R is for Reindeer

"Remind me why I let you suck me into this every year," Quinn sighed as she leaned back into the cushions of the Pierce's couch, propping her head in her hand slightly to the side as she leaned into the arm rest, away from the other two girls also sharing couch space. However, given their positioning, it was difficult to be completely apart from them.

Brittany and Santana were rather closely entwined with each other, their legs overlapping with Santana having one stretched over Brittany's lap, Brittany having one stretched over Santana's, their torsos turned towards each other, arms wound around each other's waists comfortably as they cuddled into each other, heads leaned against each other as well. They resembled a puppy pile of two, and Santana's foot brushed Quinn's thigh every time either of them even slightly shifted, no matter how tightly Quinn attempted to press herself against the armrest to avoid her.

"Because it's awesome," was Brittany's response as her hand idly stroked up Santana's side, lightly running her fingertips over her ribs. Quinn only hoped that she wouldn't press any further with her exploration, because if the two of them started making out or groping in front of her- and it would be far from unexpected for them to do so- she was gonna get up and go, or at least hit them both with a pillow, Brittany's ban against bullying or not.

"Because Britt wants to do it and she likes us to do it together. And if Brittany wants it, I'm gonna make sure she gets it without some little blondie ruining it for her by bitching all the way through," Santana raised an eyebrow pointedly towards Quinn's direction, even as she ran her fingers lovingly through Brittany's hair, which was, of course, also blonde. "Also, you're a total dork and you love this shit, so don't even pretend you don't."

"Sorry, baby," she added when she caught Brittany looking at her with a slightly wounded expression for the less than flattering word used in reference to her desired activity. "I didn't mean that, you know I like doing this with you."

She rolled her eyes at Quinn as Brittany, satisfied, settled back against Santana, as though to convey that although she liked to spend time with Brittany and very, very close to Brittany, Brittany's choice of activity was far from what her own would have been. Quinn, raising an eyebrow back at her, allowed her lips to quirk, and then, slowly lifting her hand, flicked her wrist quickly, as though cracking a whip, knowing very well that this simple gesture would definitely piss Santana off.

Just as she had expected, Santana's face reddened, and she scowled, her brow furrowing, eyebrows drawing together into a sharp line, but she didn't say anything or pull away from Brittany to snap back at the other girl, not wanting to disturb her girlfriend or her current state of bliss. Brittany was staring towards the television and the figures playing across it, enraptured, and so Santana settled for kicking at Quinn's thigh.

"Move over, Hippy," she ordered, but Quinn just shoved her foot back, almost entirely off of Brittany's lap.

"You've given me about five inches of space as it is, why don't you just make it official and lay across both our laps since that's pretty much what you seem to be working towards anyway?"

"Sorry, I don't share," Santana shot back, nuzzling her nose into Brittany's cheek, even as Quinn took the all too easy bait.

"That's not what I heard from the entire football team last year…"

"Please don't say mean things," Brittany interrupted just as Santana started to bolt up from her entangled position with her, eyes widening, mouth opening to spit out a much more vicious insult that never did come forth. She looked between her girlfriend and their friend, her blue eyes round and serious, her voice urgent, even sad, as she continued, "This is the time of the year that we're all supposed to have cheer and peace and let everyone know how much we love them, even if we normally would scribble on their faces in the yearbook. And I love you both the whole entire year so you should love each other too. It's hard to like watching my favorite show in the whole world at my very favorite time of the year if you make me sad."

She paused, then added as an afterthought that was equally serious, "Plus Santa Claus is watching. He sees you when you're mean to each other and he might not want to give you nice things this year."

Santana and Quinn met each other's eyes over Brittany's shoulder again, exchanging slightly guilty looks before both dropped their gaze again. They both knew and were protective of Brittany's continued belief in Santa, not wanting to ever be the ones to clue her in otherwise, and Brittany's disappointment in their behavior was enough of a deterrent for even Santana to back down. Maybe especially for Santana.

"Sorry, Britt," she amended, giving her a kiss on the lips softly, before cutting her eyes at Quinn, who also apologized. As the three of them settled back again, turning their eyes towards the TV, they continued to watch the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer Christmas special with no further arguments, in fact, in relative silence, broken only by Brittany's occasional beaming comments about the characters and Santana's indulgent smiles aimed her way.

It wasn't until the end, when Rudolph was chosen to lead the team of reindeer in the night and first rose into the sky, that Quinn really bothered to look back over towards her friends, ever expectant of the same familiar sight that she saw each and every year. Brittany, grinning, bright-eyed, and clapping with excitement…and Santana, lowering her head and scrubbing at her eyes with the palm of her hands as though she were very, very tired, when in reality she was trying to hide the fact that she was crying. Looking at their reactions, repeated year after year, Quinn felt a rush of affection towards them both and didn't try to hide her smile.

Every year she complained, but every year she was glad for having gone through with it; it never really felt like Christmas until she had watched Rudolph with her best friends.