Water began to flow from the tap as Velvet turned one of the dials on the sink with a trembling hand. She let her delicate fingers drift underneath the liquid as it poured out in a steady stream, and they shivered slightly at the chilly temperature. For a moment she considered twisting the dial back some to make it more mild, but she knew that the colder the water was, the more effective it would be. Doing her best to steady her hands, she brought them together and cupped them to catch some of the water in her palms before leaning her head down towards the sink and splashing the contents across her thoroughly flushed face. Velvet bit down slightly on her bottom lip at the frigidness, but repeated herself by cupping her hands back together and washing another smattering of it over her facial features; this time making sure to get as much of it as she could on the area around her eyes.
She picked her head back up and found herself staring right back, just a meager foot or two away, via her reflection in the mirror of the medicine cabinet situated above the sink in the adjoined bathroom of her team's dorm room. Her usually creamy and warm brown eyes were bloodshot and puffy; the result of the tears she'd been spilling for the past several minutes while curled up in a ball in the fetal position atop her bed. All she was trying to do was make her way to the cafeteria for lunch, but of course she ran into that first-year Cardin and the rest of his team before she could even make it there. And of course they found it necessary to stop and make time to torment and harass her mercilessly once they spotted her heading in their direction.
They were present too in her reflection; the reason she's such an easy target for them and all the others who are just as coldhearted or closeminded. Her two prominent rabbit ears stood tall from out of the top of her head, and in Velvet's mind they might as well just be two huge bullseyes begging for people to take their best shots at her. When she was young and she'd come home crying because of bullies, her parents would always comfort her and tell her to keep her chin and her ears held high. She could still remember all of their words distinctly. Don't ever be ashamed of who you are Velvet. Don't let anyone else ever make you feel like less of a person just because you're a Faunus. Be proud of what you are and be proud of who you are.
She noticed now just how tightly she was gripping the edges of the sink; enough to make her knuckles whiten while the rest of her arms shook with bitterness. Her anger wasn't even directed towards Cardin or the others; not as much as it was directed towards herself. She so greatly loathed that she wasn't capable of being who her mother and father wanted her to be. She couldn't be proud of being a Faunus or wear her ears like a badge of honor. Velvet's eyes looked into the mirror and locked onto them, wishing that she could just make them disappear by sheer force of will. Was it so much to ask for her to just be normal? What had she ever done to deserve a lifetime of mockery and discrimination because of something she never had a choice in?
Feeling another wave trying to assert itself, Velvet bit down on her lip to try to bite back the tears that were threatening to start leaking from her eyes again while twisting the dial back to its original position to turn off the sink. Using her sleeve to wipe off some of the excess moisture from her face, she exited from the bathroom back into the adjacent dormitory that she shared with the rest of her team. Thankfully they weren't around. The last thing that Velvet wanted was to burden them with her own emotional weakness. It's why she never spoke to them about being harassed and why she always implored others not to get involved when they saw it taking place – that being the few who actually had the integrity to stand up in public to defend a Faunus.
A glance over at the digital display of the alarm clock on the nightstand beside Fox's bed showed that there were still about forty minutes remaining in the hour she had for lunch. Velvet figured she only needed another couple of minutes to compose herself and get all her emotions together, and then she could try again to make it to the cafeteria and have her meal in peace. Taking a deep breath, the rabbit-eared Faunus girl walked over to her bed and sat down upon the edge of the mattress. It didn't take but a few seconds before she leaned forward in a slump and buried her face in her hands out of shame and despondence. Maybe she was going to need a little more time than she originally assumed.
Coco despised Beacon Academy's mandatory uniform. It was borderline cruel and unusual punishment to have to wear the get-up for hours on end, every weekday, until classes were finished. It was also perhaps the only reason she had to be envious of the students who attended Shade Academy, seeing as how practically everything else that she knew about the kingdom of Vacuo made it seem like an ideal place to avoid at all costs. She could only imagine just how taxing it would be to have to deal with such an unbearably dry heat all the time; though she did suppose it would give her an excuse to wear shorts and skirts more frequently.
The dominant issue at hand right now was still Beacon's uniform though. The chic huntress-in-training glanced down while walking through the corridors of one of the campus dormitory buildings; a face twisting into a minor scowl as she observed the offending attire through the tinted lenses of her sunglasses. The color palette was atrocious, and the plaid skirt was so horribly mundane that it made her silently curse whoever the jackass was who decided that it'd be a great idea to make it a staple of every single school uniform to ever exist.
