Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mira was settling nicely into bed all warm and cozy in nice fuzzy pajamas after a shower. She tucked herself in and turned off the light pulling the blanket up to her chin and let out a sigh. Not thirty seconds later did she hear crying. Shrill, upset, unrestrained crying but it sounded wrong… Familiar yet off? She was up so fast and running down the hall. It was coming from Rumi’s room. She didn't even stop to knock before bursting in.

She froze looking over the room when her eyes fell on a small lump in the bed. She rushed over and pulled back the blanket when her eyes fell on a small figure in clothes way too big. Hair in a long purple braid tears streaming from her eyes. Mira had seen enough photos to know that this small figure was no one other than Rumi but… child sized? “Rumi?” She froze looking up at her confused before a small whimper escaped her and then the loud crying resumed. It was at this point Zoey burst in and she looked over the scene for herself.

“Mira? Wh-what's happening?” Mira shrugged and turned back to Rumi “Hey Rumi, what's happening?” She just cried louder and in a shrill tone that made Mira and Zoey cover their ears “I want my Eomma Celine!” Mira turned to look at Zoey as they both stood there a little slack jawed about how to handle that.

Rumi and Celine weren't even on speaking terms, how were they gonna explain this?

Mira sat on the bed and reached towards her “Her sweetheart tak-” Rumi pulled away frightened and screamed with displeasure, trying to scramble away “Stranger danger!”

Mira sighed, not really having a choice. She cautiously grabbed Rumi's phone and unlocked it, searching through the contacts to find Celine. It didn't take long and Mira didn’t hesitate to hit the call.

It rang twice before Celine's voice came through the phone groggy and half asleep “Hu, Rumi? Why are you calling so late?” Mira put it on speaker “Yeah so I gonna make this brief, Rumi is child sized, crying, doesn't remember us and asking for you. We need you here now.” She could hear shuffling and stuttering through the phone “I'll be there in 20 minutes.” Mira groaned “You can't be here any sooner?” She heard a sigh “I will try but I can only go as fast as traffic allows.”

She grumbled but Celine was right. “Fine, just don't drag your feet… Also you need to talk to Rumi, you're the only one who can calm her down.” She turned to look at her tears and snot running down her face. God she was an ugly cryer as an adult but as a child it bordered on disgusting. “Rumi, your Eomma is on the phone, wanna talk to her?” She finally looked Mira in the eyes as her crying whales lowered to soft sobs and labored breaths.

She held out the phone and Rumi cautiously sat next to her and she spoke in a small shake voice “C-Celine?” Her voice chimed back over the phone “Hi sweetie, are you ok?” She shook her head as her cries picked up “No! I woke up all alone in a room I don’t know and these two ladies ran in and you're not here!” Her wailing resumed as she went red in the face “Oh sweetie, I'll be there soon in the meantime the nice girls will make sure you're taken care of ok?” She threw herself back and started to kick her feet “No! I want you here now! I don't want to be alone with them! They are big and scary!” She heard Celine grumble through the phone “Rumi, you know a tantrum will get you nowhere, I can't just teleport there so you will have to wait. Behave for them and I will be there soon.” The call ended and it just seemed to infuriate her further.

She screamed and started to flail her entire little body punching into mira with all the rage and strength a five year old could. “Ow!” Mira held herself back from smacking Rumi back like she usually would because who in their right mind would hit a five year old. It certainly wouldn’t help her trust them anymore so Mira pulled her into her lap as Zoey sat next to her on the bed grabbing one of Rumi’s little feet and starting to tickle it “Stop!” Rumi cried but she was starting to laugh.

Mira kept her on her lap as Zoey continued her assault and soon enough there was no more crying. Little Rumi was laughing and smiling “See that's better, we wanna see that adorable smile. How about we get that cute face all wiped off and into something that fits you a little better huh?” Mira was grateful Zoey was good with kids because she was so out of her depth at the moment. Rumi made grabby hands for Zoey and she didn’t hesitate to scoop her into her arms.

Rumi curled up into her clinging to her shirt like it was life or death and stood up to whisk her away to the bathroom “Mira, go to the storage room and pull out some of those kids clothes prototypes for her.”

