Brittany's imagination was always big enough to make sure she was never lonely, even if she was alone. The tree house in her back yard was a spaceship on Monday, and her stuffed animals were the astronauts. On Tuesday, the tree house was the top tower of a castle, and she was the hero who had to save everyone trapped in it. Every day was an adventure, and Brittany was never alone.
Santana moved in next door when they were both five, and Brittany guarded her tree house with everything she had. She'd never had a playmate before, and she didn't want someone to come in and just ruin it all.
She played with Santana every day, but only in sandboxes or on jungle gyms. She wasn't ready to share everything just yet.
Three weeks after Brittany started playing with Santana she tested her. It was a really big deal to let someone else play with her in her tree house.
"If you could have a superpower, what would it be?"
Santana stopped pushing her toy car along the ground and looked up. Brittany could tell that she was thinking hard, and that alone almost made Brittany think that Santana was good enough.
"I'd… I'd be able to fly!" Santana said after a few moments. "No, I'd be invistable!"
"You mean invisible," Brittany said with a giggle.
"Yeah, invistable! That's what I said!" Santana replied, looking confused because she couldn't hear the difference. Brittany decided in that moment that she'd take a chance on her.
"Okay, well there's a monster up in that building and he's kidnapped the princess and we have to save her! But you can't let him see you!"
Santana's face turned serious and she looked at the tree house as if it was really changing in front of her and it was now a skyscraper, with a monster inside.
"Okay," she nodded. "What are you going to do? It'll be easier to do it together."
Brittany looked at Santana as if she'd just found everything she'd ever been looking for.
"I think… I'm going to be super strong!" she said, flexing her arm muscles. "So I can catch the princess if you throw her down to me, then you can beat the monster!"
Santana ran to the base of the tree and placed a finger over her lips to tell Brittany to be quiet. She started making hand signals telling Brittany where to go, before she started climbing.
Brittany just watched as, for the first time, she fully let someone in.
Brittany doesn't think telepathy is as awesome as everyone makes it out to be. Yeah, sometimes it would be cool to be able to read other people's minds, but then again she thinks it would make the world a really loud place to be in if you could hear everyone at once, and the world is already loud enough as it is.
She thinks she's telepathic when it comes to Santana though.
Sometimes Santana says things and Brittany can hear what she really wants to say; all the things that are in Santana's head. Like when Santana said that she kept kissing Brittany to get better at kissing boys, when what she really wanted to say was "I like kissing you." When she told Brittany that she'd be back soon, just before she disappeared upstairs with Puck at a party, Brittany knows that she wanted to say "I wish he was you instead."
Sometimes it hurts, but there's a silent understanding between them and Brittany knows that there's a reason behind all of the lies.
Santana's not as strong as everyone thinks.
Brittany really sees Santana properly for the first time after Mr. Schuester says that their assignment for the week is 'duets'.
Santana's lips are trailing tracks up and down Brittany's neck and she knows that this really isn't what she should be thinking about when Santana's hands are running down her sides like that, but she goes for it anyway and asks Santana to sing with her.
"I'm not making out with you because I'm in love with you and want to sing about making lady babies."
Brittany feels breathless and weightless and she's glad that she's lying down right now, because all she can hear is "I love you, but I'm scared."
They've been doing this for months, maybe even years now, but no-one's ever mentioned love. Not in this context.
And for Santana to bring it up first, well, Brittany didn't know until then how much she wanted to hear those words.
That's when she realises. What Santana said and what she heard are two different things, and suddenly the world comes crashing back down on her just as she hears something about Santana being a lizard.
Yeah, Brittany doesn't care for telepathy so much.
Under the cover of darkness it's just them. No need to impress, no standards to meet, it's just Brittany and Santana.
Brittany's naked and she feels naked. She always does. She gives Santana everything, does nothing by halves.
Santana's naked too, but Brittany knows she's only physically naked. Sometimes it's like Santana's still clothed.
Sometimes when Santana's below her, and she's looking down at perfect curves as they rise and fall in all the right places, Brittany wishes she could see Santana's eyes.
She doesn't understand why Santana never opens her eyes when they do this. She remembers back when they were eleven and Santana's brother got a set of night vision goggles and she didn't know what they were. Santana told her that they were so he could see clearly in the dark.
Maybe that's why Santana keeps her eyes closed; because Brittany's pretty sure that everything is as clear as it can be when there's skin against skin and they're panting against each other.
Maybe she has night vision without needing goggles.
As Santana's fingers work inside her and her tongue moves in perfect harmony with Brittany's, everything just becomes clearer and clearer.
