AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing. They really keep me going. We are coming to an end soon and I'm so happy that so many of you have joined me on this journey. Remember, I am available at Tumblr (same username as ) for all Brittiago related questions and requests. Enjoy.

The butterflies in Santiago's stomach were dipping and diving while flying around excitedly as he anticipated finally being open about his relationship with Brittany.

They walked into the lunchroom where only a few students were scattered around the tables, chatting and laughing while picking at the food on their plates. The queue wasn't too long, which was a bonus of being there early. The lunch lady, or Millie as she asked to be called, was scooping up lumpy, mashed potatoes and unceremoniously slapping it onto the plate of some unlucky student.

"Look at you two fancy lovebirds. Y'all are lookin' happy," she said to Brittany as they approached her, pointing between their linked hands.

"Hi Millie. We are feeling pretty awesome, right San?"

"That's right," he answered while balancing a tray in one hand and holding Brittany's with the other.

"What can I get you then, Ms. Brittany?" she twirled the scooper in her hand and Santiago watched with interest as flecks of potato flung off of it and stuck to the glass of the hot food counter. He tuned out and let Brittany order for the two of them. He was busy taking in her features, the way her lips moved as she spoke and her hand squeezed his every few seconds, almost as if she was checking that it was really there. He was glad for the reassurance too.

The bell rang suddenly and Millie laughed, "Here comes the stampede. You kids are lucky to have gotten the best of what's on offer."

Santiago would usually make a snide remark about how nothing at McKinley was the best of anything but he was too happy and really looking forward to the prospect of showing off to the guys. He had already noticed people looking at them curiously and a few guys were eyeing him with jealously. It made him grin smugly.

He paid for their lunches and noted happily that Brittany had gotten him fries and a burger. She had a salad and a bottle of water, probably because of some Sue Sylvester related reason. He had to let go of her hand to carry the tray, which he was ridiculously disappointed about. Brittany stopped walking as they got closer to his usual table and looked toward the table of Cheerios that was slowly filling up.

"Um, where are we gonna sit?" she asked with a frown, her lower lip jutted out and it made him want to kiss her.

"I dunno. I can sit with you if you want? Or do you wanna just sit with them and I'll sit with the guys?" It was like an unwritten rule that people sat with their own group for at least most of the lunch break.

"I wanna sit with you but I better go over to the girls first now that I'm co-captain and all." She sighed in resignation.

"It's ok, you can come over after." he smiled reassuringly.

"I guess," she replied as she took her plate and drink from the tray, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," his heart soared. He nodded over at Mike who waved in his direction, most likely wondering why he was taking so long to meet him there.

He really wanted to kiss her but their hands were full and he knew a lot of people were paying attention to them. Maybe Brittany was waiting to tell her friends before they made out in front of the whole school?

"See you later handsome." Brittany said before walking off and leaving him to unashamedly check her ass out.

He headed over to Mike and sat beside him, a sappy smile on his face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mike asked immediately.

"Nothing. I'm just happy," he spoke around a mouth full of fries.

"That's my point." Mike said like it was obvious.

Before the conversation could progress any further, Puck and Finn lumbered up and took their designated seats.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Puck asked Mike when Santiago offered him a friendly smile.

"He's happy, apparently," Mike answered skeptically, with a wary glance at Santiago.

"What's wrong with that?" Finn mumbled while taking a giant sized bite out of his burger.

"Nothing, just weird that's all," Puck was side-eyeing Santiago carefully, unused to seeing him so relaxed.

He kept his mouth shut about Brittany, unsure as to whether she wanted to tell them together and he didn't want to spoil it. Mike was complaining about Tina and Finn was telling them about his date with Manhands so it was almost impossible not to mention her, but he managed.

"Personally, I prefer being a single ladies man, am I right Lopez?" Puck's question caught his attention. He had been dipping fries into a dollop of ketchup and running them over the plate to gather some salt, ignoring them almost completely.

"Uh… not exactly," he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you've gone soft man, since Hudson lost his balls to Berry I thought I could rely on you." Puck shook his head in disappointment, like somehow Santiago had betrayed him.

