Work Text:
Claudia kissed the top of Madeleine’s head, hands settling on her love’s shoulders. She watched their reflections in the mirror before them, watched Madeleine meticulously take out her hair clips and set them down neatly on the vanity.
“Love,” Claudia started to separate the waves with her fingers. “Can I do your makeup tonight?”
Madeleine silently passed her one of the bullet lipsticks on the vanity. Claudia’s various powders and pencils and lipsticks were arranged nicely in the corner. She spent a lot of time on her makeup each evening, a skill she perfected when she was still in France, although she didn’t like to think about the conditions under which she learned how to paint her eyes a brilliant blue.
"Yes," Madeleine began, eyes softening once she heard Claudia's fleeting thought about the coven, her cool fingers lingering on Claudia's as she took the lipstick from her.
Claudia smiled.
“I never really learned anything aside from mascara,” Madeleine continued, analyzing the bounce of her waves in the mirror before looking back up at Claudia’s enchanting pink eyes. “No one taught me.”
There was a momentary silence, and Claudia's smile started to fade, but only for a second. She almost blocked her thoughts when she started to think about her home, a habit she caught herself in when her and Louis were still living together, even away from the coven. She remembered Louis braiding her hair at night when she was fourteen, and later him teaching Lestat how to do the same. Lestat’s fingers were so clumsy at first that if she were still a mortal, his knots and plaits would have certainly left her scalp tender throughout the night, but she was no longer a mortal, thanks to him. She remembered him tying bows and ribbons in her hair, showing her how to apply lipstick, mascara. Louis taking her out to buy dresses before she started to procure them from the myriad of women she killed. Lestat painting her fingernails, long and smooth like a cat’s. He never taught them much, but these were memories she was fond of, in spite of it all.
She sighed, letting the thoughts roam free between her mind and her love’s.
She didn’t need to hide anything from Madeleine. She read her diaries; she understood her. She was the only being on earth who understood her.
“I can teach you,” Claudia clicked the lipstick open and shut, open and shut. Madeleine tightened her grasp, rubbing her thumb in circles.
Her cold touch was so comforting, it almost felt warm.
“I’m not quite sure it will suit me, but paint me however you’d like, mon ange.”
Claudia relaxed, settling down on Madeleine’s lap to get closer to her canvas. “Of course it will. You’re beautiful.” Her new eyes were so breathtaking up close; they reminded Claudia of sunlit honey.
Catching her by surprise, Madeleine kissed Claudia with such ardor, nearly pushing them both to the floor. Their laughter entwined together as if it were a tender melody; Claudia had never felt this at peace in her life.
She uncapped the lipstick and began to paint the lips of the vampire she loved most in the world, happy.