Mira nodded before running off to get the clothes. Meanwhile in the bathroom Zoey sat Rumi on the lid of the toilet and grabbed a washcloth before running it under warm water and started softly humming while wiping the trails of dried tears and snot off her face. “So sweet girl, why were you so upset?” Rumi sniffled a little and spoke softly, still a little scared. “I didn’t know where I was and I was all alone.” Zoey hummed in acknowledgment “I bet that was so scary but don't worry, me and Mira are probably the scariest thing in this whole place and that's only because we take out any big bad demons that show up.” Rumi's face lit up as she gasped in surprise “Are you hunters like my Eomma?!”

She nodded and finished wiping Rumi's face as Mira came back in with two sets of pajamas in hand “So um, I didn’t know what she would like more so I grabbed the blue ones and the green ones.” Rumi looked over and whined a little. She was probably still a little scared of Mira. To be fair she couldn’t blame her. Her presence could be a little… intense. “Rumi, that's Mira. She's really nice and loves cartoons. Do you wanna put on your pajamas and then go watch some with her while you wait for your Eomma?” She looked between them for a moment before sliding off the toilet and walking over to Mira who slowly squatted down and held out the pajamas for her. Rumi looked them both over before carefully taking the green ones.

Mira shot her a smile before standing back up “We’re gonna wait in the hall, as soon as you're done getting dressed just open the door and we can go watch tv alright?”. Rumi nodded with a little pout as Zoey and Mira left the room and closed the door behind them. Zoey finally let the mask fall and she looked exhausted. “Mira, our girlfriend turned into a child! What are we gonna do?! What about all our events coming up? Her photo shoots!” Mira pulled her into a hug and Zoey held her right back as they both stood in silence not really sure what to do.

They heard grunting and struggling in the room and they both just stared at the door like it would produce answers. A few seconds later there were soft sobs and they let out a collective sigh as Zoey knocked on the door “Rumi sweet heart, are you ok?” That's when the wailing started. Mira grabbed the knob “We're coming in.” Mira didn't have the chance to even try before they heard and felt Rumi's little body slam against the door “No!” Mira was a little agitated by this but if the girl didn’t want their help there was nothing they could do.

The grunting continued until they heard the elevator ding, running, and then Celine was standing with them in the hall “Where is she?” They both gestured to the door and Celine gave a hesitant knock “Rumi, are you in there?” There was a loud whiny cry “Eomma, I need help!” Celine walked in quickly closing the door behind her leaving Zoey and Mira to exchange confused glances till the door opened a minute later with Rumi curled up in her arms “Rumi didn’t learn how to dress herself till she was six” They exchanged ohs and followed Celine to the living room where they set Rumi up on the couch and put on some cartoons before leaving her to watch while shuffling over to the kitchen.

Celine spoke first “What the hell happened? Why is she a child?!” she was barely keeping her voice down with the rage that was clear in her tone and face. Mira shrugged “ We don't actually know, we were going to bed and then all of a sudden crying.” Zoey sighed “Yeah, I think we're all a little confused right now.” Celine sighed and looked over to where Rumi was fully engrossed by the colorful flashes on screen. “I can try and hit up some of my contacts to see if they have any possible ideas about what's going on, in the meantime Rumi has to stay here. She was in the public eye her whole childhood so if people see her I dont even wanna imagine the rumors the tabloides would come up with.”

Mira rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “Um Celine, I don't know if you know this but we don't exactly know how to take care of a child, this house isn't made to be child safe, and I'm pretty sure if you leave her she will start crying again.”

Celine thought about that and tossed a few a ideas around in her head before letting out a sigh “I guess your right, for the meantime I will stay here over nights and it's not unusual for her to be left with babysitters during the day so as long as you can feed her lunch and keep an eye on her she should be fine to stay with you a few hours.”

Zoey gave an affirmative nod “Alright, I guess we can handle that.” Mira was still uneasy at the idea. Kids never really liked her, and Rumi had already pointed out why. Would Rumi really do okay with her all day? Leaving her to stew in her thoughts Zoey and Celine walked back over to the couch.

