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So objectively they should maybe not be placing bets on the humanity of their best friend. That being said, could anyone really blame them? That had been Zoey’s argument for years and she was sticking to it; mostly (almost entirely) to avoid the guilt that was starting to surface.
What Rumi didn't know couldn't hurt her after all.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
It wasn't exactly good friend etiquette to make bets about your friend’s potential cryptid-ness. Right? She figured it couldn't have been but then again she wasn't entirely sure what anyone else would have done in this situation. Rumi was hiding something from them and if the two of them decided to make stupid bets trying to guess what it was to cope, that was between her and Mira.
See, it all started ramping up last week after a particularly long weekend in Tokyo.
Mira and her had kind of always assumed there was something… not entirely human about their leader. Rumi was intense in a very specific way that Zoey had just never been able to put her finger on. At the start she’d kind of just assumed the overly literal girl was just autistic but she’d pretty quickly started to think there was something on top of that.
Maybe it was the way she looked at things? The almost predatory way she fixated or locked onto movement? Maybe it was the silence the vocalist moved with or the way she tended to creep up on people by accident. Instinct maybe. Rumi always knew where anyone they were looking for was and that was an entirely secondary thing that Zoey had lots of questions about too. Could Rumi like? Sniff them out? Or did she have super human hearing or what was that part about?
They’d watched her hunt Bobby out of a crowd of hundreds when Celine couldn’t get him to answer his phone in the airport in Singapore within minutes. Like a straight line and everything. Rumi had known where he was the entire time which, thinking about it now, Celine hadn’t even questioned it. Just followed after her charge like Rumi was a particularly well trusted hound dog.
Who really knew what it was individually that set off an alarm in Zoey’s hindbrain but it was certainly going off. It was some sort of instinct that whispered about a predator nearby that tended to make her skin prickle early on in their training. It hadn’t taken either of them very long to get used to Rumi’s idiosyncrasies so it wasn’t a huge deal but…
They’d both had bets down for literal years about what sort of cryptid their beloved third hunter was. There was absolutely no way Rumi was totally human; there were literally stacks of notebooks with proof to dismiss that. A human person wouldn’t make the hair on the back of her neck lift by simply standing behind her, right? Rumi did that constantly. Sometimes if Mira was still half asleep she’d launch into the air in panic if the vocalist didn’t announce her presence and just did that thing she did where she hovered behind the couch to stare at them.
Actually they had arguments about that thing too but Zoey was like at least mostly sure that it had more to do with the whole ‘dragged not raised’ part of Rumi’s whole deal.
Personally Zoey had money on some sort of were-thing. Wolf maybe but Rumi was so feline in her general behavior that calling her a dog felt kind of strange. Some sort of weretiger maybe. Something big with claws and fangs that matched the ones their leader thought she was so good at hiding. Oh or a leopard. Mira had decent money on the leopard thing if she was a were-cat creature.
It would fit into the isolationist behavior too. Rumi acted like a feral cat at the best of times but one of those cats that hid when your friends came over despite following you room to room acting like it was above it all at any other time. Specifically Zoey was intently remembering Rumi doing exactly that not even two days ago; following her room to room and just so happening to be perched on various surfaces while Mira wasn’t there to entertain them. Begging for attention in the most neglected kid way possible but also so very cat like it made Zoey want to claw at her own face in raw frustration.
How do you ask someone if they’re a cat? She’d already whiped out a laser light just to see and had almost screamed when Rumi’s eyes tracked the stupid fucking dot the entire time while the repressed bastard refused to move. Her pupils had doubled in size and everything.
Mira argued that if she was some sort of were-thing that Rumi’s odd behavior would be more scheduled. The full moon was like a whole thing, right? And sure Zoey had had to concede that point but her money was still on a shifter adjacent thing. Mira, however, was arguing for something glamoured. Like a dragon. Dragons were very cat like, she’d insist any time they argued about it. Zoey had wanted to make fun of her at the time but she was too busy cursing internally about how much better of an idea that was.
Either way the argument had been going on since their third week of training and it had all culminated here.
It was an incredibly rare event, to have Rumi actually situated between them on their couch and staying there for an extended period of time. They had the long ass weekend and equally horrible flight to thank for that. Their leader barely tolerated flying as a whole, though she hid it pretty well, so the sheer amount of turbulence they’d hit had almost sent her into an early anxiety riddled grave.
Which reminded Zoey to ask later on about her anxiety meds. It was an ongoing frustration with how high the dose already was but like? She had a high enough dose of her adhd meds to kill a horse so it was probably the honmoon’s fault. Or something. Maybe that had to do with the whole ‘Rumi isn’t entirely human’ shaped elephant in the room too.
So Rumi’d stayed on the couch; probably because she was too mentally exhausted to go anywhere else. Not that Zoey was complaining about it at all, of course. These were rare and important times! And Rumi cuddles were a precious resource, so they’d just have to absorb as much of them as possible.
While Zoey herself might be folded across most of their leader’s front, half in her lap and half flopped over her shoulder, their visual wasn’t fairing much better in the whole saving herself from the siren call of couch snuggles endeavor.
Mira had all but dragged both of them into her skin, arms wrapped around the two of them like vices, though her fingers kept petting soothing circles. One set against Zoey’s shoulder and one against Rumi’s jaw. The rapper would have teased their middle child about it if she wasn’t so utterly enamored by the way Rumi’s eyes had gone all half lidded and glassy.
The vocalist looked a second away from melting into a puddle. This was arguably the most relaxed Zoey had seen her in potentially five years so sue her if she kept instigating more focus on the princess of the hour. That was to say the maknae made zero effort to keep her hands to herself and was gently (reverently) stroking her own fingers against Rumi’s exposed midriff.
On one hand her skin was soft and she always felt a little cold to the touch so who was Zoey to deny her precious leader some warmth? On the other those fucking abs needed to be explored and if Zoey was too much of a coward to ask to do it with her mouth her hands would just have to suffice. Either way the outcome was nice.
Rumi’s muscles were all slack, relaxed in a way they rarely were. It was genuine nirvana. But then-
Then-
The sound itself only registered after the sensation of it did. With her head resting on the older girl’s chest it was the deep vibration that caught Zoey’s attention first; not that she really reacted to it. Whatever it was, it was nice. It felt like pure bliss. It was-
Mira’s palm slapped across her mouth and Zoey fought the instant urge to scream. Eyes snapping up two heartbeats away from ripping into her for scaring the fuck out of her jesus christ Mira, Zoey met round shocked eyes and all the fight left her in a second. Mira looked like she’d simultaneously stepped on a landmine and found a gold vein.
Her eyebrows were lifted and she kicked rapid glances in Rumi’s general direction and that's really when Zoey clued in. The deep vibration, the soft whispery sound, the way Rumi was relaxing more and more into a soup like consistency-
She reached up to snatch Mira’s hand off her face and in her defense Mira did kind of let her.
“Ru are you purring?!”
Mira’s eyes almost rolled back into her head with the force of the disgusted sigh she let out. Rumi, predictably, went so stiff she might as well have turned into stone. So yeah, that was probably not the best way to ask that question but-
“People don't purr, Zoey.” Rumi huffed, probably thinking she was being slick like she always did but she’d essentially turned into a person shaped brick wall so it didn’t play off very chill. It took everything the lyricist had to not openly argue that she wasn’t totally human so that didn’t pertain to her but at least this time she managed to swallow the inside thought before it became an outside one.
”Uh, yeah sure but you were.” For once the wrecking ball was Mira; that was a neat change of pace. “Purring, that is.” Mira finished, lifting the hand she’d had against Rumi’s jaw to gesture it in the older woman’s face like she was pointing out some sort of proof. Fuck, they should have recorded her before she’d stopped. Knowing Rumi they’d never get her to do it again. She was probably already making some horrifically dumb twelve step plan to never breathe too deeply in their presence again.
”You definitely were.” Zoey patted the winter thick gray hoodie under her palm, a little annoyed that she couldn’t feel Rumi’s collarbone through the fabric. Trapped between them the way she was, it wasn't like Rumi could scuttle away the way she normally would have. Mira was quick to fold her now free hand back where it was and wasted even less time going right back to gently scratching her acrylics along the hinge of Rumi’s jaw.
”It's not a bad thing.” Mira hummed, shaking all of them for a second as she shuffled to settle a bit deeper against the couch cushions. “Super chill, actually. Just didn’t know you could do that.”
”Uh- I’m… I never have? Before?”
Zoey laughed, unable to hold in the semihysterical noise after Rumi’s garbled attempt at self-defense. Was she finally getting answers? Like real ones? Please be the tiger thing, Mira would owe her like a million won. This had been going on for years and every time they got frustrated the numbers got bigger. The part about the three of them sharing a bank account wasn’t important.
Rumi looked like she was in some sort of life altering internal debate but she made the same face when she was forced to choose her own boba order so it wasn’t a huge deal. Zoey’d just make the choice for her like she always did. Princess treatment and all that. Which was a secondary thought for later because how the fuck had Ryu Rumi wrapped both of them around her pinkie so easily when they weren’t even dating.
She couldn’t make her own takeout orders but that woman could create and execute a battle plan from thin air with zero issues. That had to be another point towards the whole cryptid thing.
”It’s not even the weirdest thing you do.” Zoey offered, dropping her chin down on her palms, balancing her elbows on Rumi’s stomach. It earned her a grunt and the rapid shift of Rumi’s hips as the aforementioned inhuman person struggled to shuffle into a more comfortable position. At the affronted scoff Rumi finally shoved out Zoey all but smacked her palm into the taller girl’s face in the universal stop sign gesture.
“Nuh-uh, dont argue with me! I watched you almost launch after a laser pointer like a week ago.” If anything the disgruntled noise only came from deeper in Rumi’s chest as she sucked in air to argue that point.
”You did do that on purpose you absolute-“
Mira cut in, suddenly compressed under the pile of them when Rumi surged forward to shove at Zoey’s shoulders. “Okay thats cool and all but the purring thing-“ It was followed by a pretty pathetic yelp but in Mira’s defense one of her boney ass leg’s ended up half turned under Rumi’s shin when she lunged forward.
Zoey meanwhile found a finger in her face and a very flustered vocalist all but puffing smoke out of her ears. It looked like she was about to explode either from the reminder of the entire laser pointer incident or something else. Well, actually now that she was thinking about it, there was an undercurrent of fear in Rumi’s eyes.
Eyes, Zoey realized very abruptly, that were no longer pretending to be human like the rest of her. Something must have clicked somewhere in her (hopefully Zoey had a bet to win) feline brain and turned a knob or something. The right one was normal; that same warm brown that had always felt so grounding if only because of how attentive they could be. The left one? It was burning gold, the pupil slitted like a cat’s (victory) and drilling down into Zoey’s like it was trying to bore through her.
The giant shit eating grin spreading rapidly across Zoey’s face was immediately met with the rapid dilation of that slitted pupil. Rumi was definitely debating how much trouble she was in but it was also pretty clear she had no idea anything had changed. Knowing their leader she’d have already slapped herself in the face by now if she had even the faintest idea.
Which left it up to Zoey, of course.
”You-“ she piped with absolute glee, shooting her hands up to grab either side of Rumi’s face to twist her so Mira could see the golden eye better. “Owe me so much money Mimi.”
Mira let out a low whistle, only a little stifled by the whole being at the bottom of the pile thing, and squinted a bit to look through her crooked glasses better. For what it was worth Rumi had gone absolutely stiff, all her muscles locking up and seemed to be doing her best to hover her body so she wasn’t actually putting any weight onto Mira anymore.
Of course she was trying to keep them comfortable even while Zoey could practically see the terror spiraling behind her eyes. She could feel the vocalist’s jaw tighten even further under her palms and started petting carefully in some small attempt to soothe.
It had felt really important to win that bet until this exact moment.
Now Zoey felt a little too much like she had thrown Rumi to the wolves that seemingly only existed in her head. It abruptly reminded her of every single time their leader had slunk away, hidden herself, tucked her entire personality behind that thin practiced stage smile. Something in Zoey’s chest felt like it gave, slumping into a pit that didn’t quite belong to her but felt closer than it ever had before.
”Hey-“ She started, trying to soothe the pads of her fingers in tiny circles against Rumi’s somehow still tightening jaw. Mira broke in before she could finish though, which thank god, because Mira was way better at this than Zoey could ever hope to be. Emotional intelligence vs Park Zoey had never been a fight she’d been set up to win.
Mira’s cold fingers joined Zoey’s and smoothed past them to gently start scraping her nails against their girl’s temple.
“You aren’t in trouble, Rums.” Her voice was smooth, deep like it always was, but it sounded careful. Mira formed each of her words carefully; trying to defuse the bomb that was Rumi feeling walls closing in. “We knew something was fishy but we aren’t mad at you.”
Zoey hummed in agreement, not pausing her careful petting and refusing to look away from the intense terrified look on Rumi’s face. Was it that bad? They lived in some sort of bizarre Sailor Moon power fantasy; there was literally nothing Rumi could tell them that would send either of them reeling at this point. Well, maybe something batshit, like that time she tried to claim she was straight before Mira pulled out reams of photos of her desperately trying to not stare at that new stylist until Rumi started screaming the word fine over and over again until she finally put the phone down.
“I-“ Rumi swallowed hard, leaning into the combined pressure of their hands before abruptly pulling back. “You can’t say that when you don’t actually know-“
”We’ve had bets about whatever you are for years.” Zoey offered, trying to be helpful and wincing only a little bit when Mira groaned from the bottom of the pile. What? Wrong timing? Were they not decidedly not having this conversation right now? “We kind of always knew you weren’t like… I don't know, I thought you were a werewolf for years.”
To her credit Rumi seemed actually shocked out of the building panic attack by that. “A- What?” She swallowed, Zoey could clearly feel it under her palms and blinked rapidly. Oops. Their eldest definitely realized that golden eye thing was going on because she squinted a little bit and Zoey watched utterly fascinated while the pupil dilated and constricted rapidly. Rumi had to be purposefully focusing it and it made her wonder if the vision out of it was different from her human eye. She made a noise under her breath and yup she’d definitely realized.
”I think it's super cool, if that helps at all?”
Based on the horrified look that immediately snaps across Rumi’s face she clearly disagrees with that sentiment. Which? What exactly did she think they were going to do about this? Mira had basically just confirmed they knew she was some fuck ass cryptid this whole time; shouldn’t that be relieving in some way?
“It-it’s definitely not.” Rumi all but hissed, her golden eye flaring. Something else was flashing too; mostly hidden by her clothing but Zoey could just barely see a spark of light under the cuff of her hoodie at the wrists. “It’s really not.”
Okay so this was definitely some sort of deeply internalized thing for her. Zoey for one was going to be blaming Celine for this. Yeah she’d been like a decent mom. Rumi still went to dinners weekly with her, yapped about whatever weird garden project their mentor was working on, and they always seemed close in that awkward way two people who didn’t know how to talk to other humans could be… But there was also that ‘faults and fears’ thing.
Mira spoke up again, well better than that actually, she sat up. Being forced off of the taller woman’s lap by core strength alone was a minor distraction but it also pushed Rumi more tightly between them so at least she couldn’t bolt. “We think it is.” She spoke smoothly, tilting forward so she could look at the side of Rumi’s face. “And we love you anyway. We knew something was weird and we still stayed, didn’t we?”
”You won't." Rumi snapped, and snapping was honestly a good sign. It meant the woman was starting to edge towards admitting things. Anger was always Rumi’s last line of defense, even if it made something like lead start to gather in Zoey’s stomach. “You-“ She inhaled so harshly it actually lifted the youngest up an inch or so from where she was smashed against Rumi’s front. “You have no idea-“
”You could give us an idea.” Mira cut her off, her hands falling from Rumi’s temples down to her shoulders; knuckles pressing firmly but not meanly into the meat of her traps. “I mean it. We aren’t going to be mad at you.”
A sharp incredulous noise left Rumi with so much force it seemed to knock whatever was loose in her head even looser. Zoey was almost catapulted with the speed at which their leader started ripping her hoodie up. Which? Sue her but part of her was a tad more interested in the wad of fabric ripping over Rumi’s head than whatever this was trying to prove.
It got caught on her braid for a second and she flailed a bit before Mira and Zoey both reached to help her. It was only when Zoey’s fingers brushed against bare shoulders that she realized she’d never actually touched the other woman’s skin like this before. Actually now that she was thinking about it what was Rumi even freaking out about? Scars that pointed at what she was maybe? Or something like scales hidden under her clothes or-
“Oh.” That was Mira’s voice because Zoey had all but swallowed whatever air was in her lungs.
Rumi was sitting there; chest heaving, golden eye flashing and demon markings crawling up her arms glowing a vicious magenta like toxic vines. And oh, that's what that under her sleeve was. Okay so apparently none of them won that bet then and also she had a lot more questions than she maybe would have if it was the werewolf thing.
”Oh thats…” Zoey started, eyes locked on the glowing patterns. She didn’t really know they did that. More importantly when the fuck had Rumi even managed to-
“I was born with them.” It came out of Rumi like it was being dragged out of her with force. Clearly she’d seen whatever was going on in Zoey’s head in her expression and cut that train off as fast as she could. “I didn’t make a deal.”
The silence stretched and she’d feel bad about it later but right now Zoey was too busy trying to rearrange all of their joking and betting into the reality in front of her. Mira looked just as shocked, if not more perplexed than Zoey herself. Still neither of their hands came off of Rumi’s arms. It was almost a little funny watching the patterns slowly darken from the sharp magenta into an almost oilslick dark purple shift under her fingers. They were… reacting to the touch? Greeting her almost, it felt like.
”Please say something.” Rumi finally pushed out and that's what made Zoey realize the older girl was shaking. It got her fingers to tighten, just a little bit. Not enough to hurt but enough to remind her that she was still being taken care of. It made Rumi shake harder somehow. Then, much quieter- “I’m sorry.”
”I-“ Mira inhaled but her hands lifted back up and began to rub gently back into Rumi’s temples. “Im really confused right now but you still aren’t in trouble.” Zoey did the only thing she could really think to do and nodded vigorously in agreement. The dancer sat up a bit more, pressing her chest against Rumi’s back and dropping her arms to wrap them firmly around the woman’s waist. Either not letting her run or trying to hold her together while she shook apart.
”Okay so, one question.” Zoey finally managed, blinking down at Rumi’s arms while they somehow got darker. Was that some sort of communication thing? She’d never seen other demon’s patterns change. They were always that flat purple. Which was actually really interesting in a very specific ‘whats biologically up with demons’ sort of thing that was digging into the naturalist side of Zoey’s brain. “Did your mom like go full monster fucker or was that-“
”Zoey!”
‘What? It's a legitimate question?”
Rumi was staring at her, blinking slowly like she couldn’t understand what was happening. Her golden eye, the demon one, was dilated to match the human one. That was worrying in a way Zoey couldn’t quite place her finger on. What exactly did she think was going to happen? A shocked little sound punched out of the demon(?) when Mira started to carefully rub her thumbs against her hip bones.
”I don’t know.” Rumi finally answered, her eyes flicking to the side. Debating, probably, if it was safe to turn to look at Mira. Which, again, is concerning. Did she really think they were going to… what? Hurt her? “Celine never told me a lot about it.”
That-
“Of course it was Celine’s idea.” Mira snipped, though notably her hands didn’t harden or roughen. “Was it her plan? You not telling us?”
Zoey watched closely as a lot of emotions flashed across Rumi’s face before she settled on awkward meekness. Of course she did. Now that the initial thought that she was about to be harmed in some way (they would be talking about that later) it seemed like she’d dropped back into the way she always behaved. Like a hunted animal despite being the predator in the room. That suddenly made a lot more sense.
”I wanted to tell you” Rumi hedged, not admitting anything but essentially confirming it. Mira made a disgusted noise in response and Zoey grimaced. Yeah of course. Rumi hated keeping secrets. She could barely hide what she’d gotten them for birthdays or whatever her plot was for her day to choose things on free days during tours. It was honestly a miracle she’d managed to hide this for as long as she had. Maybe it was entirely because of their entire bet thing. They’d looked past it as an assumed thing for so long. Neither of them had ever even thought to add ‘demon’ to that list.
It was about this moment that Zoey realized two things. One, while Rumi slowly let some of the tension out of her muscles the patterns got paler which was extremely interesting and she would be running tests on that later. She was a scientist! Second, there was suddenly a wide open door that she’d been handed and Zoey was not about to lose it.
