Chapter Text
All things considered, things had been going well
for Zoey lately.
She had grown up with what would be the picture of a modern day middle class family, save for her Korean heritage. She was well off enough to not spend too much time worrying about expenses and her family was supportive enough that she could take up an interest in music given that she continued to get good grades. Being an only child all of her parents' attention tended to be focused on her when it came to achievement which was a double edged sword in its own right.
Zoey had lived a fairly average life, it wasn't until high school that things started to get tough. School got harder, expectations higher and peers meaner but a little bullying was nothing to complain about especially considering all of the opportunities she had been given.
So Zoey pushed it all under the metaphorical (and physical) rug. All of the dropping grades, borderline racist notes and lyric pages with darker themes placed out of sight and out of mind.
All Zoey had to do was keep smiling and keep pretending that everything was ok. She watched as friend after friend declared she was too much for them, or that she was holding them back, and she waved them goodbye with that same strained smile on her face. One after the other they all left and she was alone time and time again.
But that didn't matter either because she had her music, she could write and doodle and rap and she could never lose that.
At 17 Zoey found a poster advertising a meet up between aspiring music artists, sure it was late at night and sure her parents might not approve but this might be Zoey's chance at finding her people. Just like that she was sneaking out for late night rap battles against people with the same hopes and dreams as her.
It didn't take long for Zoey's skills to improve and soon she was besting many of the seasoned artists who attended. Soon she found herself daydreaming about the gatherings during class, writing more and more lyrics and doing less schoolwork, the bullies laughed, mocked, and teased but at the end of the day her music was the only thing that mattered.
So Zoey shouldn't have been all that surprised when her parents pulled her aside one day. They had concerned and slightly saddened looks on their faces as they sat her down for a talk.
•••
Zoey, although confused, quickly plastered that practiced smile on her face and waited for the news.
Her dad opened his mouth before sighing and looking down and her mom quickly jumped in, she grabbed Zoey's hand and looked at her with pity before breaking the news.
They had noticed her grades dropping and the dark circles under her eyes. Apparently the two had talked and decided that it was best for Zoey to take a break from all the drama that was America, maybe get back in touch with her roots.
As soon as she finished her schooling and turned 18 they were sending her to Korea to live with her grandmother.
All the practice Zoey had smiling seemed to be paying off because she didn't falter, instead she bowed her head and told them she'd start packing.
The second her door was closed behind her Zoey dropped to the floor, silent tears streamed down her face as she realized that she was going to be alone in a whole new country, that she was about to lose everyone again.
And she was on a plane to Korea barely a month later.
•••
Where she was teased for her family history in America she was suddenly an outsider for being American, it really felt like there was no way to win.
Her grandma made sure she stayed busy, which worked for Zoey because that way she didn't have to think about all of the people she was missing, and so she didn't have to think about how alone she was.
Although she had brought all of her lyric notebooks to Korea they never left the boxes they were placed in, instead gathering dust in the corner of her practically barren room. She had barely unboxed anything from America, she just didn't see the point of getting too attached.
Zoey felt as if she was at a standstill for months, the world passing her by as she stood stagnant, waiting.
She wasn't all too sure what she was waiting for, another short term interest? Another temporary attachment? At this rate it all looked the same, the world seemed colored in shades of gray.
So Zoey should have been far more surprised when she spotted a bright lavender within the sea of monotones.
•••
Meeting Rumi, and later Mira, had to be one of the best things that ever happened to Zoey.
Zoey ran into Rumi first, quite literally.
She had been carrying a box of fruits and vegetables back to her grandmother's house from a nearby market. She had started at a light jog, which turned into getting through the crowd as fast as possible in order to impress her grandmother with her good timing.
Twirling around pedestrians and dodging stray vendors was second nature for Zoey at this point. She had managed to build up an internal map of the area by this point and became a regular in a few places.
While passing her favorite boba shop she passed the crate of food into one hand and waved to the owner who was sweeping out front. He smiled and waved back at her as she turned to finish her run.
Unfortunately (or maybe not) for Zoey she ran straight into the brick wall that was Rumi. All the vegetables that she was holding and all the CDs and tapes Rumi was holding went straight up into the air.
Immediately springing into action Zoey managed to catch all of her food and all of Rumi's tapes midair, diving for the last one before it hit the ground.
Turning back to Rumi, Zoey smiles at her, slightly flushed from all the exercise she's been doing. Zoey looks up at her and their eyes meet, and this was the exact moment at which Zoey realized that this girl was utterly gorgeous. Her jaw dropped slightly as she took in all of the details that made up the goddess that stood before her.
“Uhm, my music?"
The goddess said, snapping Zoey out of whatever trance she was in. She shake her head and perks up a little.
" Of course!” Zoey yelps a little too loudly. Quickly gathering up all of the music she had caught in her crate.
All the music was from one band, some group called the Sunset Sisters? Zoey had never heard of them but she filed the name away to look up later.
Once all of the music was handed over Zoey gave Rumi another smile and swayed back and forth on her heels, unsure if she should leave or not.
“Thanks for the save, my name's Rumi! I'll see you around, yeah?”
