A.N. This was written for Normal-Is-For-The-Boring as an apology for something that I can't even remember now. Enjoy :)

Thanks to my beta veiledgreyskies for going over this! :)

Chivalry

"After you," Brittany murmured, smiling down at Santana while she held the door open ahead of her.

Santana squeezed past her, a "thank you," absently falling from her lips, too concentrated on her thoughts at that moment to give a proper reply.

She and Brittany had always been best friends, having attended preschool together, followed by junior, middle and senior school. They lived only a few roads away and would visit each other any chance they had when growing up; first it was play dates with their parents supervising, and now it was just the two of them, their friendship as natural as ever and they had ended up as best friends.

When both Santana and Brittany were younger and had never had any boyfriends they agreed that it was good, because they didn't need silly boys; they had each other. Best Friends Forever are enough, and they would be happy to stay like that for the rest of time; just the two of them.

But over time, they had both grown up, and Santana had one, two, three, and more boyfriends, trying to find one that made her feel something, but failing every time. After a while she wondered if what she and Brittany had said before was right, about always being there for each other, because they didn't need boyfriends when they had one another.

Brittany made her feel better and more special than any of the boys that she had dated.

There was something missing in all of her ex-boyfriends and in that moment, she realised what it was. They weren't Brittany. They weren't effortlessly graceful. They were not chivalrous. They didn't care about her. The only thing that they cared about was sex.

Brittany and Santana had made out a few times, Brittany always initiating and leading it, but never being rough or forceful like Santana's ex-boyfriends. Brittany was always gentle and caring, no matter what she was doing, and that was one of the things that Santana loved about her the most.

It had been a few months ago when they had first started experimenting with each other, on Brittany's shy, almost embarrassed request. She hadn't had much practice in the field of kissing and making out, and wanted to make sure that she was good at it when the time came for her first boyfriend.

They had been watching a chick flick and were at the point where the main couple have their iconic, reunited kiss when Brittany turned to Santana and requested her help with kissing. Santana had stared at her in surprise, but couldn't think of a reason to say no.

They had been shy about it all in the beginning, but quickly enjoyed it, naturally progressing from kissing to making out. Santana never felt like they were doing so with an end result in either of their minds; it wasn't about sex, but rather just another way for them to feel close and build a connection with the other.

xxxxx

Brittany held the door open for the people behind her as well before following Santana, placing her hand on her friend's back, gently guiding her away from the crowd. Santana glanced down at Brittany's arm and how close their bodies were before looking back up, making sure that she didn't bump into anyone on the way to her locker. Not that Brittany would let that happen.

Santana opened her locker and took her books out, musing about how Brittany was always the chivalrous one, she wanted to do something like that for Brittany for a change. Brittany seemed somewhat oblivious to the way she acted around Santana, so Santana wanted to show her that she maybe felt the same way. That she liked Brittany, and hoped that the feeling was mutual.

She shut her locker as Brittany shut hers and then turned to Santana, taking her books and placing them on top of her own before offering her arm out for Santana to link with.

Santana pouted up at her best friend and when Brittany saw, she perplexedly asked "What?"

"Nothing," Santana shook her head, smiling up at her as Brittany walked her to her class, their arms linked as usual.

"Okay," Brittany grinned down at her, completely trusting and oblivious.

It was the end of the day and Brittany was driving Santana home. Every day, she would either drive Santana home and then stay around for a little bit, and sometimes stay for dinner, or she would drive Santana home with her and they would have dinner at Brittany's house. Either way, they would spend most of their time together, with Brittany always driving.

This time they were going to Santana's house to hang out, which she was happy with. She would have the home field advantage. Plus, her parents weren't in, so they had the house to themselves.

Brittany pulled into the driveway and Santana unbuckled her seatbelt as soon as she could, jumping out the car and hurrying to Brittany's side to open the door for her.

Brittany met Santana at the front of the car and stared at her, confused. "What are you doing?"

"I wanted to open your door for you," Santana whined.

Brittany looked a little surprised, she was so used to doing that for Santana every day. She had never protested or questioned it before, so Brittany was confused as to why she was acting like this all of a sudden.

"But I always open your door for you. Why do you want to open mine?" Brittany asked.

"Oh, uh…I just thought that it would be a nice thing to do," Santana shrugged, unable to think of a good excuse.

Brittany smiled, seemingly accepting the excuse, but watched Santana out of the corner of her eye as they walked into the house, keeping a lookout for any more weird behaviour.

They dropped their bags by the front door and continued into the house, Santana pausing to take off her coat and hang it in the cupboard while Brittany continued into the kitchen.

"What do you want to drink?" Santana asked when she had finished, walking into the kitchen to meet Brittany.

