Chapter Text
Santana may not be ready to come out (as far from it as possible, in fact), but she's always supported her brother 100%. Though she wants to keep him safe, she knows that she can't hold him back from doing what he wants to do, and if he wants to go to Prom with Kurt Hummel then she knows she won't be able to stop him. He's as stubborn as she is in his own quiet way, and once he has his heart set on something she can't change his mind.
She hadn’t been able to for the Sadie Hawkins dance either.
*
Santana knows that asking Blaine and Kurt to take Prom pictures with her and Dave might be a bit much for the three boys. She knows, despite none of them telling her, that there is something deep, raw, and personal between them. Something happened to Hummel to make him run away. She may not know Kurt Hummel that well, but she does know one thing about the gay fashionista- he doesn't run from his problems. Something big must have happened to push him away to Dalton, something almost if not as big as her little brother's beating.
She's not blind- she picked up on Dave's closeted sexuality, Hummel's crush on her little brother, and Blaine's reciprocated feelings. She knows things. She sees the way Hummel flinches when Dave comes near, the way he winces when Dave is brought up in conversation. There's something there, something that made him afraid to the point of no going back.
There's a reason why Santana still hasn't had a double date with her little brother, why she pointedly avoids asking him if he and Hummel want to take Prom photos together.
*
"Kurt Hummel."
The spotlight swings out over the crowd to her little brother and his date and in that moment Santana doesn't get angry over losing Prom Queen- she sees the fear in Hummel's-Kurt's- face before he runs, her little brother chasing after him. In a flash she sees herself in that same position if she came out, humiliated and alone.
She understands why Kurt runs and she understands how much courage it must take a few minutes later when he returns to the gym, a tremulous smile on his lips, and steps onto the stage to accept his crown. She understands how wonderful her little brother is when he steps out onto the floor and asks the male Prom Queen "May I have this dance?", that familiar, brave smile upon his face. Her heart aches for both of them even as she sings on with Mercedes.
But she's also proud, so proud, of the way Blaine's hand doesn't tremble as he pulls Kurt into a dance, instead bravely holding out in front of an entire crowd of people who hate him because she understands.