Chapter Text
The bathhouse had been nice. Relaxing with her girls. Being in the moment. Not having to hide anymore. Being able to just be and enjoy life, wonderful. But… something was just… missing. Rumi couldn’t quite put her finger on it. They had finally defeated Gwi-Ma. Her girls knew about her patterns, and while they didn’t take it so well in the beginning, they had come around afterwards. But still, something was missing and it left a void between the three of them.
Mira was just as distant and aloof as always, but she seemed to be pulling back and wearing kid-gloves with Rumi. It was like she was afraid that any second she would say or do the wrong thing, and Rumi would break or snap or something.
Zoey was clingy and needy, no surprise there, but she seemed afraid to actually touch Rumi’s bare skin. Whenever she went in for a hug or was passing her in the kitchen or even any casual contact, it seemed like she just couldn’t bring herself to touch Rumi’s patterns.
Rumi’s damned patterns.
Rumi was getting frustrated. Gwi-Ma’s defeat should have brought them closer together, gotten rid of all the hiding and awkwardness. And yet, here they were, halfway through the Comeback Tour and they could barely speak to one another. Not out of anger, but… Rumi wasn’t even sure what to name it. Something had to give.
--
Bobby had managed to get them a whole four-day weekend to themselves, to just relax and recoup. The last two months had been grueling. They never really gave themselves a proper break, but that was finally catching up to them. So, with this miraculous mini vacay, Rumi had decided it was time to break whatever this tenuous truce was between them.
She had been up all night, tossing and turning. Nightmares of the Idol Awards haunted her regularly, but this night was different. It wasn’t just watching Jinu get consumed by flames. It wasn’t the Honmoon shattering in her wake. It wasn’t even begging Celine to end it all. (That one had become more frequent since the girls had pulled away from her.) All of those were pretty regular fixtures. But not that night. That night was something different. Something so much worse.
Every time she closed her eyes she watched Mira and Zoey draw their weapons on her.
Every time she fitfully awoke, she tried to calm her breathing and bring her heartrate down, but the exhaustion would overtake her, and she would fall back into a fitful sleep. Only to be confronted with the same scene, just slightly different each time.
Each version started the same way, with her making her way down the stairs, excited to see them. So grateful they were there. Then they would see her patterns. The first dream played out exactly as it had that night, but each time she fell asleep, Mira and Zoey were less and less sad or disappointed or even scared. They started looking delighted, a wicked glint in their eyes. They had transformed into the demons from the stage, and they were only too happy to take her to her end. The things they whispered to her as they sought to destroy her… Mira’s silky timbre seducing her to believe the pain, Zoey’s lilting voice stinging like a physical blow.
“We see what you are.
You’re a demon.
A mistake.
You have been since the day you were born.”
Each time one of them said that last sentence, she awoke with a sob catching in her throat. When she finally woke up for the last time, she was gasping, and she knew she couldn’t keep doing this. She needed them, she was struggling. Badly. As scared and hurt as she was, she knew if they didn’t reconnect soon, she knew she would lose them forever. And she could Not lose them.
--
She had decided at dinner the following night that something had to give, and it might as well be her. They had all sat around the table, take-out containers spread out, each girl pushing her food around rather than really eating. Which, in and of itself, was just weird, considering their voracious appetites. Rumi had looked up and tried to make eye contact with them, but whenever she got close…
Mira had glanced up and caught Rumi smiling at her sadly. Her eyes went wide and she blanched, immediately finding something fascinating in her rice. Zoey wasn’t even looking at her food, just staring off into space. When Rumi tried to catch her eye, Zoey blinked several times then swiftly turned her gaze to the window. Rumi slumped in her seat, then decided she was done. She wanted to talk, she wanted to clear the air, but if they wouldn’t even look at her, how the hell was she going to do that? She cleared her place, murmured a ‘g’night’ and beat feet to her room, tears stinging her eyes.
What she didn’t see was Zoey and Mira slouching in their seats then making sad eye-contact.
“What are we gonna do? Things can’t stay like this.” Zoey whispered in Mira’s direction.
“I know, Zo. I just… I dunno. Things were so good those first few days. What the hell happened?”
