Brown And Blue For You

Josie was coloring in art class with her girlfriend, Archie next to her. Though the latter notices that Josie didn't color the eyes brown. It's clearly Josie herself, but the eyes are blue. "Josie," Archie started. "Why didn't you color your eyes brown? Your eyes aren't blue." Josie pauses, and sighs. "I know," she says. "But aren't blue eyes better? Blue eyed people get compliments. You have blue eyes, and you get more compliments in a day than I do in a week." She rubs her temple in slight annoyance. "My eyes are dumb."

Archie softens her gaze. She knows Josie like the back of her hand. "Really?" she asks. "So you think your eyes make you ugly?" Josie stiffens, but doesn't answer immediately. She honestly does think that. The lack of an answer gets a deep sigh from Archie. "Josie," she begins, putting a hand on the other's shoulder. "Your eyes are pretty. Like dirt."

"Dirt?" Josie asks. "Yeah." Archie replies, earning a soft scoff from the other girl. "That's dumb." Josie mutters. "No," Archie retorts. "It's a compliment. Where do plants grow?" That stuns Josie a little, but she gets it. "The dirt..." she mutters, making the other smile. "Yeah," Archie says. "And honestly, I think your eyes look like chocolate." That makes Josie smile. "What kind?" she asks. "Like Reese's." Archie replies. She moves her hand down to Josie's, interlocking their fingers. "They really are beautiful. I want you to know that." Her voice is quiet and soft, and she smiles. Josie smiles back, squeezing Archie's hand. "Thank you." She whispers. "That means a lot."

“Of course,” Archie says. “Seriously, what kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t compliment you on the regular?”

The bell rings, signaling that class is over, and lunch has started. But the two girls stay, because the classroom is open for lunch. "You know..." Archie starts. "I'd like to have your eyes. They're pretty." Josie's eyes widened. "Really?" she asks. "But...your eyes are pretty, too." She pauses before continuing. "Like the sky." The compliment earns a chuckle from Archie. "Thanks, babe," she begins. But it's her turn to complain. "But they're dumb, too. Not the color, but the shape. Downturned eyes make me look...down in the dumps." She makes horrible jokes at times, but this seems serious.

"But babe~" Josie whines playfully. "They make you look so cute! Why would you hate them?" Just to emphasize her words, she bops Archie on the nose, the latter making a small 'hmph' noise. That's when Josie realizes this is a little deeper than she thought.

"Hey...Archie?" Josie quietly asks, the other girl looking up at her. "Are...you getting bullied?"

Archie bristles at the question. She has never opened up about being bullied, not even to close friends. But after a minute of staring from Josie, she nods.

"Yeah," Archie begins. "A lot of the girls bully me for my eye color and shape." She folds her arms and slumps in her chair. "It sucks."

Josie's grip on her pencil tightens. "Archie, your eyes are absolutely gorgeous. Downturned or not."

Archie doesn't respond or look up. It's completely unlike her, and Josie knows the bullying must've been getting worse.

"Talk to me." She pulls Archie into a cuddle-hug, holding the latter flush against her side. "How long?"

Archie hugs her right back, burying her face into Josie's shoulder. "...since 6th grade." She mutters her answers quietly. "First it was being called "blind bat" because of the color, then the eye shape was brought up."

Josie sighs deeply. She didn't know that this was happening, and she feels so bad for it. "Don't be afraid to tell me next time, okay?" She gives the other a light cheek kiss. "Please."

Nodding, Archie moves closer to Josie, sighing sharply. "...yeah. Alright. I'm just scared."

Josie's eyes soften. "Scared of what, babe?" Archie seems to hesitate, but speaks anyway. "Those girls that bully me," Her voice has dropped to a mutter in Josie's ear. "They threatened to beat me up if I told anyone."

Josie's eyes widen, but she sighs, giving the other a rub on the back. "Well," she starts. "I'll keep them from you. I'd never let anyone hurt you."

Archie smiles, and gives Josie a little kiss on the lips, and barely pulls back to talk. "Thank you, Josie. I love you." Josie smiles back, and kisses her back for a moment, neither of them caring about who's around them. "I love you too." Josie whispers.

  After holding each other for a bit, Josie grabs another paper and starts over on her drawing. It's unclear who it is, though. She draws a girl with one eye brown, and the other blue. The skin is a mix of their own skin tones, and the hair is split. Black for Josie, ginger for Archie. Who is that? And why is Josie drawing her?

"Josie," Archie says, confused. "Who's that? It doesn't look like either of us." Josie smiles, and adds a little detail to the drawing. "I feel like this would be what our kid would look like if we could have one." The sentence makes Archie blush. They're in middle school, she never thought about kids. "A kid?" She asks, a little confused. "No one can be born with split color hair, right?"

Josie nods her head. "They can," she says, and grins. "It's heterochromia of the scalp. But there's also hair dye. So it's not impossible." She also grabs two skin tone colored pencils, and begins to draw splotches with one.

"What's that?" Archie asks.

"Vitiligo." Josie replies.

"Vitiligo? You don't have that."

"I hold the gene."

"Really?"

"Really."

Josie finishes the splotches, and colors the rest with the other skin tone. "Besides," she starts. "If we had a kid, they'd have one of our skin tones."

Archie nods, slowly smiling as she processes it. "Yeah...they would." she whispers. "But we can't have a kid, Josie. Not a biological one, anyway."

"Yeah, so?" Josie looks at Archie, her arm gently squeezing her sides as she puts down her pencil and gives Archie a kiss on the head.

"A girl can dream, right?"