Ritsu was sitting on the floor of her dorm room, back pressed against the foot of her bed as she mashed the buttons of her game controller. Several feet in front of her was a small tv crudely placed on a turned over cardboard box turned tv stand.
"Will you just die already?" She yelled at the virtual enemies surrounding her avatar. One had come up from behind her, striking her back and dropping her HP considerably, thus breaking her attack momentum. It was just enough of an opening for the other enemies to get in their own attacks in and delivering the fatal blow.
"Fucking hell!" Ritsu slammed the controller into the carpeted floor before her, throwing her head back against the bed. She had been stuck on this particular level for the last hour, and her building frustration did little in helping her progress.
Realizing she was at a loss, she quit out of the game and was in the process of putting another disc into her game console when the door to her dorm room opened. She rarely locked the door and she basically had an open invitation for her friends to visit her whenever they pleased. Ritsu turned her head and was about to ask her surprise guest if they wanted to play a co-op game with her when she saw the tear-streaked face of her best friend standing at the doorway.
Jumping to her feet, Ritsu didn't hesitate to comfort the raven-haired girl. She led Mio to sit at the edge of her bed. She already knew what happened and no words had to be shared. The drummer knew that Mio was supposed to be going out on a date with her boyfriend tonight, so for her childhood friend to come to her balling her eyes out could only mean she was dumped. The bassist hadn't even been gone an hour. Hell, Ritsu was trying to beat that damn level when Mio texted her saying she was leaving for her date.
"I'll make some tea." Ritsu moved towards where her electric kettle was on top of her drawer. Grabbing a bottled water from the 24-pack on the floor next to it, she proceeded to pour the water into the kettle before turning it on. As she prepped the tea, Mio laid down on the bed, hugging a pillow and crying into it. Ritsu really hated seeing Mio cry and she always gave her all in comforting the bassist after a breakup.
Mio was an idealist when it came to love. The songs she wrote for Houkago Tea Time were evident of that. Mio's relationships were always long, committed ones, so when those relationships ended, it always broke her heart. Ritsu's own heart could only ache in sympathy. To put it simply, Ritsu was in love with Mio. It pained her to watch her closest friend break down from a failed relationship, but all she could ever do was comfort the girl until time mended the broken heart.
Ritsu sighed, knowing she could only do so much. She poured the hot water into a mug with a tea bag already set in and made her way back to the bed. She placed the mug onto the nightstand and sat on the edge next to where Mio's head lay. She wanted to say comforting words, but Ritsu had never been good with voicing emotional words. Instead, she simply let her actions speak for her. Carefully caressing her best friend's back, she tried to help the bassist calm down.
"Tea's ready whenever you are. No rush, take all the time you need."
Ritsu heard a few more whimpers before Mio shifted to sit up. Throwing her feet over the side of the bed, Mio sat next to Ritsu, back hunched over and arms still hugging the pillow close. She made the effort to give a small smile of thanks when Ritsu handed her the mug of tea.
"I thought… I thought it was going so well. I-I didn't even see it coming. And, and-"
"I know," Ritsu consoled, wrapping an arm around her friend and pulling her into a side hug. Mio always spoke highly of her boyfriend, she did with everyone she had, and the happiness she exhibited when she did was enough to keep Ritsu content. She always wanted more, but seeing Mio happy was enough. Times like this, however, Ritsu wished she could just be the one to take all of Mio's sadness and pain away, to be the one that made her happy. But she had no right to be so selfish.
When Mio buried her head into Ritsu's shoulder to cry again, Ritsu made sure to grab the mug from her hands and place it on the nightstand again. The pillow Mio had been previously crying into fell onto the floor as Mio hugged Ritsu in her sorrow, the drummer becoming her new pillow of comfort. The heaviness in Ritsu's heart only grew as she wrapped her arms around her best friend, and she hoped that maybe somehow she would absorb all of Mio's sadness into her own body. For the remainder of the night, Ritsu allowed herself to a shoulder to cry on while Mio sputtered out her sorrows until the bassist had finally exhausted herself enough to fall asleep. Ritsu made sure to have the bassist properly tucked in before changing into a drier shirt, turning off the lights, and falling asleep beside Mio on the other side of the bed.
