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The sound of her bedroom door slamming open was the very irst thing that greeted Mira that morning.
She groaned, pushing herself up on her elbows and blinking at the bleary shape in the doorway. Wider shoulders… Squinting, she guessed, "Rumi?"
"Mira we have a huge problem," Rumi said, her voice tight. "Can you meet us in the kitchen?"
Immediately locking in, Mira grabbed her glasses and pulled them on as she rolled out of bed, "Let me get dressed and we'll handle it over coffee and tea. do I need to kill anyone?"
"N-no." Rumi's eyes darted up Mira's body, cathing on a glint of light on metal. Her face flushed before she stumbled out of the room.
Mira looked down at herself, then winced. Of course, the night she didn't bother wearing a shirt to bed would be the morning one of her crushes bursts into her room. Hopefully she'd liked the hardware.
Pulling a top on, she made her way out of her room and into the kitchen.
Zoey was flitting about and before Mira could say anything there was a cup of tea in front of her regular spot on Rumi's left at the kitchen island.
She sat down and took a fortifying sip as she observed Zoey's energy. It was more nervous than usual, which meant she was anxious abut whatever this was. Either spiraling about possibilities or maybe she already knew by virtue of either dragging it out of Rumi or being the one to tell Rumi.
Mira observed the tension in Rumi's shoulders as she sat next to her. Her jaw was as tight as her voice had been, so Mira took another sip of her tea before setting it down and putting her hand over Rumi's, "Okay so what's so bad that this needed a group meeting in the kitchen?"
Rumi jumped a little, cheesk red, then noticeably relaxed, "We may have a situation. Bobby is already on his way."
"A situation?" Mira narrowed her eyes, "Does it have to do with me because you're acting really weird, Rumi. I mean weirder than normal and not just cuz you walked in on me topless."
"Oh man I miss all the fun!"
Mira chose to try to process Zoey's statement later.
Glancing at her and grinning in that way she did when she was delivering bad news, Rumi placed her phone down, screen up.
There, in high definition, was an image of Rumi and Mira, locked in a passionate embrace the kind that had only ever been in Mira's dreams. Was… was that tongue?
"Sooo," Zoey said, chewing her lip. "When were you going to tell me you were a thing?"
"What?" Mira's head snapped up at the hurt in Zoey's voice just as Rumi said, "No! This isn't real, Zoey! It's AI or something! Mira and I aren't… I would never…!"
The sound that Mira made must have been louder than she'd meant because Rumi immediately added, "I don't mean that you're not—I mean you're amazing Mira! But we're not a thing! But I don't mean that you wouldn't be worth being a thing but that's to say that we… aren't? I mean we wouldn't be doing that in public!"
That 'I would never' had hurt more than Mira had really been prepared for first thing in the morning. Logically, she knew that Rumi hadn't meant anything by it and clearly had realized how that sounded, but 'I would never' kept drowning everything else out.
So did something else that she saw, once her eyes focused again.
"Demons," she spat. "That one has patterns. Soul stealing bastards masquerading as us?"
Rumi flinched, "Oh. I'd rather it be AI."
"So you're not together?" Zoey asked, looking between them.
Flatly, Mira replied, "No we've just been waiting for you so we could have a threesome."
"Haha funny," Zoey looked down at the phone again, uncharacteristically quiet.
Something inside Mira's stomach twisted, but she was too upset to say anything else as Rumi scrolled through their social feeds and they took in the unfolding disaster.
"I don't know what's worse," Rumi whispered, hovering over a different picture of the 'Rumira' kiss from another angle. "That they thought something like this could hurt us, or that it might work."
Or, Mira thought longingly, how good they looked together. Even with the patterns. She could see them wrapping around the fake Rumi's bicep and felt a potent mixture of trained revulsion and something else. Objectively, they could be pretty—
—No. No she was not into that, and her Rumi did not have patterns.
"That depends on how we react to it," Zoey cautioned. She snatched the phone out of Rumi's hand and planted it face down. Her smile was blinding, "Because we can call it AI or whatever but we all know how well denials go down and something like this could… guys do you have any idea how big of an alphabet following we have?"
