High School is weird...Lima is weird. Jake knows that.
He can get with a bunch of girls and break their hearts every single time due to his commitment issues, (Thanks Dad) but no matter what he'll still be seen as Jake Lopez, popular guy, badass who by coincidence is related to Santana Lopez. When he joined glee, it took a hit to his reputation, but he's only a Freshman, and could still dance and sing his way into a girl's pants. Plus, the basketball guys still respect him, Jake can play well.
But his sister being a lesbian, his sister loving the person who's really meant for her is what's gonna set the town and state off.
Jake's always known that Santana and Brittany were different. Since he was in sixth grade, and Santana was a Freshman, her and Britt have been inseparable. After school, almost every day, Jake would come home seeing Brittany on their couch, watching some cartoon with Santana really close next to her. He really just thought maybe that's how some girls are. But Santana was really only nice to Britt, and him. She had a side that she didn't show to anyone else that she showed to him and Brittany. She was like a tootsie pop, and you had to make it through the whole thing before you got to the soft, chocolatey center, where she kept her heart.
Santana was afraid of getting hurt.
Last school year for a period of time, Santana was weepy and really mean, and Brittany didn't come over for months. Santana would lash out on him, her dad, and Mama. Jake could tell she was just really sad, and whenever he asked where her other half was, she'd just burst into tears, and it would take a lot of comforting for him to get her to stop.
Last summer, its when he really realized.
All of a sudden, Brittany was back, and they acted like nothing was wrong. One day, Santana let him come with her to Brittany's was sitting on the edge of the pool, kicking his feet in the water. They were on a float together, really close, giggling and whispering when words just slipped out of his mouth.
"Are you two...dating or something? I swear you guys look two seconds away from sucking eachothers face off all the time now."
Santana almost fell right off the floatie, Brittany had to hold her from plunging into the water.
It was silent for a few moments, Jake looked at Santana, Santana looked at Brittany. It's like they can talk without speaking, its weird.
"Yea buddy... are." It was all she needed to say, he understood.
Jake wont ever forget those four words, and how Santana smiled so big that he knew that Brittany was perfect for her.
So why can't anyone else see that? Why can't people tell that Santana's been trying, she's been happier this year and is smiling a lot more than last year. Why can't people tell that Brittany is good for her, that love looks good on her?
High School is weird. Lima is weird.
Jake see's his sister run off the stage after the Troubletones's performance, and all he can tell is that she's pissed. He makes eye contact with Brittany and all he can see on her face is worry. He knows they're thinking the same thing. Brittany's really good at reading peoples emotions, she's helped him with life problems a couple of times.
She's crying, almost sobbing in a way as she yells at Finn, the pieces come together as she talks. He almost goes up to Finn but Santana's slap echo's over the auditorium before he has the chance. Santana dashes out the room, Brittany soon runs after her. The room is silent before he gets up and goes over to Finn.
"What the fuck dude? Are you an idiot?" He inquires, staring Finn dead in the eyes while everyone watches.
"You're yelling at me? She-"
Jake throws a punch square at Finn's jaw. Crack. Gasp. Mr. Schue rushes over to Finn, of course, cause he's such a victim. He's yelling a load of crap at him, about how violence isn't the answer and how Finn could seriously be hurt as blood trails down his mouth. He's fed up.
"It's poor Finn, but my when my sister's private business is being spread without her consent nobody cares. None of you know how hard she's been working on this, on herself. Now Finn's fucked the whole thing up." Jake looks up and sees confused faces, but he just shakes his head walks out of the room. He needs to find Santana, she has it a lot worse than him right now.
He almost had looked around the entire school before finding her in the Troubletones practice room. Santana's head is in Brittany's lap as the blonde strokes her hair. Jake can tell she's been crying, her mascara's runny and she's got some snot above her lip. Brittany's looking down at her, a pained expression on her face. She's been crying too.
He stands at the doorway, he doesn't wanna interrupt this moment. He internally debates turning around when Brittany sees him.
"Jake what happened to your hand?" Santana looks at him and gasps. He looks down at his hand and realizes the tiny drops of blood under his clenched fist on the floor. It looks pretty bruised, but it doesnt really hurt, the pain hasn't set in.
"I..." Is all he can really say. He sees Santana's big pleading eyes, and Brittany's concerned face. He hesitates, before finishing his sentence.
"I think I broke Finn's jaw." is the sentence he forms which makes Brittany's eyes widen and Santana's face twist. "He'll be fine, he's just a fucking asshole."
"Language." Santana says softly. Jake knows she's joking, she has the mouth of a sailor when she really gets going. A small smirk is on her lips, and he smiles back.
"She doesn't wanna go back to your house yet. I was gonna take her to mine. My dad's minored in nursing in college, he can check your hand out to see damage." Brittany states, looking at Jake dead in his eyes. He doesn't know how Mama, or Santana's dad is gonna take the news, so it might be best for them to go over to Britt's for a bit. Mr and Mr's Pierce are really sweet, even though he doesn't go there often, they always offer him snacks and hugs whenever he shows up.
