs. Lopez always gushes over how cute and well-behaved and polite and perfect the Fabray’s daughters are, and Santana is convinced that the only reason her mom insists on sitting next to them every Sunday is because she’s planning to switch her out with Quinn one day.
Santana has never liked Quinn Fabray.
So, when Little Miss Perfect tries to become friends with her and Brittany at the beginning of first grade (Quinn went to Catholic school for kindergarten), Santana is as angry as she is on church every Sunday. And when somehow, by the end of the school year, Brittany has grown so attached to Quinn that Santana knows there’s no turning back, Santana is as angry as she is every Sunday on the car ride home.
“You have a lovely house,” Quinn tells Brittany’s parents the first time she walks through their front door. “Thank you very much for allowing me to stay here with Brittany tonight. I know we’re going to have a lot of fun,” she says in way that reminds Santana of the creepy pull-string talking dolls her Abuela Rosa always gives her for Christmas.
Quinn’s mom pats her daughter on the head and kisses her on the cheek before she leaves, and Santana almost feels like screaming because her mom just frowns at her and tells her to be good or her father will hear about it. (Santana is always good at Brittany’s, and she doesn’t know why her mom refuses to believe it.)
After a quick “thank you” to Brittany’s parents, Mrs. Fabray and Mrs. Lopez are out the door, and the three girls head upstairs to Brittany’s room. Brittany gets out some paper and her extensive collection of crayons and they draw for a while. Quinn works on her picture diligently, in complete silence -which Santana is thankful for. Brittany hums as she draws a picture of what looks like a unicorn riding an octopus, and Santana thinks it looks a lot cooler than Quinn’s (stupid) family portrait. Although the portrait is good as a reference, Santana notes.
Santana is halfway done with her drawing of a blonde girl (who looks suspiciously similar to the littlest girl in Quinn’s family portrait) “accidentally” falling down the stairs when JoJo half-walks, half-crawls into Brittany’s room. He grabs the crayon Quinn is using and Santana doesn’t miss the look of disgust that flashes across Quinn’s face when he sticks the crayon in his mouth.
“Uh… hi,” Quinn greets the little boy. “And… um… who are you?” she asks with a fake smile on her face, and Santana is reminded of those talking dolls again.
Brittany crawls over to the boy and pulls him onto her lap and grins. “This is JoJo,” she answers as she takes the crayon out of the four-year-old’s mouth and sets it back down next to Quinn (but not before giving it a quick taste herself). "He likes tasting things," Brittany elaborates.
“Oh.” Quinn nods her fake nod like she does when she’s listening to Father Michael, and she’s quiet for a moment afterwards, and Santana knows why she’s quiet (and Santana hates why she’s quiet). Because JoJo is different… a little too drool-y and quiet for his age, and Quinn’s deciding what it means.
“Mommy and Daddy say he’s special,” Brittany says, blowing a raspberry on the side of her brother’s head to make him giggle, when she sees the question in Quinn’s eyes. And now Quinn is looking between Brittany and JoJo, trying to put two and two together, even though Quinn’s not good at math, and it shouldn’t matter anyway.
“So… are you special too?” she asks Brittany like she feels sorry for her, like Brittany and JoJo are somehow not as good as her, and Santana clenches her fists because she feels like punching Quinn in the mouth.
But Brittany just nods (“Mmhmm”) and gives her brother a hug before he crawls away. “Mommy and Daddy say me and my brothers and my sister are all special to them,” Brittany smiles.
“Oh.” Quinn frowns because she didn’t get the clear answer that she wanted. “Well that’s…. nice,” she manages to say.
And her tone is just so… arrogant and fake and… Quinn, that this time when Santana feels her hands start to clench into fists, she uses one to chuck a crayon (the disgusting, drool-y one) at Quinn’s head.
“Oops,” Santana says with a fake frown (because she’s grinning triumphantly on the inside). “Sorry.”
…......
When Santana comes back from the bathroom (from washing the drool off her hand), Quinn glares at her but doesn’t say anything, and Brittany hops up, finished with her picture, and decides that they should watch a movie. So, they go downstairs to the basement and Brittany’s dad puts on The Little Mermaid for them.
Less than two seconds after the movie ends, Quinn lets out an overly loud sigh and announces that she’s bored. “What should we do now?”
Brittany gives the question a good minute of serious thought before answering. “We could play Candyland,” she says, and she smiles as she says it because she’s sure it’s a great plan.
But Quinn just rolls her eyes. “Candyland is for babies,” she says like it’s a fact, and like it’s a bad thing.