Celine kneeled down next to the couch “Hi Rumi sweetie can we talk for a moment?” Rumi looked away from the screen, rubbing her eyes clearly, barely staying awake. “So these two lovely girls are going to be your new babysitters while I work, won't it be fun to have two people to play with all day?” she gave a shy nod “okay, but why can’t I just go with you like I always do?” She reached over and tucked a stray stand of purple hair behind her ear. “I have to do some things where kids aren't very welcome and though you would be a little less bored if you got to stay home and play.” Rumi leaned into her hand “Okay…” She leaned down and kissed her head. “Alright princess, let's go to bed.” Rumi happily obliged, giving grabby hands.

Celine didn't hesitate to pick her up and carried her back to her room, closing the door behind her.

Zoey didn’t like the silence left behind and Mira being the ever observant one could tell “So um… I don't even know what to say, Rumi is an actual child right now and and…” Mira walked over and wrapped her in a hug “We’ll get through this. I'm willing to bet this has something to do with her demon side which means it's probably reversible.” Zoey thought about it and it made sense if she was honest. It was probably a side effect of the shape shifting. “Well I think we should turn in for the night, I don't think there's anything to be done till Celine finds some information.” Mira held her a little tighter “Can we sleep in my room tonight?” Zoey nodded and led the way.

They got all cozied up under the covers and Mira submitted to being the little spoon for the night. The bed felt too big with just the two of them but eventually they managed to fall asleep.

The worst part of children in Miras opinion was the rude awakening. The sun was barely starting to rise when the crying started. They both groaned and dragged themselves out of bed making their way to the living room where Rumi was pulling on Celine's pant leg as she tried to leave “I wanna go too!” Celine sighed “Little cub I already told you, I can't take you with me. Zoey and Mira are going to take good care of you while I'm gone.” Rumi just groaned and tightened her hold on her pant leg “But I don’t wanna stay with them! Mira is scary and Zoey smells weird!”

Zoey scoffed but held her tongue “Rumi I promise you will be fine and have lots of fun but I have to go.” She skillfully pried her hands off before leaving which just left Rumi softly sobbing at the door. Zoey sighed “Mira go make pancakes and I will calm her down.”

They split up and the morning was anything but calm. It was tantrum after fit. Pancakes were thrown, Mira was bitten, and Zoey was repeatedly kicked till she passed out around ten o’clock.

They finally got to sit down and oh my how they were exhausted. “Zoey, it's starting to make sense, Celine raised her like a princess.” Zoey nodded “Explains why she's really good at getting what she wants.” Mira grumbled “We gotta clean up before she wakes up.”

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Eventually everything was clean and Mira and Zoey were snacking on the couch while Rumi napped on the floor curled up with a blanket and her favorite bear. Mira hummed to herself in thought “Hey Zo, if Rumi is a child don't you think we need like… kids toys and such? She's gonna get so bored just watching tv.” It dawned on her that yeah, Rumi has nowhere to direct this energy and it's only gonna get worse “Yeah, I know Celine said not to take her out but she needs a whole wardrobe, toys and some books or she is just gonna be all over us all day. I don’t mind playing with her but 24/7 entertainment not so much.” She agreed, nodding along “As soon as she wakes up, let's take her out. She will hopefully be calmer after the nap.”

They got another twenty minutes of quiet before little Rumi rolled over and stretched out rubbing her eyes and looking at them with that half awake dazed look that they were used to. Zoey used her sweetest voice “Hey Rumi, after you're all awake do you wanna go pick out some pretty clothes and some toys?”

Her little face lit up with excitement and they finally got to see a smile on that adorable face. Mira giggled a little as she got up and ran down the hall to get ready “How can she be such a tinny terror and so adorable?” Zoey shrugged, getting up to get ready herself “Ok, meet back here in ten?” Zoey nodded and they split off.

Mira managed to get changed and was about to slip shoes on when she heard small little cries and let out a sigh going to Rumi's door “Rumi sweetie, what's wrong?” She got a few sniffles before the response came through “I need Eomma’s help…” Right, she can't dress herself “Rumi, I can help you get dressed if you need.”

“No!”

How were they gonna go anywhere if Rumi refused to accept help from anyone? Most children would just accept the help if they were at the point of crying. Why was she so adamant about no help?

Then it occurred to her.

