So, this is my first time writing for Glee, having been inspired by so many other, much better, Glee fanfics out there. It always struck me as odd that the Glee writers had created this amazing character who genuinely shows more than enough signs of dyslexia, without ever properly addressing it. I know that Brittany is largely supposed to be a comic-relief character, but I think at this point she deserve so much more than that.
Set around season 3, when Brittany and Santana are properly established as girlfriends.
Title comes from the song "I Can Tell That We Are Going To Be Friends" by the White Stripes, which I think sums up Brittana perfectly, for me.
Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, 'I Kissed A Girl' would have never had happened.
Brittany didn't mean to spell stuff wrong, she just got confused sometimes. Letters were confusing. And because letters were confusing, so were the words.
It wasn't her fault that she got mixed up between ballad and mallard. They're almost the same word! Same goes for duvet and duet. And yet, everybody had looked at her as if she was stupid.
She hated that. She hated being called stupid, or idiotic, or brainless, or dumb, or, once or twice, retarded. That word hurt the most. If she were president, she would ban that word completely.
She wasn't any of those things. She knew that. Santana knew that, too. Santana never spoke down to her, or treated her like a child. If Brittany asked her how to spell a word, she would write it down on a piece of paper in clear, un-joined writing, so that Brittany could copy it. And she never, ever laughed at her about it. That was one of the many reasons why Santana was awesome.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that Ms. Pillsbury has told her that she had something called 'dyslexia'. When Brittany didn't know what that was, Ms. Pillsbury told her it was a learning difficulty that meant that she had a lot more trouble than most people when it came to reading and spelling. Ms. Pillsbury also made a point of telling her that it wasn't her fault at all and it's just something she was born with, and, in fact, it was thought that between about 5 to 10% of the population were dyslexic.
"Does that mean I'm not stupid?" Brittany asked, wide eyed.
"Of course you're not stupid, Brittany," Ms. Pillsbury had replied, a soft, caring smile on her face.
Brittany grinned. She knew she wasn't stupid, but sometimes everybody else forgot.
After they had finished talking, with Ms. Pillsbury telling Brittany what this meant for her, and what sort of help she would get, Brittany practically bounced out of the office, eager to find Santana.
When Brittany located her by her locker and told her about what Ms. Pillsbury had said, it turned out Santana was just as excited as she was. She had gone to school with Brittany all their lives and she knew first hand how difficult some things were for her. Sometimes, when Brittany had an essay to write, she would tell Santana what she wanted to say, and then Santana would write it down for her. Santana once joked about being Brittany's 'scribe'. Brittany had asked her if that was the opposite of 'describe'. Santana thought it was a fair question.
"Does that mean the glee club will stop making fun of me?" Brittany asked, biting her lip nervously.
"How do you mean?" Santana countered, curious.
"I mean like, I know how the glee club are supposed to be so accepting and stuff, and it doesn't matter if you're black or white or gay or left-handed or whatever... But, like, I know they try really hard not to make fun of me but... I don't know, I think they forget, sometimes..." Brittany trailed off. She didn't mean to put a downer on their good moods, but this was something she though about a lot but rarely expressed out loud.
"Forget?" Santana pushed gently. She looked right into Brittany's eyes, and Brittany suddenly felt every exposed.
"I just mean, that... Sam's disclectic -"
"-Dyslexic-"
"-Dyslexic, and nobody makes fun of him. Apart from you, but that's different. " That made Santana laugh, and she looked down to the floor, bashfully.
"And maybe," Brittany continued, "If they knew that I was like him, maybe they would... Be a little bit nicer?" She was biting her lip again, and fiddling with her hands.
"Well, why don't we ask Mr. Shue to say something to them?" Santana suggested, taking Brittany's hands in her own, to still them.
Brittany just looked down at the floor. "Mr. Shue isn't very nice, either." Granted, Mr. Shue did help Brittany learn the alphabet, but sometimes he forgot, too, even though he was a teacher.
"Well, then we could ask Ms. Pillsbury to say something to Mr. Shue, since they're smooching an' all. Does that seem like a good idea?"
"Yes," Brittany smiled, feeling a bit better.
"Good." Santana took Brittany's hand properly, and they walked down the hall to their next class.
Brittany wasn't stupid. She knew that. Santana knew that, too.
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