Between Glances
by Musical Bear
Summary: AU. Brittany Pierce is your typical straight-A, fashionable blonde cheerleader. She just happens to be a lesbian and lusts after Kurt Hummel's best friend, Santana Lopez. Kurt Hummel is a ditzy boy who sometimes doesn't know left from right, but has the biggest heart that Santana has ever seen. All Santana wants is for Rachel Berry to shut her overly-large mouth.
"Mr. Schue, all I'm saying is that Finn and I would be the perfect pair to perform this song at Regionals. Troy and Gabriella were probably based off us-"
"Oh shut your trap, Man Hands." Santana snapped from where she was sitting filing her nails by Kurt. "We shouldn't even be preforming songs from High School Musical. What are we, twelve year old girls?"
"I agree with Santana." Brittany remarked. "For Regionals, we should do something like we did at Sectionals. Santana killed Valerie, and Quinn and Sam were our little blonde luck charms. Those Dalton boys were practically seething when they saw our dance moves! It certainly beat their little side-steps."
"Last week performance was great and all, but maybe if Finn and I did the duet, we would have won, rather than tied!" Rachel said, rather cuttingly for her personality.
Puck quickly grabbed Santana around the waist as she made a move to jump out of her seat and strangle her while Finn quickly directed Rachel to a chair far from the raging Latina before she could storm out. Kurt began singing 'Stop the Violence' with a small smile.
"Why are we even worrying about this? We have plenty of time. Why aren't we preparing for Christmas?" Sam asked loudly over the chaos.
William Schuester rubbed his temples from where he sat at the piano bench with Brad. This was getting out of hand. All he had done was walk in and ask if they were ready for Regionals.
When the choir room was calm enough, Mercedes calmly suggested they do a mash-up and another duel.
"That's brilliant idea, Mercedes! Why don't we split the boys and girls up again and see what you guys can cook up?" Mr. Schuester quickly turned and made conversation with Brad to avoid any arguments.
Brittany refrained from herself of accusing the teacher of being a sexist for splitting the team according to gender. Not that Schuster would listen with his over-gelled head so far up his ass.
After a few beats of irritated silence, the teenagers finally separated into different sides of the room, moving chairs from their original places to form two circles. Brittany watched as Kurt tried leaving the boys to be with Santana, but she directed him to sit between Puckerman and his new brother. Finn unhelpfully patted him on his shoulder before Kurt gave him an odd look at moved his chair closer to Puck, who merely glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.
Brittany's attention was quickly diverted as Santana sat to the chair to her left and sent her a nod. Brittany nodded back and tried not to seem too enthusiastic about it.
"So, ladies, let's not be little frou-frou girls and pick songs about how he broke my heart." Quinn began with a small uncharacteristic grin. "I think we should do something that divides the line between a socially acceptable woman and a bad. Something that will tear those boys down and make them cry."
"I totally agree with the badass thing," Lauren said with a devious grin. "I like this side of you, Miss Fabray. All in favor of this brilliant notion say I."
"I." chorused the group of girls save one. Santana and Lauren looked at Rachel, who cowered under their combined glares.
"Before I agree to this, how…badass are we speaking?" Rachel asked warily, slowly straightening her posture in false confidence.
"Christ, Berry. Lighten up." Santana muttered irritably, glancing behind Tina to check on Kurt. Brittany glanced up at him too (she might have a soft spot for the boy who she used in a ploy to pretend to be straight the previous year) and found him holding Puckerman's palm and squinting at it as the rest of the boys discussed something he appeared oblivious to. "It's obvious that the boys will pick something hardcore to throw us off our game. Naturally, we'll retaliate by matching them step for step."
It was quiet for a moment while the girls searched their iPods for inspiration.
"Are we talking Joan Jett badass, or AC/DC badass?" Tina asked after spending a minute going through her rock genre.
