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The night was still, casting a blanket over the city where any human would find comforting. But Rumi wasn't human, not fully, she stared at the wooden beams in the ceiling letting her mind stew in its own misfortune. They'd had an argument, it was the same one as always.
~
“Seriously, are we so boring that you'd rather hole yourself up in the studio for hours than spend some time with us.” Mira hadn't even let her get through the door before throwing accusations.
“Well hello to you too. I'll have you know I was giving the final designs of our new album cover a look through, so you didn't have to worry about it.” Rumi was tired, yes she wished she could just sit down and relax, but she had a mission to cleanse the world, the Honmoon. Herself.
“Which we could have done together, after having a moment to ourselves,” There was a spark in her eyes, it wasn't anger (well not all of it was) it was a sense of pity or worry? “You knew we were planning a movie day for the three of us, we'd do a full day just to keep ourselves from burning out. But Miss Workaholic here decided she didn't care about her own friends enough to actually keep their promise of joining them.”
“Well I just happen to care about sealing the honmoon, something you-”
“All you care about is the fucking honmoon,” Mira exhales into a softer tone but no less harsh. “You don’t seem to care about us.”
Zoey sprung up from the couch, the other two had forgotten she was there in the heat of the moment, she placed herself between the two, hands out like trying to tame two lions.
“Hey everyone cares about each other here… Right?” Zoey squeaked while sending a quizzical glance towards the leader.
“I do. I always do.” Rumi’s voice was barely a whisper, she refused to glance at her two bandmates.
Before anyone else could speak she shuffled her way towards her room. Mira stilled as she watched her own words drive someone away again.
“Wait. Fuck. I didn't-” Too late the words found her and she watched the door click and the sound of a lock cut her off from the lavender haired girl.
The silence settled after a moment and added itself to the ever present weight on the tall girl's shoulders.
“Hey,” Zoey's voice cut through the air trying to be a grounding voice. “How about we finish the movie then we can figure out what to do.”
“I-I'm sorry I just need to go lie down.” Mira ripped her eyes from the smaller girl's own, which had been filled with worry and panic.
Mira couldn't let her deal with the crashing emotions inside her right now, so she turned towards her own room. She slammed the door with as little force as possible, still managing to shake the walls.
~
Rumi needed to get up, maybe shake off the thoughts. She rose from her restless sleep making sure her hoodie still clung to her in the right place just in case.
The same motion she has done so many times she's lost count, always hiding, always afraid. Everything she did to cover the patterns was bringing an exhaustion that she knew was close to breaking her into a million pieces. But she couldn't. If they found out they'd hate her, but that wasn't what scared her, they'd leave. The same fear that leeched off her long before they even showed up in her life, when it was just a whisper of a promise as she was told the intricacies of the Honmoon and hunters.
She buried the thoughts as she always does, waiting for them to rise again, and reached towards the door before opening it as silent as she could. She crept towards the kitchen deciding a glass of water might calm her nerves. As she was about to reach the open living room she heard voices and froze.
There on the couch were Zoey and Mira, the latter must have calmed down and joined her counterpart again.
“Look, I'm sorry about earlier but she can be so frustrating at times,” Mira's voice gently washed through the room, worried any louder and it would break the delicate topic.
Rumi crept closer, her footsteps quiet in a way only something supernatural could, tucking herself behind the corner of the wall to eavesdrop on the conversation.
“It’s just… I worry about her. She's been drifting away more than usual. I know something's going on but she just doesn't let us in.”
“Hey, I'm sure if it's anything important she'll tell us. Maybe she just had a tough day, she has been working extra hard recently.” The maknae’s voice squeaked, not even convincing herself.
“That's the issue. She’s working herself half to death never allowing us to help. I know she thinks she's protecting us but she needs to relax. She needs to spend time with us,” Mira’s shoulders lift up a little before her whole body deflates. “I just don't feel like she cares about us. That she doesn't want us to be together.”
“Woah, woah, woah. Hey, she still wants to be with us I'm sure… At least I'm pretty sure she doesn't hate us,” Zoey progressively shrinks into herself with each word said. “I hope she still likes us.”
Rumi froze, her heart shattered. How could they think she doesn't want them, that she wouldn't want to be with them. Hell, she lo-
“You know I love her right.” Mira’s voice is barely a whisper.
The leader's head was frying, scrambling to hold the words she just heard. That can't be true, she's a hideous thing that doesn't deserve it. At least she might be able to handle it, Mira’s good at not overstepping feelings. Now Zoey would be another stor-
“I do too,”
Shit. She can't take this, they love her and she can't show it. If it weren't for these patterns she'd lay her heart on a silver platter for them. But she can't.
“I just wish she wouldn't hide so we could tell her. I mean she's obviously hiding something but I just want to tell her that it wouldn't change anything, that we love her no matter what, then maybe we could go on outings like the bath house, or the beach, or, or-” The youngest started tripping over her words unsure what to say next.
