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The buzz of her phone rouses Maya from her slumber. She still feels tired even as she opens her eyes, yawning loudly as she sits up from where she’s fallen asleep on the couch. The pillows had been more enticing than she realized. It’s good that she had the foresight to set an alarm for if she accidentally fell asleep, then.
With one hand, Maya rubs at her eyes while her other paws around at the couch for her phone. When she grabs it, she presses the button on the side to light up her screen and glances down at it.
2:00 flashes on her phone. Maya exhales loudly and uses both her hands to rub her eyes, as if more force could push all the sleep and exhaustion away. Maya’s no stranger to sleeping late, but she hasn’t done it in a while and it’s as if her body’s forgotten.
Still. She won’t let sleep conquer her. Just a little longer, she tells herself.
Maya slaps her cheeks. It jolts her awake, and she rises to her feet. It’ll help to pace herself around, get some of her blood circulating, anything to keep herself awake. She’s even half tempted to make herself a cup of tea, but she knows that might just be too drastic.
Once she’s done with walking around and getting the blood going through the rest of her body, Maya sits down. Almost instantly, the exhaustion wears down on her once more. But her determination is stronger now that she can almost see the light in sight. A little longer.
But, what can she do now, then? Maya reaches for her phone, sighing when she sees the lack of new messages. She taps around on her phone, trying to see what she can do to amuse herself. Perhaps some kind of video might help, maybe one of those recent plays she’s been meaning to watch—no, that might just be the thing to lull her to sleep right now, and she doesn’t think she has the focus to pay attention to all the details of that right now. When she watches plays and movies, she’s always in the habit of trying to hone in on every little detail she can capture even if Nana always nudges her and tells her to enjoy the viewing first before doing any analysis.
Maybe one of those game apps that Kaoruko told her about? She’s not much of a person to spend more time than she needs on her phone, though.
… it really is too late into the night for this, she thinks.
Maya chooses to browse through some of her social media instead. She’s never quite found the need for this but Claudine, and Nana too, like updating their statues and posting pictures. It’s useful for those, but not for much else, Maya thinks. Right now, though, she’s hoping it can spare her a few minutes of idle entertainment. But, seeing as it’s the dead of the night, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of new or recent things.
… a little more, a little longer, she can hold out. If she were a little younger maybe, staying up like this wouldn’t be so hard, not with all those long nights she had practicing and training. Where did the years go?
Even as her vision starts to blur a little and she can’t seem to make out the words on her screen anymore, she’ll keep awake. Just, just a little…
But… if she closed her eyes for just a little bit… then maybe…
The jangle of keys and the click of the lock snaps Maya awake faster than any cup of coffee. Still, she’s a little disoriented when she jumps to her feet and stumbles over to the front door. She gets there just as it opens.
“... you’re still awake,” Claudine mumbles, bleary eyes blinking rapidly as if she can’t believe the sight.
“Didn’t I say I would be?” Maya says with a small smile, fighting back the yawn that wants to break out. “I’ll always wait for you.”
“Don’t start that now,” Claudine mutters with a shake of her head, but she has a small smile on her face. She steps further into the apartment, rolling her suitcase in, which Maya immediately takes.
“Just—” and Claudine lets out a loud yawn, trying to cover her mouth as best as she can, “—sorry, excuse me. I mean, just put it… off, for now, I guess. Too tired to deal with that,” she mumbles.
“I’ll put it in the room then,” Maya says, immediately bringing it over inside. Even though she feels so tired, she can’t help the slight spring in her step as she sets aside Claudine’s suitcase. Her excitement is helping her power through the way her eyes want to close. And the faster she puts away the suitcase, the faster she can go back to Claudine’s side.
When she emerges from the bedroom, she finds Claudine in the kitchen, going through the refrigerator. “Maya, most of these are sweets. Did Banana come over while I was away?”
“Ah…” Maya clears her throat. “I promise it was only two days ago that she gave me the desserts.”
“If you say so.” Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Claudine goes back to looking through the contents of the fridge. Finally, she takes out a bottle of water and drinks about half of it in one go. “Whew! I was thirsty.”
Done now, Claudine slams the fridge door shut and stands up, looking over at Maya, who’s blinking owlishly at her. “Hm? What are you doing, standing there for?”
