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The air was a tingling mixture of crisp and cold, biting at their noses and fingertips, while warm bodies shook together in a sea of fuzzy hats and bouncing boots, trying to keep the heat between the hundreds of people filling the streets of New York.
The novelty of the holiday was more than apparent. Plastic sunglasses and sequin hats matched the multicolored confetti strewn across the concrete, a quintessentially American thing, yet an endearing sight to the Huntrix girls. New Year's Eve was a popular celebration, filled with musical performances in which Rumi, Mira, and Zoey were invited to attend.
It was a no-brainer to join the event, of course, whether or not it was the decision of their management team to officially book them to sing, but because the chance to show themselves at such a widespread event was exciting and didn't fail to make them feel pride in their band as they stood on the stage, no matter if it was one of the smallest they'd ever been on, because they loved what they did.
New Year's Eve had a few traditions, though, and Zoey was looking forward to enjoying one of them with Rumi.
Their relationship was fairly new, and Zoey had yet to experience all of her festive daydreams with her girlfriend, especially now that they were spending most of them in America. Zoey had wished as a teenager that she would one day have the chance to fulfill her every desire, every tradition with the person she'd end up with, but life led a path she wasn't expecting.
Some couples would be out at bars, gazing back and forth between the tiny mounted screens and their over-priced holiday cocktails until the coundown reached One, and still dizzily kiss their significant other, or even a random stranger.
Most couples would be sitting at home, watching the television and counting down the New Year's clock, sharing a sweet kiss in the warmth and comfort of their own homes.
But Zoey was on the stage with her two best friends, her bandmates who made up Huntrix, and she was staring over the crowd, knowing she would be kissless once the ball dropped. Because they were professionals, and even if the media knew how much the three of them hugged and held hands on stage, they knew going so far as to expose Rumi and Zoey's relationship would only bring in a flood of criticism and unwanted opinions, regardless of how that would affect their band.
Amidst the weather, they were still expected to show everything they had to offer on the stage. Sparkling stage outfits, paired with tights, strappy tank tops, and leather jackets, weren't enough to keep them warm. Mira had commented on how they would almost definitely wake up sick the next day, but at least they only had to present themselves for a few minutes. The adrenaline was enough to keep them going with bright smiles and their best voices forward, even when their skin was numb against the snow-fallen air blowing past.
But as the time grew closer to New Year's Day, Zoey found herself pouting increasingly more into Rumi's puffer jacket, clad on her shivering form. They weren't in a direct view of the crowd, at least, not anymore, as they were no longer standing on stage. Instead, they were in a VIP subsection behind a barricade, keeping fans at a safe distance, where the other performers waited for the ball drop in their own shared space.
Cameras were everywhere, sometimes capturing celebrities with bright smiles, poses, and waves toward the camera as they appeared on many jumbotrons across Times Square.
They were there as Huntrix, not as a couple. And maybe a part inside Zoey yearned for something more, though she wouldn't give Huntrix up for the world. So she put on her best energetic grin when the camera passed by, and waved with her best friends.
Until their cameo finished, and Zoey's gloved hands wrapped around Rumi's arm to warm, minutes after their stage show, and minutes from the 10-second countdown where the glowing ball would mark the beginning of the next year, and Zoey would mark it as "The First Year She Was Finally In A Relationship And Didn't Get A New Year's Kiss But She Was Trying Hard To Not Pout About It...And Failing."
"Aw, come on, Zoe," Rumi tilted her head and gazed at Zoey with all the softness she could muster, Zoey's pout on her lips being just as cute as it was equally sad to not be kissing her. "I promise we can kiss as much as you want when we get back to our hotel room tonight."
Zoey's cheek pushed further into Rumi's shoulder, and she let out a hmph. "It's already New Year's in Seoul. We didn't even get to kiss when the clock hit midnight back at home."
