Sebtana in the house. It's been three seasons, I deserve a crackship, okay? They're perfect. OTP: Smooth Criminals.

I hope you all like this, because I really enjoyed this piece. The title for this came down between Howl, because that's the song used (it's by Florence + the Machine) and Language Barriers because I adore bilingual Santana and Sebastian. It's canon. He's spent a year Paris.

Reviews are love.


i. if you could only see the beast you've made of me

"I was better!"

She struts after him, indignant. Obviously, she was the superior singer in that duet. Sebastian's a pretty good singer, actually, but he was definitely flat in the chorus, and she sounded breath-taking in her opinion.

He rolls his eyes like the notion is ridiculous and walks away. "No, you weren't."

"Tell me what was in that slushie!" She snaps, her eyes narrowed. The two cellos had long since scuttled out, fearing the vicious rage of Santana Lopez.

"Rock salt." Sebastian pivots to face her, his hazel eyes flashing. "It's a pity. That slushie was never meant Blaine's pretty little face. He was nice eye-candy."

"You douche bag!" She hisses, because Blaine's like a little puppy who she has weird protective big sister feelings over so she doesn't like him hurt and wounded, with his stupid little pirate Anderson eye patch. Plus, Kurt and Blaine are her favorite gays.

Honestly, Sebastian gets under her skin, he bugs her. She doesn't even know why... but he makes her stomach flip-flop. It's like.. he turns her on. Oh god, she's attracted to him. She can't even remember the last time a guy turned her on this much. Puck was fine, but he always had it bad for someone else like Quinn, and that was a definite turn off. Finn was clumsy and dopey, not even his social status really enticed her. She and Sam had always just been friends.

But Sebastian... Oh, she wants to rip off Sebastian Smythe's blazer and push him up against the wall.

Sebastian sneers,"I've been called worse, try harder Satan."

"Hijo de puta!" She swears, Spanish profanity spilling from her lips. Steam is practically pouring our her ears, she's so livid. He's does that to her and she hates it.

She's angry because Santana Lopez likes to win and she doesn't know what this is but it sure doesn't feel like winning.

She wants to slap that little meerkat smirk off his face and as she rears back to do so, Sebastian steps for and smashes his lips against hers. Gasping into his kiss, she can't seem to pull back. She's a lesbian, or so she thought, and more importantly with Brittany. The Brittany she loves and adores, truly... But, she has to admit, she's missed this. The desperation, the passion in his kiss is wonderful, intoxicating. Brittany's too gentle, too passive.

She hates to admit it, but she loves his lips on her's, her hands tangled in his hair.

"W-what the fuck do you think you're doing?" She sputters, finally regaining her senses and jerking herself away from Sebastian, "I'm with Brittany!"

"So?" He shrugs, "It doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you. I'm bi, I think."

It stuns her for a moment how those exact words had fallen off he lips so many times before. She's a cheater, she's doesn't do relationships, she doesn't do feelings.

She snaps, a little unconvincingly, "Well, it bothers me."

"Really?" Sebastian quirks an eyebrow, "It didn't seem to bother you too much a minute ago when I had my tongue down your throat."

"It was an accident, it didn't mean a thing." The lies have become so natural to her, they just fly out. All thoughts of Brittany are slipping out of her mind, all she can think of his lips on her neck. It's so awful, so wrong... but it being bad has always felt so good.

"So, you didn't," He runs his fingertips over the bear skin of her hand and she shivers, "feel anything?"

"I don't do feelings, Twink." She emphasizes, then adds, "Except with Brittany. I'm with Brittany."

She keeps having to remind herself of that. That's the first sign of danger, in retrospect.

"This doesn't have to be feelings." He offers, "You're hot, I'm hot. We should hook-up. Simple as that."

She turns away, "Forget it. I have Brittany."

Before she can leave, Sebastian is behind her. He grabs her wrist, almost gently. His lips are brushing her ear, sending shivers down her spine, he whispers:

"Brittany doesn't have to know."