"No, I don't want to hurt them" Rumi ran her fingers along her braid, tugging lightly at it. "And the last thing I want to do is even look like we're siding with bigots. Lets just not say anything or do anything rash before Bobby gets here."
"Okay so no tweeting out I'm madly in love with the two of you," Mira said. "Got it."
Zoey stared at her, "That would open up so many cans of worms but I'm kinda here for it?"
"We're not fake dating!" Rumi pointed at her, "This isn't a fanfic, Zoey!"
"I mean that's an option though? Yeah we could deny it but then what if the demons keep pushing it and eventually so many people are going to believe it's true that every denial will just throw more fuel on the fire."
Zoey slapped her palms on the table, "So I think we should at least consider the idea of the two of you fake dating. Then we could do like, a fake break-up. But the friendly kind! Could get some banger songs out of it too."
"Rumi would never," Mira reminded her, a little too bitterly.
"Mira, I…Lets just… talk with Bobby first before we come up with any plans," Rumi deflated.
Something in Zoey's eyes made Mira worry. Despite her words and megawatt smile she was still clearly anxious or bothered by something, "Zoey, are you—"
The elevator dinged and Bobby came running out of it. His shirt was on backwards and inside out and his hair was uncombed. Obviously a capital E Event was happening, "Girls! The suits are losing their minds but not as much as the internet!"
"If they're waiting for a statement we just fucking woke up," Rumi growled, which startled Mira but also made her squeeze her legs together.
Cool. Break her heart then turn her on in like a two minute window, that was fine.
Bobby held up his hands like he was placating a tiger he was trapped in a cage with, "I just … Okay I get that you'd want to keep something like this secret and not tell me, your manager, the person responsible for your public image, that's cool I'm cool with that I'm so cool with that. But this—"
He waved his phone, "This was really reckless."
"It's not real—"
"—AI—"
"—even if it was we wouldn't be caught in public! We're smarter than that!"
"Really?" Bobby sounded way too surprised for Mira's comfort, "I mean, it looked really real and honestly I was going to bake you a gay cake because finally, but…"
He looked at his phone, puzzled, "The wonder and terror of modern technology."
"Gay cake?" Zoey asked, perking up.
"Finally?" Rumi asked, wide-eyed.
Bobby looked up at them, "Uh."
Looking like she was on the verge of spiraling, Rumi turned to Mira, "People can't possibly believe that you're in love with me right?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoey asked, too sharply. "Of course we love you!"
Rumi whirled to face her even as Mira was trying to wrestle with that what question could possibly mean.
"I know! I just mean like that. Romantically!"
"Well," Bobby said cautiously. "You're rarely apart, hang off of each other all the time, constantly backing each other up—"
"All of that can be platonic," Rumi protested.
"True!" Bobby held up a hand, "But … here. Sorry Mira."
He pulled something up onto his phone then cast it to their tv. Mira looked at it as a video titled 'Lovergirl' started to play and …
"Oh shit," she whispered.
It was a compilation of every time she had apparently been caught staring at Rumi or Zoey—and occasionally both— in a way that was… very hard to deny. Impossible, really. Her mind tried to think of even one excuse that wasn't her being unconsciously whipped by the two of them and came up blank.
"Okay," Zoey said. "Okay cool, I can see how people might read that as romantic. But Mira is just sappy like that, right?"
"Yeah," Rumi nodded, glancing at Mira. Her voice was a little higher pitched than normal, "Right?"
Mira hated lying and liars and lying liars but she hated the idea of losing either of them more. And not just because of the Honmoon, but she couldn't imagine her life without them. Cold and lonely and filled with demons, at least now she was warm and had companionship and … well it was still filled with demons.
"Mira?" Zoey asked, and Mira realized she'd been sitting there like a deer in headlights for entirely too long.
"I am pretty sappy," she agreed, which wasn't a lie but it also wasn't a denial so she prayed that they'd let it drop. Too late, she realized her mistake was agreeing she was sappy instead of denying her inherent sappiness like the stoic badass she pretended to be because Zoey's eyes widened and Rumi made a little sound in her throat.
