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Kumiko was nervous.
She was sure that Reina could hear her heart pounding, but that didn’t matter. As long as she kept it together until they reached the top of the mountain, she’d finally be able to…propose…and then everything would be okay. More than okay, actually.
If she could stay calm for that long, everything would turn out fine.
Probably.
Her gloved hand makes its way back into her pocket, and she sighs with relief as her hand comes in contact with the familiar, hard shape of a box.
“Kumiko?” Reina asks, drawing her out of her thoughts. “You good?”
“Y-yeah!” Kumiko tries to laugh, although it comes out too high, too unnatural. Reina frowns at her, concerned. “I’m just…a bit distracted, is all.”
Reina’s still frowning. Kumiko nods frantically and tugs on Reina’s hand. “Come on, come on, I want to get there before it’s dark.”
“You’ve been off all day.” Reina folds her arms and scowls. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing!”
Reina arches her eyebrow. “You’re a terrible liar.”
Kumiko casts her brain about wildly for some explanation, and in her panic, blurts out, “I’m meeting with Asuka tomorrow!”
Reina blinks. “And?”
Of all the things she could possibly have said. Kumiko wants the snow to swallow her up before she says something even stupider.
It’s true that she’s meeting Asuka, but that’s not weird at all. Well, in her defense, Asuka probably will make fun of her tomorrow, no matter the outcome of today, so, in some ways, yes, the nerves can be blamed on Asuka. In fact, it was Asuka told her to do this and Asuka whole helped her plan this; Kumiko probably wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Asuka’s meddling.
But her nerves really don’t have anything to do with Asuka, and everything to do with the beautiful girl in front of her.
“Ah, forget it.” Kumiko takes in a breath, holds it for a few seconds, then exhales. “It’s nothing. I’m fine. Come on, Reina.”
Reina gives her a very judgmental once-over, but after a moment, shrugs and continues up the mountain. Silence falls between them, nothing but the crunching of snow under their shoes making sound.
As they walk, Kumiko sneaks a glance at Reina. Reina’s cheeks are slightly pink, and she appears lost in thought. A small smile slips over Kumiko’s face. Her girlfriend really is the prettiest.
Hopefully, when they come down, she’ll be her…fiancé.
Kumiko has to shove a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from squealing at the thought. Reina and her, engaged. Getting married. It’s almost too crazy to think about.
But they’ve been dating for years now, and they’re grown up now, and they’ve even been living together for the past four months. They’ve discussed marriage before, multiple times, and Kumiko knows that Reina is on board with the idea. So, it’s not as crazy as she thinks.
It’s just that making it a reality sounds so, so terrifying.
And Kumiko wants this to be perfect.
Reina walks up the last few steps to the top of the mountain and immediately walks to the edge, just to look at the city below. She knew that Reina would do that: she always does. Kumiko takes this moment to catch her breath and prepare herself.
She can do this.
“It’s been a while since I’ve come here,” Reina says, gazing out in the distance. “Next time, I should bring my trumpet.”
“Going to play for me?” Kumiko asks, stepping closer to her. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the box. Her hands shake as she struggles to open it.
“We never did bring your euphonium up,” Reina remarks, still looking out. “Next time, let’s bring our instruments up, okay? Both of us.”
Kumiko nods before remembering that Reina can’t see her. “Right!” she says, finally opening the box at the same time. Oh, okay, this is happening. There’s no backing out now.
She can do this.
She takes a few steps forward to get closer to Reina when suddenly her foot skids on a patch of ice. A scream escapes her and Kumiko flails about in a pathetic attempt to catch her balance, but she crashes into the snow anyways.
Oh god.
Oh no oh no oh no–
“Kumiko?” Reina asks, finally turning around. “What…are you alright?”
Kumiko stares at the dark box just a few feet away from her. Thankfully, Reina hasn’t seen it yet, so she forces herself to look away and act normally.
“I’m fine!” she shrieks, jumping to her feet. How is she going to salvage this? “I just!” Her hands flutter uselessly about her face. “I fell!”
Reina stares at her, brows furrowing. “I can see that.”
“It’s fine!” There’s no way she can possibly embarrass herself further today. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Reina leans against the railing and crosses her arms. “Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”
“Okay, okay.” Maybe she can save this. She should just propose now, and everything will make sense to Reina. With the new plan in mind, Kumiko stomps over to the box and picks it up, keeping her back to Reina. “I was just going to…“ Her voice trails off and her heart sinks to her feet.
The box looks back at her, empty.
This can’t be happening.
“What’s going on?” Reina demands.
“Nothing!” Kumiko whips her head around wildly, looking for a glint of silver amidst the glittering snow. It has to be somewhere.
The ring just can’t have disappeared. Not after all of the effort it took to find it in the first place.
“Kumiko.” Reina sounds pissed, which, great, Kumiko is going to have to cut her losses on this one and propose later, when her girlfriend isn’t mad.
Assuming she can even find the ring.
“It’s fine!” Kumiko says, still scanning the snow. She shoves the box in her pocket and spins around. “Don’t worry!”
“You,” Reina snaps, stomping over to her. “Are.” She punctuates this by poking Kumiko’s chest. “A terrible liar!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Kumiko shrieks, waving her hands desperately. “I’m fine!”