Which was true. With a fourteen-hour time difference, Seoul hit New Year's when they were in an Uber on their way to practice for their show. Zoey watched the livestream in the car with Mira and Rumi, sharing a tender hug with each of them to celebrate the moment. Rumi's kiss on the back of her hand was endearing, but still left Zoey with the yearning for more.
Rumi understood the pout because she wanted to give Zoey all the traditional experiences she was looking forward to, but they both knew their expectations as idols and that they didn't want to cause too much publicity in a way that could harm them or the band. Not to mention that Rumi and Zoey were more comfortable keeping their relationship for themselves, anyway, without outside opinions, no matter how much they loved their fans.
But she also loved Zoey, and she didn't like to see her disappointed on a day she was looking forward to.
"I'm sure it'd be okay to kiss on the cheek?" Rumi asked with an unconfident but hopeful grin, and Zoey answered with an unconfident and defeated one.
"Yeah, I know," She said back, and Rumi felt her heart sink at the presence of her.
Zoey's cheeks and nose were dusted with pink, and her eyes blinked back the thoughts Rumi knew were festering within her.
"One minute to New Year!" The announcer spoke into the microphone, standing on the stage as the countdown began streaming across every major screen in every direction. Confetti canons prepared their sendoff, thousands of crowded civilians counted down the numbers, and Zoey bit her lip and pretended not to be upset with a fake smile Rumi knew too well.
"It's okay, really," Zoey tried convincing Rumi, but they both knew the truth. "What matters is that we're here and we had a really successful show! That's good still!"
Her cheery voice was cute, but the twitch in her eyebrow and circles beneath her eyes still showed her disappointment.
Forty-five, forty-four, forty-three!
The crowd chanted, and Rumi glanced around for a way out. Maybe a hidden stall, a porta-potty they could hide in, but quick moments of thinking convinced her out of that idea because there was no way she would give Zoey a New Year's Kiss in a shit-smelling plastic box, no matter how much she craved it.
Thirty-seven, thirty-six, thirty-five!
Mira nudged her side to catch her attention and raised her eyebrows to Zoey, so as to ask what their plan was. Which was ever so Mira, wanting to break the rules and do what they wanted despite what management advised. They could expose their relationship here and now, whether they were caught on the jumbotron or in snaps from fan phone cameras, but their relationship was for them, and they wanted this moment for themselves.
Twenty-one, twenty, nineteen, eighteen!
Rumi looked down at her feet, her eyes locking onto her puffer coat before an idea popped into her head.
Instantly, her fingers found the zipper of her coat and quickly shrugged her jacket off her shoulders, eliciting an eyebrow raise from Mira and widened eyes from Zoey.
"Rumi, it's freezing! What are you doing?" Zoey asked, but Rumi's plan was set in action quicker than she could think.
Nine, eight, seven, six!
Her jacket was thrown over Zoey's head, and Rumi tucked herself beneath it, giving only a few seconds to turn her head and ensure nobody could see them. The only things she and Zoey could see were their feet and each other, inches away from each other's faces, Zoey's staring back with bright, attentive ones that Rumi smiled into as she held Zoey's cheeks between her palms.
And Zoey didn't care how cold they were or how her heart started beating ten times faster, regardless of having been dating Rumi for months and having kissed her thousands of times.
Three, two, one!
Rumi brushed her thumbs over Zoey's cheeks as their noses brushed past, and Zoey held her wrists as Rumi leaned in and pressed her lips against hers in a firm but tender kiss.
It was like their first, filled with energy and passion and all the words they wanted to say but couldn't. It was a bit messy at first, but with a quick pull apart and reconnection of their lips, they melted into each other and drowned out the world outside Rumi's jacket.
Thousands of cheers and fireworks had nothing on the feeling of Zoey's hands holding Rumi's back, bare as she was stripped of her warmth to hide their affection, but comfortable in the hold of fingers and breaths and smiles finding lips over and over again.