"You can't." Rumi shook her head, "Whatever it is, it can't be that. I'm not worth it."
"Excuse me?" Mira bristled, reaching out and grabbing Rumi's hand as she tried to get up. Zoey practically launched herself so that she was laying across both their laps.
"You're so worth it, Rumi." Zoey grabbed her free hand and pressed it to her chest, "You're everyone's type. Why wouldn't Mira be into you?"
Seriously Zoey?
Mira coughed, "Don't put yourself down, Rumi. I've seen you command the stage or a signing or damn near everything. You're hot, I have eyes."
"Do you think she's hot like platonically or like…" Zoey gestured towards the tv which had started autoplaying a collection of Thirsty Mira clips.
Jesus, and she though she'd been subtle. That lip bite was showing her whole ass.
"Yeah I get it I'm hot!" Rumi flailed her hands even though they were still attached to Mira and Zoey, "I know it but stage presence isn't the same thing as … as being in love with someone!"
She looked between them, a kind of desperate panic in her eyes like a cornered animal, "I don't deserve it. Any of it. I don't deserve to be loved."
"Girls," Bobby said, like he was trying to calm a collection of cornered and very ornery kittens, but Mira's ears were ringing as her heart ached.
Mira couldn't understand where Rumi was coming from, it was like something had been ripped open, a scab to a wound she hadn't even known Rumi was suffering.
It scared her, that Rumi might have some self-esteem issue that she hadn't noticed. Mira took pride in being able to read people and if Rumi was hiding something she would have seen that, right?
Her eyes fell to Rumi's long sleeves and back up again and when had that become Rumi's default?
Zoey sat bolt upright, wrapping her arms around Rumi so suddenly and tightly that there was no escape. Mira was slower, more careful. She touched Rumi's cheek and forced her to look at her, "You deserve the world, Rumi."
"You can't possibly be in love with me," Rumi insisted, eyes watering over.
"Zoey I can understand, how could we not love her? The way she is so full of information, her brilliant mind and beautiful laugh? How cute her freckles are… But me?"
Deciding to process the implications of that statement a little later, Mira stared at her.
"Rumi!" Zoey nuzzled into her, "You're kind and strong and so pretty it hurts. You have the cutest laugh especially when you snort and when you concentrate your tongue sticks out a little at the corner of your mouth which, by the way, is the cutest thing ever. You treat all the people we work with really well, you're always insisting on bonuses for the crew and our backup dancers love working with us even when Mira is grinding them to the bone!"
"Hey!"
Zoey leaned back, cupping Rumi's face, "Us not being in love with you would be the surprising thing. You deserve the world!"
We.
Us.
Mira kept latching onto those words like hope that her feelings weren't one sided but she had to put that aside because the expression on Rumi's face was scaring her even more than her words.
What was wrong? How could she fix it? This was her family, nothing else mattered except the Honmoon and even that was second.
"Bobby?" Rumi said, not looking away from Mira, "Can you leave us?"
"I don't…Is that a good idea?" Bobby asked, almost too gently. Mira couldn't blame him. He always looked out for them and Rumi was clearly having a crisis.
"Please," Mira said, eyes locked onto Rumi's face because if she saw Bobby's face right now she wasn't sure she could remain calm. "We need to talk about this between ourselves."
"It'll be okay," Zoey promised. Because they were all on the same wavelength, even if Mira's stomach was twisted up something fierce. "But this is… an us thing."
"Okay. I'll uhm." Bobby gestured back towards the elevator and backed up towards it, "I'll go get you girls some snacks!"
The doors closed behind him, but Mira didn't relax. Rumi was somehow looking even more out of sorts, eyes darting between her and Zoey, breathing shallow and rapid.
It hurt. Mira wanted to fix it. Whatever it was she wanted to make it better, needed to make it better, "Rumi, why do you think you're not worth loving?"
Her voice wavered at the end.
Rumi's jaw tightened, her eyes focusing on some point in the space between Mira and Zoey, "It's not something that can be explained. It just is. A fact of nature, like how turtles have shells and tigers have stripes. I just need you to trust me when I tell you I'm not worthy of it."
