Notes: Also I finally figured out why this was so damn hard, and it's that, as complete strangers in a psych experiment, this version of Brittana lacks the physicality they usually have in canon or in my other aus, and that was both challenging and fun to write tbh!


/

Set III

/

Santana flips the first card of the third set over and feels just a hint of disappointment creep through her at the idea that their time together is almost done. She can scarcely remember how worried she was this morning and all the way into this room, how awkward and nervous she was when she turned around to find a pretty, blonde stranger on the other side of the door. Brittany keeps smiling at her, their eyes caught on each other until Santana is forced to look down in order to read the card. "Make three true 'we' statements each," Santana reads. "For instance, 'We are both in this room feeling,'" she trails off.

There's a beat of silence filled with the whirling of the recording equipment that Santana completely forgot about, before Brittany says, "Huh?"

Santana glances up and finds Brittany's brows drawn together in confusion and her lips pursed in a pout; it's somehow even more adorable than Brittany is just in general, and Santana's stomach flips a little as her chest explodes in butterflies. "I think the feeling thing is just an example. Like 'we are both tired fourth year students running on coffee' would work too."

Brittany's face softens and brightens as she bursts into giggles. "How do you know I drink coffee?" she teases.

Santana shrugs and grins widely. "Well, for one, you're a fourth year student," she says, and Brittany nods and giggles in concession, "And for two, how else would you have dragged yourself here at eight-thirty on a Saturday."

"Those are both very true," Brittany agrees around her smile. "So we've got one statement. Um, what about, we're both, uh, we both feel comfortable around each other now?"

Santana flicks the corner of the card in her hand with a careful finger. "I would agree with that. I haven't had a conversation like this for a very long time."

Brittany's face softens and Santana's chest spasms, but it doesn't startle her this time. She's starting to get used to the bright, lifting feeling, and it makes even more warmth settle deep beneath her sternum. "Neither have I," Brittany agrees, and Santana's feels her fingers relax before she even realized they were tense. "And one more thing could be, um, we both— Ooh! We were both cheerleaders in high school."

It takes a moment before it processes, and Santana has to quickly go over what she's told Brittany already, but when it understands she laughs. "What? Really?"

Brittany shrugs. "Cheerleading was the closest I could get to dancing at school."

"That's crazy. We were probably at a bunch of the same competitions in high school."

Brittany's eyes scrunch up as she laughs. "I didn't even think of that. I can't believe how many chances we had to meet each other before today."

"It's wild," Santana agrees. She reaches for her water bottle at the same time Brittany reaches for the next card, and Santana feels that same tingle in her fingertips as she did when she shook Brittany's hand what feels like forever ago; it feels like her nerves finally woke up after a long sleep, and at that moment she understands exactly what Brittany meant at the end of the set two questions, about feeling like her body is waking up.

Brittany doesn't notice Santana's revelation, but Santana feels like everything's changed and charged in the best way possible.

(Her mind wanders back to her earlier curiosity of whether this experiment is testing love at first sight. Santana thinks she might believe in it now, maybe, or at least in the ability to fall in love with a stranger. Not that she thinks she's in love with Brittany, but she thinks she could be, maybe, given time.)

"Complete this sentence," Brittany starts, "'I wish I had someone with whom I could share,'" she trails off. She seems to notice Santana's slight daze and gives her a curious smile before rereading the card in her mind; Santana can tell because her eyes quickly dart across the card again and her lips move silently as she mouths the words. "I wish I had someone I could share dance with. My sister and I used to dance around the house all the time, but since I moved out we don't really get to do that anymore except for, like, Christmas. And I've had a bachelor room at Columbia it gets pretty lonely when there's no one there to goof off with."

Santana smiles and bites her tongue to keep it from getting to wide and adoring. "That's cute."

Brittany shrugs and ducks her head, a smile playing across her lips. "What about you?"

"I wish I had someone I could share New Year's Day with," Santana says without thinking.

"New Year's Day and not Eve?" Brittany asks, and Santana feels heat rise in her cheeks.