She had patterns even as a child.

Was she scared about what she would do if she saw them? She remembered how Rumi reacted when the girls saw them even as an adult and what a disaster that was. Maybe this could be a chance to build the bridge between this little Rumi and her. “Hey Rumi… if this is about your patterns, we already know. We won't hurt you I promise, We just wanna help. We don't want you to keep crying.” The door flew open a few seconds later with Rumi looking a little nervous and splotchy in the face from crying but she let her come in and help.

Zoey had taken the liberty of bringing up a few things from the merch room when they were cleaning so Rumi had a few outfits to choose from.

Rumi had managed to get undressed but was unable to get into the dress she had selected. “Ok, arms up.” Mira rolled up the dress as Rumi followed instructions and helped her guide her arms through before pulling it down and getting her head through the hole. After she pulled it down and smoothed out the lilac dress with their faces on the chest and Rumi gave a little twirl.

Mira smiled as Rumi looked over the dress giggling “I feel pretty.” She patted her head “Well you look like it too, do you need help with the sandals or are you a big girl and can handle it yourself?”

Mira was dying internally talking to someone who she knew as a grown woman like a child. Her girlfriend no less. It all felt so weird to her but right now she would have to live with it.

Rumi handed her the shoes and sat down lifting a foot for Mira. She helped her put them on and then stood up to go to her room. She was surprised when Rumi gently took her hand and started to walk with her. “Uh, what ah… what are you doing Rumi?”

She looked up at her with big doe eyes “Going with you.” This girl who only hours ago said she was scared of her was apparently now ready to follow her around like a puppy. “Ok.” Back to Mira's room they went and Rumi let go of her hand to climb up on her bed and sat on the edge. She watched quietly as Mira slid her shoes on and grabbed her stuff to go.

“Ok, Let's go.” She hopped off the bed and ran to the living room where Zoey was waiting and Rumi tackled her legs almost knocking her over in the process “Can we go now? Can we please? I wanna go buy toys and can we get ice cream too?”

It was zero to a hundred with this girl as Mira approached “Sure, let's go.” She grabbed a hand from each of them and started to pull them towards the door.
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After two hours of clothes shopping they had gotten a good amount of clothes and they were starting to get hungry “Zoe, can you see where the nearest kimbap shop is?” That was enough to get Rumi's attention away from looking around the racks. She was in the cart as they quickly found out Rumi was a runner. “I want chicken nuggets!” She said it in that whiny tone that grated every single one of Mira's nerves.

One of the many reasons Mira was not fond of children. “Rumi, have you ever had kimbap?” She shook her head no and Zoey lit up with a smile. They knew it was adult Rumi's favorite food so maybe they could get little Rumi hooked on it. Zoey pulled out her phone and showed her a picture “how about we go try some and if you don’t like it we can get you some chicken nuggets before we go to the toy store?” Rumi's face scrunched up and it looked like she was getting ready for another tantrum when she looked around and then slumped in her seat. Her voice came out defeated and small “Okay.”

At that moment they were both very thankful Rumi had been a nepo baby and had been trained in public relations from a young age.

They made their way to check out and got everything to the car then went down the street to a mom and pop shop. They liked to go small places like this because it was way less likely they would run into the paparazzi.

They all scurried inside and Zoey took Rumi to the table and slotted her in a high chair while Mira ordered for them “I don't wanna sit in a high chair.” She started to pout and crossed her arms “But you can't reach the table without it.” She just huffed as Mira came and sat down with six different kimbap. Mira made a plate for everyone putting some of each on everyone's plate and passed it out. This wasn’t unusual for Mira. She made sure that everyone got a little extra of their favorite and kept it fair.

It started early into their hunter training after getting annoyed trying to reach over everyone. One day she just grabbed everyone's plate and dished everything out before sliding everyone a plate and then dug into her food. No one had the nerve to protest and she had done it every time they were sharing dishes since.

Rumi looked at her plate, poking things around her until Mira got annoyed and grabbed a piece “This one has chicken, open.” It was her voice that left no room for debate and even this little Rumi knew better than to argue. She took the bite and chewed her eyes slowly getting bigger and a smile spreading across her face. She started to shovel it into her mouth leaving Zoey and Mira to eat without interruption.