He has her there.


ii. i held it in, but now it seems you've set it running free

"Vous étiez un vrai dos de chienne là, Lopez." Sebastian hisses, the silky French words rolling off his tongue, then pulling her into a random closet at McKinley before anyone can see. She looks like polished perfection, high pony tail and tiny little Cheerio's uniform, smirk on her red, red lips.

"Ooh, la, la." She winks at him, grinning, "French is muy atractivo. Very sexy."

She can feel his hot breath of her skin, "Spanish is hotter."

She bats her eyelashes flirtatiously, loving the sudden power over him, "Oh?"

"Black mail's sexy, too." He smirks back at her, pushing her up against the wall. Guilt from their little escapade is gnawing at her stomach because she didn't mean to cheat on Britt, it just happened, but she still pulls him closer to her. Sebastian is her drug of choice and she can't seem to get enough.

"I'm surprised you didn't break it." She almost grins at him, referring to the little recorder she has strategically taped to her under-boob. But, she supposes, Sebastian had other things on his mind when he first saw it.

"Oh, you wanted me to."

"You're a real dick, Meerkat Face." She growls, pressing towards him.

Sebastian laughs,"Obviously, you would know, Santana."

She feels a hot rush sweep over her, caused by his innuendo. So naturally she just narrows her eyes and insult him again.

"You're a bastard."

"You like it." He starts slipping his hands higher and higher up her thighs. She peppers kisses up and down the bare skin of his neck.

Maybe she does.


iii. screaming in the dark, i howl when we're apart

Santana Lopez has always been a bitch.

But this is a new level for her. Cheating on Brittany, the only person she ever loved, is so wrong. Even for her. She feels like a awful, disgusting liar whenever they link pinkies in the hallways and kiss when their alone, because all she can think of is him.

Sebastian.

She hates him though. She loathes him and his smirky attractive chipmunk face. He makes her feel things she doesn't feel with Brittany. And she wants to be with Brittany. She does. But, Sebastian's ruining everything. Just when she thought she had herself figured out, he saunters in and changes everything.

She was practically positive she was a lesbian. Girls turned her on and she only loved Brittany... But guys sometimes turned her on, too. She just hadn't loved any one of them. Now she was just confused. It was like she only had two clear, black and white options - lesbian or straight. There was no middle ground, no gray area.

Now Sebastian's got her stuck in this confusing uncharted territory, shades of grey.

In a way, they're playing with fire, so dangerous. Cheating is always dangerous, but with Sebastian and this whole mess about her sexuality it's amplified. She should end this, they should stop before someone gets hurt. But somehow she knows this is bigger than both of them and now that they've set this in motion they can't stop it.

So she ends up making paper thin excuses that only Brittany would buy, she steals away to her car and pulls out her phone. Quickly, she taps out her message.

Santana: Twink, you busy?

Her phone buzzes with the reply almost instantaneously.

Sebastian: No.

Santana: Scandals in half an hour, got it?

Sebastian: Awesome, time to show you a little Westerville hospitality, Lopez.

She doesn't reply. Just drives out to Westerville, speeding the whole way.


iv. until i wrap myself inside your arms i cannot rest

She wakes up in his bed. His arms is slung over her and she can't remember all that much. Just driving to Scandals against her better judgment, guzzling vodka, meeting up with Sebastian again, then doing it in the bathroom.

They're getting to be like that bad movie that keeps getting replayed. Problem is, she's starting to really love the movie. The problem is she can't get him out of her head. He plagues her thoughts, her dreams.

Carefully she eases herself out of the bed, trying not to wake Sebastian. She quickly searches for her underwear and her rumpled Cheerio's uniform, finding them thrown on his couch. She slips back on her clothes and shoes, trying not the glance back at Sebastian's sleeping form. He looks so innocent and... even almost adorable in his sleep. It nearly seizes her heart - nearly.

As she's tightening her ponytail, his voice makes her spin around.

"Leaving so soon, Lopez?"

"This the last time, Smythe, got it? We're not doing this anymore." She vaguely wonders if she's saying it for him or her.

"Oh, you'll be back." Sebastian says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. He's still shirtless, staring her down with his sharp hazel green eyes. The combination is enough to make even Santana Lopez squirm a little.

