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"Chang, I need to speak with you," Santana called from down the hall, picking up her pace when she noticed that Tina had already started to walk away from her. "Hey!"
"What do you want, Santana? I'm busy right now."
Santana was momentarily shocked by the terse tone Tina took with her. She was not used to others getting fresh with her. But she chose to ignore it, just this once. "You need to help me."
Tina stopped mid-stride to give the other girl a questioning look. "Wait a minute." Tina paused for, what Santana assumed must be, effect. "First of all, you need my help? Second of all, why do I need to do anything for you at all?"
"Jeez, talk about team spirit. Ever heard of it?" Santana huffed as she crossed her arms, promptly dropping them when Tina began to walk away again. "Hey," placing a hand on Tina's arm she stopped the girl in her tracks once more.
"What?"
"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate." Santana's eyes shifted down the hall and back to Tina's. "You know how to play the piano, right?"
Tina's brow furrowed, her performance in Best Portrayal of a Bad Mood temporarily put on pause, "Yeah, kind of. But how'd you know that?"
"I, er, I've heard you play a few times in the choir room before Glee."
"Oh," Tina shifted on the spot. "Okay."
"Yeah, and I was hoping you'd help me with my original song."
Tina's eyebrows soon shot up. "You've written one already?"
"Well, that's the thing." Santana was not used to asking for things and especially not from twerps like Tina Cohen-Chang, but this was all about the bigger picture. If Brittany didn't want her then fine. She'd prove she could live without her all the same and at the same time reaffirm her status as top bitch at McKinley all through the power of song.
Gross, she had started to sound like Berry.
Sam was about to be serenaded and damn strai- right it was going to be the best song that any of those nerds had ever heard. Only Santana didn't play any instruments and she wasn't about to go all Warbler on the New Directions so, Tina it was. She supposed she was better than her other options.
"Let me guess. You haven't and you're hoping I'll do all the work for you?"
"Huh?" Santana had been nice up until now, but Tina's attitude was seriously starting to push her buttons. "Run that back," on reflex her arms crossed, "are you insinuating that I can't write a song?"
"Well, have you written one?"
"No." Tina's scoff almost triggered a slap, but Santana exercised the limits of her restraint. Lucky Tina. "But that's not what I'm asking."
Tina rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah? Shocker."
"What's your fucking damage?" Santana would never have admitted it, but Tina being such an asshole was kind of hurting her feelings. If it was Quinn it would be a different story, because Quinn was usually an asshole. But Tina was usually, you know, Tina. Mild-mannered, pretty cool by all accounts, and compared to some of the other dweebs in the club, was not too bad a talent. Maybe she cried a little too easily, but who was Santana of all people to judge her for that? "Just help me and I'll pay you twenty bucks. Think of it as a collaborative project, I'll give you credit and everything. I just need your playing abilities and my voice... Please."
"Fine," Tina huffed after a moment of deliberation. "Does after school work for you?"
Santana was surprised that had worked. She didn't make a habit of begging, so who knew it was so effective? "Yeah, cool. I mean, yeah. Nice. Okay." Tina had started to leave once more and Santana tossed out a small, "Thanks."
Tina, having somehow heard, looked back over her shoulder and shot Santana an equally small smile. "No problem."
...
"Right, okay. How about fish lips?"
Tina snorted, "That sounds so gross."
Santana grunted, slamming her notebook down on the piano and pacing over to the front row of chairs to pace right back again.
Tina played a few notes to occupy herself whilst Santana continued to get in her ten thousand steps.
"God, this fucking sucks. Fishy, fish lips. Frog-fish lips. Guppy fish..."
"Santana, can you please stop moving. You're giving me a headache."
"You're not even looking at me."
"I can hear your footsteps and they're throwing me off."
"Fine," Santana huffed and came back to the piano, snatching up her notebook to look over the lyrics she'd pulled together so far. So far, so shit. She picked up her pen and began drumming in on the page at such a frantic pace that Tina stopped playing altogether. Realising Tina had stopped, Santana's scowl of concentration was redirected in her direction. "What?"
Tina took a deep breath, "You're a pain in my ass."
"You wish I was a pain in your ass. What am I paying you for? Gets back to tickling those ivories, bitch." Tina stared blankly in response and Santana shifted uncomfortably. "Kidding, jeez."
Tina harrumphed and turned back to the keys, "Sit down."
"Yes, Mom." Santana began to skulk back over to the chairs behind her.
"Not over there," Tina's words brought her to a halt, "here, dumbass." Okay, she didn't call Santana a dumbass, but her expression did and that was enough to have Santana to narrowing her eyes in her direction. Tina patted the spot on the bench beside her. "If this is going to work, we're going to have to work together." Santana hesitated and Tina laughed, "I'm not going to bite."
