prompt: you found me drunk and crying in a bathroom bc my ex dumped me and then you brought me to a taxi and insisted to give me your number so you'd know that i got home safe and then we start texting a lot AU
AN: posted this a few months ago on tumblr
It was a regular Thursday night for Brittany, which meant partying hard at a club! She'd been rocking the dance floor for the better part of the night and hanging out with her friends and drinking heavily because hello it was Thirsty Thursday and her and her girls got in for free. It was a time for celebration, the semester was coming to a close, warm weather was right around the corner and well come on, what college student needs too much of a reason to drink? Exactly.
The blonde dancer was making her way to the bar in dire need of water. It took much too long for her liking for the bartender to notice her and get her a glass of the refreshing beverage. But her friend, Kitty, had chosen one of the more popular clubs for this outing and Brittany couldn't really complain too much. The place was full of great energy and happy people, she hadn't seen a single fight break out. It was probably because the crowd was a little older, people who wanted to drink for a buzz rather than get shit faced like the bars and clubs closer to the college campus. It was a nice change of pace.
She returned to dancing after draining the glass. Brittany noticed her blonde friend had found a replacement dance partner, a short brunette with a large smile and loud enough voice to carry over the blasting music. Brittany entertains herself by dancing with her other friends until she has to sneak away to use the restroom. She glances briefly at another girl standing at the sink in a sinfully short dress, eyes lingering on her ass longer than necessary before ducking into a stall. Brittany wiggles out of her panties and sways slightly as she holds herself just above the toilet seat. 'You never know how drunk you are until you try to pee,' she thinks to herself, cracking a smile.
The blonde nearly falls into the toilet when a loud wailing echoes around the bathroom. She quickly finishes up and jumps out from the stall to see that same woman was leaning her hands on the sink counter and now sobbing so hard that it shook her shoulders. Brittany's chest aches for the female and she approaches the line of sinks slowly so that she can quickly wash her hands. Before she can offer any kind of words to the girl, she whirls on Brittany, deep eyes glazed and tear tracks carrying mascara down her cheeks, "Why?" she sobs.
Brittany shakes her hands free of some water and shifts closer, cooing, "Sweetheart, are you alright?" But it seems to have been the wrong thing to say because the brunette's face scrunches, a garbled sound getting stuck in her throat before she's collapsing, and Brittany has to lurch forward to make sure she doesn't slam her pretty little head against the counter.
She hoists the woman up slightly, only for the brunette to cling to her desperately, talking between sobs and hiccups, "I'm so pretty.. I don't know why she left me.." The woman pulls back slightly and looks at Brittany, lips trembling, "Do you—Aren't I pretty?"
Brittany pouts a little bit herself, keeping an arm around the stranger's waist and reaching up to brush away some hair that had stuck to the woman's wet cheek. "You sure are," she tells her with a small smile. "What's your name?"
The brunette pulls her head back further, trying to get the blonde in better focus, eyebrows pinching together as she opens her mouth and fumbles over the natural syllables of her own name, "Suh…Sun…San-ta," the brunette shakes her head and Brittany bites her lip to hold back a giggle. "San-tan-uh," the woman enunciates slowly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Santana," the blonde says lowly. It has the stranger positively beaming for a moment, eyes shining brightly for the first time since she started crying.
"Yor'like reallyy pretty," she slurs, one hand moving from Brittany's shoulder to slide around her neck and slip into her hair. Brittany smiled, giggling at the slight tickle. Suddenly the woman's eyes clouded again and her brow wrinkled.
Brittany looked over her worriedly, "What's wrong?"
"Your hair—" Santana sniffled, wrapping some blonde hair around her fingers, "I just, I love it so much," she wailed and fell forward into Brittany.
The blonde rolled her eyes and pat the woman's back. "It's okay," she murmured, cooing softly to try and hush this stranger.
"It's not okay!" Santana yelled, suddenly ripping herself away from the blonde and grabbing her by the shoulders, steadying her own wobbly legs. Their eyes met, Santana's surprisingly alcohol-haze free and burning with emotion. "Nothing is okay."
Brittany was floored by the utmost seriousness in the middle of this woman's drunk ramblings. "O-Okay," she mumbled, taking half a step backwards.
But Santana gripped tighter, giving a slight shake to Brittany's shoulders. "She dumped me. After we went through so much together!" Tears spilled over, falling down her cheeks in rapid succession. Brittany glanced around, wondering why no one else had come to use the bathroom, usually the woman's room was always packed. "I went back in the closet for her! Do you know how hard that is for someone like me? I had to lie about myself all over again," she paused, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut to fend off a sob.
"Oh, sweetheart," Brittany cooed, wrapping her arms tenderly around the woman as her body trembled. She stroked Santana's hair and rocked her gently until the brunette had calmed significantly. "Come on, Santana, let's get you home, okay?" She could feel her nodding against her chest, and in a comforting gesture, kissed the top of her head and gave her a squeeze. "Let's go," she urged, guiding Santana out of the bathroom.
Just before they got tangled in the mass of gyrating bodies, they had to turn back for Santana's clutch. Brittany made a joke about it that thankfully had the corners of Santana's mouth turning upwards. They made it outside and Santana shivered from the cool breeze. Feeling the urge to keep this woman safe and protected, Brittany wrapped an arm over her shoulders, pulling her close. Santana leaned heavily against her savior's side, stealing her warmth.
"Where do you live?" Brittany asked. She had to duck her head as Santana mumbled something. "What?" She ducked her head further.
Santana tilted her head, exhaling a huff right against the blonde's ear, causing a shiver. "Downtown."
Brittany rolled her eyes, "Where downtown?"
Santana grunted, burrowing herself into the blonde's warm neck, "Mmm.. can't tell you."
"I need to get you home safe. I'm not leaving you at the curb."
"Stranger danger," she mumbled.
Brittany laughed, giving Santana's shoulders a squeeze. "Alright fine. If I get you a cab, you can tell the driver your address yourself, but you have to text me when you get home."
"Mmmm."
"Okay?"
"Okay."
"What did I just say?"
"…You want my digits."
Brittany flushed, barking out a nervous laugh. "No, I want you home safe, silly." She guided the woman towards the curb, lifting her free arm to hail a taxi.
Santana sighed, winding her arms loosely around her waist. Brittany glanced at the woman and squeezed her shoulder again, before looking out to the street and whistling.
Thankfully they didn't have to wait much longer for a taxi to pull over. Brittany opened the door and tried shuffling Santana into the backseat. But Santana wasn't having any of it, she clung to Brittany, whining, and sent them toppling into the cab.
"Woah there," she laughed, catching herself before they completely wrecked themselves. "C'mon Santana, we gotta get you home." Another whine. Brittany chuckled, giving a pinch to Santana's side to make her squirm. It was enough of a distraction to get the Latina seated. "There you go," she laughed, nudging the woman's bare legs inside.
When her clutch was snatched, Santana made a blind grab for it, but Brittany was too quick. "Hold on, take my number," she insisted, rifling for the phone until she could dial her own cell. "And text me when you're home safe."
Santana huffed an exaggerated, "Fiiiine," while leaning into the seat and tilting her head back.
Brittany shook her head and handed over the items. "I mean it. I want to know you're safe," she firmly told the other, catching her gaze.
Santana held the gaze for a long moment before nodding her head several times. "Yeah, yeah."
The driver cleared his throat and Brittany pinned him with a vicious glare. She tilted her head towards Santana and reached out, brushing hair from her face. "Text me," she urged, cupping the woman's chin.
"Yeah," Santana mumbled, leaning into the touch with fluttering lashes.
It had the blonde smiling and she reached forward with her other hand, stroking Santana's cheeks and rubbing away the mascara tracks. "Tell him your address and then text me when you're there."
She gave the driver a pleading look, "She's going Downtown, please standby until she's in her building." He glanced between them before shrugging in compliance. She uttered a, "Thank you," before turning back to Santana. Brittany chewed her lip. How many times can you tell someone to do something before they get annoyed? "Alright, goodnight Santana."
