Chapter Text
If Zoey’s room was any smaller, the amount of stuff in it would classify her as a hoarder which…wasn’t entirely far off…but it was more charming to view it as a room of someone who had at least 16 favorite interests simultaneously at all times.
Records she has taken upstairs from the studio were stacked in one corner. Her walls were littered with posters and photos of a variety of her favorite things. On parts of the wall that were still free, there were shelves for the countless trinkets and merch she had collected. And in another corner her trash was overflowing with candy wrappers and crumpled bits of paper that were most likely scrapped lyrics.
She shared her bed with a plethora of stuffed animals, at least the ones that were still there after a large amount were moved to a hang in a net. It was either that or the bed truly would have been all stuffies.
Zoey was leaning over her desk, groaning in frustration; writer’s block.
The desk had dozens of notebooks stacked methodically on top of each other, akin to a jenga tower, as if Zoey would rather play a balancing act every time she was done filling one out rather than go through them all and neatly put them away in her drawers.
An amp nearby was almost always playing loud thumping music unless Zoey was asleep or out of her room, both of which she was not so; the amp was on, hosting a loud beat Zoey was nodding along to while aggressively tapping her pencil on the blank page in front of her. Her brow furrowed and her lips pursed. She huffed, upset that she couldn’t think of anything so she just let her mind wander until she had something lyric worthy.
She racked her brain for fun experiences that she hadn’t already written about. She had done a lot in writing Comeback for Huntr/x, to apologize to the fans for all the drama and to explain to them why things were tense with the group but now better than ever.
Gwi-ma’s curse seemed to do the work for them in having no one remember that Idol Awards night or question the confusion of the events that went down.
And since then things have been great, their music skyrocketed the charts again and their fans were as adoring as ever, although now they did have a few haters. Ones much more confident than before, especially now that the girls have shown some vulnerability.
Sorry Celine, we let our faults and fears be seen, Zoey thought to herself with a light giggle.
But at least no one questioned Rumi’s patterns, it seemed like they were similar to the Honmoon or when the Saja Boy’s patterns would show. The public couldn’t see them, only those aware of all the demon realm stuff could so Rumi was even more comfortable going to the bathhouse with them learning that. Not that that would be a problem either as Bobby in the past has easily rented out the whole place for them when it’s been too crowded for very popular idols to be wearing next to nothing, if anything at all.
She would never say it out loud because she didn’t want it to be taken the wrong way but, Zoey really missed going to the bathhouse with just Mira.
It was wonderful to have Rumi with them now but she hadn’t really realized how much she had enjoyed having the one on one bonding time. Maybe she just wasn’t entirely adjusted yet. Or maybe she could do a different thing with just Mira then?
Zoey set her notebook and pencil down and bolted out of her room, going down the hall and skidding to a stop in front of Mira’s room. She knocked fervently.
“Come in, Zoey!” Mira called from inside. Zoey joyously swung the door open and practically bounced inside.
Mira was laying on a yoga mat in the middle of doing some crunches. Zoey immediately knelt down and held her ankles which Mira acknowledged with a small grateful smile.
“How’d you know it was me?” Zoey asked cheerfully. Mira did a crunch to get face to face with her.
“There are exactly two other people in this penthouse and you want me to guess that it was Rumi beating at my door like a woodpecker?” Mira raised an eyebrow at her.
“Meany,” Zoey stuck out her tongue as Mira went back down.
“Rumi said she had to go meet with Celine real quick,” Mira reminded her with a soft chuckle, “There’s no one else it could’ve been except for you, bug.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Zoey’s cheeks burned from embarrassment. It had to be that right? Not because Mira called her ‘bug’ and so casually. It definitely wasn't related to the matching way her heart ached because she liked it so much. She LOVED that nickname, although she couldn't exactly pinpoint why. It just made her happy and she wished she could admit to Mira she wanted to be called that all the time. Mira always knew how to make her feel happy, even in the smallest ways, it was nice to have someone like that.
“So what exactly are you here for?” Mira asked as she continued her work out. Zoey shifted her positioning so it was her legs holding down Mira’s feet. Her arms crossed over Mira’s knees to make a pillow for her chin to rest on.
“Do you wanna go out later?” Zoey waited until Mira was on one of the ‘ups’ of her crunches before she spoke.
“How much later? We have that red carpet event tonight we still need to get ready for,” she reminded her. Zoey physically deflated. How did Mira just know all this stuff and how come Zoey couldn’t keep important information like that in her head? Gosh, what would she do without her?
“Oh yeah…maybe another day then,” she frowned.
“We can still do something small, like get boba or something.”
“Nah, I was hoping to spend a longer time with you.”
Zoey didn’t mean to let out a sigh but it slipped out as she looked away.
“Why? To tell me something that takes longer than a boba trip to process? Is something wrong, Zoey?”
