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MIra and Rumi had been friends since childhood, so it’s really quite surprising that Mira only just figured out that Rumi was her mate.
It all started when they were studying in their dorm over the weekend. Mira had a big exam in organic chemistry coming up and needed to catch up on a few concepts while Rumi was reviewing for a small History quiz that upcoming Monday. Usually Mira would listen to music while studying, but this was one of those rare times music would actually be a distraction. Rumi, however, was slightly swaying and lightly tapping on her notebook to the beat of whatever was playing through her earbuds. Feeling her brain turning to mush Mira leaned back onto her hands, letting out a sigh as her eyes drifted towards Rumi. The sun was shining just right, highlighting the soft purple of her hair and adding a shine to her brown eyes. The slight frown in between her eyebrows was unfairly attractive and Mira felt a slight flush rise in her chest as she admired her best friend. Suddenly Mira’s ear and tail popped out and she froze in shock.
That had never happened before…..
Rumi must have felt eyes on her because she slowly looked up towards Mira and pulled an earbud out. “You okay Mira? Your ears and tail are out.” She raised one eyebrow along with a slight smile in confusion that only added to Mira’s fluster.
Mira did not want to imagine how much she looked like a deer in the headlights right now. “Yep,” she squeaked, “all good.” She quickly leant forward and tried to focus on her notes again, but Rumi’s soft giggle ruined what was left of her concentration and she closed her eyes trying to calm her heart that felt like it was trying to beat out of her chest.
Now here she was, having woken up at seven in the morning, panicking about her newest revelation. She was absolutely going to fail this exam. What would her pack think? They’d never allow this, surely. Rumi was a human! But that’s hardly her fault. Fate chooses their mates after all. How was she supposed to act normal around her now? Should she just tell her? The thought of Rumi rejecting her with an awkward smile on her face made Mira immediately retract that idea.
Mira groaned quietly and rolled onto her side, her eyes drifting over Rumi’s sleeping form. Her face looked peaceful, hair slightly messy from her movements during the night. Mira smiled at the sight of Rumi holding the tiger stuffy Mira had bought her for her birthday last year. God it was unfair how cute she could be. Mira just wanted to climb into her bed and squeeze her. She felt her wolf appendages pop out, but couldn’t be bothered to care with the sight in front of her.
Eventually Rumi stirred awake, eyes blinking slowly as she did a full body stretch. She slowly turned her head to look at Mira, “G’mornin..” Opening her eyes fully, they flicked up to the ears resting atop Mira’s head. “Your ears are out wolfie,” she said, chuckling when Mira snapped out of her trance.
“So it seems,” Mira said as she brought a hand up to brush over them. At least Rumi didn’t know what it meant when they popped out like that. With a sigh Mira calmed her emotions and gently stood up from her bed and the two fell into their usual morning routine.
While Rumi washed her face, Mira would change, and vice versa, but now, unexpected desires were thrown into the mix and Mira found herself wanting to be closer to Rumi than normal friends would be. She watched as Rumi gathered her hair, preparing to put it up into a high ponytail, and gave in to the desire. It was innocent enough.
“Here, let me help Ru. I can put it up for you.” She said, walking over and covering Rumi’s hands with her own.
“Oh, thanks wolfie.” Rumi beamed at her through the mirror and Mira quickly looked away as a blush spread up her neck. How was she going to make it through today?
She carefully gathered Rumi’s hair and twisted a hair tie around, pulling just a bit, but not too tight.
“Thanks, it looks great.” Rumi said, examining herself in the mirror. She moved to put small gold hoop earrings into her ears.
“You’re welcome tiger,” Mira softly smiled at her. “You look amazing.”
Rumi’s cheeks flushed red as she scoffed, “I told you not to call me that…” She turned to Mira crossing her arms and pouting.
“Hey if you get to call me wolfie I get to call you tiger.” Mira teased, smirking.
Rumi rolled her eyes, but a slight uptick on her lips gave her away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The pull Mira felt to be close to Rumi only worsened throughout the day. She would constantly be sniffing to detect her scent and had to stop herself from releasing her own on several occasions. The only people who would notice her scent would be other werewolves, of which there weren’t many, but it was still embarrassing to release it like some possessive creep.
She knew Rumi was suspicious. She had already asked her several times if she was okay since Mira’s ears and tail kept popping out and she knew it was only a matter of time before Rumi figured it out since she was incredibly observant and an avid problem solver. Already Rumi had suggested visiting the nurse for the unusual extremity reveals to which Mira had placated her by saying she would call her pack to ask about it.
