It was a standard afternoon.

Momo laid sprawled out on Sana’s bed, head half hanging off the edge as she scrolled through Instagram. The latter was at her desk across the room, earphones in and completely focused on her history paper. For as much flack as people gave Sana, the girl was a damn near genius and had been top of their class all throughout high school. One would think being best friends with an honor student/valedictorian of their class would mean that they would be a good influence, but not so much in Momo's case.

It was always unfortunate that when Momo seemed to be in the mood to play, Sana was busy but the blonde girl knew better than to disturb her when she was working. So here they both were. Sure, Momo could have been studying like she was supposed to but Instagram was much more fun, especially the profile she was looking at now.

Myoui Mina.

They had gone to school together for the past four years but Momo had never worked up the nerve to talk to the other girl. The most she could do was admire from afar.

Hence why she was 34 weeks deep into the other girl’s profile.

She was just looking through the pictures innocently, when her thumb slipped and the heart below the picture turned red, signaling a like. The smile the girl had currently had dropped off her face as she sprang up from the bed eyes wide open, and staring down at her phone.

“.”

Frantically pacing back and forth, she continued her tirade. “Oh . . .”  She threw a panicked glance at Sana, irked when she saw the other girl still absorbed in her paper and not acknowledging the tragedy that just occurred.

“Sana.”

Still nothing. Looking around, Momo grabbed a pillow off Sana's bed and threw it at the other girl’s back 

“SANA!”

Momo didn’t have the best aim and so when the pillow hit the other girl’s head instead of her back, there was a brief moment Momo saw her life flash before her eyes.

Sana yanked out her headphones and turned around, more than miffed at the interruption.

“This better be good, Momo.”

“Sana, I ed up.”

Sana blinked twice before narrowing her eyes. “Run that by me again?”

“I ed up.”

She scoffed. “No , Sherlock. You hit me in the head.”

Momo waved her off, attention back on her phone.

“No, I ed up another way. I liked a picture.”

“Okaaaay,” Sana drawled, still perplexed. “Mind elaborating on that for me?”

“I was scrolling through Instagram and I liked a picture.

Scratch that. Now Sana was just plain annoyed. “So what? You liked a picture. That’s what Instagram is for.”

“No, Sana you don’t understand. The picture was from 34 weeks ago.”

Sana looked at Momo for a moment before she started giggling.

“This is not funny,” Momo yelped. “She’s going to think I’m a fricking stalker!”

Full-blown laughter was now coming from Sana’s tiny frame as she fanned her face, feeling tears form in her eyes. She felt bad because the other girl was clearly upset but it was just so absurd that something so small had the blonde so riled up, she couldn’t help but laugh. “You are overreacting.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one who liked it.”

Sana was trying very hard to compose herself for the sake of her friend but there were still giggles escaping as she asked, “Why were you even back that far in the first place?”

Momo screeched to a halt in the middle of Sana’s room, looking like a cat ready to bolt at the drop of a hat. She laughed nervously, “No reason.”

Sana raised her eyebrow. “Right….then why are you freaking out so bad?”

“I WAS freaking out. WAS. Past tense. I’m totally fine now.”

Sana pointed at Momo’s face. “Your eye is twitching.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes. It is.”

“Is not.”

Momo stared at Sana for a couple moments before dramatically faceplanting onto Sana’s bed.

Sana stared at the blonde’s unmoving body. “Momoring”

All she heard was a muffled response. She softened a bit. Maybe this was more serious than she thought. Momo was normally so casual and laid-back that it seemed like nothing phased her. To see her this upset over something so trivial was actually a bit alarming. Moving across the room and sitting gingerly on the bed next to the still unmoving figure, she rubbed Momo’s back and asked quietly, “Is it really that bad?” 

When the younger girl didn’t respond, she nudged her gently and called her name again. “Momo.”

The blonde raised her head and looked miserably at Sana. “Yes it is. Because it’s Mina.” stressing the last word.

Mina...who was Mi-? Wait...did she mean Myoui Mina? Sana had heard Momo mention the girl in passing a couple times but never thought anything of it because the blonde always referred to her as just Mina.

“That Mina?"

Momo nodded her head in confirmation.

Sana hesistated, biting down on her lip before she looked at Momo and asked, "Her? Really?”

Momo rolled onto her back and glared at Sana. “Don’t.”

Sana sighed in exasperation. “Why do you always do this to yourself? She is the textbook definition of straight girl.”