Even worse than the myriad complaints she could make in regard to the uniform itself, what irked Coco most of all was the fact that hers was exactly the same as everyone else's. Every other student at Beacon, down to the letter, was wearing precisely the outfit that she was wearing, and while she fancied herself as something of a trendsetter, this was something that she simply could not abide. The whole point of fashion was to express one's individuality, which is why she found the entire concept of schoolwide uniforms so exasperating.
Fortunately she knew she wasn't going to have to wear the insidious ensemble for very much longer. The only other class she had left today was a sparring class, which allowed her to change into an outfit more amenable to combat if she so wished. That's why Coco was on her way back to her team's dorm room now, as opposed to heading there from the cafeteria only to have to trek all the way back across campus unnecessarily to get to class. This way of doing it was much more efficient, and every second where she wasn't wearing this hideous assault on her sense of style was a second that she could take no small amount of joy in.
Picking her head up from out of her hands just enough to spy the time, Velvet learned that she'd been sitting there on her bed for upwards of five minutes now. At this rate, if she didn't pull herself together and leave soon, there'd be little point in even bothering to return to the school cafeteria since the lunch hour all students were allowed would be practically over by the time she arrived. She'd just have to come up with some excuse and tell her friends she spent it studying in the library or something; they'd probably believe that.
It was all that the downtrodden, young girl could do not to jump out of her skin when all of a sudden the doorknob turned, and the door leading back out to the hallway swung inward to reveal her team leader, Coco Adel, standing there and looking almost as surprised as Velvet was at someone else's unexpected presence in the room.
"C—Coco!" Velvet exclaimed as she sprung up to her feet, still startled at the intrusion and feeling very uneasy at the prospect of her close friend questioning her for being in the dorm all by herself at this time. She could feel one of her ears – her Faunus ears – twitching to give physical representation to said uneasiness; the involuntary tic only adding to her dread. "What…what are you doing here?"
Coco cocked her head slightly to the side and let her sunglasses slide a bit down the bridge of her nose to peer out from behind them at her comrade, finding this situation somewhat suspicious as she walked fully into the room and shut the door behind her.
"I came back to change for my sparring class after lunch. What are you doing here? Don't you have two more classes left today?" She responded before proceeding to inquire as to why exactly Velvet was present in their dorm at this time, a question which, to Coco at least, carried far less of an obvious answer with it.
"I…I was just, uhh…I came back because I forgot a paper I'm supposed to turn in for class later! So I came back here to look for it." Velvet scrambled in an effort to come up with something that could pass for even a semi-believable excuse, although she was aware that the harried manner in which she delivered said excuse probably was doing more harm than good to her cause of getting Coco not to delve into it any further.
By this point the more fashion-minded girl had already begun to extricate herself from her accursed uniform, shrugging the dark brown jacket off of her shoulders and tossing it onto her bed before guiding her fingers to the buttons keeping the tan vest held together. Since it was just Velvet here, she didn't mind getting undressed in front of her. Hell, odds were strong that Velvet would be the one more likely to end up embarrassed by Coco changing in front of her than they would be for the girl actually stripping down.
"Well, it doesn't look like you've found it yet. I'll stay and help you look once I get done changing." Coco offered while continuing to point her gaze directly upon the timid Faunus, who almost seemed to visibly wilt from the scrutiny. It wasn't hard to tell that Velvet wasn't telling her the truth, but she didn't want to just accuse her of lying so brashly. Coco hoped that she'd come clean on her own if she just nudged her a little more.
"Oh, no! You don't need to bother yourself with that! I'll be fine, really! It's not like it's a big dorm; there's only so many places it could be. You go on ahead! I'll catch up with you later." Velvet tried to say to convince Coco that it wasn't really necessary for her to stick around. She could feel her cheeks burning however, not just from having to desperately lie like this, but from realizing that Coco was just going to go ahead and undress right in front of her. Oh how she wished she possessed the same caliber of confidence that the leader of her team did; not merely in battle but in everyday situations like this or when dealing with bullies like Cardin as well.
"It's no problem! I don't want to eat too much before sparring class anyway. I'll help you look and still have time for a quick lunch." Coco wasn't about to let Velvet off the hook so easily, though she did wish that her close friend wouldn't have to make it so difficult. "Besides, it's just like you said. It's not a big room. With two people searching, we should find it in no time." She added with a bit of a smile while removing her vest and discarding it the same way she did her jacket.
