a/n: happy birthday, reina. love ya. i know this isn't much, but i wanted to write something for today.
The air that drifted lazily in through the windows of Kumiko's bedroom smelled thick, humid, summer just barely starting to nudge spring out of its spot. A whirring fan rested on a bookshelf, and Kumiko and Reina had spread themselves out on the floor.
"Which d'you like better?" Kumiko asked, looking up at her ceiling lights. "Summer, or winter?" Reina let out a soft hum in thought.
"I like the spring best, I think. It's a nice segway between the two. If I had to choose, I'd say the summer."
"Yeah, but then you've got allergies and bugs and stuff. I like the winter better than anything else, no contest there."
"To each their own, then." Reina paused. "Isn't your birthday in the summer?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Kumiko bolted upright without any warning, nearly pushing Reina out of the way as she did so. "That reminds me! Wait here, I've got something to show you." She got up and hurried out of the room, leaving Reina to sit alone.
"Dammit, where'd I hide it- crap, she's gonna get suspicious, she might even find it before me- a-ha!" Kumiko triumphantly held up the haphazardly wrapped package like it was the holy grail, checking it for any tears before she ran back to her room, where Reina was still lying down.
"Did you find it?" she asked. Kumiko grinned before holding out the package in front of her.
"Happy birthday! I, uh, I know it's not much, b-but-" Reina had taken the package from her hands before she could even finish speaking, methodically tearing away the wrapping paper until she could see what lay underneath. A dark blue trumpet case, pristine and sparkling new, sat on the carpet.
"Kumiko," she breathed, "-how did you . . . how did you get this?"
"Kaori-senpai knew a guy who sold them, so she got me in touch and then I just worked a bunch of odd jobs for a while, used some of my Christmas money, that kind of thing." Kumiko scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "It's r-really no big deal."
"It's beautiful."
"I also got you these, if you w-wanted to decorate the inside or something like that." Kumiko handed Reina a sheet of stickers adorned with the Tuba-kun characters. "These were Midori's idea. She said that if she could carry around her contrabass, she'd cover the case in hundreds of these things."
"Tell her I said thank you, then." Reina peeled off two of the stickers and placed them side-by-side on the velvety interior of the case, so that Eupho-kun and Trumpet-kun (a new member of the series that Midori warned was "mostly just there as a villain right now") sat next to each other with their weird, alien-like appendages just barely touching.
"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it this year, after the whole . . . mountain picnic thing. I'm glad you like it." Reina didn't say anything, and Kumiko awkwardly flashed a pair of finger guns to fill the silence.
"It's perfect." Reina leaned over and planted a kiss on Kumiko's cheek.
"Y-you're welcome," Kumiko mumbled, knowing full well that Reina could probably see how flustered she was from a mile away.
"I think I might actually prefer the winter, now that I've had some time to think about it." Reina scooted closer until she was just inches from Kumiko's face.
"Why?"
"There's something wonderful about a cozy house in the middle of a snowstorm, don't you think?" Kumiko shoved down her hesitance and closed the distance, and she understood.
A blizzard or a drought could've raged outside for all she cared, because everything she needed was right here
a/n: the mountain picnic thing is a reference to another old fic of mine, yay for continuity