Zoey finished first and turned to Rumi watching her chew and slowly click her feet “Isn’t this so good?” She just nodded “After we can go buy some toys and then go home.”

That's when a customer walked over “Hey, aren't you the Huntrix girls?” Their hearts sank as Rumi turned to look at the girl who had approached them Zoey stood up with her biggest smile “Yes we are, how can we help you?”

The woman's smile got big and wide. “Can I get a picture with you guys?” Mira nodded and stood up pulling off her hat and glasses making sure to smooth down any stay hairs. Zoey moved over to their side of the table pulling her own hat off and squeezing in with Mira as the woman pulled out her phone and snapped a photo. After the woman slipped her phone in her pocket she noticed the little girl in the high chair "Who's this little cutie?” Mira started to panic but Zoey was quick with an explanation “This is my little cousin from America, she's obsessed with Rumi and dresses like her all the time.” Rumi went to speak but Zoey popped a piece of kimbap in her mouth and that kept her quiet. “Aww that's so sweet you can make time for family. Thank you for the photo!” She walked away and they let out a sigh of relief as they sat down and put their disguises back on.

Rumi swallowed “Why did you lie to them?” Zoey placed her hand on Rumi’s “Because we want to keep you safe and right now we're supposed to be in disguise because we don't want anyone to know who we are. It's easier to keep you safe if they don't realize who you are, ok?” Rumi nodded, seeming to understand.
Lunch ended quickly after that and then it was off to the toy store.

Unlike the department store Rumi was let out of the cart to run around and throw whatever she wanted in the cart. She picked dolls, fake food, ninja swords and a whole assortment of things. It seemed like she grabbed ten things in every aisle until they had filled up two carts. Zoey sighed being the one to call it “Okay Rumi, now that we're all done picking toys we need to pick a toy box to keep them all in.”

“B-but we haven't gone through all the toys yet.” Zoey keeled down and gently took her hands “Yes but we have two whole carts. We can play with these for a while and we can get some more later, right now we gotta make sure you have a place to keep them all.” She nodded with a pout as Zoey stood up and plopped her into the cart leading the way to the storage aisle with Mira trailing behind.

They saw many nice toyboxes. Some were solid wood, others were fabric baskets and some full plastic structures. It wasn't until Rumi's little eyes landed on a black fabric toybox with a lid that flipped open with Huntrix printed across the front did she have any interest in them “Can we get that one?! The one with the purple hair looks like me!” Zoey and Mira shot each other a smile with a sigh because of course princess Rumi wanted the one with her face on it.

Mira threw it in the car and they made their way to check out.
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Once they were home Mira and Zoey set up the toybox and helped Rumi open all her new toys and put them inside then clean up the metric ton of trash toys created. Why was there so much packaging?!

“Alright, Zoey is gonna play with you while I go make dinner. How does rice with chicken stir fry sound?” Zoey smiled, “Mmm, that sounds so good.” Rumi looked up from her fire truck “Not spicy!” Mira nodded, "Absolutely, I will not make it spicy.” Rumi seemed satisfied by the answer and went back to whatever game she was playing.

This was going to be a rough time till Rumi was back to normal

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since Rumi… shrunk? Deaged? Whatever the fuck happened and Mira and Zoey were starting to adjust but as they were finding out, every day with a child is different and brings new surprises. This morning instead of waking up to Rumi screaming and crying Mira had the much rudder awakening of Rumi running into Zoey's room and jumping on both of them full speed knocking the wind out of both of them.

“Rumi!” Mira yelled immediately, angry and having no tolerance for the behavior. Mira had low patience to begin with but in the morning? Lord have mercy on whoever had to give her bad news. Rumi froze face full of shock before her lip started to wobble and eyes started to glass face turning red. “N-no don't cry.” Mira reached out for her but she pulled away starting to sob and Zoey pulled the pillow over her face not ready to deal with a tantrum first thing in the morning.

She hopped off the bed and ran off crying and Mira sighed letting her head fall forward “Zoey, she's not gonna let me anywhere near her after that…” Zoey grumbled and pulled the pillow off her face “Mira, she's sensitive. Even when she is acting in a way you don't like you can't yell. It's called gentle parenting.”

