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Kanan let out a loud sigh as she finally flops down on her bed at the hotel room they're staying in for tonight. The dark haired girl then rolls over to her back and looked up at the ceiling and puts an arm over her forehead.
Today was really stressful for her and all the other girls in Aqours, their manager was up in their ass so much today. "Do this, do that, be this and not like this, and always smile" is something she keeps hearing from their manager all day and she swears her ears might actually start bleeding if the old guy chants that again (Dia has also been so sick of it that the brunette almost cut her bangs out of frustration and she's the strictest out of all the other girls.)
They have a huge show the next day so she understands why they have to work their ass off and have everything perfect at today's rehearsal but still, they're humans and they're all still growing girls, the youngest of them had just reached the age of 18, 2 months ago and they're still trying to comprehend how this whole idol industry works. They get to travel the whole country together, sell out huge arenas, go on to a lot of talk shows and awards and they even make a ton of money off of it now but behind all the success and glamour, there's a lot of things they can't do also. They're pop stars now and they have an image to keep up, they can't be as carefree as when they were just school idols.
Kanan sometimes wishes they've never agreed to this whole idol business.
The dark-haired girl was about to drift off to sleep until she heard her phone ring. She let out a loud groaned and closed her eyes tightly, hoping that maybe if she closes her eyes hard enough it'd go away- but it didn't. The device kept making that screeching ringtone she had put on specifically just for her manager's contact number- it sounds annoying just like when he talks. Kanan finally decided to get her phone and answer it so she could finally be free from it.
She was about to say hello but a deep voice cut her through and said "You'll be having an interview tomorrow morning at 8 am but you have to get ready by 6 am, it's just to hype up for the concert later on that day."
Kanan looked at the clock besides her bed and saw it was already 10 pm. She usually has control of her emotions and how she reacts but Kanan can't help but let out the frustration she's feeling, "that early? You let us out of rehearsals by 9:30 pm when it should've been at 6 pm! And now you expect me to be up and functional by 6 am?!'
The dark haired girl was fuming, her whole body is sore and she's beyond exhausted that a few hours of sleep won't be able to replenish her. Just thinking about waking up at the crack of dawn is already making her head and body ache.
But instead of hearing some sympathetic and caring words from the older man, she heard a deep mocking chuckle instead. "Now, now, Kanan, you must've forgotten that this is what you and the other girls have signed up for. You have no choice darling, so just be there so we could all be over it alright? I'm not doing this for me alright? This benefits your group."
Kanan felt like throwing her phone at the wall and scream her heart out but she knows she couldn't do that but she /could/ give their manager a piece of her mind since she was already at it but before she could utter her displeasure, the old man hanged up.
Angry and frustrated, Kanan shot up from her bed and was headed to the door. She decided that maybe running- no matter how tired she is- could help blow off some steam. But the moment Kanan opened the door of her hotel room she was met by the lovely sight of the blonde haired beauty that she has the privilege of calling her as her girlfriend.
"And where do you think you're going missy? It's time for our beautiful asses to hit the hay!" the blonde said.
Kanan felt all the anger and frustrations slowly dissipate by the sight and the sound of her girlfriend and she can't help but laugh at what the girl said. "Hit the hay? Who the hell still says that?"
Mari pouted and Kanan's heart started swelling with so much love because of how cute her girlfriend looks.
"You meanie!" Mari exclaimed and brushes past Kanan as she let herself hop on her girlfriend's bed.
Kanan shut the door and turned around with one of her eyebrows raised up, "and don't you have your /own/ bed in your room?"
Mari just rolled her eyes and settled on Kanan's bed further, "so you don't want to cuddle?"
Kanan makes her way to her bed and settled down next to her girlfriend. Mari then uses this opportunity to latch herself on her girlfriend's side and buries her face on the dark haired girl's neck.
"Ew Kanan you're still smelly and sweaty!" Mari teases but doesn't remove her head from her girlfriend's neck "but that's okay because you're my girlfriend and I have to endure you not showering more than once in a day."
The dark haired girl pushes Mari off of her and stood up, her back facing the blonde- the said blonde let out a whine and pouted. "I was just joking you big baby and you actually smell wonderful."
Kanan turned around and bent down to kiss Mari's forehead and smirked at her right after, "thanks you /big baby/ but I'm actually going to shower now."
Kanan made her way to the bathroom and she was about to close it but before she can a hand stopped it from shutting. The door suddenly pushes open and Kanan was almost pulled by it because of she sheer force it was being opened.
"You're not going to invite me?" the intruder asks.
Kanan looks at her girlfriend up and down and raises one eyebrow, "but you're already wearing your nightgown which means you already showered so?"
Mari huffed, "but that doesn't mean I can't be there with you!"
"So you're going to watch me take a bath? Damn Mari, you're so kinky" Kanan teased.
The blonde lightly slapped her girlfriend's arm and said "you're such a perv!"
"Says the one who wants to watch me take a bath."
"Just shut it Kanan." Mari said as she made her way over to start the bath.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Mari rolled her eyes even though her girlfriend couldn't see her as she pours a ton of bubble soap at the water.
"Well why are you doing it?" Kanan said.
