Chapter Text
"No," Mira said, staring at the dilapidated building. "I refuse."
"Oh come on," Zoey tugged on her hand. "It's quaint! It's just for a night while Bobby fixes some of our arrangements!"
Rumi picked up all of their suitcases, walking past them. Zoey shrugged, brandishing the room key cards like her Shinkals, then jogged after her. Mira stood there a full minute longer before loudly complaining as she stomped after them.
"One night," Mira said. "I'll tolerate one night and Bobby better find something decent in the meantime."
"It's okay," Rumi turned her head and smiled at them. "What is it called, slumming it? We can do that. It's not Bobby's fault the label messed up the booking and this was the only place we could book anonymously on such short notice."
"Yeah! This'll be just like those ice fishing trips when I was a kid! We used to stay in the Motel 6!" Zoey pumped her fist, then pushed the card into the reader. The light went green and the lock clicked before she pushed the door open and stepped inside. Rumi followed, stepping around Zoey so she could set the suitcases on the bed.
It was a tiny room, honestly, much smaller than she was used to, but she wasn't going to complain if for no other reason than to rub it in Mira's face a little.
"So we're staying in a shit hole. Nice," Mira said, closing the door behind her. "I guess technically I stayed in worse when I was running away but that's not saying much."
"Uh Rumi?" Zoey rested her chin on Rumi's shoulder, "There's only one bed."
There was a certain glee to Zoey's voice that went over Rumi's head as something like panic seized her.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to call Bobby to save them, but when she tapped the screen nothing happened, "My phone is dead!"
This was fine, it was fine. She'd be fine. They'd…. be fine.
Right?
"So my phone is dead too," Zoey announced. She bent over near a rickety looking end table, trying to plug in their power brick. Rumi stared at her ass a few seconds too long before looking away.
She caught Mira tearing her gaze away too.
Huh.
Not important, probably?
"Mira?"
Mira waved her phone, showing the blank display.
Rumi groaned, rubbing her face, "Okay, okay."
She looked around, "One of us has to have Bobby's phone number memorized, right?"
Walking over to the room phone, she reached down, then froze, staring at it, "Uh. What? What is this?"
Mira peered over her shoulder, frowning, She reached past Rumi and poked at the numbers, which were in a circle instead of the usual keypad layout, each digit inside a round hole. There was no beeping of any sort. Mira shrugged, "Okay I've got nothing."
"Zoey?" Rumi asked, trying to not sound as anxious as she felt, "Something is wrong with the room phone?"
Zoey bounced over, pushing between them. She took one look at the phone and started to laugh, practically doubling over wheezing. She waved a hand, then gasped for air and kept laughing.
"What's so funny?" Mira stared at her.
"I can't... I can't believe…" Zoey flopped backwards onto the bed, arms wrapped around her middle as she continued to cackle breathlessly.
Rumi folded her arms with a sigh, waiting for Zoey to compose herself because she knew they weren't getting anywhere until Zoey got over whatever was so funny.
After a few more moments, Zoey stilled, breathing deeply and staring at the ceiling. Then she sat upright, "For the record the only reason I know what that is is because my grandma had one but when I tell Celine how mystified you both were she'll probably die."
Mira gestured helplessly at the contraption, "Explain?"
Hopping to her feet, Zoey came over. She picked up the receiver and stuck her finger in the number 9, then rotated it around, "You spin the dial around for each number until you hear the click. This label says you start with 9 to dial out. Then you wait for the dial to return, and do the next digit and on and on."
Zoey paused, "Actually, do either of you remember Bobby's number?"
Rumi moved a digit too, humming a bit because the feedback and sound was actually a little stimmy. She hung the receiver up though, "I do not."
"Not me." Mira shrugged, then poked uselessly at one of the numbers one last time, as if making sure. "We'll just have to wait for one of our phones to charge enough."
"It's okay," Rumi said. "We're award winning idols and the best Hunters in generations, we can handle a crappy hotel and sharing a bed. It's not like we don't fall asleep on the couch all over each other anyway."
"Yeah, totally fine!" Zoey giggled. "Oh sweet they have some take-out flyers. I'll order us some dinner."
"I know it feels nice but don't play with the grandma phone all night," Rumi said.
Mira snorted, "You're just jealous of her finger game."
Rumi's mouth opened, closed, and then she turned around and walked away, ignoring Mira's cackling. She did not need to be thinking of Zoey's fingers like that. Or Mira's.
Unfortunately there wasn't very far for her to escape to. She locked herself in the bathroom and cringed as soon as she took it all in, which took all of a second.
Mira was going to hate this. Rumi hated it already. At least it was clean but it was cramped. Taking care of her hair was going to be a bit of a nightmare.
That was a problem for future Rumi. Later tonight Rumi. Maybe even tomorrow Rumi. Then there was the other problem. The bed problem.