But, she scoffs, not wanting to believe it, "How are you so sure?"

"Now that you've got taste of this little affair, it's becoming a constant craving." He smirks, knowingly, "You forgot how delicious and sinful cheating tasted. The deceit. Admit it Santana, you like it. You miss it. You like me and this... arrangement."

"Goodbye, Gayface." She snaps, curtly, slamming the door to punctuate her sentence.

God, she hates it when he's right.


v. drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart

It starts out as meaningless sex as everything always was with people like them. Being fuck buddies she can handle, but having feelings for him... She cannot deal with that.

She tries really hard. She tries so hard not to feel the world spinning when they kiss hungrily, she tries not to let him take her breath away, she tries to keep it from turning into something more.

But, she can't help it. It starts to escalate. She can feel it. Little things start happening. Like how she spends the night sometimes, or how he holds her in his sleep, or how sometimes he takes her out to dinner without saying anything about a date, or how she'd rather be with him than Brittany or anyone else. She starts loving things about them. Like the way when he thinks she's asleep he sings her beautiful French lullabies. The way he brushes strands of her hair back behind her ear.

She's in way too deep.

Without being conscious of it, she starts blowing off Brittany and Quinn and her friends for Sebastian. They spent time in his dorm room or one of their cars or out in Westerville where no on from New Directions can catch them in the act, red paint all over her hands. And sometimes they even actually talk. It gets to the point where he knows even more about her than Brittany. It terrifies and exhilarates her and it's... absolutely wonderful.

Their two of a kind, so alike it's creepy. They talk about everything from their impassive mothers, to their need to lashes out and ridicule others, to even their confusion over their sexualities. Sebastian is confident that he's a bi, with a thing for guys (and her). But she isn't so sure.

Really, she isn't sure of anything anymore.

She wears his starched button-up school shirts around his dorm room and he looks at her like she's perfect even though he knows she's not and they both act like this isn't happening. It's easy because this is all so surreal. Everything has an ethereal, dreamy quality to it.

"Are you still even in love with Brittany, Santana?" Sebastian asks, as her head is laying on his chest, her dark wavy hair splayed everywhere. She traces something that suspiciously feels like the shape of a heart to him on his stomach, but Santana Lopez most certainly does not do hearts. Then she shifts, her chin propped on his chest.

"I..." She doesn't know anymore. Maybe once upon a time, she loved Brittany. But if she's cheating she obviously didn't love Brittany as much as she thought, "I don't know what love is anymore, Sebastian. I don't know anything anymore."

Sebastian laughs hollowly, "I never knew."

He's either ruined her or fixed her. She can't seem to decide.


vi. my fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in

"Have you ever been in love, Sebastian?" She asks, staring out the window of the cafe they're sitting in. She's reevaluating a lot of things right now and she wants to know if he's ever felt anything like what she had with Brittany. It was wonderful, but it's just... gone. As much as she wants to do the right thing and let her go, Brittany is still her best friend. She can't throw away her best friend since seventh grade, she's too selfish.

"Maybe." Sebastian hesitates, then forges ahead recklessly, "Maybe I am now. I don't fucking know."

"Blaine's got you bad, huh?" She drums her fingers on the table, full of nervous energy for some reason. He makes her like that. "Well, he and Kurt are practically old marrieds, so sucks for you."

It's meant to be snarky, even scathing, but her words come out making it sound like she actually cares or something, which she doesn't. Not at all

His lips quirk up a little, "Something like that."

She pretends not hear the double meaning in his words. She pretends not to notice the inexplicable need in his kisses. She pretends not to notice how he looks at her, how she sometimes catches herself looking at him.

She pretends not to notice a lot of things. Ignorance is bliss, right?


vii. i held it in, but now it seems you've set it running free

"You're okay, Santana."

"You're okay, too, Twink."

Somewhere between the sex and cheating and fights they became friends. She doesn't quite know how, but she likes it anyways.


viii. the fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress

"Je t'aime." Sebastian smiles, twirling her around. She feels breathless and dizzy.

"And what does that mean, Mr. I-spent-a-year-in-Paris?" She teases, tugging him towards her. The beautiful French words sound vaguely familiar, pricking her ears.