“Oh,” is all Brittany can say in response, and her eyes are sad and her lips are frowning (because Candyland was her favorite game and now it can’t be anymore).
And because Brittany-Santana kisses are no longer just reserved for when they’re playing (because sometimes it just feels like the right thing to do), Santana thinks nothing of it when she pulls Brittany into a hug and kisses her -to make her eyes and lips happy again.
“You can’t do that!” Quinn shrieks the second after Santana’s lips leave Brittany’s. “That’s wrong.”
“No it isn’t,” Santana argues -because she’s pretty damn sure it’s right. She needs it to be right. So it has to be right.
Santana keeps her eyes locked with Quinn's defiantly.
Brittany bites her lip, her eyes shifting back and forth between the other two girls. “It’s okay,” she says to Quinn, giving Santana a squeeze, “we’re getting married.” And Brittany smiles brightly because she doesn’t like when Quinn and Santana fight and usually smiling makes them stop. But, this time, Quinn’s frown just gets deeper.
And Quinn’s eyes narrow just like Santana’s mom’s do. And Santana has never hated Quinn more than at that moment. “You can’t get married,” she says slowly, with authority. “And you can’t do that anymore.”
“You can’t tell us what to do,” Santana shoots back.
“Maybe not,” and Santana’s sure she hears Quinn add yet under her breath. “But God can.” The blonde makes a show of looking up for a moment, before meeting Santana’s eyes again. “And so can your parents when I tell them,” she adds with a smirk.
Santana has to bite down so hard that her jaws are sore for the rest of the night. Because even though she hates Quinn Fabray and her perfect, fake family, Santana watches Quinn listen to Father Michael every Sunday and she knows that Quinn must be right about this (even though Santana desperately wishes she was wrong).
“Please don’t tell them,” Santana says softly, defeated.
“It’s okay. Your secret’s safe with me.” Quinn pats Santana on the head, and it’s all fake smiles and pitying after that.
Quinn goes on to tell Brittany and Santana that she’s glad this happened because now she can help them. She tells them that what they did was called “gay”, but that they could be un-gay again if they follow her rules.
She has ten.
The first rule is the most important and it’s “no kissing other girls”, and the second is “no marrying other girls” -and Santana and Brittany agree to both, reluctantly, but with no argument. But when Quinn gets to the third rule, “no hugging other girls”, Santana can’t stop herself from shooting back that she’s seen Quinn hug girls before. But Quinn just narrows her eyes again and informs Santana that it’s okay when she does it because “I’m not a gay pervert like you.”
And neither Brittany nor Santana fully understood what Quinn had said, but the girl's tone of voice is enough to keep them both silent as Quinn finishes going through the rest of her rules.
Later that night, when they’re lying in their sleeping bags on the floor of the living room, and Santana can tell Brittany isn’t asleep because of the sniffling, Santana wants to crawl into Brittany’s sleeping bag and hug her and kiss her, but she can’t. She stays in her spot on the other side of Quinn instead, angry with herself for picking that night of all nights to start obeying rules.
………
Summer comes quickly and goes away even faster. Then, soon enough, the girls are halfway through second grade and Brittany-and-Santana has now officially become Brittany-and-Quinn-and-Santana. Quinn is as unbearably bossy and fake and perfect as ever, but Santana has learned that the girl is also fiercely loyal as long as you obey her and the rules and her rules. So, Santana makes it to February without a single visit to the principal’s office -but with a permanent scowl on her face. And Brittany loves second grade and her classmates and recess just as much as she did the year before -but her eyes never shine quite as much, Santana notices.
That’s when Brittany and Santana decide to have just one (secret) sleepover without Quinn. For old time’s sake.
And after that, Brittany’s eyes are just as happy as they were in first grade (if not happier) and Santana learns that, really, the only requirement to earn Quinn’s loyalty is to obey her, because the girl doesn’t seem to care when Santana starts paying regular visits to Principal Bernard’s office again.
………
The first time Brittany and Santana break Quinn’s rules, Brittany has just turned eight and Santana is seven and a half.
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: I'll go with PG this time, I guess.
Summary: “Santana has never liked Quinn Fabray.”
Spoilers: Nope, pre-Glee.
Notes: This is the (first) sequel to “Puppies and Power Rangers”. (And I totally creeped on Lima, Ohio to get the name of that church... and the name of the priest...)
The first time Quinn sleeps over at Brittney’s house, Brittany and Quinn are both seven and Santana is six and three quarters.
