Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The thrum of the bass vibrates deep in Mira’s chest, almost making her heart rattle with it. The low light casts all the crowded faces into shadow, broken only by the flashing strobe. She had growled in distaste when Zoey, Abby, and Jinu forced her to come out tonight, citing that she was being even more of a bitch than normal and needed to get laid. She had argued about it for a few days before finally agreeing, knowing they were probably right — it had been some time, especially with the recent increase in business at her studio.
Jinu, of course, backed out at the last minute, stating he had something to do for his piece-of-shit father, Gwi-ma. She stuck around with Abby and Zoey long enough to down three whiskey sours and four shots before making her way onto the dance floor. The dancing she did at her studio was her favorite thing, but this — being lost in the middle of a crowd, letting her body do the talking — was where she truly felt free. Fuck, maybe she did need this.

She had felt eyes on her all night. Well, of course she did — she was hot and wasn’t ashamed to admit it. One set of eyes in particular had caught her attention more than once: a woman with long purple hair tied into a braid. She wore a yellow cropped bomber jacket with patches, a black mesh shirt underneath revealing a toned stomach and iridescent patterns spiraling everywhere — a demon, then. Not that she had any problems with that; both Jinu and Abby were demons.

The woman leaned against a wall, sipping her drink, unabashedly staring at Mira with dark, hooded eyes. Mira knew that look. She thrived on that look — and now she danced for that look. After a few more songs, she caught the woman’s gaze again and crooked a finger toward her, beckoning her into the throng of bodies. The purple-haired girl smirked, set her drink down, and stalked toward her, eyes intensely burrowing into Mira’s.

The demonette circled Mira as if staring down prey. A feral smile parted her lips, showing almost too much teeth to be considered a smile. Mira immediately focused on the prominent fangs, a scorching heat starting its way through her body. Without speaking, the demonette pulled her closer, starting a dangerous game. The bass dropped as Mira’s hands found firm grip holds on the demon’s hips. Pulling her flush against her, Mira started to dance. Her head tipped back, stretching and showing the contours of her neck. She felt a hand skate down it; a low groan tumbled out as the hand stopped at the base of her neck, applied firm pressure, and then slipped away.

Their hips ground together in synchronization, the oxygen in the room feeling heavier and harder to come by. Suddenly she was spun around and pulled against the slightly shorter woman’s body. Hands slid up and down her sides, stopping to squeeze seemingly at random. Mira’s arms lifted over her head and back behind her, her fingers slipping into the woman’s hair and pulling her impossibly closer. She felt the demonette shudder behind her.

When the woman pulled away, Mira glanced over her shoulder and watched her head toward the hallway leading to the bathrooms, then pause and look back with an inviting gaze. Mira strode off the dance floor, giving chase. The woman passed the bathrooms and slipped out a side door into the alley behind the bar.

Mira got approximately five steps out the door before she was slammed back against it, a hot mouth claiming hers. She kissed back immediately, the inferno from the dance floor spilling into the moment. A sharp bite caught her bottom lip, and she gasped in surprise — the demonette took advantage, her tongue snaking into Mira’s mouth. The kiss deepened; Mira groaned at the taste of smoke and alcohol flooding her senses. The other woman pulled away just long enough for Mira to breathe before starting a hot trail of kisses down her throat. An involuntary sound ripped out of her when sharp teeth nipped where her neck met her shoulder.

Hands hovered near her. Mira glanced at the demonette’s eyes and saw the question in them. Realizing she was asking for permission, Mira nodded.
Hands scorched onto her body, leaving her gasping and pushing into the firm touches. Suddenly, the door behind her thumped as someone tried to exit, snapping her out of the haze. She grabbed the other woman and pulled her farther down the alley, away from the club, before turning the tables and pushing the woman against the wall. Wrapping her hand around the base of the braid, she tugged slightly, tilting the demonette’s head up. A small moan escaped the smaller woman’s mouth, giving Mira a good look at the large fangs. A shiver ran down Mira’s spine.
Leaning closer, a small gasp escaped her as she felt hardness in the front of the other woman’s pants. She ground into it, and a guttural moan tore from the demon’s throat.

“I’m not looking for anything other than this — no names, no details, nothing,” Mira whispered into her ear before pulling back to look her in the eyes.

“Good,” a deeper-than-expected voice husked out, an almost unnatural undertone to it. “My hotel is just down the street. Let me take care of you somewhere we’re less likely to get shanked.” She chuckled, tilting her head, her slightly glowing eyes latching onto Mira’s throat again.

Mira gestured for her to lead the way. Following behind, she allowed herself to enjoy the view. She pulled out her phone to send a text to the group chat.

Dance Baddie: Don’t wait for me, I'll find my own way home ;)

ZOZO: NO FREAKING WAY!!!! ALREADY!! WE’VE BEEN HERE FOR LESS THAN 2 HOURS

BimbotheHimbo: Hell yeahhhh get some girly pop

TheManIHateMoreThanMyDad: okay 1 yay 2?STOP FUKIN CHNG MY NAME

Okay but mby you’ll stop being such a btch getting r tired.

Dance Baddie: Jinu, stop talking like a moron. Anyways, bye, my location is on just in case I get murdered.Slipping her phone into her pocket, Mira froze in shock at the hotel—a fancy five-star place her parents would insist on, the kind she would usually roll her eyes at. She hesitated for a second… then followed anyway.

The lobby’s bright lights hit her hard, the drinks still thundering through her system. She blinked and shuffled toward the elevators, disoriented.
As soon as the doors closed, the woman pressed the penthouse button, quickly punching in a code. Before Mira could react, she was pinned to the wall again. Their lips met for a fleeting second before the kiss trailed down Mira’s neck, ending in a sharp bite to her shoulder. A moan escaped her, a mix of pain and pleasure.
The woman sank to her knees, lifting one of Mira’s legs over her shoulder. Her gaze locked onto Mira’s, searching—permission, Mira realized with a jolt. A small nod, and the woman disappeared beneath her skirt.

Shivers ran through Mira as a tongue dragged over the lace, already damp. Her hips jerked forward, seeking more contact. The woman’s hand pressed firmly on her waist, holding her still. Another hand parted the fabric, and a hot tongue traced her wetness. Mira gasped, her head falling back against the elevator wall. She gripped the back of the woman’s head, pulling her closer.
The tongue quickened, lapping her, then shifted—small, tight circles over her clit. Mira tried to thrust forward, but the hold was firm. Her sounds spilled out, unrestrained.

“More… fuck, more,” she gasped, stomach tightening with need.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The woman peeked out from beneath the skirt, wetness dripping from her chin.
“Tell me what you want, babygirl,” she growled, eyes glowing with a feral hunger. Mira wanted to tell her to fuck off—but desperation had won. Four months dry was enough.

“Fuck… your fingers. Take me. Fuck me,” she moaned, searching for friction on her aching core. Her wish was granted. The tongue returned in fast, teasing flicks, and a finger slipped inside, stretching her. A moan tore from her at the sudden fullness.

“You’re so wet… I bet you can take another, can’t you, sweetgirl?” The flush in Mira’s face answered for her. The finger retreated, replaced by two, and a brutal moan left her throat. Tongue and fingers moved in unrelenting rhythm, pressure building in her lower stomach until her orgasm hit like a wave, ripping another moan from her.

The woman slowed, guiding her through the peak before finally withdrawing. Standing, she licked her fingers clean and wiped her face with her jacket sleeve, hot and dangerous.
The elevator dinged, doors sliding open into the penthouse. Mira gasped as she was lifted, instinctively wrapping arms and legs around the woman. Hardness pressed into her ass as she was carried inside. A grin spread across her face—this night was far from over.

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The Morning After

Harsh light cut through the floor-to-ceiling windows, slowly bringing Mira back into the world of the living. Her head throbbed, mouth dry, body sore. She looked around the unfamiliar room, trying to get her bearings. Clothes and empty alcohol shooters were strewn about, and she was sprawled across a large white bed.

Glancing over, she saw the purple-haired woman, clearly naked, stretched out next to her. Mira struggled to piece together the previous night: the bar with Abby and Zoey, the dance floor… then a flash of memory—the elevator, the woman beneath her skirt, stumbling into the room, stealing expensive shooters from the mini-fridge, clothes being ripped off in desperation, the purple-haired woman slipping on a condom while giving a random statistic about birth control. It wasn’t even a turnoff—safe sex and consent were sexy, and this woman had both in spades.
Gingerly rolling off the bed, Mira began gathering her clothes, slipping them back on, and then shrugged into the yellow bomber jacket she’d grabbed off the floor. Her crop top from last night did not exactly scream “sneak out at 8 a.m.”, plus she could feel the sting of bite marks all over her body. Blinking at her phone, she realized her contacts had dried out and been removed in the night. Ugh. This was why she always needed a spare pair of glasses.

She slipped into the elevator, calling an Uber on the way down. When she stepped out, she headed into the dining area, killing time until the car arrived. She rattled off the room number and code she had watched the girl type, snagged a muffin and a cup of coffee, and returned outside to wait.

At home, she thanked the driver and hurried upstairs, hoping Zoey hadn’t already woken up to ambush her. The apartment was quiet. Slipping off her shoes and tossing the stolen jacket onto a chair, she headed to her room to wash off the lingering stink of sweat and sex. The shower was amazing, hot water stinging against the bites littering her skin, the worst on her throat and thighs.

A pounding on the door interrupted her:

“Miraaaaa, you’ve been in the shower foreverrrr! Hurry up—it’s interrogation time!” Zoey sang, slapping the door.

“Zoey, I’ll be out in a minute. Make yourself useful and make coffee,” Mira groaned, feigning annoyance. She heard giggles and footsteps retreating down the hall.
She finished showering, wrapped her hair in a towel, and threw on a soft t-shirt and shorts before heading out. The smell of fresh coffee and sausage hit her first, the sound of it brewing next, and finally, the smug grin on her best friend’s face. Slumping onto a stool at the counter, her shirt slipping off her shoulder as she reached for the mug Zoey slid toward her, Mira raised an eyebrow.

“You look like you were mauled last night!” Zoey exclaimed, pointing at the marks littering her throat.

“I’m 90% sure I was. A very polite, hot mauling, but a mauling nonetheless,” Mira replied, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. “Only words you get: hot, demoness, feral, and packing. If you get what I mean.” She winked.

“Oooohh, can’t believe you’re not giving me more, but it sounds like you were dicked down good. Jinu was right—you have been grumpier than usual.”

Mira raised an unimpressed eyebrow, then suddenly cracked a grin and laughed.

“Okay, maybe I’ve been slightly more of a bitch than usual, but Jinu knows better than to talk to me before coffee—or, like, at all.” She shrugged and got up to turn the food Zoey had forgotten. Breakfast was short; they complained about having to go back to work before declaring the rest of the day a couch day. Zoey asked about the yellow jacket. Mira laughed and called it a trophy before tossing it in her room—yellow did not match the vibe of their living room, after all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One Month and Three Weeks Later

Mira laid her head down on her desk, the door to her office closed. Something about today's class just drained her. Well, honestly, the past few weeks of classes had been piling up. Her stomach groaned in protest, nausea burbling inside her—a recent, recurring thing. Maybe she was getting sick? They did have COVID/flu combo tests at home; maybe she’d take one when she left, if she remembered. That’s another thing—her memory was shot. Maybe she just needed a break, a couple of days off. She could rearrange the schedule and have one of the other instructors take over her classes. That’s exactly what she’d do, she thought, as she drifted off to sleep on her desk.

She woke suddenly to the sound of her door swinging open as Zoey and the guys stepped through. The takeout they carried made her stomach twist violently, saliva pooling uncomfortably.

“Ugh, what is that? It smells awful,” she groaned, pinching her nose closed.
Jinu raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“It’s literally Mandu from that mom-and-pop joint you say tastes like home. Literally your favorite food.”

“We just ate it last week, babes. You were fine with it then,” Abby said, looking at her like she was crazy.

Mira felt a fire start under her skin before biting out, “Well, it’s making me sick now, Abby. It’s not last week anymore, is it?”

“OK, OK, OK. We can just leave this outside for now, maybe eat it later. We only came because we were worried, Mira,” Zoey said, hands raised dramatically, then gently grabbed the food, set it outside the office, and closed the door. Immediately, her stomach settled and the anger dissipated, replaced with regret.

“I’m really sorry. I don’t know why I snapped. You guys were just trying to help,” she said, sniffling, her eyes starting to sting.

“Bro, the mood swings in this one… is it your monthly—” Jinu started, but Abby hit him in the arm.

“Dude, that’s not cool. You don’t make jokes about that; it’s actually insulting and invalidating,” Abby defended.

Sudden lightning sparked in Mira’s veins. Time of the month… her period. She hadn’t had it in the last two months.
“Okay, everyone but Zoey leave, like, right now. Appreciate the food, but this is suddenly a girls-only talk,” Mira said firmly, gesturing toward the door. The boys looked confused but shrugged and turned to leave. Jinu popped his head in at the last second,

“We are taking the food, though. Byeeeeeee.”

Mira didn’t even acknowledge him, continuing to stare at her desk calendar in shock. She always drew a red star on the date she was supposed to start and a smiley face on the day she ended. She was supposed to start at the beginning of this week. Flipping back a month, she stared at the red star there, and no smiley face to denote the end. Her hands shook slightly as she spiraled. There was no way this was possible. She had to just be sick. Early menopause? Surely there was an explanation other than the one screaming in her head.

“Mira? What’s going on?” Zoey asked cautiously, stepping around to the other side of the desk and placing her hand on Mira’s back, rubbing comforting circles.

“Zoey, I haven’t had a period in two months. I constantly feel sick, I’m exhausted, I have massive mood swings. Tell me this couldn’t be what I’m thinking,” Mira said, eyes wide and pleading. The hand on her back stalled as Zoey processed her words.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Zoey whispered, eyes wide and lost. “Cancel the rest of tonight. You can take an early weekend, and we can stop by the pharmacy on the way home.”

Mira sent out two mass emails—one to her students for the night and one to the staff—before grabbing her stuff and following Zoey out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three minutes. That’s all it took for her life to be thrown upside down. Three short minutes. A little plastic white stick and three minutes—that was all it took. The digital screen mocked her: Positive.

Shaking, she ripped open another package. Three minutes: Positive. Another three minutes: Positive.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. This can’t be true. What am I supposed to do? I can’t be a mo—”

A familiar knock on her door pulled her out of spiraling.

“Mira? Can I come in?” Zoey asked, cracking the door open before stepping fully inside after waiting for Mira to say no. She spotted the three discarded tests on the counter. Mira held one up hollowly. Zoey looked down at the word Positive blinking at her. She put the test down and pulled Mira into her arms, tightening her hold as sobs wracked Mira’s body.

“It’s okay, love. I’ve got you, I’ve got you. We’ll figure this out together, okay? You, me, and when you’re ready, Abby and Jinu.”

Mira laughed manically.

“I’m fucking pregnant, Zo. Me? Pregnant? Oh my God, how does this even happen? I’ve only slept with that one girl in all this time! Dude, I was on the pill and she used a condom! HOW THE FUCK DOES THIS HAPPEN?” Mira ranted, pacing agitatedly.

“I don’t know. I really don’t. It’s still early enough in the day. Let’s call your gynecologist and see if we can get in—blood work, whatever they need. Let’s get all the facts and go from there, okay?” Zoey said, stepping in front of Mira and grabbing her arms. “This will be okay, Mira. That I do know.”

After the doctor’s appointment, Mira found herself led back to the car, a stack of papers and folders in her arms—a definite diagnosis: pregnant. She had blanked out on much of the appointment, but the doctor had sent her home with all the information and options, patting a separate folder gently. She had a follow-up at the beginning of next week to discuss her decisions.

Zoey reached across the center console, placing her hand over Mira’s and squeezing tightly. Her own hand trembled, but the squeeze helped Mira settle herself a little.

“Should we call the guys over so we can all talk? Or do you want to keep this between us for now?” Zoey asked hesitantly.
Mira just looked down at their hands.

“Call the guys, please,” she said, her voice cracking. Zoey didn’t respond verbally, just dialed one of the boys and told them to meet at their place. They agreed to arrive in 30 minutes, giving them time to prepare.

Positive. Pregnant. Positive. Pregnant. The words swirled around her, mocking her. She didn’t even know what she was supposed to feel. Emotions weren’t really her forte—that was more Zoey or Jinu’s domain. Strong, steady, dependable—that was her and Abby. She wished she felt any of that now, instead of fear, unease, and a weird burst of happiness. That one was strange—and the longer she thought about it, the stranger it got.

Was she happy? Did she want a kid? She’d never thought about it. Coming from a fucked-up family, she had to be just as fucked up, right? She couldn’t do that to a kid—take a beautiful, happy child and teach them how to speak through a mouthful of glass.
Her hand subconsciously drifted to her stomach, holding it for a few seconds before dropping. Zoey glanced over, noting the gesture but saying nothing—unsure if Mira even realized she had done it.

The boys arrived, loud and chaotic as usual, but quickly realized the vibe was off. Zoey sat on the couch, bouncing her knee nervously, while Mira stood by the window, staring out with a warm mug of tea pressed to her chest as if it was the only thing grounding her.
They quietly sat down on the couch on either side of Zoey, waiting. They knew something was happening.

“Mira? Do you want to tell them? Or if you can’t, I’ll do it. Whatever you need, okay?” Zoey asked softly, crossing the room and placing her hand on Mira’s back. Mira leaned slightly into the touch, using it to ground herself before taking a deep breath.

She crossed the room and sat on her chair—the one everyone knew was hers. No one dared sit there anymore after the last time she’d thrown a knife at Jinu’s head. When everyone freaked out, she had informed them it was a butter knife, but if she had really wanted to hit him, there was no way it wouldn’t have landed.
Mira opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if trying to remember how to form the words. She settled on blunt—her safe space.

“I’m pregnant.”

The words detonated into the room. Everything went silent.

“You’re pregnant?” Abby echoed, looking like he had seen a ghost.

“Yes. Seven, almost eight weeks. Went to the doctor today, all confirmed. Pregnant. Crazy, right?” She started with her usual bluntness, her tone building into manic laughter. Zoey stepped close and placed her hand on her.

“How did this happen?” Jinu asked, puzzled.

“Well, when a boy and a girl love each other very much—wait, no, that doesn’t apply here. Hm… when a girl and a girl with a demon dick fuck each other—” Mira sneered, before being cut off.

“OK, OK, OK, sorry, forget I said that. That’s not what I meant, obviously. I guess I’m just lost here, Mira,” Jinu said apologetically, hands raised, palms out. “What do you plan to do? Whatever you decide, we’ll support you 100%. And if you go through with the pregnancy, Abby and I will be the best uncles your kid could ever ask for.”

“Abby will be an uncle, Zoey will be an aunt, and you’ll be the strange man who lingers around us,” Mira snarked, flashing her special smile reserved just to mess with Jinu.

The smile softened as she hesitantly continued, “I don’t know what to do. Every part of me is screaming in fear, but a part of me is happy. Which is weird—what does that even mean? I don’t know how to be a parent, and I didn’t have good parents to lead by example. So if I do this, am I just destined to fuck him up?”

“Him, huh?” Zoey joked, watching Mira flush at her slip. “Mira, you’re my best friend. I’ve known you for years, and I know—out of all of us—you’d be the best parent. You are strong, fiercely protective, and when you decide to love someone, you do it with every atom of your body. You won’t be alone in this. All three of us will be there for every step, every doctor’s appointment. That I promise you.”

Mira just stared at Zoey, soft adoration in her eyes—the kind she only shows to her.

“You make me sound like such a softie.”

“Uhhhh, that’s because you are, babes,” Abby chimed in. “ZoZo is right—you are amazing. Plus, if it’s a boy, I can teach him all my gym techniques. Also, as much as you’d hate it, you’ll need me and Jinu around if it’s a little half-demon.”

She stared at them, tears wobbling at the edges of her eyes. Not quite falling yet. Is it okay if she wants this? She had thought she’d never have a family after disowning hers. But now, looking at this room, she saw her real family. What would it be like to add to it—a little baby with her hair and shimmering patterns?

A bucket of water got thrown on her happy thoughts—shimmering patterns, Abby’s words, half-demon, a woman with long purple hair.

“I think I want to do this, especially with you guys supporting me. I can’t believe I just said that, but I really think I do,” she laughed a little, incredulous, before sobering. “What about the other half of this little equation? Do I find her? Do I tell her? Should I tell her?” She looked into the eyes of her family.

“Do you want to tell her? You don’t have to,” Abby said firmly. Zoey nodded emphatically.

“It’s not my choice, but my personal opinion is to tell her—or at least try to find her. We can figure out her name and do some digging to see if she’s a piece of shit before deciding anything. If she’s not, I believe she should at least have the chance to decide if she wants to be part of the kid’s life. So that day, when the kid grows up, you can tell them straight up what happened,” Jinu added, nodding to himself.

Mira thought for a second, trying to remember anything about the girl that would suggest she was shitty. She was polite, asked for consent, gave speeches about safe sex. Mira snorted aloud at that—fucking safe sex.

“Let’s find her, or at least try. I’ll give her the option.” Mira decided.

“Alright, what facts do you have? Name? Age? Where she lives?” Zoey asked, pulling a notebook and pen from seemingly nowhere.

“Yeahhh… about that. I don’t have any of that information. We did this whole ‘sex only, no names, no details’ thing,” Mira grimaced, giving a half-shrug. Then she remembered something. “Oh, wait—I stole her jacket. Maybe that has a hint.”

She darted out of the living room, dug through her closet, and pulled out the bright yellow jacket. Holding it up like a trophy, she returned.
“Here it is!”

Zoey jumped to her feet, suddenly invested. They examined the jacket, checking all the patches. A few bands, some odd patches, a giant blue goofy-looking tiger.
After a few minutes, Mira noticed the boys had gone silent. Looking up, she saw them staring at the jacket in shock. Slowly, she placed it down and turned to fully face them, Zoey stopping beside her.

“What’s wrong? Why do you guys look like that?” Mira asked hesitantly. She felt her world was about to tip sideways.

“The girl… what did she look like?” Abby asked, voice strangely strained, eyes not leaving the jacket.

“Um… definitely some sort of demon. She had the patterns, but instead of normal purple, they were iridescent. She had purple hair, insanely long, tied into a bra—”

“Braid?” Jinu interrupted, words strangled out of him. He turned to Abby. “There’s absolutely no fucking way, right? Like 0% chance.”

Abby just stared, shock evident.

“What is it? Do you know her?” Mira pressed, frustrated.

Jinu grabbed a random abandoned cup of water and took a large gulp before looking at Mira. Abby looked down at his phone, scrolling rapidly.
“If we’re right, based on that jacket and your description, I’m 99% sure. Well… I guess you’ll be calling me Uncle Jinu,” he said, laughing a little, running a hand through his hair. “It’s my half-sister… Rumi. That’s her coat—I put that tiger patch on there myself.”

Everyone froze. The apartment froze. The world outside seemed to freeze for a moment. Mira looked at them, disbelieving.

“How can you be sure? This sounds so fucking fake. A half-sister we’ve never heard of before, Jinu? If you’re fucking with me, I swear to God I’ll make your life hell.”

Abby just stood, handing Mira his phone. On the screen was an Instagram profile. She shakily tapped the first photo—there she was. Looking different, dressed in a blazer, holding a briefcase at the front of a lecture hall—first day of teaching uni. Sure enough, it was Rumi, Jinu’s half-sister. Someone she had never heard of, somehow met in a club, and now… had a kid with her.

“You still have her on Instagram? She blocked me on everything,” Jinu said, striding over, looking at the phone.

“90% sure that’s not what’s important right now, baby,” Abby said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“That’s her,” Mira finally said, breaking her silence, shakily handing the phone back. “Somehow, out of all the people in this world, I have sex with YOUR sister of all people. And now? Ew… now we’re like… related-related or something.”

“Pretty sure that’s not the hill to die on right now, but damn, that was easier than I expected. Like, I guess I don’t need this notebook anymore, but now what? Does she live in Seoul? Any other random unknown family members?” Zoey tossed her notebook onto the couch.

Jinu cleared his throat, uncomfortable. “Last I knew, she still lived on Jeju, but that was a while ago. I can check with her parents, though. She changed her number, so I’m not sure how else to contact her.”

“She has her DMs turned off on Insta as well, so no go there,” Abby added.

Mira took a few steps before collapsing into her chair, groaning and rubbing her face.

“How did this suddenly go from ‘I’m pregnant’ to a whole K-drama? What did I do to deserve this?” she muttered angrily.

“Threw a knife at my head,” Jinu shrugged. “Do you want me to go over there and see what I can do?”

She considered it. Everything was already pressing down—decisions, paperwork, trying to figure out her next steps.

“Yeah, go over there. We’ll stay here for now and plan the whole… baby operation. Apparently, I need to start taking some vitamins? I don’t know.”

“What… uh… do you want me to say to her if she’s there? Do you want me to tell her, or just say someone is trying to get in touch with her?” Jinu asked, clearly trying to read her. God, Uncle Jinu—he’d never let this go. Mira thought for a moment, realizing with dread that if this girl looked her straight in the face and said she didn’t want to be involved, she might actually hit her.

“Yeah, tell her. I don’t want to face her if she says no. I might kill her,” Mira laughed, but everyone knew she was serious.

Jinu nodded, stood, and dusted off non-existent dust before looking at Abby.

“Are you coming?”

“Hellllll no. I am not going to be there when you tell Celine and Mi-yeong what Rumi did. I’d rather live, actually. I still have nightmares after the fiasco with Celine when she found out we snuck her out,” Abby shuddered, giving Jinu a thumbs-up. Jinu sighed, saluted the room, and disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke.

The room went silent for a few beats as everyone processed the reveals.

“Tell me about her… is she a good person?” Mira asked hesitantly.

Abby let out a small chuckle. “She’s a great person, probably one of the best I’ve known. She knows her morals and sticks to them, unflinching. She’s loyal to almost a fault. Non-confrontational, but when the need arises, she will protect what’s important to her. Back when Jinu and I started dating, some kids were being rude to him, calling him slurs at a party their dad dragged them to. I wasn’t there, but from what I heard, once she heard what the other kids said, she stomped over, hit one of them in the face, and broke another’s arm. She’s also extraordinarily dorky and awkward. You met drunk Rumi, who is hot and confident. Day-to-day Rumi is goofy and doesn’t typically know how to handle social situations, but she’s down-to-earth and real. I honestly cannot imagine her not wanting to be part of the baby’s life,” he said, glancing at her directly.

“And her and the Jinu thing? Seems like they don’t have a good relationship?” Zoey interjected hesitantly.

Abby sighed and shook his head. “That situation… I don’t know much about it. All I know is that one day we went from seeing her every day to not seeing her at all. Something happened, and the only detail I got from Jinu was that it had to do with their father, Gwi-ma. That all happened about a year before we met you guys. Honestly, until today, I don’t even remember the last time either of us said her name. It became a whole Voldemort—he who must not be named—situation.”

Mira leaned back, pulling out the folders the doctor gave her and began going through them, telling Zoey what to write in her new notebook, which she promptly labeled Baby MiZoAbJi—a combination of all their names, since it was their baby now. Processing the information in the folders was still hard, especially with thoughts of Rumi circling in her mind.

Chapter Text

Rumi wasn’t sure how she ended up at this club. The music pounded too loudly for her sensitive ears, the scent of sweat and cheap liquor burning her nose. The other professors in her department had invited her out to a casual bar for drinks after work, wanting to make connections with her. Reluctantly, she had agreed. However, six drinks later, they dragged her to a nearby club, insisting on dancing now.

After throwing back a few shots with them, they had seemingly scattered, which didn’t bother her all that much. She was pretty much ready to call it a night, glad she had the foresight to rent a hotel nearby. She knew better than to drink and teleport; the last time she did that was back in college, and she ended up in the wrong dorm, approximately six feet off the ground, crashing in the middle of what appeared to be a badly planned orgy. That had been a rough night, and she had no plans to end up like that ever again. Finding one of her coworkers, she said she was heading out and wished them a good night.

Pushing through the throng of people, she headed toward the hallway leading to the bathrooms and side exit. Suddenly, she felt a hard tug back where she had come from. Confused, she turned to find the source. The dark creature that lived under her skin rarely surfaced anymore, so this put her on edge. A flash of long, dark pink hair caught her eye, and something inside her told her that’s what she was looking for.

Leaning against the wall, she studied the woman her beast seemed drawn to: tall, in platform combat boots, a short leather skirt showcasing long legs, a black cropped shirt with a faded rock band logo, and a tight choker matching her hair color. Rumi’s mouth went dry at the sight of the choker. A flash of her own hand replacing the choker surged through her brain, sending a wave of pure heat through her.

The beast inside snarled, demanding that they must have her. Rumi felt a faint wave of agreement with the demand, a low growl rumbling in her chest while a smirk pulled at her lips. She had made eye contact with the woman a few times now, and the way the woman danced seemed to change, almost as if she were dancing for Rumi’s eyes only.

The woman curled her finger toward her, demanding Rumi come and dance. Feeling the woman’s body against hers caused a low groan to escape, her cock twitching in her pants as the woman ground backward into it. Rumi wasn’t sure where all her confidence came from, but the next thing she knew, she was on her knees in the elevator of her hotel, licking her pussy like it was her last meal.

Bursting into the room, they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other, clothes scattered across the floor in their rush. She knew she couldn’t slow down until she was buried in the other’s tight cunt. They stumbled toward the bed, mouths connected, teeth clashing as they fought for dominance. Rumi growled into her mouth, grabbing the woman and practically throwing her on the bed.

Pinkette moaned at the rough handling before making a come-hither motion, spreading her legs and letting her hand dip into her own warm heat. Rumi moaned at the slick sounds filling the room before striding toward her bag, ripping it open, looking for the foil packets she knew were in there somewhere.

“God, if you don’t come over here and fuck me, I’m gonna take care of it myself,” the woman snarled.

“Don’t you dare. Hands off,” Rumi commanded, dominance radiating from her every pore. “Just give me a second to put on a condom.”

“I’m on the pill, fuck, just come here,” the woman groaned.

“Actually, even on the pill, about 9 out of 100 women still get pregnant. Using a condom as well takes that number down to 1.6 out of 100,” Rumi rattled off, not even realizing what she was doing. The room went silent for a moment before she turned to the woman, who was staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Shut up,” she said, grabbing the woman’s legs and pulling her to the edge of the bed, her cock nudging the wet folds. She took a moment to line herself up before glancing up at the woman, silently asking for permission, getting the consent she needed. She slowly pushed herself in, moaning at the hot flesh enveloping her. When fully sheathed, she waited a few seconds to allow the groaning woman below her to adjust.

The woman got impatient, wrapping her legs behind Rumi and pulling her sharply closer.

Rumi groaned before pulling back to the tip and then slamming herself in, setting a brutal pace. Moans broke through the slapping of skin meeting skin. The beast inside her roared in pleasure: Ours to claim. Take her. She felt herself approaching the peak of pleasure, stomach tightening, hips stuttering. The woman below began shaking, her walls fluttering around Rumi’s cock.

Praises spilled from her lips: You got this, sweet girl. So good. So fucking beautiful. The woman’s back arched, a silent scream ripping from her as she orgasmed, her walls clenching around Rumi, causing her to tip over the edge as well, her cock twitching and gushing as she was milked. Moaning, she slumped over the woman, pulling out and taking shuddering, deep breaths.

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The Morning After

Rumi woke to the sound of the elevator dinging as the doors slid open. Looking over to the other side of the bed and finding it empty, she sighed in relief, glad they didn’t have to do that awkward morning-after tango. Sitting up, she grimaced at the state of the room: empty shooters scattered around, used condoms piled in the trash can next to her. Thank God she was at least clear-headed enough to remember to use them; she didn’t want to end up with an unexpected kid, she chuckled to herself.

Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed and padded to the kitchen to down a cup of water before starting to clean up and get her stuff ready to go home. Throwing on clean clothes, she set off on a mission to find her jacket. She hadn’t spotted it on her first glance around, and after a more thorough search, it wasn’t in her room. That bitch stole it, Rumi realized. Her fucking coat—she’d had that for the majority of her life—and now it was gone. Ugh. If she ever saw her again, there were going to be major issues.

Checking out of the hotel was simple, leaving a hefty tip for the cleaning staff. She walked into the lobby bathroom and teleported out of there. Landing in her room at her parents’ place in Jeju, she threw her bag down before heading downstairs toward the smell of food and coffee. Celine stood at the stove stirring something, while Mi-Yeong sat at the table reading an article about international affairs. Both looked up when they heard Rumi enter.

