Notes: As always, thanks to my amazing beta Bella, without whom this story would look much different. For more Break And Bend related content, take a look at my tumblr (fallintolife).
Glee is actually pretty cool.
She doesn't really get a chance to dance very much when it doesn't have to be perfect, and it's fun. Dance recitals and competitions are good, and Cheerios is fine when Santana and Quinn aren't trying to kill each other, but at Glee she's the best dancer they have. All she really has to do is sleepwalk through Mr. Schue's boring routines for the big numbers, and improvise whatever she wants for the small ones.
It's kind of funny that it's her dancing that really gets her talking to the other Gleeks.
It's just after practice, and Santana ran outside to get the car started since it's cold, and Quinn has already left, so Brittany is, for once, in the choir room without either one of them. She's doing her cooldown stretches so she doesn't cramp when they're in the car, when she hears footsteps behind her.
"Your dancing is fantastic," Kurt says confidently.
Brittany turns, head cocked. She can get away with talking to Kurt if it's about a number or to fix his dancing, but most of the time, Santana drags her away before she can really have a conversation with him. She knows he's only safe to talk to her because Santana will be gone for another couple minutes, but she really thought he would be too scared to try even then.
"You're trained, aren't you?" He asks curiously. One arm is folded across his body, the other one propped on top of it, his finger tapping his lip (I will acknowledge and respect talent wherever I may find it, Brittany thinks his body is saying).
"Mmhmm," Brittany hums, going into a side lunge and peeking up at him from it. "Since I could walk. Hip-hop, lyrical, ballet, and Mike taught me some pop'n'lock last summer."
"Do you know the routine to Single Ladies?" Kurt asks, his eyes following her as she shifts to the other leg.
Brittany scoffs. "Since the first live performance."
"Would you be willing to teach me?" Kurt reaches up to fix his hair with the lip-tapping hand, watching her stretch out her hamstrings. "I looked at some tutorials online, but I think I'm missing the... finer points. I'm trying to do a video with Tina-"
"Oh, I'll totally be in your video," Brittany cuts in, standing up from her stretch and bouncing on her toes. She knows he wasn't asking her, but she already loves the idea of getting to do a video with Kurt and Tina, who are both adorable but on Santana's social suicide list.
Kurt's eyes light up, even though his face stays the same, and he says, "would you? Excellent. My house, tomorrow after school?"
"Awesome," Brittany smiles, catching sight of Santana over his shoulder. "I gotta go."
She would love to hug him, but Santana's right there, so she just smiles wider and grabs their bags, bouncing past him.
[*]
"Hey, Britt."
Britt turns, a smile already forming when she sees Santana standing at her locker. Her first instinct is to lean forward and kiss her, but she holds it in. She settles for bouncing on her toes a little, and saying back, "hey."
"Do you want to..." Santana licks her lips, pushing up an eyebrow, "maybe watch Sweet Valley High tonight?"
Britt swallows. Santana's eyes drop to her lips, then move back to her eyes, and Britt can see the slight flush on her cheeks. She doesn't need anyone to tell her what Santana wants, or what she's asking for, and her mouth has already opened to say yes when she remembers that she's going to Kurt's after school.
"Sorry,Britt smiles, putting an apology in it. "I've got...she makes a snap decision, knowing that Santana won't approve of her tutoring Kurt and Tina, "dance stuff."
Santana's smile drops, but she nods. Her eyes dart either way to check the hallway, and when it's mostly empty she leans up on her toes to wrap her arms around Brittany's neck.
Brittany's eyes close, and she breathes in the topnote of Santana's perfume, with Santana's own scent lingering below that. They stay pressed together for longer than either of them would hug other people (Britt would hug Quinn like that, but there's no way Quinn would let her), then Santana presses a soft kiss just below her ear.
"Have fun," Santana smiles, then walks off toward her car.
Brittany watches her go, a half-smile on her face.
[*]
Kurt comes to the door, his eyes dropping down her body then back up. His head tilts, and he says, "I- wow."
Brittany dips her head, looking down at the ground. She shifts her backpack on her shoulder and shuffles her feet.
"No, it's... you look good," Kurt says quickly, "I just didn't know you owned clothing that wasn't the uniform. Good to know you can wear something other than Satan's armor."
Brittany looks up to see a fleeting smile on Kurt's face, then he turns, opening the door to let her follow after him.