………
Santana has known Quinn since before she can remember because they both go to the same church (St. John’s) and the same mass (nine o’clock sharp) every Sunday morning. And Mr. and Mrs. Fabray and their two daughters sit right beside Mr. and Mrs. Lopez and their three children.
Every Sunday morning.
Little Santana always sits there bored and angry for the entire service because she never gets to take a toy with her like her brothers do (“Because you never behave like your brothers do!”), and the way little Quinn Fabray sits there in her Daddy’s lap listening to Father Michael like a perfect little angel just makes Santana even angrier. Because after mass, Mrs. Lopez always gushes over how cute and well-behaved and polite and perfect the Fabray’s daughters are, and Santana is convinced that the only reason her mom insists on sitting next to them every Sunday is because she’s planning to switch her out with Quinn one day.
Santana has never liked Quinn Fabray.
So, when Little Miss Perfect tries to become friends with her and Brittany at the beginning of first grade (Quinn went to Catholic school for kindergarten), Santana is as angry as she is on church every Sunday. And when somehow, by the end of the school year, Brittany has grown so attached to Quinn that Santana knows there’s no turning back, Santana is as angry as she is every Sunday on the car ride home.
“You have a lovely house,” Quinn tells Brittany’s parents the first time she walks through their front door. “Thank you very much for allowing me to stay here with Brittany tonight. I know we’re going to have a lot of fun,” she says in way that reminds Santana of the creepy pull-string talking dolls her Abuela Rosa always gives her for Christmas.
Quinn’s mom pats her daughter on the head and kisses her on the cheek before she leaves, and Santana almost feels like screaming because her mom just frowns at her and tells her to be good or her father will hear about it. (Santana is always good at Brittany’s, and she doesn’t know why her mom refuses to believe it.)
After a quick “thank you” to Brittany’s parents, Mrs. Fabray and Mrs. Lopez are out the door, and the three girls head upstairs to Brittany’s room. Brittany gets out some paper and her extensive collection of crayons and they draw for a while. Quinn works on her picture diligently, in complete silence -which Santana is thankful for. Brittany hums as she draws a picture of what looks like a unicorn riding an octopus, and Santana thinks it looks a lot cooler than Quinn’s (stupid) family portrait. Although the portrait is good as a reference, Santana notes.
Santana is halfway done with her drawing of a blonde girl (who looks suspiciously similar to the littlest girl in Quinn’s family portrait) “accidentally” falling down the stairs when JoJo half-walks, half-crawls into Brittany’s room. He grabs the crayon Quinn is using and Santana doesn’t miss the look of disgust that flashes across Quinn’s face when he sticks the crayon in his mouth.
“Uh… hi,” Quinn greets the little boy. “And… um… who are you?” she asks with a fake smile on her face, and Santana is reminded of those talking dolls again.
Brittany crawls over to the boy and pulls him onto her lap and grins. “This is JoJo,” she answers as she takes the crayon out of the four-year-old’s mouth and sets it back down next to Quinn (but not before giving it a quick taste herself). "He likes tasting things," Brittany elaborates.
“Oh.” Quinn nods her fake nod like she does when she’s listening to Father Michael, and she’s quiet for a moment afterwards, and Santana knows why she’s quiet (and Santana hates why she’s quiet). Because JoJo is different… a little too drool-y and quiet for his age, and Quinn’s deciding what it means.
“Mommy and Daddy say he’s special,” Brittany says, blowing a raspberry on the side of her brother’s head to make him giggle, when she sees the question in Quinn’s eyes. And now Quinn is looking between Brittany and JoJo, trying to put two and two together, even though Quinn’s not good at math, and it shouldn’t matter anyway.
“So… are you special too?” she asks Brittany like she feels sorry for her, like Brittany and JoJo are somehow not as good as her, and Santana clenches her fists because she feels like punching Quinn in the mouth.
But Brittany just nods (“Mmhmm”) and gives her brother a hug before he crawls away. “Mommy and Daddy say me and my brothers and my sister are all special to them,” Brittany smiles.
“Oh.” Quinn frowns because she didn’t get the clear answer that she wanted. “Well that’s…. nice,” she manages to say.
And her tone is just so… arrogant and fake and… Quinn, that this time when Santana feels her hands start to clench into fists, she uses one to chuck a crayon (the disgusting, drool-y one) at Quinn’s head.
“Oops,” Santana says with a fake frown (because she’s grinning triumphantly on the inside). “Sorry.”
…......
When Santana comes back from the bathroom (from washing the drool off her hand), Quinn glares at her but doesn’t say anything, and Brittany hops up, finished with her picture, and decides that they should watch a movie. So, they go downstairs to the basement and Brittany’s dad puts on The Little Mermaid for them.