Mira leaned in, planting a kiss on the girl's lips. “I love when you fuss over us. Relax. I'm sure she'll come round eventually.”
Rumi scrambled towards her room, surprising herself with how little sound she made. They were together, and they wanted her. Her. This can't be right. But could it? They've always been affectionate, Rumi thinks, but that wasn't normal, they always did that. Surely they were just being friendly, though she had no other frame of reference to go off, it's not like she could look to her relationship with Celine (the only other meaningful connection to a person other than maybe Bobby). When all else fails what can you do except turn to the Internet and hope a random stranger has had a similar enough experience. Taking out her phone she started to type…
An hour of deep research later, she came to the conclusion that maybe that isn't just a friend thing. Her heart was a flurry of emotions. Could they really love her? Even like this. Maybe. She just needed to think of the right thing to say without messing up (which was a herculean task in itself). But she had another hour before she should really get up so she made her way over to the desk and pulled out a pen and notebook.
By the time she had put the book down it had been three hours, with a sigh she turned the lamp off and crawled into bed with a buzz running under her skin, a mixture of fear and excitement. She was finally going to do it, she was going to not just tell them of her heritage, but the love she had to hide away for just as long. Sleep slowly took her as the past hours caught up to her.
-<>-<>-<>-<>-
Morning broke through the curtains as Rumi stirred from her slumber, a gentle dream had come to her for the first time in a long while. It wasn't a dream of anything of substance, but it was much better than the nightmares she had got used to waking her up in a claggy sweat on many occasions. She might chalk it up to the decision she was still going to go through with, if her mind let her think instead of being a whirlwind of happy anxiety.
Getting out of bed, she started her regular morning stretches and went through the idea she had. She wasn't going to tell them this morning, she was going to suggest a movie night to make up for yesterday. Next, she was going to see if she can suggest something slow and calm to watch to ease her into the conversation. Finally, she was going to spill her guts with the speech she had prepared. It was all laid out ready to go and she felt on top of the world.
Turning the handle and walking out of her room she heard the usual chatter and laughter from the kitchen as various pots and pans clinked together some sizzling while plates were being placed upon the kitchen table. As she entered the vicinity, the two girls already in the kitchen quietened and stared at their third.
“I wanted to apologize for yesterday, I have no excuse, I shouldn't have said that.” Rumi anxiously twirled her braid while speaking.
“OK, well I also want to say I'm sorry for saying you didn't care about us.” Mira spoke as she shuffled around the kitchen making sure nothing burnt.
“For how I was in the moment I can understand… and I want to make it up to you two, I know you did it yesterday but would you like to have a movie night?”
“Yes!” Zoe let out a screech with the acknowledgement. “Oh, I know we can watch this new movie, it's a cheesy romance that's supposed to be so good it's bad. Wait no, other way round. And we get some more snacks, there's these blueberry flavoured chips I've been looking at-”
Rumi couldn't help but giggle as she slid onto the stool to eat breakfast. “That sounds lovely. Mira?”
“Yeah I guess we could, I need to make it up to Zo anyway.”
With that the conversation changed back to idle chatter about anything and everything including the many shops they were going to call at for their haul of food. They didn't have anything on the schedule for the time being and with Rumi seeming to finally want to relax they decided to hit a few places around the city before getting the snacks.
As the day goes on with trips to the arcade, a local aquarium, a garden centre, and the library, Rumi’s confidence is only growing as she looks to her girls and realises just how much they care for her. The sky is dimming by the time they hit their last point of call and are readying themselves for the snack run as they make their way back towards the penthouse. As they decide on the first location a familiar purple wave crashes beneath their feet.
“Uhhhhhhhh. Why is it always at the most inconvenient times.” Zoey huffs while puffing out her cheeks while the other two groan in agreement.
They quickly make their way towards the origin of the pulse making sure to avoid main streets lest someone sees them. They arrive at a small alley that cuts off at a dead end, the sky being a deep navy blue as the sun dips under the horizon. There's a gaggle of demons just fresh out the honmoon ready to find their next meal, about ten in total. Some are faceless, there's a larger one in the back, while the others look dressed ready to blend into the crowd. The trio set up on the rooftops calling upon their weapons before dropping down to finish the group off so they can have that much needed movie night.
For the demons it's a blur when four of them disappear before they even notice their assailants. The three hunters stand back to back as they size up their opponents, like cogs in a machine they work in tandem pushing off each other, hurling themselves at the remaining enemies. A shin-kal lodges into the throat of a faceless demon that lunges towards Zoey, the Gok-do slices through the air taking out two of the smaller demons. Rumi squares up with the larger demon ducking under a swing of its claw still rushing ahead before driving her sword up into the base of its head. Turning around looking pleased with herself she goes to join Mira and Zoey until she feels a sharp pain in her right arm. Looking she sees the claw marks of the demon they had forgotten after they counted and watched as the sleeve tore and revealed the pulsating patterns underneath.