Her head quickly swivelled to look back at Mira.
“No no no, nothing like that. I just miss hanging out with you is all.”
“We just went to the bathhouse yesterday,” Mira noted. Zoey felt her face being scanned by Mira’s eyes. She knew how precise they could read her so it was pointless to deflect.
“I knowwww, I guess…well I don’t know, is it wrong of me to miss hanging out with you specifically?” Zoey admitted shyly, fidgeting with her fingers.
“Oh…Nothing wrong with that, Zo. I’m flattered,” Mira chuckled and then went quiet. Normally, Zoey would want to fill the gap of silence but she noticed Mira had a problem solving face on, even amidst her crunches which had never stopped during their whole conversation. Suddenly, Mira’s thinking face dissipated and she spoke, “Do you want to get ready together? Pick outfits. Do each other’s make-up. All that.”
Zoey excitedly sat upright, her arms using Mira’s knees as a prop up while her own knees were kind of flattening Mira’s toes. She didn’t mind too much though, she just bit her tongue to keep from hissing and kicking her off as a reflex. The last thing she wanted to do was send Zoey flying across the floor.
“REALLY?!” Zoey beamed while Mira’s lips slowly tugged at the corners, willing her to give into letting the poker face go.
“Really.”
“AH YAY! Okay, you finish this and then take a shower, meanwhile I’ll take a shower too and come back in a bit, okay? Okay! YAY!” Zoey skittered off leaving Mira smiling as she watched the girl roll out the door as fast as she could, nearly decapitating herself in the process.
***
Mira watched Zoey intently as she rummaged through her monstrous sized make up bag. It was actually more of a suitcase with extension compartments, as if the space inside wasn’t enough already.
They were in Mira’s room, in their bathrobes and Zoey’s hair was still up in a towel, although Mira didn’t question why Zoey once again insisted on wearing her towel over her buns like she would at the bathhouse too. Was her hair already done underneath? Did she just section it off in a completely complicated and unnecessary way for fun? Was it just up normally and she added the buns on the side for her classic look? Zoey’s hair was hardly ever down, Mira couldn’t remember a recent time she saw it like that since before they debuted…
Her analyzing thoughts about Zoey’s hair were interrupted by an excited squeal as the younger girl pulled out an unused Mac x Lisa eyeshadow palette and pointed to showcase the deep red shade.
“You would look killer wearing this, Mir!” Zoey exclaimed, her positive energy so threateningly contagious that Mira thought she might actually lose her cool.
“Killer?” Mira echoed poorly. The English slang caught her a little off guard but she knew if she ever had a question, Zoey would immediately translate.
“Really cool!” Zoey reiterated, then she added with a wink, “Really hot.”
Mira shook her head softly and playfully rolled her eyes but there was nothing but fondness in both facial gestures.
Zoey guided Mira over to the edge of the bed and sat her down, since Mira was taller they were at face level. Mira was pretty much already manspreading but Zoey casually placed her hands onto her knees and gently moved them even further so she could get closer. She must’ve seen the stunned face she accidentally let slip.
“Would you rather lay down so I can lean over you straddling your hips?” Zoey teased.
The teasing wasn’t unnatural. Teasing that bordered flirting.
What good was flirting if you couldn’t do it with your friends? And Mira and Zoey did everything together.
“No. This is fine,” Mira replied quickly, hopefully not being too obvious.
She didn’t really know where to look as Zoey started because a lot of her attention was on trying not to glance at her lips. It got increasingly hard as they continued because Zoey would start puckering them out in concentration.
Mira felt Zoey trace out where she meant to apply makeup next, then she would feel the strokes of the eyeshadow brush or the coolness of the liquid eyeliner on her face.
At some point, Zoey instructed her to look up so she could do her undereye and to steady herself she had a hand gripping her chin firmly, holding Mira’s face upward. An inch further down and Zoey would have a hand around Mira’s neck.
Mira could do nothing but pray the foundation Zoey added earlier covered up her rising blush.
Getting her makeup done by Zoey went by faster than she wanted to admit. But maybe it was for the best because Mira feared her pounding heart would have gotten too loud and exposed the feelings she was desperately trying to hide away. Because how could she ever dare like a friend like that?
She could hardly even admit how she felt towards Zoey and she deserved better than that. Plus, she’d save Bobby from the extra stress of trying to assist with whatever would happen between the two in the event of a confession, whether that be rejection or..
“Will you do my make up too, Unnie?” Zoey pouted sweetly. Mira could have scoffed at how fast her face switched from innocent to weaponized as she tilted her head and looked upwards at her, eyes wide in puppy mode. And the term of endearment too, Zoey really knew how to play her cards right.