"Rumi," Zoey whispered.
"Rumi." Mira gently grabbed her chin and turned her face back towards her, "Have you ever known me to have bad taste?"
"…no?"
"Then look into my eyes right now."
Almost reluctantly, Rumi met her eyes.
"You and Zoey are my family. I love you as family, as friends, but I've also been in love with you for literally years." Mira let herself feel it, let herself show it and there was something freeing about that.
"You… you can't."
"Do you think I'm lying?" Mira asked.
"Of course not, you… you hate lying." Rumi winced, "Which is why I don't deserve you looking at me like that!"
She disentangled herself from Zoey and got to her feet, "Because I'm a liar Mira. I've been lying to you from the first day we met and I was going to keep lying to you until the Honmoon turned gold, until it could fix me!"
Her tone was so harsh that it felt like a physical hit.
"What?" Zoey got to her feet, resting a hand on Mira's shoulder as if trying to balance herself, "You don't need fixing! Not like how I do."
Mira felt faint and also like she was going to throw up and definitely like the world was collapsing beneath her, "You don't need fixing either, Zoey! Neither of you do."
By some miracle, she got to her feet, "Zoey, you're amazing. I can never get enough of everything you do, I love to listen to you and Huntrix wouldn't be what it is without your lyrics and your energy. I'm proud to call you my friend. I'm the one who doesn't deserve you."
"Mira's right, except for the deserving thing," Rumi shot a look at Mira, then glanced at Zoey as heartbroken as Mira was. "You're perfect the way you are, I wouldn't want to change anything about you. There's nothing to fix. You're not broken."
"You've met me, right?" Mira asked, shoulders falling, "Angry, aggressive, nothing but sharp, jagged edges. All I do is hurt people."
Rumi stared at her with her mouth open and then Zoey smacked her palm against her own forehead, "Oh my god we're obviously made for each other. Listen to us. We're having an 'I'm the worst person' argument while trying to boost each other."
God, they really were, Mira realized. They were so far away from where this entire thing had begun; demons pretending to be them kissing and Mira inadvertently being outed as stupidly in love with her bandmates to her bandmates.
Zoey grabbed Mira's hand, "I like your edges and I know underneath them you're the kindest, most caring person I've ever met."
"I just want you two to see yourselves the way I do."
"And there you go, proving my point!"
Rumi had looked away, staring at the tv still playing one of the compilations that were showing all of Mira's lovergirl ass to the world.
"I don't know if I can," she admitted. "See myself like that. I can barely comprehend either of you being in love with me."
"Both of us," Zoey said, squeezing Mira's hand and Mira wondered how was this both best and worst day of her life?
"That makes it worse," Rumi whispered, pulling away from them. She started to pace the living room, arms wrapped around herself.
"Whatever you've been hiding," Mira said. "Just tell us. We'll get through it together." She reached out a hand towards her, "Whatever you think is worth lying to us for, I'm not going anywhere."
"Rumi," Zoey said softly. "Are you hurting yourself?"
"What?" Rumi asked, looking shocked.
"You've been wearing long sleeves constantly lately," Zoey pointed out. "But it's okay. I promise."
Rumi lifted her arms and looked at them as if she'd never seen them before, "This would honestly be a lot easier if that was all it was."
"Easier?" Mira ran her fingers through her hair.
"Are you a magician?" Zoey asked, far too excited about that prospect.
" A ma—" Rumi sputtered, an exasperated but fond look on her face, "No Zoey, I'm not a magician."
"What is with you and magicians anyway?" Mira asked.
"Bad experience at my sixth birthday party."
Rumi tilted her head, "I thought that was clowns?"
"That was me and it was some weird charity benefit when I was nine," Mira explained.
Rumi laughed—small, quiet, but a laugh none-the-less, "I guess I can be a clown sometimes."
Zoey nodded, "You're a dork and we love you for it."
Expression falling, Rumi wrapped her arms around herself. She looked so small that Mira's heart started to climb into her throat, "Rumi—"
"The part that hurts the most is finding out you feel the same way I do but losing you at the same time."
