AN: I'm genuinely sorry for not updating in such a long time. I've been very busy with writing essays and stuff for school, but I promise you can expect updates on a regular basis from now on again!
/
''Boop.''
Brittany yawned and stretched her arms. She had fallen asleep for the umpteenth time, and her body felt as if she had been sleeping on a stretcher in jail for the past few months. Apart from the eager light that came from the television screen, the dimmed light that came from the kitchen and Brittany's night lamp she already promised to remove a few weeks ago but was just too cute, their apartment was shrouded in darkness.
''Boop.''
''Oh, Britt, look at that,'' Santana sniggered right beside Brittany's ear. ''I think I saw a little smile.''
Brittany turned around and looked up at Santana and Rachel. Santana occupied the entire couch because her wheelchair turned out to be not so comfortable, and Rachel was sitting in the wheelchair, parked at Santana's feet. Rachel's facial expression remained flat, just like it has been for over the past four days, and she had her arms crossed. The skin she hold on to was almost white and compared to the pink skin on other parts of her arm, it gave away the fact that Rachel was constantly suppressing herself.
Santana extended her leg, for maybe the hundredth time this hour, and poked the side of Rachel's leg with her foot.
''Boop.''
''Stop. Booping. My. Leg,'' Rachel finally blurted while she violently attacked the leg Santana just 'booped' her with.
''Mi pierna. Deje de ser tan pendejo! Que te den por culo!''
Although Brittany didn't understand a word of what just came out of Santana's mouth, it didn't sound like a declaration of love or anything else positive. She sighed, pulled herself up and placed her own body in between the two fighting girls to stop them.
''Out of my way Britt! Imma boop the shit out of her leg if I wants to.''
''Don't you dare booping my leg again!''
''Guys… seriously,'' Brittany eventually uttered when both of her roommates seemed to have calmed down a little. ''Please, stop. We're going to be here for a pretty long time.''
''Unless she just takes the courage to leave this building and admits that she stole the damn penguin,'' Rachel slumped down in the wheelchair crossed her arms again, haughtily looking away from Santana.
''I'm fucking working on it, okay?'' Santana rolled her eyes. ''I called Puck and he said he's going to send someone. Or he'll just beat the shit out of them himself, I don't know.''
That seemed to catch Rachel's attention again. She peeked around Brittany to narrow her eyes at Santana and pointed her finger at the Latina, in a manner of threatening her. Brittany had never witnessed Rachel this pissed off before but it was amazing.
''No, no, no, don't. I understand that you don't have an image to live up to but I certainly do. I'm on Broadway, Santana. And if Pucks beats those journalists to the hospital and the paparazzi finds out, I'm also screwed.''
''Fuck you, Berry.''
Brittany gently removed Santana's legs to take a seat in between the girls and placed the legs on her lap. It was for the best if she'd sit here right now. They were already stuck in the apartment for four days because a crowd of journalists had swarm up around the building. Brittany strongly believed one of their neighbors betrayed them, but she couldn't figure out who it was since it wasn't smart to leave the apartment.
The four days they had been in the apartment really felt like they went straight back to World War Two. They were isolated from the rest of the building, with Marcela as secret auxiliary to bring them take-away meals, cornflakes, Rachel's soy products and, of course, a considerable amount of her own vodka and whiskey, mostly consumed by Santana. In this time of crisis, Marcela had also convinced Santana to try several types of Cuban and Mexican cigars, probably dating from her previous marriage, but whatever. She was lonely and found a buddy in Santana.
But today, on day four of 'Project Penguin', as Brittany heard Rachel talking to Finn over the phone, it was different. It no longer felt like an extended sleepover, and they started to get fed up with each other. Brittany knew it was only a matter of time for the real bomb to explode, although she had no idea what it might be. Maybe Rachel calling the journalists, who would most definitely attack their apartment. Or maybe Santana would totally snap and throw some stuff out of the window. Brittany wasn't sure but she knew she had to prevent it.
''You know,'' Rachel spoke after a moment of silence, ''if you don't do it yourself I'll tell them. I, for one, actually want to go outside again.''
Santana sniggered. ''You just want to get laid by manboob, that's all.''
''I don't and even if I wanted to, yes, may I? It's not like I just screw my new roommate at the first opportunity.''
Brittany clamped her hands around Santana's legs tightly as the muscles in her legs dangerously fast tightened.
''Whats did you just say?''
''I'm going downstairs. Maybe I can help Marcela sneaking in something we didn't eat before,'' Rachel stood up and grabbed her coat. ''Or help her brew illegal liquor. Maybe even cook some meth. Who knows?''
Brittany hold on to Santana's legs as warning, and it worked. As soon as Rachel smashed the door behind her, Santana exhaled deeply and withdrew her legs.
''I swear to God, if we don't- did you hear that Britt?''
