Work Text:
Summer always left Nori feeling lazy. Summer was supposed to be the season of production, hanging out with friends as often as possible, and enjoying the feeling of basking in the sun. Getting a job, even. But Nori couldn’t do any of those things; she only had one real friend that was always busy, she hated the sun, and she was too nervous to look for a temporary job. The only thing that kept her mind off of how much she pitied herself was when she was thinking about Joanne.
Through the classroom windows, Nori would watch her only friend ditch school like clockwork right before their lunch period would begin. Nearly a few times a month it was always the same, watching her hips sway as she headed out of the gate on her own terms while she herself was stuck inside with a bountiful company of people she didn’t like. She remembers fondly to the times when their teacher would scold Joanne for getting out of her seat at the same time for a straight week, how her friend would only push past them until they stopped demanding she stay. Sometimes she wouldn’t even show up for a day at all.
She admired Joanne. Like some kind of farfetched fantasy, Nori would imagine holding her hand, letting her lead her out of the school to wherever she escapes to. She wanted to know her secrets, her motives, her biggest desires. Yet, she never acted on these, because she was sure Joanne was not interested in silly things like this.
Nori had learned her schedule. She noticed Joanne would leave around the first Tuesday of every month. As odd as she found it, she still wanted to know why, but never dared ask. Joanne was of the quiet sorts, she knew, and wasn’t very kind to those who tried to know her personal business. Though something inside her convinced her that she was an exception, that Joanne would be patient with her if she asked. Nori had talked to Joanne several times, all without any form of hassle. Joanne always smiled at her, sometimes waved to her. How bad could a little confrontation be?
“Jo,” Nori whispered harshly, trying to catch her classmate’s attention as she stood up between two classes’ transition, “where do you go to?”
Joanne stilled her movement, looking over to Nori and back to the clock hastily, as if she were in absolute dire need of being somewhere at an exact time, as if punctuality actually did matter to her in some odd circumstances. She said nothing, only moved her head in a gesture that only begged Nori to follow.
Nori complied, looking at her classmates’ nosey faces as she got up with Joanne and followed her out of their classroom. She felt butterflies in her stomach at the simple act of defiance and surely, if her parents ever found out she skipped half a day of school, she’d never hear the end of it, but the feeling of being protected and safe overshadowed any guilt or remorse she could feel in the future. So long as she were with Joanne, she would feel no regret leaving the school day a few hours short.
The windows of the halls were cracked open a few centimeters as the weather began to warm up even more. Fans lined the halls, powered on a medium setting to keep humidity at bay, but Nori knew it did nothing. In fact, she thought that they had perhaps made it worse, somehow.
Once the two had gotten off of the school’s property, Joanne grabbed Nori’s hand. A warmth and color began to spread over Nori’s face and Joanne only smirked to herself as she glanced over to see the blush she knew would appear. Satisfaction, maybe.
Nori tried to shake her embarrassment, yet embarrassed wasn’t the word she would use. Perhaps shocked, relieved, or grateful.
“So,” Joanne said promptly, igniting a fire Nori wasn’t ready to light, “you want to know why I do this.”
Nori looked up to her, met her eyes, nodded curtly.
“My mom isn’t home. She’s in the hospital,” she explained flatly, dropping Nori’s hand and leaving her with a feeling of indescribable loss. She kicked off her shoes, and eyed Nori as she stood there with a blank expression. Nori had just realized she was at Joanne’s home, an abode she was completely unfamiliar with, and genuinely shocked at the size. “Are you going to take your shoes off?”
“Oh,” Nori gasped, bending over to yank her feet from her too-small loafers. Once off, she clenched her toes inside her sock, and shook her ankles slightly.
Joanne watched. “Do they hurt?”
“Do what hurt, Joanne?” Nori asked innocently, bending over to pick up her shoes.
“Your feet. Are your shoes too small?”
Realization overcame Nori. “Yes, a size too small. I’ve had them for years and never got around to getting new on-”
Without a shred of hesitation, Joanne stood upright and said, “What’s your shoe size?”
“24 centimeters.”
“I have an old pair you can have.”
“A-Are you sure?”
“Look at me,” Joanne laughed modestly, guestering to her body, “I’m pretty tall. I can’t exactly fit into a 24 anymore.”
Nori smiled and shrugged, prompting Joanne to lead the other into her home. Her voice was unsure, and she was certain her words would squeak from her nervousness. “So why do you skip school a few times a month?”
Joanne, with her hands holding her refrigerator door open, looked over to Nori solemnly. “Did you know that everyone in our school is piece of shit?”
“W-Well,” she stuttered, choosing her next words carefully as not to insult the other, “I don’t really talk to anyone besides you, but-”
The taller sighed, prompting Nori to shrink with a mix of admiration and fear. “Do you not hear them talking to their friends? Being fucking condescending as all hell? Because I hear them. Loud and clear. I hear them talk about me. All the time, too.”
“What do they say, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“First of all,” Joanne said, taking a piece of chocolate from her fridge, “I just started my period and I’m cramping like crazy. And I’m fucking mad.”
“Understandably so,” Nori offered.
“Yeah. Anyway. On these days especially I can’t fucking stand to be in school, not with the company of everyone who thinks it’s ok to slander me. Or anyone.”
Nori looked dumbfounded; her expression had dropped, confusion clear across her face. “Slander you? About what?”
“I’m not Japanese. Well, I mean, of course I am. But my mother is white. My father, that fleabag of a man who’s never fucking home, is Japanese. I’m mixed race, and that itself is enough for people to attack me. I thought people would be accepting of me by now. This isn’t the forties anymore. It’s nineteen-fucking-eighty-nine. I’m still human, and I just want to be accepted.”
Nori stood, silent.