He just nods at Brittany, who then helps Santana up. They start walking when Santana speaks.
"Shit. Our bags are in the auditorium. Britt, I cant go back in there." She pleads, an action she rarely does, her eyes mist up a bit.
Jake knows he'll have to do it. Brittany needs Santana, Santana needs Brittany, and he doesn't want to split them up right now.
"I'll go get them Tana, Schuester might rip my head off but I'll try and leave quick." Jake smiles at them both. He was about to start heading over when he feels arms wrap around his waist, and a body pressed behind him. He turns around and sees Santana, eyes watery.
"I love you, buddy, okay? You know that right" her voice breaks as she looks into his eyes. Jake holds back the urge to cry.
"I know, Santana, I love you lots." He hugs her tight.
"We'll be in the car, meet us there after." Santana declares, slipping out of the hug and going over to hold Brittany's hand. She's smiling wide at us, and Santana slaps her shoulder playfully before walking out with her. Jake sighs softly as he heads down the hallway to the auditorium, this should be fun.
As soon as he opens the doors, heads turn his way.
He doesn't really look at them though, he makes a beeline for behind the stage, where both groups kept their backpacks for their performances.
Mr Schue's yelling at him, something about how we 'need to discuss this', but Jake doesn't listen.
He's about to leave the room, but something stops him.
He turns around and looks at all the New Directions and the Troubletones. Finn has a towel in his mouth that Rachel's holding. Shelby is trying to calm Schue down but he's pacing like a toddler on steroids. Mercedes is talking with Quinn and Tina. The other boys and girls are sorta sitting there in shock even though it's been like a good 30 minutes and no one's moved.
Mr. Schue notices he's still in the room and looks him in the eye.
"Jake, this is serious, we need to talk about this with Figgins." Everyone turns to listen to Schue, then looks at him, like he's dangerous.
Jake scoffs, before looking right at him.
"You're gonna take me to Figgins but not Finn over there? You'll really do anything to protect him and that's the craziest thing."
He leaves the room without another word.
The car ride to Brittany's was pretty silent. At first, Someone Like You by Adele starting playing on the radio, but it felt like a cruel joke and Santana turned it off.
They pull into the driveway just as the sun starts to go down. Jake checks the dashboard and see's thats its just a little after 4pm, which suprises him. Today has felt terribly long.
They walk up the stars and ring the doorbell, Brittany has her keys, but she's carrying Santana, who fell asleep, and Jake's carrying the bags, so no one can open the door.
Mr. Pierce opens the door and it looks like his eyes might pop out of their sockets.
"Brittany what's-? Come on in." He says, with haste in his tone.
The Pierce house is big, and it looks really lived in, unlike his house. There's Brittany's little sisters toys in places and it makes it more homey.
They walk into the kitchen, where Brittany's mom is, and she almost drops the bowl she's holding when she see's them.
"Brittany Sue? What's going on?"
"Santana." Is all Brittany can say. "Santana."
Turns out, Brittany's dad is very good at being a nurse, and he got Jake's hand wrapped up to stop the swelling from going up. He said he'll check on it in the morning.
He texted from Santana's phone to their Mom that they'll be staying over Brittany's, which isn't a rare occurrence. She says it's fine.
He left Brittany and Santana to talk to Brittany's parents, since there's a lot to go over. He heard about the ad, and how Santana had 4 days to tell her parents that she was a lesbian before it was aired on national television.
(That's what made Jake the most furious, that Finn took that away from her.)
They talked for what it seemed like hours, before Brittany and Santana went up to Brittany's room, since they had to talk about private things too.
Jake doesn't realize himself dozing off until he feels a blanket tossed over him on the couch and a kiss on his forehead. He hears Mrs. Pierce say, " Thank you for sticking up for them, sweetheart," before he falls asleep.
When he wakes up, it's late, almost midnight and he hears shuffling in the kitchen, so Jake gets up to investigate.
He sees Brittany heating up something as he walks in, she turns around and gives him a small smile and walks over to him.
"You're a really good little brother," she states softly, almost at a whisper. She ruffles her hand through his overgrown, slightly curly hair. It's weird, since he's about 3 inches taller than her and younger, but it makes Jake smile.
"Thanks Brittany." He replies. "Is Santana awake, I just wanna say goodnight?"
"Yeah she is, go knock yourself out Jakey." Brittany says with a smirk, he hates that nickname, but Brittany's called him that for years, and it makes him laugh.
When he gets to Brittany's room, he see's Santana on the bed. It looks like she's fallen back asleep, so Jake just walks over and places a kiss on her forehead.
"I love you Santana, and I'll always be here for you, anytime you need me." Jake starts to walk out of the room when he hears something faintly.
"I love you too buddy, I really, really love you."