"What?" Mira dug her nails into her palm, Rumi's words like a slap to the face. From the sound that escaped Zoey's throat, she felt the same.
"Rumi!" Zoey took a step towards her, "There is literally nothing that could make you lose us!"
Mira nodded, trying and probably failing to keep the hurt out of her voice, "You're my family, Rumi. You and Zoey. The real kind, the kind they tell you about that sticks with you no matter what. Please—" Her voice cracked and her vision blurred, "Tell me that's not the lie? Tell me it's true?"
"Mira, no no of course you're family. You belong, both of you!" Almost hyperventilating, Rumi held up her hands, palms out, "I'm the one who doesn't."
Zoey tangled her fingers in her hair. Rumi suddenly grimaced and rubbed her hands along her biceps like she was in pain.
"No no no not now why now?!"
The Honmoon warped around them like a pulse, momentarily glowing an ominous purple as Rumi's voice echoed. Mira looked around her in shock, fear running up her spine like ice. She was shaking and felt Zoey grip her arm tightly enough to hurt.
Rumi was in full blown panic, hyperventilating and drawing in on herself in a way that Mira had never seen before. Heart breaking, she took a step towards Rumi.
"Stop!" Rumi rubbed her palms over her face, before she dropped to her knees. When she looked up at them, one of her eyes glowed yellow and her voice had a disquieting, eerie echo to it, "I don't belong because I never should have been born."
And then Mira saw them. Jagged purple patterns creeping up Rumi's neck, just barely peeking out from her turtleneck. Rumi tugged her hoodie off, then unzipped her turtleneck and removed that too, leaving her in just her bra, angry, glowing purple all over her skin.
The ground that Mira had relied on for so long shattered into a million tiny pieces.
"How?" Zoey asked, voice small, "How do you have patterns?"
"The Golden Honmoon, it's supposed to erase them!" Shaking, Rumi pleaded,
"So I can be free, so I could be with you. But now you know and this is why I don't get nice things. I ruin it by existing."
I'm not worth it.
I don't deserve it. Any of it. I don't deserve to be loved.
You can't possibly be in love with me.
I'm not worthy of it.
I don't deserve you looking at me like that.
I don't know if I can see myself like that.
I never should have been born.
"Your father was a demon," Mira guessed, only still standing by virtue of the fact she and Zoey were propping each other up. Zoey looked as pale and worn as Mira felt. It was the only thing that made sense, unless this was a demon lying about being Rumi but…
But suddenly the only thing that made any sense was that Rumi had been this the entire time.
"A hunter and a demon had a baby?" Zoey shook her head, "How is that possible?"
Mira closed her eyes, mostly to rid her vision of patterns. Patterns on her best friend, patterns on one of the women she so desperately loved. Her shock warred with her training warred with a decade of Celine pounding into her head that patterns were evil and that meant they had to die.
That mantra over and over again, right in front of Rumi. Who had patterns. Who had had them her whole life so there was no way that Celine hadn't known. Mira swallowed bile.
She opened her eyes again to find Rumi staring at them. Her voice was raspy and her throat felt raw, "So you've been hiding this from us since we met. Why? Why couldn't you tell us from the beginning?"
Mira needed to know, she needed to hear it from Rumi, needed to understand.
Rumi looked at her like she couldn't understand why Mira didn't, "We're hunters. We kill people like me."
"Because that's what we've been taught!" Zoey let go of Mira and stumbled towards Rumi, landing on her knees in front of her as Rumi flinched, "You're a good person, Rumi, that's not a lie!"
Everything was wrong, everything felt wrong. Rumi had patterns she'd lied about it she'd hidden it she hadn't trusted them and it felt like a knife twisting in Mira's heart.
"Zoey, I—"
Zoey wrapped her arms around her and squeezed, "I told you I'm not going anywhere, you're not going to lose me over this, I promise. I just want to understand. " She pulled back, staring into Rumi's eyes, "Okay? We'll get through this. Love doesn't stop just because the person you love has a hidden part of themselves. It's not like you're working with demons or stealing souls, right?"