Momo felt her figurative hackles raised and sat up to face Sana head on. “Just because she looks straight doesn’t mean she is. There are plenty of gay girls who look straight. What do you think lipstick lesbians are?”

“What makes you think she could even be a LITTLE bit into girls?”

“She just cut her hair!” Momo offered.

“Yeah, to shoulder length.” Sana snorted.

“Have you seen the amount of plaid she owns?”

Sana rolled her eyes. “What girl doesn’t wear plaid nowadays?”

Momo countered, “Combat boots and beanies.”

“It’s the middle of winter! And you are being very stereotypical.”

Momo opened and closed a couple times, trying incredibly hard to find a comeback but couldn’t come up with anything. “Stop making so much sense.” she grumbled.

"I swear to god you have the worst gaydar of any gay person I know." Sana rubbed Momo’s back again and tried to reassure her.

“You know what? I bet she won’t even notice. Someone as popular as her probably gets likes all the time. What are the odds she’ll even notice yours?”

Momo sighed and flopped back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “You’re right. She doesn’t even know I exist. I don’t know if that makes things better or worse.”

———————-

Cut to a coffee shop across town.

Local art work adorned the walls, lending the space a cozy and lived in feeling. It was the perfect place to study, not at all crowded and obnoxiously loud like the other cafes near campus. It was a little more out of the way but Mina thought the trade-off was more than worth it for not only the easy-going atmosphere but also for the best hot chocolate on the planet. Her and Jihyo were tucked away in at a corner table with their laptops, notebooks, and papers spread out across the surface in organized chaos.

She heard her phone ding and started to dig through the papers and notebooks to try and find it. She unearthed it from underneath her English notebook and checked the notification. She frowned, squinting at the screen. She looked up at Jihyo who was absorbed in her biology workbook.

“Hey. Do you know who jokballuvr3 is?”

Not looking up, Jihyo answered. “That’s Momo. She’s head of the dance team here. That girl can move like no one’s business.”

Mina hummed in thought. “The name doesn’t ring a bell but she just liked one of my photos.”

“Which one?”

“Let’s see…” Mina clicked on the notification and both eyebrows proceeded to shoot halfway up her forehead when she saw the timestamp on it.

“The one from my trip to Japan. Me and my parents in front of a market stall.”

“Wait…from when you were in Japan? But that was….”

“Yeah, five months ago,” Mina turned her phone for Jihyo to see. “Why would she be back that far?”

Jihyo shrugged. “Eh, she probably just thinks you’re hot.”

If Mina’s eyebrows went any higher, they would fly right off her face at her friend’s casual statement. “What? 

Jihyo smirked. “Name one other reason someone would be back that far.”

Mina scoffed. “Oh come on.”

“How many times have you gone back through someone’s profile because you thought they were attractive, hm?”

Mina made a strangled noise and waved her hand in a vague non committal gesture. There had been one or two times….maybe more like ten…

“Precisely. Girl, you do not give yourself enough credit. You turn heads wherever you go and it’s not that far-fetched to think that someone would be stalking your Instagram. I mean, it’s weird but not like a bad weird, you know. She’s cool.”

“So you know her?”

Jihyo twirled her pen as she answered. “We're acquaintances . We went to the same high school and had a few classes together. We haven’t really talked since graduation though.”

And you think she was going through my photos because she thinks I’m…hot.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Is she even gay?”

The older girl snorted. “Oh god, so gay. You’d never really know from looking at her though.” She paused thoughtfully before adding, “just like you.”

“I told you, I’m biual, not gay.”

“I just mean you can both pass for straight. But the important thing is you both like girls and judging from how you’re talking, you think she’s attractive too.”

“I’m not blind. Of course she is.”

“So whatcha gon do ‘bout it?”

Mina bit her lip and looked back down at her phone. Making a decision, she tapped a few buttons and set her phone back down, trying to ignore the smirk Jihyo was sending her way.

———————-

Back to the dynamic duo.

Momo meekly looked back at Sana. “So what do I do now?”

Sana readjusted herself on the bed and faced Momo, looking serious, before speaking. “Get your head out of your and stop day-dreaming about straight girls.”

Slapping her forehead, Momo exclaimed sarcastically, “Oh my god, you’re a genius. Why didn’t I think of that? It’s so easy to JUST STOP LIKING SOMEONE.”

“You know what I mean, jerk.” Sana gave her a little shove.

Exhaling, Momo apologized. “Sorry. It’s just like…how?”

“There are other gay fish in the sea," Sana grinned. "Just don’t “clam” up when you start swimming.”

