Healing Kisses (ch20)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY $20+ PATRONS!

Okay this one was originally gonna get posted on a Mayakuro Monday, but my backlog is so full for it, it would take months to get to it. So I'm using the excuse of "today is Lesbian Visibility Day" to post this one now.

A little sort of headcanon I have for them. (Also I'm going to start giving these chapters titles so I can differentiate between them).

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

----------

													Chapter 20. Recharging

Most evenings end the same after Maya and Claudine are finished with their extra practicing at Seishou's rehearsal room. They walk back to the dormitory together, join their friends in the cafeteria or in the lounge for supper, and then retreat to one or the other's dorm room for bed.

Today had just been a typical one; they'd gotten a lot of good practice in, and on top of that it had just been a good day of classes in general.

Maya enjoys her supper and her subsequent dessert of baumkuchen, and lingers for a while in the lounge with the rest of her friends as they chat and play games and watch TV.

All in all, she's just in a very good mood tonight.

And it only gets better when Junna dismisses everyone and tells them it's time for bed, and Claudine murmurs something private for Maya.

"Just come to my room tonight. And try to be quick about it. I'm tired."

Maya dips her head.

"Of course. I will be there before you know it, Saijou-san."

Claudine nods her approval before heading out of the lounge. Maya wishes her other friends goodnight before following them out.

She passes by Claudine's room for the time being and heads to her own, just so she can change into her nightgown quickly. It only takes her a moment to do so, but just before she heads back to the door to leave, Maya hears a faint buzzing sound coming from her school bag.

And right away, an unpleasant tightness shudders through her chest. She'd just seen all of her friends a few moments ago, so she knows it can't be any of them calling her.

Which means there are only two other people in the world it could be.

It's horrible, really, how that easygoing sensation of just feeling perfectly content on a normal day can be absolutely shattered in a matter of seconds. She knows she can't ignore that call, especially if they've already been trying to contact her all evening thus far and she's made them wait.

She counts her blessings that her parents tend to leave her to her own devices for the most part here at Seishou. However, every once in a while they'll call. And no amount of outstanding acting she'd ever learned could ever possibly manage to let Maya trick herself into pretending to be happy about hearing from them.

Whatever pleasant tranquility that had settled over her this evening is now completely crushed by an intangible dread. Her stomach twists and hurts to the point where she has to brace herself just to dig out her phone, let alone answer it. She checks it over first, wincing to find she's missed several calls already.

She might've preferred to hear from her mother, if she had to choose, but the number looking back at her now is her father's.

Maya exhales, and she despises how it trembles.

It isn't that she's afraid of her parents. On the contrary, she truly does harbor a deep level of respect for them and their dedication to their careers. However, there are just so many layers of distance between them and herself, a distance that years and years of living in close quarters under the same roof had only seemed to make all the wider.

It wasn't that they ever did anything terrible to her, but a child prodigy born to purebred parents didn't exactly have the easygoing, effortless life of luxury most people tended to think she had. Oftentimes, she felt her value to them was only measured by the degree of applause she could draw from an audience.

And Maya's parents had never exactly taken much time out of their busy schedules to check on her or ask her how she was feeling or if she was lonely. It was always just an assumption that she was living up to their expectations and the family name.

And now, after all those years of thriving more or less on her own, even while legally under their care…

Now that Maya is on her own at Seishou and doing perfectly fine without them breathing down her neck…

Now is when they decide to check on her.

And again, it isn't particularly to check on her wellbeing, but rather to make sure she isn't somehow disgracing the Tendo name behind their backs.

She tries to tell herself what she tells herself before a nerve-wracking performance; that she can handle this. It's a facade that is supposed to let her believe something if she repeats it enough times.

But as things are right now, it really doesn't work at all.

She doesn't answer just yet, as part of herself hopes that after one more ring it will go quiet for the rest of the night. But she also knows it's better to get this over with sooner, rather than make her father wait until tomorrow to hear from her.

So she limps to her bed and sits down, clearing her throat so she'll sound more confident and invested than she could ever truly feel with him. She draws in a deep breath before swiping her phone screen to answer.

"Hello? Yes, good evening, Father…"

Claudine retreats to her room and changes into her nightgown, expecting Maya to arrive in just a moment. She isn't sure why she's so tired tonight, but it's the good kind of tired, at the very least. The soreness in her muscles isn't painful, but rather satisfying in a way; proof that she'd worked her hardest.

Claudine turns on her bedside lamp and sits up against her pillows at the headboard. She takes the book she'd been reading leisurely from her nightstand and opens up to her current spot as she waits, assuming she'll only get through a few pages before Maya comes to join her.

