a/n: these dorks...i love them...
i can't believe it's taken me this long to write this trope considering how much i love it
It was a strange dream, but then again she'd always had strange dreams. Something was chasing her - first it was a doppelgänger of herself, then a woman she'd never seen before, then nothing at all, and she was just running for no reason.
It was because of this dream that Kumiko didn't mind being woken up quite as much as she usually did. The sky outside, she realized after a quick look out the glass-paned window, was still dark, but her phone beeped its way off of her bedside table and into her lap nonetheless.
Reina: Come outside.
Reina: I have something down here.
Kumiko squinted at the words, rubbing her eyes a few times to see if she was imagining them. The heavy cloud of sleep still clouded her head. The words didn't change.
Kumiko: okay?
Kumiko: i'm on my way down now
She's always loved these crazy romantic gestures, huh? she thought as she pulled on a suitably baggy sweater. I guess that's part of why I-
Reina: It's a bit hard to be inconspicuous with this thing, so I'm further down the street.
Reina: You'll understand when you see it.
Kumiko: got it
There was a certain surreal quality to the apartment building this early in the morning - she'd lived here for most of her life, and yet it felt like a foreign land with its walls rising up around her. The elevator's whirring was amplified, the carpeted hallways seemed to shift under her feet, and so she was grateful when she reached the exit.
"Reina?"
"I'm over here!" Kumiko turned the corner to see Reina leaning against a neatly trimmed hedge with what looked like a very shiny bicycle.
"Uh, just wondering, w-what's that?"
"It's a bike," Reina deadpanned.
"I know it's a bike, I was wondering why it's here."
"There's really only one use for bikes, isn't there?" Reina hopped on the front seat. "We're riding it."
"At four in the morning?" Reina didn't quite meet Kumiko's gaze, but it wasn't like she could see much of her expression anyway - the streetlight had fallen on the back of the bike, and so she was nearly hidden.
"I don't see why not."
"O-okay. Got it." Kumiko stared apprehensively at the bike.
"If you don't want to, I understa-"
"No, no, it's fine! Just weird, that's all. It's . . . it's fine."
"We should get going before the sun rises, then." Reina held out her hand, and Kumiko took it. Before she knew it, they were taking off down the bumpy sidewalk. The pedals spun, the world started to whiz by, her arms were around Reina's torso, and Kumiko would've been lying if she'd said that she wasn't feeling at least a little bit terrified.
"Do you know where we're going?" she yelped as Reina narrowly dodged a tree. It took a fair amount of effort to even see right in from of her - Reina's hair blew back in her face, and the wheels bumped every few seconds.
"Yes." Kumiko couldn't see Reina's face, but she was sure that she was smiling. It was nice, really, once the two of them had fallen into a sort of pattern. Reina was warm and soft, and Kumiko buried her face in the back of her neck like it was all that mattered.
I guess I'm lovestruck enough to forget that she's a terrible driver.
"You're not the only terrible one here," Reina said, almost as if she'd read Kumiko's mind. Her voice was nearly carried away by the wind, and Kumiko had the irrational desire to catch it, keep it with her and give it back when Reina wasn't biking towards the end of the world.
"How long have you had this bike, anyway?" She had to yell to be heard, and they were reaching the city, now.
"A few years, give or take. I ordered the extra seat last week."
"For who?" Reina was an only child, as far as Kumiko knew.
"Take a guess." The bike turned a sharp corner. Kumiko didn't say anything. "I bought it for you. So that we could do this."
"Oh."
"I watched a movie with this sort of thing, once. It was nice."
"Are we going to . . . uh . . . are we going to get to wherever we're going before school starts?"
"I hope so." Reina lifted her head, breathing in the early-morning air. "It's Saturday, anyhow."
"Right." Kumiko held tighter onto her. "This is really nice, y'know. Thank you."
"Don't mention it. I suppose it's a gift, of sorts." Reina held tighter onto the handlebars as she started to pedal alongside a river.
"M-my birthday's in August, Reina."
"I know. It's not for that." The bike slowed enough that Kumiko could breathe again. "It's . . . it's a thank-you. For helping me become special."
"You were already special, Reina. I didn't have anything to do with that."
"It would've been a lonely road without you, though. I wouldn't have gotten this far."
"You're just flattering me."
"Well, it's true, isn't it?"
"What?"
"I mean, you're working harder, aren't you? We're both working harder. It's a mutually beneficial thing, if you want to go into scientific terms."
"Like those fish that eat junk off of whales?"
"You could say that." Reina started pedaling faster again, and Kumiko couldn't hold back a yelp of surprise. "You're improving, Kumiko. We're both improving, and it's in no small part thanks to each other." The sky was starting to be streaked with light as the sun rose, slowly, as if it, too, wished for a few more minutes of sleep.
"It's beautiful," Kumiko murmured.
"It is."
So are you, she wanted to add, but she bit her tongue and just watched the sidewalks fade away as Reina pedaled along. "Aren't your feet tired?"
"Not particularly."
"A-are you sure? We could switch if you want."
"This whole thing is starting to sound awfully familiar, isn't it, Kumiko?" Reina's voice had a teasing lilt to it that set Kumiko's heart aflutter. "We're nearly there." The bike slowed to a halt, and Kumiko looked up.
"It's . . . nothing." A wall of stony gray buildings faced her, extraordinary in just how ordinary they were. Offices, crappy restaurants, she didn't know what they hosted, but she'd passed them countless times. "Why'd you bring me here?"
"I was getting tired." Reina hopped off the bike. "There wasn't really a destination I had in mind, to be honest. It was more about the way we got here." Kumiko had to hold back a snort. "What?"
"You're such a manic pixie dream girl sometimes, y'know that?" she laughed. Reina leaned on the bike with a raised eyebrow.
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" The sun was rising, casting the buildings in a metallic glow.
"Not really, no." Kumiko unsteadily took one step off the bike, wobbling when her feet hit the ground. Her legs felt like jelly.
"A confession of love, then?" It might've been the sun, or the shininess of the bike, or Kumiko's imagination, but Reina's eyes seemed to light up.
"I guess, yeah." Reina stepped closer once Kumiko had stopped feeling like her legs were just about to give out from underneath her. "I guess that's exactly what it is, heh."
"You wouldn't mind if we did this, then?" Reina put her arms on Kumiko's shoulders, facing her, as if preparing for a slowdance.
"I'd love it, Reina," Kumiko whispered, breathless, heart racing as if they were still on the bike and Reina had sent them hurling into space. "I'd really, really love it." It was early in the morning, too early for her to be awake, but every part of her body buzzed like it had been heightened, jolted to life, and she blinked back tears as Reina gently traced her jaw with her soft knuckles.
"You're sure?"
"A-as sure as I've ever been, Reina."
The kiss felt like a million stars exploding at once, and yet at the same time it was quiet, gentle, simply two girls holding each other in front of stone buildings while the sun rose behind them.
"Wow."
"I suppose you could say that." Reina smiled between kisses, threading her fingers through Kumiko's curls. "Wow."
"Hey, what else are you supposed to say after the girl of your dreams kisses you?"
"I'm not sure," Reina admitted, but she sounded as sure of herself as anyone ever could be. "What did I say?" Kumiko could feel her cheeks turning pinker by the second, and yet she didn't mind at all.
"This is nice."
"It is."
They stood there for what could've been seconds or years, just watching the sun rise in the company of each other and a shiny bicycle, and Kumiko had never felt happier.
a/n: the movie reina mentions is whisper of the heart, a cruelly underrated ghibli movie