Tina is downstairs, sitting comfortable in a white wicker egg-thing that reminds Brittany of Men In Black. "Are you going to take all my memories with a flashy pen?" Britt jokes, setting her backpack with her laptop in it on a desk.
Tina and Kurt look at each other, and Britt takes a deep breath before pulling up the song on Kurt's ipod and stepping into the middle of the room.
Tina is actually really good ("I'm bad with instruments, so my parents signed me up for vocal and dance lessons," Tina smiles hesitantly, "it's an A-A-A-Asian thing.") but Kurt... isn't. He's not Finn levels of needing teaching, but he's seriously stiff, and half of what Brittany tells him is some version of "loosen up
Still, by the time they're done, she feels accomplished. They're about a third of the way through the routine, and when she tells them that, Kurt smiles faintly and Tina beams.
"So, when are you free next?" Kurt asks, looking between the two of them. "Most of my plans are... able to be rescheduled, but I know you two have more specific plans than I do."
"I have Art Club afterschool on Tuesdays," Tina says, putting back on her messenger bag, "but that's only an hour."
"I have Cheerios every day but the weekend," Brittany says apologetically, "and dance every night but Thursdays."
"Next Saturday, then?" Kurt suggests, his eyes flicking to Tina.
"Sure," Tina agrees easily, looking to Brittany.
"Definitely," Brittany bounces, and Kurt quirks his head (I'm too dignified to smile, but I am pleased with this turn of events, Brittany thinks).
"Saturday," Kurt confirms. "It was lovely having you Brittany; you're very talented and should probably be choreographing our numbers instead of Mr. Schue."
Britt's smile fades a little, and the words echo in her head during the entire ride home. Kurt had said it knowing that would never happen, and she knew it was because Schuester thought she was stupid.
Along with everyone but Santana and Quinn.
[*]
"Okay, am I the only one who's bored to death in Glee?"Santana asks.
There's two Spanish textbooks and one notebook between the three of them. They're sitting on Brittany's bed, Santana against the headboard, Quinn at the other end, and Brittany stretched out between them.
She looks up at Santana's face, which is less confident than her usual but not disgusted, which means she's probably not about to pitch them quitting Glee. Brittany isn't really sure where she's going, so she leads her along with, "I think I'm getting better at singing."
Santana shifts a little, and says, "yeah, but Britt, I don't know how you sit through the dancing. I mean, you could choreography a million times better than that in your sleep."
It's so much like what Kurt said that it sends a spike through Brittany's stomach, and instead of deflecting or smiling, Brittany says seriously, "I could," because it's true.
Brittany feels Quinn's weight shift backward on the bed, and Quinn says, "they wouldn't listen," which hurts even though she knows Quinn would listen.
"They would if I were a grown-up," Britt says quietly. She's getting tired of saying things that are both true and hurt, because the truth isn't supposed to hurt, and she doesn't want to hear either Quinn or Santana try to make her feel better, so she stops them. Santana's mouth closes when Brittany kisses her cheek, and Quinn's eyes follow the twitching of her skirt when she walks out to make popcorn, and then it's Brittany and her feelings alone in the stairwell.
It's hurt and a little bit of indignation, and some more hurt directed at Quinn and Santana for not standing up for her against Schue and everyone else, but Brittany does not want to deal with it, so she leaves the feelings in the stairwell and makes popcorn.
Popcorn, she can do. It's life that's starting to get hard.
[*]
The second and third rehearsals with Kurt and Tina are just as awesome as the first one.
Kurt's starting to let her see his smiling, and Tina isn't stuttering as much, and even though they both reluctantly admit to being sore at the end of their practices, she can tell they're enjoying it anyway.
It's nice, having something in her life that's going right, and people who appreciate her for exactly what she knows she's good at, and don't demand anything more.
[*]
"Brittany?"
Brittany turns to face her geometry teacher. His shoulders are tight, and his arms are crossed across his chest. She watches as he fights not to bite his lip, and she waits for him to say something.
"Can you... come talk to me for a second? I'll write you a note for your next class," he says after a few seconds. Sweat starts to bead on his upper lip, and Brittany gives her ignore-me-I'm-an-airhead smile and nods, walking in after him.
"Brittany..." he shuffles a few papers on his desk and clears his throat before looking up at her, "do you know the difference between a triangle and a rectangle?"
Anger flares hot inside her. She learned her shapes before she got to grade school. She was one of the first ones who got everything right, and was able to draw an apple next to a heart and not mess them up. She's not stupid (the words "not stupid" run through her mind on repeat all through her internal rant), and kids who don't understand the difference between their shapes should be in those special classes that help you with the basic stuff, because there's probably something wrong with their minds. Those kids aren't stupid, just different, but the looks everyone at McKinley give her say you're dumb, not you're differently abled, and she's getting sick of it.
She looks at him and sees the terror in his eyes. It's not directed at her, unlike the kind-of-parent-like concern, and she gets it. He's worried about her, but scared of Coach Sylvester, so he's trying to help but doesn't know if he should be.
Then she realizes that because of Coach Sylvester, he's going to pass her no matter what, but if she admits she understands almost everything going on in class right now, she'll have to start doing homework and projects and stuff. Her anger fights with her liking for free time, and the liking for free time wins.
"Triangles have three angles, right?" She says finally, re-visiting the ignore-me-I'm-an-airhead smile. He brightens a little, and then she adds, "so, rectangles have... rect angles? How many is rect?"
He slumps, and mumbles, "they have four angles. And four sides."
"That's silly, because four is quad, isn't it?" Brittany asks, unable to stop herself from sticking that little bit in there, "so they should be quadrangles, not rectangles."
"There are quadrangles, but they're not-"
"I get it, thanks," Brittany plasters on a fake smile and skips out of the office, because her anger is starting to return, and honestly, she doesn't even know what to do with it.
[*]
After the fourth rehearsal, Kurt and Tina have it down, and they record the video.
Kurt's dad comes in near the end, and Brittany and Tina have to cover for him, but they do get it done, and it's perfect in two takes. They're done early, actually, and when they're all changed back into their normal clothes, Brittany offers to give Tina a ride home, since her parents don't get off work for another hour.
"This is really n-n-n-nice of you," Tina comments when they're on the road.
"You're not that far from me," Brittany says back, "I don't mind."
"Not just that," Tina shakes her head, looking at Brittany from the corner of her eye, "I mean, you teaching Kurt and me the choreography."
"I love dancing, and you guys are nice," Brittany says. She knows it's not what Tina was really saying ("You are so cool for hanging out with us", which Brittany doesn't understand and gets perfectly all at once), but Tina just smiles and drops it.
Brittany plugs her number into Tina's phone before she gets out of the car, and when Tina texts her twenty minutes later, Brittany is hoping that this is the beginning of a friendship where she doesn't have to worry about falling in love with them.
[*]
"Kurt's been teaching us the choreo for Single Ladies," Mike comments, when they're doing warmup stretches in the studio.
"Cool," Brittany grins, happy Kurt got it well enough to teach other people.
"You're not upset?" Mike asks wonderingly, stretching his arms above his head.
"Why would I be?" Brittany asks, cocking her head. "It's not my choreography, it's JaQuel Knight's."
"Yeah, but you're the one who taught him, and he's not giving you any credit," Mike pushes.
Brittany shrugs. "He doesn't say who taught him to sing every time he's in a Glee number, either."
Mike looks at her sideways, but leaves it alone. They do lifts until Matt gets there, then she teaches both of them the rest of the Single Ladies choreography so they'll have it down in time for the game.
[*]
Single Ladies is amazing, of course. It's kind of sad that Matt and Mike don't get to do it with Puck and Finn, but the rest of the Titans look good.
When Finn comes over to kiss Quinn, Santana throws her arms around Brittany's neck and hugs her tightly. Brittany laughs and drops her poms, not caring that Coach Sylvester will kill her for it. Santana is warm and soft and cuddly, and Brittany rests her cheek on top of Santana's head, closing her eyes.
Santana eventually pulls away, and Brittany looks up to see Puck staring at Quinn. His helmet hangs from a single finger, and she's never seen him look so... destroyed. She can't even think of a funny way to put it, he looks that hurt. Then he walks away, head hung low, and Brittany turns to Quinn in concern.
"Did you see Puck? He looks really sad," Brittany asks her.
Santana snorts and opens her mouth (probably to say something about her breaking up with him), when Quinn snaps, "I don't give a shit about Puck right now," and stalks away.
She and Santana stare after Quinn. They don't say anything, but when Santana meets her eyes, Brittany knows Santana is just as worried, even if she's not going to admit it.