“Good morning, baby! Did you have fun last night?” Mi-Yeong said, getting up and placing a kiss on the side of her head. Rumi just raised her hand and swatted at her mom half-heartedly, knowing they would never stop treating her like a baby—only child syndrome, ya know.

“Yeah, it was fun. Not sure if I meshed well with the others, but hopefully it went okay,” Rumi muttered, always embarrassed about her utter lack of social skills.

“Well, as long as you made the effort, that’s what matters, kid. People remember the action of showing up, not necessarily the event itself,” Celine said from the stove, always the advice monster, before plating food and putting it in front of her.

“Thank you, Eomma,” she managed to say around a mouthful of food, suddenly starving.

“Manners!” Mi-Yeong said, lightly smacking Rumi’s head with a rolled-up newspaper. Rumi made an apologetic noise while getting lost in her own head. It was weird—the way her inner beast had made an appearance for the first time in years just to tell her to go fuck some random woman. There was radio silence from her demonic half now, so maybe it wasn’t something she should ponder. Maybe it was the tequila? She didn’t normally drink anything other than vodka or soju, but her coworkers had recommended it. Oh well, she sighed. She’d never have to see that girl again; she didn’t even know her name.

The next few weeks were strange. Anytime she went to Seoul to teach her lectures, her demonic half seemed restless, pulling her in random directions. She had followed it a few times, but after it led her to the same dance studio three times, she decided maybe it was just going crazy. Did it want her to learn a different type of dance? After a couple of Google searches and no results that made sense, she just accepted that maybe it needed to come to the surface a little more because she ignored it too much.

The next month, the pulling got worse and worse, but time and time again it led her to the same three places: a dance studio, an apartment complex, and a coffee shop. Not wanting to look like a stalker anymore, she decided to firmly ignore it and move on with her life. The beast itself seemed feral, almost whispering words into her mind: Protect. Ours. Small one. Rumi wasn’t sure what to make of these ramblings, and the only people who might know, she refused to talk to—so that was not an option. She didn’t even bother telling her moms because it clearly wasn’t that big of a deal. She was just glad it was Friday and she only had one class to teach before heading home for the weekend. Being in Seoul had been driving her crazy, so staying home for the next couple of days sounded practically like a vacation.

After class, she decided to stop by a little mom-and-pop shop that made the best mandu she had ever had. She grabbed a big to-go order to take home and share with her mom. Since it was the middle of the day, Celine would still be at work and therefore wouldn’t lecture them about eating takeout instead of cooking at home. Dropping off her bag on her designated hook by the door and her shoes on the shelf, she headed into the living room where her Umma sat watching some random show.

“Don’t tell Celine, but I brought manduuuuuu,” Rumi sang as she walked fully into the room—immediately freezing when she saw Celine sitting in her favorite armchair, a book in her hands and an unimpressed look on her face.

“Umm, hi Eomma. I, uh, definitely did not bring mandu. I, uh, made it myself?” she said, trailing off almost as a question. Mi-Yeong just laughed and pointed at Rumi.

“Look at your face! Caught red-handed—or should I say, dumpling-handed?” Celine turned her gaze on Mi-Yeong next.

“Are you saying you weren’t going to eat any?” she asked in a deceptively calm tone. They both looked away, pretending not to hear it. Rumi headed to the dining room to grab three plates, knowing Celine would inevitably break down and have “just one,” which would turn into seven. She sat on the couch, beginning to divvy out the food, placing one in front of Celine but casually leaving the rest of the box nearby.

“How was class today?” her Eomma asked, making casual lunch conversation.

“Good! We went over the relationship between design and human emotion—the different aspects of light and materials that subtly control the narrative of emotion. We think we decide how we act in buildings, but the architecture is really the one writing the choreography,” she explained excitedly, knowing her moms would listen to her rant about her classes for hours. She opened her mouth to continue when a sudden knock at the door interrupted her. They all glanced at each other, not expecting any guests today. Celine had a shared calendar with them that even included notes if people were coming over.

“I’ll get the door,” Mi-Yeong said, standing and heading toward the entryway. They heard the door open and quiet talking, followed by two sets of footsteps coming back into the room. Looking around, Rumi’s blood froze when she saw her shitty half-brother. She shot up from her chair.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she snarled, the demon within rising to the challenge. Her moms gave disapproving looks, but Rumi didn’t care. Every wall she had snapped up to full height, a cold, impassive expression sliding over her face. Jinu raised his hands to show he wasn’t here for a fight.

“Listen, I’m just here to talk to you about something. I don’t want to fight with you. Let’s talk and you can go back to pretending I don’t exist,” he said neutrally.

“Yeah, the only time you want to talk is when Daddy dearest sends his little pet out. So what do you—or sorry, what does he—want?” she gritted out, feeling familiar old rage settling in. After all the shit he pulled, he shows up and says he wants to talk. He can shove his words up his ass. It’s been five years since she last saw him, an eternity too soon to see him again.

“This is probably a private conversation; I don’t think you want them here for it,” he said calmly, gesturing to her parents, who made slight disgruntled noises at the dismissal.

“Yeah, no, they can definitely stay, especially if I’m expected not to just kill you where you stand, traitor,” she hissed too quietly for human ears before saying louder, “No, they can stay.” Her words seemed to get a rise out of Jinu, which was exactly what she was aiming for. His hands clenched around his phone, a small whine escaping as pressure mounted.

“Listen, Rumi, don’t make this any harder than it—” he started, before being cut off.

“Get to the point. Daddy is missing his favorite lap dog,” venom pouring from her mouth. Jinu moved quickly, suddenly in her space, his breath coming hard and fast.

“Shut the fuck up, Rumi,” he growled lowly.

“Why? You won’t do shit. You’ve, after all, never stood up to anyone in your life,” she spat, chest to chest with him. Growls rolled out of both their mouths; she could feel her canines lengthening, her eyes burning. She hated that he was taller than her; it felt like he was looking down on her. Her words struck him in the heart. He snapped, pushing her hard against the wall behind her. She stumbled before shouting,

“FINE! YOU WANNA BE ALL PERFECT? WELL, THAT WOMAN YOU FUCKED TWO MONTHS AGO? YEAH, SHE’S PREGNANT. CONGRATS, APPA.”

He went to say more but shut up as Rumi’s fist struck his face. The room went silent, aside from their heaving breaths. The color drained from her face as she processed what he had said. He shoved his phone in front of her, showing a picture of a familiar woman with pink hair. Looking at it, she stumbled for a moment before booking it for the door.

“I need air. I need air, fuck,” she managed before bursting outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Little Jinu POV

His face burned where Rumi had hit him, a creeping sense of regret settling in. Glancing at Celine and Mi-Yeong, he noticed they were staring at him and the door Rumi had bolted through, respectively.

“That… was not how that was supposed to go. Fuck, not at all. Didn’t realize she hated me that much,” he muttered, mostly to himself, though loud enough for the others to hear.

“Is it true?” Celine asked, steel in her voice as she fixed him with a piercing stare.

“Yeah. She’s my friend. Went to the doctor, got it confirmed. Rumi was the only person she’s slept with in the last eight months—the timeline matches up, everything checks out.”

“And she knows it was definitely Rumi?” Mi-Yeong interjected.

“Yeah. We showed her a picture, and she has Rumi’s yellow bomber jacket. I guess she wore it home that morning. I’d recognize that jacket anywhere—my own shitty stitching job is on there,” he added, nodding in confirmation.

Celine slid her laptop toward her, already down to business. “I’ll need all of her information, Jinu. Make sure this is legit and she’s not just after money.”

A flash of anger and protectiveness surged through him. “Okay—one, that’s my best friend; you don’t know her, so watch it. Two, she didn’t even know Rumi’s name, so it’s not like she hunted her down—not that she ever would. Three, money is not an incentive for her. Remember the Kang family? The scandal with their heiress walking away from them? That was her. She walked away from her fortune because they treated her like shit.”

Celine continued to stare at him over her laptop, challenging him with her gaze. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

“Is she planning on keeping the baby?” Mi-Yeong shifted the conversation back to the more important matter.

“Yeah, she is. She wants to find Rumi to give her the chance to be a part of the kid’s life. She doesn’t need her, though—she has a strong support system willing to be there every step of the way. Me, Abby, and our other friend Zoey,” he said, puffing out his chest slightly, proud of his little family.

Mi-Yeong looked at him softly, tears glimmering in her eyes, then glanced down at Celine.

“A grandbaby, Celine. We have a grandbaby on the way.”

A broad smile spread across Celine’s face before settling into a softer expression. She glanced toward the door. “I’ll go talk to her. I probably have the most experience in this matter.”

Jinu grimaced slightly, knowing she was referring to his father—knocking her up and leaving. He shifted nervously as Celine continued to stare him down, though he wasn’t sure if he was imagining the tiny, fleeting smile that touched her lips for just a millisecond.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rumi Ruminating
Her knuckles stung as she forced herself away from the house, little drops of blood falling from where she’d split the skin. Fuck, she hasn’t hit someone in a long time, feeling a grim satisfaction over cracking Jinu in the face. Not the point right now, she reminds herself, her feet carrying her toward the massive tree on their property. This had always been her thinking spot—a large, thick branch about fifteen feet off the ground. She set herself into the climb without even looking for a route; it was all muscle memory at this point.

Settling in with her back against the trunk, she couldn’t help but see images from that night again, trying to rewind and figure out where she messed up. Hell, she even rattled off the 1.6/100 women fact. Fuck, did she jinx them? She groaned, lowering her face into her palm. A baby—there is a baby out there with half her DNA running through it, a Small One her demon supplied. Cold realization sank in. This entire time, her demon had been pulling her toward something over the last few weeks, chanting Ours and Small One. Her demon had known the woman was pregnant and was trying to bring Rumi to her.

Protect, her demon seemed to hum in agreement.

“Okay, but why did you draw me to her back in the club?” she demanded. The beast inside her went silent for a moment before giving Rumi what felt like a shrug. Fucking useful.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of approaching steps. Umma, her mind supplied. Her mom stopped at the trunk of the tree to look up at her before grabbing a branch and starting to climb. That’s the way things always were: Rumi would get upset and climb the tree to think, Mi-Yeong would climb up when she was ready to talk, or Celine would wait patiently at the bottom with a thermos of tea until Rumi came down.

“I’m not as young as I used to be,” Mi-Yeong said, panting slightly as she finally sat next to her. “I’ll still climb this tree every day of my life for you, if you need me to.”

“I would’ve come down at some point. My thoughts are too loud,” Rumi admitted, looking out into the distance for a moment.

“She’s keeping the baby and wants to give you the option to be a part of their lives. Now, Rumi, I really want you to think about this. Your mother and I will support you either way. As shitty as your father was, the best thing he did was straightforwardly tell me that he wouldn’t be there—rather than committing and running when the going got tough.” Mi-Yeong rubbed her back as she spoke, a mixture of support and firmness in her touch.

“That’s what I’m scared of. I run, and I don’t know how not to run,” she admitted, looking down and twisting her hands.

“Unfortunately, that’s not a simple thing to fix. You’re like your Eomma in that way. But what helped her was finding something to run toward instead of away from. That thing? You and I, baby. She chose us.” A small smile crossed Mi-Yeong’s face as she drifted into faraway memories. “The first thing to decide is what you want to do. You can choose to let her raise the child with her support system, you could send money and do check-ins every now and then, or you could go be there with them—to meet your kid.”

Rumi thought for a few moments, digesting her options. Her mom didn’t rush her, just sat and waited.

“I mean, it’s scary, but I want to be there in whatever way she’ll have me. I’m so scared that she won’t want me there after she sees who I actually am. I mean, I’m a nerd who still lives with her parents at twenty-eight; that doesn’t exactly scream parent material. She also lives in Seoul, over an hour away. Sure, I can teleport, but I can only go that far once a day. If I went to work and back and there’s an emergency, then I’m stuck an hour away. Oh god, do I move to Seoul?! I mean, that takes plann—” Rumi started spiraling before her mom cut her off.

“Alright, well, let’s stick with one thing at a time. One: what matters is that you want to be there and support her. Two: if she finds you a nerd, so be it—because you are a nerd. Three: living with your parents in this economy? People would foam at the mouth for the opportunity. Also, the rest—you’ll just have to see after you talk to her. We still own our penthouse in Seoul, so if you decide it would be beneficial to move, you already have a place. Let’s start with going back inside and getting her information from Jinu so you can set up a time to talk.”

Rumi sighed in relief at her mom’s structured response. Sometimes she needed someone to just break down her thoughts. Her mood soured when she remembered he was inside, blood pooling on a marble floor flashing in her mind, before she shook herself out of it and jumped down from the tree.

“Do you have to do that every time?!?” her mom yelled down. “One of these days you’re going to break your neck.”

Rumi just laughed, shaking her head at words repeated countless times. She waited for her mom to climb down, and then they both headed across the yard to the house.

Stepping inside, she was greeted by the sight of Celine and Jinu sitting at the table, having a low discussion, while Celine gestured toward her screen and he nodded along. A bloom of vindictive pleasure flooded her when she saw the dark bruise starting to form on his face. She wished she could have done more to his slimy ass.

She cleared her throat to get their attention. Both looked up while Celine hurriedly closed her laptop. That’s weird—I never feel like I have to hide something from me, Rumi mused, but decided to turn back to the more important topic.

“I want to meet and talk with her about all of this. Of course I want to be a part of it. Can I have her contact information?” Her voice was tight as she tried not to get into it again with him.

He just stood and handed her a slip of paper, a number written on it.

“Well, sounds like we’ll be seeing more of each other, sis,” he said before teleporting out of there—just in time as Rumi grabbed the nearest object and launched it at him.

Fuming, she stomped over, picked up the object she threw, and sat down staring at the number in her hand, her hands shaking as she pulled out her phone to start drafting a text. Her moms were having a quiet conversation, Celine’s laptop open and angled away from Rumi. She hated when they hid stuff from her.

Ryu Rumi

Hello…

Wait, she just realized Jinu never once said her name. Fuck what does she even say? What if it’s the wrong number? She can’t just be like hello, is this the pregnant lady. Glancing towards her moms again she sighs,

“Celine, did he tell you her name? I can’t very well text an unknown number without knowing it.”

“Yeah it’s Kang Mira.” She murmurs, not quite looking up from her screen. Mira, Rumi runs the name around her head a few times getting the feel for it, yeah Mira just feels like the right name she decides.

Ryu Rumi

Hello, this is Ryu Rumi. I am trying to get in touch with Kang Mira, Jinu gave me this number and I wanted to make sure it was correct.

Mira

This is she
I assume you are the one who knocked me up

Rumi lets out a gasp at the bold words, fumbling for a second. What am I even supposed to say to that?

Mira

1.6/100 right? Guess I’m the lucky 1.6. Anyways you want to get in contact with me, here I am. What do you want?

Ryu Rumi

I wanted to meet with you and talk about this in person. Is there a specific day or time that would work best for you?

Mira

You text like you are writing a professional email, I think we are pretty far past formalities after all

Monday 2pm, I’ll send you the address

Rumi just clenches her phone in her fist, she does not formulate texts as if they were emails, that is completely different etiquette. She clicks her phone off and lays her head against the couch cushions, this is a lot to process, seeing Jinu and apparently having a kid on the way.

“I think I’m going to lay down for a bit, I just need to reset.” She calls over her shoulder as she heads down the hallway, feeling a little faint. Collapsing on her bed she just rolls herself tightly into her blanket before passing out for the next few hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dream struck suddenly. She was in a familiar hotel, a woman with dark pink hair—Mira, her mind supplied—mouth slightly open while Rumi thrust into her, moans spilling into the air. Her hair was fanned out around her on the white pillows like a red halo. Wait, not red—pink. Her hair was pink. She looks again and watches as the color of the hair grows richer and starts to darken into a sinister red. Panic starting to seep in, she slams her eyes closed and focuses on her breathing. Deep breaths in and out, she reminds herself—but what’s that feeling? Something warm and wet slowly starts to seep into her clothes, and a strong stench of iron begins to suffocate her. Breathing techniques be damned.

She slams her eyes open. Cold black marble sits beneath her knees, a pool of blood still spreading toward her. A familiar man holds her back, trying to pull her away as she screams and sobs, trying desperately to get to the origin of the blood. Blood—so much blood. How is that even possible? How could one person lose so much? Is that even possible, this much blood? A human body has 5 liters of blood, her mind intones. Five liters—and there it is on the ground. She fights harder, trying to pull away from the man. She needs to get to Her. She needs to put the blood back in. She can still fix this, she knows she can. He just needs to let her go. Why won’t he let her go? She stops struggling and looks up at him, his black hair falling in that familiar swoop, and his eyes—his eyes swimming with emotion. No, not just emotion. Guilt. He’s looking at her with guilt in his eyes.

Gasping, she flies out of her bed and stumbles into her bathroom, stripping and cranking the shower to the lowest temperature it will go. The thing about cold is that it starts soft, then becomes pure pain, and finally the bliss of numbness. The cold water helps her forget the warmth of the blood on her hands. It has taken a lot of time and a lot of therapy to stop having those dreams, and now she sees him for five minutes and they’re back. Of course, she scoffs internally. And to make things even worse, it sounds like he and Mira were pretty close—so that means seeing him even more.

She groans and slams her head against the shower wall, unsure how she’s going to make it. However, the concept of her child being a part of the world settles her. She can do anything if it’s for her Small One.

Can’t she?

Chapter Text

In the time Jinu had been gone, Abby and Zoey had sat with her, helping her go through the folders of information the doctor had given her. Vitamins she needed to buy, dietary changes, only 200 mg of caffeine per day—that was going to be a problem; she was chronically addicted to iced coffee. It was a lot to take in, but Zoey pulled out one of her trusty notebooks and started organizing everything into bite-sized pieces so they could manage it better. Mira had also called her doctor’s office to schedule an appointment for Monday morning to go over everything now that a decision had been made.

Even still, it didn’t feel real. In seven months, she was going to have a child. Like, an actual baby with actual needs that she would do everything in her power to fulfill. She wouldn’t be anything like her parents—she was going to give her kid the world or die trying. Glancing over, she noticed Zoey had abandoned the notebook and was scrolling rapidly through Amazon, adding almost everything to her cart.

“Zoeyyyyyy, what are you doing?” Mira whined playfully, fully confident she knew what was going through the younger girl’s brain.

“Omg, you should see all the cute baby stuff on here, Mira! Look at this! It’s a set of three outfits, and they’re all sea creature themed. Ha! Don’t mind if I do. #addtocart.” Zoey shoved her phone into Mira’s face, showing a picture of the outfits on the screen. Okay, so they were cute, but she wasn’t going to encourage this.

“Zo, don’t start buying things already. We just confirmed everything like three hours ago. Why are there already seventy items in your cart?” Mira laughed, pushing the phone down.

“Oh wait, we aren’t already buying things?” Abby said sheepishly, placing his own phone down.

“Oh my god, you two are insufferable.” She threw her head back dramatically, pinching the bridge of her nose with two fingers. Her other hand had absently found its way to the yellow jacket still on the couch, slightly tangling her fingers in the coat. Abby and Zoey exchanged looks, both intrigued by this subconscious motion—they could tell she wasn’t aware of it.

“So, how do you think it’s going with Jinu?” Zoey mused.

“Well, Ru is a good person, so I don’t imagin—” Abby was interrupted by a cloud of pink smoke appearing in the middle of the living room. Jinu stepped out of it, a little disheveled. Wait—is that a black eye? Mira sat up quickly, immediately concerned, but then relaxed—she couldn’t be caught looking worried about Jinu of all people.

“So, I assume the whole family reunion didn’t go well?” Abby said as he got up and headed into the kitchen to grab an ice pack.

“Welllllllllllll, turns out she still hates me, so that was pretty fun,” he said, accepting the ice pack and hissing as he applied it to his face.

“She hit you?” Mira asked, not meaning to sound concerned.

“That kind of high-key sounds like a red flag. Are you sure she should be around the baby? Like, is she a danger?” Zoey panicked, immediately doomsday-prepping.

“Nah, she’s great and is on board for the baby thing. I gave her your number, so she should be contacting you,” he said, directing the comment toward Mira. Gesturing to his face, he added, “This is a whole personal issue, and I may have perhaps… provoked her?”

Abby sighed. “What did you do?”

“Well, she started in on me, and I was like, we should talk in private, but she refused. Then one of us yelled? Maybe? Kind of a blur. Oh, but then I shoved her and yelled in front of her parents that she had a one-night stand and knocked a girl up. Then she punched me… oh wait, I also shouted ‘Congrats, Appa,’ and I guess that may have seemed provoking as well. So all in all, it was maybe my fault. But just maybe.” Jinu muttered quickly, not looking at any of them.

“Okay, yeah, that was 100% your fault,” Abby said. Everyone nodded in agreement. Jinu just shrugged and started sulking, nursing his wounded pride that his boyfriend and friends had turned against him so easily.

So she agreed, Mira thought to herself. I suppose this is going to be interesting. She already didn’t get along well with most people, and now she was going to have a stranger in her life while going through something intense and personal. Plus, this same person had extreme beef with one of her best friends—she gagged a little at calling Jinu a best friend. This was totally not a recipe for disaster—but also, this was her kid’s mom? Dad? She wasn’t sure how that worked or what Rumi would want to be called. She tuned out the other three as it sounded like they were back to baby shopping. A buzz interrupted her thoughts.

Ryu Rumi

Hello, this is Ryu Rumi. I am trying to get in touch with Kang Mira, Jinu gave me this number and I wanted to make sure it was correct.

Mira just sits and stares for a minute, this one text causing her world to turn, actual contact from her, not just a vague blur of tongues and clothes. Having to sit here and realize this is an actual person she was going to have to invite into her life. Her hands slightly shaking she starts her response, she stalls trying to figure out how to play this…. Ahhh her default, snark, a smirk pulls at her lips.

Mira

This is she
I assume you are the one who knocked me up
1.6/100 right? Guess I’m the lucky 1.6. Anyways you want to get in contact with me, here I am. What do you want?

Ryu Rumi

I wanted to meet with you and talk about this in person. Is there a specific day or time that would work best for you?

What the hell? No response on pretty much anything she said, also why does she feel like Rumi is trying to set up a business meeting.

“Man does she always text like she’s 80?” She shoots over towards the boys, noticing that they’ve moved on from looking up things on their phone to casting their screen to the tv now.

“Yup” Abby pops. “It’s her mom Celine’s fault, corrupted her into a little nerd with good grammar.” He scrolls down before clicking on a toy drumset, a wide smile splits his face before hitting add to cart.

“Okay no. You are not buying that, I’ll make your life hell.”

Mira

You text like you are writing a professional email, I think we are pretty far past formalities after all
Monday 2pm, I’ll send you the address

Ryu Rumi

Sounds perfect, I look forward to seeing you then. Enjoy your weekend!

Ughhhh hopefully she is less formal in person, wasn’t like she was formal when she had me bent over the table in the hotel room. A rush of heat burns, before centering down in her stomach, okay so no more thinking about that night. She can’t very well be having thoughts like that about Rumi anymore, no longer a random person, now a co-parent. She wouldn’t be able to handle her if she was formal and stuck up, she left her family for a reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The weekend passed rather uneventfully, other than having to talk both Zoey and Abby down from ordering every single baby item they could find—though a few boxes mysteriously showed up on their doorstep. Zoey promptly hid them in her room, claiming they were mystery mouseketools. Whatever that meant—probably an American thing.

Monday started slow, but she had to head into the dance studio for the morning before her appointment for her class, her only one of the day. This was going to be harder than she thought. She checked a few months ahead on her schedule to see what it looked like. She would have to adjust how her classes were run once she reached the point of needing to limit her activity levels. Other instructors would have to pick up classes, and she might even have to hire someone new. Sighing and pushing that aside for now, she pulled out her notes for her class that started in thirty minutes. She hadn’t slept well in weeks, which apparently was also a symptom, so that was great.

Class was exhausting, but she made it through with enough time to shower before Zoey picked her up for her appointment. A familiar, beaten-up red hatchback pulled up to the curb, the window rolling down to reveal her best friend's face.

“Uber for Mira!” Zoey exclaimed. A small tilt of Mira’s lips showed her fondness for Zoey.

“You know, you don’t have to say that every time you pick me up, you goof.” She opened the door and clambered into the passenger seat. Zoey immediately handed over a cup of iced coffee and a croissant.

“It’s decaf, but hopefully it’ll still scratch your itch. Also, I figured you didn’t eat, seeing how late you left this morning.” Zoey explained thoughtfully before pulling back out onto the road. Mira took a hesitant sip—it was a little milder than what she normally drank, but it wasn’t bad.

“Thanks, Zo. Appreciate you.” She mumbled, feeling a large surge of emotion start to overwhelm her. She was just so grateful for her friends and didn’t often show it emotionally, more of an acts-of-service kind of gal. This was a lot, though—her friends immediately sticking with her through this and offering to help her pretty much raise her kid. She didn’t know what she had done to deserve them; she was angry, overly blunt, and pretty much too hard to deal with for most people.

“I was thinking—” Zoey started.

“That’s dangerous.” Mira interjected flatly, a small smirk gracing her lips. Zoey just laughed and lightly smacked her arm.

“Anywayssssss, do you want me to come with you to meet Rumi? I’m off until later tonight, so I don’t mind—especially if it’ll make you more comfortable.” Zoey was always so considerate, so tuned into Mira’s emotions. Mira had tried not to show how nervous she was all weekend, but she must have let some of it slip through. It wasn’t that she was scared of talking to Rumi, but part of her worried about having someone so deeply included in her life.

“I mean, if you want to, I won’t complain.” She said, a little vulnerability leaking into her tone. She stared out the window, feeling a familiar burn in the corners of her eyes. It sucked being so emotional, having mood swings like this. She prided herself on her carefully constructed control, and this was shattering it.

“I’ll come. Gotta vet this girl, make sure she isn’t going to, like, sacrifice virgins on full moons.” Zoey stared at her very seriously after having put the car in park at the office.

Ryu Rumi

Hello, sorry to disturb your morning. I was wondering if you might send me the address for where we will be meeting.

Ooof it definitely slipped her mind that she was supposed to send that to her.

“Zo I forgot to give Rumi a spot to meet. What is the name of that one cafe that sells the pistachio muffins? They sound heavenly right now.”

“Ohhh I think it’s called The Daily Damnation. It’s over in the Jeoseung ward.” Mira hummed, typing the name in maps to see how far away it is, about 15 mins. They should have time to meet there by 2, her appointment was at 12:45.

Mira

A cafe called The Daily Damnation, it’s a little cafe in the Jeoseung ward

Ryu Rumi

Hmm I see, take the demon to the demon realm, creative

Mira stopped in shock, did she just make a joke or was she really insulted. This is going to be a hard one to navigate over text.

Mira

So you do know how to make a joke
Thought you might be allergic to them

Ryu Rumi

Just wait, I’m all jokes
Someone told me I text like I’m writing an email, so I wanted to prove them wrong

Mira chuckled at her screen, maybe this won’t be too bad after all.

Mira

Mmm I’ll be the judge of that
So far that is 1 joke to my 3

Ryu Rumi

I’ll catch up just you wait
see you at 2
I’ll be the one not wearing her jacket that you stole

“What’s got you so interested in your phone?” Zoey asked, trying to look over Mira’s shoulder. Mira just turned the screen toward her so she could read it.

“OOOOOH, she called you outtttttt, you little thief.”

“Maybe she has a personality after all.”

“Guess we’ll find out later today. If she’s boring, I’ll accidentally spill coffee on you and we can leave.” A devious look crossed Zoey’s face.

“Why does it have to be on me?”

“Well, if it’s on me, then you have no excuse to leave, duh,” Zoey said as if it were obvious.

“Whatever. Let’s go in; I need to check in.”

The appointment was straightforward: a few tests and conversations about lifestyle and eating habits. The doctor gave her multiple lists of things she needed to cut from her diet, recommended exercise levels, and so on. Then the doctor informed her that she was far enough along for an ultrasound and to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Her heart skipped at the news. As the doctor prepared the equipment, she turned to Zoey, eyes wide. Sensing her impending panic, Zoey reached across and held her hand. This was the moment when a concept became a whole human being.

She wasn’t, however, prepared for the ultrasound tech to pull out a wand and explain where it would go. In the movies, it was always cold jelly on a pregnant lady’s stomach—not a whole wand inserted vaginally. The tech explained that this method gave a much clearer picture. A black-and-white image appeared on the screen as the tech pointed out the baby’s head and body—oh, her baby. Then they used a Doppler, moving it over her stomach. A sudden, fast “woosh” filled the room: the heartbeat. It was as if the world stopped at that sound; her entire existence narrowed and revolved around it—her baby’s heartbeat. Unexpectedly, a sob ripped out of her, tears welling up. It was overwhelming. Instincts she hadn’t realized were dormant took over: her baby, her responsibility, her love. The world could be burning around her, but all she could hear was that heartbeat. Tears streamed down her cheeks, pure, unadulterated love filling the voids left by her own family.

A few moments later, the appointment ended. She stopped by the front desk to schedule follow-ups, still in shock as Zoey led her to the car and helped her in.

“They gave you copies of the ultrasound pictures, and I recorded the heartbeat for you,” Zoey said, then pulled Mira into a hug. Mira hugged her back, vaguely aware that her shoulders were still shaking, tears staining Zoey’s shirt. God, she thought, she’s going to show up to meet Rumi looking like a mess. She held on a few more seconds before pulling back and wiping her eyes.

“Thank you for coming, Zo. I couldn’t have done it without you,” Mira said, her voice hoarse.

“Anytime, Mira. You’d do the same for me,” Zoey said softly. “Well, hopefully we’ll have no more accidental love children.” She laughed, poking Mira in the ribs. Mira chuckled despite herself.

“Well, don’t jinx yourself.”

“But wait—if I got pregnant right now, your kid would only be two months older. Then they could grow up together and fall in love, obviously,” Zoey rambled, looking strangely contemplative.

“Nu-uh. No setting up our future children already—or getting pregnant just to have them be besties,” Mira chided. “Let’s get out of here; we’re going to be late, and Rumi gives off thirty-minutes-early vibes.”

“Ughhhhh, fineeeeee… I suppose they can be a few years apart,” Zoey said as she backed out of her parking spot, the parallel-parking queen from all her days driving in Burbank. Mira opened the envelope Zoey had given her and looked through the ultrasound photos again. She was still slightly in disbelief over all of this, but mostly, she was just excited.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rumi POV

Rumi spent most of her weekend researching. She was supposed to be grading papers, but when do professors ever actually grade things on time? She had something far more important to focus on right now, and her moms were no help—anytime she asked a question, it turned into an hour-long story about how this or that happened. Researching on her own was fine for now. She had no idea what to expect from this meeting on Monday, and the uncertainty was driving her crazy. She liked to know exactly what to expect from conversations, and this? This was something entirely unprecedented: officially meeting the mother of her child.

By the time Monday rolled around, she had a binder packed full of the information she deemed most important. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come across as too overzealous. She left for Seoul earlier than usual, heading to her office on campus to maybe get some grading done and take her mind off the anxiety buzzing under her skin. Time passed slowly; she managed to get only halfway through a single paper. Checking the clock, she realized it was after noon and she still hadn’t received the address for their meeting. Impulsively, she whipped out her phone and sent a text, hoping it didn’t sound desperate.

Ryu Rumi

Hello, sorry to disturb your morning. I was wondering if you might send me the address for where we will be meeting.

Ugh that came off too formal again, she needed to relax. When she had her Umma look over her earlier texts, she had laughed and informed Rumi that it did in fact sound like she was composing an email.

Mira

A cafe called The Daily Damnation, it’s a little cafe in the Jeoseung ward

Ahh here we go, a chance to make a joke!

Ryu Rumi

Hmm I see, take the demon to the demon realm, creative

Mira

So you do know how to make a joke
Thought you might be allergic to them

Ryu Rumi

Just wait, I’m all jokes
Someone told me I text like I’m writing an email, so I wanted to prove them wrong
Mira

Mmm I’ll be the judge of that
So far that is 1 joke to my 3

Ryu Rumi

I’ll catch up just you wait
see you at 2
I’ll be the one not wearing her jacket that you stole

She hummed in satisfaction. Take that for sounding too professional. Glancing at the clock, she realized she still had an hour and a half until it was time to meet her—which was really only an hour, because Celine had instilled in her that being 30 minutes early to everything was necessary. Groaning, she turned back to the paper. It was clearly written by someone who thought this would be an easy elective to take. The kid had written “bridges are cool” like four times, each with slightly different phrasing.

She decided to give up for now and get some air. Leaving the building, she headed to the parking garage where her car sat. She only used it during the week when she wanted to go somewhere off campus. The sleek black SUV sat in her designated spot. Glancing back, she noted that all the extra space would come in handy, envisioning a car seat and a stroller back there. She was pleased with the idea that it would all fit. Plus, when she’d bought the car, she had done plenty of research—it had ranked very high on the list of safest SUVs.

Checking the time again and seeing that only ten minutes had passed, she decided her first stop was the place her moms had said she could stay if she decided to move to Seoul. Typing in the address, she safely merged into traffic and hit play on her music. A soft indie beat filled the car. She wondered what Mira was like. Obviously, she had no real indication—actually, never mind, she wasn’t going to finish that thought. She had to stop thinking about that night; after all, this was now the mother of her child, not some random girl in a bar.

The address led her to a massive building. Following Celine’s instructions, she headed into the underground parking and scanned a key card to get in. Pulling into a spot, she was shocked at the vehicles in the garage—most of them brand new, a couple not even available to the public until next year. Wow. This wasn’t like the humble home she had grown up in at all.

Heading to the elevator, she remembered that her moms owned the top three floors. Deciding to check them all out, she clicked the button for the lowest of the three.

The lowest level had a storage area, where she found boxes of stuff from their idol days that looked recently packed, and a massive in-home gym. That would come in handy; she loved working out and was currently in the middle of a bulk. The next floor up held a recording studio, a dance studio, and a training room. The top floor was the living area: floor-to-ceiling windows spanned one wall, showcasing the Seoul skyline; a spacious front room featured an enormous couch and a top-of-the-line kitchen. Down the hallway, she spotted three bedrooms, each with its own ensuite bathroom, plus a large guest bathroom. This place was crazy nice—and her moms owned it, so no rent. I mean, literally, how could this not be perfect?

Realizing how much time had passed, she headed back down to her car to start toward the café. She hated going into the Jeoseung Ward, as people there were more likely to know she was of royal blood. However, she didn’t want one of her first impressions on Mira to be complaining about the area. “Suck it up, Rumi,” she told herself as she pulled into the neighborhood.

All the buildings here seemed to have aged back a decade or so—not as modern as the rest of the city. Her gaze was naturally drawn to the large black, castle-esque building up the hill, almost as if she could sense her father’s presence. Ripping her eyes away, she continued driving until she pulled into the café parking lot. Surprisingly, the café was modern and cute for this area. Checking the time again, she smiled proudly at herself—exactly 30 minutes early.

Grabbing her stuffed binder, she got out of the car and decided to go ahead and get a table; after all, she didn’t know if it would get busy soon. Walking in, she was greeted by the cool air of the A/C, the smell of coffee, and good vibes. The walls were a soft cream color with green accents. All the tables and chairs were wooden and looked thrifted, with greenery draping the shelves. One wall was completely covered in plants, with a neon sign in the center that read “Believe in Yourself.” Actually, this place was super cute, and she wished she had known about it sooner.

She sat down at a table in the back, making sure to face the door so she could see when Mira came in. A waitress arrived, placed a few menus on the table, and left her to her own devices. She busied herself with the menu, glancing up impatiently every other minute. This is what sucks about showing up early, as Celine taught her—she was terrible at being patient.

She opened her binder and began reviewing the information she practically already had memorized. Slipped in the front pocket was a list of questions Celine and her mom wanted her to ask. Checking the time, she saw it was 2:07 and frowned. Maybe she was supposed to wait outside.

Ryu Rumi

Not sure if you are outside
I’m here and I got a table towards the back

Mira

Hey sorry we’re running a few minutes behind
Doctor’s apt ran long
Eta is 2:11

Ryu Rumi

Copy that

She frowned for a second. We’re? Someone else is coming? Oh man, she wasn’t prepared for this at all. Her nerves started to get the best of her as she pressed each finger one by one into the pad of her thumb, over and over again.

The bell above the door chimed, snapping her out of her anxious stupor. Looking up, she saw a shorter girl with black hair pulled into space buns, freckles across her face, who seemed to spot Rumi and started walking toward her. Rumi felt her nerves spike again as this unknown person approached—but glancing up and over her shoulder, she saw a very familiar woman with dark pink hair trailing behind the shorter girl.

Oh, oh fuck. She’s still hot. Like unfairly hot. Her face flushed slightly before she stood to greet them. She tried to walk to the side of the table to properly meet them, but her foot snagged a chair and she tripped. A steady hand gripped her bicep, keeping her from hitting the ground. Glancing up, she made full eye contact with Mira, who had caught her, an amused tilt to her lips. Rumi righted herself, a burning heat coating her ears and face. The shorter girl was clearly trying not to laugh next to Mira.

Rumi cleared her throat and looked up again, opening her mouth to speak before Mira interjected:

“Did you have a nice trip?” Mira asked, the same smirk on her face.

That was the end of the self-control for Space Buns, who immediately started laughing. Rumi wished the ground would swallow her whole—this would have been much easier than handling this. Okay, this is okay, she told herself. Just need to turn this around.

“I was, um, testing your reaction time,” she said quickly. “To see if you could stop a kid from falling.” She felt proud of this save.

“So what you’re saying is… you’re basically a kid?” The smirk only grew stronger. Oh god, she’s just powering me. Abort, abort. Rumi froze; no comebacks came to mind, nothing to save her now.

“I’m just messing with you. Jeez, you look like you’re going to pass out. Let’s sit down—but that does make our joke count 1-4 now.”

“2-4,” Rumi corrected, taking a seat.

“What?” Mira said, somehow managing to make sitting down look elegant. The girl next to her sat down as well.

“2-4 jokes. I made the other one about my jacket—which, by the way, I see you didn’t bring with you.” Mira gave a low, amused chuckle.

“Who’s keeping count?”

“You literally were three sentences ago!” Rumi sputtered indignantly. “Anyway, hi. I’m Rumi.” She looked between Mira and then pointedly at the unknown woman.

“We know who you are, but I’ll play along. I’m Mira, and that’s Zoey—” Mira started.

“I’m the emotional-support bestie, one of three,” Space Buns beamed at Rumi. Something about that smile felt both charming and safe.

The waitress returned, taking their orders. Rumi ordered spicy tteokbokki and hot tea. The other two ordered as well, with Zoey seemingly ordering every pastry on the menu.

“Sweet tooth?” Rumi chuckled after the waitress left, leaning forward.

“One, yes. Two, secretly some of them are for Mira, because she definitely wanted them but didn’t want to admit it,” Zoey whispered conspiratorially. Mira scowled and elbowed her in the side.

“Enough out of you before I send you to the car.” Zoey pouted.

“So, getting to the elephant in the room—or maybe I should say the baby in the room—here.” Mira handed over an envelope.

Rumi immediately started her nervous tic again at the directness of the gesture. Her hands shook slightly as she opened the envelope and pulled out black-and-white photos.

Her entire world froze. She realized they were ultrasound photos. Reverently, she caressed the center of the photo, a small one curled up inside. Her demon purred and chanted in agreement.

“We’ve got a sound recording of the heartbeat too, if you want to hear it,” Mira added. Rumi couldn’t drag her eyes from the photo, so she simply nodded.

A fast whooshing noise reached her ears—the heartbeat. Her shaking hand flew to cover her mouth, desperately trying to regain some control. Fuck, maybe I should’ve brought an emotional-support friend too. Not that I have any… unless you count my moms, which sounds lonely. She was vaguely aware of their eyes on her. She set the photos down, grabbed the water she had gotten earlier, and took a few big gulps.

Looking up to meet Mira’s eyes, she wondered if the other girl could read the pure emotion swimming in them.

“Fuck,” she croaked.

“Well, that’s actually what got us here, so maybe not fuck,” Mira deadpanned, then softened slightly. “But yeah… fuck. All of this was crazy, but those two things right there made it all real.” She gestured toward the table.

“I want to be involved—as much as you’ll allow me. Every step of the way, every late night, every doctor’s appointment. I want it. I want them,” Rumi said, locking eyes with Mira, trying to convey absolute dedication. She saw Mira’s breath catch at the raw honesty pouring from her.

Mira stared at her for a long moment. “Are you sure? This isn’t something you can just jump into and then back out of. I have a support system, people already willing to do this with me. I don’t want you doing this out of guilt or obligation. If you’re doing it, I want it to be because you choose it—choose them.” Her hand rested lightly on her stomach.

“I want this. I want them,” Rumi repeated, gently caressing the photo again. “I’ll show up over and over until you believe it too. This is our kid, our little 1.6 miracle.”

“Okay,” Mira whispered, eyes locked on the ultrasound before looking back at Rumi. “So… how do we do this?”

“I figured we’d get married at the courthouse, maybe Saturday, if you’re free—”

“WHAT?!” Both Mira and Zoey exclaimed. A smirk spread across Rumi’s face.

“That’s now 3-4, Mira. I’m catching up.”

Mira stared in astonishment before moving to snatch the photos.

“Nope, that’s it—you lost your rights to the baby now. Goodbye forever.” Rumi laughed and reached out to stop her, accidentally grabbing Mira’s hand. The world went quiet; all she could feel was Mira’s warm hand touching hers. A lingering flame ignited between them. She quickly withdrew, cheeks flaming, just as the waitress arrived to unload her tray. Rumi jumped in to help, sneaking a side-eye at Mira, who had a faint blush on her cheeks. At least I wasn’t the only one affected.

They ate in relative silence, occasionally laughing at Mira and Zoey bickering over a chocolate pie. Rumi chuckled quietly, making sure Mira got plenty of food.

“So, back to the topic. How you want to do this is up to you. I want to be there for everything, but you have the control. It’d be nice if we weren’t strangers to each other,” Rumi said, panicking slightly. “Not that I’m saying we have to date—just friends. Yup. Friends.”

“I know what you mean,” Mira said. “Friends would be good. You’re welcome at doctor’s visits and such. A lot of this will be figured out as we go, especially with you living far away. I have people nearby to help as well.”

“Oh, I… decided to move here. My parents have a place in town they don’t use, and I work here anyway, so it makes sense. I can only really teleport that far twice a day, so if I’m at work and something happens, I can’t get here quickly,” Rumi said slowly, unsure if it sounded weird.

“Okay. I don’t want you moving your whole life because of me—”

“No, really. I want to. Like I said, I want to be here for everything,” Rumi said earnestly, nodding.

“Okay, as long as you’re sure,” Mira said, convinced.

“Oooooh, so friends means movie nights. We need to do a full vibe check—how you respond to our favorite movies will be a big tell. Plus, are you good under stress? We’ll find out with Mario Kart,” Zoey said, leaning forward, pointing at Rumi. Mira smiled fondly before nudging her shoulder.

“You can’t just accost a woman you just met with movies and Mario Kart, Zoey.”

“Oh, but you can have sex and a child with a woman you just met,” Zoey shot back playfully. Rumi choked on her tea, burning her sinuses. Coughing a few times, her ears burned again.

She raised her hands, non-threatening. “Movie night it is—but I’m not sure what Mario Kart is.” Both looked shocked.

“You don’t know Mario Kart?? A game that can make or break friendships!” Zoey exclaimed.

“Can’t say I’ve heard of it. Sorry?” Rumi said, glancing down at her phone. Almost 4 already.

“Oh shoot, I didn’t realize how much time had passed! I have to get to class.” She looked at Mira. “You have my number. Text me if you need anything—anything at all—or to schedule this whole ‘Mario Kart’ thing.” She hurriedly paid, waved, and slipped out the door, not noticing she’d left her large binder behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mira POV

She stared in shock at the purple-haired girl who had hurriedly scurried out, before turning back to Zoey.

“Soooooo, that went well?” Zoey prompted, propping her head up with her palm.

“I mean, yeah, it did. I still feel a little in shock. Like… it seemed like she really wants to do this. I guess I just assumed she’d say, ‘Sorry, no,’ or something like that. She’s literally going to uproot her life and move here.” Mira said, still dumbstruck. Glancing back toward the table, she noticed a large binder she hadn’t seen before. “Mm… she left that.”

Zoey’s eyes lit up with a devious glint as she slid it over to them. “This is a perfect chance to see if there’s anything weird going on here.” She cracked open the binder, then paused for a moment. Flipping through the pages, she glanced at Mira. “I’m pretty sure she wrote down everything needed to know about pregnancy. It’s even sorted by trimester.” She slid the binder over.

Mira looked through it. Zoey was right—it was neatly organized, almost better than the stack of papers the doctor had shoved into her hands. She’d have to go through it carefully before returning it. Flipping back to the first page, she saw a loose-leaf sheet with questions addressed to Mira. Well, it definitely said “for Mira,” so that must mean she could read it.

Questions to ask Mira:

How has the pregnancy been so far?

Any side effects I should be aware of?

Is there anything I can do to help you at this moment?

Would you be open to discussing plans for the baby’s future further down the line?

What kind of support would you like from me before and after the baby comes?

My parents want to meet you. Is that okay?

Make sure to thank her for giving me the opportunity to be here**

She showed Zoey the list and laughed a little. “She definitely forgot to ask any of this, but damn… if this isn’t the sweetest thing. This whole binder she put together—like, damn, that really shows her commitment.”

Zoey read it over. “Yeah, I mean, she seemed honest the entire time. Also didn’t seem boring or anything. I actually kind of liked her.” She slid the paper back into the binder and turned to face Mira. “So… what do you think?”

“I think I’m going to try and make this work. I kind of like her too—”

“Oooooooooh, you likkkkkked her, all right.” Zoey teased. Mira just sighed, bumping shoulders with her.

“Not what I meant, and you know it.” The image of their hands touching flashed through her mind for a moment—the way it felt like cold ice had encircled them for a second, binding them in place. “She did share her food with me, so that’s a gold star for her.”

“Share her food? She basically gave you her food!”

“Whatever. Let’s pay and go home. I’m tired.” Mira stood up and went to the counter, only to find that Rumi had paid for it all.

“Ooooh, get you a sugar mommy—literally, in your case,” Zoey said, skipping ahead to the car, hyped up on confectioners’ sugar. Mira just sighed at her antics and got in.

She stared out the window during the drive, thinking about everything. It had all gone so well… and she wasn’t sure what to feel about it. Her hand shifted to her stomach again. Well, she knew one emotion: love.

Chapter Text

Class seemed to drag on for hours, she had been so distracted that instead of doing her planned lecture she had just turned on a documentary and told them to write a short paper on what their takeaway was from the movie. She spent the time trying to grade papers again but couldn’t think past that recording. It was about 30 minutes into class before she realized she left her binder and forgot to ask anything she had written down.

Ryu Rumi

Hey, I think I left my binder at the cafe. Wasn’t sure if you saw it by chance.

Mira

Yeah I have it, it’s actually very helpful and detailed if you don’t mind I’d like to borrow it for a couple days

Ryu Rumi

Yeah of course
I was gonna see if you wanted to look through it anyways
There’s some questions in the front, we could go over when we get together next?

Mira

Mm yeah I saw them
Already wanting to see me again? ;)

Ryu Rumi

No, more like Zoey 😂
Looking forward to this whole movie night
I mean if you really wanted to do that
Not to impose
Actually forget I said anything

She can’t believe she practically invited herself over and now she’s spam texting. Oh god what if Mira only agreed with Zoey because she was sitting right in front of her and now it’s awkward.

Mira

Don’t tell Zoey that, she’ll hold it over you for the rest of your life
She blackmails mostly for pastries
Yeah, movie night is still on, I’m the reigning champ at Mario Kart so be prepared

Rumi finally breathed, relief pouring into her, she didn’t want to mess this up already.

Mira

Wednesday night work for you? Say 7pm

Ryu Rumi

Yeah sounds good, let me know what I should bring
And maybe send me the address this time, you know not like an hour before I’m supposed to be there?

Mira

And for that, you aren’t getting it until 30 minutes before

The sudden noise of shuffling bags broke her out of her phone. Glancing at the clock, she saw that there were only five minutes left of class. She collected the papers and dismissed everyone, stating that they would be graded by the next class on Wednesday. Sighing in dismay, she gathered her things, preparing to head home. She had to start packing anyway and get set up at her new place. God, that was going to be weird—she had never lived on her own before, especially not in such a large space that she was taking over.

After locking her office and gathering her things, she concentrated, her iridescent patterns starting to glow before—pop—she disappeared. Arriving outside her mom’s house, she noticed that both cars were already home. She went inside, removed her shoes and coat, and walked toward the low chattering coming from the kitchen.

“What are you guys doing home so early?” she asked, taking in the scene of them cooking together, moving perfectly in practiced steps.

“We knew you were meeting Mira today, so we wanted to be home to see how it went,” Mi-Yeong explained, tossing vegetables into the pot on the stove.

“So, how was it?” Celine asked, not beating around the bush.

She took a seat on a stool at the kitchen counter. “It actually went really well. We talked about everything. She had just come from an appointment.” A lopsided grin spread across her face. “She even showed me an ultrasound, and—god—I got to hear the heartbeat. Hold on, let me see if she can send me the recording. She probably forgot.”

Ryu Rumi

Hey would you mind sending that recording and a picture of the ultrasound
Just when you have a second no rush

Mira

Sorry forgot about that
Audiofile_389283
Image_3882938202

Ryu Rumi

No worry at all thanks

She looked back at her moms before showing them the photo. They both stopped what they were doing and crowded around the phone. After a few moments, she switched it to the audio file, that strange whooshing filling the silence and causing her heart to do a full flip. She watched a tear slip down her Umma’s face before Mi-Yeong pulled Celine into her side.

Mi-Yeong looked up to meet Rumi’s eyes. “Wow, that’s our grandchild. You’re making me feel old now.”

“She said she’s fine with me being there for everything and would even want to try to be friends. So we can have a better co-parenting bond,” Rumi informed them.

“And did she answer all of the questions we had written together?” Celine inquired, a softer-than-usual look on her face.

“Uhhhh… I may have forgotten all about them and left that entire binder behind when I left for class,” she said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact.

Celine just sighed. “Okay. When is the next time you’re seeing her? Perhaps you can remember next time?”

“Umm, Wednesday night. They invited me over for a movie night and something called Mario Kart.” Seeing their confused expressions, she clarified, “Her best friend Zoey came as well to the meeting, and they live together.”

“Oh god, we didn’t prepare you for Mario Kart,” Mi-Yeong groaned.

“I’m not sure what that is either,” Celine mused, sharing a glance with Rumi.

“This is why I shouldn’t have let your eomma convince me to homeschool you. Now you both are weird,” her Umma teased. “Have you made your decision about abandoning us—sorry, I mean moving to Seoul?”

“Ummaaaaaa, I’m not abandoning you guys. We’ll still see each other every weekend!” Rumi said, comforting her.

“Mm, sounds like you’ve decided then. Let me know when you want to move, and I’ll hire a company to transport your belongings,” Celine said, ever the planner. “I’ll send you some cuttings from my garden so you can have a piece of home with you.”

That was the equivalent of an “I’ll miss you” from Celine. Rumi smiled softly toward her. “Yeah, of course I’d love to have a part of you with me, eomma. I’d like to move maybe this weekend, unless that’s too soon?”

“A million years is too soon for you to leave me, my tiger,” Mi-Yeong said, hugging Rumi from the side and rubbing her face on Rumi’s head. “But I suppose I’ll help you pack, and we can come down this weekend with you to help you settle in. Maybe arrange dinner with this Mira girl?”

“I’ll ask her, but it might be a little soon, so I don’t want to pressure her.”

“Play the video again?” Celine added.

“Awwwww, my little Celine being a softy already,” Mi-Yeong teased, laughing and ducking out of the way when Celine reached for her. Rumi just smiled faintly, knowing she was going to miss this—miss them. She pulled the video up again, hit play, and rested her face in her hand, smiling fondly at the screen.

“January 13th… my small one will be here January 13th.”

Later that night, while she was finally making progress on her work, she received a new message. Glancing down, her blood froze.

Jinu

Hey, can we talk?

Talk, she snarls to herself. No fucking way.

RRRRUMI

Yeah here’s your talk
Go fuck yourself

Jinu

Stop being a bitch
We need to talk

RRRRUMI

Listen Jinu I don’t want to hear, see, or speak to you
Get the hint.

Incoming call- Jinu
Oh hell no, she definitely won’t be doing that, she rejects the call immediately.

Jinu

Still a child like always
Our father wants to see you

RRRRUMI

Your father and you can tell him to go fuck himself as well

Rumi just threw her phone onto her bed—she was done with this bullshit. He talks to her once, and now he decides he can reach out whenever he wants. Anger boiled in her gut, her hands shaking, and she felt her patterns burning across her skin. Glancing down confirmed her suspicions: her normally iridescent patterns were flickering to black. She took a few long breaths, trying to center herself again. She hated this. She hated being angry, hated having the past ripped open again. Especially in this moment of happiness—her life moving forward while the past tried to sink its claws into her back. Black marble. Blade. Blood. Arms.

She decided to take her mind off it by doing the one thing she hadn’t let herself do yet. Opening her laptop, she took the leap and delved into the baby Pinterest boards—after all, she had a nursery to plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mira POV

Tuesday morning started with Mira’s head in the toilet, puking her guts out—great start to her day. This made the third day in a row, and that was simply too much. A knock on the bathroom door interrupted her dismay.

“Hey, I made you some peppermint tea. I read that it can help combat morning sickness. I also made some juk for breakfast,” Zoey peeked her head in.

“Thanks, Zo. Give me a sec to brush my teeth and I'll be right out,” Mira groaned. Zoey let the door close so Mira could try to pull herself together a little better. She stood back up and tried to brush her teeth without gagging.

Escaping the bathroom, she made her way to the kitchen, where the smell of food wafted toward her. She took a seat at the small kitchen table they’d shoved into the corner of their “dining room.” Zoey brought over a bowl of juk and a steaming cup of tea.

“Busy day today?” Mira asked, taking a few sips of her tea, pleasantly surprised that it actually seemed to help.

“Mm, I have a few songs to work on. I rented the studio across from your place so I could drive us.”

“You didn’t have to do that. I know that place is like twice as expensive as your normal one!” Mira muttered, already feeling guilty about people trying to take care of her.

“It’s okay, Mira. Let me take care of you. I know you only have a couple of classes today, so I just did the one hour and I’ll come chill,” Zoey said as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “Now eat your food, you’re gonna be late.”

Mira sighed to herself. She was only two months along, and they were already going into guard mode. She finished up and started to get ready for work. She reached for her favorite sports bra before stopping with a hiss of pain. Why did her boobs hurt? They seemed bigger too. Annoyed, she grabbed a looser bra and threw on her shirt. She decided to grab the binder Rumi had made—she could read some of it between classes today. Glancing down, she noticed a few texts from their group chat.

Three Hotties and Whatever Jinu is

Abbymorelikedaddy

Hey what are you guys up to
Lunch later?
I’m on a bulk so all you can eat kbbq on me

UncleJinu

Sounds gucci bb

thefungayaunt

oooh the day i say no to free food it’s not me kill on sight

MommysorryMommy?

Ok who changed the names again????
Why is abby upgraded to daddy

UncleJinu

You both have pink hair duh

MommysorryMommy?

Gross
Anyways lunch works
I’m done at 2 today

Abbymorelikedaddy

See you then mommy

MommysorryMommy?

I hate you.

Smiling to herself she makes her way back to the living room, Zoey already waiting for her. They headed out to actually start the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day went by surprisingly fast. Zoey, having returned during Mira’s break between classes, had taken to reading random segments of Rumi’s binder.

“Did you know your uterus is going to be the size of a watermelon?”

“No, what?”

“Oh my god, like literally your baby has taste buds—they can taste what you’re eating… sick. Awww, they can cry silently in the womb. Honestly, me coded.”

Mira just stared incredulously before looking at her stomach. Placing her hand on it, she really hoped her baby wasn’t crying… oh, and that they liked kbbq.

“Oooh, Rumi has this one highlighted. Apparently reading or talking to the baby is super beneficial for early speech development, and it can help with bonding to the parents.”

“Like bedtime stories?”

“Yeah, exactly like that, or just talking about your day—something chill though. Don’t tell the baby about how you almost kicked that one kid’s mom out of class the other day.”

“She deserved it! Trying to tell me how to teach dance. Woman, go teach your son how to dance yourself if you know so much.” Mira shrugged, standing by it.

She was glad to be done with classes; that last one had really killed her. Going from dancing show after show to now barely making it through two classes was a little taxing on her mental state. She knew she’d get used to it, and it was worth it, but still, she had worked so hard to get here that it felt like taking a step back from her dreams. Thankfully, Zoey started dragging her toward the exit and delicious food—being around her friends always helped her get out of her thoughts. The place wasn’t far from the studio, and it was a nice day, so they decided to walk.

Abby and Jinu were already waiting outside when they finally got there. Abby walked up and wrapped her in his arms.

“Hi mommy, did you miss daddy?”

She shoved him off. “You are sick in the head, and if you ever say that again I’ll get you banned from every gym in town.”

“Awwww, come onnnnnn,” he whined, backing up next to Jinu.

“Honestly, if anyone is daddy here, it’s me,” Zoey said with a shrug while walking past them into the restaurant. The other three exchanged a glance, silently agreeing not to give her the satisfaction of confirming it. She’d be insufferable about it, and they all knew it.

They were ushered to a table with a tablet to order their food instead of having a server constantly flag them down. Mira was pretty sure Abby ordered three of every type of meat on the menu, while she was more sensible and made sure to get vegetables as well. She noticed Jinu kept giving her weird looks and decided to finally address it.

“Dude, why are you being more of a creep than usual and staring at me?” she snapped.

“Are your boobs bigger? Like, they look bigger.” He said, still staring. Mira looked at him in shock; she couldn’t believe what he just said. Even Zoey and Abby looked up from the video she was showing him.

“Do you come preloaded with insensitive questions, or was this like a DLC pack you decided to download one day?” Zoey fired back, kicking him under the table. He flinched, grabbing his shin and whining.

“Alright. You know what? Jinu is paying for lunch, and you are once again demoted from Uncle Jinu,” she deadpanned, staring him in the eyes and doing that creepy thing he hated by not blinking until he finally looked away.

They were distracted by the first round of food arriving, Mira and Abby taking over the job of grilling.

“Speaking of Uncle Jinu… how did the meeting with Rumi go?” Abby asked, looking at Mira out of the corner of his eye.

“Hm, actually pretty good. We talked. She wants to be a part of the kid’s life. She’s even decided to move to Seoul to be closer,” Mira said, flipping a piece of beef.

“She actually seems cool! I don’t know why you hate her,” Zoey said, stabbing her fork toward Jinu.

“Correction: I don’t hate her. She hates me,” he said simply. Abby looked down, a brief glimpse of sadness flashing across his face before he returned to his usual wide smile. Mira was pretty sure she was the only one who noticed; she was really good at reading people after all. She decided to steer the conversation away from family drama.

“She had this huge binder of information about pregnancy and babies. Kind of crazy she managed to put it all together in a couple of days.” She was impressed by the level of detail Rumi had written down in just two days.

An amused smile spread across Abby’s face. “She’s done crazier in less time before. The night before this huge test I had to take, I mentioned I was nervous. She came over less than an hour later with an entire binder of notes about the subject. It wasn’t even a class in her degree path.”

Zoey nudged Mira in the ribs. “Oooooh, so she’s smart, hot, and rich. Your baby is gonna have gooooood genes.” Mira snorted and shoved her back.

“She, uh, didn’t like Abby and I’s apartment. Said it was too dull and devoid of life. All the plants we have in there, she snuck in and put them there. We have a whole binder of instructions on them, including photos of what the leaves look like. She also included examples of what they’d look like if something was wrong with the plant and how to fix it,” Jinu said quietly, his gaze distant.

“Honestly, that makes sense. This entire time I was in disbelief that you two could keep plants alive,” she teased. As much as she joked, she didn’t like seeing this quiet version of Jinu. It was worrying; she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened between them. She knew this wasn’t the time or place to ask, so she resolved to be patient.

The hangout continued, with talk about whatever—something about Baldur’s Gate—but Mira’s mind kept drifting back to the baby facts Zoey had mentioned earlier. She could do that: tell bedtime stories. That sounded nice. Her nanny had read to her at night—never her parents. She wouldn’t be like that; she was going to tell so many bedtime stories, starting tonight. Pulling out her phone, she searched for local baby shops. Surprisingly, there was one just a street over.

“There’s a store a street over I want to hit before we head home.”

“For what?” Zoey hummed.

“Uh, it’s a baby store,” Mira muttered, her ears turning red.

“OOOOOHHHHH, let’s gooooooo! We are so coming with,” Abby said, pumped to say the least.

They finished up their lunch, Jinu paid as he should, and they headed to the next store. It was a small, cute storefront with a sign in the window reading Support Small Businesses. Walking in, Mira froze for a moment—her heart stopped at all the cute baby clothes in front of her. It felt like a punch to the gut of pure maternal instinct. They quietly dispersed through the store to browse, Zoey and the boys oohing and aahing frequently. Mira headed for the book section, intending to pick a few. She knew she could probably find free ones on her phone, but she wanted something solid to keep and revisit.

“Hello there! Is there anything I can help you with?” A kind woman wearing the shop logo approached. Mira couldn’t help but notice that she was pregnant as well.

“I was just looking at some books. They say it’s good to read to them?” Mira asked, feeling unsure but trusting someone who might know better.

“Ahhh, first time?” the woman asked kindly. When Mira nodded slightly, she continued. “Congrats! I’ll say it’s exhausting, but holding that tiny person in your arms is the best reward you’ll ever have. Books are good though—I read to all of mine. Sometimes I feel it helped me connect with them more than anything else could.”

“Is there, um, any more advice you might have for me? Sorry to bother you,” Mira said hesitantly.

“Hmmm… get all the sleep you can now; you’ll miss it. Buy diapers and clothes in various sizes—if you have a baby shower, everyone always gets newborn sizes. Also, this is becoming more popular, and I use it in my household.” She handed a small booklet from the shelf to Mira. Looking down, Mira saw it was Parents’ Guide to KSL. “It really helps before kids can fully communicate what they want. My little Susa is five now and still has trouble communicating verbally, so we use this daily in my home.”

Mira hummed slightly as she glanced through the pages. “I’ll leave you to browse now, dear. Call if you need anything else.”

“Thank you.” Mira made eye contact to convey her gratitude, earning a small smile and a pat on the cheek. She picked out a few books and grabbed four of the guides, one for each of them. Walking away, she hesitated before turning around to grab a fifth—maybe Rumi would want one as well. She started toward the register, then something caught her eye in the clothes section. On a tiny baby mannequin was a little yellow bomber jacket—oh yeah, she was definitely getting one to match Mira’s stolen jacket.

After checking out, they split up with promises to hang out soon. Mira and Zoey started the drive home, Mira reflecting on the words the kind woman had shared.

“Should I have a baby shower or a registry or something?”

“Oh honey, don’t you know me better than that?” Zoey said, a glint in her eyes.

“What did you do?” Mira sighed.

“Abby and I have the whole thing practically planned already; we just need your input on a date and what to put on your registry.”

“Zoeyyyyy, you don’t have to do all this for me.” But even as she said this, a true smile spread across her face.

“You’re right, Mira, I don’t have to do this, but I want to. Plus, you know how much I love planning parties.” Zoey shrugged, her eyes on the road. “I figured we’d wait to talk about dates until we meet with Rumi—so she could plan to come, maybe invite friends. If you want, of course. Free stuff is free stuff, ya know?” She rambled for a moment, gesturing with her hands.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind inviting her. Her parents want to meet me,” Mira said, a conflicted look on her face. “I’m not good with parents.”

“Honey, that’s the trauma talking. My parents adore you. I’m sure Abby or Jinu would have said something if they were trash people.” She felt reassured by Zoey’s words. Her parents do like her, so maybe she could have some faith in this meeting. “Plus it’s all in your hands; if you don’t like them, you don’t have to let them be a part of your life.” That settled something in her—control made her feel safe. She had never had control in her life until she finally cut ties with her family and left to have her own life.

“You’re right, you’re right. It’s just hard to let go of the past sometimes, but I’ll at least try.” She was determined to make an effort, if not for herself, then for her kid, who deserves to have some type of grandparents. God knows, if she has her way, her parents will never find out about this.

Later that night, while settling before bed, she pulled out one of the books she had bought: The Journey by James Norbury, a tale of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon. She flipped through a few pages and found it very cute. Reclining against her headboard, she lightly placed her hand on her stomach and started reading aloud. Keeping her voice low and calm but still strong, she read the first twenty pages, already enjoying the story and the deep emotions being portrayed. Honestly, why was this kids’ book making her feel so moved?

“That is a good question, little one, and the answer is simple yet difficult. Sleep now. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll see what we can do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rumi POV

She pulled a late night but finally she was caught up on grading and may have created an entire board dedicated to the nursery she wants to set up at the penthouse. Checking her phone she noticed she had two more texts from Jinu which she didn’t even bother opening and a message from an unknown group chat from 5am. She frowned before opening it, expecting some sort of spam.

+1929-38203

heyyyyyy, its ya boi zoey
i stole your number off miras phone while she was distracted

Mira

Zoey stop doing that
Sorry Rumi

Zoey

its fineeeeeee
its movie night babyyyyyyy 🍿
we will cook real food if you wanna grab unreal food

Mira

By we she means I will cook real food, she will steal things off the cutting board

Zoey

slander
i would never
anywayyyyys its like 5am so i suppose ill stop spamming your phone
text us when you wake up
ooooh we also need to think of a name for our group chat

Mira

How about ‘stealing food and numbers makes you a thief’

Zoey

SLANDER I TAKE FULL OFFENSE
RUMI WAKE UP AND SAVE ME FROM THIS ABUSE

Rumi reads the chat a few times to process what even happened while she was asleep, a crooked grin stretches across her face. Wow she hasn’t had a non work or family related group chat in years, it puts her in a good mood. She likes Zoey, seems like a fun person to be around and it would be nice to have some actual friends.

Rumi changed name of group chat
‘Stealing food and numbers makes you a gremlin but we support gremlins’

Rumi

I have woken from my eternal slumber
I shall provide sustenance in the form of the finest snacks I can find from a convenience store
Inform me as to what unreal items you would consider an appropriate offering

Oh god, she groans, why is she so weird. Hopefully that came off as quirky and funny and not freak energy. That’s it, she’s never going to talk to anyone ever again and move out and live in the woods and ghos- Her panic spiral gets interrupted by a buzz.

Zoey

hear ye hear ye
a proclamation has spread throughout the lands
gremlins will accept shrimp chips and pepero
also the group chat name has been declared passing for now

Mira

Gif of someone face palming
Nerds
Not the candy I’m saying you guys are nerds
Some type of spicy chips and mustard
Oh and banana milk
Grape gummies

Rumi

That is quite the combination there 🤢

Mira

Who is carrying whose child again?
The baby demands these offerings

Rumi

Fair fair
Offerings will be supplied

Zoey

Gif of a whip cracking
baby mama laying down the law

Mira

Literally never call me that again
7pm bring offerings and appetite

Zoey

also tissues
for when i kick your butt in mario kart

Rumi

I will mentally prepare myself for the butt kicking now
I will bring offerings and appetite if the secret location is sent to me

Mira

062025 kpdh ln
I suppose you probably do need that
See you then

Zoey

fare thee well maiden
snacks ✅
appetite ✅
butt kicking 🏎️

Rumi smiled to herself before getting ready for her day. She would be going straight from class to their place, so she needed to pick out a work-appropriate but relaxed hangout outfit. She threw on a comfy pair of dark jeans, a light gray button-up covered with a camel sweater vest, and her favorite tweed jacket with leather elbow patches that Celine had bought her when she got the teaching position. She figured she’d take the jacket off and roll her sleeves up when she got there. Instead of her usual braid, she piled her hair into an intentionally messy bun. Checking herself in the mirror, she was satisfied with the fit. She grabbed her bag and headed downstairs to eat something and get some coffee before leaving for campus.

To her surprise, her parents were still home, sitting at the table having breakfast. Celine, as usual, had her laptop open, no doubt working, while Mi-Yeong was clearly on TikTok. Rumi smiled and shook her head—her umma was somehow more obsessed with the app than some of her students. She claimed she used it to find undiscovered talent for the company, but unless they were starting a new path with funny animals, it didn’t seem like she was actually doing much on there.

“Breakfast’s on the stove,” Celine said without looking up. She had always been able to sense when Rumi entered a room, even though Rumi made very little noise while walking. Mi-Yeong looked up from her phone in surprise, taking a second to look at Rumi.

“Okay, it’s giving casual but cute professor chic. You have that movie night with Mira and her friend tonight, right?” Her umma was her one-woman hype squad.

“Yeah, Zoey,” Rumi supplied.

“Okkkkk, looks good then. Lose the jacket when you get there—you’ll seem more casual.”

Rumi just nodded, her face serious while helping herself to some food. “That’s the plan. Don’t want to seem too try-hard but also don’t want to seem like a slob.” Celine looked up and studied her.

“Looks good.” That was a high compliment coming from her. Rumi beamed back, glad she had picked something appropriate.

“So… did you do your usual extensive research on Mario Kart last night?” Rumi’s stomach dropped. She had completely forgotten; she didn’t even know the purpose of the game. She turned to Mi-Yeong in horror, whipping out her phone to shoot off an email to the graduate class she had later that day.

Professor Ryu (Rumi)

Guys, whoever brings Mario Kart to class tonight gets extra credit.

Thankfully, she had a rather small graduate class, and they all got along pretty well. Since she had been on an accelerated course, they were close in age. Some of their classes would dissolve into rants and raves, especially after big tests or assignments. Looking back at her umma, she shot her a thumbs-up.

“Got it covered. No way I’ll lose.”

“Good. Don’t let them see your weakness.” Celine looked at her in that same serious way they both did; Rumi had inherited her eomma’s competitive spirit.

“God, you two.” Mi-Yeong shook her head fondly, turning back to her phone. Rumi finished her breakfast, seeing a few emails confirming that Mario Kart would be provided. It was a two-hour lecture period, so hopefully that would be enough time to learn the game. Plus, she wanted to get some opinions on the nursery theme she had chosen.

She told her parents goodbye before “poofing” to her office. She had decided to leave early to grab snacks before class so she wouldn’t have to rush afterward. At the small campus bodega, she picked up everything requested plus a few extra items that sounded good. She also grabbed some snacks for her students, knowing they were going to have a chill class. Bounty in her arms, she returned to her office and prepared for class. It was also a day with open office hours for students needing extra help. A few from her lower-level courses showed up for advice on a project due at the end of the week, but otherwise, the day passed quickly.

Arriving at class, she laid out the snacks she had bought and grabbed the graded papers, placing them face-down on the students’ desks. There were only six students in class, and they all sat in the same spots every day. Two of them came up presenting her with Mario Kart, which she promptly reminded them she had little idea how to use the projector and asked for help setting it up. She wrote a note to give them extra credit while they set it up.

“Okay, my baby architects, today we will be doing stupid shit. Update: I am having a child. Surprise.” Everyone gasped dramatically. Nari shot up.

“Waittttt, what??? You better spill the tea, Ru.”

“Listen, we don’t need to discuss the exact happenings; you all hopefully understand how babies are created,” she said, shaking her head, embarrassed. “But anyways, I’m having a movie night with the mother and her friend to bond more, and they are insisting I play Mario Kart. I’ve never even heard of this game before, but I can’t lose. Oh, also, I made a Pinterest board for a nursery, so I need opinions on that. Then class will be dismissed early, unless you want to stay behind and discuss your papers.” She gestured toward the snacks, letting them know they were free to help themselves.

Min came up, passing her a tiny controller and explaining what the buttons did. Then the race was off. She quickly realized this game turned people into bloodthirsty monsters—everyone was shooting past her and raging at each other. Min hit Nari with a blue shell, knocking her out of first place. Rumi had to remind them of the campus’s strict no-violence policy. After a few rounds, she was playing like a pro, knocking everyone out with bombs and green shells. After taking first place in a couple of cups, she decided she was prepared enough and had them power the game down, students complaining about how good she was. She had them help her cast her phone to the screen and started going through her Pinterest board, organized by color and theme.

She had everyone vote on their favorite theme, and they agreed on the navy blue and star theme. The walls would be navy blue with gold stars painted on them, a golden mobile hanging above the all-natural wood crib. Floating shelves lined the walls with books and a Himalayan salt lamp. After that, she dismissed class an entire 45 minutes early, letting anyone stay to go over their papers with her—but no one did. They left to enjoy the rest of their night. She had heard about a new karaoke bar opening a few blocks away, and many people planned to check it out.

Rumi grabbed the snacks and headed to her car, planning to show up a little early to ease her anxiety. It was about a 15-minute drive from campus, which would put her roughly 15 minutes early. Hopefully, they wouldn’t mind. Maybe she should just sit in her car? But what if they saw her sitting there like a creep? She started drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. Gosh, she hated making decisions like this. She needed to get one of those decision-making apps. Pulling into an older apartment complex, she circled around until she found the correct building.

‘Stealing food and numbers makes you a gremlin but we support gremlins’

Rumi

Hey sorry I’m a little early but I’m here
I can totally wait out here though if you aren’t ready

Zoey

nah your fine
i’ll come get you
mira is still cooking atm

Rumi got out of her car, grabbing the bags of snacks and waiting by the front door for Zoey. A few minutes passed before the front door swung open aggressively, Zoey standing there with her hair down and curly, a smile plastered across her face.

“Snacks?” Zoey asked. Rumi held the bags up.

“Appetite?” Zoey interjected, and Rumi nodded.

“Butt kicking. Though it’s debatable who will be the butt kicker.” A lopsided grin spread across Zoey’s face. She gestured for Rumi to follow her up the stairs, and Rumi immediately tripped—but thankfully caught herself before actually falling. Zoey immediately burst out laughing.

“God, you are clumsy, aren’t you? This is the second time I’ve met you, and both times you’ve almost eaten concrete.”

“Literally insane. It must be you. Do you have secret gravity powers?” Rumi accused, proceeding carefully up the stairs.

“Who do you think I am? Graviton?” Zoey teased, causing Rumi’s head to whip toward her.

“You like Marvel comics?” Rumi practically yelled, her lopsided grin stupidly bigger than ever.

“Uh, yeahhhhh. Captain Marvel was my gay awakening.”

“Valid. I’m a Black Widow girl myself.”

“Hmmm, so you have a thing for people with reddish-colored hair,” Zoey teased, stopping in front of a door that had a large turtle painted on it. Rumi’s face went red before she swatted at Zoey. Zoey just laughed again before turning the handle and letting her into the space.

It was a very cute space, filled with love and life. A worn couch sat smack dab in the center, covered with pillows and blankets galore.

Looking a little more, she saw the kitchen attached to the living room. Standing at the stove in a pair of black joggers, a cropped off-the-shoulder white shirt, and a pair of round golden glasses, was Mira—honest to God glowing. Fuck. The sliver of collarbone where the shirt was slightly askew drew Rumi’s attention; she knew exactly how it felt to bite there, exactly the noises it would pull out of Mira. How could this woman continue to be stunning even in casual clothes? She didn’t know. But she did know how gorgeous Mira was without clothes.

Chapter Text

                                                                                                      Mira POV

One of Mira’s favorite things in this world was cooking. It was something that was enough to take her mind off everything but not overwhelm her. She had never cooked growing up but when she moved out on her own she had lived off takeout until she met Zoey who promptly took her into their kitchen and showed her enough basics to at least cook a few meals. From there Mira was hooked, starting to look up more recipes and learning more difficult meals, Zoey was very eager to turn over the cooking duties to Mira after that. However that meant constantly fending off Zoey’s attacks on the food she was trying to cook, in fact she was glad Rumi was early because that should be distracting enough that she’d be able to finish cooking in peace. Thankfully the process has distracted her enough that she hasn’t had a chance to be nervous about tonight.

The door opened aggressively in what she fondly called Zoey style. She stirred the food to prevent sticking before turning around to greet their guest. She honest to god froze when she saw Rumi standing in their doorway. She could never understand the whole being infatuated with the professor thing that everyone had in college but she was pretty sure if Rumi was her professor back then it would be a very different story. Like hot damn, she didn’t know professor chic was an actual style but Rumi was rocking it. She tore her eyes off the woman she was very clearly checking out before looking up to make eye contact with the woman.

“Hey-“

“Bro she already tripped again! You better hope your graceful dancer skills outweigh her inability to stay upright.” Zoey interrupted cheerfully, while making her way towards the kitchen. 

“Hey! That’s not even a valid point. I’m not that clumsy, I’m sure it was a fluke accident.” Rumi defends, a red blush staining her face. She took off her jacket before starting to roll her sleeves revealing the patterns that covered her arms before trailing up under her shirt. Mira couldn’t help but to stare at the toned forearms that were revealed, like actually who allowed this woman to be ripped. 

“I don’t know about that. Twice in two meetings really gives off clumsy energy.” Mira teases, enjoying how her blush spreads up to the tips of her ears now. “Foods almost ready so make yourself comfortable.” 

“Is there anything I can help with? I promise not to be a cutting board thief.” Rumi asks, shooting a teasing look towards Zoey, who throws up her hands in an affronted gesture. 

“Sure, if you want to grab the bowls from the cupboard over the sink and silverware from the drawer below it. Not sure if I trust you with a knife, don’t want you to trip and impale yourself.” She shot over her shoulder, her lips pulling into a smirk.

“Literally I swear one more joke about me being clum-” Rumi mutters to herself walking towards the cabinets Mira indicated, she cut herself off when she accidentally rammed her hip into kitchen island. Turning around she immediately defended herself, “Okay that was a set up!”

“And pray tell who exactly set you up?” Zoey asked through her cackling. 

Mira interjects dryly, before Rumi can even open her mouth, “Poor genetics that’s who.” 

“Okay you know what?” The demonette exclaimed before silencing herself and grabbing the bowls without another word.

“Are you going to finish that thought orrrrr?” Mira drawled.

“Yeah I mean come onnnn. Don’t stop now, what do we know?” Zoey teases.

“Literally nothing, I actually don’t have a comeback.” Rumi pouted slightly before placing the bowls and chopsticks down. 

Mira made eye contact with Zoey before they both burst into laughter, they’ve only known the woman for a few days but the way she meshes into their own brand of humor seems effortless. She finishes filling the bowls with the hot meal and they all take a seat at their dining table. She observes quietly as the other two get into a rant about something called Marvel Rivals, she’s 60% sure it’s the new game Zoey has been obsessed with. Moments like this she craves, where she can just sit and watch, fly under the radar, it always feels like an opportune moment to get a read on someone. See how they tick, see how they act when they are passionate, angry, sad etc… 

“Miraaaaaaa, stop staring at Rumi and finish your food. It’s game time!” Zoey interrupts her internal musing. She shoots her a glare and finishes quickly, ignoring Rumi’s eyes burning into her. 

“Are you prepared to lose? It’s okay if you cry, we definitely ‘won’t’ take photos and post them on instagram.” Zoey leans forward intensely staring at the patterned woman.

“You are awfully confident for someone I’m pretty sure can’t meet the height requirement for most amusement parks.” Rumi shoots back, smirking at the challenge. 

Mira laughs darkly, “Shouldn’t have done that. She’s going to eat you alive.”

“Bro that’s it, see I was gonna be nice and go easy on you but now? Now it is onnnnnn.” The smaller woman rants, throwing herself from the table to set up the game. 

Rumi throws her head back laughing, before raising to clear the bowls from the table and carrying them to the sink.  “Just saying, we’ll see who is crying by the end of it.” 

                                                                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                                                                                    Rumi POV

See Rumi felt pretty confident about her skills, they had played quite a bit during her class. The only problem was when Zoey handed her a controller she did not recognize it. The one she had played on earlier was like a long white bar, this was a tiny little red box. Frantically whipping her phone out while Zoey continued setting the game up, she googled the difference real fast. Apparently she had learned on a Wii console and this was a Nintendo Switch, two completely different things, plus it was a different version of the game as well. Well fuck, she felt the confidence she had earlier melt from her body. God she just talked such big game and now it looks like it may have been all talk. Feeling eyes on her she looks up, Mira had been staring at her with a cocked eyebrow.

“All good over there tiger?” 

“Yup yup totally fine, nothing to see here at all.” She says, pitched a little higher than normal, shoving her phone back into her pocket. Wait, what did she just say? “Tiger??” 

“Yeah.” Mira shrugs, offering no explanation. 

“Alright guys, choose your characters. Be warned I will judge you on who you choose. I have an entire file on what character you choose says about you.” With a wiggle of her eyebrows, she confidently chose Toad. 

Rumi hummed for a moment flicking over her options, watching as Mira selected Daisy. She finally settled on the little red guy with the white mask, his name appearing as Shy Guy, he was super cute. 

“Alright you guys ready to be psychoanalyzed based on your Mario Kart choices?” Zoey seemed too gleeful about this fact. 

“I guess?” She said a little unsure. 

“Okayokayokay I’ll do myself first to ease us in, I chose Toad who is honestly the best character. What does that mean about me, you ask? You drink your coffee with oat milk and use a tote bag even if you only have two items. You spend your time at the bins and you’re always fun to hang out with. You’re typically loud, but your energy constantly bounces off of others.” 

“Okay that is scarily accurate, do me next.” Mira seemed amused at this whole ordeal.

“Alright ms basic Daisy chooser, my notes say you’re either a girl, or just really like girl characters. You have taste; you’re a feminist at heart. “Womanizer” by Britney Spears and “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga are in your main playlist. You reek of pink and rainbows, and the phrases “slay queen” and “okay girl” make up a majority of your vocabulary, and that’s okay. You’ve either been playing Mario Kart for a long time, or have just started.” 

“Ehhh maybe like 50% accurate, you’re losing steam here Zo.” 

“Whatever saved the best for last anyways, Rumi you chose Shyguyyyyyyyyyy.” She jolted a bit realizing the attention was back on her and she snapped to attention.

“Aye aye captain, ready to be analyzed."

“ You’re mysterious and kind of weird, but in a cool way (if that’s possible). You’re probably quiet and an introvert, a Shy Guy if you will. It takes awhile for people to look under the mask. Once people do though, you come out of your shell; you’re a loud extrovert around the correct people.”

“Guess you’ll have to stick around a bit to figure out the validity of that I suppose.” Rumi gives an exaggerated wink. 

She watches as the both laugh lightly at her joke, her knot of anxiety loosening with every joke, laugh, and smile. Making friends was always something she found hard to do but so far with them it felt as easy as breathing. Of course it helped that one of them was tied to her in a way, not that it meant that they had no choice in the matter. She honestly felt happy and content for once around people other than her family, hopefully it would last.

                                                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It indeed did not last long, Rumi let out a low growl, her patterns flashing in irritation, as Mira and Zoey lapped her, again. She has not ranked higher than 8th place in the last 45 minutes they’ve been playing this stupid game, meanwhile the other two had been battling each other for 1st and 2nd place the entire time. She blames this ridiculously tiny controller, her hands slow and fumbling on it, consistently over reaching and missing buttons or hitting the wrong one. Ugh why didn’t she do more research on this? She should’ve known there were multiple versions of it! The screen flashes 9th place mockingly at her, she just pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs loudly.

“I don’t understand how you guys are doing so well, these controllers are so small I don’t even know how you differentiate between buttons.”

“Sounds like a skill issue. Seems like your hands are as clumsy as the rest of you.” Mira snarks at her, a joking smirk on her face.

“Hmmmm, I don’t recall you having an issue with my ‘clumsy’ hands before.” She shoots right back, an eyebrow lifting. 

Mira chuckled lowly, leaning her face into her palm, her elbow resting on her knee. She leans forward tracing a finger across the palm of said hand, lightning following in its wake. Rumi’s hand jerked from the ticklish sensation, “Mmm see? Clumsy.” 

The direct eye contact between the two sparking before a strangled noise distracts her. Begrudgingly tearing her eyes off the pinkette, she sees Zoey absolutely choking around a mouthful of shrimp chips as she wheezes.

“Alright people, this is a family friendly game night, there are children in the room who do not want to hear your foreplay on our lovely couch. Namely me, I am the children, not to mention baby MiRuZoAbJi.”

Rumi feels the tips of her ears get hot, looking back towards the tv a small strangled noise sounding in the back of her throat. Glancing over she sees Mira glowering at Zoey, a small blush also stains her cheeks.

“Everyone’s talking privileges have been revoked now. Zoey load the movie up or so help me I will expose your AO3 account where you write Sunlight Sisters fics.” Mira growls.

“You wouldn’t!”

“Try me and find out.” 

Rumi sat there in silence for a few moments not understanding what AO3 was or what she meant by fics. Also why it had something to do with her moms and aunt but mentally shrugged turning back towards the tv. 

“What are we watching?” 

“It was Mira’s pick tonight so we are watchinggggggg Castle in the Sky. It’s a Studio Ghibli movie and one of her fav movies.” Zoey said while putting a dvd in.

They turned off the lights, save for some fairy lights that were strung on one of the bookcases and settled in to watch the movie. Zoey had grabbed a large blanket, like really large, the kind you see in a facebook ad that then takes 2 days to 8 years to actually show up. They dispensed their snacks and she watched in horror as Mira poured her hot chips into a bowl and poured mustard on it. Her and Zoey make eye contact behind Mira’s back, the shared pain passing through them as Mira picks up a set of chopsticks to start eating her monstrosity of a snack. 

“I can feel you guys staring. Zoey you have no room to judge when you drink pilk and Rumi let’s not forget why exactly I am eating weird crap.”

They both snap their attention back to the tv to avoid the wrath of the pink haired woman sitting between them. She found herself enjoying the movie as it started playing, enraptured by the journey of these two kids that were thrown together. She never really watched animated movies growing up as Celine said they weren’t educational enough and that Rumi should spend her time doing other things. 

It was around when Pazu and Sheeta were navigating the storm that she felt a weight settle against her shoulder, glancing down she saw Mira had relaxed into her. The pinkette's eyes were closed as her breaths grew slow and steady, Rumi just smiled down at her before turning her attention back to the movie. She wasn’t sure if she should wake Mira but honestly the warmth from her felt nice and the woman had seemed exhausted both times she had seen her, so she’d let it be for now. After a few more minutes of watching the movie she felt movement and looked down again, Mira had evidently found her shoulder not comfortable enough and moved closer, her head now tucked under her chin and resting against her chest. She felt a strange rumble coming from her inner self, a sense of pride at being a safe space for her to rest upon. Safe, her beast agreed.

She found herself smiling at the end of the movie, she always loved a happy ending. Looking down, she raised her hand to gently shake Mira awake, intending to send the woman to bed and head home herself. Before she could a hand shot out and grabbed her, she looked over and saw Zoey frantically shaking her head.

“She’s barely slept in weeks and definitely not this deeply. Let her sleep.” Zoey whispered. “It’s like the whole cat logic, you’ve been chosen you cannot move.” 

Glancing back down she felt herself soften even more, gently placing her hand back down on the arm of the couch. “Okay okay, I’ll wait until she wakes up naturally to go. It’s very important that she gets rest.” Zoey just smiles softly and nods, getting up herself.

“However I am going to bed, I’ve got an early appointment. Just lock the door behind you when you go please. Here’s the remote if you want to watch something for now.” The dark haired woman turned and headed towards the hallway, she stopped and turned back one last time. “Thank you. I think you’ll fit in well with us and I definitely saw you hiding a couple of tears when they thought Pazu and Sheeta had died.” 

Rumi didn’t have a chance to respond before the woman disappeared into her room. She turned some random documentary about bourbon on, looking down one more time she brushed some of the other woman's hair out of her face. Noting how much younger and softer Mira looked when she wasn’t constantly protecting herself.

Chapter Text

Mira POV

Mira woke slowly, her body fighting her minds call to start her day. Her bone deep exhaustion that has been dogging her every step seems to have for once receded a bit. She doesn’t really remember the last time she’s slept more than 4 hours without being woken up by something, mainly a dire urge to pee. She stretched her legs out while burrowing herself closer into her body pillow, the warmth from it was addicting. Suddenly her senses slammed into her, freezing, she doesn’t have a body pillow and if she did why would it be warm. Unless they made heated body pillows, which would be nice, wait back on track she’ll research heated body pillows later. Cracking her eyes open, her sight is immediately filled with a soft gray button up, raising her gaze she sees soft purple hair framing a relaxed face, Rumi. They both must have fallen asleep last night during the movie and knowing Zoey she probably shrugged and left them. 

The woman was sitting up still, head tilted back on the back cushion, one of her well defined arms wrapped around Mira’s shoulder pulling her firmly into her. The other woman’s scent flooded her senses reminding her of cozy fall days, slightly spiced apples. She couldn’t help but breathe it in again before slowly starting to extract herself from the firm grip without waking Rumi. She made her way off the couch to take care of pressing business, for once not feeling the overwhelming urge to throw up. Coming out of the bathroom she was greeted with the smell of something cooking and a faint humming coming from the kitchen. Passing by the still sleeping woman she turned to the kitchen area where Zoey was already at the stove preparing food.

“Morning Zo.” Her voice came off a little hoarser than normal, still thick with sleep.

“You guys looked cozy this morning.” Zoey teased, glancing back at her and wiggling her eyebrows.

“Hush, I doubt neither one of us planned on crashing on the couch.” She admonished her best friend.

“Mmm actually you fell asleep on her and I threatened her to stay still and let you sleep. She must have eventually passed out but I didn’t expect you to sleep all night for the first time in weeks.” The dark haired woman shrugged as if it’s normal to threaten people into being pillows. 

“I was scared for my life.” A low husky voice joined the mix as Rumi came into the kitchen. “You should have heard the things she threatened me with.”

Mira shuddered at the woman’s lower voice, an electric spark traveling through her body before settling somewhere she definitely did not want to think about right now. Things were different now that there is a kid involved, she was no longer just a girl in a bar, she was a co-parent.

“Hearsay! Dragging my name through the mud you scoundrel. That’s it, no pancakes for you.” Zoey aggressively gestures, waving her spatula in the air. Rumi just laughed softly at the shorter woman before looking towards Mira,

“Did you sleep well?” 

“Yeah, I actually slept more last night than I have in the last 3 days. So I guess you made an okay pillow. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable by falling asleep on you and making you sleep upright.”

“Glad to hear that. It’s really okay I didn’t mind, even though you snored the entire night.”

“Is that what that noise was? I thought maybe there was a thunderstorm or something. I swear the windows were rattling.” Zoey chimed in, flipping a perfectly golden pancake onto a plate.

“I do not snore!” She responded hotly. She actually couldn’t believe the audacity these people had to claim she snored. Shooting a death glare at the both of them, daring them to contradict her statement.

“You totally do not snore, you are completely right.” Rumi drawled sarcastically, leaning her hip on the island in the kitchen. 

“Well before Mira slaughters us, we should move the conversation to safer grounds. Baby MiRuZoAbJi-” Zoey started.

“I’m sorry baby what?!?!?!” Rumi sputtered.

“Oh yeah it’s a combination of everyone’s names, I just recently included yours cause I guess you are chill.” Zoey seemed rather proud of this, while Rumi made shocked eye contact with Mira.

“Okay we aren’t actually naming our kid that right? Cause that’s crazy and they definitely are going to get bullied, I mean at that point might as well name them Renesmee.”

Mira stared in shock, “I’m sorry did you just make a Twilight reference in 2025?”

“I’m sorry, you know what Twilight is?” Zoey’s mouth hung open as she stared at Mira.

They kind of all just stared at each other in shock, reminiscent of the spider man picture, which I’m sure Zoey would also love to know that Mira also knew about it. She wasn’t completely inept when it came to social media after all and honestly twilight is iconic. Breaking the standoff she moved to grab plates for breakfast, stopping halfway to turn and look back to Rumi.

“Stay and eat, I owe you that much for making you a pillow. Plus we didn’t get to talk much other than us destroying you in Mario Kart and you crying.” She watched as Rumi grew red and sputtered, waving her hands erratically.

“I did not cry! I simply strategically lost on purpose?” Both Zoey and Mira stared at the other woman as she tried frantically to cover. “Whatever, just wait, I'll beat you next time.”

“Keep telling yourself that tiger, I’m sure it’ll come true one day.” Mira’s voice comes off dry and sarcastic. Placing the plates down on their small kitchen table, she glances and sees that the older woman has taken to pouting lightly, her ears still burning. They all sat to eat, the purplette grumbling under her breath.

Conversation spread easily between the three women, talking about their careers, Rumi letting slip she was originally in idol training before discovering her love for architecture, Mira was a model for awhile until she had the money to open her own studio, and Zoey had wanted to do marine biology but music had already taken her soul by the time she got to college. Which then led Zoey and Rumi into a long discussion on the music industry and what types of music the other was into. Zoey eventually did have to get up and go get ready to start her day, leaving the other two alone. Rumi seemed to chew on her words for a moment, looking like she had something to say.

“I uh am moving to town this weekend. Just wanted to be closer for everything happening.” 

“Oh?”

“Yeah I mean currently I live pretty far and there's only so many times I can teleport here in a day and I just want to be nearby if you need anything, plus I do work at the university so it’ll be closer for me as well.” The wide soft brown eyes seemed to peer into Mira’s own soul, she could practically feel how earnest Rumi was.

“Well now don’t say that, you’ll regret it when I send you on snack runs.” She left out a soft chuckle, just teasing.

“For you I would.” Rumi suddenly clears her throat going red in the face, “I mean obviously for the baby.”

“Obviously.” She murmured back, meeting Rumi’s eyes. The same electric tension from earlier making its presence known. The air between the two of them feeling thinner, her breath coming out a little shallower. Mouth suddenly parched, she unconsciously tugged her lower lip between her teeth before smoothing it with her tongue. Watching as the demonic woman breaks eye contact immediately, eyes darting down to track the glide across her lips before reconnecting their eyes. The woman’s eyes flashing to that golden color, she had originally seen in her eyes at the bar.

She’s not sure who moved but they were suddenly much closer than she remembered, her own eyes betraying her by glancing down at Rumi’s lips. It seemed like the world around them quieted for a moment, everything fading to this moment, the two of them. Her eyelashes fluttered and she more felt than saw Rumi leaning in, her body radiating heat and the scent of spiced apples. Fuck was this really going to happen? She felt a soft puff of air ghosting across her mouth. 

The sound of a phone ringing brought her right back to the present, eyes shooting wide as the both of them suddenly made distance. Faces red, breaths heaving and now avoiding eye contact as Rumi grabbed her phone from her pocket. 

Rumi got up to take a phone call, stepping out of the room for a moment. She let her head fall into her hands, breath starting to slow down and calm. Fuck, was she really about to kiss her? Shaking the fog out of her mind a bit more, she grimaced. They can’t do that, they are having a child together and can’t just jump into a relationship with someone she barely knows. The last thing she needs on top of being pregnant is going through a breakup, one that would cost a lot. Unfortunately her body doesn’t seem to get the memo, as she still feels heat pooled in her stomach. It’s hard to just let go when you can still easily see in your mind how someone looks when coming undone, when they worship you, how their patterns go every- OK NOPE. Not going there, that is not helping anything.

“Sorry had to take that, my parents were worried I didn’t come home last night and didn’t text.” Mira jumps, she hadn’t heard Rumi coming back into the room, she noticed the woman’s patterns had darkened from their normal iridescence. “They uh are helping me move in this weekend and wanted to know if you were maybe free to get dinner?” The purple haired woman rubbed the back of her neck, looking awkward and uncertain.

“I am free this weekend, I will be honest parents don’t tend to like me.”

“Oh no trust me, my parents like everyone. Unless you are a secret murderer or something. Plus you are giving them a grandchild, like you are already golden in their eyes.” Rumi was quick to reassure. “But yeah, I’ll send you the details? And you can just let me know if it works?”

“Okay.” Her voice came out a little quieter than intended, the tension of the morning still lingering in the air between them.

“Okay, yeah okay. I’m going to head out though. Got to get ready for class tonight.” Rumi turned around, to grab her jacket and shoes, tripping a little in her hurry. Mira can’t help to let a small laugh loose at Rumi once again being a clumsy mess. Honestly she’s not sure how this was the same woman from the bar. She opened the door for the striped woman and leaned against the door frame as Rumi left.

“See you later Tiger.” She couldn’t help herself from purring it a little, a teasing tone underneath. A dark red blush immediately spread up the other woman’s face,

“Yupyup okay um yeah see you later.” Rumi squeaked before almost running into the door to the stairwell. Mira watched a little longer as the demonette disappeared from sight. Walking back into her own apartment she just leaned back onto the door and let her head fall back against it with a thump. 

“Well that looked cozy?” Zoey peered out from the hall. “Looked like someone or both of you were going to get devoured.” Mira shot a glare back at the younger woman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rumi POV

Fuckkkkkkkkkkkk.