The sound of Coco's clothing landing with a light rustle atop her bed was the only noise that filled the air surrounding the two girls for a few seconds as Velvet struggled to think of what to say and Coco quietly continued to watch her while untying the red ribbon that was knotted around the collar of her blouse. The Faunus knew deep down that the taller brunette could see through her ruse, but she was still reluctant to tell Coco the truth. Velvet knew how she would take it, and she knew that she would overreact. The last thing that Velvet wanted was to make it a big deal and drag her teammates into a problem that wasn't theirs. She appreciated knowing that they'd have her back without any questions asked, but she'd feel miserable making them targets for defending someone like her.
"It…it really isn't anything that you need to concern yourself with Coco. I can handle it on my own." Velvet finally replied, letting her head hang as she averted her soft brown eyes towards the floor, hoping that this was the closest she'd have to come to confessing what it was that was really troubling her. Her ears – both pairs of them – twitched slightly as she heard the sounds of Coco maneuvering out of her blouse and it joining the rest of her school uniform in a pile, and it only deepened the redness that was currently in full bloom across her cheeks. The next thing she heard was the soft footsteps of her friend getting nearer to her, before suddenly she felt one of Coco's fingers lifting up her chin; her sunglasses having been taken off as well so that her eyes were now looking straight into Coco's darker brown ones.
"Nice try. But my teammate, my friend…my business." She countered with a warm and sincere smile while trying not to betray her amusement at just how deeply Velvet was blushing at the moment. With the two of them in such close proximity to one another, she could notice the way Velvet's eyes were darting up and down, and she knew why. It was an underhanded tactic, but Coco felt it was appropriate in this situation in order to get results.
"I…I appreciate the sentiment Coco, b-but really, you don't have to worry! I can handle it myself!" Velvet stammered uneasily while trying her absolute damnedest not to look ever so slightly down and away from Coco's face, but finding it quite challenging to ignore the bevy of cleavage being displayed thanks to the burnt orange shade of bra which was all that remained upon Coco's body above the waist, aside from one of her always stylish berets perched atop her head.
As best as Velvet may have tried to keep it a secret – and truthfully she'd done a pretty damn good job of it, since Coco was fairly certain that nobody else had noticed it, not even Fox or Yatsu – the perceptive leader of Team CFVY had noticed those doe eyes lingering upon her enough times by now to make what she felt was a pretty well-backed assumption regarding the way that Velvet saw her. She didn't have any intention of saying anything about it until Velvet was ready to volunteer the information herself about her closeted sexuality, but that didn't mean she wasn't above using desperate measures when desperate times such as these called for it.
"Velvet…I want you to be able to talk to me." Coco said to her genuinely as she moved her hand from underneath her panicked admirer's chin and placed it reassuringly upon her shoulder. "We're not just teammates. You're one of my best friends, and if something is wrong then I want to be able to help. It's what me and the boys are here for." She continued while looking right into Velvet's widened eyes and sensing the hesitation within the caramel-colored pools; hopeful that she may have been able to persuade her reticent sister-in-arms to confide in her.
"I…it…it's me. It's who I am…or what I am: a Faunus." Velvet finally started to divulge while balling her fists up, having to tilt her head downward as she found herself unable to meet Coco's gaze. "My whole life I've been bullied…been shunned by others. Kids told me I wasn't normal and that I was freaky. They made me feel like I could never be one of them…some adults did too. But I thought that would change here…Beacon has a reputation for being welcoming and accepting of Faunus students. That's why I wanted to go here…it'd be great, right?" She went on before pausing briefly when she realized her voice was wavering; prompting her to grin mirthlessly and shake her head in pity of how naïve she was to think such things.
"But it doesn't matter where I go. They'll always be there to remind me I'm not like them and that I never will be. I'll always be a Faunus…and therefore I'll never be their equal. I'll just be something to mock and ridicule…just because I have these stupid ears!" That was as much as she could get out before she finally reached her breaking point and the waterworks started to flow once again, and immediately Coco threw her arms around Velvet and pulled her in tightly up against her own body in a compassionate embrace.
There was so much running through Coco's head at that moment that she found it a struggle to focus on just any single thing. She lamented being unaware all this time as to how much pain and torment Velvet had been carrying around inside of her from being discriminated against as a Faunus; something Coco knew she would never be able to truly relate to or understand, which only made her feel worse. At the same time, she seethed inwardly with rage and wished she had the names of all the people who ever made Velvet feel like anything less of a person because of her heritage, so that she could personally deliver retribution by making every last one of them suffer the same way they made Velvet suffer; the same way the kindhearted girl was suffering right now as her body heaved and she sobbed into Coco's mostly bare shoulder.