Brittany was holding two mugs of hot chocolate in her hands, complete with both whipped cream and marshmallows and Santana stopped walking to stare at her. "How did you make them that fast?" she asked, thinking about how she couldn't even be the slightest bit chivalrous with Brittany always there to act like it instead.

"Magic," Brittany beamed, handing Santana a mug and taking a sip of her own, leaving a smudge of whipped cream on the tip of her nose.

Santana smiled up at her fondly before wiping it off gently, slowly lowering her hand from Brittany's face once she was done. Brittany cocked her head to the side slightly, surveying her friend, trying to find out why she was acting differently.

Santana cleared her throat and left the kitchen, her hands gripping on tightly to the mug in her hands as she led Brittany into her bedroom, their normal place to hangout. Brittany was following close behind her and when they entered the room, she placed her drink on the desk before flopping down onto the bed, cuddling into a cushion.

Santana smiled at her as she placed her own drink down and grabbed the remote for the TV, turning it on and then sitting down on the bed next to Brittany, cross-legged.

She flicked through the channels before settling on Sweet Valley High, her and Brittany's favourite show to relax to.

"I'm tired," Brittany groaned, burrowing into the bedspread more.

"Come on, Britt," Santana nudged her. "At least turn around and watch this with me."

"Okay, okay," her voice was muffled into the bed. She slowly peeled herself off of it and rolled over onto her back, looking up at Santana with a cheesy grin before rising into the same position as Santana. "Happy?" she asked.

"Very," Santana nodded, leaning into Brittany's body a little bit.

They watched it in silence for a while, Santana's head resting on Brittany's shoulder, and Brittany's head resting on Santana's, which meant that when a shiver wracked through Santana's body, Brittany felt it too.

The heating in Santana's house had been broken for a few days now and with the cold weather arriving, it meant that Santana had to bundle up in blankets and sweatshirts the majority of the time. Either that or steal Brittany's body heat, which she was also happy to do.

Brittany pulled away as soon as she felt it, even though Santana tried to cling on to her arm. As she knelt down on the bed, in front of Santana, she wasted no time in removing her jacket and draping it over Santana's shoulders, rubbing up and down her friend's arms to try and warm her up.

Santana grinned shyly, with a hint of amusement, thinking on all of the sweatshirts she had in the dresser right next to her, and even the bed clothes that they were currently sat on.

Any time Brittany did something so caring, with no thought for herself, Santana's heart beat faster and she felt butterflies in her stomach.

The way Brittany was gazing down at her, so soft and worried, sparked a flame inside of her and all she could think was that she always wanted Brittany to look at her like that; like she was the most important person in the world.

"Thank you," Santana murmured, her nerves kicking in as her mind worked double time, wondering if she was really about to do what she was thinking.

She eyed Brittany's lips.

Santana had never kissed Brittany before, it had always been the other way around, and she felt like she would be risking everything if she did this. But wasn't the risk worth it?

Her gaze flickered from Brittany's lips to her eyes before she leaned in slowly, letting her lips press delicately against Brittany's. Neither girl moved. Brittany was too surprised and Santana was worried about scaring Brittany. Brittany's lips were parted in shock and Santana could feel Brittany's breath hitting her own.

Santana was frozen, thinking about all of the ways that it could go wrong, but then she realised that this was it. If things were going to go downhill, then what she had just done would be the cause of that. All she could do now was keep her nerve and continue what she had started.

She closed the gap more thoroughly, slipping her lip between Brittany's, taking her bottom one into her mouth. That spurred Brittany into action as one of her hands raised to cup Santana's cheek, the other resting on her shoulder.

Santana shuffled forward a little to get a better angle, her knees bumping against Brittany's as she rose into the same position. Brittany's lips turned into a smile against Santana's, causing their teeth to bump together a little.

Santana grinned and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips, making them pull apart just slightly so that they were no longer kissing. She opened her eyes, meeting electric blue, and smiled shyly, letting her shoulders lift in a self-conscious shrug.

"Was that alright?" Santana asked quietly, thinking more about whether Brittany minded her doing that, rather than the actual skill involved.

"It was perfect," Brittany said earnestly.

Santana grinned, beyond happy that Brittany thought so.

"I want-" Santana began, but then stopped. She let out a little huff at herself and started again. "I really like how you make me feel and I think that I would…like to explore that, maybe."

Brittany felt a small smile tug at her face and her eyes startled sparkling. "Really?"

Santana merely nodded, not sure what else she could say. She wasn't the best with words and knew that she would most likely ruin it if she tried to explain it any more.

Brittany laughed lightly under her breath, thinking about how long it had taken Santana to get the hints and little actions that Brittany always dropped around her. It was worth it though. Every second.

"Well good," Brittany murmured, leaning in to kiss her again, stopping so their lips were millimetres apart, whispering "because I like you too," before closing the gap.