Maya blinks some more, half dazed. It takes a moment for her to gather her mind enough to answer. “I only just wanted to watch you. It’s been… a while since you left, after all,” she murmurs.
“Is that all you wanted to do? Watch me?” Even as she’s tired and looking ready to fall asleep on her feet just as Maya is, Claudine manages to raise an eyebrow at her. There’s something in her voice that makes Maya think she’s amused at something, but she’s not sure if it’s from their lack of sleep, or something else.
“I…” Maya struggles to wrack her mind. It is far too late for her to figure out how to answer this. Is this a trick question? Should she answer honestly? What is Claudine expecting?
… why is she overthinking this?
Claudine sighs and shakes her head. “Maya, really.” She holds out her arms. “Alright, I know you’ve been waiting. Come here.”
Maya blinks at her for just a second before a smile overtakes her. Claudine always seems to know what Maya thinks. Immediately, she steps forward right into waiting arms. When Claudine invites her so, who is Maya to refuse such a call from her partner?
Claudine’s arm wind around her as she buries her face into Maya’s shoulder. Maya pulls her closer, pressing her face into the top of Claudine’s hair. The faint smell of Claudine wafts across her nose. Something lavender, which has always been one of Claudine’s favorites. She hasn’t smelled this in a few weeks. Maya doesn’t realize how much she misses even this, something so little, so simple, and yet inexplicably entwined into her life now.
Claudine’s always been the romantic between them even if she’ll never admit it, but Maya can’t help but feel like she might be the bigger one right now.
“Why did you actually stay up waiting for me?” Claudine asks, voice muffled.
“Why wouldn't I? I promised I would,” Maya replies automatically. Why wouldn’t she? She always does. Tries.
“That’s bad for your skin, and overall routine,” Claudine chides, but there’s no fire behind it, not when Maya knows how secretly pleased she is at the gesture.
“Only for tonight,” Maya murmurs. “One night won’t make a difference.”
“It’s enough to break a habit!”
“Do not worry, I am a person of habit.” Maya smiles into Claudine’s hair. “Now that you’re back, I’ll be sure to sleep enough tonight.”
“Ugh.” Claudine shakes her head. Maya can feel every motion, to the way the stray strands of Claudine’s hair tickles her chin, to the way Claudine’s nose rubs against her shoulder. “Why aren’t we going to bed anyway?”
“To hold you like this is my greatest treasure, ma Claudine,” Maya says solemnly, except when she feels Claudine’s fingers jab into her back, a grin breaks out of her as she laughs.
“Don’t even start those right now.”
“Ah, but I have been saving these lines. When else but now during our sweet reunion should I use them? ‘Allow me to sing the praises of thy fair maiden within mine arms—’”
“Maya!” Claudine pulls back to glare at her, which doesn’t have much of an effect when the both of them are so sleepy. “Stop practicing the lines for your play on me.”
Maya laughs again. Her chest rumbles, and she knows Claudine can feel it. “I just thought you might enjoy them.”
Claudine mutters something and lays her head back down. Without even looking at her, Maya knows Claudine is rolling her eyes. “I’m not awake enough for them.” Despite her words, Maya can feel the press of a smile. It makes her smile as well, knowing that Claudine has missed her antics just as well.
“If you wish, we can retire. I know you’ve had a long travel.”
Claudine sighs, a sound that’s long and very tired, but she shakes her head. “There’s… there’s something else you want to do, isn’t there?”
Maya can’t help but find herself surprised. Sometimes, it still makes her a little afraid of how well Claudine can tell what's on her mind, of her moods. “If you’re tired, you should—”
“Come on, what is it? While I’m still standing, please.” Claudine’s got her stubborn air on now. Maya knows better than to argue with her when she’s like this. She’s missed this too.
“... if you wish to indulge me, then I’d like a dance,” Maya says carefully.
“A dance?” Claudine pulls back to look at her. “You want one right now when we’re both barely able to stand on our feet?”
Maya only smiles and takes one of Claudine’s hands and holds it up as she brings her other arm around Claudine’s waist. “I’d say there is no better time than right now, would you?”