Before she could do anything a gasp from the smaller of the trio confirmed they'd already seen. Reluctantly looking up she sees the two staring at her arm with expressions she's finding hard to read. Something in Rumi boiled up, she had this perfect plan and this wannabe decided he'd do it for her.
“No. No. No. No!” Rumi was frustrated as she turned towards the demon who had wronged her. It was a smaller blue demon, one of the ones used for infiltration, right now it had a look of sheer terror as it saw the fire in the eyes on the face that now invaded its vision.
“Come here.” With a tug at the collar the demon had only a small time to realise what was going on. Rumi was no longer using her saingeom, she preferred to use the weapons mother nature gave her as her fist connected with the face she had brought closer to her.
“You. Stupid. Little. Shit. I had this whole plan to tell them but Noooooo. You. Just. HAD. To. Show them before I was ready,” Emphasising certain words with a punch the plane of skin on the demon's head only vaguely resembled a face anymore. “We were going to watch a movie, we would have been in a nice mood. I. Had. A. Whole. Speech planned where I'd go into my heritage, how I got them from a dad I never knew.”
Rumi could feel the adrenaline coursing through her, her voice cracked, agonising as she felt the confession she was going to finally say was crumbling in her hands. A story that gets to the finish line before she ever has a chance to get the truth going. At this point the demon was more misshapen play dough than anything that should be alive. The only reason it hadn't disappeared is because it knew Rumi would find a way to drag it back from wherever it went and continue using it as a personal punching bag.
“I was going to tell them I love them. But now I don't get a chance, they'll see me as a monster long before I can let them know I'm still me.” Rumi let out a small shaky breath as she resummoned her sword and plunged it slowly into the demon's heart.
Rumi assumed a kneeling position and waited, trying to control her breathing, even more so when she heard two sets of footsteps approaching.
“I'm sorry.” She sighed barely a whisper.
She feels a hand upon her shoulder as Mira comes into her vision crouching down to be closer to her eye level.
“Well, that's certainly a way to find out,” Mira slightly chuckled. “Was it true when you said you were going to tell us tonight?”
Rumi shakily nods her head.
“And was it true when you said you were in love with us?” Zoey joined the conversation choosing to sit cross legged.
“Yes,” Another sigh escapes Rumi's lips. “I heard you last night. I was already feeling bad about what I said last night. Then when I heard you were worried about me and how you think I don't like you… Then I heard you both say you love me. I've loved both of you for so long but could never let you know without these.” Rumi vaguely gestured to her cut sleeve.
Rumi wasn't crying, she didn't think she could at this point, the truth let her chest feel lighter but the dread of what they'd say next dragged her back down. A hand cupped on her face drew her eyeliner back to the pink goddess in front of her.
“Then you must have also heard when Zoey said we'd love you no matter what.” She leans in closer. “It's the truth.”
Rumi gasps into the lips that envelop hers, a moment of shock before pushing back with the same embrace. The kiss wasn't long but it still left Rumi dizzy and breathing a little heavier. Mira pulled back with a knowing smirk as she gestured to Zoey beside her, who was practically vibrating. She made her way towards Rumi throwing her arms around her resting on top of the half-demon's shoulders before tilting her head ever so slightly before both lips touched. Zoey's passion ran deep, finally letting go of years of wanting, it sent shivers down Rumi's spine as all mental functions collapsed into a singularity for the maknae in front of her. The kiss was not too much, not too little, enough just like Zoey. The two slowly parted, the cooler air did nothing to quell the fire that each had gifted to the other, with a few more pecks left along the leaders cheek, neck, and chin.
Taking a moment to reboot Rumi looked at her bandmates friends girls, eyes sparkling with a fire that had waited too long to burn, everything that happened finally crashing down on the half-demon. Pulling the other two into an embrace as she gave the key to the emotions she locked away years ago. There were no words, they weren't needed, each hunter being a grounding force for the others. The moment lasted in this small bubble, only being broken as the chill of the night started crawling up skin.
“We should get home, we'll order food, then if you're up to it I'd like to see that speech you prepared.” Mira nudged Rumi slightly as she got up, lending a hand to help them up.
“Are you sure? It is a little embarrassing.” Rumi began twirling her hair.
“Oh don't worry,” Zoey giggled and slapped Rumi's shoulder. “15 of the 59 ideas I had to confess involved barging into your room naked and waxing poetically.”
“I am NOT having this conversation in a random alleyway,” Rumi was glowing bright red, without the help from her patterns. The next words were barely a whisper. “It might have worked.”
The three made their way back to the penthouse careful to avoid fans, all the while laughing and talking, letting a new energy wash around them. Or maybe it was an old energy in a new light.