Work Text:
yve
you should go, mirmira
I don't even know if she wants to see me right now.yve
she invited you, didn't she?mira
Yeah. But that was… before.yve
well you either spend the rest of the night wondering
or you just go
what's the worst that could happen?
she turns you away like you're expecting her to anyway?
The street is packed, impossibly so. All she can see ahead of her is an endless ocean of heads and shoulders. Bodies pressed up against bodies in every direction. People moving in sync, swaying left and right like the tide in an attempt to stay upright — to not be pulled under.
Myeongdong is crowded on a normal day, on New Year's Eve there's hardly any space to take a deep breath.
23:37
She adjusts the mask on her face, pressing down on the nose clip to secure the seal, before attempting to make her way through the mass of people.
It's hot. Unbearably so. Every time she tries to catch her breath there's an elbow nudged against her ribs or someone crashing into her from behind. She doesn't feel like she's in control of her body, it just moves through the path that others will allow her to go as she attempts to look for any sign of her, of them.
"We usually find a spot near Queen's Bakery if you want to join us." It's not phrased as a question, but it might as well be with the way Zoey's looking at her — eyes wide and shining.
"Aarti's friends with the owners so they usually let us wait inside until around 11:30 so we can just shove our way onto the sidewalk from the store entrance." Rumi shoots her a smile and Mira can see the same question in her eyes.
"Mira's going?!" Hana runs out of the bedroom, Anqi doing his best to hold on to her hair — half-braided — behind her. "Eomma can I sit on Mira's shoulders?!"
"I don't know if Mira would like that, gomdung-i," Rumi answers, throwing an apologetic look Mira's way.
"But you're so short compared to her, eomma. Mira's tall! Like a…" Hana deliberates, moving her fingers in a pattern that makes sense to no one but herself. "Like a Tallneck!"
"You're going to have to ask her, tortugita." Zoey leans in, hand on Mira's arm as she whispers, "You don't have to say yes. It's okay if you don't want to."
Hana runs up to her and grabs both of Mira's hands, Anqi still holding her half-braided hair above her head muttering 'little menace' fondly underneath his breath.
"Mira, may I sit on your shoulders on New Year's Eve to watch the fireworks?"
The way Hana's looking at her makes her heart feel full. She's every bit Zoey's daughter: black wavy hair that curls at the ends, freckles painted across her face, eyes bright with something Mira's not sure she has ever had — wonder, maybe, or unfiltered joy perhaps — and the same unrestrained energy coursing through her body when she's waiting for an answer to something she really wants.
It pulls a smile from Mira's lips without her permission. "Of course, Hana."
The further down Namdaemun-ro she goes, the harder it gets to breathe.
Mira's not sure if it's because of the number of people she's had to push past in the last ten minutes or if it's because of what she's scared she'll find when she gets there.
"I don't understand why you're doing this."
The way Zoey's voice cracks makes bile crawl up her throat.
"I just need to, Zoey."
"Mira, wait." Rumi pushes past Zoey, hand gripping above her elbow lightly.
She turns, breaking Rumi's hold on her.
"It's better if you let me go, Rumi." Her voice comes out small, shaky. It's not the confident voice she's gotten used to having around them and she hates herself for it. "Trust me. Please."
23:55
She spots them a little further down the road and freezes. Mira watches them for a minute: Hana bobbing her head left and right making the light-up planet antenna on her headband bounce, Rumi holding Hana's legs and looking up at her daughter while she dances with her, Zoey glancing down at her phone every couple of seconds in-between watching Rumi and Hana.
It's everything she wants.
And everything she keeps not letting herself have.
Zoey's head turns towards her then, eyes landing directly on hers like some holiday movie about fated love.
Mira's never been one to believe in fate or destiny, but sometime she wonders if there's something that she doesn't quite understand that led her to Zoey in July; that pulled Zoey's gaze at the perfect time for their eyes to meet across the crowd tonight.
Zoey gives Rumi's arm a quick squeeze before she starts moving through the throng of people towards her, and Mira can't help but meet her halfway.
A string of fate, maybe. A chord that connects them to each other and pulls them closer when they're in each other's vicinity.
She reaches out, careful to keep distance between them if that's what the other woman wants, but Zoey has other plans, crashing into her with so much force it almost knocks her over. Zoey's arms loop tightly around Mira's neck in an instant, bringing her close.
"You came."
Zoey's voice is soft, full of hope and fear, like she's scared to want this out loud or that acknowledging Mira's presence in front of her after last night will make Mira disappear.
"Of course I came," she replies, moving her hand away from Zoey's body to pull down her mask. It's a small lie — 'of course' would imply that she hadn't spent her entire day going back and forth about whether or not she would come, should come.
Ten
"Liar," Zoey says with a small laugh and it makes Mira's entire body relax. She feels warm and safe and welcomed.
Nine
Loved, she lets a part of herself believe for a second.
Eight
Zoey pulls just far enough away to be able to look up at her, eyes brimming with tears.
Seven
"I'm glad you're here."
Six
"Me too."
This time she's not lying.
Five
She glances up, past Zoey's head.
Four
Rumi meets her gaze, smiling wide.
Three
Zoey's arms tighten around her neck, bringing her attention back.
Two
She looks down at the woman in front of her and lets herself get tangled and caught and pulled into everything that Zoey is — beautiful and loving and funny and strong.
Her heart skips a beat.
One
"Are you going to kiss me?"
Mira doesn't need any further prompting.
Their lips meet as the crowd around them screams. "Happy New Year!"
Zoey tastes like vanilla and caramel and everything she didn't want to miss out on today. Mira can feel Zoey's lips curve into a smile against hers before pulling away and moving her hands down her arms, lacing their fingers together.
She tugs her forward, past a sea of people that seem to part just for her, until they reach Rumi and Hana.
"Mira!" Hana exclaims the moment she spots her, body wiggling with so much excitement that Rumi almost loses her balance.
"Hana!" Rumi yells. "Be careful or we're both going to fall over!"
Zoey squeezes her right hand as Hana stretches her arms towards Mira, hands opening and closing quickly like a crab. "Mira! Mira!! Mira!!! You're here!!"
"I am! How could I miss out on fireworks with my favourite girl?" Mira shoots Hana a smile, throwing a quick glance Rumi's way to check in. Rumi rolls her eyes fondly and nods, moving to hold Hana's torso as Mira places a quick kiss to Zoey's temple, breaking their hands apart to reach over for Hana.
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" Hana says with pure excitement as Mira and Rumi move her over to sit on Mira's shoulders.
Once she's settled, Mira's hands securely wrapped around Hana's ankles, Hana leans forward, small arms wrapping around her head in a hug.
"I'm happy you're here, Mira."
She can feel the sudden onset of tears forming in her eyes, the way her chest flushes when she's overwhelmed with emotion.
"We all are," Rumi agrees, swiping her thumb over Mira's right wrist before giving it a gentle squeeze.
Before the tears fall and the small sob breaks from her throat, there's a sudden "Oh, wow!"
All three of them look up at Hana, now sitting up straight, finger pointing at the firework of the big blue tiger.
"Oh, wow!" They all say back in unison in the same tone of voice, sharing poorly concealed laughter at their shared echolalia.
"Happy new year!!!" Hana yells loudly after each big firework, Rumi parroting it back each time with just as much excitement.
Zoey's head finds its spot just below her shoulder, arm snaking around Mira's waist and hugging her close.
"Happy new year, Mir."
"Happy new year, Zo."