Mari groaned, her girlfriend is being so difficult as ever. "Because I'm your girlfriend and I know you're tired and frustrated over the events of today. I already know what you're supposed to do tomorrow so I came over here to help you relieve some stress." the blonde shuts off the faucet of the tub then turned around and puts her hands on her hips. "Now quit being such a difficult jerk and take your clothes off and get in the tub!"
Kanan chuckled at her girlfriend but she can't help but feel her heart swelling yet again. Mari's definitely going to be the death of her one day.
"You could've just said you want to see me naked." Kanan said as she starts taking off her clothes.
"SHUT IT KANAN!"
Kanan was on the tub, her eyes are closed as the muscles of her body finally relaxing under the warm water and of course the bubbles surprising her helped by making her calm and finally at peace for the day.
"Want me to wash your hair?" her girlfriend asked.
The dark haired girl just hummed and after a while water suddenly pours over her head slowly and she and now she finally feels soft hands massaging her scalp.
Kanan can't help but let out a soft moan, usually she'd feel embarrassed about it but as of the moment she doesn't care.
Mari giggles at the sound her girlfriend made as she continues to wash her hair.
A comfortable silence settled between the two of them for the rest of the bath and it was okay because this is one of the best things about being with Mari. People would always assume Mari is the loud and talkative one (well she is) but when she and Kanan are together, there are more moments spent in silence- they would always just lay together silently, in peace and it once never felt awkward. Kanan wondered as to why one day and all Mari told her was that, "not all silence needs to be filled."
Mari has always been the "deep" one between the two of them. The blonde girl loves to read a lot and sometimes she'd read one of her novels to Kanan (most of the time Kanan doesn't actually listen to the story, she just love to hear Mari's voice and she knows the blonde knows that).
Once the bath was over, Kanan and Mari settled back down on the bed. The dark haired girl laid her head on her girlfriend's chest while the blonde haired girl started playing with the tips of Kanan's hair.
Kanan loves these quiet moments a lot, they don't have the luxury to have this kind of moments everyday because being in the idol world is too frantic, too busy and too loud, that sometimes she and the other girls reminisce those kind of peace back when they were just in Uchiura. Ruby even once asked that if they had the chance, will they return to their normal lives? Kanan already knows her answer but she didn't utter that single word because she's afraid that her answer could cause a shift between them. Nobody really answered Ruby but to ease the red head's mind her older sister stepped in and said that no, they wouldn't change what they have right now.
Mari notices that Kanan was in deep thought as she played with her lover's hair. The dark haired girl her eyes furrowed and there are lines forming on her forehead and all the blonde wants to do is wipe off the uncertainty on the girl's face. Any person would've asked what was wrong but the blonde already knows, they always have these kind of conversations whenever they're alone. She knew Kanan was never meant for all of this no matter how good she looked in the limelight. She knows she was one of the reasons why Kanan became an idol.
So Mari did what she knows best to help Kanan ease her mind. She took Kanan's chin with her fingers and brought her girlfriend's face up and before the purple eyed girl could comprehend what was happening, she felt soft plump lips on hers and suddenly everything that was on her mind was gone, the noise of the city below their hotel room was gone and the worries, the exhaustion, the anger and frustration from earlier events are all gone with just one simple action from the blonde.
Their lips move in unison, it felt as if their mouths were made for each other- it's like they're both the missing pieces of their own puzzle, that Kanan's lips was made to kiss Mari and Mari's lips was made to kiss hers. Kanan doesn't like lemons that much but when she kisses Mari and lemon is all she could taste from the girl's mouth, it's suddenly her favorite flavor (she once said lemon is only acceptable when she gets to taste it from Mari's mouth -Dia almost threw a fit because Ruby heard it).
Kanan's started to move on top of Mari as she started to push upward the hem of her girlfriend's nightgown but before the dark-haired girl could go any further, she felt her girlfriend's hands still hers and their lips broke apart as Mari let out a chuckle.
"Nope,nope" Mari started as she tried to get Kanan off of her.
Kanan groaned and laid back down on the bed "Not fair!" she whined.
The blonde then settled her head on Kanan's shoulder as she began tracing patterns on her girlfriend's stomach. "I'd love to but we have a show tomorrow and you have to get up early, we're both beat for today and we can't have any more extra-curricular activities."
"I still have energy for /that/ kind of activity though." Kanan said as she wraps her arms around the blonde.
Mari giggles, "well of course you do, you have a sex drive of a cat in heat."
Kanan scrunched her face in disgust and lightly slaps her girlfriend's arm, "That's gross."
The blonde looked up at the dark-haired girl and put out her tongu, Kanan giggled and lightly pecked her girlfriend's lips.
"Let's go to sleep, we've got a busy day tomorrow." Kanan said as she turned off the lamp besides her.
The two settled further down the bed, their bodies not leaving any space between them, Kanan held Mari tight - a small part of her is fearing that one day maybe the blonde would leave her.
With all the things going on in their lives, how hectic and crazy their lives are becoming, Mari's the one who kept the dark-haired girl grounded, with all the chaos going on outside and inside of Kanan's head only Mari's touch and love could stop everything.
The dark-haired was slowly succumbing to sleep until she heard Mari call her name, "Kanan?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you." the blonde said softly but full of so much love and affection.
Kanan smiled with her eyes still closed and held Mari even tighter, "I love you too." she replied with the same amount of love the blonde said as she kissed her girlfriend's forehead, "so much."