“Every other time than right now is always better,” Claudine grumbles, but she makes no motion to move out of Maya’s grasp. In fact, she’s straightening herself up—ah, no, she’s just making herself comfortable to lean against Maya again, curling her hand around Maya’s.
“And, if you could indulge me just a little more...?”
“What is it?”
“Sing for me,” Maya murmurs, her breaths brushing against Claudine’s skin and tickling her ear. “Have you learned any new songs while in France?”
“Greedy tonight, aren’t you?” Claudine whispers, her breaths ghosting along Maya’s neck. It makes Maya shiver, her hand unconsciously tightening around Claudine’s.
“Only when it comes to you,” Maya says, tugging Claudine even closer. “Shall we dance?”
“If you don’t mind when I step on your feet.” Claudine punctuates her words with a tired yawn.
“That’s fine, I still won’t let you go.” Maya smiles charmingly. Claudine sighs, already long used to Maya’s usual antics, but she places her free hand on Maya’s shoulder, close to her neck, close enough that the tips of her fingers are barely touching the skin bared there by Maya’s shirt.
Claudine clears her throat and begins to hum, getting a rhythm for herself. Maya lets herself sway slightly, gently guiding Claudine around the kitchen. Before long, Claudine adds her singing, a soft croon that barely goes past the space of their kitchen.
To Maya, Claudine’s voice is one of her favorite sounds in the world. She’ll never tire of it no matter how many times she hears it. If she could hear it to the end of eternity, she will still yearn for it, still ache for it. In every quality of Claudine’s voice, she has heard it all: the youthful enthusiasm when she performed upon the stage as Arrie, her disdain and vanity on their very first day of school, the fury within as their swords clashed together in their revue, the disbelief and grief when Maya’s mantle had been lost on that fated revue…
And, now, after everything, after dreams Maya had never dared allowed herself to hope, they are here.
As Claudine sings, a soft melody that rings of her wistfulness, of her sentimentality, of her affection, Maya hears it all, hears it all only for her own ears, hears it all only for herself. It is only this sound that she is privileged to hear from Claudine herself, only her whose sole ears are blessed by this wonderful sound, only her who Claudine will give this aria for.
Maya finds herself smiling before she realizes, her lips curling against the side of Claudine’s head. She can hear how Claudine’s singing pauses for a brief second before she continues on. Her hand on Maya’s shoulder slides closer, curling around her neck. Claudine’s fingertips are cold against Maya’s slighter warmer skin. It wakes her for a bit before she finds her eyes half-lidded again as she focuses on Claudine’s lullaby once more.
It brings Maya back to their days in school, of all their late night practices. But, then, they’d been competing, and Claudine had always glared at her so fiercely then.
But, now, she has Claudine in her arms once more, not for the last time, and they sway side to side in a gentle rhythm, not one of a furious rehearsal, not with the fires of competition burning underneath them. Maya has never thought she could enjoy dancing like this, not as a practice, not as training, but simply as something in the moment.
They finish, or, rather, their dance abruptly ends when Claudine lets out a loud yawn that she can’t even hide. She mumbles something incoherent afterward, and while Maya can pick out every syllable that slips from Claudine’s lips, even this nonsense is indecipherable to her, when she’s not even sure of which language Claudine has spoken in.
“Tired?” Maya asks.
“Ugh, why did I even listen to you, I just want to go to bed,” Claudine mutters, rubbing her nose into Maya’s collarbone as she shakes her head.
“I wouldn’t have been able to sleep if I could not hear your lovely voice,” Maya murmurs, grinning as she feels the blush rising on Claudine’s cheek.
“You act like I was gone for a whole year instead of two weeks! You’re always so dramatic whenever I go back to visit my parents.”
“These last two weeks have certainly felt like a year,” Maya says as seriously as she can. Claudine sighs in exasperation before she pulls back. Her hands cradle Maya’s face, her thumb rubbing circles over her cheek. Her expression softens, and Maya can feel her breath catching.
“Yes, well.” Claudine clears her throat again. “I admit it was a little lonely without you, but I’m home now.”
Maya’s tightens her arms around Claudine, smiling herself when she sees the small smile that graces Claudine’s lips. “Welcome home.”