"What's this?" Brittany asked, feigning surprise when Santana slid an envelope across the table to her over breakfast.
Santana was still in her pre-coffee nonverbal stage of the morning, but she managed a brief smile over her mug.
Brittany picked the envelope up with a flourish. "I'm excited," she said, sliding her finger in the gap to start ripping it open.
Santana gave an affectionate roll of her eyes, the steam from her coffee moistening her face.
Brittany finished tearing open the envelope. "Two tickets to…" Her eyes roamed the tickets until they bugged out. "Oh my god, how did you get these?"
Santana gave a satisfied grin.
"Santana, Rachel and Kurt are gonna die of jealousy. You'd think they'd been waiting to see Hamilton since they were in the womb, the way they talk about it."
"We have to wait too," Santana said hoarsely with an apologetic winkle of her nose. "I couldn't get them for tonight."
Brittany glanced at the tickets and saw they were dated for May. "Still… I'm so excited."
Santana grinned, satisfied that her gift had pleased Brittany. "Happy anniversary."
Brittany softened from her excited stiffness, shoulders loosening as she lowered the tickets into her lap and gazed across the table at her wife. "Happy anniversary, baby."
She grinned at Santana until she absolutely had to get up to kiss her. Santana tasted bitter from the coffee, but warm and soft nonetheless.
"Thank you," Brittany mumbled between kisses. "I love it."
"I love you," Santana mumbled back.
"I have your present in the bedroom."
Santana hummed, sliding her hand to Brittany's hip to grip her with no uncertain intent. "Can't wait to open it."
"Not that," Brittany said with a little giggle. "Although, yes, that too."
Brittany extracted herself and walked the three steps into their tiny bedroom. The sheets were still mussed and the closet door hung open. She dug in her sock basket until she found the small box she'd hidden there. She opened it to check the small, stylish silver watch was still in place, then snapped the box closed. She knew Santana would like it.
She stepped back out into the room that functioned as a kitchen, living room, dining room, and office, and set the box in front of Santana.
Though always delighted with gifts, Santana usually hesitated for a moment when Brittany gave her something, as though she wasn't sure she deserved whatever was inside.
"Open it," Brittany said, nodding toward the box.
Santana gave a sheepish grin as she picked up the box. Brittany settled into her chair as she lifted the lid and her eyes went wide.
"Babe…" Santana whined, as though Brittany had saddled her with some pesky burden.
"No," Brittany started to object.
"It's so nice," Santana whined again.
Santana always did this. She complained about the gifts Brittany gave her being too lavish or too sweet or too beautiful for a moment until she got to a place where she could be grateful.
"That's why I got it for you."
"I hope you didn't spend too much."
"Shush," Brittany said, picking up her tea. "Put it on."
Heavy, Santana lifted the watch out of the box, sliding it off its little pillow, and opened the clasp.
"Wait, first look on the back," Brittany said.
Santana looked at the back of the delicate watch, squinting at the engraved message there. She reached for her glasses, eyebrows dancing for a second as her vision adjusted.
"From paper to diamonds, I love you. BLP."
Santana stared at it, waiting to decode what Brittany meant.
"Paper is the traditional gift for first anniversaries, and diamonds are the traditional gift for 60th wedding anniversaries," Brittany explained. "So, you know… we have some time between now and then."
Santana melted a little bit. Brittany had so much faith in them, it was almost too much to comprehend.
"I love it," Santana said, sliding the watch around her delicate wrist. It fit perfectly.
Brittany was still babbling. "Even though the first anniversary is paper, for some reason the suggested gift is a clock…" She trailed off, looking around the room. "Your gift is totally perfect… the paper tickets..."
Santana loved when Brittany got a little flustered like this. It reminded her it was okay to be nervous sometimes, though she rarely was around Brittany these days.
She got up and took her turn leaning over Brittany to kiss her.
"I didn't even know," Santana said between kisses. "Plus, we're not really into traditional anything." She winked.
Brittany relaxed, smiling up at her wife, who looked so elegant despite her oversized tshirt and tangled bed hair.
"It was good luck, huh?" Brittany said. She knew Santana's wink had been about their pre-ceremony kiss a year before.
"Definitely," Santana said. She bent down again to relive that kiss as she would every day for the next sixty years. "Those diamonds will be here before we know it, babe."