Santana gave her a dubious look, "I don't know, I bet you're kind of freaky like that." And yet she still sat down, nudging into Tina, "It's always the quiet ones."
Tina said nothing, opting for the simplicity of a smirk that made Santana shift on her seat.
"Here's what I've got so far," Santana then listed thirty-six adjectives to describe Sam's lips as Tina hummed and hawed over the quality of the words.
"It could work. And I'm sensing," Tina motioned to the notebook, "a very heavy fish theme. The consistency I can appreciate, you really know your subject. But-"
"Oh, here it comes."
"But," Tina pointedly looked at Santana, daring her to interrupt her again, "I would personally lean towards specific species of fish, the word "fish" is too general. I think it'll really speak to the listener if they can visualise what it is you're singing about."
Santana nodded and scribbled something down in her notebook, "Yes, yes. Totally agree. I have guppy, which I really like," Santana shot Tina a grin, "but now I'm thinking a trout."
Tina squinted in thought, trying to visualise Sam and a trout, laughing at the absurdity of it all. "What does a trout even look like?"
"Fuck knows," Santana laughed too. "Trouty mouth," she began to sing, trying so hard to not bust up laughing when Tina started to cackle.
"Yes! That works," Tina cheered, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye.
Santana pretended to bow from where she sat, "Thank you, thank you. I would like to thank my mom..."
"But I was wondering," Uh-oh. "Why's the song about Sam?"
Santana straightened and her smile dropped, "He's my boyfriend, Tina. Why wouldn't I want to sing about him?"
"No need to snap, it was only a question."
"Well maybe mind your own business."
"You don't have to lie with me, you know." Santana held her breath. "I know that you and Brittany have, you know, been dealing with stuff. And I don't want to pry or make you uncomfortable, but if you need to talk things through, I'm open to it."
Santana clenched her jaw, the open wound that was her and Brittany's relationship well and truly poked, "What would you know about relationship issues? You and boy Chang are all love and kittens, it makes me sick."
"Don't talk about things you haven't the first clue about."
Prepared to be defensive, Santana was stunned by Tina's bite. She hadn't expected that response. She was hoping to scare Tina off the topic by making her feel guilty and now what? She was turning the tables and it was Santana feeling like the asshole all of a sudden. Still, Santana didn't appreciate the tone, "What are you even talking about?" When Tina didn't respond and instead glared her down, Santana felt her hackles rise, that glare felt like a challenge. With a wicked quirk of her lip, she crossed her arms and asked, "Trouble in paradise?"
When Tina gave her a sharp look and promptly slammed the piano's fallboard down, Santana flinched.
"Do your own song," Tina spat, swiftly standing and grabbing her bag to hurry out into the corridor.
"Fuck," Santana muttered under her breath, heart pounding and stomach twisting. She listened as Tina's footsteps receded down the empty hall and clenched the notebook in her hands.
If she wanted to be a drama queen, so be it.
Tightening her grip on her notebook she glanced down at its pages, "Trouty mouth" written in big letters, five bold lines underneath. Her lips twitched with a smile.
"Ugh, damn it," she stood, grabbing her own bag to rush after the other girl. "Tina! Tina, wait!"
"Leave me alone, Santana," she yelled over her shoulder.
Santana rolled her eyes but began to run anyway. "Berry's not going to be happy about this."
Confused, Tina's stride broke for her to turn back and ask, "What does Rachel have to do with this?"
Santana's eyes glinted in amusement, "That storm out easily topped any of hers. She's not going to like the fact she has competition."
Tina pursed her lips, but Santana could tell by the way her stance relaxed that she'd been forgiven, even if it was only by a little bit. "You're a dick."
"Not exactly a hot take, Tina," Santana said as she began to walk shoulder to shoulder with the other girl, quickly shooting her a smile to catch her smiling softly back. "You have a pretty smile."
Tina's smile widened and her cheeks tinged pink as she ducked her head, "Thanks?" she said with a nervous laugh.
Mortified she'd said anything at all, Santana suddenly found the lockers to her left very interesting. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment. Why was she so bothered? God, couldn't she give a cute girl a compliment and not feel completely stupid? Girls did it all the time! The lesbian brigade wouldn't come bursting out of the lockers to carry her off to the Lesbos Incorporated HQ where she'd be officially indoctrinated into the rainbow wearing, baton-twirling, gay club. It was fine.
Clearing her throat she turned her head to look back at Tina, "Yeah, well it is a nice one. You have nice teeth and," her eyes flicked down to said smile, "lips. They're you know, nice."
