Chapter Text
The windshield wipers scraped against snow and ice a few times before Mira turned them off, dialing up the heat so fog coated the insides of the windows of her car. She hung her phone on its magnetic stand so she wouldn’t have to hold it to talk.
“Rumi and Jinu’s baby came early. She’s doing good. It’s a whole story I’ll have to tell you later.”
“Are you okay?” Abby’s voice came through her speakerphone.
“Not really.”
She sighed, letting her head fall back against the seat, which was only just starting to warm up since she’d turned the car on.
“I keep telling myself I’m happy for them.” Her voice was drained. “But the way I just bawled my eyes out for ten minutes would speak otherwise.”
“Are you guys at the hospital?” he said after a long moment of just letting the pain sit between them. “Want me to come over?”
“We’re at their house.” Reaching for a tissue, she blew her nose, then eyed the blotches of her face in the rearview mirror. “And…yeah.”
“Maybe we should tell them,” Abby ventured.
“I’m not ruining one of the best days of their lives with my drama,” Mira frowned. “I’ve done it once before and I don’t want to do it again.”
“Sure,” he conceded, not sounding entirely convinced. “Anyway. I’ll finish up this project and head your way in a few.”
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All her life, Mira had dated guys that made her feel strong by comparison.
They weren’t hard to find.
She was stronger than most.
But if the jerks that liked to treat her like she was fragile and needed protection were downright insufferable, the guys that let her push them around and hung on to her every word were straight up annoying.
And then came a time when she couldn’t be strong anymore.
Instead of seeing it as an opportunity for an ego boost, Abby had quietly stepped in and been strong on her behalf.
That’s why she married him.
And now was another one of those times.
The first thing he did, after wrapping Mira up in a long hug, was to head over to Rumi and Jinu, all smiles. “She’s so tiny!” he exclaimed, delighted. “Oh my god, guys, congratulations!” He hugged Jinu first, then Rumi, more carefully.
“She has Rumi’s eyes,” Jinu grinned.
“We have the same eye color,” Rumi snorted.
“She has your eye shape,” Abby agreed with confidence.
“Do you want to hold her?” Jinu asked him excitedly.
Only then did Abby’s mask crack the slightest. “Oh! I–uh, I’m afraid I’d drop her,” he laughed nervously.
“You literally held Yongrae when she was born, you’ll be fine.” Rumi grinned reassuringly.
Jinu handed him the little bundle with a proud smile, which Abby didn't return.
But he did stare down at Areum with a very serious expression, which made Rumi laugh, misinterpreting it completely. “You're not as bad with kids as you think you are.”
“So when are you two having one? Yonnie and Ari should have friends to play with.”
Their question was met with awkward silence.
“DID YOU GUYS KNOW,” Zoey interrupted at maximal volume, “that snapping turtles can breathe through their butts?!”
Rumi arched an eyebrow in suspicion, adjusting her position slightly against the cushions. “Why are you guys all being weird?” Her eyes narrowed toward Zoey, then Abby, then rested finally on Mira.
Mira froze, her expression blank. “We're very happy for you,” she managed to choke out. Shit, she was about to start crying again. She spun on one heel and all but bolted for the front door.
“Mira!” Rumi hollered after her. “Get back here right now!”
Mira flung the door open, ready to ignore the instruction completely as a gust of frigid air blew into the cabin.
Then Rumi’s tone changed. “Huh. Actually, come look at this weird birth mark on my kid. The fuck is this?”
“Wait, what?”
The others gathered around Areum curiously, leaving Mira standing in the doorframe.
“Hey, I wanna see!”
She slammed the door shut and ran quickly across the room, only for Rumi to snatch her by the wrist with a surprising amount of strength for having just given birth and shoved her down on the ottoman beside her. Her eyes were molten. “There's no birthmark.”
Mira opened her mouth but no sound came out for a moment as her mind reeled.
“Whatever’s going on,” Rumi quieted a little, “You told Zoey. Why didn’t you feel like you could tell me?”
“I–” Mira stiffened as if caught, looking to Abby for help but meeting only a bewildered stare. “It’s–complicated. And I don’t want to talk about it.”
Rumi’s grip on her wrist relaxed. “Hey. It's okay if you don't feel happy for us,” she said softly.
