Long A/N: Multiple choice question: Why it took me a whole year to update? A)I had some health issues and lost my sense of humor for a while. B) I was abducted by aliens and- Wait did you say a whole year? Aren't we in 2013? It seemed like only a week to me.
This is chapter is short but next one will follow quickly.
If you can't remember what was this story about, a little reminder: After wishing for her soul mate to find her quickly, Brittany wakes up to a naked human Santana who happened to be a cat until the day before. Santana pretty much struggles to do anything human but learns quickly. She is now moving her thumbs, walking, having sex with Brittany, meeting the friends and communicating with basic body language. She just made peace with clothes, though. And still doesn't talk.
Brittany scratched her neck. She had a problem. A Santana problem.
They both woke up pretty excited, knowing that today they planned to go outside.
Brittany always saw the curious look on Santana's face when the front door opened. She always craned her neck to see what's out on the corridor of their apartment. Finally today, for the first time Santana walked into the flat, she was about to walk out.
But they had a problem. A Santana problem.
They had breakfast, showered, brushed each others' hair (one of Santana's favorite indoor activity) and got dressed. But the final part, wearing shoes and going out part, took an unexpected turn.
Santana couldn't walk on shoes. When she tried, she looked like a creepy spider walking on a web. And when Brittany commented on that, Santana's precious cat pride couldn't take it. She threw away the shoes and sulked on the sofa.
Brittany took a note never to reference spiders, or any other animals, while talking about her.
Brittany couldn't believe she never thought this through. It took her weeks getting Santana to wear any type of clothing, why did she think Santana would be fine with wearing shoes? She should have guessed that something like this would happen. Especially after watching all those Youtube videos of cats and dogs trying to walk in pet shoes but instead, just ending up just sadly amusing.
What could be the difference between walking normally and walking in shoes? Don't ask Santana, she doesn't talk. Don't ask Brittany, she doesn't know.
But she is determined to know.
Brittany took off her shoes and socks and walked about in the living room, trying to understand the feeling completely. It would be just like walking in Santana's imaginary shoes, if she could forget all about footwear and focus on being barefoot. She failed to collect any scientific observations, mostly because walking her feet naked was something she did every day. She couldn't find something different about it.
She did the same thing with only wearing socks. Sure, she felt some sort of restriction trying to wiggle her toes and sure, barefoot walking was colder than sock-wearing walking but socks definitely didn't affect walking in any way.
Shoes were the same, too. More wiggle restriction but even easier to walk on. Plus, the warmth.
Because toe wiggling wasn't a part of the walking process, Brittany still had no idea why Santana couldn't walk on shoes. Meaning, she was still at the place she started.
Brittany needed to understand why, so she can fix this. Seeing Santana sulking on the couch all broken hearted. She was so frustrated with herself and she blamed herself for Santana's current state of obvious unhappiness. She just needs to try something different, get creative, find the problem, fix it and make Santana smile again.
So now, she decided to wear only her right shoe, and leave her left foot bare. That way she could experience the differences more clearly, plus it would be like find the differences games.
She walked fast, she walked slowly. She stood motionless, she jumped. She couldn't find a reasonable difference.
Her naked foot felt cooler, the right one warmer. Santana liked warmth, so that wasn't it. Standing on the shoe, she was an inch taller than her barefoot state. Santana liked being tall so that shouldn't be it, either. And this pair of shoes was best walking shoes ever. They were all fluffy inside; it was like standing on a cloud. If this wasn't working, it meant that Brittany just ran out of ideas.
Brittany sighed and walked over to Santana to sulk on the couch with her.
"I'm sorry, baby. I don't understand why you can't wear shoes." The blonde said solemnly. She felt like she let Santana down. "I know how much you wanted go outside but we can't go barefoot."
Santana shrugged slowly, but Brittany could see how sad she actually was. Sitting her back hunched, head bowed down, hands folded on her lap, pulling the tassels of the carpet with her toes, this wasn't one of her over dramatic emotions, she was genuinely sad.
Brittany was so disappointed in herself. How could she not understand? What was it that she kept missing? What can she do to make it better?
She kissed the brunette and whispered 'I'm sorry' a few times before laying her head on her shoulder. Santana just kept playing with the tassels dejectedly. Deciding to join in, Brittany moved her feet. Her left foot caught some of the strings but she couldn't even feel anything with her right foot. That was odd, so she looked at her feet.
Oh, right. She still had a shoe on. She moved to remove it, but then it struck her.
"It's because you can't feel the floor!" Santana jumped at her sudden outburst.
Brittany got up from the couch in excitement. "You're uncomfortable because you can't feel the floor! That's it!"
Santana was still looking at her with wide eyes but nodded nonetheless. Of course that was the reason. She didn't actually have a problem wearing shoes; she had a problem walking on them. How could she miss it?
"Oh, that's easy. You don't have to!" Brittany exclaimed. Santana tilted her to the side looking at her curiously. She kneeled between the brunette's legs and explained.
"You don't have to feel the floor under your feet. In fact, you shouldn't feel the floor when you're walking on the streets. Because it is dangerous." She took Santana's foot between her hands "See how thin the skin is?"
Santana let out a giggle as Brittany's fingers caressed under her foot. "There are lots of things on the street like stones or little glass pieces that can hurt your cute feet. So we wear shoes to protect them. Human feet aren't rough enough."
It was apparent on Santana's face that she was thinking hard about this. So Brittany offered another try.
After wearing the shoes back on, Santana stood motionless in the middle of the living room, afraid of being called a spider. She was facing Brittany who held her hands in hers and she was sure this time it was going to work out.
"Okay, let's try it like this." Brittany said in anticipation. "Close your eyes and pretend you're barefoot. Just do the movements you normally do when you walk." Santana didn't move until she added "And I promise never to comment on it ever again."
The plan was easy and it worked flawlessly.
"You're doing it! Look Santana, you're doing it!" Brittany jumped up and down with excitement. "Let's go out! San, let's go out!"
The blonde quickly put her other shoe on and noticed Santana was already waiting her by the door with a big grin on her face. "Oh, a few rules before we go. We can't take off our clothes at all; we certainly can't have sex, and no second base, either."
Santana scrunched her nose at the unpleasant news.
"I know. I just took the fun out of it, didn't I?" Brittany mirrored her expression, reaching for the the door handle. "But hey, we can still kiss."