Mira might as well call her mother now to break the news that her daughter’s mate would not be a werewolf. She couldn’t wait for them to yell at her about what a disappointment she was. Thankfully, Rumi was in her night class at the moment, so Mira could recover from her mother’s anger and disappointment before she returned.
“You’re an adult. Get it together.” Mira muttered to herself, attempting to psyche herself up, but her hands slightly shook as she pressed on her mother’s contact.
As the dial tone rang in her ear, Mira’s anxiety rose. What would they say? Would they banish her from the pack? What if Rumi doesn’t like her like that? What if she’s a lonely wolf forever?
The voice of her mother cut through her racing thoughts, “Why are you calling? Have you found your mate yet?”
Mira rolled her eyes at her mother’s direct questioning. “Hello to you too, I’m doing just fine. I actually did call to talk about my mate. I found them.” Mira braced herself for the onslaught of questions that followed.
“Mom!” Mira raised her voice to stop her mother from continuing, “my mate…is not…a..a..werewolf…” Her voice grew into a whisper with every word.
There was a pregnant pause before the phone abruptly cut out. Mira looked at her phone and seeing that her mom had hung up she slowly slumped to the floor and curled her arms around her knees, tears slowly rolling down her face. Suddenly, she heard a keycard swipe at the room’s door and quickly wiped the tears off her face, but the bright red around her eyes and nose gave her away as Rumi entered.
“Mira? Are you okay? What happened?” Rumi’s eyebrows lifted in worry and she hurried to set her backpack down and pull Mira into a gentle hug.
“Y-yeah Ru..I’ll be okay.” Mira sniffled, bringing her arms up to curl around Rumi’s back. “Just talked to my mom. You know how it is.”
Rumi made a small sad sound and pulled back, holding Mira’s forearms in her hands. “Do you want to talk about it? You know you can tell me anything.”
Mira shook her head.
A determined look crossed Rumi’s face. “You need cuddles effective immediately. Come on, change into pajamas and get in bed. We can watch tiktok’s until you feel better.” Rumi said, turning Mira around and gently pushing her towards the closet.
They both quickly finished their bedtime routines and climbed into Mira’s bed. The small mattress led to both of them being closely smushed together, so that neither would fall off. Rumi wrapped one arm around Mira and pulled her closer so that Mira’s head was resting on her shoulder. Mira pulled her phone out and together they sank into the mind numbing videos.
While watching, Mira felt Rumi place a light kiss into her hair and flushed immediately, unfortunately making her ears pop out and rest on Rumi’s face.
“Sorry!” Mira startled, trying to shift away, but Rumi held her firm. Mira felt the flush on her face burn and prayed that Rumi couldn’t feel it through her shirt.
“Are you sure you don’t need to see the nurse wolfie?” Rumi asked, lightly brushing her ears out of her face.
“Y-yeah, I’m sure tiger.” Mira stuttered, trying to push the flush on her face down, but to no avail. Mira tried to take deep breaths to calm down, but that only served to overwhelm her senses with Rumi’s coconut shampoo. Resigned to her fate, Mira instead turned her attention back to her phone.
Eventually Mira’s heart steadied and she fully sank back into Rumi’s embrace. “Thank you Rumi, I needed this,” She sighed, subconsciously nuzzling into her shoulder.
“Of course,” Rumi murmured. “Love you Mir.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mira was avoiding Rumi, and she knew Rumi knew it. Mira had closed herself off after the phone call, not wanting to discuss it with Rumi for fear of another rejection. Staying around Rumi reminded her of what she couldn’t have and the sound of her mother’s voice rang in her head. Mira knew she would have to explain eventually, but for now she was happy to avoid the source of her problems. It wasn’t fair to Rumi and she knew that, but she was so fucking terrified. Her heart couldn’t take another rejection. A voice in the back of her mind told her that there was no way Rumi would treat her like her mom, but the fear didn’t care and overwhelmed Mira any time she thought about revealing her secret. She appreciated that Rumi hadn’t pushed for an answer on why she was avoiding her, but something had to give. She just didn’t think it would be so soon.
~~
Mira was working on homework at her desk when Rumi walked in from her afternoon class. Trying to be inconspicuous, she slowly started packing her bag. Behind her she could hear Rumi setting down her bag and shrugging off her jacket. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could take Rumi’s scent without acting on instinct and that would for sure bring disaster. Turns out avoiding her mate only made everything worse, who knew. As soon as she zipped up her bag and stood up, she felt a hand on her arm, stopping her.
“Mira, please talk to me.” Rumi pleaded softly, “Why are you avoiding me? Is it something I did? Something I said? Whatever it is, I'm sure we can work it out.”