Mira’s eyes welled up before she could stop them. “I didn’t want to put a damper on today. You guys should be deliriously happy. You have two–” she stopped and sucked in a sharp breath, “beautiful babies. And we would have too, if–we hadn’t lost them.”
She didn’t want to meet Rumi’s eyes after that. She expected shock, maybe even pity. Two things she needed the least of.
Behind them, Abby played the same hesitation game with Jinu, who placed a worried hand on his shoulder in an attempt to offer comfort.
When Mira finally dared to look up, the devastation in Rumi’s eyes only mirrored her own. “I should’ve known,” Rumi murmured. “The little things you kept saying…I wish I’d noticed sooner.” She pulled Mira forward into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry.”
Their somber moment was, however, joltingly interrupted.
“UMMAAAAA!!!!!” a loud shriek echoed through the house, interrupting the moment for all of the adults in the room. Yongrae streaked across the floor and nearly catapulted herself into Rumi’s stomach, Mira catching her just in time. “I wanna play tuwtuws!”
The two women exchanged bewildered glances.
“She means turtles,” Zoey butted in apologetically, scooping up the toddler. “Yonnie, why don’t you play with me? Umma’s tired right now!”
“No!” Yongrae began thrashing and throwing her head back in Zoey’s arms, kicking her tiny legs and nearly causing her auntie to lose her grip. “I wan’ Umma to pway!”
“Shhhh!” Zoey’s eyes went wide and mysterious as she lowered her charge safely to the ground. “Umma is not just napping. No.”
Yongrae stilled, blinking up at her widely.
“She is in hibernation,” Zoey informed her seriously. “Umma bears have to hibernate to prepare for the snow.”
“Umma a beaw?”
“Yes. And you know what else?”
Yongrae shook her head, tiny curls flying.
“She has, not one, but TWO baby bears to curl up with in the cave.”
She eyed Jinu, who quickly smiled and sat down beside them, Areum wrapped carefully in his elbow. “Baby bear number one, meet baby bear number two.”
Yongrae beheld her new baby sister with wide eyes. “She hinerbating?” she asked Zoey, noting the baby’s closed eyes.
“Yes!” Zoey exclaimed, squeezing her in a hug. “Baby sister is hibernating and soon she’ll wake up and grow big and want to play with you!”
She frowned. “But I wanna pway wight now!” She ran off to her room to gather more toys, with a plan in mind to add to the scattered piles already strewn across the living room.
Rumi laughed as she ran off, but reached for Mira’s hand after Yongrae had left, squeezing it. “We can talk more later if you feel like it,” she offered quietly. “And you don’t have to stay if it’s too hard. But we love having you both here,” she added, gesturing to Abby as well.
“It’s not that we don’t like it here,” he answered quietly, coming up behind Mira to rub her shoulders. “It’s just…some times are easier than others.”
“I’m glad you guys told us,” Jinu spoke as he sat beside Rumi on the couch, their hands intertwining as his other arm still held the baby. “It feels like we’ve all grown apart since we retired and moved here.”
“I do miss when we used to share everything,” Zoey agreed, leaning over the couch behind them. She reached for the baby and Jinu grinned before handing her over. “Maybe we should all move in permanently and share this house together,” she added teasingly, grinning at the mix of skeptical and horrified looks she got in response.
A knock at the door…that sounded vaguely more like a kick…got their collective attention. “Hey,” came Romance’s muffled voice from outside, “Why do you guys have a dog door?”
“They have a dog,” came Mystery’s voice in reply, as though it were obvious.
“I made it,” Zoey claimed proudly as Abby opened the door for them and they came striding in, laden with bags of groceries and pans. “To save Rumi’s life.”
“Then why is it duct-taped?”
“Because of the cold,” Mystery answered him again, his tone exasperated. He might’ve rolled his eyes if anyone could see them.
They dumped their bags in the kitchen and ran out to the living room, Romance in the direction of the baby and Mystery in the direction of Zoey, both equally delighted as they swooped in on their chosen companions.
Derpy lumbered in from the next room, grinning away characteristically as Tokki bounced around his tree-sized legs, barking until Sussie swooped down from the TV and threatened to peck him for it.
“Our parents all want to meet the baby,” Jinu announced to Rumi, rubbing his forehead as he took the collection of paper slips from Derpy’s mouth, all from different corners of the spirit worlds.