Tina pursed her lips into a pout and Santana's mouth felt dry. "That's nice to know," Tina teased, the smile she'd been trying to control finally breaking out across her face.
Santana scoffed to hide her sudden onset of nerves. What was wrong with her?
"I don't think you've ever complimented me before," Tina mused out loud, pulling the school's front entrance open, "I wouldn't say no to another."
"Don't push your luck."
Tina held up her hands in surrender and readjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder, "Listen, I'll still help you with your song if you'd like."
Santana's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Really?"
"Yeah, I'm feeling generous."
"Now?" Santana edged.
"Sure," Tina agreed before walking towards her car.
"Where are you going?"
"We're going to mine. You can follow me in your car."
"But-"
"I have a keyboard at home."
Santana closed her mouth and nodded. That was her told.
...
"And this..." Tina said as she opened her bedroom door, "is my room."
Santana stepped over the threshold and admired the mix of dark and light, she'd expected a lot more dark if she were to be honest, but it was a pleasant surprise. She also thought there'd be a lot more skulls and weird shit in jars, but no; it was just an ordinary teenager's bedroom. Unless...
She eyed all the crooks and crevices that would make great hiding spots for freaky shit and took a mental note. If Tina so happened to go for a long toilet break she would not begrudge the girl. Take all the time you need she'd tell her, fingers itching to go snooping.
"Take a seat," Tina gestured to her bed and Santana did as she was told, bouncing slightly on the springy mattress.
"Bouncy," Santana commented to herself as she bounced on the spot once more. Judging by Tina's smirk as she moved towards her with a keyboard in her hands, she may have heard. Fuck sake.
"Now that you're comfortable," Tina's smirk turned into a full-blown smile, "we can get into it."
Pretending to ignore the other girl's teasing, Santana pulled her notebook into her lap and drummed her nails on the page she'd left it open on.
"So here we have fish theme, trouty mouth, guppy... no, frog... something, something, put a fish hook in those lips?"
"Here, let me take a look," Tina reached out for the notes, her fingers brushing against Santana's as she took it out of her hands. The tingle left in the touch's wake had alarm bells ringing in Santana's head. "Hmm," Tina flipped over the page, "do you have a pen?"
When Tina glanced up and met Santana's gaze, Santana instinctively dropped her eyes to avoid it.
Only her eyes landed on lips, pink and very kissable lips.
Santana shook her head to snap out of it. It was all this talk of mouths. It had her head all fucked up. She looked up again and Tina was still watching her. Tina must've thought she was a full-blown weirdo by now, she felt so stupid.
"Yeah, sorry. Let me just," Santana held up a finger and leant over the side of the bed to pull up her bag. During those couple of second of being hidden from sight, Santana mentally yelled at herself, "What are you doing, bitch? Get it to-geth-er!"
"Thanks," Tina said, taking the pen offered to her. But she didn't use it. Instead, she put it on top of the notebook that she'd placed at the edge of the bed. Santana watched her movements closely, confused as to what she was doing. When she manoeuvred herself onto her knees, the bed shifted and the notebook, along with the pen, fell to the floor.
But Santana didn't look. She was busy trying to control her breathing as Tina edged herself so that she was settled in front of her crossed legs.
"What are you-" Tina placed a finger to her lips and she just about died.
Her chest rose and fell like she'd just finished practice as Tina leaned closer, bringing those lips directly in contact with her own.
And just like that, all air was snatched from her lungs.
The kiss didn't even last all that long, it was more of a soft meeting of mouths, something sweet and gentle.
Tina began to pull back but something inside of Santana told her to close the distance again, to take Tina's face in her hands and kiss her like she'd never get to kiss her again. So she did.
Tina's lips were soft, soft and supple. And damn, Tina was a good kisser. It was Tina who was the first to touch her tongue against Santana's bottom lip in question.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Santana's tongue met Tina's in eager reciprocation, their kiss deepening as Santana's legs unfolded, inviting Tina closer. And closer she came, slowly pushing Santana into her pillows, her body between her legs.
Santana's thighs tensed as Tina pressed against her, but soothing hands ran along them and eased them open.
Their kisses were languid, exploring, and most of all, maddening.
Tina readjusted against Santana so that she straddled her thigh, and fuck, it hit in just the right spot. Santana bit back a whimper, she could feel the heat pooling between her legs and resisted the urge to buck into the pressure of Tina's other thigh now it was solidly between her own.
The kiss was broken when Tina flicked her long, black hair over her shoulder and Santana took a moment to breathe. Her face felt flushed, her mind racing.
This gay thing was really a for life thing, huh?
Tina leant back in to recapture her lips and put more weight behind her thigh, urging Santana to rock into it. How good it felt made the gay thing not seem so bad. Not if she really thought about it.