She's a little surprised to actually finish the chapter, though.

Claudine continues reading, yawning a bit here or there as she turns the next page. Before she realizes it, she's read three whole chapters.

She looks up to her alarm clock to find it's been nearly thirty minutes since she'd come back to her room.

"That Tendo Maya… what is she doing? What's taking her so long?"

She closes her book now and switches it for her phone, but Claudine has no new messages or calls from Maya. Puzzled, she leans her head back against the pillow to think.

"Did someone need her for something? Maybe a teacher spotted her so she went back to her room? But then why wouldn't she text me? Maybe she just fell asleep on her own…"

She knows that's probably the most logical explanation; that Maya had lain down for a moment upon returning to her room and ended up falling asleep. But even so, Claudine can't help the trickle of worry that prods at her heart now.

At the very least she wants to check on her.

But she decides to give Maya a few more minutes. Though now, Claudine's mind is too occupied with thoughts of her partner to actually comprehend the words of her book when she opens it again, and she more or less just ends up staring blankly at the text.

She keeps glancing at the time, counting down the minutes until she'll have to get up and go check on Maya just to be safe. But with only three minutes to go, Claudine perks up at the sound of a soft, familiar knock on her door; four raps, which is hers and Maya's knock. She breathes a sigh of relief.

"Come in. It's open." She closes her book and puts it aside as the door opens.

Maya enters with her head down, and her bangs covering her eyes a little, which leads Claudine to believe in her theory that she'd probably fallen asleep.

"Well, it's about time," she says to her guest. "I was just about to come check on you. Did you fall asleep or something?"

To her surprise, Maya doesn't say anything. She just slowly walks closer to Claudine's bed and sighs, shaking her head. Claudine glimpses her eyes now, and they're unusually dull, which surprises her, as she'd thought Maya had been rather lively and in a good mood all day today.

Claudine tilts her head curiously and waits for some form of explanation, or even a greeting from her partner, but Maya remains quiet. So Claudine cautiously keeps going.

"So then… if you didn't fall asleep, what took you so long? Did someone else need you for something?"

Maya bites her lip a little and shakes her head again.

Claudine is perplexed. She can't figure her out, but she can tell Maya's mood has shifted dramatically since dinner. She doesn't want to pry, but she still wants an answer, so she thinks long and hard for a quick moment.

She recalls Maya had been this way a few times before - not many, but it had still happened.

And now, as Claudine thinks back on those times, she remembers the answer Maya had given her then.

"Oh… I see…" Claudine's playful feistiness with her now fades away into something a bit more solemn. Maya gives her a hopeful little look as Claudine heaves a sigh. "I'm sorry. Did something happen?"

Maya shakes her head again, but still says nothing.

Claudine is relieved that nothing bad or hurtful had come from Maya's chat with her parents - it clearly hadn't been a call to inform her of any tragic news or anything serious like that. Judging by Maya's silence now and the way she keeps chewing her lip, Claudine can tell she isn't horribly upset, but rather she's just pouting.

And she has every right to.

Claudine knows one of Maya's least favorite things in the world is getting an unexpected call from her parents. It always puts her in a slump, no matter how well she'd been feeling during the previous hours of the day.

So while she's glad it wasn't anything serious, Claudine's heart still goes out to her for having her nice evening ruined by a no-doubt strict and unpleasant call from her parents, one Maya had been obliged to answer and sit quietly through while only giving whatever answers her father wanted to hear.

Claudine can only imagine such difficulties, as her own parents are very different.

Maya sighs again, and Claudine believes she's made her stand there long enough now. She lets her pillows fall, turns off her lamp, and lies herself down before opening her arms up to her.

"Come on, then."

Maya wastes no time now that she's been invited. She crawls onto Claudine's bed with her, but skips the initial step of lying down next to her, and instead just settles herself on top of Claudine directly. She buries her face into her shoulder and sighs again, hugging Claudine's sides loosely and not saying a word.

And in spite of the fact that Claudine knows Maya is upset right now, she knows it's more of the annoyed kind than the sad kind. Claudine smiles a little and wraps both arms around her.

"Was it that bad?" she asks. "Did it drain all of your energy?"

Maya nods.

"And this is your way of recharging?"

A nod.

"I see." Claudine runs her hands slowly up and down Maya's back, gathering her hair and putting it to one side for now. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Maya shakes her head.

"Are you sure? You know I'll listen, if nothing else. It wasn't anything bad though, right? You're just upset that it ruined your evening?"

