Title: Math Is Hard
Author: thraikios
Pairing: Brittany/Santana
Rating: T
Summary: One Shot. Brittany is having trouble with her Math and Santana is having none of it. Fluff I guess.
Word Count: 1614
Disclaimer: I own too much stuff but unfortunately Glee isn't one of those things
Author's Note: This is my first Brittana fic. I doubt it's very original but I had fun writing it. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!
"I can't."
"You can't, or you wont?" Brittany shrugged, casting her eyes downward to pay close attention to the knit of her blanket.
Santana stood, hands on hips, starring; mystified by the blonde who was sat cross-legged on the bed in front of her. "Britt, you did this last week. You could do this last week."
Brittany shrugged again. She couldn't bring her eyes to meet Santana's. "I forgot it. Math is hard."
Santana was confused. Scratch that, Santana was frustrated. Her and Brittany had prepped for this test together the week before and she was sure her girl had it down. "Well it's not supposed to be easy, otherwise they wouldn't test you on it. Seriously, Britt is this some kind of-"
Brittany's sad eyes rose to meet Santana's and the brunette's heart fluttered. "You said you'd tutor me," the blonde spoke. Santana felt like the dad who promised to play ball.
She nodded, "I did."
"Well this isn't tutoring me," said Brittany defiantly. "This is making me feel stupid." She pouted and stuck her chest out a little, trying to assert some authority. Santana just smirked and decided to relent. In Brittany's defence, she had promised to help her study. Although she had also consented before discovering what it was they were in fact studying. Santana threw her hands up in the air and sighed.
"Fine, okay, you're right. You're right." She settled down onto the bed next to Brittany and gestured, "Let's see, can I see the paper?" Brittany grabbed her school bag from beside her, extracted said paper and passed it to her now willing tutor.
Santana flicked through pages of wrong answers. Oh Jesus, it just gets worse and worse. The brunette settled on the page covered with the most red pen. Her eyebrows shot up in exasperation. Seriously?"Exponentials? Britt you got this. Fidel at Target got this and he knows 5 words of English."
The blonde pouted sadly once more and Santana's heart sunk a little. "I got an F."
Santana put a comforting hand on her friend's knee and smiled reassuringly at her. "Okay. Well, do you know where you went wrong?" Brittany shook her head, her ponytail lolling cutely behind her.
"Well, it's pretty simple," Santana tried to explain. "You've got … 8 to the power of 19 multiplied by 8 to the power of 6. Right?" She pointed at the equation on the paper, Brittany's eyes followed. "If you're multiplying exponentials you just add the powers together." She paused to put more emphasis on her next three words. "You multiplied them." Brittany looked up, eyes filled with innocence and Santana couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. She shook her head, grinning now and carried on. "But if we add them instead we get...?"
Britt shrugged again. "101?"
Santana groaned in frustration. "Come on honey, that's the answer you wrote on the paper."
"Maybe…" Brittany begun, eyes shifty, a smile upon her face, "Maybe if I get it right, I should get something." Santana frowned. She didn't follow, so Brittany continued. "When Lord Tubbington remembers to flush I give him a mentos as a reward. Now he flushes all the time." Say what?Santana shook her head, trying desperately to work out if she'd just heard her friend right.
"You want some positive reinforcement…" Brittany nodded enthusiastically, bouncing a little on her bed as she did so,"…to learn something I know you already know how to do?"
"Uh huh." The blonde was suppressing a smile. Santana sighed. Why can't I help feeling played.
"So you want mentos?" Santana asked incredulously. Brittany shook her head. "What do you want then?"
"Surprise me." She was smiling gleefully now.
"Honey I don't have much to give. I'm kind of empty handed here."
"I'm sure you'll think of something," she teased, picking at the knit of her blanket once more with fidgety hands. The brunette narrowed her eyes, suspicious.
"Fine fine. So, let's go over this. If we want to multiply exponentials we…?"
"Add them together." Brittany said with new-found confidence.
"Exactly," Santana exclaimed. Forgot it my impeccably-toned-ass.
"So if we want to divide two powers we…?"
Silence. And once more Brittany looked clueless. What gives?
