fic: nice
Title: Nice
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: G
Summary: “The first time Santana makes a boy cry without also causing him physical or emotional pain, Santana is nine and a half and Kurt is nine and three quarters.”
Spoilers: None, pre-Glee.
Notes: This is the fourth installment of my “First Time” series (sequel to Three + One), and it took me far too long to write for its length. Hope you enjoy!
The first time Santana makes a boy cry without also causing him physical or emotional pain, Santana is nine and a half and Kurt is nine and three quarters.
………
They’re in the art room when it happens. Recess has just started and the two of them are sitting (well, Kurt’s sitting, Santana’s standing) in the far corner of the room beside the supply shelf where Mrs. Jones can’t really see them. Santana shifts anxiously on her feet, ready to get back to recess before she’s missed, but Kurt’s in no hurry.
He always spends recess in the art room.
Kurt is sitting with his legs crossed and the box in his hands, with the newspaper the box had been wrapped in balled up on the floor beside him. He had described the newspaper-wrapped gift as “quaint” when Santana had dropped it unceremoniously onto his lap, and Santana didn’t know what the word meant, but she did know that the way he’d said made her have to restrain herself from pushing him off his stool.
Santana's head snaps towards the door when she hears voices in the hall, and she turns back to Kurt wishing he would hurry up already and do something because she’s sure Brittany and Quinn are going to start wondering where she went. But all he does is stare down at the box in his hands.
After an hour (which is actually only about thirty seconds), Santana's patience runs out. “Hey, look, I’m gonna-“
Kurt looks up at her suddenly, with big, watery eyes, and Santana kind of wishes she could rewind back to before she gave him the stupid present. It's been more trouble giving it to him than it's worth. (Plus, she hadn’t meant to make him cry.)
“Hey, um… I’m sorry, I just… if you don’t like it I can-”
“I love it,” Kurt interrupts, sniffling, but with a smile on his face.
“Oh.” And Santana’s grateful that Kurt cut her off, because she sucks at apologies, but she furrows her eyebrows in confusion, because who the heck cries when they’re happy?
“Thank you,” Kurt says, hopping gracefully off of his stool and moving forward to give Santana a hug.
But she pushes him away and looks at the open art room door nervously. “Yeah, no problem, it’s not a big deal,” Santana says quickly.
Because it’s totally not a big deal. Actually, it was pretty fun getting her mom to believe that she just had to have the Audrey Hepburn doll for Christmas, and her mom had been pleasantly surprised once she actually did believe Santana. The doll was kind of expensive, though, so all Santana got was the doll and school clothes and church clothes for Christmas, but it’s not like she would’ve gotten the paintball gun (to shoot at her brothers) like she really wanted anyway. So, yeah, it wasn’t a big deal.
Plus, Santana can’t wait to see the look on her mom’s face when she tells her that she lost the doll. Maybe I'll tell her I put it in the middle of the street to watch it get run over, Santana thinks with a grin.
“I really-“ Kurt starts trying to thank Santana again, but she just grabs the doll and hides it in the nearest supply cabinet.
“Just don’t let anyone see it, okay?” she commands (because she doesn't want a repeat of last year), and the boy nods, his eyes still watery and happy at the same time.
………
When Brittany and Quinn walk past the art room, Santana is just walking out of it. Her eyes widen for less then a second, but Brittany and Quinn both notice. (Brittany because she's good at noticing little things like that, and Quinn because she's good at noticing little things like that when she knows someone's doing something they shouldn't be doing.)
“What are you doing here?” Quinn asks sharply, and Santana shrugs in a failed attempt to look causal.
“What are you doing here?” she asks back.
Quinn just rolls her eyes and looks past Santana, into the art room, and a smirk forms on her face, so Brittany looks into the art room, too. Kurt is sitting at one of the tables inside. He has a pencil in his hand, and a piece of paper in front of him, but he’s holding the pencil still and just staring at the paper with red, poofy eyes and a few tear stains running down his cheeks.
“You know, it’s not nice to make people cry,” Quinn says, when she turns back to Santana, and she says it in a way that Santana and Brittany both know means that Quinn thinks the exact opposite of what she just said.
“Yeah, well, he was being weird.” Santana shrugs again.
“That kid is always weird,” Quinn corrects with a laugh, and Santana laughs along with her. (But Brittany doesn't hold it against Santana because she can see that Santana's really just laughing in relief.)
They start heading back to the gym for indoor recess after that, and Brittany is actually kind of happy when Noah shows up, because he starts bothering Quinn, so Brittany and Santana can fall a step behind them without Quinn noticing. Brittany smiles at Santana, and she lets her fingers graze across Santana’s as they walk.
“You’re nice,” she leans in and whispers.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Santana responds, but Brittany knows better than that.
“You made Kurt cry.”
“Which is not nice,” Santana lies. And Brittany knows Santana is lying because Brittany knows the difference between happy tears and sad tears, and Kurt was definitely crying happy tears. Brittany doesn’t push the issue, though, because she knows Santana is just modest about her niceness.
“You’re such a loser,” Quinn hisses at Noah. Brittany turns her head just in time to see him pull on Quinn’s ponytail and laugh, and Brittany’s glad Quinn decided to not like him anymore. Because Brittany still thinks he’s mean. And maybe even ugly and fat and dumb, like Santana had said the year before.
Brittany turns back to Santana and grins when she sees that Santana is smiling back at her, not even distracted by Quinn and Noah like she had been.
“I like you,” Brittany whispers.
And Santana grabs her hand, pulls her closer, and kisses her on the cheek right before they walk through the gym doors.
………
The second time Brittany is sure that she and Santana are going to be together forever, she’s almost ten (the first time Brittany was sure of it was the day they met).
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: G
Summary: “The first time Santana makes a boy cry without also causing him physical or emotional pain, Santana is nine and a half and Kurt is nine and three quarters.”
Spoilers: None, pre-Glee.
Notes: This is the fourth installment of my “First Time” series (sequel to Three + One), and it took me far too long to write for its length. Hope you enjoy!
The first time Santana makes a boy cry without also causing him physical or emotional pain, Santana is nine and a half and Kurt is nine and three quarters.
………
They’re in the art room when it happens. Recess has just started and the two of them are sitting (well, Kurt’s sitting, Santana’s standing) in the far corner of the room beside the supply shelf where Mrs. Jones can’t really see them. Santana shifts anxiously on her feet, ready to get back to recess before she’s missed, but Kurt’s in no hurry.
He always spends recess in the art room.
Kurt is sitting with his legs crossed and the box in his hands, with the newspaper the box had been wrapped in balled up on the floor beside him. He had described the newspaper-wrapped gift as “quaint” when Santana had dropped it unceremoniously onto his lap, and Santana didn’t know what the word meant, but she did know that the way he’d said made her have to restrain herself from pushing him off his stool.
Santana's head snaps towards the door when she hears voices in the hall, and she turns back to Kurt wishing he would hurry up already and do something because she’s sure Brittany and Quinn are going to start wondering where she went. But all he does is stare down at the box in his hands.
After an hour (which is actually only about thirty seconds), Santana's patience runs out. “Hey, look, I’m gonna-“
Kurt looks up at her suddenly, with big, watery eyes, and Santana kind of wishes she could rewind back to before she gave him the stupid present. It's been more trouble giving it to him than it's worth. (Plus, she hadn’t meant to make him cry.)
“Hey, um… I’m sorry, I just… if you don’t like it I can-”
“I love it,” Kurt interrupts, sniffling, but with a smile on his face.
“Oh.” And Santana’s grateful that Kurt cut her off, because she sucks at apologies, but she furrows her eyebrows in confusion, because who the heck cries when they’re happy?
“Thank you,” Kurt says, hopping gracefully off of his stool and moving forward to give Santana a hug.
But she pushes him away and looks at the open art room door nervously. “Yeah, no problem, it’s not a big deal,” Santana says quickly.
Because it’s totally not a big deal. Actually, it was pretty fun getting her mom to believe that she just had to have the Audrey Hepburn doll for Christmas, and her mom had been pleasantly surprised once she actually did believe Santana. The doll was kind of expensive, though, so all Santana got was the doll and school clothes and church clothes for Christmas, but it’s not like she would’ve gotten the paintball gun (to shoot at her brothers) like she really wanted anyway. So, yeah, it wasn’t a big deal.
Plus, Santana can’t wait to see the look on her mom’s face when she tells her that she lost the doll. Maybe I'll tell her I put it in the middle of the street to watch it get run over, Santana thinks with a grin.
“I really-“ Kurt starts trying to thank Santana again, but she just grabs the doll and hides it in the nearest supply cabinet.
“Just don’t let anyone see it, okay?” she commands (because she doesn't want a repeat of last year), and the boy nods, his eyes still watery and happy at the same time.
………
When Brittany and Quinn walk past the art room, Santana is just walking out of it. Her eyes widen for less then a second, but Brittany and Quinn both notice. (Brittany because she's good at noticing little things like that, and Quinn because she's good at noticing little things like that when she knows someone's doing something they shouldn't be doing.)
“What are you doing here?” Quinn asks sharply, and Santana shrugs in a failed attempt to look causal.
“What are you doing here?” she asks back.
Quinn just rolls her eyes and looks past Santana, into the art room, and a smirk forms on her face, so Brittany looks into the art room, too. Kurt is sitting at one of the tables inside. He has a pencil in his hand, and a piece of paper in front of him, but he’s holding the pencil still and just staring at the paper with red, poofy eyes and a few tear stains running down his cheeks.
“You know, it’s not nice to make people cry,” Quinn says, when she turns back to Santana, and she says it in a way that Santana and Brittany both know means that Quinn thinks the exact opposite of what she just said.
“Yeah, well, he was being weird.” Santana shrugs again.
“That kid is always weird,” Quinn corrects with a laugh, and Santana laughs along with her. (But Brittany doesn't hold it against Santana because she can see that Santana's really just laughing in relief.)
They start heading back to the gym for indoor recess after that, and Brittany is actually kind of happy when Noah shows up, because he starts bothering Quinn, so Brittany and Santana can fall a step behind them without Quinn noticing. Brittany smiles at Santana, and she lets her fingers graze across Santana’s as they walk.
“You’re nice,” she leans in and whispers.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Santana responds, but Brittany knows better than that.
“You made Kurt cry.”
“Which is not nice,” Santana lies. And Brittany knows Santana is lying because Brittany knows the difference between happy tears and sad tears, and Kurt was definitely crying happy tears. Brittany doesn’t push the issue, though, because she knows Santana is just modest about her niceness.
“You’re such a loser,” Quinn hisses at Noah. Brittany turns her head just in time to see him pull on Quinn’s ponytail and laugh, and Brittany’s glad Quinn decided to not like him anymore. Because Brittany still thinks he’s mean. And maybe even ugly and fat and dumb, like Santana had said the year before.
Brittany turns back to Santana and grins when she sees that Santana is smiling back at her, not even distracted by Quinn and Noah like she had been.
“I like you,” Brittany whispers.
And Santana grabs her hand, pulls her closer, and kisses her on the cheek right before they walk through the gym doors.
………
The second time Brittany is sure that she and Santana are going to be together forever, she’s almost ten (the first time Brittany was sure of it was the day they met).