"Yeah," she mumbles bashfully, "New Year's Eve is all about the partying or whatever, and I can do that with anyone, but I've always wanted someone I could wake up on New Year's Day with."

"You're kind of a romantic, aren't you," Brittany accuses softly, fondly.

"What?" Santana protests around an airy laugh. "No way!"

"You totally are!" Brittany argues, and her smile spreads until it scrunches her eyes up. "Back at the beginning of the set two questions you said you wanted all of that sappy stuff like falling in love and marriage. And you want to share New Year's Day with someone over New Year's Eve parties? A total hopeless romantic! And you're blushing right now!"

Santana holds her hands to her cheeks, and that's really what gives her away, but she manages a sputtering "How can you even tell?"

Brittany's giggle is bright and musical and it makes Santana desperate to hear it again like it has every time she's heard it over the past hour or so. "You get this, like, really breathless look when you start blushing," Brittany explains, her eyes sparkling, "and you duck your head down and get all bashful and smily. And your dimples come out."

Santana's pretty sure she just blushes more furiously as she reaches for the next card. "If you were going to become a close friend with your partner," she reads instead of dignifying that with an answer, "please share what would be important for them to know."

"Um," Brittany says, but her eyes are still teasing and catlike, "I guess, I dunno. Like happy or good or bad or what?"

Santana shrugs. "Why not do two things I should know?"

"Okay, well bad is easy," Brittany starts, "I hold grudges for a very long time, and I find it hard to forgive people when they've wronged the people I love. And another one would probably be that I have a kinda weird sense of humour. Or not weird I guess," Brittany chews on her lip and, again, Santana's eyes are drawn to the movement. She wants to reach out and brush the teeth indents from the pink skin with her thumb, but that would be a little weird so she just fidgets with the card in her hands instead. "Just different? Like not a lot of people really get my jokes, I guess."

Santana blinks and frowns a little. "What, really? I think you're hilarious!" Santana can see the question in Brittany's eyes and she gives her a small smile. "I've laughed more often and harder in this past hour than I have in a very long time."

Brittany's eyes and smile softens until she looks like she might melt. "Your turn," she prompts gently.

Santana puts the card in the discard pile and gives Brittany a small smile. "I'll start with bad too then, which is probably that I can get really, um, bitchy? I guess. When I get scared I get really mean, and it's not nearly as bad now, but when I was in the closet in high school I was bitchy and mean more often than I wasn't."

Brittany doesn't look judgemental or challenging, just understanding. "Sometimes when people get mean they're really just scared," Brittany agrees, and there's a slight question in her eyes, and Santana nods encouragingly. Brittany's eyes turn catlike and teasing again and Santana's chest spasms again. "You're just like Lord Tubbington, he gets angry and mean and hissy whenever I try to take him to the vet, but he's just scared."

Santana bursts out laughing, taking in the pride glow to Brittany's face and feeling that spasm in her chest again. "I'm obviously much prettier than Lord Tubbington though," she teases through her giggles.

She doesn't expect it when Brittany grows soft and mumbles her agreement, colour spreading in tiny blooms of pink, her eyes surprised as if she didn't realize what she said until after. She reaches for her water bottle and quickly drinks from it, and Santana gives her a moment to regain her composure, delighting in the flutter of butterflies at Brittany's assent.

"Since you already know about me being a hopeless romantic," Santana teases softly, "I might as well expose myself more. Apparently I'm really cuddly when I'm sleepy."

Brittany's eyes glow and the sparkling blue makes Santana's breath catch. "That's adorable," Brittany coos.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Santana laughs, "Mercedes usually gets the brunt of it, especially on our flights back to Ohio."

The pink from Brittany's blush stays in her cheeks even as she reaches for the next card and reads the question aloud. "Tell your partner something you like about them already."

Santana says the first thing that comes to her mind. "I like your laugh," she says easily, and the pink still in Brittany's cheeks darkens as she ducks her head, "And your smile. I like how you smile and laugh with your whole face. Like you smile with your eyes and your cheeks always scrunch up." Santana fights her own blush, but at the awed look in Brittany's eyes she finds it easy to continue despite the heat rushing under her skin. "I really like it because every time you laugh it makes me smile too."

"Thank you," Brittany says earnestly, and she takes a moment to breathe deeply, smiling softly to herself, before she meets Santana's eyes. "I like your dimples because I like how comfortable you've gotten," Brittany says carefully, "Like at the beginning of set one your smile was really pretty but I didn't even realize it wasn't your full one until I told you about Tubbs you started really laughing and I realized you have dimples." Brittany shrugs a little and smiles up at Santana from below her lashes. "I like your dimples because now I know they're part of your special, genuine smile."

Santana feels a little too full of light, like if it blooms up any further she'll burst, but she somehow manages to thank Brittany without spontaneously combusting from all the warmth in her chest as she reaches for the next card. "Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life," she reads. "Oh I have a good one for this."

"Go ahead," Brittany offers, "I need to think of one."

"Okay, so keep in mind this was in my freshman year of college, and no one makes good decisions in that year," Santana warns. "But I, uh, I was in a really weird place because Mercedes was seeing someone and I hadn't really made any friends yet. I mean, it wasn't like I was in a bad place or anything, just a weird place, because I thought I needed to do my whole teenage rebellion thing or whatever three weeks before midterms started, so I dyed my hair blonde."

Brittany doesn't say anything for a very long time, and then, "Please tell me you still have pictures."

Santana bursts out laughing. "I deleted all evidence of that, but knowing Mercedes she probably saved some of them so she can embarrass me in the future."

"I need meet Mercedes after this so I can see those pictures," Brittany insists through her own giggles, and something in Santana's chest flutters at the thought of there being an after this.

"Enough about me," Santana says, laughing harder when Brittany mouths This isn't over, "Your turn for embarrassing moments."

Brittany only has to think for another moment before she brightens. "Okay, so you know how some people sleepwalk?"

Santana can't help the smile already spreading across her face. "Uh-huh."

"Right, so, I never sleepwalked as a kid, like ever, and so it never really crossed my mind. But I was at summer camp one year when I was like, I dunno, maybe eleven? I was sharing a room with a couple other girls from school and our counsellor and we were sleeping on these super creaky old bunkbeds. And I guess it's a good thing I was on the bottom bunk because, at some point through the night, I got up and started dancing."

"You were sleep-dancing?" Santana squeaks gleefully in response.

Brittany just laughs. "Yeah, I dunno. I've done it a couple times since then, but I never just sleepwalk, I always sleep-dance. I think my parents still have all the videos."

Santana chews on her lip but it doesn't stop her smile. "You can only see my blonde hair if I get to see these sleep-dancing videos."

Brittany instantly grins widely. "Deal," she says, offering her hand for Santana to shake. Those tingles buzz pleasantly in Santana's fingertips again and Brittany slowly withdraws her hand from Santana's to grab the next card. "Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?"

"My mom," Santana says. "For most of my life it's been just me and her, and I don't know what I'd do without her. I definitely wouldn't be where I am today without her love and support, and if I lost her—" Santana chokes on the word for a moment, and Brittany just watches her with bright, sympathetic eyes, her fingers twitching around the card. "If I lost her, I would be devastated. I don't know what I'd do with myself because, aside from my aunt, she's the only family I have who hasn't disowned me."

"I get that," Brittany murmurs softly. There's a soft beat of silence before Brittany gives her answer. "For me it would be my sister, because she's my baby sister. I wouldn't be able to handle it now and I don't think I would be able to handle it when were both old and wrinkly. I mean, she's my baby sister, you know?"

Santana reaches for the next card. "It's a little like whiplash with the way these cards go from funny to depressing so quickly."

"It really is," Brittany agrees, hesitating and meeting Santana's eyes with her bright ones, a hint of shyness playing in Brittany's smile, "But, I don't think there's anyone else I would rather do this with."