It was silent again as the circle of girls considered mixing the unlikely artists. "Now that you mention it," Mercedes said with a growing smile, "Why don't we get on the highway to hell for not caring about our bad reputation?"
The girls let out a loud cheer, which caused the boys to glance over before murmurings grew more intense.
"Brittany do you think you can do our costumes?" Santana asked with a glare at Finn who hadn't looked away yet.
"Of course!" Anything for you. "I'll need everyone to come over at my house this weekend or something so I can get all of your measurements." Brittany said, already going over the material she had hidden away in the back of her closet. Leather would be required for this, of course. Fishnet might be used too, but Brittany hoped it wasn't high in demand. Her outfit, almost perfect in her head, required fishnet. So help her god, if those girls were going to dress like her. Though it would be a huge improvement, she thought as she glanced at Mercedes' rainbow striped shirt.
"Good. Mercedes, Rachel, Quinn- try to talk to the band kids and work out an arrangement with the music, Tina, Lauren, and I can sort out the lyrics." Quinn looked vaguely annoyed at being told what to do, but walked with the two brunettes to where the band kids were lounging on the chairs, probably waiting for the next upcoming dramatic argument.
"I'm so excited! This is going to be better than our Halo/Walking on Sunshine mash-up!" Brittany heard Rachel exclaim to Mercedes as they walked away. She turned to Santana, Lauren, and Tina, who were quietly talking about the pros and cons of starting the song with having Rachel to sing the first verse.
Everyone turned to the group of boys when one of them let out a whoop followed by what sounded like war cry. The boys too had apparently chose their songs. Brittany watched as Kurt glanced up from Puck's palm when he noticed the boys leaving. He dropped the hand and made his way to Brittany when he saw Santana was busy.
"Hello, Kurt," Brittany greeted fondly. She was rewarded with a blinding grin.
"Hi, Britt-Britt! What are you doing here by yourself?" The boy replied brightly.
"All the girls are busy mixing together the songs. My job is to put together their clothes this weekend and make them look fabulous."
"Oh. I think you guys always look fabulous. I really love Tina's boots today. They make her look tall." Kurt pointed to the goth's feet, which were clad in olive green Jimmy Choos to match her green and black dress. Brittany faintly recognized them from their last shopping trip with Quinn.
"That's sweet, Kurt. But most of these girls are rather blind on their own when left with in stores filled clothes." She sent a distained look to Rachel's sweater, which had a picture of a horse.
Honestly some people need all the help I have to offer, she thought. Not that she would say it out loud to Kurt, of course.
Kurt himself was somewhat fashion savvy on some days (she suspected Santana chose his clothes on these days). Today was one of those days. He wore dark wash blue jeans paired with a long sleeve black McQueen shirt with tiny blue skulls dancing up the sleeves. Navy blue boots that were laced up to his knees that he had drawn stars and dragons on in silver sharpie.
Overall, he looked rather slender in these clothes.
If I liked men, I'd be all over that.
"Hey, Britt-Britt, do you wanna come with me and San to get coffee after school? They have these awesome cookies that are shaped like the Eiffel Tower and stuff."
"Sure, if it's okay with Santana."
"If what's okay with me?" asked a voice behind Brittany. She jumped and turned around to see Santana, who raised an eyebrow at her reaction.
"Can Britt-Britt come with us to get coffee at that place we found last weekend?"
Santana glanced at Brittany, who tried not to swallow when their eyes locked.
"I don't see why not. We'll have to take separate cars though. Kurt and I were planning on hitting up the mall."
"Want to come with us?" Kurt asked. Santana glanced at him. He sent a sweet smile back before she rolled her eyes with a soft smile.
"Sure, whatever. Blondie, come with us. Kurt's been dying to spend his allowance on a jacket he saw two weeks ago. You're paying for your own things though."
"I'd love to," Brittany tried to not break into a little dance when Schue dismissed the club. Perfect timing.