"Night blondie," she sighed.
"Brittany."
"Brittany?"
"That's my name don't wear it out," she teased with a grin. "Be safe," she reminded the woman, placing a swift kiss on her forehead, before pulling away to close the door. Brittany stepped away, watching through the window as Santana interacted with the driver.
It took a few minutes before things were settled and the taxi was driving away. Brittany watched as it drove off and nearly jumped out of her skin when someone called out, "There you are!" She spun to see Kitty and her dance partner from earlier. "I've been looking everywhere, what happened?"
Brittany smiled slightly and laughed, "You'd never believe me."
Kitty gave her a curious look as they all gathered together. "Here," she handed over Brittany's clutch, "I don't know what the other girls have planned but I'm leaving."
Brittany wiggled her eyebrows, causing the other blonde to flush. "Hi!" she addressed the third female, a tiny brunette with big brown eyes, "I'm glad to see Katherine found some company while I was gone, I'm Brittany," she introduced, sticking out her hand.
"Rachel Berry," she responded, grinning and firmly shaking the offered hand. "Pleasure to meet you. If you're going in the same direction perhaps we could split a cab? It would lessen the cost for all and carpooling is a great way to help the environment."
Brittany glanced at Kitty who looked horrified by the idea, and smirked. "Sure, I'm heading to campus. You too?"
Kitty cleared her throat and glared. "Rachel has her own apartment, we were going to get to know one another a little more.."
Brittany could barely contain her gleeful grin as she hummed, "Sounds lovely."
To: Santana
haven't heard from you yet, hope you're home safe
New Message, Santana
who dis ?
Brittany smiled and laughed to herself. Santana was definitely still a bit drunk.
To: Santana
Brittany, I got you a cab
New Message, Santana
BLooonndddieee!
To: Santana
are you home?
New Message, Santana
yupp
To: Santana
good. pop an Advil. drink water. I'll text you in the morning (:
After the brief texting between her and Santana, Brittany managed to make it home without pissing off or embarrassing Kitty too much. But it was just too fun to tease her in front of this Rachel Berry person. But she was glad to be walking into her dorm, it was well past two and she did have class tomorrow afternoon. She needed to shower off the sweat from dancing and brush her teeth before curling into her bed and getting as much sleep as possible.
When the morning rolled around she couldn't help but check her phone. There were no messages from Santana, but she hadn't expected to see one, it was ten in the morning after all. She rolled the device in her hands for a moment before deciding to shoot one off.
To: Santana
good morning! Hope your hangover isn't too bad
It wasn't until after her afternoon class had gotten out and she was grabbing lunch in the caf that her phone vibrated.
New Message, Santana
who is this? how did you get my number? Why are you listed as "BLooonndddieee!" ?
Brittany laughed to herself and tucked the phone away while she grabbed a bunch of food. Once she was sitting at the table her friends usually claimed, she replied.
To: Santana
bc I'm the blonde stranger who saved your drunk ass last night
New Message, Santana
oh dear lord. I'm so sorry
To: Santana
it's okay, really, I'm just glad I could help you get home safe
New Message, Santana
not sure how you managed to do it, but thank you
To: Santana
no problem (:
New Message, Santana
so I didn't catch your name
To: Santana
you did, but I don't blame you for forgetting. It's Brittany
She looked up from her phone when someone slid into a chair across from her saying, "What's got you smiling at your phone like a dope?"
Brittany smirked, "And what's got you positively glowing, Kitty?"
The blonde rolled her eyes, "I wish.."
"Oh, so you didn't get lucky last night?"
Kitty sighed, pushing around her food, "I thought that's what was going to happen. You know how it is, getting all up on someone while dancing," she shrugged, "So I assumed when we made plans to go to her apartment, we'd continue on the same track. But instead we talked, like all night."
Brittany grinned widely, "That's actually great to hear."
Kitty tried to hide a smile but Brittany saw it, though she chose to ignore it for the time being. "And what about your new texting pal? Have anything to do with the taxi you were longingly staring after?"