“Yeah…” Abby spoke up sheepishly, checking his phone, “My parents do, too.”
“Oh, yeah, and my mom,” Mira remembered just then. “And if she comes she’ll probably bring my brother with her.”
“Don’t forget Bobby, and Celine, and Baby and Eryn!” Zoey reminded them between kisses as she and Mystery got altogether too comfortable in the living room.
“All these people cannot fit in this house!” Rumi’s voice took on a higher pitch than usual.
“Good thing I brought a lot of food,” Romance grinned, gesturing to the pile between the cooing noises and smiles he was making at Areum, who was still very much asleep and unable to appreciate them.
A few minutes later, a huge pot of budae jjigae was bubbling on the stove, filling the house with a rich, spicy aroma as Romance, having passed off the baby to Mystery, added the final bits of vegetables with sausages and slices of cheese to melt on the top.
Rumi took the first bite, groaning with happiness. “This is exactly the kind of thing I want after having a baby in the snow.”
“Something you hopefully won’t be repeating,” Jinu shook his head, nodding in appreciation as he tasted his own bowl.
The afternoon wore on, and a few family members brave enough to venture out in the icy weather stopped by to admire the baby and eat a bowl of stew. Even Baby showed up just before dark, carrying a box of cigars.
“Do you even know how to smoke these?” Abby smirked, taking one that was offered. He tapped the end, only to watch it crumble. “Wait…”
Baby just grinned in his face. “They’re chocolate, dumbass. You think I’d be stupid enough to waste money on real cigars?”
Abby rolled his eyes, biting into his instead.
“FINALLY,” Romance rushed in, grabbing his camera and nearly blinding Baby with the flash. “We have to get another picture for my album! Everyone squish!”
“The more of us there are, the harder this gets,” Mira complained, as they began shuffling bodies around the couch to figure out a position where they’d all be visible.
“Smile, Yongrae,” Jinu cringed, tickling her to try and get her to face the camera with anything but her current death stare. He settled for a ‘growling bear’ face.
Romance sighed as he viewed the results. “I guess that’s as good as I could hope for.”
“Anyone want to play darts?” Baby suggested, pulling a box of the very not-kid-friendly pieces out of his pocket.
Rumi glared at him, her teeth set in barely a smile. “I love you all dearly,” she announced to the group, “But I need you all to get. Out. Of my house.”
“Babe, I think the afternoon heat melted the ice and now it’s refrozen,” Jinu hesitantly broke the news to her. “It’s probably not safe to drive…I think everyone might be stranded here.”
Everyone held their breath for Rumi’s response.
She let out a long, exhausted sigh. “Fine. But bedtime is at 8:30, no arguments!”
“And the toddler gets to sleep over with her aunties and uncles,” Jinu smirked, swiping Baby’s darts from him and replacing them with a diaper bag, which he recoiled from like he’d been handed a live snake.
“You guys have got to get a guest bedroom set up,” Mira scowled, unhappy with the idea of sleeping on the floor.
Jinu scooped Rumi up, baby and all, giving a final knowing grin as they retreated to their bedroom. “There’s the couch, and armchairs, and air mattresses in the attic. Have fun!”
Zoey sighed, watching them go before Yongrae, high on the cake Romance had snuck her earlier, ran shrieking unintelligibly through the living room. “None of us are sleeping tonight.”
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Three weeks later
Mira’s ears pricked as she heard the door unlock, signaling that Abby had gotten home from his errands. She didn’t bother calling him. He’d figure out where she was soon enough.
“Mira? Where are y–oh,” he stopped in the doorway, face falling as he recognized her posture, propped on the edge of the bed with a plastic stick curled in one hand, covering the results.
Mira made a watery, unproductive attempt at a smile. “Figured I’d wait for you for this one.”
She avoided glancing toward the trash can, where four more sat discarded with unknown results, because she’d been too scared to read them.
Abby sat beside her, their hips bumping together as he kissed her cheek.
She bit the inside of her cheek and uncovered it, staring emptily at the two pink lines that stared back at them. It felt so wrong that this was the result she dreaded, when not so long ago it had brought them both so much joy and excitement.
Mira swallowed the lump in her throat. “I guess we’re trying this again.”