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“It’s just really cold in my room.”
“I know it is.”
“Like… REALLY cold. I think something’s broken, letting the air in.”
“Sounds terrible. You poor thing.”
“I know right? Now I gotta come crawling to you! All cold, all shivering. All, y’know… Alone.”
“Mhmm, it must have been a dire situation… You’re very brave, you know that?”
Mira’s head rose from where it had been resting on Rumi’s thigh, turning her big, sad eyes up from where they had been half-hidden along with the rest of her under the half-demon’s bedsheets.
“You really think so?”
Rumi’s smile softened as her attention moved from her phone to the image of woeful hope staring back up at her. She placed the device to the side, leaning down to plant a kiss squarely on the woman’s worry-wrinkled forehead before sitting back to enjoy the blushing mess she became.
“Yes, Mira, I really do think so. And I know Zoey thinks the same, too.”
A sad sigh fell from Mira’s lips as she laid back down again, body safe between her leader’s legs but aching all the same. Their maknae had only been away five nights, and this was the third that the dancer had found herself making up a totally-believable excuse to worm her way into Rumi’s bed, and to varying degrees, her embrace. The first night the two had simply shared the bed, Mira on Rumi’s left. The second, she had woken up with patterned arms looped around her waist from behind, and now… Now she was downright addicted to the warmth and comfort that came with being just pathetic enough to keep up the silly little lies that let her in again. In to the contact that came from her girls that she found herself craving more and more as time went on, each moment of touch calming the storm of uncertainty crashing against her heart every moment they were too far from her, as one was right now.
But she had the other. If Zoey had been her rock, grounding her on dry land, then Rumi was the anchor in the ocean she found herself often drifting away in if she ever let the storm brew too wild, too wet and too fearsome. But with them… She always came out the other side again, always watching the sun pierce the dense layers of cloud that used to blot out the light long before they battened down the hatches and weathered it all with her.
“How do you know?” She whispered, a breath against the fabric of Rumi’s sweats.
Rumi’s hand came to rest on her head, starting a cycle of slow strokes down her hair, soothing the uneasiness that threatened to sweep her away if she didn’t cling on tight enough.
“Because we’re the same,” The voice above her replied, “Zoey and I, we both know what it’s like to feel alone. To feel like we’d be washed away without the other two. You know what keeps me still in all that?”
The head of pink hair shakes slowly against her.
“I know that you’re both here, even when only one of you is. Or ever when neither of you are. Call it soulmates if you want, but we all know without a doubt that we’re connected on a level no one else gets to be. And that’s what's special about us; nobody else gets to feel how we feel. I know you feel it too, because I can feel you. Just like I feel Zoey, even this far away.”
Mira squeezed her arms around Rumi’s leg once more, tightly, before letting go to push herself up. Rumi’s hand fell from her head to rest inside on her arm, thumb rubbing the soft spot of her big polar-bear pyjama top. Now at her level, Mira squinted and jabbed a playful finger into Rumi’s belly.
“When did you get all smart? I thought that was Zoey’s job.”
Rumi chuckled, both hands now moving to take a cheek in each, drawing a blushing face closer to her own.
“I’m channeling my inner Zoey.” She pecked the soft lips in front of her, stopping for a second, slightly longer taste before finally pulling away again, “Is it working?”
The speed of Mira’s nod almost knocked a full laugh free from her, but she held on long enough to lean forward and kiss her again. Mira followed her back this time, keeping them connected as they moved until her body forced her to breathe again. Truth be told, she wishes she could just breathe them instead of air.
“It is… But I want you too, you know. Can you be Rumi for me too?”
A wide, lopsided grin grew on the spot her lips had been.
“Always.” Rumi promised, pulling her into a tight hug, falling down the bed herself to lay the taller girl on her body, keeping her in place over her warmth. Mira snuggled into position quickly, naturally, taking the place she had been dreaming of for far too much of the evening, but had been far too proud to request. But then she never needed to, did she? Not with them, and the ethereal tethers binding their souls together for eternity, feeding each other with the essence that made up the other two, the three of them sharing their minds, cores, the very fibers that made them.
From somewhere out in the dark night, the line shook with a whimper, and the two of them smiled.
“Can you feel her?”
“I can…” Mira mumbled, tired but alive with love, “She misses us too…”
The line again, this time straining, taught with meaning and pressure that landed on their chests. An embrace, as firm and safe as the one in the arms already around Mira. Together they melted, the three of them, bodies forgotten as souls entwined in the space between realities; where time and distance matter not but love and life are fruitful, and all souls wait their turn to be freed back into the realm of mortal sensations.
Mira opened her eyes and grumbled.
“Still not enough?” Rumi teased, kissing her pout.
“No. Not when she could be in the sandwich right now…”
“She does like to be the butter, doesn’t she? But something tells me you feel in the need to be held tonight?”
Another nod, and Rumi moved again, rolling them both sideways now so that they faced one another, shuffling up a little so that Mira’s head rested cradled against her chest, her hand back on the taller girls’ hair and resuming its careful strokes.
“It really was cold in my room…”
“I know it was, baby.”
“...I was shivering.”
“You were. You know, when Zoey is back, we could always… Just move into one room? Properly?”
The hands gripping her white vest grip even tighter, and Mira’s face is ecstatically looking up at her all over again. She doesn’t need to speak, the answer is already in their souls.
“Okay,” Rumi chuckled, “Once she’s home, we can plan it together, yeah?”
“Thank you…” Comes the voice, small and honest.
“Don’t.” Rumi replies, “You’re not the only one who feels the hollow when we’re apart.”