“Oh yeah! I'll see you!”
Zoey said as Rumi walked away, turning to continue on her route home. Before jumping and turning back around.
"Oh! And my name’s Zoey!”
She called after Rumi who turned and smiled fondly before continuing onward.
Internally Zoey did a fist pump before continuing on her way to her grandmother's house.
•••
Zoey promptly forgets about the interaction for about a week, that is until she starts getting bombarded with different k-pop content, although not a frequent fan, the name Sunset Sisters reappears in her mind. Quickly deciding to look them up Zoey ends up traveling down a rabbit hole of k-pop history, gossip, and most importantly songs.
She finds herself instantly entrapped by the colors, and dances. The complex compilation of lyrics consisting of both English and Korean pulled Zoey in and had her looking at the boxes full of notebooks in her room.
She tries to refrain from opening them up, to save herself the pain of loss again but she can't hold herself back from the call of creation.
She ends up awake all night, scribbling down line after line, humming and testing out new lyrics to see how they sound on her tongue.
And suddenly the world doesn't seem all that gray anymore.
•••
From there everything seemed to go so fast, one thing leading to another, she wrote and wrote and soon enough she was making a name for herself.
She had a small fanbase but it was enough for her to feel important, for her to get her spark back. Zoey saw a way forward in the people supporting her and she promised to do her best not to disappoint.
Eventually she started to get offers, a demo here, some lyric submissions there, nothing that really led to anything, that was until she got a message from an up and coming band that wanted her for her rapping and writing skills.
That was when she met Rumi for a second time. She was seated out front at the same location the tryouts were stationed at. Rumi’s face lit up when she saw Zoey approaching.
“Hi! I'm so glad you came, don't worry I put in a good word for you!”
Rumi said hurriedly, latching onto Zoey’s arm and dragging her forward into the building. She pushes her down into a chair next to a girl with long pink hair with a slight frown on her face.
“Zoey, this is Mira! Mira, Zoey! You two are my top picks. I believe in you!”
Rumi said before running into the tryout room. Zoey took a moment to look around the tryout room. There was a surprising amount of people there, more than any of the other events she had gone to so far. All the people in the waiting room seemed to be really excited or nervous but everyone who left the audition room seemed about ready to cry.
Deciding not to think too much about it Zoey turned to Mira and gave her a huge smile before reaching out her hand for a handshake.
“Hey Mira! So how'd you get into k-pop?"
Mira eyes Zoeys hand suspiciously before leaning back coolly. She shugs slightly and looks away from Zoey before mumbling.
"I dunno, my family said I couldn't do it so I did it.”
The only thoughts going through Zoey’s head were about how hot this lady's voice was. Wow, two beautiful women in one place, Zoey has got to get her gay under control.
Zoey was almost sure she was blushing, her hand still frozen in the air waiting for a handshake, she'll admit she looked kind of like a fool.
“Zoey? Up next Zoey?"
Zoey’s head whips around as she sees another girl holding back tears rush out of the room. Her eyes flick to the short man holding a clipboard calling her name. Quickly she jumps up and raises her hand.
“That's me! I'm Zoey!”
"Hi Zoey! Follow me!” The man says before starting to walk away, Zoey jogging right after him, "My name is Bobby, I'm going to be the manager of Huntrix, that's the group name by the way-”
"Badass!"
“I know right! Anyways if you get in I'll be the one handling publicity, reservations, hiring people, the works, anything needed im your man."
The two stop in front of a door and Bobby pulls Zoey into a sort of team huddle like they do in football.
"Now for your audition you can choose anything you want to sing, you can add choreography, you can rap, and extra points if you wrote what you're singing. Ok you've got this! Go girlboss!"
He says before pushing her into the room and closing the door behind him. Inside the room was Rumi and another person, her face hidden in the shadows. Rumi turns to wave at her with a huge smile before yelling.
"Come up on the stage and introduce yourself!”
She steps up onto the stage, the bright lights shining directly into her eyes. Standing in the middle of the platform it takes a second for her to adjust but once she does she gasps loudly.
"Ok so, for your audi-”
"Holy shirt you're Celine from the Sunset Sisters!”
Celine looked over at Rumi slightly surprised before smiling softly and turning back to Zoey who was beaming and doing little jumps with joy.
"Yes, that's me, it's a pleasure to meet you Zoey.”
"The pleasure is all mine miss!"
Zoey squeaks out, doing a slight bow, still with a huge grin on her face.
"No, need for that, just tell me a bit about yourself.”
•••
Zoey ended up waiting out front for Mira to come out of the auditions. She sat on a bench nearby twiddling her thumbs and kicking her feet rather aggressively.
She wasn't sure how well she did, shoot maybe she had embarrassed herself by fangirling over Celine. Maybe they wouldn't want her because of all her time spent in America. Maybe her lyrics weren't as good as she thought. Maybe they were laughing at her behind-
"Hey Zoey!"
Rumi came skipping out with Mira following close behind her, a light smile on both of their faces. Zoey shakes her head, trying to clear up her thoughts before throwing a smile on her face and running over, stopping just before the two of them.
