That's What Girls Do

Chapter 1 - Best Friend

Neji opened the front door without knowing at all who would be on the other side. His friends came to see him whenever they felt like it and very rarely warned him before suddenly showing up at his door. He smiled at Haku and ushered him inside, worried by his friends obvious nervousness.

Haku removed his shoes and shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other while Neji watched him oddly. Realising his friend might need a bit of a push to get out of his reserved state, he stpoke.

"Let's go to my room."

Haku nodded and they went there, stopping in the living room so that Haku could greet Hinata and Hanabi. Neji had known Haku for years and as such, his cousins had gotten to know him very well too. They adored him, as did Neji and their other friends.

Once within Neji's private quarters, Neji turned to his friend expectantly. Haku looked at the bed and pointed to it, "Can we sit?"

Neji nodded, giving him another strange look. They'd known each other long enough to have gotten comfortable around each other. Haku usually acted as though Neji's home was his home, and for him to act formally was just completely out of the norm. There was something going on in that brain of his, and Neji was going to know what it was.

"What's up?" He asked, sitting on his pillow, his back against the headboard, while Haku sat down stiffly at the foot of the bed.

"How...How did you figure out that you're different from the other boys?" Haku didn't meet his gaze, keeping his brown eyes on his painted fingernails.

"You mean the whole being gay thing?"

"Yeah..."

"You just know." Neji said, but elaborated upon realising that that might not be the answer he was looking for, "When the other guys would talk about girls I always felt like an outsider because I never got it. I've never seen what they see, and I came to accept that I never would. I like boys and that's not going to change. It's not about figuring it out, it's about accepting it."

"You didn't accept it at first."

"No, I didn't. But you guys opened my eyes. There's always going to be some assholes out there, but I have my friends who accept me. So why shouldn't I accept myself?"

Haku shifted so that they were looking at each other, and he sent his friend a tiny smile, "I suppose."

Neji moved until he was closer to his friend, and he took hold of Haku's hand with both of his own, "What's on your mind, honey?"

"I don't really know how to explain it..."

"Give it a try. I'm all ears."

"It's just...I want to be able to wear pretty dresses and skirts without people looking at me weird! I mean, sometimes it feels like I ought to have been born a girl. It's as if I'm not being the real me when I try to be manly. Or you know, as manly as I can be."

"Yeah, I see where you're coming from." Neji bowed his head, not looking at his friend.

Haku stared at him, his heart beating wildly and his fear invading him like a swarm of bugs. He couldn't keep quiet and began to ramble, "I came to you because you're my best friend and because people were mean to you and I thought you'd be the most, you know, sensitive to this sort of thing. But I know this is really weird and I totally get it if you want to pretend this whole conversation never happened."

"You know what this means right?" Neji said suddenly, and Haku stared at him in fear. That fear was lessened when Neji looked up at him, a smile on his lips and a brightness in his eyes that showed happiness, "We have to go get you some pretty dresses and skirts."

"You think I should...?"

"Haku, I want you to be you. If you want to wear dresses then I'm here to support you in that decision. Let's go get your dad's credit card. Do you want me to ask Hinata and Hanabi to come? I'm sure they'd enjoy a shopping spree."

"Oh, um, I'd rather it be just us, you know? I mean I'm still trying to figure this out and...My dad's credit card? I can't do that. He'll ask me why I need it and you know I can't lie to him."

"Who said anything about lying?"

"Neji, I don't think telling my dad about this is such a good idea, I mean, what if he decides it's too much? He can put me back in the agency and then I'll have to get new parents and I can't go through that again, Neji, I can't!"

"Woah! Calm down there oh girly one. I'm not going to force you, but we both know how ridiculous that all sounded, right?"

Haku took his hand out of Neji's and burried his face in his hands, feelings overwhelming him in a way that wasn't pleasant at all.

"We both know your dad loves you too much to ever even think about giving you to those adoption people. Haku, he's been your foster father for six years. You're like his son. There is nothing he wouldn't do for you. You could tell him that you want to be a prostitute in Holland's red district and he would still support you. Okay, not if you wanted to be a prostitue, but what parent would support that kind of career choice anyways?"

"I know he's supportive and all, I just don't know how he'd take this. What kind of father would want to help their son buy girl clothes?"

"No father wants their son to decide he wants to be a girl. But it's like I said earlier, it's all about acceptance. It might take him off guard, but he will accept it. I have no doubt about that. I know it won't be easy for you, but if this is what you really, truly want, then you'll have to tell him eventually."

"I know. I've been thinking about this for so long and I think I'm ready to, you know, come out, and this is what I really want, but..."

"You're scared. And it's completely understandable."

"But it feels like..." Haku hesitated. Neji was probably getting tired of listening to him whine.

"Yeah?" But Haku was wrong. Neji wanted nothing more than to listen to him talk about his fears and worries. That's what friend are for after all.

"It feels like it would be asking too much from him. I know he's my father, but...he took me in and asking him to be supportive about this...It's too much to ask of him."

"Is this what you really, really want to do?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go see your father. Or would you rather go alone then come meet me here or at the mall later?"

"I just said I can't tell him." Haku stressed out, but Neji smiled at him again.

"You'll have to tell him eventually. Why not today?"

"But-but..." He was getting more and more stressed because he felt that Neji wasn't hearing the words coming out of his mouth. He couldn't tell his father. He just couldn't.

"Don't you think he'll wonder what's going on when you leave the house in a dress and three inch heels?"

"Well..."

"You can't hide this from him, Haku. Personally, I think he would prefer to hear the truth from you rather than from somebody else or from seeing it. He'd want you to talk to him about this before taking the bigger steps. Besides, once you know he's okay with this, you'll feel a hundred times better. Try to tell me I'm wrong about this."

Haku sighed in defeat, and Neji smiled victoriously, "You're right, I suppose..."

"I told you I was right. I'll drive you home. I'll wait in the car while you go speak to your dad, sound good to you?"

"You mean today? As in, now?"

"Of course." Neji stood up and took his car keys off his bedside table. "Coming?"

"Yeah, um, okay." His nerves picked up speed, and he attempted to calm himself unsuccessfully. He was actually going to do this. He was actually going to tell his father that he wanted to be a girl.

Neji must have noticed how freaked out he was becoming because he was quick to wrap an arm around his waist reassuringly, "Honey, relax. I'll be helping you every step of the way, and I know the others will be as accepting of you as they were of me."

They began to walk towards the door, but Haku hesitated once more. He turned to his friend, "Are you sure you want to help me? People are already bullying you because you're openly gay. Helping me through this whole process is just going to make you even more of a target."

Neji squeezed his waist and smiled at him, "You were there for me when I came out, I'm going to be there for you. Besides, I don't get bullied that much. I mean, the guys are so over-protective! I hardly have to protect myself. I'll be fine, and you'll be fine. We're all going to be okay."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

AN: Hello. New story...This actually isn't really a story. I intended this to be a one-shot, but it would have been a long one-shot. And since I'm not a fan of long one-shots, this is basically going to be a short story. I don't know how many chapters though, probably 4 or 5. It depends how this goes, although I already kinda know how this is going to go. This was supposed to be a crack one-shot, but I can't write crack, so here's something kinda serious!

I hope you liked this first chapter. Anybody know who could be their guy friends? I have ideas, but I'll take into consideration who you guys think should be their friends.

Thank you for reading!
-MewMew