Mira huffed “Well I'm sorry that the only parenting I know is to scold, yell, and spank a child to scare them into behaving.” Zoey did have to cut her some slack, she didn't have the best role models for what parenting is supposed to look like.

Zoey climbed out of bed and followed the sound of crying back to Rumi's room where she was curled up in a pile of pillows in the corner red faced trying to sob quietly. “Hey Ru, come here.” She knelt down and held out her arms where Rumi threw herself sobbing into Zoey's shirt. Hard to imagine such a sensitive girl grew into such a strong leader. She had heard upset fans say some of the most messed up things to her and she would just laugh it off. To see her like this where Mira just raising her voice was enough to make her cry was a startling contrast.

“Lets take some deep breaths, can you do that for me?” Rumi pulled away to look her in the eyes and nodded sniffing hard to get the snot back in her nose. “Alright, I lead and you just copy.” Zoey took a deep slow breath and Rumi followed, making sure to hold it in before exhaling with her. After a few minutes Rumi was done with the tears and calm enough to talk. “Why did Mira yell at me? I do that to Eomma all the time.” Zoey kissed her head and then took her little hands in hers “I love that you and your Eomma can do that but me and Mira are different. We don't enjoy being jumped on when we're asleep. You are more than welcome to wake us up by placing a hand on an arm or something and shaking us awake but you really hurt us this morning when you did that. Don’t you yell ow when you get hurt?” Rumi nodded, seeming to understand. “Thats basically what Mira did but instead of ow she yelled at you because she didn’t know how else to react. I think we should apologize to Mira for hurting her and then she will probably apologize for yelling.”

Rumi nodded, grabbing her bear from the pillows still pouting and made her way back to Zoey's room with Zoey trailing behind.

When they walked in Mira was sitting up and scrolling on her phone, glasses perched on the tip of her nose. Rumi walked up to the edge of the bed nervously and looked up at her. Mira lowered her phone and turned to her “Hi Rumi.” It was so soft and gentle, almost like she was talking to a stray animal she was afraid to scare off. She could see Rumi nervously thumb the bear's paw as she got up her courage to speak “I- Im sorry for jumping on you and hurting you…” Mira sighed and gave a soft smile “I accept your apology and I’m sorry for yelling at you, I'll do better.”

Rumi, now seeming to be done with the conversation, looked to see what Mira was looking at on her phone “whatcha looking at?” Mira scooped her up so she could sit on her lap with Rumis back to her chest and picked the phone up to show her and continue to scroll through her Tiktok.
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Zoey was laying on the floor while doctor Rumi went about examining her. “Give it to me straight doc, am I dying?” Rumi held up her clipboard and looked at it very seriously before shaking her head “You're very sick. You're gonna have to take a lot of medicine.” She dug through the toybox and walked over with toy food containers and then started handing them to Zoey one by one.”You need three glitter pills a day, two sunshine pills, and a happiness every hour.” Zoey nodded intently “Thank you doctor, ill make sure I stay on top of it.” It devolved into giggles after that as Mira walked in on the phone with a nervous look.

That was never a good look. “Ok Rumi, we gotta start cleaning up for dinner. Can you put the toys away while I go talk to Mira?” She nodded a little sad that playtime was over but cleaned up without a fight as Zoey went to meet Mira by the hall “What's that face for? that face never means good things.” Mira held a finger signaling her to wait “Celine, you can’t do this to us! She's gonna flip!” She was trying her best to keep her voice down but it was clear she was not about to like the answer that was coming.

A few minutes later Mira hung up and pinched the bridge of her nose getting closer to Zoey so she could whisper “Celine isn’t coming home tonight.” Zoey felt her stomach drop. Rumi wouldn't go to bed or take a bath without Celine. “Don’t tell her… let's just say she's gonna be home so late she asked us to put her to bed.” Mira nodded in agreement. That plan was less likely to end in tears “Ill take care of Rumi for a bit, can you handle dinner please?” It was rare Zoey was asked to cook and even rarer Mira asked to hang out with children but it seemed like Mira was trying to lighten Zoey's load. “Okay but call me over if you need to walk away.” Mira nodded and they split up.

