a/n: did you think i was kidding when i said the writing gods had me in their grip.
anyway this is set sometime during s2
Kumiko really, really didn't want to get out of bed.
The fact that Reina's arm was draped around her aided in this feeling, as did the warm, fuzzy feeling she felt all through her body, and the coldness of the outdoors.
"You're loud when you sleep," she managed out, if only because it wasn't true. Reina slept like a rock, her body all still like a corpse. She didn't snore or anything, but neither did Kumiko. Still, she needed some form of conversation after she'd crashed in Reina's house and asked if she could stay over - Mamiko's argument-laced stops home were sometimes a bit too much to bear. One thing had led to another, and here she was, in an oversized t-shirt that must have belonged to Reina's dad because Reina was tiny and her mother was more or less the same, curled up in her crush's bed.
"You say things in your sleep," Reina retorted.
"Like what?"
"Most of it's hard to make out." Reina flipped over, facing the ceiling, and Kumiko startled at the sudden loss of contact. "I suppose I'm never very awake when you're mumbling like that, either. You could be giving a clear speech and I wouldn't know the difference."
"Huh." Kumiko paused. "Can we stay like this for a little while longer?"
"I don't see why not."
Kumiko had never thought about the irony of the phrase "face the music" considering the nature of her profession and how, in reality, what she actually had to do next was face away from the music. It made the whole thing almost funny, even as her whole body tugged her towards Reina and she had to make a real, conscious effort to even get up out of the warm force field of the bed.
"Why's your house so cold?" she whimpered, rubbing her arms. They were already starting to break out into goosebumps.
"Is it?"
"It's like a fridge, Reina."
"I've never noticed."
"Is this where you get your whole 'ice queen' thing from? Your cold house?"
"Of course not, Kumiko." Even in her sleepy state - which Kumiko couldn't deny was adorable, with her hair sticking up in odd places and her nightgown rumpled - Reina still had an air of dignity about her. It was incredible, really. "I get it from myself." This seemed like a fair enough explanation, so Kumiko dropped it and moved on to the more pressing issue at hand.
"Are your parents going to, uh, ask questions? When they see me coming downstairs?"
"I doubt it." Reina sat up, smoothing down her hair and her nightgown. "I've had sleepovers before."
"Oh. Right." Reina didn't really strike Kumiko as the "sleepover" type, but she supposed everyone had their own secrets.
"They'll probably be happy to see you, to be honest." Reina crossed her legs, still pressing her nightgown. Kumiko's feet sank into the carpet. "I don't have many visitors anymore."
"Oh." It didn't seem like she could say much else today, but then again everything in the past twenty-four hours had been so improbable it wasn't too surprising that the often wordy Kumiko had nothing to offer. "S-so, I just leave?"
"If that's alright with you." Reina pushed herself up off the bed. "Do you think things are better with your family?"
"I dunno." Kumiko hugged herself, figuring she could pass it off as the cold. The weight of why she was there weighed down heavy on her shoulders. "I c-can't just stay here forever, though, right?"
"I suppose not." Reina breathed in and let out a long, long exhale. "I'm an only child, you know. All of this is like a foreign language to me."
"I figured."
"I'll walk you out."
"Thanks."
Modern technology was amazing, Kumiko quietly marveled as a car summoned from her phone pulled up in front of Reina's house. Reina stood beside her, giving a sympathetic sort of look.
"Thanks again," Kumiko mumbled. "For, uh, letting me stay over and everything."
"Of course." Reina checked the driver - some older, grizzled man - up and down with a critical eye that said 'don't hurt her.' Kumiko had to smile at the gesture, small as it was. "My doors are open."
"So're mine." Kumiko opened the door and slid inside. "See you at school?" Reina shuddered a little - probably from the cold.
"Definitely."
a/n: i think uber is a thing in japan? correct me if i'm wrong