a/n: this was brought on by a tumblr text post. you know the one. also thank you romanimp for providing me with the motivation needed to finish this

"So . . . Harvard, huh?" Reina turned around, looking for the source of the voice. Kumiko leaned in the doorway, holding a clumsily wrapped package in her hand. Reina chuckled.

"You heard?"

"H-hey, how could I not?" Kumiko shuffled awkwardly in place, plucking at a peeling strand of paint on the wall.

"It's all right if you come in." Kumiko breathed a sigh of relief and started to kick off her shoes before tripping on one of the shoelaces and ungracefully flopping a few feet short of Reina's bed - their shared bed, really, since Kumiko practically lived in the apartment - and held out the package. "What's this?" Kumiko stood back up and dusted herself off.

"It's a farewell present. I mean, if you're going to Harvard, of all places, we won't see each other as much, so I thought-"

"I'm not going." Kumiko nearly dropped the present.

"What?"

"It was never my intention to begin with. I suppose I just wanted to have something besides the trumpet underneath my belt, something else I could be proud of. You must have something like that too, an achievement you accomplished just for what others might call bragging rights." Kumiko thought for a moment.

"I ate fifteen cold hot pockets in a row once." Reina blinked.

"Why?"

"I don't actually remember. It was in middle school, when the winter was almost over but it was still kinda cold."

"You remember the weather, but not the reason why you ate fifteen cold hot pockets in a row?"

"All I remember beyond that was going home in the morning. A few people were worried, I think."

"Wait, I think I might've been there that day. The teacher kept on repeating your name, but you weren't there, and eventually someone had to step in and tell her that you had gone home."

"A-anyway, you should be glad that you weren't around when it happened. It was a pretty good achievement, but I don't think it was, uh, worth the repercussions." Kumiko gagged at the memory.

"Regardless, there's something I was about to tell you, before you launched into your explanation of the hot pocket incident. As I was saying, it's an achievement I'll carry around with me forever, but that's all it is. I did it to prove myself, that's all."

"That sounds like something you'd say," Kumiko chuckled, trying to mask her overwhelming relief with a weak attempt at humor. Reina wasn't going to a faraway college. She was going to be fine. The relationship, if it could be called that, was going to be fine.

"Actually, I had something for you prepared already, though I was expecting to give it to you later. Alas, there's no better time then the present, it seems, so I'll just give it to you now." Reina briefly looked through her shelves to find a small box wrapped in blue, velvety paper. "An impromptu gift exchange isn't the worst thing to possibly happen, after all." Kumiko carefully took the blue box into her hands and tore away the wrapping paper. The box, as it turned out, contained two train tickets neatly stacked on top of each other. "You remember that night on the mountain when I said that I wanted to just hop on a train and travel, right?"

How could I forget? "Y-yeah, I remember."

"That can happen now, Kumiko. We can really run away, if you want to call it running away, and we don't have to look back." Tears were welling up in Kumiko's eyes as Reina delicately unwrapped Kumiko's package.

"It's nothing nearly as heartfelt or important, but I just kinda wanted you to have something to remember me by," Kumiko blubbered. Reina held up the gift and smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about. This is perfect." The gift happened to be a silver bag charm in the shape of a trumpet.

"There's a note, too," Kumiko mumbled. Reina unfolded the paper and a small smile spread across her face.

reina-

i'm going to miss you when you go to harvard (congrats by the way, that's really amazing) so i got you this so that you wouldn't forget about me. i know i won't ever forget you. this is cheesy as heck, but i'd stop the world for you. i'd scale a hundred mountains. i'd fight 2000 bees, which is a thing i definitely would do when given the chance. anyway, i-

The ink was blotted out after that, blurred words surrounded by now-dry droplets on the paper.

"I meant to say that I love you," Kumiko mumbled. "I guess I sorta wasted my big reveal and crap since you're not actually leaving, but it's too late now." Reina smiled.

"You're terrible," she laughed, kissing Kumiko on the lips as she tossed the note aside. "You shouldn't fight two thousand bees, though. They're docile if unprovoked, but I would assume that two thousand stings would be somewhat painful." Kumiko looked down, disappointment evident in her face. "I love you too, by the way."

"I knew that," Kumiko scoffed.

"In the same way that you knew the consequences of eating fifteen hot pockets?"

"Who's the terrible one now?"

"I think it's still you."

"So, when are we leaving on the train?"

"I was considering tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan."