Chapter Text
Class was a bore.
The only thing that kept Miku from losing it was the knowledge that, after, Gumi would be waiting in their dorm room for her. She imagined cuddling up with her, whining, and maybe doing a little kissing. Or a lot of kissing. Since starting their little arrangement last semester, they had been doing quite a lot of that.
But when she finally dragged herself back to her room, Gumi wasn't alone. She was sitting on her bed, and Luka was sitting in the chair by her desk, facing her.
Miku liked Luka — liked kissing her just as much as she liked kissing Gumi, as a matter of fact. But ... Gumi and Luka were the ones dating, no matter how many kisses they gave her. And they looked like they were having a serious conversation. While Miku greatly enjoyed the company of both girls, she never wanted to come between them. Already, she was wondering if she could hang out in Rin and Len's room for a bit.
“Hi, guys. Am I interrupting something? I can leave, if you need me to.”
Luka shook her head. “Not at all. In fact, we were hoping you would be back soon. We have something we’d very much like to discuss with you.”
Miku had sort of been expecting this. Luka and Gumi had been transparent from the beginning, about the nature of their relationship. Luka had Meiko, and Gumi had lovers in the past, but ... they had never shared someone before like they shared Miku. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she was always wondering when they would decide that it wasn't working for them anymore.
But ... Luka's face was never very expressive, but she wasn't holding the little tells that Miku had come to associate with annoyance or sadness. And Gumi was actually smiling at her as she patted the bed next to her.
“Have a seat, cutie,” she said fondly. Miku did, and Gumi entwined their fingers immediately, which just made things more confusing.
“Miku,” Luka said in a solemn voice. “Gumi and I have been talking a lot lately. When we started … 'helping' you, we never imagined that such a deep bond would form from it. I was attracted to you, certainly —”
“Me, too,” Gumi added.
“But … you know, Miku, that Gumi and I consider each other to be our only true ‘partners.’ Meiko and I see each other regularly, and I care deeply about her, but neither of us have any inclination to call what we do ‘dating.’”
“And when I was seeing Flower, it was the same for me,” Gumi said. “I cared about zir, but ze wasn’t my partner.”
Miku felt an odd little lump in the pit of her stomach. “Um … what are you trying to say?”
Gumi hadn’t let go of her hand. And when Luka broke into one of her rare smiles, hope dared to bloom in Miku's chest. “I’m sorry, Miku,” she said. “I had this all planned out in my head … I read so much romance, but when I want to make a speech worthy of the pages, it falls flat.”
“What she’s trying to say,” Gumi said gently, “Is that we want you to be our girlfriend, Miku.”
There was a moment of silence. Miku hadn't dared to dream about this. But the truth was, what started as an experiment had quickly become a habit, and then something to look forward to. She looked forward to spending time with Gumi and Luka, separate or together, kissing or cuddling or just hanging out. When she thought of her future, it was hard to imagine it without the two women in it. She always sort of imagined that she would find someone who was okay with an open relationship, like what Meiko had with Kaito.
She would have never guessed that the two women, who seemed to love each other so much, would ever want her to have a formal place in their dynamic.
Gumi’s fingertips were trailing up and down her arm, a fond motion that she often did. “Miku, you’re an amazing girl. So open, so true to yourself even as you figure out who ‘yourself’ is. It’s so admirable … You’re so admirable.”
“We have been discussing this for awhile now,” Luka said. “We couldn’t help but notice … Every time we went out, we spent most of our time discussing you. Missing you. And after much consideration, we both came to the conclusion … It was because we wanted you to be a part of this. To be a part of us .”
Luka reached out and took one of Miku’s hands, gently. Gumi’s fingertips slid down to interlock with the fingers of Miku’s other hand.
“If you’ll have us,” Luka said gently. “We’d very much like to have you.”
Something she couldn't name welled up in Miku's chest, something that made her want to laugh, or sing, or cry. She brought both of their hands to her lips and kissed them instead. “Yes,” she said. “Yes — of course, I will, I want to, yes.”
Luka was covering her growing smile with her hand, and Gumi was staring at her with such unabashed fondness and love that Miku almost couldn't take it.
“So, um,” Miku said, tugging at the end of a twin tail self-consciously. “What does this mean for us, going forward?”
“Well, we want to take you on a real date, first off,” Gumi said, leaning her head against Miku’s shoulder. “Whether it’s the two of us together or one of us at a time is up to you.”
“This is new to us, too,” Luka said gently, stepping over so that she could sit on Miku’s other side. “So it will be a lot of experimentation on our side, too. We’ll discover what works for us together.”
The idea sent a little thrill through Miku. For so long, she felt like she was almost a student of the two women. But in this, they would be equals. What better way to enter into a relationship?
“We also think it’s best to make it clear,” Luka said, “That this relationship continues to be open. That means, if you fall for someone else, we encourage you to pursue them in whatever capacity works for you. We would just ask that you discuss it with us, should the need arise.”
“We’d do the same for you,” Gumi promised.
This was … a lot to take in. But not in a bad way. Miku smiled, squeezing the hands in her own. “Okay,” she said. “I … I just want you to know. That I’ve been … I’ve really been enjoying the time I’ve spent with you guys so far, and … and I’m really, really happy to hear that you love me as much as I …” She trailed off, her face heating up as she realized what she had said. “I-I mean …”
“Miku,” Gumi said softly. Miku felt heat creeping up her cheeks. Gumi rarely called her by name. “Of course I love you, too.”
Miku looked to Gumi, sitting on her left, to Luka, sitting on her right.
“I love you as well,” Luka said, kissing her on the forehead. “Perhaps pride or tradition dictate that we wait to say as much, but why bother? Nothing about our relationship is based in tradition.”
Miku laughed, nestling between both of them. “You’re right,” she said. “Of course you’re right. I-I love you guys, too. I've known it for awhile, I think, and ... and I'm really excited to finally be able to say it.”
Then both of their lips were on her, Gumi kissing her cheek and Luka kissing her temple. It was clumsy, and awkward (they had never tried both kissing her at the same time before), but that was okay. More than okay.
Together with them, it felt right. They'd figure things out together.