Santana smiles just as softly, feeling just as shy and bashful. "Me too," she murmurs. The card in her hands feels heavy as she turns it around to read it. "Share a personal problem and ask your partner's advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to—"

The door swings open right in the middle of Santana's question, and Santana only jumps a little this time, but Brittany giggles just as brightly as before. "The final half hour is up," the researcher says as she steps into the room. Brittany and Santana's gazes both swing towards each other in shock. "It's time for the final step of the experiment." The researcher approaches them and Brittany quickly grabs the remaining cards from set three and thumbs through them. Five, she mouths at Santana and Santana blinks in shock; she thought they were doing better for time this time. It's crazy how fast the time gets away from her when she's talking to Brittany.

"The next part is the eye contact experiment," the researcher explains as she fiddles with the recording equipment. She shuts it off and the quiet whirl of the machine leaves a weirdly loud silence; Santana had become so used to it that she hadn't realized how much the whirl filled the vacant corners of the room. "You will both put these headphones on," the researcher passes a set of overlarge headphones to both Santana and Brittany, "and press play once I leave the room. There's about four minutes on the song you will listen to. Try to maintain eye contact throughout the four minutes." The researcher collects whatever she came in to get and fiddles with the machine one more time. "Once this part is done, you will come and complete the exit questionnaire. Just turn right when you leave the door and follow the hallway to the end and we will set you up with the questionnaire and then you'll be good to go. Any questions?" she directs at Santana.

Santana glances at Brittany quickly for confirmation before she shakes her head. The researcher nods and leaves the room, and before the door is even fully shut Brittany is leaning closer to Santana, her elbows resting on the table and the weight of her upper body against them. "I can't believe how many we didn't finish!"

"I know right?" Santana agrees, leaning closer to Brittany as well. "I thought we were actually doing better for time on this set."

Brittany's eyes dart to something past Santana's ear before they settle shyly back on dark eyes. "I know I said this before, but it's really easy to talk to you."

Santana smiles at the pink blooming in Brittany's cheeks again. "I know what you mean," she murmurs, "It does not feel like an hour and a half has already passed." Santana wants to tell Brittany that she really doesn't want their time together to end, but the words get caught in her chest and instead she just puts the headphones on. Brittany follows her lead and Santana giggles for no real reason except that Brittany looks adorable; Brittany's eyes are a little confused but she still smiles brightly back at Santana as she leans over to find the play button on the machine beside them. It takes a moment, but then the muffled silence of the room is replaced by a soft plucking guitar and Santana's fingers itch with the urge to play her own guitar.

Santana almost forgets that she's supposed to be maintaining eye contact until Brittany waves a hand in front of Santana's face and Santana's eyes are drawn to Brittany's, teasing and catlike. "You think you know all about it then it seems you are wrong," comes through the headphones, and for some reason Santana's stomach flips over. "She hit it out of the park before it had even begun." Brittany's eyes are so bright, and when her face creases in a smile Santana can't help but smile in return. "I needed sunshine in the darkness burning out."

Santana tries to maintain eye contact, but that bright blue is too much and her eyes dart down to her fidgeting hands. It's only because she's staring at her hands so intensely that she doesn't realize Brittany's hand is reaching for hers until long fingers are already wrapping around hers. "Well now I know that I'm the fuel and she's the spark."

Her her head snaps up to Brittany and she swallows thickly at the warm smile on her face, and at Brittany's encouraging nod, she twists her wrist and lets Brittany thread their fingers together, and it feels better than anything Santana's ever felt before. She's spent a lot of her life feeling like she's always just a step behind everyone else, like everyone always knows something she doesn't and she's left floundering more often than not, like she's wrong just in general, but this is one of the first times Santana has felt unexplainably, unquestionably, inherently right.

"We are bound to each other's hearts…"

/

Brittany's hand is still in hers when a quiet click indicates the end of the song, and Santana's never been as reluctant as she is right now, carefully untangling her hand from Brittany's so she can take headphones off. There's something bright and charged in the air between them, and Santana quickly takes a long drink of her water, almost draining the bottle.