Momo stared at Sana in disbelief. “That was like Chaeyoung-level bad. And this is not the time to be punning!”

Suddenly a ding echoed through the room and both Sana and Momo’s head snapped to the source of said noise. It was Momo’s phone which had been abandoned long into the conversation with the screen lighting up from the corner of the bed. Momo leaned over to grab it and unlocked the screen, squinting. She made an indistinguishable squeak of some kind as her eyes flickered between Sana and the screen.

“Oh my god.” She breathed.

Sana groaned. “What happened now?”

Momo practically shoved her phone into Sana’s face, just narrowly missing actually hitting the other girl. The silver-haired girl yanked the phone out of Momo’s hand to examine it.

“BlackswanM is now following you.”

She glanced back up at Momo who was boring holes with her gaze into the phone, a dumbstruck grin lighting up her face.

“She followed me back. I have to be dreaming.”

Sana’s face scrunched in confusion. “I thought you said she doesn’t know who you are?”

“She doesn’t. Or at least, I don’t know how she would know.”

“Huh. Maybe your gaydar isn’t completely busted." 

As quickly as the grin had appeared on Momo’s face, it fell off, a frown replacing it. “Don’t get my hopes up.”

“She didn’t have to follow you back.”

“Maybe she was just looking to see who the creep that liked her photo is and accidentally clicked follow.”

Out of curiosity, Sana clicked through to Mina’s profile and scanned her page. “She has a lot of followers but she only follows like 40 some people,” She glanced back up at Momo. “I don’t think it was by accident.”

“But it doesn’t make sense!”

“So ask her.”

“Oh yeah, great conversation starter. ‘Hi, so I noticed you followed me back after I revealed I was essentially stalking your profile. If you could tell me why, I’d love to know!’”

“Then comment on her photos or something.”

“And say what? “Holy you’re beautiful and my little gay heart is fluttering?” Absolutely not.”

“Or you can sit here and suffer.”

“Suffering is good.”

“Momo.” Sana warned.

“Sana, you know it’s trickier with girls. Hit on the wrong one and suddenly the next day, you’re the creepy, predatory, ert lesbian who wants to convert all the straight. I don’t want that happening.”

She shook her head and murmured. “Not after what happened with Dahyun.”

With the mention of Dahyun, there was a noticeable shift in mood as a heavy silence surrounded the two friends. A flare of anger surged up inside Sana at the memory of the multi-colored hair girl who had strung Momo along before outing her to the whole school. Momo wasn’t ashamed of being gay but a surprising number of people disagreed. Granted, it had been two years since it happened and people had all but forgotten it but it left Momo irreparably changed. Sana’s heart ached as she recalled all the nights the blonde had spent in her bedroom, silent sobs wracking her body as she curled into the other girl’s arms, no longer the same confident girl she once was; it had gotten better with time, but every so often, the insecurity still shined through. She tried one last time to try and help put the blonde in a positive mindset.

“Hey, you could be right. It could mean something.”

Momo sighed in defeat. “It doesn’t. It’s wishful thinking. That’s all it is.” She hauled herself up off Sana’s bed, shuffled over to her backpack and began putting her things away. Sana observed the girl, the weighted silence still ading the air. Zipping up her bag, Momo slung it over her shoulder and turned back around to offer what Sana assumed to be a smile but turned out more like a grimace.

“I’ll get over it. At some point. It’s just a dumb crush right?”

At an attempt to lighten the mood, Sana clapped her hands together and exclaimed, “And then you’ll finally find your gay fish princess!”

The grimace turned into a small smile “That’s the plan.” She ambled back over to where Sana was sitting and leaned down to wrap the other girl in a hug. “Thanks for putting up with me. I’m sure it’s annoying as .” She gave one last squeeze before releasing her and headed over to the door with a small wave. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you.” The smile slowly faded off Sana’s face as she watched with a heavy heart as Momo trudged out of her room and listened to the echo of heavy footsteps on stairs. She gathered up her pillow in her arms and squeezed, as if she squeezed hard enough, it would stop her heart from doing the same thing. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, wishing that Momo could see what was right in front of her. 

I could be your gay fish princess, you idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:

i'm having such bad writer's block with 'then she walked into my life'. i have about half of it written so hopefully i can push through it and have it updated w/in the next couple days.

i'm also trying a gfriend one-shot based on the Naverilla mv bc goddamn if that isn't prime material for a fanfic i don't know what is.

as much as i love them, i need to get out of the rut that is mimo and expand my horizons.

upvotes, subscriptions, and especially comments are always appreciated!