"I'm sorry Velvet…I'm sorry. You don't deserve this…nobody does, especially not you." Coco said in a soft tone to match the emotional tenor of the situation while helping her distraught and victimized friend over towards the closest bed, which happened to be Velvet's, in order to try to sit the two of them down on top of it together. Maneuvering the both of them while maintaining this intimate hold around Velvet proved to be more difficult than Coco had anticipated however, and instead of them just sitting down together, Coco ended up with her back leaning against the headboard with Velvet nearly falling on top of her; winding up with the still crying Faunus balled up and lying halfway in her lap.
Thankfully, Velvet didn't seem to mind this new positioning, and in fact it seemed to Coco that she had actually nuzzled herself even more deeply up against her own partially topless figure. The heavy gunner couldn't help but smile a bit when noticing it, and she slipped her beret off to place it on the bedside table before returning to comfort Velvet by wrapping her arms fully back around her slender, shuddering body.
The two of them laid like this for the next few minutes without either of them speaking; Velvet needing to let all this emotion out at once and Coco being perfectly content to let her do exactly that for as long as she needed, even if it meant missing lunch completely or being late to class. Hell, she'd miss the class entirely and be fine with just staying here alongside Velvet if that's what her rabbit-eared partner asked of her.
A realization occurred to Coco eventually. She wasn't quite sure when it had happened, but she looked down and confirmed that Velvet's body was no longer convulsing, and she had stopped crying as well. In all honesty, Velvet had very little desire to move from the spot she was in. She felt so protected and safe in Coco's arms that she wanted to keep cuddling for as long as possible with the team leader whom she idolized. Her head was so comfortable too as it rested upon Coco's partially exposed upper breast.
"Coco, I…"
"Shhhh. It's alright Vel…you don't have to apologize for anything." Coco interrupted before her now consoled friend could say sorry. Velvet didn't owe her anything of the sort; she was happy just to be there and be able to help her. It was almost just off of nurturing instinct then that Coco brought up her hand and used it to slowly stroke the back of Velvet's head, running her fingers through the mane of soft brown hair while the girl it belonged to gasped softly in surprise. Internally though, Velvet was deeply savoring and enjoying the affectionate touch, which Coco seemed keen enough to pick up on as she started to repeat the motion with her hand much to Velvet's delight.
"I'm…really happy that you're my friend, Coco." Velvet softly said after about the fifth or sixth time that she felt the other girl's fingers caress her. She wished to say more, so much more, but there was too much fear within her to go that far. First Coco would have to actually be interested in the same sex, and then even if she was, Velvet doubted that she would have any interest in her when she was popular and beautiful enough to date more or less anybody that she wanted at Beacon.
"I could say the same thing, Vel. I feel like I've learned a lot about myself as a person and grown because of you guys. Don't tell Yatsu and Fox either, but I think I may have grown the most because of you." Coco responded with a smile down at her comrade whom she gladly continued to let snuggle up against her. It was impossible for her not to acknowledge just how damn adorable Velvet looked right now either as she lay there so peacefully now in her arms.
"Because of me? What do you mean?"
"Well, I had never really had a personal relationship with a Faunus before I met you. There were very few at the school I went to before Beacon, and let's just say my parents are…they're harmless, but easily susceptible to rumor and hearsay. So growing up, I never really had an opportunity to be friends with a Faunus. But then I came here, and that all changed almost right from the start when we ended up being teammates. I finally had the chance to learn more about someone who had lived life from a totally different perspective than my own. You were so…special. And you're only more special to me now."
Velvet could feel the heat increasing on her cheeks while listening to Coco open up, especially so towards the end when Coco remarked on how "special" the foreign Faunus girl was to her. It was enough to make her heart nearly skip a beat as it pounded within her chest.
"Th-thanks Coco. Umm…you're really special to me too." She managed to reply, impressed that she got even that much out coherently given how flustered she currently felt. Of course, Coco was special to her in a way that Velvet knew was drastically different from what her fully human friend had meant when she said it first, but she figured that if this was as close as she was ever going to come to admitting her feelings then she might as well respond in kind.
"Am I? Am I really that special to you, Velvet?" Coco asked with the beginnings of a smirk tugging up on both corners of her glossy lips as she tilted Velvet's head just a bit so that the two of them could look one another directly in the eyes. What Coco saw didn't disappoint her either as she could tell that the much more bashful brunette's brown eyes were slightly widened, and her expression bore a look of confusion and to where this was headed.
"…Coco? What…what do you mean?" She stammered, uncertain of what was happening all of a sudden. Why would Coco be teasing her like this? Did…did she know? Had she managed to find out somehow? She'd never told a soul and she didn't keep any sort of diary or journal where she would have written it down. Had she done something to give it away herself?
