Chapter Twenty One
Brittany blinked her eyes once, twice, three times, and slowly nodded her head. "Okay," she said, simply. It wasn't what she'd been expecting to hear, but she could accept that. It made sense, after all. There may not have been very many resources available on the subject of Nekos and their mating habits, but from what she'd read and so far experienced with the girl, it definitely made sense. "Okay," she repeated more confidently, nodding her head once more.
Santana, however, was anything but confident. There was no way she could have heard Brittany correctly. The girl had said she was "okay", but what did that mean exactly? Was she "okay" in the sense that she was still currently alive and breathing? Or was she "okay" with the concept of being her mate? "I'm sorry, what?" Santana asked, her voice trembling. She sat back a little so that she was perched on her heels, her eyebrows raised nearly to the edge of her bangs.
"I said, 'okay,'" Brittany repeated, shaking her head. She was amused that Santana hadn't been able to grasp her response the first two times she'd said it. It was obvious the cat girl had been expecting her to freak out, and Brittany smiled, rather proud of the fact that she hadn't. It wasn't like Santana was telling her she was pregnant, or anything. That would have warranted an episode for sure, but not this. This was okay. This was actually more than okay. This was what she'd wanted to hear all along.
If Santana thought she was her mate, that must mean the girl wanted to be her mate, right? Wasn't that how it worked? Brittany may not have known a lot about Nekos, but she couldn't imagine the decision being influenced by herself in any way. The fact that she truly did like Santana back, only meant that they could, indeed, move forward and do something about it, right? "Why are you looking at me like that?" Brittany asked, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Santana was staring at her as if she'd just told her the answer to "life, the universe, and everything", when all she'd said was that she was "okay". Maybe she should have asked Santana how she was feeling, instead? After all, the girl definitely didn't look okay.
Santana still wasn't sure what the girl was implying by her one word answer, but the fact that she hadn't slapped her or started crying was certainly more than she could have hoped for. After all, she was basically telling the girl that they were soul-mates. That's not something most people hear every day, especially not from someone they've only just met. "Brittany, I need you to listen to me carefully, and then answer me truthfully," Santana said slowly, testing each word on her tongue before continuing, "Do you think that one day you could possibly, maybe... love me? Like, be in love with me?"
Brittany titled her head to the other side, a little taken aback by how serious the cat girl was being right now. Was she really that oblivious to their situation? Had she somehow forgotten what they'd just done? "You're silly Santana," she told the girl, reaching a hand out and placing it on top of her head, right in between her ears. "I've been in love with you since the moment I first saw you on TV," she explained. It was the truth, and she hoped that Santana recognized this, and didn't just think she was saying it having been put on the spot. She wanted to be with Santana, but not if the other girl thought she only wanted to be with her because they were mates.
Santana glanced up at the girl's arm, her ears twisting and twitching wildly at the proximity of the blonde's hand. She normally hated when people touched, or tried touching, her ears; but in that moment she wanted nothing more than for Brittany to start stroking the sensitive cartilage. Leaning her head into the girl's hand, she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the closeness. Brittany seemed to have gotten the hint, and carefully moved her fingers towards her left ear; her fingertips roaming experimentally across the tiny black hairs. It was moment's like this that Santana wished she actually could purr.
"Come here," Brittany said after a few seconds, removing her hand and placing it on Santana's hip, directing the girl to scoot further into the shower and basically into her lap. The girl moved without question, straddling her thighs and blinking across at her in an expression she'd only ever seen on her own face. Santana looked like she was about to cry. "Hey, shhhh, don't cry," Brittany whispered soothingly, cupping the cat girl's cheeks with her palms. "Don't cry." She leaned forward and pressed a tentative kiss to Santana's lips, hoping to reassure her, but also needing to feeling the girl's delicate skin against her own. This was a complete 180 degree turnaround from how they usually interacted, and she wanted nothing more than to make Santana happy again.
Santana had been warned that her emotions would be all over the place should Brittany accept her offer, but she hadn't thought it would be this bad. Technically, she hadn't even given the girl any real information about what she was proposing, but the simple fact that Brittany was receptive to the idea of being mates, was almost more than she could bare. That's when it occurred to her: If Brittany had been in love with her since before they'd even met, then that had to have been why she'd felt so attracted to her the day before! Which also meant she'd never had to do any convincing to get the girl to agree to being mates, and she felt a little stupid for how much she and her mother had prepared her for this conversation the night before.
"I can't believe this is happening. And that you're okay with this," Santana said, sniffling back the tears as best she could. Brittany had begun wiping them away with her thumbs, and she couldn't help but smile at how similar this all was to what had occurred between them the day before. Except then she'd been the one giving the comfort, not receiving it. "And that you're not mad at me," she added in afterthought.
Brittany quirked her eyebrows together at that and shook her head. "Why would I be mad? I mean, you love me too, right? Otherwise you wouldn't want to be my mate?" she asked, sitting back a little so she was resting against the shower wall behind her. Santana opened her eyes as she felt the girl moving away, and let out a whimper.
"I do, I do love you, Brittany," Santana insisted, moving forward so she could rest her chest against the other girl's. She tucked her head beneath the blonde's chin and nuzzled her face into her neck, inhaling her still slightly blue-raspberry tinted scent. "I've only known you for a day, but I'm certain that I want to be with you for the rest of my life," she told the girl, smiling as she felt Brittany wrap her arms around her shoulders. "It's just, I was afraid that you'd be angry with me." She turned her head so she could press her cheek above the blonde girl's breast. "Most people would be angry if they thought they had to commit to a relationship after only having sex a few times."
"Yeah, well, I'm not most people," Brittany smirked, lifting her hips slightly so that her softened cock pressed into Santana's stomach. She could feel the cat girl shudder at the contact, and grinned. "I'd have been mad if you'd wanted to have sex with me but didn't want to have a relationship," she confessed, realizing for the first time how true that sentiment was. The past 24 hours seemed like a blur to her, but she was certain that, as the days wore on, she would've started resenting Santana for what they'd done, or quite possibly, what they still continued to do.
Santana felt her chest tighten at this, since technically that was how she'd felt about the girl originally. She hadn't known then that the overly intense sexual attraction she'd felt was due to the fact that Brittany was a potential mate, so did it even count as a reason for why she'd pursued the girl? And if it didn't, would Brittany be upset with her if she found out the truth? "Nope, I just didn't know how to tell you yesterday," she said after a few moments of internally debating the pros and cons of lying. There was no way Brittany would ever know the truth, so why potentially upset her if she didn't have to, right? All that mattered now was that they both wanted to be together, and for Santana, that was definitely more than enough.