She followed the duo into the parking lot, listening to Santana's instructions to follow them and to call if she got lost.
"It's only fifteen minutes out of town. You shouldn't get lost." And with a sweep of her dark hair, Santana made her way over to a black car and opened the driver's side. Kurt quickly hopped into the passenger seat.
Brittany herself went into her own car, a white Volkswagen, and waited until Santana abruptly sped out of the parking lot before following after, praying for this to be a fun, if not neutral, evening.
They arrived at a large coffee shop fifteen minutes outside Lima called the Lima Bean, which Brittany thought was pretty stupid considering it wasn't even in Lima. She parked two cars away from Santana's in the parking lot, which was surprisingly full, and rushed to catch up to them, seeing as Santana didn't seem patient enough to wait for her. Kurt however slowed down a bit from holding his hand in Santana's.
It was another five long seconds before she caught up with them. Santana rolled her eyes and led them inside, which was full of people, yet still had plenty of tables to sit at.
"Kurt, find us a seat for three people and sit down. Blondie, come with me so we can order," Santana said, already moving to the line of people as Kurt began looking around, almost confused looking, though he walking a direction with purpose, so Brittany supposed he knew what he was doing. She quickly followed Santana (she wondered if that's all she would be doing today) and stood beside her in line.
"So, how did you and Kurt find this place?" Brittany asked after a beat of silence.
The brunette looked at her when she spoke, which was a relief because Brittany wasn't sure she had ever done so without looking like she was being forced to do so because of Kurt's presence. "We drove to Westerville to buy some supplies for his dad and stopped here to get directions. It smelt good so we ordered." She shrugged. "We've been coming here every day for the past week. It might start to be routine."
Santana paused to wink at a blonde guy in a navy blazer. The guy smiled back politely while his dark haired friend gaped at her openly.
"Plus it doesn't hurt that there are plenty eye candy who seem to frequent this place too," Santana added. Brittany tried not to let her hopes crumble at this. It wouldn't hurt to join Kurt and Santana's friendship, at least. That is, if they liked her enough. Everybody at school knew those two were joined at the hip since elementary when Kurt punched a boy in the face who called Santana ugly.
Besides, Brittany admired their friendship. Not that she understood it. All she understood about either of them was that Santana threaten people who threaten Kurt, and Kurt only made it this far in his education because the teachers are always charmed by his manners. They had both been in Cheerios last year with Quinn and herself until, rumor has it, Kurt managed to convince Santana to quit with him. Hell, freshman year, she believed they were dating until Kurt and Matt Rutherford kissed in the middle of the hall once and Santana did nothing about it but tell people off who stared too much. They had apparently broken up though when Matt moved last year, their sophomore year.
Now that they were juniors, it occurred to Brittany that she hadn't done much in her high school life. Her coming out of the closet resulted in being a social leper to her old friends before glee club, which left her for the most part, friendless and undateable at McKinley. The most attention she got from her previous friends was a slushie in the face. Besides Mercedes, she had no best friends she knew for sure wouldn't lose contact after graduation. Santana and Kurt were obviously inseparable so Brittany was going to latch onto that. And like Santana said, it didn't hurt it there was eye-candy.
"So, want to tell me why exactly Kurt decided to suddenly invite me?" Brittany asked after another bout of silence.
Santana gave another shrug. "He doesn't plan things. He was probably thinking about this joint when he saw you." She moved forward when the woman in front of them received her order and left.
"Yeah, I need a medium hot chocolate with peppermint, a skinny vanilla iced latte, a chocolate chip biscotti, and two of those Eiffel Tower cookies." Santana ordered briskly. The barista totaled it and she paid, moving to the side and waiting for Brittany, which she was secretly thankful for. She moved forward and placed her own order, a small green tea and muffin.
They looked around for Kurt who stood and waved for them enthusiastically, resulting in a few bemused looks from the table a few down from him consisting of a group of boys wearing the same blazers as the one Santana winked at.
