Pairing: Nihachu x Reader
Warnings: Homophobia
Pronouns: She/her
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(Y/n) was doing the same thing as she always did: Hanging around her best friends during lunch break. Although, instead of going to the cafeteria, what they liked to do instead was loiter in the hallways by the lockers, having little to no care if the teachers saw them or not. They'd all lean against them and eat their lunch there because they all believed that the canteen was always to noisy and crowded and wasn't exactly the right environment for a group like them to be seen in. It was much better in the corridor where they weren't able to be bothered by the other rowdy teenagers that didn't know personal space.
(Y/n) took her place against the locker and clicked open her bottle of water, flicking the cap off the bottle off before grasping the cold item between her palms. She was sat in front of two girls and was sat beside her closest best friend, Niki, who seemed to radiate the kindest of auras. She was beautiful, and that was something that (Y/n) wasn't ashamed to say, or anybody, for that matter. The only thing more beautiful than her appearance was her personality, which glowed with friendliness and kindness that made you want to go out into the world and be a better person.
When she looked over at her best friend, she just couldn't help but flash a little smile at her. Niki's side profile looked so perfect and the way the hallway lamps ever so gently flashed onto her clear skin was god-like and her sweet smile paired with the sea of blue in her iris was enough to make her melt. (Y/n) felt the butterflies flutter in her stomach as she had caught her eye, seeming to get lost in the window of purity that was her sight. Her smile made (Y/n) feel loved and appreciated, and Niki was able to have that effect on her without having uttered a single word.
"Uhm," Niki looked over at her empty water bottle, eyes darting into the abyss of the object. "I need to go refill my bottle, I'll be back in a few minutes!" She hummed sweetly and leapt up from her spot on the ground.
"Okay!" (Y/n) smiled brightly and innocently, waving her fingers slightly.
"We'll save your spot." The girls uttered in response as Niki nodded a smiled. Although, before turning away to lead herself down the corridor, she looked back down to (Y/n).
"Uh- (Y/n/n), your bottle looks pretty empty..." She uttered, gesturing to the item that (Y/n) held in her own hands. She stared down at the little bit of water that was left swirling inside of it. "Do you want me to take it to refill as well?"
"I- Eh, no thank you!" She stammered, clutching it to her chest. "I'll refill it later... Thank you for the offer though!"
"Are you sure? It's really no issue." Niki shrugged. "If you want, you could fill your water bottle with me by the fountain."
"That- Eh- No, it's fine!" She sputtered out, feeling the heat rising in her chest from a mix of embarrassment and awkwardness. The other girls looked at her with twisted faces. "I'll just refill it later."
"Oh, okay." She smiled softly, turning away. "Well- There's no harm in asking!" She beamed before trailing along the corridor, growing further and further away from the group.
(Y/n) blushed quietly as Niki disappeared off into the hallway, holding her almost-empty bottle close to her chest. Oh, that was kind of embarrassing for her. She acted like kind of an idiot. The two girls furrowed their eyebrows and turned away from Niki when they saw that she had walked away.
"What are you looking at?" One of the girls piped up.
"Yeah, why are you staring like you're in love?" The other girl muttered as a reply. The girl beside her perked up and spun herself around.
"Wait! Is there a cute boy or something?" She snapped her view around to scope the area, only to be greeted with emptiness.
"What?" (Y/n) chuckled nervously. "No."
"Then who are you looking at...?" They asked foolishly.
"Just... Niki." She shrugged plainly and bit the inside of her cheek nervously, her words murmuring when she did.
"Why would you be looking at Niki?" They stuck their nose up, looking to be a bit weirded out. "She's like- Halfway down the hall. You'd need to squint to look at her."
"She caught my eye, I guess." She tensed her shoulders.
"Stop focussing on Niki and focus on if there are any boys!" One of the girls exclaimed. "Why are you so interested in Niki anyway? All you did in the past ten minutes was talk to her and look in her direction."
"Uhm... Because she's pretty...? And my friend?" (Y/n) didn't seem to find anything wrong with feeling a little bit lost in Niki's eyes. But the look that her friends responded with clearly told another story. Their eyes were narrowed and their lips were tilted to form a kind of awkward shape.
"I mean like- I'm not gay or anything but yeah, I guess she's kind of pretty." The girl piped up with a shrivelled look. (Y/n)'s view darted up at her when she said the words, muttering the word 'gay' as if it were an insult.
"...I mean, you can still find girls pretty without being gay..." (Y/n) murmured. "I think that she's really beautiful..."
They both turned to each other with disgusted looks on their faces, exchanging glares before their heads turned back to face (Y/n).
"Ew, don't tell me you have a crush on her." One of them snarled while flipping their hair over, sitting comfortably in their spot and crossing their arms over their chest to intimidate (Y/n). She seemed to have completely disregarded what (Y/n) had said before and focussed solely on the comment where she called Niki beautiful.
"W..." (Y/n) went red and widened her eyes. "What's wrong with having a crush on Niki? You said it yourself! She's pretty, isn't she?"
"Yeah, but she's a girl." One of them exclaimed loudly, whisper-shouting it as if it were an offensive term that wasn't supposed to be used on school ground.
"Yeah." The other nodded in agreement.
"So what if she's a girl..?" (Y/n) drummed her hand against the back of her palm and clicked her tongue awkwardly. She felt heat rising in her chest as the conversation progressed.
"It's just not right. You're a girl and she's a girl. Two girls aren't meant to be in romantic relationships." They rolled their eyes.
"Yeah, it's meant to be a boy and a girl. That's tradition."
"-Well, sometimes you can make way for new traditions, right..?" (Y/n) chuckled nervously and fiddled around with the sleeves on her shirt to draw away from the fact that she was practically sweating bullets under the heat.
"No. My dad says it's wrong for somebody to date someone the same gender as you." She clicked. "It just doesn't work."
"I mean- What if you wanna have kids one day?"
"You don't really have a crush on her, right?" One of them whispered with an unsettled look staring in (Y/n)'s direction.
"Yeah, I mean- what would the school think if they found out you were dating a girl?"
"They'd have a field day." She scoffed.
(Y/n) fell silent for a few seconds, darting her eyes back and forth from the ground towards the two girls sat in place opposite her. She gnawed on her bottom lip and sucked air into her chest to flash a little smile at the two of them.
"Of course not!" (Y/n) responded brightly. The two girls heaved a huge sigh of relief, one even held their hand to their heart.
"Oh, phew!"
"Thank God. It would've been really weird." They grumbled. "You know- If you were a lesbian."
"Yeah... We wouldn't want you having a crush on either of us either."
(Y/n) nervously laughed along with her friends as she saw Niki approaching back to the group with her now-full bottle of water. She waved to (Y/n) with a heartwarming smile, which (Y/n) reciprocated. Her smile was brightened in the lamps of the hallway, which (Y/n) could clearly see, only causing the tornado of butterflies in her stomach to become even more intense.
When Niki to her seat by (Y/n), it was as if that conversation that had previously taken place had never happened. The girls went back to chatting while (Y/n) slumped back and sighed to herself, fiddling with her fingers and holding her breath.
She took in what the others had said. She didn't want their words to affect her, but they did. It made her feel like what she was going through was wrong and unconventional. It made her feel like a freak. And the fact that the butterflies hadn't gone away as soon as Niki came back just made it even more painful.
"Hey, (Y/n)." She felt a small tap on her arm, causing her to snap out of her daze. (Y/n) turned to Niki, who had been the one to pull her out of her own negative thoughts. "Are you okay? You looked distressed..."
"Uh... Yeah." (Y/n) bit her tongue. "Yeah, don't worry about it..."