Brittany takes her own headphones off before she leans to the side and fiddles with the machine until she finds the stop button. She meets Santana's eyes as she sits back and immediately starts laughing softly. "That was really intense," she admits.

Santana's already smiling back before she even realizes it. "Yeah it was, but," Santana trails off at the bright sparkle in Brittany's eyes and just smiles at her for a long moment before she manages to speak again, "it was worth it."

Brittany's smile brightens even as her eyes soften. "Yeah, it was."

Santana swallows thickly and catches Brittany's eyes again and her thoughts momentarily scatter and dissipate. "We should, um, probably go and do that exit questionnaire," Santana finally manages to mumble.

Brittany nods but makes no move to stand. "If you finish before me will you wait in the lobby? I want to ask you something before you leave."

Santana nods quickly and stands, playing with her hands because she doesn't know what to do with them as she follows Brittany out the room and down the hall.

/

Santana almost runs right into Brittany as she's leaving the questionnaire room. "Hi," Brittany murmurs around a wide smile, and Santana finds herself quickly smiling back.

"Hey, we must have finished at, like, the same time," Santana says with as soft laugh.

"At least you aren't blocking the door this time," Brittany teases as they set off down the hall together, "But blocking the hallway isn't much better."

"Oh hush you," Santana complains. "I only ran into you, I didn't block the hallway."

Brittany giggles and that flicker of pride clenches Santana's chest as they turn into the hallway that leads back to the lobby. It's narrower than the last one, and Brittany trails behind Santana so they don't jostle each other into the wall.

"So," Brittany says suddenly, "can I ask you that thing I wanted to ask you?" Santana quickly agrees and waits for Brittany to continue. "I know we didn't get to it, but do you mind if I ask you that last question anyways?"

"Yeah, of course," Santana says, sending Brittany a small smile over her shoulder.

"I think I might like someone, but I don't know how to ask them out," Brittany says, and Santana's heart sinks.

She swallows thickly and tries to keep the sudden heaviness closing her throat out of her voice, staring straight ahead. Her legs feel like someone just poured lead in them and she forces herself to keep walking despite the falter in her step. "Uh, you should— You should, um, just go ahead and ask them out, or whatever. Like, for a coffee date maybe, or, uh or something."

"Thanks, that's a good idea," Brittany says, and it's only because Santana is concentrating so hard on making sure her heart doesn't drop too far into her stomach that she doesn't notice Brittany's bashful smile as she follows Santana down the narrow hallway.

Santana's stomach sinks throughout the entire rest of the walk and into the lobby, all the way through finishing up the final papers and signatures for the research; she should have known that someone as pretty and kind and funny and smart as Brittany would already like someone. Despite the painful clenching of her heart while she pauses and waits for Brittany to finish her signatures, she knows she'll ever meet anyone like Brittany ever again, and even with disappointment licking at her fingers and the ice creeping through her chest, she knows she'll never regret getting even the chance to meet Brittany either.

As soon as Brittany's done she turns and offers Santana a small, bright smile, and Santana forces herself to return it as they cross the lobby. They walk out the front doors together and for the first time since Brittany introduced herself, Santana feels acutely, intimately awkward.

"So," Santana mumbles, "I'll, uh, I guess this is goodbye then?"

Brittany shakes her head slowly and that bright, full-face smile of hers spreads, scrunching her freckled cheeks up against eyes as blue as the October sky above them. "Do you want to maybe go get a coffee?" she asks shyly.

Santana feels tension melt from her shoulders as her mind flashes back to the hallway and the heavy dread in her stomach dissipates like fog in the sunlight. She can't help the smile that spreads across her face, or the butterflies that beat against her ribs, or the hope that takes root under her sternum. She nods quickly, so quickly that she would be embarrassed if Brittany wasn't already smiling at her like that.

"I'd really, really like that."