whats up kids its been a while oopsies
here's this i guess
its a little short bc i kind of forgot where this story is supposed to be going so pls bear w/me as i try to get a grip on this again yeet
thanks for reading tho!!!
bop of the day

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    There are plenty of things, Mina decides, to like about Momo. For example, the way she peers out from under her glasses with those wide eyes, and the way she describes everything and anything with the use of the same circular gesture; Mina just likes everything about her. In the time they work with each other, Mina discovers many things about Momo, all of which she has come to adore. Well, all with the exception of one; Momo is too soft, and while Mina thinks this is adorable, she really wishes Momo would learn to stand up for herself. She wishes so badly for Momo to be brave, because she’s not sure how much longer she can resist the screaming urge to protect her.

    “Say,” Momo begins suddenly.
Mina looks up from the notes she is writing, “hmm?”
Looking a little unsure, Momo hesitates, “what do you think of….you know,” she gestures vaguely, “Sumire and Miu?”
Mina puts her pen down and frowns pensively, “well, I think it’s cute, kind of? It’s mostly sad, though, because while Miu acknowledges Sumire’s feelings, she doesn’t actually—”
“I mean like, their relationship—as a subject,” Momo interrupts bashfully, “you know like…liking another girl…”
“Oh,” Mina stops to think, “I think it’s fine. I don’t really agree with the huge though, it’s a little creepy to me—seventeen years is almost our whole lives, you know. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with liking girls.”
Momo falls back in her seat with a relieved sigh, straightening herself almost immediately afterwards.
Mina smiles, “are you okay? What was that about?”
Momo buries her face in her hands. It doesn’t fully hide the flushed skin of her cheeks.
“It’s—it’s just that—” Momo mumbles from behind her hands.
“Do you…like girls, Momo?” Mina asks, feeling her heart race with anticipation for Momo’s response.
Momo lets out a strangled noise. She keels over, landing in the adjacent seat. It is an amusing scene, to say the least. Mina watches and waits. It takes a while, but Momo finally calms down and speaks.
“W-well…I like….a girl,” she confesses, words still muffled by her hands.
Mina blushes, for some reason. Maybe it’s the effect of hearing such a personal secret, or maybe it’s because Momo likes girls.
Wait, she said ‘a girl’. It could be…me..?
Don’t be so full of yourself, Myoui Mina!
“M-me too,” Mina finds herself admitting involuntarily.
Momo sits up abruptly, “you like Nayeon too?!”
Mina’s mouth drops open at the new information. Momo’s mouth drops open too, but for a different reason (take a guess).
“I—I mean—I—Nayeon—I—” Momo flails in an attempt to salvage the situation.
Something shifts unpleasantly in Mina. She takes in a breath so sharp she almost chokes.

    Well, it definitely makes sense. Mina would be a fool to assume that she could waltz into Momo’s life after years of indifference and expect to be something to the girl. After all, Nayeon and Momo have been through everything together, so of course it’s nothing unexpected, the fact that Momo in love with Nayeon. Still, Mina can’t help the ugly, visceral sorrow that grows inside her.
She puts on a smile and laughs in spite of herself, “no, I mean, I like ‘a girl’.”
Jaw dropping, Momo lurches forward in her seat, “who?!”
Mina laughs at Momo’s exaggerated reaction, “not telling.”
“Is it Sana?” Momo asks anyway, eyes wide.
“No!” Mina denies with a frown (Sana? Please.), “it’s a secret.”
“Fine,” Momo pouts, “but she must be really great if you like her.”
Mina watches as Momo beams at her, then returns her attention to her notes.
She sighs, “yeah, she’s pretty great.”

    It’s at around this point that it becomes a lot more than a crush. She thinks back to Sputnik Sweetheart:
“I must be in love with this woman, she realised with a start. No mistake about it. Ice is cold; roses are red. I’m in love.”
“I’m in love,” Mina says softly to herself, “I’m in love.”
And it’s terrible. She feels like she should cry, but she can’t. Instead her chest feels hollow, empty, with the exception of two simple facts that she holds in her heart; she’s in love, and she’s in love with Hirai Momo.

    Or at least, it feels like love. 

    (Is that what they call it?)
    No, Mina. Come on! Get a grip! It’s barely been a month!
She frowns. Maybe it was too soon to say anything. Maybe she was just getting ahead of herself. Who’d ever heard of falling in love that quickly anyway? (She had, many, many times.) Well, in any case, she’ll call it a crush. A crush seems more plausible, at this point in time, anyway. What did she even know about Momo? Nothing of any real significance, really, other than the fact that she likes girls too (Mina blushes), and that she likes Im Nayeon (Mina frowns). She shakes the thoughts away. It’s okay. It’ll be okay, if she calls it crush. She’ll be alright.

    It’s almost like a scene from a movie; heads turn in slow motion, eyes widen comically and jaws drop all over. Whispers fly around and for once in her life, Nayeon doesn’t feel afraid. She struts down the hallway to her locker with a confidence she never knew she had. Momo, on the other hand, is beginning to grow restless at the attention she’s receiving by extension.
“H-hey, Nayeon, are you sure this is a good idea?” Momo mumbles anxiously.
Nayeon tosses her hair over her shoulder and almost blinds Momo with her smile, “what’s the worst that could happen?”
Momo opens to respond, but is prevented from doing so by a rather unpleasant presence.
“Well, well, well,” Minatozaki Sana scoffs, flanked by Jihyo and Mina, as per usual.
That’s the worst that could happen.
Momo freezes and feels her spine shrink involuntarily. Nayeon is still standing tall, and Momo can’t help but think that she’s either brave, or stupid.
“What do you want, Minatozaki?” Nayeon smirks.
Alarms start blaring in Momo’s head. Is she crazy? R.I.P in pieces, Im Nayeon.
With a scowl, Minatozaki Sana pushes herself away from the locker she’s leaning on and stalks towards them.
“Looks like someone has some newfound confidence,” Sana sneers.
Instead of cowering in fear, as Momo expects her to, Nayeon simply flicks her hair away and peers down her nose at Sana with a smirk, “and what about it?”
Oh no no no no no this is bad this is so bad r.i.p in pieces, Im Nayeon.
Sana squints, she leans in closer, then closer still, until their noses almost touch. But Nayeon doesn’t flinch; not like she used to. This makes Sana even angrier.
“I don’t have time for this ,” she seethes, before twisting away from Nayeon and storming off. Mina and Jihyo stare for a moment, processing the situation.
What in the world just happened?