Like how the Santana's right hand is holding Brittany's left, or how Brittany swears that even when their heartbeats speed up, they're still perfectly in time.
In the stillness afterwards, Brittany realises that it's dark when your eyes are closed too. Maybe Santana can't escape it.
That thought makes her sad because, if she can't escape it, why won't she just give in?
She can hear Jacob Ben Israel speaking behind her trying to get a story, and when she turns round she realises he's talking to Santana.
They stop in the doorway of Santana's next class and Jacob asks her something about her and Karofsky being soulmates.
Brittany thinks she might be able to stop time, because everything is on pause and the world is silent.
Santana's eyes never leave Brittany's and they just stare, speaking to each other in a language only they understand. Brittany forgets to breathe, but if time has stopped then she probably doesn't need to anyway.
"Yeah, I'd say that was accurate."
When Santana breaks eye contact and walks into the classroom, everything starts moving again but she's only vaguely aware of anything that's happening around her.
The only thing that matters is the pain in her chest and the apology she saw in Santana's gaze.
They're back from New York and Brittany knows Santana's still angry about losing because Finn and Rachel decided that their hormones were more important than a trophy. Brittany knows that there are more important things than trophies, but that one was kind of a big deal.
"Sorry. What was it about?"
Even though they lost, Brittany knows they've had a good year and they've come a long way. Not just her and Santana, but the whole Glee club. She tells Santana that the year was about acceptance and that as long as she gets another year with everyone, she's happy.
Santana seems to shrink after that, her words smaller than usual.
"What about you and I?"
It's like the world has stopped turning, and the only way to make it start again is for Brittany to answer.
When she does, the world doesn't just start spinning again, but it spins faster than before. Santana's in her arms and they're both letting out the breath they were holding.
"You're my best friend."
Brittany's never understood time travel before, but right now it seems to fall into place. She thinks she's everywhere at once. The rules don't apply any more. She's five again in the sandbox, she's thirteen and Santana's lips are on her own, she's twenty-one and signing papers for an apartment, she's twenty-six and she's holding their child beside a sweaty but beautiful Santana in the delivery suite, she's thirty-three celebrating Santana's promotion at work, she's –
It's only when Santana pulls back and holds out her pinkie for Brittany to take, that she realises she's only seventeen and she's only here.
"When did you get so smart?"
But maybe here is good enough.
For the first time in her life, Brittany's tried really hard to make a difference for the greater good. She's always tried to be a good person, but she's never believed that she could be someone who makes a difference to everyone.
She's spent the past three nights with Kurt, asking him about unicorns and rainbows and strategy. He seems to be the opposite of her. He believes he can make a difference to everyone, but he's not really being nice about it or doing it for the right reasons. He's hiding all the best parts of himself because he thinks they shouldn't be celebrated, just like Santana does. Brittany really doesn't get that at all.
So when she decides to take matters into her own hands and roll out the unicorn campaign anyway, without Kurt's consent, she expects him to thank her.
That's why she's so shocked when he storms down the hall, tearing the poster off the wall and shouts at her in front of everyone. Santana's behind her; Brittany can feel her presence and hear her saying that Kurt should be grateful because in the original poster the unicorn was riding him.
She knows all these things are happening around her, but she's stuck to the spot, head spinning, because she doesn't understand what she did wrong. Then the guilt hits her, and she's turning to Santana saying that she's failed.
"No, look, this campaign is brilliant."
Brittany can feel herself soften. Santana's voice – the words too, but mostly just her voice – has always been able to soothe her.
"Completely, and if he doesn't get it then he doesn't deserve to have you as his campaign manager."
There's a slight pause, and then Santana's looking at her with nothing but honesty and love.
"There's no-one like you. You're a genius, Brittany."
Her heart speeds up and the voice in her head telling her that she's failed gets quieter. The one that lets her believe in herself gets louder.
"You are the unicorn."
And then Santana's gone, and Brittany's left standing alone in the hallway.
Santana's words kept repeating over and over in her head all day, filling her from head to toe. Nothing could get past them, nothing – no amount of people telling her she can't, or that she's stupid. No-one knows her like Santana, and if Santana believes that she's a genius, then nothing else matters to Brittany. Santana wouldn't lie.
Kurt comes around eventually and crawls back with his tail between his legs. Maybe he's realised too late what Santana's known all along. He asks if she's still in for his campaign.
"I'm starting to believe in my own magic."
He's shocked, and any other time it would hurt, but right now with the armour of Santana's words, Brittany's invincible.