''Yeah, I did, she's going to cook you some meth with Marcela,'' Brittany spoke lightly as she grabbed the remote and started zapping through the channels. Of course she heard the other thing Rachel said, but she didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to screw things up right now just by talking about it. During Santana's trip but also the past few days she had been puzzling over Santana. Finn's words kept repeating itself in her head. 'Why don't you ask her out?'
Yes, why didn't she? The fear of getting rejected? Brittany was sure about one thing, and that was that Santana was extremely hard to fathom. Or was it just that Brittany didn't know how to ask her, because until now, she had always been the person getting asked? ''I don't think she's going to catch any subtle hints.'' Finn's words kept echoing in Brittany's head. The boy was almost like Dr. Phil.
''What are you gawking at?''
Brittany snapped her head at Santana, who had tilted her head at her from the corner of the couch, an amused smile adorning her glowing face. When she didn't respond, Santana shifted her weight a little and stretched her arm at Brittany as invitation, which Brittany accepted. As she snuggled into Santana's arms, her thoughts put in extra hours. How many times had they cuddled like this? How many times had they fallen asleep in the same bed? Not to mention the kisses and sweet lady sex. Was she just another game to Santana since they spotted Santana kissing another girl one of her first days in New York? Or could it maybe be more? Well, there is an easy and quick way to find out…
''Nothing,'' Brittany mumbled.
''Nothing?''
Brittany leaned back a little so she could look at Santana's face in the dark. Even in the darkness it looked like it was shining.
''I was gawking at nothing,'' Brittany whispered softly right before she gently pushed her lips onto Santana's. Santana seemed taken by surprise at first, but then answered Brittany's kiss firmly, running the fingertips from her free hand along Brittany's jaw.
Just as Santana opened her mouth, Brittany pulled away and shifted over to the other side of the couch, leaving Santana with her arms hanging in the air.
''What the fu-''
''We're lucky guys!'' a voice yelled from the hallway, followed by a dull sound and laughter. The moment the door closed the light in the living room turned on and a delicious scent spread across the room. Brittany tore away her glance from Santana, who still had red cheeks and a waggish yet puzzled look in her eyes.
''Sushi, tapas and egg rolls,'' Rachel proudly showed them a few brown paper bags.
''Aaaand wine,'' Brittany's favorite unicorn, packed with bottles of wine, followed Rachel into the room, with Marcela hot on his heels.
''By the way Santana, Fahim is also standing in front of the building with a bill. He wants his cab fares for the past, well how much, six months?'' Rachel shrugged casually but other voices and sounds drowned her out, ''just thought you might wanted to know.''
''Kurt!'' Brittany couldn't help but yell as she pulled him into a hug, over his shoulder seeing Santana emphatically rolling her eyes before she slumped down again and locked her gaze at the screen again.
They spent the rest of the evening eating food and drinking wine. Brittany was happy Rachel brought Kurt and Marcela, because they loosened the bad temper in the apartment a little, whether they were aware of it or not. Besides the fact that Santana spent most of the time on the roof garden with Marcela, and Kurt, Rachel and Brittany preferred to stay inside, they finally had a fun night again.
After Kurt passing out on their coffee table (''Really guys, don't worry about me, I'm just emotional. It's the time of the month I guess.'') and making sure a drunk Marcela reached her own apartment safely, Brittany could finally prepare to go to bed. By the time Brittany had judged Rachel's audition, which she insisted to do in the middle of the night, on the roof garden, with their karaoke set plugged in, Brittany was knackered.
Tired but satisfied, Brittany lay down in her bed, the entire world above her spinning around as crazy. Tomorrow wasn't going to be fun, but whatever, she could skip a few classes. After about an hour of tossing, Brittany got out of bed and, like she was being drawn by a magnet, tiptoed her usual way through the apartment.
Careful not to wake anyone up, she gently closed the door and slipped into the king-size bed that stood right under one of the little windows in their apartment. It was just now that Brittany realized what an amazing view on New York she had from this side of the apartment. She should come here more often, she told herself.
Just as her eyes finally started getting heavy, the lump next to her started moving, but Santana didn't speak up. Brittany glanced around in the rotating darkness, was she even in the right bed?
''Rach?'' Brittany said in a surprised tone of voice.
''Rachel?'' the lump responded in a snigger as Brittany felt weight behind her shifting. ''Are you cheating on me with Berry? That would be genius but also be very embarrassing for me.''
Nope, this definitely wasn't Rachel.
''What are you doing here? Thought you didn't want Rachel to know about us?'' Santana mumbled into her pillow.
Us. The words kept repeating itself in Brittany's head. Yes, she was drunk, but she wasn't an idiot.
''Us?'' Brittany frowned into the dark, ''what do you mean?''
A sigh.
''Nothing, just drunk,'' Santana mumbled, ''and tired, I'm gonna go sleep.''