"Do you think we're moving too fast?" Quinn asked.

They were huddled together on Santana's bed. Quinn had just broken a comfortable silence. Santana looked up at her girlfriend – she was still amazed that she could call Quinn that – and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"What do you mean?" She genuinely had no idea what Quinn was talking about.

Quinn shifted so that she was resting on her side, facing the brunette. "It's just... we moved so fast from dating to girlfriend to long-term commitment."

"You were the one to take that last step, though," Santana pointed out. Upon seeing the look on Quinn's face, she quickly added: "Not that I'm complaining. And hey, when have we ever had a normal relationship? Frenemies, friends, roommates, roommates who had sex and were friends but not in the 'normal' sense of the word... when has anything been regular between us."

"That's true," Quinn admitted. "I just don't want you to feel trapped and run away. I mean, I get it if you're not ready for us to be as serious as we are."

"Is this some kind of fucked up way of telling me that on second thought, you don't want to be exclusive?" Santana asked, suddenly suspicious.

"No, not at all!" Quinn said hurriedly. "No. It's just... I don't know. It's all very fast and I want to be sure that it won't backfire."

"Listen, Quinn. You know me. I'm Santana Lopez. If I want something, I go for it. I don't sit around waiting for things to happen. I grab chances. I don't say 'yes' unless I mean it. I don't let others dictate me – not anymore. I'm with you and I'm proud to be with you. I've got myself the finest girl of this entire school and I'm totally into her. I don't want to see other people. Also, it's not like we're getting married. To me, long-term commitment means that we don't see other people, and that's what I want – for us to be exclusive. I mean, if something would happen or if we really wouldn't work anymore, we can still break up. But right now, that's the least I want to happen. I don't see why we should wait a certain amount of time to go exclusive if it's what we both want, right now. I don't do social conventions, not anymore. I do whatever the hell I want. And what I want right now is for you to know that I mean this, and that I only want you, and that I'd rather be perving on your jaw than to be having this conversation.

Quinn sighed, smiling weakly. "Perv ahead, then."

She settled back comfortable as soon as she felt Santana's lips on her jaw.

"So, did you hear about Tim and Edward?" Tina asked.

Santana and Tina were having lunch in the canteen, Quinn still in class. Santana frowned – she knew Tim and Edward were one year older than them and had been a couple since their freshman year, but she didn't know them personally.

"No, what about them?" Santana asked, curious as to why Tina would bring them up.

"Some guys beat Edward up," Tina answered. "Just because he's gay."

"Wow. I mean, I knew that not everyone is tolerant, but this is like college. This is the kind of thing you'd sooner expect in high school."

"It is rare to hear about physical violence, though," Tina admitted. "I mean, it's never been exactly easy for gay people. There's always the jabs from some, and girls are hardly ever taken seriously unless they're butch. Overall, it's okay, but there's just the few rotten apples."

Santana's eyes were wide. She had never really been aware of the way gay people were treated at their university. She had spent so much time trying to stay so far away from that world, and since Quinn she had kind of lived in a bubble with the blonde.

"Do you think people take Quinn and me seriously?" she wondered aloud.

Tina shrugged. "I don't know. I guess most people know by now – I mean, you're not like famous or anything, but most people do know you."

"Because I slept around and was known as an easy lay?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Tina looked away, trying desperately to find another subject to talk about.

Santana snorted. "Don't worry, Tina. I'm stupid nor deaf. I know what people said about me."

"There are a fair amount of people not believing that you're gay because you slept with so many guys."

"I don't know if I'm gay, but I sure as hell know that I'm in love with Quinn," Santana blurted out.

"Wow, you guys are pretty serious then?" Tina asked, never having expected Santana to admit this.

Santana blushed. "Yeah. I mean... yeah. I'm in love with her. And it sucks that gay people are treated this way. Why hasn't anyone done anything about it?"

"I don't know. It's just... this beating up thing? It hardly ever happens. Most of it is disbelief, disregard, snide comments. Nothing as up front. And well, I'm going to be honest with you. When you two started dating, nobody believed it when they saw you holding hands. A lot of them still think you're just putting up a show to draw the attention of guys."

"What?" Santana hissed, furious to hear this information. How was it that she hadn't picked up on this.

"Hasn't any guy tried to ask you out yet?"

Santana looked dumbfounded. "Yeah, but I thought it was just the regular dumb guy thinking he could get into my pants if he bought me a drink, not realizing I never slept with anyone unless I'd consciously decided to do so. You know, the type that didn't get that nobody can chat me up for real."

"And Quinn has been asked out even more since the two of you started dating."

"For fuck's sake," Santana mumbled, closing her eyes. She felt her head throbbing. "I honestly don't get how you're into guys, Tina. They really think everything revolves around them."

Tina shrugged. "They're not all the same. I mean, lots of girls slut it up, but I don't ask you why you're into girls if their self-esteem is that low."

"You're too smart," Santana grunted.

"I'm Asian," Tina shrugged. "I'm supposed to be."

"That's actually a bit racist, you know," Santana pointed out. "If anyone else would say that..."

"Oh please, like you haven't made your fair share of racist remarks towards me."

"True," Santana smiled. "You've got to admit, plenty of them are genius. And I actually mean none."

"I know that."

"You better."

Quinn and Santana were relaxing on the lawn in front of the library. Santana was lying down, Quinn half on top of her.

Santana pecked Quinn on the cheek. "I had an interesting conversation with Tina today."

"Hm? What about? Not zombies again?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "God, Quinn, will you ever let me live that down? We have a common interest. It happens to be zombies. Like your common interest with her is graveyards."

"I'm not into graveyards," Quinn huffed. "I just find them interesting if I happen to pass them by."

"Yeah, that's why you spent five hours at Père Lachaise when you went to Paris a few years ago."

"Who told you that?"

"You, when you were drunk. And I know that when you're drunk, the truth comes out of that sexy mouth of yours."

Quinn changed the subject. "Okay, so what did you and Tina talk about?"

Santana told her. Quinn didn't look as shocked as Santana had expected her to.

"I mean, it's not exactly a secret that this isn't the best place for gay people. There isn't much bashing, but it's not... easy either. I just think that if we made it clear that we are deadly serious, things might get a little easier when it comes to guys hitting on us. Last week, at that party, John Evans asked me out again. When I told him I'm with you, he just laughed and told me to come back to him when I started missing dick, that he'd be waiting."

"What?" Santana bristled. "Why didn't you tell me? I would've kicked his sorry ass!"

"I know you would have, that's why I didn't. I don't want you to get into fights, Santana."

"But I want to protect you!"

"I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." Quinn sounded mildly annoyed.

"It's just... I don't like this, at all. I really want it to stop."

"Remember that plan of yours? The one you made up to convince people we're together and only want one another?"

"Yeah?" Santana asked, a glint in her eyes.

"I think it's time we started working on it."