Brittany laughed at that, shaking her head. "I helped this girl at the club. She was drunk and crying in the bathroom, I made sure she got a taxi and we started texting."
"She hot?" Kitty lifted her fork to her mouth. Brittany rolled her eyes, before getting distracted by another text.
New Message, Santana
i feel like such an idiot. i can barely remember last night
Brittany chewed her lip. When should she deliver the bad news…? It's better to just rip off the band-aid, right?
To: Santana
I found you in the bathroom, crying bc you'd been dumped
That was the right thing to do, but it still sucked to have to do it. Brittany fiddled with her phone until the clatter of plates hitting the table distracted her. More friends here for lunch. She smiled and greeted them, tucking her phone away to socialize for the time being.
New Message, Santana
I'm sorry for whatever drunk ramblings you had to have sat through
Brittany rolled over and grabbed her beeping phone off her desk. She rubbed at her eye and yawned, reading over the text again.
To: Santana
no worries. I've sat through worse
She stared at the screen for a moment before firing off another text.
To: Santana
if you ever wanna talk about it, you have my number. you don't even need to be drunk
It was nearing midnight, but tomorrow was Saturday and there were no classes. Brittany rubbed her eyes again and sat up, letting out a big silent yawn before shaking her head to try and clear it enough to stay awake and chat. She blinked blearily down at her phone and raised her hand to her mouth, fighting off another yawn.
Incoming Call: Santana
Brittany stared at the screen entirely too long, trying to comprehend the fact that she was actually receiving a call from the other woman. She hit accept and drew the phone to her ear. "Hello?" She cleared her throat quietly, trying to get the sleep out of it.
"... Sorry is this a bad time?"
Brittany couldn't hold back her smile at the sound of Santana's slight hesitance. "It's cool. I did offer to talk with you." She heard the crackle of an exhale against the speaker and smiled to herself.
"You did.."
Brittany listened to the other woman's breathing on the line for what felt like forever. "So what are you up to?"
There was a pause before Santana finally answered, "Can I just text you?" Her voice was small and unsure.
"Yeah, no problemo," Britt chirped.
"Okay, goodbye."
"Buh-Bye!"
Brittany stared down at her phone with confusion. She thought it was kind of funny that Santana would call her only to end up asking if they could text. She found it a touch silly.
New Message, Santana
sorry
New Message, Santana
phone calls are awkward for me
New Message, Santana
is it okay if we just text for now?
Brittany smiled to herself as all three texts came in rapid succession.
To: Santana
no worries Santana :)
She didn't have to wait long for another message. In fact, Santana was particularly fast with her responses. Perhaps she didn't want to let Brittany fall asleep between texts.
New Message, Santana
I just wanted to thank you again. Not everyone would actually get a stranger in a cab and be kind enough to check on them the next day.
To: Santana
maybe bc I'm not just anyone
New Message, Santana
Yeah I can tell that already
To: Santana
plus you were pretty sweet, so i couldn't just abandon you
New Message, Santana
Oh boy. I'm sorry if in my inebriated state I inappropriately hit on you
To: Santana
oh no worries at all! you just cried about how pretty my hair was. it was sweet
New Message, Santana
Well that's quite embarrassing
Brittany giggled, even though Santana was embarrassed, her drunk antics had been particularly adorable. The blonde found it heartwarming when drunk girls cried over how awesome their friends were, or how pretty something was. But then again, Santana had began crying for an entirely different reason.
New Message, Santana
I'm sorry again, I definitely ruined your night
To: Santana
don't be sorry
To: Santana
It was 2am and i needed to go home anyways ;P
New Message, Santana
Do you want to get coffee?
New Message, Santana
Not right now obviously. Tomorrow afternoon?
To: Santana
What you don't drink tons of coffee past midnight?
New Message, Santana
Not anymore, usually
To: Santana
Lol yes I'd love to get coffee tomorrow
New Message, Santana
Okay, great
To: Santana
Noon at the Starbucks on campus?
New Message, Santana
That works perfectly. See you then, goodnight Brittany
To: Santana
G'night Santana (: