Work Text:
Better than Expected
/+/+/+/+/
“That was an amazing concert, girls!” Bobby praised as he met them backstage. “Best one yet!”
“Thanks, Bobby!” Rumi, Mira, and Zoey said in unison as an army of assistants began taking care of them–touching up makeup and giving them drinks. Even three years after their debut, Rumi was still baffled by the sheer pampering she got. People waiting on them hand and foot. She hoped she never took them for granted.
“Alright.” Bobby pulled out his phone and swiped through it. “We’ve got about ten minutes for a break before we do a quick little fan meet and then we can get you home.” He shook his head. “Still can’t believe you guys leased an entire skyscraper.”
“Why wouldn’t we?” Mira grinned, sharp and confident.
Zoey nodded, practically bouncing in place. “I’m gonna build a turtle conservatory on floors two through fifty-five!”
“That’s almost all of them,” Rumi giggled, bright and airy.
“The turtles deserve it!” She directed an eager grin to the nearest assistants. “Right?!” The kid just nodded, not looking up from touching up Zoey’s nails.
“Alright girls!” Bobby clapped his hands, and the assistants dispersed as they stopped at the green room. “Relax, take a breath, and get ready to meet your fans! Oh! And there’s a fun little treat for you in there.”
“Bye Bobby!” they all said in unison, smiling as they entered the room. They then dropped the smiles, slumping against each other as they closed the door.
“Oh my god, my feet are killing me!” Rumi groaned.
“My arms are screaming,” Zoey flopped onto the couch. “Mira, why’d you put so many cartwheels in the choreo?”
“You’re the one that wanted things to be more ‘exciting’,” Mira groused, pushing Zoey’s feet off the couch so she could sit down. Zoey blew a raspberry in response.
Rumi shook her head, looking around the green room for the ‘treat’ Bobby mentioned.
“Geez, Rumi,” Zoey huffed. “I don’t know how you can do it.”
Rumi hummed as she looked over the makeup table. “Well, Celine’s been training me since I was a kid so–”
“I’m talking about wearing that jacket,” Zoey cut in, making Rumi freeze. “I mean, aren’t you hot? Physically!” She quickly added, sitting up. “I mean you’re, like, objectively attractive in a way that the average person would describe as ‘hot’ I guess so–”
“Breathe,” Mira drawled, reaching out to pat Zoey’s back as she gasped for air.
“I like how I look,” Rumi quickly said, avoiding looking at the two in the mirror.
“So do I,” Mira cooly replied, drawing a blush to Rumi’s cheeks. “But I’m with Zoey.” She smirked. “Unless, what, you don’t want us to see your shoulders?”
Zoey giggled. “Is that why you don’t come with us to the bathhouse?” Mira snorted, and the pair leaned against each other as they laughed.
Rumi smiled tightly, joining in with a nervous chuckle. Not for the first time she wished she could be open with the girls. She knew that Celine had always said—that her demon patterns were a problem. A mistake. That Zoey and Mira could never know about them.
But, surely, they could be trusted? They’d been friends for years now. Surely, if Rumi were to reveal the truth, they wouldn’t react with disgust or fear or anger like Celine had warned her about.
They would understand, right?
Celine’s voice echoed in her head. “Nothing can change until your patterns are gone.”
Rumi sighed. Maybe, maybe Celine could be wrong. But she was probably right. Either way, she couldn’t risk it. Rumi could barely stand the sight of herself some days. Mira and Zoey…they didn’t need to know.
The Golden Honmoon would solve it all anyway. And every successful concert was another step towards that ancient goal.
Rumi opened another drawer, and this time her sigh was a touch relieved. “Here’s the treat Bobby mentioned!” She turned and presented her findings–the special ramyeon flavors made with their images.
“Ooh! Gimme, gimme!” Zoey exclaimed, sitting up with stars in her eyes.
“Have to heat it up first,” Rumi replied, looking for a kettle.
“On your left,” Mira called out, directing Rumi to the electric kettle–right next to the sink.
Rumi filled up the kettle and started it. “And now we wait.” She hummed as she picked up Zoey’s ‘Hamburger’ flavored ramyeon. “I still don’t understand what this is supposed to be.”
“It’s the gastro-fusion of two of the most wonderful foods known to man!” Zoey replied.
“Hamburgers. Really?” Mira snarked. “They’re not even the best food made in America–if they even originated from there.”
“Heathen!” Zoey declared, fighting a smile. “Blasphemy!”
“We’re not American,” Mira countered, also fighting a smile.
“Hamburgers transcend arbitrary borders!” Zoey stood up on the couch, a clenched fist raised overhead. “They are the culmination of countless eons of search for the perfect meal.”
“That’s a funny way of saying gimbap,” Rumi said, not bothering to hide her grin.
“Rumi, you just inhale those.” Zoey scoffed. “Do you even taste them?”
“I taste them!” she protested.
Mira chuckled. “I don’t think your tongue even touches the seaweed wrap.”
“Taste is, like, 80% smell anyway.”