Mira felt the grip on her arm tighten slightly as Rumi waited for a response. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt fear wash over her. “Rumi..I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“Is that seriously all you have to say? After days of half conversations and slipping away when I come back? You don’t think I deserve at least a bit of an explanation?” Rumi huffed, irritation slipping into her voice.
“It’s not that simple okay?” Mira frowned, getting irritated. “It’s hard to explain and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“So how long are we going to keep dancing around each other? It’s unfair to me to leave me in the dark while making me feel like it’s my fault.” Rumi snapped.
Mira clenched her jaw having nothing to say in response.
“Please Mira. Just tell me if I did something.” Rumi pleaded, desperation leaking into her voice. At Mira’s continued silence her voice turned from desperate to angry, “Don’t throw our friendship away like this! Just talk to me goddammit!”
It felt like Mira was standing on the edge of a cliff. A potential fallout at the bottom and possibly facing a rejection behind her. The hopeful part of Mira’s brain urged her to try and tell her. She knew she would eventually heal from a rejection, but a complete fallout? That’s a whole other ballgame. Mira felt tears sting her eyes as she tried to steel herself, slowly turning around to face her best friend. She noticed redness around Rumi’s eyes, both shining with tears and immediately felt her throat tighten in an effort to stop from crying.
Taking a deep breath Mira stuttered, “I-I’m so sorry for avoiding you…I really am..but I just-I-I’m just afraid of your reaction to something I should tell you. A-a-and god do I want to tell you, but I-I just can’t handle another rejection.”
Rumi sniffled, “What do you mean? Something you should tell me? Another rejection? Why would I reject you? Talk to me Mira…please…” Her hand slipped down her forearm to hold her hand.
Mira stared at Rumi, her mouth refusing to utter anymore words. This was it. Mira knew that as soon as she told her about her mom essentially disowning her, paired with her being scared to tell Rumi something that Rumi would connect the dots.That realization paralyzed her with fear and an involuntary whimper slipped out from between her lips.
Rumi lifted a hand up to gently sweep her thumb across Mira’s face, “It’s okay Mir, you can tell me. I’m not going anywhere…just breathe…”
Mira inhaled shakily and squeezed her eyes closed, preparing herself to essentially confess to her mate, “Icalledmymomtotellherthatmymateisahumanwhichisyouandshehungupwhichprobablymeansshedisownedmeandimscaredyouwillrejectme.”
There was a pause before Rumi lightly chuckled, “Slow down Mir…I couldn’t understand a thing you said.” She moved her hands to Mira’s forearms, lightly stroking them.
Mira fought through the fear and opened her eyes. “About a week ago,” She began slowly, “I discovered that my mate is a human, and when I called my mom to tell her, she essentially disowned me. I haven’t heard from her since.”
She could see the confusion swimming in Rumi’s eyes as she tried to connect the dots. “I’m so sorry that’s awful…but…what does that have to do with you avoiding me?” Rumi arched an eyebrow.
Mira took another calming breath. She was really about to say it. Even though she wasn’t religious, she really hoped there was a god out there as she sent a little prayer that she wouldn’t be rejected.
“You…are my mate…” Her voice gradually grew softer, as she flicked her eyes away.
Her nerves came back in full force the longer Rumi didn’t react and she could feel herself growing hot from shame. She shut her eyes and turned her head away. Tears returned to sting her eyes and she fought to control her breathing before she started sobbing.
After what seemed like an eternity, Rumi finally spoke, “Wolfie…look at me…please?” She gently cradled Mira’s cheeks in her hands, turning her head back to facing her.
Mira inhaled sharply, so badly wanting to nuzzle into Rumi’s hands, but instead she slowly opened her eyes. Several seconds passed by as they just looked into each other’s eyes. Rumi’s eyes flickered over her face and Mira could see a light dusting of red appear over her cheeks.
Slowly, Rumi leaned up and gently pressed their lips together, closing her eyes. Mira startled slightly, but soon closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, humming slightly. She brought up her hands to rest on Rumi’s waist, gently pulling her closer. Mira felt Rumi smile into the kiss and slowly move her lips against hers. After a few seconds Rumi reluctantly pulled away. Mira started to chase after her lips, but felt hand gently press against her chest and she opened her eyes. Rumi’s face had a deeper red tint to it and a serene smile on her lips. She brought a hand up to gently stroke her cheek again. They stayed there, gazing into each other’s eyes, Mira’s ears limp against her head and tail now wagging behind her.
Rumi’s eyes flickered to it and she smirked slightly, “So that’s why your ears and tail kept popping out last week.” Her voice was teasing.
Mira flushed, letting out a groan and brought hand up to cover her face.
“It’s cute,” Rumi giggled, taking Mira’s other hand and kissing the back of it.