The girls made their way to him, dodging several people before they reached him. Kurt pulled their chairs out before taking his own seat. "Did you get a cookie, Britt-Britt?" He asked not a second after she sat down.
"If you like them so much, I had to get one," Brittany said, watching the group of boys behind Santana get increasingly louder as a few of them looked at their table. "Just go!" She heard one boy say particularly loudly.
"You'll love them, too. I promise," Kurt said solemnly. The barista called Santana and Brittany's names. Santana got up and waved Brittany down when she made a move to also get up.
"So, what are the boys doing for the mash up, or were you not paying attention?" Brittany asked, recalling him looking at Puckerman's hand.
"I was listening. They picked something about Michel Jackson's beetles in Akon. That's a state." Kurt told her knowingly.
What? "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, and something about hands. That's why I was reading Noah's palm." He looked around suspiciously before leaning towards her. "Did you know he's a vampire?" he asked in a low voice.
She raised an eyebrow and humored him. It was Kurt after all. "What makes you say that?"
"His life line stretched all the way across his hand. Also I never see him at lunch."
That's because he usually smokes under the bleachers, Brittany thought.
Before she could reply Santana was returning. Kurt began making grabby hands at the cookies and biscotti, completely ignoring the hot chocolate. Santana didn't seem to notice, putting the drink in front of him and handing him the pastries. She handed Brittany her green tea and muffin before sitting down and taking a sip of her own coffee.
"Thank you." Brittany said softly, blowing into the cup.
"Aw, you didn't get a cookie. Here-" Kurt tore his cookie in half, and seemed to debate with himself which piece to give her, which after a moment he decided on the bigger one. "-I'll only give you the big piece because you haven't tasted one yet." He handed her the bottom part of the Eiffel Tower cookie before sticking his whole piece into his mouth.
"Thank you." Brittany repeated, taking a small bite of the cookie at Santana's meaningful look. It was good, she decided. It was too sugary and filled with carbs to be eaten again after today though.
"It's good right? I should ask the nice lady in front how to make it. My dad would really love them, but Carol says he isn't allowed to eat them because… he'll get sick like last time." Kurt goes quiet for a moment and Brittany's heart breaks a little bit. She reaches across to grab his hands the same time as Santana and their hands meet. Brittany immediately jerks away and blushes terribly.
Kurt looks confused at her reaction and reaches across to grab her hand with the one not occupied by Santana's. "It's okay," he reassures her. "I don't have cooties." Brittany's fingers intertwine with his and she feels vaguely happy because look we're bonding.
"Enough feeling, seriously I might gag." Santana says, though Brittany can see she doesn't really mean it, because she catches her squeeze Kurt's hand just a bit. "Blondie, I think that guy behind me is checking you out."
"Which one? There's a crowd of boys behind you," Brittany says after craning her neck. Yeah, she likes girls but the attention is nice to know she isn't completely unattractive.
Kurt turns to look too. "Is it the black guy? I hope so. Even though you're capitol L lesbian, he looks nice to hang out with here."
Santana says to him amusedly, "You're only saying that because he has those French cookies."
Kurt pouted. "No, but he can share them with me if I ask nicely." He made a move to get up before Santana removed her hand from his to grab his wrist.
"What did your dad say about talking to strangers?"
"To kick their family's jewelry box if they try anything to make me laugh." Either Brittany was getting better at understanding Kurt in the short evening together, or he actually vaguely understood what he had been told.
"Close but no cake," Santana said, tugging him to his seat. "Eat your biscotti or something. Just don't go off making small talk with strangers to get their goods unless you're with me. Agreed?"
"Agreed. You should talk to him though, Brittany. Then we won't be strangers and we can talk." Kurt nodded.
"Kurt, you do remember I'm capitol L lez? It would be mean to get his hopes up."