“What’s wrong? You’ve been off the entire time.”
There’s no use hiding, at this point. Reina knows her too well, and she's looking right at Kumiko with that expression that means that she won't stop until she gets what she wants.
“I was going to propose,” Kumiko mumbles, looking away.
Reina sputters for a few moments, a fervent blush taking over her face, before she grabs Kumiko’s shoulders. “Do it,” she breathes out. “Kumiko, Kumiko, make me your wife.”
“Well,” Kumiko starts. She reaches into her pocket to pull out the box, then sighs. “No, well, see…I was about to…and then I dropped the box, and the ring might be gone now.”
There’s a pause as Reina just stares at her. She blinks a few times and gapes, totally speechless. Under any other circumstances, Kumiko would find her expression hilarious; however, she simply looks at the ground, desperately hoping for a glint of silver.
“Oh.”
“I’m sorry, Reina,” Kumiko says. “I really wanted to make it perfect, and…I lost it.” She sighs and drops down to start patting the snow. “But I do want to marry you!”
“I’ll help you look for it,” Reina declares, and to Kumiko’s surprise, she kneels next to Kumiko. They’re quiet for a moment, just gently patting at the snow, when Reina looks up and giggles.
“What?” Kumiko asks.
“I think it’s cute, actually, that you still get nervous around me.”
“Reina,” Kumiko protests. Reina just pushes back some of her hair and smiles at her.
“Come on.” Reina reaches out and nudges her gently. “We have a ring to find, don’t we?”
“Y-yes.”
Reina is still smiling, even though she’s on her hands and knees, searching for a ring that Kumiko lost. Kumiko’s heart swells.
She’s so, so lucky.
“You know, I always thought I’d have to propose,” Reina remarks. “But I never found a ring I liked.”
“Really?” Kumiko asks.
“Mhm.” Reina moves a little further away, and Kumiko follows her. “Is that silly? I just wanted it to be perfect.”
“Natsuki, Asuka, Midori, and Hazuki helped me find this one,” Kumiko admits. “When we went shopping last week.”
Reina gasps. “Is that why you were so happy when you came home?”
“Yes,” Kumiko admits. “I was thinking about how lucky I was. And I was thinking that it would really be wonderful, to call you my wife.”
Reina’s face turns red and her (sadly) still-girlfriend buries her face in her hands. “Kumiko,” Reina protests. “You can’t just say things like that.”
"What, wife?” Kumiko asks. She grins as Reina’s ears burn even redder. “Are you embarrassed?”
“Kumiko!”
Kumiko laughs. “We’ve talked about this!”
“I know.” Reina removes her hands from her face and looks at the snow. “But it…it makes me happy to hear that. Plus, I love that it’s going to be real.”
“I’m going to marry you, Reina,” Kumiko tells her. “I’m going to marry you and we’re no longer going to be girlfriends; we’re going to be wives.”
Reina flicks snow at her. “Kumiko! We have to find the ring first!” Her face is still red. "Stop saying such things!"
Kumiko gasps and tosses a loose handful of snow back. “We’re going to get married!”
Reina shrieks as the snow hits her, but then she smirks and starts gathering snow into a small snowball.
“You’re going to regret that,” she says, and throws it at Kumiko’s face.
Kumiko gasps as the cold snow hits her face, but she wastes no time scooping up more snow and tossing it at Reina. “You started it!” she shouts, laughing as Reina shakes snow out of her hair before scooping up even more snow to roll into snowballs.
They waste a few minutes like that, just scooping up snow into loose snowballs and hurling it at each other, laughter ringing loudly as the snow hits them. Eventually, though, Kumiko tires, flopping into the snow, and Reina falls too, just a few feet away.
“Oh, shoot,” Kumiko says. “The ring.” She stands up and brushes snow out of her hair. “I got carried away.”
There’s a small, sharp intake from Reina’s end, and then her girlfriend slowly sits up.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” she says, standing up and dusting herself off.
“Huh?” But she doesn’t get a chance to say anything else before Reina is right in front of her, placing a wet mitten on Kumiko’s cheek.
“Here.” Reina uncurls the other white mitten, and Kumiko gasps at the bright silver band, two gems embedded in it, that winks back at her.
“Well?” Reina asks, voice breathy and high. “A-are you going to ask?”
Kumiko pulls off her glove and shoves it into her pocket, then carefully picks up the ring. Her hand remains steady, much to her relief. She sinks to one knee.
“Kousaka Reina,” she begins. “I’ve been playing by your side since we were teenagers, listening for the familiar sound of your trumpet the whole time. It’s a sound that never fails to impress me, no matter how many times I’ve heard you practice a certain part before. Will you let me listen to you for the rest of our lives, and marry me?”
Reina beams. “Absolutely,” she says, and then she pulls off her mitten and offers Kumiko her hand. “Put it on?”
Kumiko grins and slips the ring onto Reina's delicate finger.
“We’re fiancés,” she says, rising to her feet.
“We’re getting married,” Reina agrees.
There’s a brief moment where they just look at each other, and then suddenly they’re kissing. Kumiko doesn’t quite know who started it, but with Reina’s arms wrapped around her waist, and Reina’s smile against her own, she finds that it really doesn’t matter.
After all, they’ll always have each other, for this year, and many, many more.