Title: Nice Guys Finish First
Pairing: Mike/Santana and Santana/Brittany
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own anything related to Glee.
Notes: This was also posted to my tumblr, so it might seem familiar. It's dedicated to Lucy. :)
Kindergarten is when Mike meets Brittany Pierce. During the second week of school, when they were supposed to be napping, she had come up to him and asked if he knew where Georgie had gone, and that she had looked everywhere for him.
It wasn't until a week later, when they were all at recess, that he saw Brittany laughing with and hugging a small brunette with tan skin. She looked embarrassed, and he noticed Brittany was holding a stuffed pig.
That was the first time he saw Santana Lopez.
The first time he talked to Santana wasn't until third grade when they finally had a class together.
They were all working on math problems, and he could hear her sigh from two seats behind him. He turned to look at her, and was met with Noah Puckerman glaring at him.
After class had ended, he walked up to Santana while she was getting her stuff out of the cubbies.
"Hey, do you want help with our homework?" He asked in a rush. She was looking at him like he was crazy, and he felt no different.
Santana shook her head without a word, and walked out of the classroom but not before turning back around and giving Mike a small smile.
In fourth grade, he finds out just how close Santana and Brittany are.
They are all in PE, and doing jumping jacks when he sees Noah accidentally bump into Brittany - hard. She's on the floor in an instant, clutching her leg and crying.
The whole class surrounds her, but Santana is the one on the floor, arms around Brittany and whispering something in the blonde's ear that causes her to calm down a bit.
The teacher sends Brittany to the nurse, but she refuses to go unless Santana goes with her. They leave hand in hand, and Santana narrows her eyes at Noah when they pass by him.
It's the beginning of sixth grade when Mike gets his first kiss.
In the middle of the woods, at Science Camp, when the lights were out in the cabin, and he ventures his way to the bathroom. He hears hushed whispers coming from down the hall, and out of curiosity, he makes his way towards them.
He sees Brittany and Santana sitting in an empty room and they are playing cards. He steps to get a closer look when the floor creaks beneath him and both Brittany and Santana turn to stare at him.
"Mike!" Brittany shouts, and Santana shushes her.
He enters the room, and stands awkwardly over them, until Brittany tells him to sit down.
They play a round of Go Fish, when Santana grabs the empty water bottle next to her and suggest they play spin the bottle.
"But there's only three of us, San," Brittany says, frowning.
Santana just shrugs, and spins the bottle.
Mike holds his breath, and then his eyes go wide when it lands on him.
Brittany giggles, and he is staring at Santana, and he can't quite place the look on her face before she leans forward, grabbing his shirt and kisses him.
When he pulls back, Santana is smiling, but that quickly fades and she picks up the bottle, grabs Brittany's hand, and they are quickly out the door, with Brittany waving to him.
When he enters high school, he's grown four inches, his voice is deeper and he's more steady on his feet.
That's also when he gets his first girlfriend; it only lasts for two days.
He's at a party that Noah (Puck, as he likes to be called now) is hosting, and they are all playing truth or dare.
When it's his turn, Finn dares him to spend Seven Minutes in Heaven with Santana. Everyone oo's and ahh's and Santana glares at him, but stands up anyway, leading the way.
He stands nervously in the bedroom while she sits on the bed.
"Will you be my girlfriend?" He blurts out before he even realizes what he's doing.
Santana's eyes go wide briefly, before she laughs.
"Why would I want to date you, Mike?"
He doesn't have an answer for that, so he just shrugs.
They sit there in silence for another five minutes.
Right before their seven minutes is up, he hears her sigh.
"Okay." She says softly, and nothing else.
He grins so hard, and doesn't care that they didn't kiss.
Two days later, he sees Brittany and Santana coming out of the bathroom with guilty looks on their faces, and Santana ends it with him. He's not as hurt as he should be.
It isn't until junior year, that he realizes just how much Brittany means to Santana.
It's the night before the glee club is supposed to perform at sectionals, and he finds Santana sitting on a curb outside the local diner.
He considers just leaving, but he goes up to her anyway, and sits next to her.
They sit in silence for a whole five minutes until she speaks.
"I hurt her. I hurt her, and now she's with Artie, and I don't know what to do."
It's the first time Santana has really said anything meaningful to him, and he's not surprised that it's about Brittany.
He takes her hand, squeezing it softly.
"She still cares about you. You just… you did hurt her, Santana. But that doesn't mean she's still not there."
He recalls the conversation he and Brittany had the night before at the dance studio. She had poured her heart out to him. And now her best friend was doing the same.
"I just don't know what to do, Mike. How do I get her back?"
He contemplates this for a while.
"Do you remember in kindergarten when you stole Brittany's stuffed pig?"
She laughs and nods her head.
"Why did you do that?"
"Because she spent all her time with that damn pig, and I just wanted her to pay attention to me."
"Do you think that's maybe how she feels now?"
He sees her face turn into a confused scowl, before it softens.
"I do pay attention to her." Santana sighs, and stands up.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going over to Brittany's to wish her good luck for tomorrow." She stands in front of him, then pulls him to his feet, and before he can say anything, she's hugging him.
They stand in front of the restaurant just holding onto each other.
When they pull apart, she has a smile on her face that reminds him of the one she gave him in third grade.
When he's driving home that night, he gets a text from Tina saying that she misses him.
He smiles to himself, and just hopes that Santana will get the girl she deserves too.