“They harass me, threaten me. They tell everyone I’m a lesbian. Well, I trust you.” she said blankly, “I can trust you right?”
“Of course, Jo.”
“Great. Well. I am a lesbian. But they say it insultingly, like it’s a bad thing. They think I’ll hit on them or something, but I would never fall in love with someone like them.”
“It’s not a bad thing.”
“I know it isn’t. I don’t know why they seem to care so much. I’m literally one less girl they have to worry about stealing their boyfriends. My mom is supportive of me. She still loves me. She’s the only constant in my life. But people make fun of that, too.”
“They make fun of your mom?”
“They think it’s funny she gives me kisses every morning. And that my dad is never home. God. I wish they’d fucking-!” Joanne slammed her fist into the kitchen wall. After some silence, she looked up to see Nori, her eyes full of pain. She looked away then, turned her body toward the kitchen counter. She leaned back against it as her head slumped. “I wish they’d treat me like actually mattered to them even if I don’t.”
“Don’t let them get to you. I know it’s hard because of...what you’re dealing with,” Nori smiled appeasingly, putting a supportive hand on Joanne’s shoulder. “But you’re the bigger person right? And you can always,” she threw fake punches, mimicking some kind of boxing fight, “knock ‘em out, yeah?”
“Sure I could. But I’m just so fucking lonely all the time. Hurting people won’t fix that.”
Nori pursed her lips in thought, then offered, “You’ll always have me.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. Mom will be home in a few days maybe. That’ll help, too.”
“Didn’t you say she was in the hospital?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Joanne sighed heavily, taking her hat off of her head and setting it down on the counter. Her hand rummaged through her hair. “She’ll be fine. Couch?”
“Oh,” Nori gasped, realizing that her fantasies were slowly unravelling before her, “yes. Sure.”
“I fucking swear,” Joanne growled, laying down on the couch on her side, motioning for Nori to join her. “It’s better me than you they talk about.”
“Me?” Nori squirmed into Joanne’s arms, resting her head on Joanne’s elbow. “They talk about me, too?”
“No. At least I hope not. If they did I’d kill them.”
“I wonder what they would even say about me. I don’t talk to anyone except you.”
Joanne huffed a laugh, and Nori could feel her breath against her shoulder through her gakuran. “That’s the problem. Talking to me should be enough to fuel them.”
“Maybe, but I think it would be about how much I care about you.”
Joanne scoffed, sitting up a little. “What?”
“If I saw someone talking to one of the most beautiful girls in the world, I’d talk about it, too.”
Joanne was silent and eerily so, prompting Nori to look over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t passed out or anything, but lo and behold, a scarlet tint was painted onto her cheeks and ears, and her eyes were avoidant of Nori’s.
Nori smiled warmly, her eyes just as warm and understanding. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” she whispered, snuggling back into Joanne’s body. “But I thought you should know the truth right?”
“How annoying,” the taller sighed, wrapping an arm around Nori’s waist, bringing her even closer. “How could you even say that? No one thinks that way about me.”
Nori turned her body, their chests touching. Nori had a wicked smile on her face that Joanne knew was a sign of trouble. The red head lifted a hand, placed her index finger against the other’s lips. “I do.”
In an effort to prevent herself from spontaneous human combustion, Joanne moved Nori’s finger from her lips, and stared her dead in the eyes without a word.
“Are you alright, Jo?”
“Are you staying for dinner.”
Nori blinked, surprised at the new topic of conversation. “W-What?”
Joanne said nothing, only looked at her, waiting for a response.
“Um. Sure? I’ll have to call my parents.”
Joanne nodded. “Ok.”
“So...you skip to avoid having to hear people talk about you?”
“Yeah. They’ll do it regardless if I hear them or not, but it’s nice to get away from it sometimes. It’s not like I skip because I really want to...and I still get all of my work done.”
Nori smiled contently. “That’s good.”
“Are you hungry? I can make lunch.”
“Oh...ok. I am a little hungry. But snacks are ok, I don’t need a whole meal quite yet.”
Joanne shrugged, then sat up, and Nori followed in suit. She swung her legs over the couch and got up, heading back to the kitchen where Nori trailed behind like a lost child. Joanne motioned to a small cabinet where snack were contained. “I just got a bunch of Pretz and Bisuko. Feel free to have one.”
“Thanks, Jo,” Nori said, picking up a cylindrical container full of vanilla cookies. “I love these.”
“We also have some fruit. You like cherries, yeah?”
Nori nearly dropped the Bisuko in total shock as she stared into Jo’s eyes. Shock overcame her, and her body was surely about to shake if she didn't act soon. “Jo,” she whispered, still aghast, “cherries fill my every being with every good emotion and feeling known to mankind...such fruits are not worthy to be in the presence of us mere mortals…”
Joanna raised a brow and thrusted the bag of cherries towards Nori. “Ok...just shut up and take them, then.”
Nori laughed as she took the bag eagerly. “Are you going to eat anything, too?”
“Later.”
“Ok.”
“And I want to also thank you.”
“Thank me?” Nori said confusedly, a mouth full of cherries. “What for?”
Joanne scratched the back of her head nervously. “For coming along with me. And listening to me. And not hating me.”
“I would never hate you,” Nori replied, “in fact, I really like you. A lot. I’m glad you told me you were gay because if you hadn’t, I would have been pining over you until I die.”
“Wait,” Joanne stopped her from going any further, her eyes widening as blush crept into her skin, “you...you want to...go out with me?”
“I always have.”
“Then...yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, yeah I would like that. If we dated.”
Nori smiled widely, setting the cherries aside. “Me too.”
“I guess that means we should skip classes more often now.”
“Why’s that?”
“Nori,” Joanne huffed a laugh, “we can’t make out if we don’t.”