"No!" Rumi visible recoiled, "I wouldn't even if I knew how! I want to protect people, not hurt them."
"See?" Zoey cupped her face, "We all just need to chill a bit, eat some kimchi and talk. Really talk, Rumi."
Through it all, Mira stared at them. At Zoey just just rolling with this like it was just another dance move, at Rumi slowly relaxing, hope glistening in her eyes. Cautious, disbelieving, but there.
Then Rumi noticed that she hadn't moved, "…Mira?"
Mira was the dancer, the one that tied them all together on stage and right now she was struggling to roll with it. She met Rumi's eyes, the left one's glow softer and more subdued now, and then took a deep breath to center herself before speaking, "First, I want you to know it's… it's not the patterns, not really."
"They're kind of pretty," Zoey chimed in.
"It's… hiding this. Hiding this huge part of yourself and lying to us and…" Mira was now the one hugging herself, "I can't stop asking myself what else is a lie and —" She squeezed her eyes shut, a few tears running down her cheeks. She didn't know what she wanted.
Except she knew what she wanted. Her girls in her arms and everything to be okay but she didn't know how that was going to be possible, except—Mira was kneeling next to Rumi before she'd even thought about it, enveloping her—and by extension Zoey— with her arms. She pressed her forehead against the side of Rumi's head, "But you're worth it, Rumi. Worth loving, worth forgiving."
Rumi started sobbing at that, which set set Zoey off and Mira—ever the sympathetic crier—was crying too.
"You're not… you're not leaving?" Rumi asked, each of her words interrupted by a sob, sounding for all the world like she didn't believe her.
Fair. Mira wasn't sure she'd believe her either, "No. And don't expect me to let you go anywhere either." Losing Rumi would break her. Mira realized that now, deep in her guts and in her bones.
If she lost either of these women it would kill her.
Rumi pulled her head back, searching Mira's eyes. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed and her own eyes were glistening, "Can you say it again?"
"You're worth loving." Mira cupped her face, "You deserve it. I forgive you. I love you." With her other hand, she took Zoey's face, "And I love you too. More than words, in a way that you can't put to lyrics."
"I might try," Zoey replied, voice catching. "I love you too." She leaned into Mira's palm, "I love both of you. In that way, in the romantic way."
Rumi inhaled sharply, fresh tears streaking down her face, "How is this the best and worst day of my life?"
"I was asking myself that earli—" Mira didn't get to finish her sentence before Rumi's lips were on her own and it was like the rest of the world ceased to exist.
Just Rumi's mouth, lips warm and soft. The feel of her body against hers, the way Zoey''s fingers caressed her ear and tangled into her hair like they were dolls and she was playing kissy face.
That was such an absurd mental image that Mira grinned against Rumi's mouth, the expression still on her face when they broke the kiss.
"Kisses don't fix everything," Zoey pointed out, cheerfully. "But my turn!" She drew Rumi in, kissing her with sweet fire. Mira rubbed at her eyes and sniffled, the weight of everything slowly starting to slide off of her. She could only imagine how Rumi felt. Even more exhausted, for sure.
But she forced herself to study Rumi's patterns, to really look at them. To begin the process of disassociating them from nearly a decade of training and instinct. Hesitantly, she reached out and trailed her finger along one on Rumi's shoulder. They felt no different from the rest of her skin.
Rumi shivered, but didn't break her kiss with Zoey. Mira took that as a good sign, for herself as much as Rumi.
"If you don't kiss Mira," Rumi murmured, pulling back. "I'll cry again."
"Can't have that." Zoey leaned up and Mira kissed her eagerly. Zoey was much more active, clearly knowing what she wanted and what she was doing, and Mira was a little dizzy by the time she pulled away.
"I know we need to talk, I've got so much to tell you," Rumi said, looking between them. "But right now I really need…uhm."
"Reassurances?" Zoey asked.
Rumi nodded, "I still feel—I'm not relaxing, I think my body needs to know it's safe. That you're safe." She held up her hands, "I know you're safe! My mind does, my heart does but my…body…"
"We're not going to overcome years of ingrained bias after a kiss," Mira agreed.