Mira approached with a soft smile and Rumi seemed to immediately tense up. They had not gotten off on the right foot and it hadn’t seemed to ease. “Hey Rumi.” She used her softest voice and got down on her knees in front of her “Celine has to work real late tonight so she asked us to get you dinner and settle you into bed.” Rumi started to pout but no tears so going good so far.

“Whose gonna tuck me in?” Mira tucked a stray strand of Rumi's hair behind her ear “We will or just Zoey, whoever you want to do it.” She looked at her feet “Who's gonna help me take a bath?” “whoever you want, kid.” She puffed a little sigh “Okay… what's for dinner?” Mira shrugged, “I don’t know, let's go ask.” Mira pushed herself up and Rumi wrapped her little hand around Mira's. She was so scared and nervous around her but somehow also so clingy.

They walked over to where Zoey was prepping ingredients for whatever she was making. Mira picked up rumi and set her on a bar stool so she could see what Zoey was doing on the counter and they both watched as she mixed some kind of dough in a bowl. “Hey Zo, what are you making?”

She looked up from the bowl with a smile “It's technically called matza ball soup but I always called it cannon ball soup. It was one of my favorites growing up in America and I thought little Rumi would like to try it.” Rumi stood on the chair and planted her little hands on the counter to lean over and look closer “What's in it?” She smiled And set the bowl down to show her all the ingredients “Well, we have the balls of dough, I'm gonna chop up these carrots really small and then I have consume which is a chicken soup broth base basically.”

“But no chicken?” Zoey shook her head and Rumi watched Zoey fill a pot with water and set it on the stove, mixing in two big scoops of the soup base before turning on the fire. “Be careful Rumi, the stove is hot so we can't be that close if you're not the one cooking.” Rumi sat back down on the chair while Zoey diced the carrots and threw them in the pot as it started to boil.

She then pulled out a spoon “Rumi, do you wanna help shape the dough balls?” She nodded, climbing down from the stool and going to stand next to Zoey. “First we have to wash our hands.” Rumi nodded and pulled the step stool over to the sink making sure to thoroughly scrub her hands and then Zoey scraped the dough up on the spoon and plopped it in Rumi's hand “Now you have to roll it into a ball.” Zoey got some for herself and showed her how and they slowly emptied the bowl methodically rolling the balls before Zoey threw them into the broth.

She made Rumi wash her hand again and then sent her out of the cooking space. “Now we wait for all the dough balls to float to the top and then it's done.” Mira looked at her a little confused "You're not adding any seasoning?” Zoey chuckled “No it's not like bouillon. This has parsley, garlic, onion, and celery salt already mixed in so yeah I can add other stuff but for what im making it's sufficient.” Mira nodded and went to grab everyone's drinks. They realized the day after this happened Rumi needed children's sized bowls and silverware, and also needed spill proof cups. “Rumi, do you want milk, water or juice with dinner?”

She tapped her chin as if seriously considering the thought before responding “can I have soda?” Mira shook her head “No, it's too late for soda. I told you the options you can have, pick one.” Rumi was not going to back down easily from this. She stuck out her bottom lip and gave her biggest puppy eyes.

It would have worked if they hadn't experienced what happens when you give a child soda to close to bedtime yesterday. Celine almost took Zoey and Mira out herself. “No, if you won't give me an answer I'm just gonna fill it with water.” She unscrewed the cap and walked towards the water dispenser “No!” She said it was so whiny and demanding. Mira clinched her jaw trying not to let it get to her. She was a child, she couldn't help but be whiny.

She took a deep breath and relaxed before responding “Then I will ask one more time. Water, juice, or milk for dinner?” Rumi pouted a few seconds more before responding “Juice.” a short response was better than none “Do you want apple, grape, or orange juice?” “Apple.” She pulled the fridge open and filled the sippy cup before putting the jug back and screwing the lid on grabbing a gatorade for Zoey and a can of green tea for herself.

She set them at their spots on the table then pulled out bowls and spoons. Rumi had picked out a bluey themed children's tray plate, bowl, and sippy cup combo from the store so they would have something immediately but Mira and Zoey had ordered a few colorful plastic bowls and plates with matching cups and silverware to go with.