He hesitates only for a moment, all traces of a smile gone, "I love you."

She slaps him. Hard and swift. Her head suddenly feels like it's going to explode, she can't process all this emotion. It's more than she's felt in years.

"Vete a la mierda! Vete a la mierda, Sebastian! Usted no puede apenas tiro de mierda esto en mí! No puedo… No sé! Soy así que confundido y usted sabe eso!" She screams at him furiously in Spanish, drawing startled looks from passers-by in the street. She doesn't even care, she's so livid. The anger courses through her veins, making her head spin. She hasn't been this angry since the day they first kissed.

"Baise!" He curses, his eyes flashing. "What was that, Santana? What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with you?" She pushes him, but she can't make Sebastian budge, "You can't spring shit like that on me!"

"I didn't!" Sebastian hisses at her, furiously, "I thought... I thought you felt it, too."

"Felt something?" She laughs, mirthlessly, "Just because we're fuck buddies doesn't mean, I'm dumping Brittany for you."

"If you were so in love with her you wouldn't be fucking me in the side would you?" Sebastian roars at her. It should startle her, because she never seen him so angry, so broken, so... sad. His fury is always tightly controlled.

"Don't." She warns, her voice low, "There is nothing between us except sex, Sebastian."

His face crumbles for a split second and for a second she wants to cry because it hurts her to see him like that. But his icy eyes re-harden and he takes a deep breath.

"Well, then. I guess everyone is right about you. You are a cold-hearted, manipulative bitch. No wonder everyone hates you." He spits out.

Then he just walks away, leaving her standing there stunned. She's... she's been called just about everything. Bitch, slut, whore. But coming from him it stings like it's the first time.

She hasn't cried that hard in a very long time, but once she got into her car she started sobbing and couldn't stop.


ix. i hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground

"Brittany?" She finally says, closing her eyes.

"Yeah?"

She says all in one breath, "I think we should break up."

Automatically tears spring into the blonde's eyes. She feels like such an awful person, breaking her heart like that. But it would be much crueler if she just kept stringing Brittany along. Right?

"Why?" Brittany sniffles, tears slipping down her cheeks "Is it because I'm stupid?"

"No!" She reaches to comfort her, but the other girl pulls away, "You are smart and beautiful and amazing, Britt. I...I just don't love you like that anymore."

She doesn't mention Sebastian. Not now.

Brittany runs away, sobbing, off to find Kurt or Mike or someone to comfort her. She's never felt so guilty and awful in her life. But it's for the best. Even if she doesn't love Brittany like that anymore, she can't keep the hollowness out of her stomach. They'll find their way back together eventually, she's sure. Because they've been best friends since forever and nothing can change that.

Even Sebastian and her and whatever they are.


x. the saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound

Somehow, she always ends up in a lonely hallway at Dalton, knocking desperately on his door.

He opens the door, but tries to slam it shut almost immediately. She throws herself into the room with as much force as she can muster.

Sebastian looks tired. So tired, it makes her stomach drop. There's dark bags under his eyes and his hair is rumpled like he couldn't sleep.

He look broken. And she hates it.

"What the fuck do you want, Santana?" He growls, and he still looks genuinely upset. She hurt him and she hurt Brittany and this has become such a giant fucking mess. It gives her a headache.

"I-I'm sorry, Seb." She whispers, but it means something because Santana Lopez doesn't say sorry to anyone. But she's said sorry more times than she can count tonight.

Sebastian spits out, "Sorry doesn't fucking cut it, okay?"

"But, but I-" She stutters, tear pricking her eyes.

"You hurt me." He hisses, "You're not going to love me back! And I can't just forget that and go fuck you! "

"I left Brittany for you!" She screams, tears streaming down her face, "Is that what you fucking wanted? Is it?"

"Fichue..." He swears, shaking his head "You did?"

"Yeah. I did." She angrily wipes away the tears with the back of her hand. She hates when people make her feel this way. "Sebastian... I think I... Te amo."

From the way he kisses her, she think he understand that she mean I love you, even with the language barrier.