Mira peeked through her fingers, “So..this means you accept being my mate…right?”
Rumi reached up to remove Mira’s hand from her face and then rested her arms around her shoulders. On instinct, Mira brought her hands down to rest on Rumi’s waist again.
“Yes, you big puppy.” Rumi said smiling.
She enveloped Mira’s lips again, tilting her head slightly to deepen it, running her hand up through Mira’s hair. Mira’s arms moved to wrap around her waist, tugging Rumi closer as she reciprocated.
They both pulled back, out of breath, and rested their foreheads against each other.
“Fuck your mom” Rumi rushed out, abruptly.
Mira gently slapped her shoulder and burst into a fit of giggles.
Rumi smiled at her fondly.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Squeals of laughter could be heard coming from their room as Mira pinned Rumi to the bed, squeezing her waist and nuzzling into her neck. They had been lounging on Mira’s bed when her ears and tail made an appearance. Rumi had started making various stereotypical dog sounds at her when Mira dramatically claimed she had said something offensive and promptly pounced on her, immediately attacking her weak spots.
“Mira!” Rumi squealed when Mira brought a hand down to squeeze Rumi’s hip. Her body’s reflex to arch her back proved to be of no help, so she used one hand to push at Mira’s shoulder, while grabbing her wrist with the other. Undeterred by Rumi’s resistance, Mira continued to poke and squeeze while lightly nibbling on her neck.
“Ok! Ok! I get it!” Rumi giggled, frantically squirming to get away.
Mira left one more squeeze on her hip before leaning back to straddle her hips. A fond smile spread across her face as Rumi continued to let out small giggles, arms now limp by her side, as she tried to regain her breath.
Mira slowly rolled off of her, flopping down beside her and propping herself up on one arm. She reached an arm out to smooth Rumi’s hair away from her face and smiled when Rumi subconsciously leaned into the motion.
Rumi carelessly flung an arm out to try and hit Mira, “You’re…mean…” She said, breathlessly.
Mira caught her arm, pressing light kisses all over her hand and the part of her forearm she could reach without craning her neck, “Sorry baby. I had to teach you a lesson.” She smiled cheekily.
“Uh-huh,” Rumi deadpanned. “I bet I didn’t even say anything offensive.”
Mira didn’t respond, but her mischievous smile said everything.
“Knew it,” Rumi fondly rolled her eyes.
Mira giggled, wrapping her arms around Rumi and pulling her closer, pressing a long kiss to her cheek. “Forgive me?” She pouted, flipping her ears back and giving her best puppy eyes.
She could see Rumi close her eyes and turn her head away in a bid to resist her deadly eyes, but the pout was too cute and she pressed her lips to Mira’s. Mira’s ears flipped up and her tail began wagging as she hummed into the kiss, pulling Rumi with her as she rolled onto her back. Rumi followed, gently maneuvering herself on top of Mira.
When they separated, Rumi’'s eyes flickered around Mira’s face. “You’re so beautiful Mira.” She leaned down to press a kiss to each ear, both flicking at the light touch. “My beautiful puppy.”
A pretty red color spread across Mira’s face as she smiled shyly, tugging Rumi down into a hug to hide her face in her neck. Rumi chuckled, turning them both to lay on their sides and brought a hand up to stroke Mira’s hair leaving gentle scratches at the edges of her ears.
Mira pulled back, pressing a light kiss to her jaw, “You’re beautiful too you know. Especially when you put your hair up.”
Rumi snorted, “You just like looking at my neck.”
“I’m serious,” Mira let out a petulant whine, the pout returning. “You’re so beautiful…I’ll get you to believe it one day.”
Rumi smiled, a light dusting of pink covering her cheeks, moving her hand to gently caress Mira’s face and swipe her thumb over her lips. They lay in silence, Mira’s head moving to rest on Rumi’s chest, both just listening to each other breathe. Mira nuzzled into her chest, wrapping her arms around Rumi’s waist, taking a deep breath in. She could feel her eyes getting heavy as Rumi’s heartbeat lulled her into a light doze.
Rumi peeked down, seeing Mira’s eyes closed. “Is my wolfie getting sleepy?” She whispered, bringing a hand up to scratch behind one of her ears.
Mira mumbled something incoherent, melting into the pleasant sensation. A light rumbling sound emanated from her chest and she felt Rumi press a kiss into her head.
“I love you…” Rumi whispered, curling her arms tighter around her.
“Lo..yu..too…” Mira mumbled shifting slightly before tightening her hold.
They both relaxed into the warm afternoon. Later they would have to sink back into the monotony of studying and classes, but right now they were both content to absorb as much affection from each other as possible.