While it was inconvenient that Rumi was 5 they were having fun shopping around all the kids stuff. It was just so cute and hard to stop themselves from buying when they had as much money as they did.

Rumi crawled onto her chair to wait patiently while Zoey dished out the soup and Mira brought it to the table.

They all settled into their seats and started to dig in and they watched Rumi try and cut the balls with her spoon. Her movements were clumsy, unrefined, and sloppy. God it was kind of adorable and Mira hated to admit it “Ru, would you like me to cut it up so you can eat it?” She pushed the bowl over as a silent yes and Mira made it into bite sized pieces for her before pushing it back so she could finally enjoy her soup.

Children are so messy. It doesn't matter what they feed her, it ends up all over her face, hands, and shirt. “Okay Rumi, bath time.” Zoey goes to carry her away so Mira can clean up “C-can can we take a bath all together?” Mira turned to look at her bowls in hand “I don't think we can get in a bath with you Rumi.” She shook her little head “No, im in the bath, you both help.” So bossy but she was willing to submit to her request “Ok, you go with Zoey and pick pajamas for after and I will go fill the tub.”

Off they went to Rumi's room and Mira ducked into her bathroom kneeling next to the tub and plugging the drain before starting the water and adding a generous amount of bubble bath. Next she dumped in all the toys and checked the temperature, deciding to cool it down a bit just in case. Soon enough Rumi walked in, setting her pajamas on the toilet lid and hopped in the bath.

Zoey had apparently taken the liberty to unbraid her hair and strip her down before sending her in and Mira appreciated it. Zoey came in soon after and they quickly got her scrubbed but it devolved into a high sea adventure with captain duck and his first mate octopus.

By the time they got her out, dried and dressed the bathroom and themselves were wet. “Zoey, you rebraid and I will go clean the kitchen.” She nodded and they split up as Mira collected bowls to the dishwasher and stored the leftovers leaving her just a pot to wash and put away.

She glanced at the time and it was 7:55pm, it was bedtime. She went back to Rumi's room where Zoey had her tucked in and was reading her a book. She was all curled up and Mira watched from the door. Zoey finished the story and went to get up but Rumi grabbed her shirt and refused to let go. “Rumi, you gotta let go so I can go to bed.” Rumi looked nervous all of a sudden. Mira walked in and sat on the bed to rub her leg through the blanket “What's wrong?” She hugged her little bear and spoke almost inaudibly "I've never slept all alone.” A puzzle piece finally clicked into place.

The first night when she had her meltdown, why Celine would just stay in Rumi's room after she put her to bed. Rumi had coslept with someone her entire life. If it wasn't the same bed it was at least the same room. It wasn't till they got the penthouse that she had ever been alone and the first month was rough. Rumi had barely slept.

Mira let out a defeated sigh as this wasn't the battle she wanted to fight tonight “Me and Zoey will go put our pajamas on and then we'll be right back ok?” Rumi nodded, seeming to relax as they left the room. Mira closed the door behind her “Zoey, are things starting to make sense to you too?”

“Yeah, very much so.” With that they split to their rooms getting out of wet soapy clothes and into dry warm pajamas before going back to pile in with Rumi.

Surprisingly Mira was back first and when she got under the blankets Rumi cuddled right up to her. It made something in her feel warm and fuzzy. It was the same protective feeling she always had but something about it… it was different. Having such a small human in her arms who was so nervous feel so safe. It made her smile a little. Zoey came in and closed the door and turned out all but one dim light just in case.

It didn’t take long for Rumi to fall asleep leaving Zoey and Mira to have soft conversation above her “You know Mira, this is actually kinda nice.” Mira quirked a brow “What part?” She shrugged “I don't know, she just looks so sweet when she's not crying and I had fun playing pretend.” Mira shook her head “Don’t you dare get baby fever on me, we are lesbians in this polyqule and if we have kids its gotta be a commitment from all of us and we don't even know how Rumi would feel about it.” Zoey sighed and lightly ran her hand over Rumi's hair “I know, It was just a thought.” With a soft sigh Zoey let herself sink down into the bed “Good night jagiya.” Mira grabbed Zoey's hand and gave it a soft kiss “Good night love.”