Tina's lips trailed along her jaw, down to her neck where she licked and lightly sucked. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to make Santana's head swim.
"Wait," Santana placed her hand on Tina's chest, stopping the other girl.
"Is there something-"
Santana swallowed, "It's just. It's a lot."
Tina sat back on her haunches and Santana's hand fell to her stomach, "Okay."
Covering her face with her hands, Santana pressed her fingers over her eyes as though that'd stop her brain from going into overdrive.
"Are you okay?" Tina asked from where she sat on Santana's leg.
"This is so embarrassing."
Santana felt the warmth on her leg lift and the spot next to her dip, "It's not." Tina's voice came from beside her.
Removing her hands to link them on her stomach, Santana turned her head to look at Tina's profile. She was relieved that she wasn't looking back; it made her feel less exposed.
"You're the first girl I've ever kissed."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"How was it?"
"Hmm, it was decent."
"Decent?" Santana's embarrassment was pushed aside by the hit her ego had just taken. She sat up and turned toward Tina who was still looking at the ceiling, "Don't do me like this."
"Like what?" Tina asked innocently.
"Tina," Santana shoved Tina's leg.
"Santana," Tina copied, letting her head fall in the direction of the other girl, a small grin on her face.
Santana knew what she wanted to do and she had a feeling Tina knew too, but she refrained from acting on it. Instead, she pulled Tina's keyboard between them and pressed random keys to distract herself.
She glanced up when Tina reached over the edge of the bed to pick up her notes and pen, only slightly regretting it when a slither of Tina's back could be seen as her top rode up. Santana's hand burned to reach over and touch her, to pass it off as a friend pulling another friend's top down, but decided to sit on her hands instead.
"Okay so here is what I was thinking," Tina sat back up with the pen poised between her fingers, completely unfazed by what had transpired and ready to get back into it.
...
"That works, I like it," Santana said as Tina's playing came to an end. They'd finally figured out how they wanted it to sound and only had the tidying up of the first verse to do. Although Santana wasn't worried, she was pretty sure they'd nailed it. A masterpiece of the modern age, if she did say so herself.
"I'm sure the band will help us flesh it out too," Tina turned off her keyboard and put it on the floor. "Did you have any ideas for the second verse?"
"I have some ideas," Santana ran her finger over Tina's bedspread. "You down?"
"I'm down."
Santana raised her head to look back at Tina to see her watching her finger's path intently. The panic from earlier had subsided and a little something called teenage hormones had taken over.
Fuck it, she thought.
Santana stopped her ministrations and laid her hand flat to the bed, causing Tina to meet her eyes.
"I need to fix something."
"What's that?"
Santana pushed against her hand to crawl over to Tina, lightly pushing her back until she fell back against her pillows.
"This," she closed the distance between them, moving to straddle Tina so that their lips met in a heated kiss.
It gradually became more playful the more they relaxed into it, the urgency giving way to teasing nip and small smiles. Santana took Tina's bottom lip into her mouth and released it with a 'pop' as she sat back to look down at the other girl.
"Better than decent?"
Tina pretended to think about it, running her hands from Santana's thigh to rest on her hips, "Better, but practice makes perfect."
"Though I take offence at that underwhelming assessment," Santana murmured as she slowly lowered herself back down to brush against Tina's lips with her own, "I see the merit in your point."
"Good," Tina replied, following Santana's mouth as she did.
They practised alright, practised until Tina's mom came home and Santana had to leave. Maybe they should have practised the song a little more too, but why try and improve upon perfection? Is how Santana reasoned it when Tina suggested they go through it once more.
...
It wasn't Santana's fault Mr Schue didn't know a good thing when he heard it, her debut performance of Trouty Mouth was a hit. So what if Sam gave her the cold shoulder afterwards? It was a sacrifice she was willing to make for her art.
"You killed it," Tina said as she slid up next to Santana as she pulled a book out of her locker.
"Well, duh. Of course I did," Santana replied with a cocky half-smile. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Tina's amused smile. "It was a team effort of course," she continued, closing her locker to fully lean against it and look Tina directly in the eye.
"Teamwork makes the dream work, baby."
Santana snorted, "God, hung out with me once and already talking like me." Her words were playful, eyes even more so. "Who knew I'd rub off on you so easily? Might give me the wrong idea, Miss Cohen-Chang. I'd be careful if I were you."
"I'll keep that in mind," Tina wet her lips as she played with the bracelet on her wrist, eyes bouncing between Santana's brown ones. "I was wondering..."
"Uh-huh..."
"Any chance you need more help with your songwriting?"
Santana sucked her bottom lip into her mouth to stop herself from smiling too wide, "Maybe I do."