”Can I see your fangs now?” She asked, pushing herself back just enough to stare directly at Rumi’s mouth. “You’ve had them forever and I’ve been so patient." Mira started laughing immediately while Rumi sputtered as close to embarrassed as someone who clearly thought they were about to die could get.
Sure this was… big? It was a big thing to suddenly have dropped in her lap but Zoey had kind of assumed there was something fucky going on with Rumi for so long that this felt more like Rumi had gotten herself stuck in a wet bag then some world shattering event. It wasn’t like this had come out in some horrific event they were literally in a pile on the couch while Rumi hyperventilated between them. Typical sleepover behavior, right?
”Seriously you aren’t in trouble but I’ve got like nine million questions and you’re being sentenced to answering them all for your lying crimes.” She offered the purple haired woman a warm smile, trying to soothe her. Wait a fucking second- Was her hair naturally purple? Make that nine million and one questions. “Starting with was your mom a monster fucker, yes or no?”
Rumi laughed; it was weak and watery but it was still a laugh.
”I- I guess?” She dropped one hand down to Mira’s, physically jamming her fingers between the taller girl’s to hold it firmly. The other she lifted carefully and gently set her hand on Zoey’s cheek. “I'm half? So I guess?” Zoey grinned. Nice to know she had something in common with one Ryu Mieyong.
“Why are you feeding into her shit?” Mira groans but she in no way actually tries to stop either of them. “We find out we both lost that damn bet and you’re asking if her dead mom fucked monsters?”
”Okay wait” Rumi started, but she settled down into them. Her back was pressing comfortably against Mira now, enough that the taller girl could drop her chin down onto the half demon’s shoulder. Her hand was warm and gentle against Zoey’s cheek. “You guys had a bet?”
”Yeah and we both lost.” Zoey huffed, bringing her own hands up to snatch Rumi’s to start playing with her fingers. “You’ve always been kind of uh? Predatory?” She made a face back at Rumi’s grimace. The woman had been joking with them but the word ‘predatory’ seemed to send her back into minor panic. “Like a house cat trying to kill bugs?” Zoey finished, deeply enjoying the way Rumi went from dejected to insulted in a nanosecond.
”A cat?” She huffed, though notably didn’t pull her hand out of Zoey’s grip.
”Yeah, you purr like one too” Mira snickered against the side of her neck. “But seriously we always kind of knew there was something about you that wasn’t totally human.” She paused, petting her fingers over Rumi’s knuckles before continuing. “Not like in an ‘you’re built wrong’ kind of way more in a ‘wow Rumi walks around like the ground doesn’t exist and scares me every single morning’ kind of way.”
It broke another laugh out of the halfling in question. “I told you I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you.” She huffed, eyes narrowed the way they always did when she was particularly happy. Another thing pointing all of Zoey’s instincts to ‘cat’ but apparently demons were just? Really feral cats? “I’m not sneaking I just? I’ve always been really quiet. I used to scare Celine constantly.”
”Oh so we just inherited the jump scares then?” Zoey cackled. The very thought of Celine getting the shit scared out of her by a silent toddler was wildly vindicating. She would be harassing their mentor shortly for baby demon stories. Oh my god, were there demon baby photos? If Rumi could hide her eye thing, intentionally or not, did she have other traits? Did she have claws? Zoey was sure she’d seen demons with tails and if Rumi suddenly sprouted a tail she was pretty sure her head would explode.
Rumi was smiling her real smile, the one that made her eyes crinkle nearly closed and turned the corners of her lips up just far enough to be a little creepy. It made Zoey’s chest hurt with how much affection slammed up into her throat. “You aren’t in trouble.” She reminded, feeling the need to make very sure Rumi knew exactly where they stood. Rumi’s eyes closed with the force of her smile and slowly but surely that rumbling sound built back into the air.
”We have a lot to talk about.” Mira added, but her arms tightened around Rumi’s middle, dragging their tangled hands over the half demon’s stomach. “Tomorrow. Once you’ve gotten used to us not being mad.”
”Okay.” Rumi hummed around the purr boiling away in her chest, her eyes closed and her body limp with relief pinned between them. Where she belonged