Less than two seconds after the movie ends, Quinn lets out an overly loud sigh and announces that she’s bored. “What should we do now?”
Brittany gives the question a good minute of serious thought before answering. “We could play Candyland,” she says, and she smiles as she says it because she’s sure it’s a great plan.
But Quinn just rolls her eyes. “Candyland is for babies,” she says like it’s a fact, and like it’s a bad thing.
“Oh,” is all Brittany can say in response, and her eyes are sad and her lips are frowning (because Candyland was her favorite game and now it can’t be anymore).
And because Brittany-Santana kisses are no longer just reserved for when they’re playing (because sometimes it just feels like the right thing to do), Santana thinks nothing of it when she pulls Brittany into a hug and kisses her -to make her eyes and lips happy again.
“You can’t do that!” Quinn shrieks the second after Santana’s lips leave Brittany’s. “That’s wrong.”
“No it isn’t,” Santana argues -because she’s pretty damn sure it’s right. She needs it to be right. So it has to be right.
Santana keeps her eyes locked with Quinn's defiantly.
Brittany bites her lip, her eyes shifting back and forth between the other two girls. “It’s okay,” she says to Quinn, giving Santana a squeeze, “we’re getting married.” And Brittany smiles brightly because she doesn’t like when Quinn and Santana fight and usually smiling makes them stop. But, this time, Quinn’s frown just gets deeper.
And Quinn’s eyes narrow just like Santana’s mom’s do. And Santana has never hated Quinn more than at that moment. “You can’t get married,” she says slowly, with authority. “And you can’t do that anymore.”
“You can’t tell us what to do,” Santana shoots back.
“Maybe not,” and Santana’s sure she hears Quinn add yet under her breath. “But God can.” The blonde makes a show of looking up for a moment, before meeting Santana’s eyes again. “And so can your parents when I tell them,” she adds with a smirk.
Santana has to bite down so hard that her jaws are sore for the rest of the night. Because even though she hates Quinn Fabray and her perfect, fake family, Santana watches Quinn listen to Father Michael every Sunday and she knows that Quinn must be right about this (even though Santana desperately wishes she was wrong).
“Please don’t tell them,” Santana says softly, defeated.
“It’s okay. Your secret’s safe with me.” Quinn pats Santana on the head, and it’s all fake smiles and pitying after that.
Quinn goes on to tell Brittany and Santana that she’s glad this happened because now she can help them. She tells them that what they did was called “gay”, but that they could be un-gay again if they follow her rules.
She has ten.
The first rule is the most important and it’s “no kissing other girls”, and the second is “no marrying other girls” -and Santana and Brittany agree to both, reluctantly, but with no argument. But when Quinn gets to the third rule, “no hugging other girls”, Santana can’t stop herself from shooting back that she’s seen Quinn hug girls before. But Quinn just narrows her eyes again and informs Santana that it’s okay when she does it because “I’m not a gay pervert like you.”
And neither Brittany nor Santana fully understood what Quinn had said, but the girl's tone of voice is enough to keep them both silent as Quinn finishes going through the rest of her rules.
Later that night, when they’re lying in their sleeping bags on the floor of the living room, and Santana can tell Brittany isn’t asleep because of the sniffling, Santana wants to crawl into Brittany’s sleeping bag and hug her and kiss her, but she can’t. She stays in her spot on the other side of Quinn instead, angry with herself for picking that night of all nights to start obeying rules.
………
Summer comes quickly and goes away even faster. Then, soon enough, the girls are halfway through second grade and Brittany-and-Santana has now officially become Brittany-and-Quinn-and-Santana. Quinn is as unbearably bossy and fake and perfect as ever, but Santana has learned that the girl is also fiercely loyal as long as you obey her and the rules and her rules. So, Santana makes it to February without a single visit to the principal’s office -but with a permanent scowl on her face. And Brittany loves second grade and her classmates and recess just as much as she did the year before -but her eyes never shine quite as much, Santana notices.
That’s when Brittany and Santana decide to have just one (secret) sleepover without Quinn. For old time’s sake.
And after that, Brittany’s eyes are just as happy as they were in first grade (if not happier) and Santana learns that, really, the only requirement to earn Quinn’s loyalty is to obey her, because the girl doesn’t seem to care when Santana starts paying regular visits to Principal Bernard’s office again.
………
The first time Brittany and Santana break Quinn’s rules, Brittany has just turned eight and Santana is seven and a half.