Another nod.

"All right. I'm glad that's all it was, but I'm still sorry it upset you."

It's very rare for Maya to be in such a sorry state, even in front of Claudine. She's only known her to get frustrated or pout or even lose her cool once or twice before in front of others, but those incidents are always few and far between.

Even so, it's enough to remind people that even the mighty Tendo Maya is still human.

Claudine is just happy that Maya will come to her in her time of need. She's sure there have been times in the past where Maya had simply kept to herself on such nights and wallowed in her misery all on her own. But now, Claudine is happy to know she'll come to her when she needs this 'recharging' time.

Claudine never teases her during times like these - at least not more than she knows Maya can handle, and not before she knows Maya is feeling better again.

Right now, Claudine mercifully refrains from telling her about how cute and childish she's being, and instead opts to just keep rubbing her back gently. She can understand Maya's rare desire to stay quiet, but she also knows she doesn't like absolute silence either.

So Claudine gladly takes up her part and begins talking in hopes of distracting her and bringing her thoughts away from tonight's phone call.

"Our class dance is coming along quite nicely, wouldn't you say? Even Karen doesn't look half bad most of the time. Mahiru's done wonders in helping to teach her how to spin. Kaoruko's actually pretty good at it too, thanks to her Japanese dance lessons. Ah, and Junna was also telling us about that assessment coming up next week…"

She goes off on whatever tangent her mind takes her on, all while continuing to support Maya's weight, and tracing soothing patterns over her back.

And Maya really wishes she could express to Claudine just how much she appreciates her right now. Claudine understands her state of mind exactly, without Maya even needing to say so much as a single word to her. She had figured out the situation entirely on her own, and responded by helping Maya forget about it completely.

She's doing wonders for her now, keeping her tone calm and casual as she rambles on about this and that. Maya doesn't even fully listen to the words, but instead just enjoys the sound of her voice, feeling the vibrations in Claudine's neck as she speaks. Maya breathes in her sweet scent, which is the scent of cherry blossoms after a light drizzle - a bit battered from a day of hard work, but still unexplainably beautiful.

And given the circumstances - that the phone call had just been the usual ordeal of listening to her father's strict ravings and nothing more serious than that - this truly is all Maya could ask of her right now. Simply being with Claudine like this in silence, listening to her talk, breathing in her fragrance, relishing the warmth of her embrace and the calming rhythm of her heartbeat…

It's all Maya could ever need.

She sighs again, melting beneath the affectionate touch of the hands carding through her hair and running down her back. She shifts a bit and turns her face a little, resting her head over Claudine's chest as Claudine continues talking about something ridiculous Karen had said today.

Maya rises and falls softly in time with Claudine's breathing, feels the comforting hum of her voice purring through her chest, the slow rush of air as she exhales, and the consistent beat of her pulse beneath it all.

And it truly does feel like she's being healed from every single unpleasant thing that has ever bothered her in her life.

It isn't just that Maya has already forgotten about her call with her father tonight, but also too that she just doesn't care about it anymore.

To her, this truly is bliss, to be so completely enveloped by Claudine's tenderness and her warmth, to be comforted by her when Maya needed it the most. Not only does it rejuvenate her and make her heart happy once again, but it just makes her fall even more deeply and hopelessly in love with her.

As if she wasn't deep enough already.

But it also does make her so relaxed to the point of sleepiness.

Claudine is still talking, even though by now Maya has made a full recovery. She wants to let Claudine know how much she appreciates her efforts and her kindness, so Maya gives her a small squeeze around her sides.

Claudine feels it, and responds by patting Maya's head softly as she continues talking.

"Right? And then Hikari and Nana had their duet, which was really quite stunning. Don't think I didn't hear you humming along too, Tendo Maya."

Maya hums to show she's been at least partially-listening to what she's been saying all this time. But it isn't much longer before she feels herself drifting off. She just gives Claudine one last little hug before her mind slips away.

Claudine recognizes the moment when Maya nods off, but she talks for a while longer and continues tracing circles over her back to be sure.

When she's finally certain she's completely asleep, Claudine gives an accomplished sigh. She hugs Maya close to her and dips down to leave a kiss on the crown of Maya's head before laying herself back down and closing her eyes.

"Bonne nuit, Ma Maya."

She's just glad she could help, and come morning, it will be like that phone call never happened at all.

--------

A/N: I imagine hearing from her parents is one of the only things that can throw Maya into a slump. So she comes searching for comfort in her found family instead ;w;

Next chapter is another AU (in play form!)