"Could you touch me again?"
Not how Mira had ever expected to hear words like that from Rumi and she needed a moment, her emotions going in ten different directions right now.
"Exposure therapy!" Zoey held up a notebook and pen that she'd pulled from whatever hammerspace she kept those things, "That's actually a great idea! Obviously the whole idea that patterns are inherently evil is wrong, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to forget about that stuff very quickly without you know, working at it."
She pointed her pen at Rumi, "Get naked."
Mira choked on air, "Zoey!" The mood whiplash was going to kill her but Zoey had evidently worked through at least some of her issues. Or at least put them aside for their talk later.
Rumi's sports bra landed on the floor nearby, quickly followed by her pants and panties and her naked everything was doing wonders to help Mira with her patterns bias. It was really, really too much though.
She pulled herself to her feet and stumbled numbly into the kitchen, pulling open the cabinet where they kept their liquor and opening a bottle of whiskey Celine had brought them from a trip to Europe a year or so ago. She opened it and took a swig directly from the bottle.
Rumi had patterns. Rumi's father was a demon. Rumi had been hiding this all along and Mira had had no idea and now Rumi was naked and the patterns were everywhere and she loved her but—
She looked up to see both of them standing in the kitchen staring worriedly at her. Mira replaced the cap and put the whiskey away, the burn not really doing anything to help.
"I'm sorry," she rasped. "It's all…it's a lot. But I think I've mostly worked through it."
Rumi nodded, working her jaw a moment before she stepped closer to Mira. Then she took her hand and there was the Rumi that Mira had fallen in love with. Kind but confident, steely nerved. The woman who once she set her mind to something followed through.
She placed it over the patterns on her belly, "Touch me, Mira. Please. I understand if they disgust you but I need…"
Mira's fingers twitched, before she moved her hand slightly, fingers across patterns. Rumi's abs tensed and relaxed under her touch, and her shoulders started to relax too.
Oh. Oh.
"Oh jagiya…I'm not… I'm not disgusted by you. The opposite." She met Rumi's eyes, "Everything is just really overwhelming." Mira rested her other hand on Rumi's hip, "Trust me, I've wanted to explore you like this for years. Literally. I just…It's a shock."
"We're okay," Rumi said, though it came out a little like a question.
"I think so." Zoey moved behind Rumi, hands on her back and Mira could tell from Rumi's eyes that Zoey was caressing at patterns there, "I think we agree we've admitted that our friendship has some romantic layers to it and that Mira and I want to devour you whole."
"Definitely," Mira agreed.
"That's mutual," Rumi whispered, eyes sliding shut.
Starting to move her hands, Mira added, "I want to explore that. I want to be girlfriends."
"We can… we can figure out the public stuff with Bobby later," Rumi said airily.
"I guess Gwi-Ma's kissy plan backfired," Zoey grinned.
Mira leaned over Rumi's shoulder and kissed Zoey. She pulled back enough to place a nervous kiss on Rumi's shoulder. Then another, and another, biting back a groan because getting to kiss any part of Rumi was a dream come true and having her like this between her and Zoey was making her hungry.
Fingers tangled in her hair and tugged and Mira learned something new and interesting about herself as Rumi pulled her head back via her hair, drawing out a sound she'd never made before.
"Oh, that's a nice reaction," Rumi whispered, awed.
Zoey looked like she'd just found next year's Christmas presents in the closet.
Eyes regaining their focus, Mira tried and failed to glare at them. But she was feeling less overwhelmed with the everything now and Rumi's patterns were doing something interesting. They shimmered, lighter than they were before. Like they were a reflection of Rumi and Rumi was feeling better about herself. Absently, Mira traced the lines of one leading from her stomach to her pelvis.
"Can I say that it feels… really great how much you're both trying?" Rumi gasped. Her fingers tightened in Mira's hair and Mira imagined that her eyes were as dark as Rumi's were right now.
"You're our Rumi." Zoey sounded exactly how Mira felt—turned on and dizzy, "You deserve our best effort. Better than our best effort." She leaned in and kissed the back of Rumi's shoulder, "But do you want to stop?"