Santiago opened his mouth only to find he had no idea what to tell them. But, as always, Brittany saved the day when she came up behind him and ran her fingers through his hair before planting herself on his lap.

"Hello," she waved while taking a bite of Santiago's burger and chewing happily.

"Uh…. That's weird," Puck looked at the other guys for confirmation, they nodded slowly.

"What's weird?" Brittany looked around in confusion, as she casually took Santiago's hand and pulled it across her stomach.

"No, that's weird," Puck clarified as he directed his gaze to Santiago's hand.

"What's weird about his hand?" Brittany asked defensively, her tone hardening noticeably.

"Basically we're wondering why you're sitting on Santiago's lap and why his hand is where it is." Mike finally explained for everyone. Finn was just sitting there looking like he was crapping himself or had bad gas. Pretty much looking exactly the same as usual, actually.

"You didn't tell them?" Brittany twisted to look at him, hurt evident in her eyes.

"I didn't know if you wanted to tell them together or not. Like, to be more special or whatever," he said and her face lit up immediately as she turned back to the three guys who were gawking at them in bewilderment.

"We're together," she smiled before taking another bite of his burger.

"What. The. Fuck?" Puck slammed his hand on the table and threw his head back in laughter.

"Dude, what's so funny?" Santiago hissed.

"It just all makes sense now. You've been banging her this whole time." Puck shouted loudly enough to gain the attention of some random students at the table beside them.

"Don't say it like-" Santiago began before Brittany cut in, "Yup," she answered with an enthusiastic nod as she laced her fingers through his.

"I'm genuinely surprised," Mike admitted as he tapped a text out at lightening speed on his cell phone.

Brittany giggled and placed a lingering kiss on Santiago's cheek, which was unexpected, soft and warm.

"He's just so irresistible and cute." Her breath was hot on his already heated cheek.

"Man, this is too perfect." Puck clapped his hand together once and rubbed them together excitedly, "your reputation has just been destroyed. Getting called cute is one thing, but blushing like a prissy woman when a hot girl kisses your cheekis a whole other ball park."

"Leave him alone." Brittany demanded seriously, her eyebrows furrowed together in indignation.

"And now I think your dick just shrunk." Puck laughed again, his thumb and index finger practically touching each other in his attempt to imitate its new size.

"I hope not, because I bet he can do things with his that you couldn't even think of. But even if it did shrink, it would still be the biggest at this table." She fired back without a second's hesitation.

Puck shut up and gaped open mouthed at her, his face was a mixture of shock and admiration.

"Leave me out of it." Finn said at last, having been silent the entire time.

"Me too. I know what they say about Asians, but it's not true." Mike held his hands up in defence, "Oh and Tina says congratulations, apparently it's about time and she wants to talk to Brittany as soon as she's finished draping herself all over you. Her words not mine."

Now that Radio Tina knew, it was only a matter time before the entire student body of McKinley was aware of their relationship.

Santiago wondered how long the news would take to travel to the unwilling ears of Sam Evans.

Hopefully not long.

Brittany and Santiago parted ways after lunch. She had told him that Quinn was ignoring her and refusing to even look in her general direction. Santiago wasn't surprised but he could tell that Brittany was a lot more affected by it than she was letting on. It made him sad that someone so amazing could let someone so vindictive and cruel hurt them but that's just how Brittany was. Too nice for her own good.

He was sat at the back of class with Puck to his left and Kurt on his right.

"I was told four times since lunch that you and Brittany are an item. One over zealous young lady even informed that you were caught having animal sex in Sue Sylvester's office by Quinn. I honestly cannot understand how these rumors can get so out of control so quickly." Kurt said as he filed and polished his nails, not even bothering to seem interested in the teacher's notes that were written on the board for them to copy.

"I heard that Brittany asked for a three way and she mentioned me specifically. Gotta say, I'd be down for that." Puck said as he flicked a paper spit ball with his pen over at Artie from Glee club.

Santiago punched him hard on the shoulder and Puck's pen flew out of his hand and hit Artie's wheelchair with a pang.

"No one said that you pervert and keep your disgusting hands away from Brittany." He warned menacingly. There was no way that he was going to let Puck try it on with Brittany.