"I mean, how special am I really to you? As special as Yatsuhashi and Fox are to you? Or am I perhaps…just a little bit more special than the two of them?" Coco rephrased as her smirk got a little wider. She had to admit, as evil as it might be, she was having too much fun making Velvet squirm, and the way it made her look was too irresistibly cute to pass up on.
"I…I…I still don't know what exactly you mean. I…you're all my friends and you're all very special to me. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?" It was becoming more and more of a challenge for Velvet just to be able to function properly as Coco led her down this path of questioning. The dark brown pools that she was looking up into carried a mischievous glint to them, making Velvet's heart race at full speed with further evidence that her crush had figured her out.
"Hmm, I think you know exactly what I mean. I've known for a while now. I mean, it was more of a hunch, but it seemed pretty clear from all the times I'd catch you staring when you thought I couldn't tell." Coco had to suppress a giggle upon seeing the way Velvet's already pale skin drained even further of color, except for in her cheeks which burned brightly with a mortified red. "I never said anything since I figured it wasn't my business to until you were ready to come out yourself, but I'm starting to have second thoughts now." The leading brunette added while taking one of her finely manicured fingertips and running it delicately along Velvet's jawline.
"C-C-…Co-…Coco…" She could hardly even get the name of the apple of her eye to leave her lips by this point; so practically paralyzed was she by what was transpiring. Was this some kind of a cruel dream? Could this actually be happening? Her breath drew in sharply and stayed there for a few moments when Coco's fingertip finally moved up a couple of inches and rested upon Velvet's quivering lips before she remembered to exhale.
"I said that you were special to me Velvet," Came Coco's hushed words and husky breath as she leaned her head down and brought it closer towards her partner's. "And I meant it. I'll always accept you for who you are." No sooner had she finished speaking than did her finger lift off of Velvet's lips, and almost immediately was her finger replaced by Coco's own pair of lips pressing down against the ones belonging to the shocked Faunus.
This was happening. This was real and it was happening! Velvet's brain felt scrambled as she was overtaken by a whirlwind of emotion, but after a second or two she managed to recover enough to get at least some of her wits about her and reciprocate. Her eyes shut softly and she raised one of her hands up to caress Coco by the cheek in order to deepen their kiss, an ante that Coco raised when she whipped the tip of her tongue across Velvet's still sealed lips; a request for access that was readily granted as Velvet's lips parted and Coco passionately swam her tongue into the awaiting confines of the more passive brunette's mouth.
Velvet couldn't keep herself from letting out a heavy moan as she felt her team leader's warm tongue actively exploring every inch of her humid mouth. She inhaled deeply through her nostrils and was met with the wonderful aroma of cinnamon from Coco's perfume, which smelled almost as good as the sweet peach of her lip gloss tasted. She wanted this to last forever and just remain in Coco's arms getting Frenched for as long as she possibly could. The two of them ended up maintaining their oral exchange only for the next couple of minutes however before they were forced to break apart and catch their respective breaths; a single, thin strand of saliva linking them still as it hung attached to both of their bottom lips until Coco used a finger to wipe it away and make both girls giggle.
"Better?"
"Better." Came Velvet's reply, truthfully feeling like she was on cloud nine as she accepted the hand that Coco offered her and both girls stood themselves up off the bed that they'd spent the past several minutes cuddling together on top of.
"Good. Now, looks like we've still got some time. How about I finish changing and you and I go grab a quick lunch? My treat." Coco proposed as she unbuttoned the front of her plaid skirt without waiting for an answer, causing Velvet to blush heavily and lose her train of thought as she admired her new girlfriend's half-naked figure with awe.
"Uhh, sure! That sounds wonderful to me." She eventually managed to reply in the affirmative while Coco quickly changed into her usual combat attire in advance of the sparring class she'd have after lunch period and grabbing her stylish handbag/minigun from where she kept it on her vanity table.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's get a move on." Said Coco as she passed by Velvet and, with a smirk, slapped her unsuspecting paramour swiftly enough on the behind to elicit a tiny, high-pitched squeak that made Coco laugh hysterically on her way out the door.
Velvet took a second to rub her bottom as she watched Coco exit into the hallway, but couldn't help but wind up smiling rather brightly and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet from her own excitement before racing out after her. For the first time since she was a small child, Velvet didn't care about being a Faunus or the two unmistakable ears jutting out from her scalp that broadcast her race to the whole world. She had Coco, they had each other, and she couldn't imagine anything sweeter than that.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed the fic, and if you did please leave a review or favorite the story! Those numbers really help draw more people to it!