***[K-On!]***
The first rays of morning light made its way between the blinds, dimly illuminating the dorm room. A beam of light shined on the closed eyelids of the brunette drummer. Groaning at the annoyance, Ritsu tried to roll over to the other side of her bed to avoid the light when she felt resistance besides her. Instead, she turned over in place and slightly opened her eyes to see what was taking up the other half of her bed, squinting against the morning light.
Mio laid peacefully asleep beside her, her face more relaxed than when she had been sobbing the night before. Ritsu could only bask in the bassist's sleeping form. Sure, her eyes were puffy from crying all night and her dark mane had a terrible case of bed head, but Ritsu still thought that Mio was beautiful. As if on instinct, she reached out to readjust some of the long locks that had fallen on Mio's face, smiling softly as she did so. She gave a gentle kiss on the side of Mio's hand, which was laid out a few inches from Ritsu's face. Ritsu could still taste the salt from the tears Mio had shed the night before. The thought made her own heart pang.
I wish you were mine, but you're not mine to have. The thought rang in the drummer's head, and she couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. She knew that she wasn't what Mio desired, and even if Mio did swing that way, Ritsu wouldn't be good enough for her. The bassist was so far beyond the drummer: talented, beautiful, smart. And what was Ritsu? Lazy, unmotivated, selfish. She would only hold Mio back from being so much more. She wouldn't dare stop Mio from achieving her full potential. Mio was capable of so much, and Ritsu? Well, she was just trying to get through life hoping to see the dark-haired girl smile. All she wanted was to see Mio happy, she didn't care so much if she didn't achieve anything more.
Ritsu continued to lay there for a while more, appreciating the sleeping form of the bassist besides her, knowing that once the girl awakened, the bliss of the moment would forever be gone. Thinking about the moment's end made the drummer crestfallen, knowing that she would never again wake up to such beauty. She wished that time would just stop and allow her to appreciate this moment forever.
But the universe was not kind. The sounds of the opening guitar riff to Fuwa Fuwa Time began to chime in the background, causing Ritsu to frown in annoyance. She just had to jinx herself by thinking about it, didn't she?
Ritsu turned over and sat up in bed, reaching out for her phone that laid beside the empty mug on her night stand so that she could turn the alarm off. Beside her, she could already feel Mio stirring as she awoke from her slumber.
"Morning Mio. Feeling better?" Ritsu tried to hide her own disappointment, donning a warm smile to comfort the heartbroken bassist.
Mio fluttered her eyes opened and yawned before returning a lazy smile. "Yea. I still feel like crap, but thank you. For last night, I mean. You always know how to comfort me."
"What kind of best friend would I be if I wasn't there for you?" Ritsu stood up and threw her arms over her head as she stretched.
"I'm really grateful, though. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Ritsu's back was turned to the bassist as she made her way to her drawer to find a change of clothes, so Mio couldn't see the slight frown when hearing those words. But when she turned to face the bassist, she had a wide grin. "Yea, yea. I know. Can't live without me, right?"
The drummer stuck out her tongue playfully, but internally her heart clenched in pain. "Today, we'll go into town after our classes are done. You need the distraction. Only time can heal a broken heart, but that doesn't mean you have to dwell on the pain while it does."
"You can be really insightful when you need to be," Mio smiled as she got up from the bed. Only she had seen this caring side of Ritsu, and she was grateful of having that honor. How lucky was she to have a best friend that cared so much?
"I try sometimes. Only for you though," Ritsu's grin eased into a warmer smile. The two held eye contact for the briefest of moments, but long enough for the drummer's heartbeat to pick up. It was broken with a growl coming from the shorter girl's stomach. "I'm getting a bit hungry, so could you please get out so I can change?"
Mio laughed. "Sure, I'm still in my clothes from yesterday. Guess I'll change in my room too."
The bassist made her way toward the door, but stopped just short of crossing the threshold. She looked back briefly, "I'll see you at breakfast, 'kay?"
"Kay-Kay."
The door closed softly as Mio left the room, and Ritsu released a sigh of relief. She stared at the door momentarily, but then smiled cheaply to herself before proceeding to change. Maybe would never have Mio's heart, but she did have her friendship. She could still make Mio happy, as any best friend should. Shouldn't that be enough?