Author's Notes: I had wanted to do a Gaia/Sukhvinder collection for my 500th story… well, this is #501. So, happy belated 500 stories to me!

Blanket warnings for entire collection: References to bullying, homophobia, self-harm and suicide.

Written for the drabble tag at The Casual Vacancy Fanfiction Challenges Forum.

Character: Sukhvinder
Prompt: Saturday

Also for Quick Fic Amnesty on writerverse, with the prompt "A problem that I cannot explain".

)O(

When Sukhvinder came over to the Bawden's – at Gaia's insistence; Kay had said that if Gaia had friends over, she wouldn't have to go with her to have lunch with Gavin – she was even moodier than Gaia was used to. She barely said anything, responding with shrugs and one-word murmurs to Gaia's questions about whether she'd like something to eat or drink. Gaia went to get a Coke from the fridge, and when she came back, Sukhvinder was standing at the window, arms wrapped around herself, staring out across the street. She was watching the cars go by, and Gaia had a very good idea of what sort of thing she was thinking about.

"Hey," she said, setting down the Coke and joining Sukhvinder at the window. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Sukhvinder said quietly. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Is it the people from school?"

Sukhvinder didn't answer. She didn't need to. Gaia knew the sort of thing that people said to Sukhvinder – she had heard all the insults, most of them revolving around the few wisps of hair on Sukhvinder's upper lip, though there were no small number regarding her classes and marks. People had even tried to get Gaia to join in at first, until she had made it perfectly clear that she thought Sukhvinder was a better person than any of them would ever be.

Gaia put her arms around Sukhvinder's waist and rested her chin gently on her shoulder. "Don't worry about them? They aren't worth it."

Sukhvinder shivered a little. "It's easy for you to say that," she said quietly, even as she relaxed into her friend's arms. "They wouldn't dream of saying anything about you."

"Sure they would. They say all sorts of things about me."

Sukhvinder stiffened and turned her head, her eyes narrowing fiercely. "What do they say about you?" she demanded, and Gaia smiled a bit at the look of protective anger on her face. She had never seen Sukhvinder look half so angry about what they said about her as she did when she thought that they had said something about Gaia.

"That I'm a lesbian," she said, meeting Sukhvinder's eyes with all the nonchalant pride she could muster and watching the expressions that flicked through them.

"W- who said it?" Gaia couldn't tell whether Sukhvinder's voice was shaking with anger or fear. "I'll talk to Krystal Weedon- she'll beat them up if I–"

"Don't bother."

"But- but they shouldn't say things like that to you!"

"The things they say to you are a lot worse," she said pointedly. Sukhvinder flushed and shook her head.

"That's different. It's not like they're wrong about me–"

"Bullshit," Gaia told her loudly. "They're a lot more wrong about you than they are about me."

Sukhvinder ducked her head, then looked up at Gaia, fidgeting a bit. "That's… that's a nice thing to say, but–"

"Don't even try," Gaia interrupted. "You're not ugly or stupid or any of the things they say and I'm sick of you trying to tell me that you are."

"But I'm more- those things- than you are a lesbian…" Sukhvinder trailed off. Gaia's lips twitched up into a smirk.

"On the contrary," she said quietly.

Sukhvinder's eyes widened, but she didn't pull out of Gaia's arms. Not even when Gaia leaned closer, lips parting a little.

Not even when Gaia kissed her.

)O(

Fin