"She's a hot piece of ass, dude. I'm allowed to appreciate it." Puck tried to defend himself but even Kurt looked scandalized.

"Not without her written permission you're not."

Puck opened his mouth to reply, only to choke on what Santiago imagined to be a counterattack spit ball fired by Artie. One look over at him confirmed his suspicions. Artie was doubled over in laughter as Puck gagged and coughed violently.

"What is going on down there? Puckerman, please stop interrupting the class, we have a lot to cover over the next few weeks." Mrs. Jameson scolded from the front of the room, where she had been reading Fifty Shades of Grey, clearly without a care about how the class was progressing.

Puck glared at Artie who waved back, knowing full well he would get away with what he did.

Rule number one when it came to Artie Abrams: don't get caught hurting the guy in the wheelchair. Girls don't dig it.

Not that any of the guys would hurt Artie anyway seeing as they paid him to do their homework and couldn't risk the possibility of him refusing.

Santiago had scribbled down the notes from the board and was staring listlessly out the window when his phone vibrated from his pocket.

It was from Quinn.

"Meet me in the usual place under the bleachers after school."-Quinn

What could she want from him now? Would she never let this go?

He thought it best to meet her anyway and see what she had planned this time.

"Ok." He replied and put his phone back in his pocket.

He couldn't concentrate on anything other than what Quinn had to say to him for the rest of the day. Why was she making things so hard, all the time? Couldn't she leave them alone?

When the bell for his last class rang, Santiago pushed out past the rush of students making a beeline to their lockers and headed straight to the bleachers where Quinn was waiting for him on the ratty couch. It felt like he was back to square one all over again.

"What do you want?" he said in lieu of greeting.

"I want to talk to you." She answered simply, like they were old friends and this was a run of the mill thing for her to do.

"I'm not interested."

"Santiago, just sit down." She commanded, and for some reason he followed.

"What are you planning this time, to lock me up somewhere? Because that's the only thing that can keep me from Brittany. I'm not playing any of your games anymore, our relationship is much more than that." He said angrily but Quinn's face remained impassive.

"I'm not here to play games." Quinn was looking out at the football field through the gaps in the rows of seats in front of them. It was a sunny day and he could hear the track team coach yelling in the distance.

"Um, ok." He replied awkwardly, unsure as to whether she was being nice or cruel.

"Brittany is co-captain now. I'm sure you know that." Her voice was starting to strain now and Santiago braced himself for a barrage of insults and threats. It would be far too unlike her to just let this whole thing go.

"I know." He agreed with a stiff nod.

"So she came to my school, took my friends, took my captaincy and took the only guy I've ever felt for." Quinn looked at him with tears brimming in her eyes.

Santiago stopped breathing and almost choked on the air that lodged in his throat.

"Uh… Quinn, I-"

"No don't. Don't feed me some bullshit line about how you love her. I've been here the whole time, giving little pieces of myself to you and you threw it all back in my face by pursuing her. What's so special about Brittany? She's not exactly smart is she?" She was definitely crying now but her voice remained relatively steady.

"She is smart and I love her Quinn." He gritted his teeth, begging himself to remain calm. She treated him like crap constantly, he hardly considered that as 'giving little pieces' of herself to him.

"Do you know how hard it was for me the day my daddy threw you out of the house? I cried and pleaded with him to change his mind but he wouldn't. He sent me to Jesus camp and told me to get rid of my sinful feelings toward you and I tried so freaking hard but I couldn't." She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly.

"I had no idea." Santiago admitted. He was stunned. He had never suspected she had feelings like this for him. Ever.

"Yeah I guess you didn't." Quinn released another shaky breath.

"I don't know what to say."

He placed a hand on her thigh to gain her attention to tell her he was sorry but he was in love with Brittany, when she turned suddenly put her hand on his cheek kissed him on the lips.

He pulled away immediately but it was too late.

"San?" Brittany's voice spoke from behind them.

"Oh, hi Brittany." Quinn smiled devilishly.

Brittany stared between the two of them with an indecipherable look on her face.

What had she seen?