a/n: thank you gianni for this prompt! it's fluffy
It was one of those hot days where nothing, no amount of shade or water, could fully alleviate one's suffering, and it was a rare day off on summer break to boot, which was why Kumiko found herself next to the air conditioner at the local ice cream place, slumped over on a table, thighs stuck together and clothes clinging to her body with sweat. It was gross.
"Summer weather's gross," she muttered to nobody - for how hot the day was, the parlor was surprisingly empty.
"I don't particularly mind it," Reina said, above her, and then Kumiko looked up and squeaked in surprise.
"R-Reina! I didn't know you'd, uh, be here."
"It's hot. I figured this was as good of a place as any." Reina sat down, then, facing Kumiko with those eyes fixed on her own. "I was about to text you, actually, to see if you wanted to join me. I suppose that worked out well."
"Yeah." Kumiko fiddled with a paper straw wrapper someone had left behind, tore it into little soggy pieces. "Good weather for it." Was she taking the conversation in circles? Most certainly, but there wasn't much else for her to do, really. "Should we . . . order, then?"
"Right." Reina took her by the hand - forward as always - and the two of them stood in front of the cold arrays of ice cream, the dozens of choices. "I'll take a dulce de leche in a small cup," she said. Kumiko blinked.
"How, uh, grown-up of you, Reina." Oh, how she wished she could shove her foot into her mouth. Perhaps that would make things easier. She ordered her usual - vanilla, with rainbow sprinkles, in a cone, and waited to pay.
"It's my treat," Reina said, in a tone that left zero room at all for arguing. Kumiko tried, though, weakly argued something about how it wasn't fair, but Reina was quick, and she'd already paid by the time Kumiko had stuttered out the first word.
"Thanks," Kumiko mumbled.
"Don't mention it." Reina straightened her back, returning to the bench. "I like the air conditioning in her. It makes the ice cream melt slower."
"That's p-practical."
"It's the same reason I get the cup. It helps avoid making everything sticky."
"Ah." Kumiko twiddled her thumbs together, then, licking slowly at the ice cream, trying not to stare as Reina bit directly into hers. "You don't get brain freeze?"
"Not really."
"A-and you don't hate pain anyway, right?" Kumiko laughed weakly at her own joke. "So it's, uh, it's fine."
"Yeah." Silence enveloped them, then. A fan whirred somewhere in the back of the shop, nearly drowning out the faint mid-2000s pop music playing on the speakers just loudly enough that you could hear it if you strained your ears the tiniest bit. "Do you have plans after this?"
"Not really," Kumiko said, mid-lick. "Do you?"
"No. I figured I'd wander around, return home and practice if needed."
"Right." Kumiko stopped an escaping droplet of ice cream with her finger. "Hey, w-why don't we head back to my place? Or yours, I don't mind."
"I think I'd like that."
They ended up going back to Reina's house, mostly because it had better air conditioning. Kumiko was, as always, struck by the largeness of it, the empty spaces threatening to swallow her whole.
"Are your parents home?" Kumiko asked, more out of reflex than anything. Reina shrugged.
"I don't know. I think we'll be fine."
"Hey, why don't we, uh, watch a movie or something?"
"I think I'd like that." Reina reached out a hand, then, intertwined her fingers with Kumiko's. Kumiko blinked, then relaxed into her grip - they were alone, she reminded herself. "Anything in particular?"
"Oh! I heard about this one that just came out with that superhero, Natsuki said it's great, r-really popular in the US. Captain Marvel."
"I suppose we'll just have to take her word for it, then?" Reina's eyes gleamed with something mischievous as she led Kumiko to the couch.
"Most certainly," Kumiko giggled, a dopey smile beginning to spread across her face. Oh, what eternities she could spend with this girl. What universes expanded in her heart. It was brilliant and dizzying, what Reina could do to her, and yet she didn't mind it at all. "Okay, okay, I think you can, uh, stream it."
"Right." Reina pressed her finger down on the remote, then, with enough force that it left a little indent on her thumb. Idly, Kumiko noticed that she wrapped her hand around the remote like she was playing the trumpet, and she resolved to remember that detail for later, to think on it as a bizarre and human little thing.
She was in deep.
"Captain America. . . another Captain America. . ." Reina mumbled to herself as she scrolled through the options. "How many of these are there?"
"Too many, in Natsuki's opinion."
"There it is." Reina clicked on the title and watched the opening credits roll, relaxing slightly into the couch. Kumiko tentatively leaned against her. The slight contact made the hairs on her arm stand on end, yet she felt calmer than she'd been in a long, long time. Reina noticed, leaning back.
Kumiko would have to apologize to Natsuki later, because she absolutely would not focus on anything going on in it.
They were both more tired than they'd both let on, clearly, because Kumiko found herself drifting in and out of consciousness as Reina ran her fingers, gentle, through her curls. It was a soothing gesture, one so domestic that it made Kumiko's heart feel close to bursting.
She felt peaceful, then, on that hot summer day, and she hoped it would stay like that for a while longer.
a/n: writing this was nice after all the Angst