"This is nice…" Rumi closed her eyes, leaning her head back as Zoey moved her lips and mouth from pattern to pattern on Rumi's skin as if she were trying to rewire Rumi's brain and associate them with something good.
Oddly enough, it was working on Mira, who slid to her knees and pressed her lips against Rumi's tummy, nipping lightly and then kissing her way along a pattern.
They were kind of hot, honestly. Maybe that's because they were on Rumi and Rumi was naked (and really she should be commended for how well she was keeping her hands to herself or at least mostly static on Rumi's hips), or maybe she hadn't hated them as much as she'd expected.
Didn't matter, Mira was determined to show Rumi she wasn't going to pull away from her over this. As much as Rumi needed her to stay, Mira needed Rumi to stay. But just when she started to get brave—and a little drunk on the scent of Rumi's arousal— and nuzzle and kiss her way down to Rumi's inner left thigh, she felt a tug on her hair and looked up to see Zoey cupping Rumi's breasts as Rumi arched into the touch.
"Wait," Rumi groaned, but she pressed Mira's head against her before Mira could move away. She held one of Zoey's hands in place with her free hand, "It's not fair that you both have clothing on."
Mira glanced at Zoey and Zoey…looked uncertain, actually. She took a steadying breath, "Rumi, lets slow down a little bit. Barely a few minutes ago you were sobbing and afraid we'd want to kill you."
"I want to worship every centimeter of you," Zoey promised. "Of both of you. And I know Mira feels the same way. But maybe… maybe … I don't feel settled."
Rumi let go of Mira's head, and turned around, hugging Zoey. Mira took a long, lingering look at Rumi's butt, sighed and then bit it.
"Hey!"
Zoey started to giggle, "She bit your ass didn't she."
"She did!"
Standing, Mira grinned at them. Zoey waved an arm and Mira came in, embracing them, "Zoey's right, we probably should talk a little more before we jump into bed naked with each other. I've only waited eight years what's a little longer?"
"We're talking about that later too," Zoey said.
"…Okay but I was really hoping we could at least… hold each other like this tonight…" Rumi shifted enough to look back at Mira, "I want to feel our skin all together. I never thought I could have that with these patterns."
Gently, Mira touched her cheek, "What better way to show you I love you, patterns and all?" What better way to start unlearning years of ingrained bias and to help Rumi rewrite the memory of her skin?
"Rumi can get dressed and I'll order serious talk take-out," Zoey suggested.
"I mean she can stay naked," Mira teased. "We could strip too. Since I doubt that Bobby is going to come back any time soon —"
"Girls! I — Oh I'm sorry!" Mira glanced up in time to see Bobby whirling around so his back was to them as he stammered, "I saw nothing! Why is Rumi naked?! Is this AI? Does it work like that? Are you really together?"
Rumi started to laugh, nearly doubling over from the sheer force of it. Mira quickly joined her, feeling what had to be a tiny fraction of the overwhelming flood that had to be coursing through Rumi right now. It was such a good, beautiful look to Mira that she was actually kind of glad those fucking demons had started this with their fake making-out.
"To be completely honest with you," Zoey cheerfully said. "All those pictures and videos kind of woke something in us that we want to explore!"
Keeping Mira and Zoey between herself and Bobby, Rumi called out between fits of giggling, "Lets go with it being AI but it made us realize some things about ourselves!"
"GREAT!" Bobby used his foot to shove a box of snacks towards them, "I'llcomeupwithsomethingandrunitpastyoulaterhavefun!"
"Aaand he's gone," Zoey said, watching the elevator door close.
"I should be more embarrassed than this," Rumi sighed, wiping at her eyes. At least this time they were happy tears.
Mira picked up the box and brought it over to the island, "There's something kind of freeing about it?"
"Are you a closet nudist, Rumi?" Zoey snuggled up against her.
Laughing, Rumi replied, "I don't know, but either I need to get dressed or you both need to get naked, this in between thing is awkward."
Zoey's pants flew across the room before Mira could even blink.