“You know, I gotta get you in a hotdog eating contest one day.”
Mira and Rumi turned to Zoey. “A what?” they said in tandem.
Zoey took a deep breath, and Rumi and Mira strapped in for another long lecture–not even the kettle whistling and Rumi pouring out water for the Ramyeon stopped her.
She settled on Zoey’s left, Mira on her right. She sighed fondly as she sank into the couch, eating her ramyeon. She might not be able to tell her girls the truth, but they’d stick by her. She knew that in her heart.
/+/+/+/+/
“Alright girls, the crowd’s in a real frenzy.” Bobby said with a wide, if nervous, smile. “Just remember to smile, wave, and don’t stop moving until we reach our destination.” As he said that, the dull roar behind the doors became a thundering storm. The venue’s security moving to open the doors, no doubt. Signaling that HUNTR/X was ready to accomplish the final leg of the event.
“Ready girls?” Rumi asked, setting her shoulders, putting her gameface on.
“Born ready!” Zoey exclaimed, punching the air a few times to pump herself up.
“Let’s knock ‘em dead,” Mira declared, cracking her knuckles as the door opened.
Rumi knew, factually, that HUNTR/X was popular. They’d been topping the charts since their debut. It wasn’t hubris or misplaced pride. They were awesome and people knew it.
But even now the sheer wave of fans crashing against the security barrier took her aback. The barrier bulged and security personnel strained to hold everyone back.
Rumi just smiled and waved as Bobby led them forward–though even their experienced manager was taken aback at the surrounding roars. They were really riled up, Rumi noted with a slight shudder. No one was leering, per say, but they had that wild look in their eyes that said these fans were really putting the ‘idol’ in ‘idolatry’.
“Rumi, I love you!”
“Mira, sign my cast!”
“Zoey, step on me!”
She saw Zoey flinch from the corner of her eyes–the maknae, despite her bravado, still unused to the scrutiny Rumi and Mira grew up with. She kept her gaze down, shoulders hunched. Sharing a look with Mira, Rumi slowed just enough to stand on either side of Zoey. Shoulder’s just shy of touching, but it was enough to bolster Zoey, her back straightening, eyes shining with confidence.
And then it all went wrong.
There was a shout, and one of the barriers crashed down. A security guard was pinned beneath it as the crowd surged forward.
“Keep moving!” Bobby shouted, darting beside Rumi to assist security in keeping the fans from swarming them. “Back you savages!”
“Let’s go!” Mira hissed, gripping Zoey’s shoulders–who had frozen, eyes wide like a deer in headlights–as she and Rumi hurried.
Rumi kept her eyes trained forward, arms held protectively over Mira and Zoey, her back to the crowd.
That was a mistake.
She heard the security guards curse, closing ranks around them. But someone made it through.
Someone grabbed her jacket.
Someone pulled on her jacket.
Someone tore her jacket in two.
The world came to a grinding halt as Rumi felt the cool night air touch her exposed skin. Mira sneered at the crowd, but then went wide-eyed, staring at Rumi’s arms with dawning horror.
“Rumi…” Zoey said breathlessly, backing away and into Mira.
Blood roared in her ears as Rumi hugged her shoulders, frantically tugging at the sleeves of her undershirt–her jacket, what happened to her jacket?–while the roar of the crowd stopped. She could feel a thousand eyes on her, tracing her patterns. Patterns that squirmed on her skin, burned new damning paths that betrayed her inhuman nature.
“Rumi?” Bobby’s soft voice whispered from behind her. “W-What are these–” she saw him reach for her right shoulder.
She darted away from him, breath coming out in short gasps. Bobby stared at her, arms held up and backing away like she was some kind of wild animal. And Zoey and Mira–she could see the Honmoon’s strings dancing between their fingers.
Of course. Celine was right.
Rumi didn’t even think, she just turned around and ran.
/+/+/+/+/
As Rumi ran away from all she ever knew, two demons teleported onto the rooftops, her torn jacket falling to the ground between them. The Honmoon, that ancient barrier that subjugated their kind, by luck or design, frayed where it landed.
“...So…Did you know that she…”
“Has Patterns? No, not a clue. I mean, I was expecting psoriasis or a weird birthmark or even a shitty tattoo. But Patterns…”
“Wow. Talk about lucky.”
“Yeah, I’m amazing, aren’t I? Suck it, Jinu! Teach you to try and use my body for your stupid boy band plan.”
“Didn’t you make a deal with Gwi-Ma for that body?”
“Yeah but it’s not his to use.”
“You offered!”
“And he didn’t make me the leader! You think I gave up my soul to play second fiddle to that sad sack?! Plus he’s giving everyone but himself demeaning names!”
“I like Mystery…”
“You also think that fringe was a good idea.”
“That’s...I’m not doing this with you right now. Wanna go eat some souls?”
“Sure. Might as well get the choice cuts before this place is overrun by Gwi-Ma’s dregs.”
/+/+/+/+/
A/N: Done as a gift for a friend on Discord.