“Well, I have a few ideas…”
“Just a few?” Mira grinned despite herself. Hearing Zoey sound a little like her old self warmed a part of her heart she had almost forgotten about.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Mira smiled weakly, she had missed listening to Zoey’s rambling, even if it was about something so damned dark and sad, “I’ve missed you, ya know?” Mira shifted her gaze down to her folded arms, hoping Zoey didn’t see her teary eyes.
Zoey cracked a soft grin, “Yeah, me too Mir. I’m just glad you didn’t take off the second I started talking about this,” her smile faded as her voice dipped. She pulled her knees to her chest, whispering, “Everything seems so fragile right now. I just… I can’t lose you guys.”
Mira’s heart fractured a little at that. She rubbed her eyes for a second, then moved to sit next to Zoey. Slipping an arm around Zoey’s shoulders she pulled her into a tight embrace, “I know, Zo. Me too.” After a moment’s hesitation, she gently pressed a kiss to the top of Zoey’s head. Zoey turned to look up at her with a question on her lips, but Mira only smirked and said, “So, how do you want to do this? I know you have a plan.”
--
Back in her room, Rumi muttered grumpily to herself as she paced, getting ready for bed.
“Dunno what to do… I miss them… but I’m so scared… what if they hate me… what if they want me gone… and just won’t say anything… ugh…”
Derpy and Sussie watched her pace back and forth. Sussie cocked his head to the side like he was trying to discern what the problem was with this odd demon-human. Derpy on the other hand was watching her like one would watch a tennis match.
When she finally stopped, she took a deep breath and let the tears begin. She sank to her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around Derpy’s neck, “I can’t keep living like this. It’s killing me.” She curled into Derpy’s chest, finding comfort in the goofy old tiger’s blue fur and deep purring, and she sobbed.
--
“So, what do you think? Think it’ll work?” Zoey asked excitedly inside Mira’s tight embrace, head still against her shoulder. She was fiddling with the strings of Mira’s hoodie, tying and untying them into different knots.
Mira wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she loved this. Having Zoey in her arms. It felt like home. She and Rumi had always felt like home. The weight of Zoey against her chest warmed her in a way she couldn’t put into words. This was different than just a hug or the way they cuddled when they watched a movie; it was closer, it was more. She just wasn’t sure how.
“Mir?” Zoey sat up a bit and turned to look at her. The shifting weight seemed to bring Mira back to reality. She blinked a few times and cleared her throat, “Oh, um, I dunno, sure.”
Zoey cocked her head to the side, staring at her quizzically. It made Mira squirm and a slight pink blush crept up her neck.
“What were you thinking about? I thought you wanted to hear my ideas…” Zoey seemed to sink inward, like she thought Mira was bored with her. Mira immediately pulled her back down for a hug and kissed the top of her head again, “Nothing, jagiya. Just, got distracted I guess.”
“Hmmm. Okay then.” Zoey said with a shrug and dove right back in, “So, I think if we use this weekend to do some of the fun things we used to do, then maybe we might be able to break through somehow.”
“What kind of fun things? We don’t have a lot of time, and I don’t want to make her too uncomfortable. Maybe we should do stuff here?”
“Yeah! We could make a big breakfast tomorrow or have a movie marathon of all her favorites!” Zoey sat up, clapping several times with a big goofy grin, all excitement and zero worry. It was beautiful and it made Mira melt. She was so cute when she got excited like that.
Whoa Mira! Hold it. What was that??? Melt? Cute?
Mira tried to shift her melty smile into something more “Mira” but was woefully unsuccessful. She swallowed hard and managed to say, “You know what? That sounds really awesome. Just one problem.”
Zoey shrunk a little, “What?”
“Neither of us knows how to cook.”
--
Sleep felt pointless with so many damned nightmares. She hardly felt rested at all. Ugh. She knew she had to get up. She just didn’t want to face the day, but she needed her girls. Somehow, she had to get through this and make her way back to them.
She managed to disentangle herself from a cuddling Derpy (her bed was Not large enough for this, seriously) and make her way to her bathroom. She avoided the mirror as long as she could… she should’ve kept avoiding it. When she finally made eye contact with herself, she saw exactly how terrible the night had been to her; her braid was halfway undone and so, so tangled, her eyes were red and puffy, her face was blotchy, and her hoodie was covered in tears, drool, and snot. Lovely.
“Oh, that’s sexy…” She grumbled at her reflection and decided to get a shower.
She cranked the water as hot as she could stand, the mirror fogging up perfectly. “Take that.” She flipped off the mirror and slipped into the shower.