Santana scoffed. "Who even said it was the black guy looking at you? Kurt just mentioned him because he had cookies. It's the blond with a nice nose."
Kurt leaned over again and proclaimed loudly, "Oh! Sanny, he has a puppy! We have to be friends and not strangers, please?"
Brittany looked over and indeed the blond from earlier that Santana winked at had a small Chihuahua in his lap, and was feeding it pieces of a biscuit. She turned back to Santana, who let out a sigh and looked at Kurt's hopeful face.
The boy let out a quiet cheer when she stood. Brittany stood too, not sure if she should go with them or not.
"Come on, Blondie. We have to introduce you two to get to his dog." What?
Simultaneously, both Santana and Kurt made their way to the blazer table. Brittany wondered if they often conned people to pet their dogs.
She rushed after them, but not too fast as to not seem crazy to the group of boys, who immediately went quiet when they saw their small group of three marching to them.
"So, we noticed you checking out our girl." Santana said coolly. Brittany gave a small wave.
"And that you have a dog." Kurt added helpfully.
Santana nodded. "Yes, a dog. We've come to the decision to let you get her number if you give us the dog for five minutes."
The group of boys looked deeply amused as they looked at the blond boy, who was blushing. "Uh. Sure, let me get my phone, um. What did you say-"
"Brittany." She supplied with a small smile.
Kurt immediately grabbed the black dog when he saw them talking.
"What's his name?" he asked once he had the dog cuddled firmly to his chest.
"Her. Her name is Persephone." The blond corrected after typing his number into Brittany's phone. "I'm Jeff, by the way."
"She's cold," Kurt said sadly. Taking his scarf off, he wrapped it. "There. Now Symphony won't freeze or get hippopotamus."
"Hippopotamus?" One of the boys quietly asked from the far side of the table.
"She's a Chihuahua. They're naturally cold."
Kurt looked at the dark-haired boy who spoke up. He looked at him, confused. "Do you fall a lot?"
"What? No, I don't think so." The boy also looked confused now.
"Then why are you wearing a helmet?"
Jeff and Brittany's stilted conversation died at the amused laughter and quietly observed their friends. Oh god, are we friends? I hope we are, though I don't think a coffee date makes a friendship-what am I saying? This isn't a coffee date it's an acquaintance date.
Brittany's frantic thoughts were cut off by Santana's laughter.
She snickered, as did majority of the boys. The boy made a face and touched his head self-consciously.
He could catch fire at a gas station. That is too much hair gel for America to handle. Brittany thought after she considered him. His jawbone good structure though.
"This is hair gel." He said after a quick glare at his friends.
Kurt wasn't paying attention anymore though. He was cooing the puppy, which had quickly warmed to him and licked his chin, much to Kurt's delight.
"Maybe you two should switch pets. At least this one likes you, Kurt," Santana said.
"Sir Roundbelly loves me!" Kurt said defensively. "He's just going through emotional distress because dad accidently locked him outside two nights ago."
Brittany recalled this as the overweight cat that Kurt often claimed was bipolar and often ate both his father's (and recently) and Finn's socks.
"So, how often do you guys come here?" Santana ran a finger down the chest of Helmet Head, who grabbed her hand pushed it down gently.
"Often enough. We came here today as a whole to celebrate our club's going to Regionals." He said politely.
"Oh! We get to go to. All our friends" Brittany couldn't help but hope this word is just being casually thrown around. "-were fighting about that today with Rachel. Then again we always fight so-"
"Freeze," Santana abruptly. Kurt trailed off, looking at his best friend with a confused expression. "I thought those gaudy blazers looked familiar." Santana narrowed her eyes. "You guys are the Warblers."
Yay for me having a story written in years. As most won't know, I'm new to the Glee fandom. Already I ship Klaine and Brittana, obviously. I also love Kurt and Brittany the most, so I figured, what the hell. Genius Brittany, ditzy Kurt. Hello 'Between Glances'.