Until their lips parted, and Zoey's starry-eyed stare made Rumi giggle between them.
"Happy New Year, Zoe," She said, and Zoey held a hand over Rumi's, pressing her cheek into her palm.
"I can't believe you just did that," Zoey responded, though her toothy grin and breathy chuckle couldn't hide her excitement.
Suddenly, their forms froze and eyes snapped open at the quick lift of the jacket, exposing themselves to the outside world around them. Though, only for a second, because Mira's body entered their space as she tucked herself beneath Rumi's jacket and crossed her arms.
"Okay, lovebirds," Mira said with a raised brow and matching smirk. "I know you think you're being secret, but you're the most obvious people on the planet."
Rumi and Zoey stared at each other, then Mira blankly.
"Uh," Rumi stuttered.
"Are we?" Zoey asked.
"I'm pretty sure you were on the jumbotron when they brought up the kisscam," Mira said back. Zoey and Rumi's stomachs dropped as Mira chuckled back at them. "Which is why I'm here to save your asses."
How Mira could save Rumi and Zoey from exposing themselves as two of the three Huntrix girls in a secret sapphic relationship, kissing in public on New Year's Day, had them staring back in perplexity.
But in another swift moment, Mira's fingers held Zoey's face and placed exaggerated smooches over her cheeks and forehead, before quickly transitioning to Rumi's and repeating the same action.
When she pulled back, she nodded once in approval at her markings—red lipstick kisses staining all over their skin.
"Wha- How does this save us?!" Rumi whisper-exclaimed in a panic.
"Yeah, isn't the kissing more obvious now?" Zoey added.
"Maybe, but nobody will know it's you two that were making out under here," Mira chimed back matter-of-factly. "I'm trying to save you two from a scandal. If we're getting a headline about Huntrix kissing, then we're making it so obvious that they're going to think we planned it from the beginning."
They debated the words between shared glances, slowly understanding Mira's point, and biting their lips in embarrassment over their shared obliviousness to their previous actions.
But the embarrassment lasted longer than a short moment, because Rumi's jacket was tugged off their heads and re-exposed them to the New Year's Celebration. Rumi and Zoey, with red lipstick kiss-ridden faces, hot cheeks, and a smirking Mira with her arms crossed beside them.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Rumi said, noticing the glances they were getting their way, and the years of PR training encouraging them to smile and wave like they knew exactly what was happening.
"I can't believe we're on the jumbotron," Zoey included, pointing at the screen across the way from them, lighting up the side of the tall office building in a large television-like display, the top of the screen reading Kiss-Cam, and on it were their red faces.
And yet, they knew exactly how to play it off.
Mira rested an arm on Rumi's shoulder and touched up her lipstick in a compact mirror, nonchalant in the way she moved even as her eyes peered into the camera, grinned, and blew a kiss.
Zoey giggled and wrapped her arms around Rumi's shoulders, waving bright and exaggeratedly toward the camera with her standard bubbly personality. But instead of stopping there, she held the side of Rumi's face and placed a long, firm kiss on Rumi's cheek. They could hear the eruption of cheers from the crowd at the affection, even if they were hardly coming out as a couple, but rather posing the "New Year's Kiss" as a novelty to the masses.
Like a prank, or a PR stunt designed to cater to the Huntrix fandom, except Rumi's heart was beating under the touch of her giggling girlfriend beside her, hugging her arm once again with an infinitely brighter smile than before.
Because her lips still tingled with the kiss they shared a few minutes before, and the many minutes they'd share tonight. Zoey's eyes and sweet smile thanked Rumi for the moment they had shared, and for the effort she made to grant her New Year's wish.
And Rumi smiled back, kissed Zoey's temple, and didn't care if screenshots of their affection would make its way onto social media. For right now, the buzz of the celebration music ran through their bodies, cold hands warmed behind waists, and Rumi hugged Zoey into her side as she began her own countdown to the next time they could kiss until their lungs gave out.