She hissed when the hot water pelted her stiff shoulders; groaning as it seeped into her braid. Her fingers massaged her scalp working out the knots, loosening it, allowing it to cascade down her back.
“A hot shower could solve world hunger, I swear,” she whispered as she leaned against the shower wall, absorbing the heat and pain, watching her patterns respond to each scalding droplet, “Well, that’s interesting. I wonder if…,” she was just about to try something when she heard Sussie squawk from her bedroom. She quickly turned off the water, tossed a towel across her chest and leapt into her room.
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting but it was Not Zoey and Mira standing in her doorway with two large trays of all sorts of takeout breakfast foods and awkward smiles plastered on their faces.
They all stared at each other, then Mira gestured to Derpy and Sussie with a “what the fuck” look on her face. Rumi blinked a few times before she realized she’d never told them about the spirit animals. They always just appeared when she needed them, they weren’t exactly house pets.
“Oh, um, long story. What’s up, guys?” Rumi went for nonchalance. It did not work.
“You gonna get dressed or do we get a free show?” Mira asked flatly.
“Mira!” Zoey nudged her hard in the ribs.
“Ow! What? It’s a fair question…”
Zoey ignored her, “We wanted to bring you breakfast in bed, but we didn’t think you’d be up already. We’ll let you get dressed,” Zoey waited for Rumi to respond, when she didn’t she added, “Have breakfast with us, Rumi. Please? We miss you. Bring the Tiger and Magpie! I want to know everything!” With that she ushered Mira, who couldn’t stop staring, out the door and fled back to the kitchen.
Rumi stared blankly after them… Free show? Breakfast in bed? What the…
--
“Well, that wasn’t awkward as shit or anything…” Mira grumbled as she set her tray on the kitchen counter. The breakfast food was from all their favorite restaurants because, like Mira had mentioned the night before, they didn’t know how to cook. Well, that wasn’t technically true. Breakfast gave them trouble. None of them were really morning people, so breakfast tended to be take out or something pre-packaged.
“Yeah… Hey, what was that about, Mir?” Zoey asked as she set down her tray. Something was shifting around in her head, and she wanted to gage Mira a bit.
“Hm?” Mira was poking around one of the trays looking for something mildly edible. There was the typical Korean foods, but Zoey had added in some American stuff, too. She was scouring the pastries when something shaped like a foot appeared. What the hell was that??
“Free show?”
Mira stood up straight, a blush sneaking up her neck, disappearing into her hair. “Oh, um, just, ya know, giving Rumi a hard time. Trying to lighten the mood. That’s all.” Mira swallowed audibly and cleared her throat. Zoey didn’t look convinced, in fact she looked like she was going to ask another question, so Mira decided to cut her off, “Um, Zoey, what even is this?” She asked, holding up the pastry between two fingers like it may attack her.
“Oh!” Zoey was immediately distracted by the food, “It’s one of my favorite American pastries! It’s called a bear claw; it’s filled with almond paste and has a yummy glaze with sliced almonds on the top. It is sooo good. You’ve gotta try it!”
Mira stared at the offending pastry, chastising herself. This is what she got for trying to dodge her own discomfort. Yay… “Oh, um, okay, I guess.” But she didn’t take a bite. She just kept staring at it, like she was trying to figure out how to eat it.
Zoey leaned on the counter and watched her intently, enjoying every second. Mira didn’t mind American food, but she found some things just odd. Which apparently applied to bear claws. As Zoey watched her, she felt her heart swell. She had never really noticed how beautiful Mira was. Well, obviously, she was objectively gorgeous, but this was different. She wasn’t done up to the nines on the runway or in a photo shoot. She was in jeans and an old HUNTR/X tank top with her black ball cap on. She wasn’t trying. She was relaxed. She was comfortable in a way she never was anywhere else and in that moment Zoey realized something.
Mira was downright sexy. And that realization caught Zoey off guard. She straightened from her leaning position on the counter and was about to make a run for it when Rumi slipped into a stool at the bar.
Whew. Saved by the Rumi.
The girls froze as Rumi made herself comfortable, reaching for a plate and filling it with food. She noticed the sudden silence and looked up to find Mira standing stock still with some kind of gooey pastry between two fingers and Zoey staring at her.
“What? You guys invited me to breakfast,” Rumi looked from Zoey back to Mira, “Right? Or did I hallucinate that?” Rumi was starting to become self-conscious and set her plate down, planning to get up and leave when Zoey seemed to come to her senses.
“NO! No. Oh, that was loud. Sorry. No, Rumi, you didn’t hallucinate. We did invite you to breakfast. Please. Stay. We’re just a little surprised, is all.”
Mira still hadn’t moved.
“What’s up with her?” Rumi nodded at Mira.
“Oh, she’s afraid of the bear claw.” Zoey said matter-of-factly. Rumi just looked back and forth between them like they’d both lost their minds.
“Bear claw?”
“It’s the pastry she’s holding. Anyway, how are you this morning, Rumi?” Zoey moved to sit next to her at the bar.
Rumi finally pulled her eyes away from Mira long enough to reply to Zoey, “Um, tired. Really tired.” This whole morning was weird. Not that she minded them making an effort, but it was very out of the blue, and she didn’t know how to process it all. She took a deep breath and decided to dive right in. No time like the present, right?
“Look, if you guys want me to go, I’ll go. I appreciate the breakfast, but if you’re still not comfortable being around me, I’m not going to force you to be in my presence.” Rumi moved to stand and that’s when Mira seemed to remember how to be a person.
She dropped the bear claw on the tray and moved to block Rumi’s path, forcing her to sit back down. “No,” Mira said forcefully, “No Rumi. No more hiding, no more pushing us away. Stop. Just stop running, damn it.”
Rumi froze for a moment, trying to fully comprehend what had just been said to her. She slowly turned to look at Mira, her eyes flashed gold for a moment and Mira swallowed, taking a step back.
Rumi stood back up and pushed herself into Mira’s space. “Pushing You away? Seriously?” The sad, dejected look was gone, replaced by rage. “You’re going to stand there and tell me I’ve been pushing You away? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Mira took another step back, but Rumi followed, “You two have been avoiding me and pushing me away for Months. Every time I look at you, you immediately find something else to look at. And you,” she turned to Zoey, who squeaked at the sudden attention, “You can’t even touch me. You go out of your way to avoid even the possibility of grazing my bare skin.” Back to Mira now, glaring, “Who’s pushing who away exactly?”
Mira stared at her blankly, then something snapped in her head, “Really, Rumi? You can’t see how you’ve avoided being alone with us? Talking to us? The closest we get to you is during rehearsals! The minute you walk through the door, you make a beeline for your room. You don’t even stop to take off your shoes! You run away every single chance you get. And we’re sick of it.”
Rumi sneered, “Well, imagine having the people you care about more than anything in the world avoid you every chance they get. Why don’t you try it and tell me how well you react?”
“I have! We Have! I avoid looking at you because I’m scared of spooking you and you running away again!” Mira was breathing heavily, face beet red, nose to nose with Rumi, who appeared to be snarling. If she wasn’t so pissed, it would be kind of hot.
Just as Rumi was about to spout off again, Zoey made her way over and pushed between them. She pressed her palm against Mira’s sternum forcing her to look down at her; a silent conversation was had, resulting in Mira taking a breath and relaxing her posture. Zoey turned to Rumi, whose eyes were fully golden and catlike, her breathing coming in ragged gasps as her patterns flashed harshly against her neck. Her eyes still fixed on Mira, who had folded her arms across her chest and tried to look as unbothered as possible.
“Rumi,” Zoey whispered, trying to get her to look at her, “Rumi, jagiya, look at me.”
Rumi snarled low in her throat and finally cut her eyes away from Mira long enough to notice the tears in Zoey’s eyes. The look on the younger woman was enough to break her rage.
Zoey slowly raised her hand right in front of Rumi’s sternum, the same way she had with Mira. She waited to make sure Rumi was watching her, and slowly pressed her palm into Rumi’s chest, offering gentle, firm pressure. Rumi’s breathing seemed to slow and deepen. She blinked a few times and when she looked back to Zoey, her eyes had returned to their new normal of brown and amber.
“Rumi, we just want to talk,” Zoey’s voice, barely above a whisper, was almost pleading with her, “We miss you. We need you. Talk to us. Please.”
Rumi clenched her jaw and sighed heavily. She pushed away from Zoey and made her way over to their blessed couch. She slumped down in her usual spot and waited. When neither of them joined her, she looked over and said, “Well? You coming?”
They both seemed to snap out of it and scurried over to their own spots. But now that they were together, they didn’t seem to know where to start.
“Look, I’m here, but if it’s just gonna be more awkward silence, I’m out.” She made to stand up, but Zoey gently pressed down on her leg, keeping her in place. She looked from Zoey’s hand to her face expectantly. “What, Zoey?”
Zoey took a shuddering breath and looked over at Mira who just shrugged noncommittally, looking away like she was bored. She was trying really hard at the nonchalance, and it was pissing Rumi off. Rumi growled under her breath, but before she could spout off again, Zoey interrupted her.
“We know it’s been hard the last few months. Things have gotten weird between all of us, and I think it’s because we never really talked about everything, ya know? We didn’t hash it out. We just kind of pushed through and pretended we were all okay, but we’re not okay and we need to fix it,” she took another deep breath before continuing, looking back and forth between them, “I love you guys. I can’t lose you. You mean the world to me. Please just tell me whatever it is that I need to do to fix this. I cannot lose you.”
Rumi watched Zoey’s lip tremble as she fought back tears. She gently reached out and hesitantly cupped her cheek, wiping them away. Zoey leaned into the touch, eyes still on Rumi; deliberately not avoiding her touch and making sure the message was clear, I’m here.
Rumi swallowed hard, “What do you want me to say, Zo?”
“Whatever you want. We know we never talked about the Idol Awards, and I think we need to. You have the right to say whatever you need to. A lot happened that we still don’t know, and I want you to have the opportunity to yell, scream, cry, whatever. Just, don’t shut us out again. Please? Also, I really need to know about the Tiger and Magpie.” That was a little bit more Zoey and it made Rumi crack a little smile. When she did, Zoey caught a glimpse of what looked like the tip of a fang. Interesting.
“Well, let’s start with the least traumatic thing: Derpy and Sussie,” When she said their names, they fazed through the wall connecting her room with the living room. Their sudden appearance made Mira and Zoey jump out of their seats, each ending up with their weapons in hand. Rumi sighed and rolled her eyes, “Guys, they’re not demons. Chill.” Rumi gestured for Derpy to make his way over to her. He clambered onto the couch and plopped right down on her lap. She let out a loud “oof” and then smiled warmly, rubbing his head as he started to purr while Sussie perched on her shoulder. Sussie looked at Mira with slanted eyes and squawked menacingly. The girls just watched this unfold and glanced at each other in confusion.
“What are they?” “Derpy?” Zoey and Mira asked simultaneously.
“Yeah, can’t you see it?” The girls gazed at the tiger and then smiled, yeah, they saw it. “Anyway, they’re spirit animals. I think. They’re from the demon world but aren’t actually demons. They were,” she paused for a moment, taking a breath and bracing for their reaction because she knew they wouldn’t like this one, “they were Jinu’s.”
“JINU?!”
Rumi sighed, “Yes, now do you want to know the story or are you just gonna wig out?”
Mira and Zoey looked incredulous but nodded and retook their seats. Rumi told them about the first time Sussie had appeared to her and everything that followed, including her meetings with Jinu, their song, and their plan. She didn’t go into how it went wrong. That could wait.
Mira and Zoey sat perfectly still, listening intently. Mira’s frown deepened while Zoey looked downright fascinated.
“Ever since the Idol Awards, they just, I dunno, they appear to me when I need them. They’re not always here, they just seem to know when I’m not good. Which, to be fair, has been pretty often lately,” Rumi finished, shrinking into herself and cuddling Derpy tightly.
“Well, I for one am really glad you haven’t been completely alone this whole time,” Zoey started, but Mira interrupted, “Wait a minute.” Both girls turned to face her. She sat up abruptly, leaning into Rumi’s space, looking like she was about to spit flames.
“Wait a damn minute. The night I came to your room, when you were messing with the Takedown lyrics,” Rumi realized where this was heading and she slumped against the couch, “You Promised you weren’t hiding anything from me. But you were. They were there, weren’t they?”
To her credit, Rumi looked abashed and sighed, “Yeah. They were.”
Mira sat back and glared daggers at her, “So, what else are you lying about?”
Zoey gasped, “Mira! That’s not what we’re trying to accomplish here. Let her speak.”
But Mira wouldn’t let it go, “No, Zoey. You two know literally everything about me. I have never opened up to anyone the way I have you guys and here we are with one of us completely hiding and lying. For Years. I kinda get hiding the patterns. That makes sense with who we are and what we do, but she was hiding things that didn’t need to be hidden. And as much as I want to figure this out and get past it, I have a Seriously hard time with liars.”
Rumi looked like she’d been slapped, but unlike earlier this didn’t make her angry, she was just sad. “I know, Mir. I understand. Once I had to hide one part of me, it just seemed like everything else needed to be hidden too, just in case. What if,” she took a steadying breath, “what if you found out about everything, all the parts of me I kept hidden, and you hated them? I knew what would happen if you knew about my patterns and I was right, wasn’t I? But what about the rest of me? What if you hated that, too? Do you have any idea what that would’ve done to me? What it’s still doing to me?”
Mira couldn’t make eye contact with her and didn’t say anything, but Zoey scootched closer to Rumi, resting a hand gently on her leg, “Rumi? What is it doing to you? What’s going on?”
“Nightmares. I have nightmares. Every night. Of the Idol Awards. Of you. Of me. Jinu. Celine,” Rumi scrubbed her eyes and looked up, “it wasn’t just you who turned on me.”
Zoey and Mira looked at one another in confusion, this was the first time they’d heard anything about Celine from that night. They had thought it was a little odd that they hadn’t heard from her in a while, but they’d been busy, and Bobby was their full-time manager now, not her.
Mira cleared her throat and managed to ask, “What about Celine? What happened with her? Does she know about the patterns?”
Rumi sighed again, “Yeah, I’ve had them since I was born. My dad was a demon. I still don’t know how my mom died or what happened to my dad. Anyway, Celine raised me to keep the patterns hidden, to never show anyone,” Rumi dropped her gaze as she did her best to recount the events with as little affect as possible, “After I left the Idol Awards, after I ran from you, I made my way to Celine. I begged her to do what she should’ve done a long time ago, before I destroyed everything I had sworn to protect. But she wouldn’t…”
Mira and Zoey were dumbfounded. Neither would have guessed that her father was a demon, that was absolutely unexpected. But that last part made them sit up straighter and glance at one another. Mira hesitantly asked, “Wait, Rumi, you didn’t… you didn’t ask her to kill you, did you?”
Rumi’s silence was answer enough. Her eyes were downcast, and she just kept petting Derpy’s head, refusing to meet their eyes.
Zoey launched herself at Rumi, catching her completely off guard with a loud “oof”. Sussie squawked indignantly and flapped away to perch near a window.
Zoey wrapped herself around Rumi like a koala and cried into her neck, “Oh Rumi, no, honey, no.” Rumi held onto her just as tightly, trying not to break down. Zoey pulled back, cupping one of Rumi’s cheeks, trying to get her to meet her eyes, “I’m so, so sorry we made you feel like that was the only answer.”
Rumi didn’t look up when she said, “Everyone I loved had turned on me. I’m just another demon that doesn’t deserve to live, right?” She shrugged, “What was left?”
Zoey and Mira froze, glancing at one another. They had really done a number on her. Zoey nodded at Mira, trying to get her to come to them. Mira shook her head vigorously, so Zoey glared and thrust her chin at her aggressively. Mira sighed and made her way over to them, shooing Derpy off the couch and sitting on the opposite side of Rumi. Zoey glared at her when she just sat there. Mira huffed and leaned in to hug them. She may have been pissed and seething, but she did love them, and she really did need to be close. Even if she wouldn’t admit to it. Like ever.
Mira decided to give in, for now at least. This wasn’t being productive, even though she was still angry. “I’m sorry, Rumi,” Rumi looked up at her with tears stinging her eyes, “You are so much more than your patterns.”
Rumi squeezed her eyes shut tightly, letting the tears run freely. She clung to them for dear life, earth shattering sobs racking her body. They stayed like that for what felt like hours when Derpy made his way back over to them, nudging his massive head against their arms until he could get to her. The girls pulled back as he plopped his head into Rumi’s lap, nuzzling and purring. She rubbed behind his ears gently, pressing her forehead to his. Zoey and Mira looked at each other and had yet another silent conversation. Mira sighed and rolled her eyes again.
“Do we need to like, get a cat box or something?” Mira asked flatly.
Rumi burst out laughing and pulled her girls back in for another, less snotty hug.