“How’d you do Mira? It's crazy intense in there right? Ugh I was so nervous! No offense Rumi, you were super reinforcing!”
She ranted, flashing a double thumbs up in Rumi's direction. Her words might have been a little too enthusiastic and her smile a bit too wide but it didn't look like either of them noticed.
“No offense taken! You both did amazing! I'm rooting for you both! We'd make a great team!"
She said, slinging her arms around both of their shoulders. Zoey leaned into the touch while Mira gave a small smile.
"We should go get celebratory ice cream.”
Mira announced, standing up straighter. Rumi immediately grinned at the suggestion, nodding her head and breaking apart from the two of them.
"I'll look for a place nearby!"
Rumi declares pulling out her phone.
Zoey's smile feels a little less fake.
Rumi ends up leading them both to the nearest place, dragging them both by the arms. They all sit down on a bench outside and Rumi writes their ice cream orders down on her phone before running off to go get them.
Turning to Mira Zoey sits criss crossed on the bench and leans forward.
"So how'd you meet Rumi?"
Zoey asks, tilting her head. Mira chuckles lightly before looking to the door where Rumi disappeared.
“We uh, were on the same bus super late at night, she approached me and told me she was super lost and so I gave her directions… I also punched a creep for her.”
"HOLY SHIRT REALLY?”
"Did you just say holy shirt?”
•••
Zoey was sitting at the dining room table across from her grandmother shoveling food into her mouth when the email came through. Within seconds of the notification coming through Zoey was already reading.
Dear Zoey
I am happy to announce that you have been chosen to be one of the three leads in the new k-pop group Huntix. We would like to hire you as our main lyricist. If you choose to accept there is a meeting tomorrow, the other two members of the group will be in attendance.
Thank you
-Celine
Zoey jumped out of her chair in excitement, rocking the table and scattering some of her food. She pranced over to her grandmother on the other side of the table and quickly gave her a side hug.
“I got the job granny! They want me!”
She yelled, rocking back and forth on her heels, practically vibrating with excitement.
"I am proud of you darling. Now sit back down and eat before your food gets cold."
Her Grandma says fondly, giving her a kiss on the cheek before pushing her back towards her chair.
•••
The meeting had taken place under a tree in a cemetery, Zoey was happy to see that the other two members happened to be her two favorite people.
Zoey sat down on the ground to the left of Rumi while Mira was crouched on her right. They all listened intently as Celine explained how their dynamic and brand was going to look and how the next few months would go. She also explained the payment and housing situation.
Although nervous to move again, especially considering how big a commitment it is for people she just met, Zoey knows that her grandma would want her to take the risk. The old woman had been pushing her to get out there and do things her entire time in Korea.
As Zoey got lost in thought she started to tune slightly out of the conversation. How much time would it take to pack all of her stuff, it's not like she unpacked much when she moved, but maybe she shouldn't bring all of her things Zoey didnt want to be rude and take up too much space. Maybe she should wait and see how much the others bring and then match them, yes that makes the most sen-
“DEMONS???"
Zoey suddenly turned back at the loud exclamation from Mira, that was the most pronounced she'd ever heard the girl. Wow, she looks even prettier surprised- hold on a second.
"Wait what? Demons?”
This time Zoey listened intently as Celine explained what their second objective was as part of this band.
"And that's why we chose you and Mira specifically. Because of your reflexes and Mira’s skills at punching creeps."
Zoey nodded along to Rumi’s explanation, thinking about what this would mean for them.
“Ya know, this kinda makes sense. I mean something like this was bound to happen to me at some point right?”
Zoey said, a thoughtful expression on her face as Mira whipped around even more confused.
"You knew this would happen?!?”
Mira exclaimed. In response, Zoey shrugged and turned back to Rumi with a bright smile.
"I'm in!”
“Ugh, me too I guess."
“Yay! I'm so happy you guys want to do this! You're the best!”
Rumi yelled, pulling the two of them into a deep hug, which Zoey promptly sunk into.
"We're gonna make such a great team.”
•••
Soon enough the three were training to fight said demons, there was a lot of a learning curve but soon enough Zoey was feeling a lot more capable than she did before.
Her blades cut through aur with striking precision, almost as if a dance of its own. She had never felt so powerful in her own skin. She fit right in with the other two band members, she couldn't wait to start cutting down demons, she was gonna prove she was the right person for the job.
As training went on the girls got closer and closer, a small smile here, a little nudge there and countless movie nights blurred the lines between friendship and romance between them and soon enough, the three were dating behind the scenes.
Mira had found a place where she was accepted as she was, and Rumi a group of people that she could really consider family.
And Zoey, well Zoey was useful, she did all the things that were asked of her and other people were happy so she was happy. It worked, and sometimes they would indulge in her turtle films with Mira quoting that.
“I won't get bored that easily."
So yeah all things considered, things are going well.
But as things slow down Zoey can't help but worry, things are going a bit too well, maybe she'll be around too much and they'll realize that she is too much. And maybe she'll say all her lines and run out of lyrics and then they won’t want her anymore.
After all, good things have to end.