“I did say we’d do each other’s,” Mira smiled softly. Zoey grinned with the power of the Sun as she switched their places quickly. She heaved Mira off the bed and plopped herself down, shoving her foundation into the taller girl’s hands.
That grin was addicting. Mira would have said or done anything to see it again and again.
“You didn’t even let me see what you’ve done for me yet,” Mira reached for a mirror from Zoey’s makeup case. Her hand was instantly swatted away.
“No no, we’ll reveal together okay? Hair and outfits included,” Zoey beamed. Mira didn’t even have to do anything that time but there was that beautiful smile again.
“Whatever you say,” Mira responded with a shrug, trying to keep a poker face.
“Foundation time,” Zoey tapped her cheeks. Now that they had switched places, Mira was sort of towering over her so she had to take a step back and lean forward in order to get face to face. Zoey very cutely presented herself, even closing her eyes and tilting her head up as Mira prepared to dab the foundation on.
But then she suddenly stopped. Mira’s eyes traced over the freckles along the bridge of Zoey’s nose that spread sporadically across her cheeks. Noticing nothing was happening still, Zoey peeked one eye open and frowned, “What?”
“Well…I kind of don’t want to cover up your freckles,” Mira chuckled softly, her tone was so warm and genuine that it actually made Zoey’s heart flutter.
Geez, keep it together Zoey.
“Oh, I mean…you don’t have to. We can skip the foundation, I don’t mind showing them off.”
“Good cause these are so cute,” Mira zigzagged a finger across a bunch of Zoey’s freckles to trace them and nearly cupped her cheek in the process. Her initial reaction was to giggle at the way it tickled but once she felt Mira’s fingers brush the side of her face, Zoey wished she could’ve leaned into the feeling of it more. But Mira pulled her hand away quickly afterwards and she was left with only the desire of chasing it.
Makeup continued like normal but now minus the foundation. Zoey found out she actually enjoyed how calm the silence felt. It was a relief because she had feared if it was awkward she’d have to start filling it up with noise in an attempt to fix it.
Mira then made a very very quiet sound. Zoey barely caught onto it but it sounded like discomfort and she noticed how Mira’s brow was furrowed and how her lips were curling in a way that wasn't concentration.
“Are you okay?” Zoey immediately asked, her voice laced with concern.
“Yeah, it's nothing. Just my back, I think I hurt it during my work out earlier. And the leaning forward is tough,” Mira said through gritted teeth.
“Just lean on me,” Zoey reached out and grabbed Mira’s other arm, sliding down until their hands met while scooting back on the bed. She lifted up a knee at the same time she lifted their intertwined hands to settle on it. Zoey pulled Mira forward so she had to prop her own knee up once it hit the edge of the bed. She felt Mira’s weight shift until there was a steady pressure on her lower thigh.
Mira was completely stunned, almost dropping the powder brush in her other hand as their skin met. Once again, she prayed Zoey couldn’t see her blush or sense her embarrassment. She told herself it was fine, Zoey wasn’t looking at her any differently or pulling away if she suddenly realized it was weird. Her hand stayed on her leg, tingling as if there was electricity coursing through the connection. And Zoey was looking up at her with the softest and most caring smile Mira had ever seen her make.
“Are you sure? It’s not too much weight right?” Mira checked.
“Yeah, totally,” Zoey grinned and just like that Mira continued as Zoey tried not to overthink how effortlessly and quickly she had managed to do that. Her brain had just caught up to the fact that Mira’s hand was pressing down on her thigh and she was the one who put it there. Her grip wasn’t as tough as she thought it would be. It had her wondering if Mira wasn’t squeezing as hard as she normally would on purpose. She even had the hopeful afterthought that she was being gentle for her.
It’s not like the physical closeness was unusual, she was used to snuggling up next to Mira during their couch time. Maybe the difference was initiation? But Mira would always let her cuddle and would even outstretch an arm lately like she was ready for it. Maybe circumstance? But sometimes in the bathhouse they would accidentally brush up against each other's legs under the water and yet somehow a simple hand felt more intense…Maybe location of the hand? Zoey hated to admit she enjoyed it.
Part of her wanted to tackle Mira then and there so they’d topple over and end up in a cuddling tangled mess. They could call out of the red carpet event and watch a movie instead. Zoey tried to clear the thoughts. It would be greedy to want even more closeness with Mira after she had already been so kind to make time for her by getting ready together. If just doing make up together was enough to get her brain scrambling like this, how was she going to survive the next couple hours as they did the rest of getting ready?
The event was soon and with the way her heart raced, it was starting to feel like ages away. But maybe she enjoyed the time dilation too because she wanted to stay there having Mira do her make up forever. Gah, it was all confusing, why was her mind like this?
She told herself to just savor it all.
Yes, just simply savor it.
Like it was a delicious meal of Korean BBQ.
Nothing more…