"We subtract them, Britt, we subtract them. You know this!" Santana said with frustration, hands clutched at the air in front of her. She then brought them to her face and she buried her head in them. A mumbled "Jesus Christ Shepherd of Judea," could be heard whilst Santana took a moment to regain a little composure. I do love you Britt but sometimes I could just…
She exhaled heavily, rid her mind of any violent thoughts that had gathered there, opened her eyes and decided to persevere. "Now when we have two or more exponents with the same base, this is when we can multiply. So 6 to the power of 3 to the power 9 would be 6 to the power 27 as you've multiplied the 3 by the 9."
"You don't… we don't add them?" She seemed genuinely confused. Good act sweetness but I'm not falling.
"No. But you know that." Brittany didn't give any credence to the accusation so Santana humoured her. Yet again. "What is it you're finding hard babe?"
"I just forget. I can't remember all these rules and formulas." She deflated a little at the admission, defeated. All of a sudden a pang of guilt hit Santana. If it was anyone else in the world she would have been out the door already with some stinging remark. Hell, she wouldn't have even offered to help out in the first place. But it wasn't anyone else in the world, it was her Brittany. Sweet Brittany. The girl who could send her reeling with just a look, the girl who helped tirelessly when Santana needed help with cheers or routines, the girl who… all of a sudden Santana had an idea.
"Well," she said, scooting around so she was sat alongside Brittany, putting a reassuring arm round her shoulder and squeezing, "maybe we can try and find ways that will help you remember. Like, maybe you could cheer some."
"Out loud, in a test?"
"No in your head, you'd have to learn them. Hmm. Let's see. Oh got one! You might be good at basketball, you might be good at track, but when it comes to football you might as well step back… could become… When you want to multiply you can in fact just add, and when want to di-vide all we do is subtract." Santana could feel Brittany trying to suppress a laugh beside her.
"Don't laugh at me, I'm helping!" The brunette said with a pout and a frown.
"You are, you are!" Brittany cooed, grabbing Santana's hand, swaying from side to side with glee. The brunette's skin tingled with the touch. "Okay okay so… 9 to the power 11 times by 9 to the power 8 equals 9 to the power 19?"
Santana nodded with pride. "Yep."
"I got it right?" the blonde asked, a hopeful smile on her face that made Santana swoon. She grinned.
"Of course you got it right! This is what I've been saying –"
Brittany's smiled dropped. She held out her hand, expectant. Santana was confused all over again. "Reward please," she said matter-of-factly.
Unbelievable. "You really want a reward? You're not a cat."
"You said yes," Brittany said indignantly. "I wont let you leave until I get it so you might as well give it up foo." She articulated her point with a quick wave of her forefinger, her eyebrows raised and lips pouted.
Santana smirked. Bitch please. Two can play at that game. If you get to have what you want, I'm gonna gets me what I want."You sure it's going to help you remember?" Brittany nodded excitedly and clapped her hands a little in anticipation.
"Okay," Santana cleared her throat. "Now, close your eyes."
Now it was Brittany's turn to look confused. "Why?"
Santana shrugged, mischief in her eyes. "You said surprise me."
Brittany gave her best friend a suspicious sideways glance but with a raise of Santana's eyebrow the blonde relented and her eyes fluttered closed, long eyelashes rested softly on her cheeks.
Santana closed the short distance between them in an instant and captured Brittany's lips with hers. She ran both hands lightly up the blonde's neck, tickling the soft, sensitive skin as she went, and with one hand pulled the band out of Brittany's thick hair, allowing it to cascade down her back. Brittany giggled slightly into the kiss and responded in turn, nibbling on Santana's bottom lip and then granting her tongue access.
Santana knew she was giving Brittany exactly what she wanted. She knew she was giving in but who could have thought giving in could feel so good? She ran her fingers through blonde hair, her hands over Britt's shoulders, tugging at her cardigan until the blonde aided her in its removal. Her fingertips tingled with heat as she feathered touches down Brittany's bear arms and clutched at her shirt, wishing it away.
The blonde entangled her fingers in Santana's hair and reclined onto the bed, making sure the brunette followed. They were a tangle of limbs and hot, breathless kisses and at that very moment Santana was sure they'd be implementing this reward system whenever possible. She was certainly feeling positively reinforced.
She trailed tender kisses down Brittany's neck, whilst the blonde smiled happily to herself. "What, were we doing again?"
"Math," was the mumbled and slightly breathless response. Brittany considered this for a moment, her eyes glazed, love-drunk.
"Mmm. What is Math?"
The end.