Rumi rubbed her temple, hearing their voices outside but not able to figure out what they were saying, "It's fine. We used to do this all the time when we were first starting out. Booking rooms with one or two beds."
Usually two. One for her, one for the others. Rumi remembered far too many nights laying on her side facing them and wishing she was in bed with them. Those few times where it really was just the one bed, if she'd reveled in it in her head she pretended she didn't.
She hugged herself, gripping her shoulders. Her patterns hadn't spread anywhere near as far then. There hadn't even been a risk of revealing them. She'd been able to be close with way less fear.
But she missed it, so much. Rumi always took guilty pleasure when they fell asleep on her next to her on the couch. Let herself enjoy the proximity and closeness. Their warmth, their scent. It always hurt a little, having to wake them up to see them off to bed.
A crick in her neck and a cramp in her back would have been worth staying like that all night but she wouldn't force that on them.
Only herself.
Once she was sure she was composed, she came back out of the bathroom. Zoey had gotten their luggage wrangled to the side and was sitting crosslegged on the bed fiddling with the TV remote. Mira lay next to her, arms under the back of her head, "I think I hear mice."
"You do not," Rumi scolded.
"Food will be here in like ten minutes," Zoey said, stopping and perking up when she found something interesting on the tv.
It wasn't too old. At least it was an LCD TV and not something with tubes.
Celine had had a huge tv with tubes for most of Rumi's childhood and she'd always been afraid of it falling over and killing her. It was big, and heavy—she'd lifted it a few times while helping Celine clean, so she knew.
"What did you find?" She asked, discreetly setting the AC to frigid cold before sitting on the bed between her girls.
If they were too busy freezing and sucking up body heat they wouldn't care about her sleeping in a hoodie or find out about her patterns. It was a fool-proof plan.
"Mythbusters," Zoey said. "It's a show where they blow stuff up for science."
"Sick." Mira sat up.
Their food arrived a little while later, and while the episode was sadly lacking in explosions, they fired frozen chickens at airplanes and that proved to be highly entertaining.
By the time the credits rolled, Rumi decided her phone was charged enough. There were a dozen texts from Bobby and she grimaced as she read them.
Mira flopped over, head in her lap, "What's wrong?"
Pulse spiking for reasons that had nothing to do with the messags, Rumi replied, "Bobby's very sorry about the hotel, but every decent place is booked solid for the next two days."
"Listen I'm the last person to say this but we're Huntrix, they can't figure something out?" Zoey asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Evidently not." Rumi let Bobby know they were settled in and not mad at him, then tossed her phone aside and carded her finger through Mira's soft, soft hair.
"Your country is not doing anything to improve my opinion of it," Mira drawled. She snorted when Zoey smacked her stomach.
"It's an adventure!" Zoey shook her head, "And we get to snuggle with Rumi!"
Mira's eyes flicked up to Rumi's face, softer than they had been, "Okay, that might be worth it."
Flushing, Rumi felt trapped. If she moved she'd have to dislodge Mira, but if she stayed there she'd die of embarrassment. It was the cat-in-lap problem, only with one of her best friends. Zoey was pretty much impossible for Rumi to want to move when she flopped on her but Mira looked so content that Rumi just … kept petting her hair.
She might be in more trouble than she thought, "We need to get ready for bed."
Zoey hopped off the bed and immediately stripped, right in front of Rumi's Chinese food and everything. To Rumi's mixed relief and disappointment, Mira sat up, watching as intently as Rumi was as Zoey rummaged through the suitcases.
"Is she always like this?" Rumi whispered.
"That's what you miss out on when you're not sharing a dressing room," Mira said flatly. She got out of the bed too and pulled her top off with graceful, deliberate movements. Rumi's eyes roamed of their own free will.
She moved over to the suitcases as Zoey asked, "You packed your cute polar bear sleep shirt? It's kind of cold."
"Yeah."
Slyly, Zoey said, "You could sleep topless, I know you prefer that. Plus I read once that it's easier for sharing body heat!"
What?! Rumi's mouth went dry, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from them.
They had to be fucking with her. Right? But she'd never had female friends, or any friends at all until them. Was it normal to just prance around half-naked with your best friend while your other best friend watched?
Was it normal to want to strip down and—
"Zoey," Mira rolled her eyes.
Rumi found her voice. Unfortunately the words that came out were squeaky, "How do you know she sleeps naked?!"
Both turned to face her, which gave her a comparison in body types and breast size and since when did Zoey have hips like that and why were Mira's legs so long?
Intellectually, Rumi had always considered herself a little bisexual but the confirmation was currently hitting her in the face with a sledgehammer and also igniting a bonfire inside her.
Mira smirked at her, "Zoey sneaks into my room all the time. She hates sleeping alone."
Zoey nodded, "Mira's secretly a cuddler."
"Hey! I told you that in confidence!" Mira shoved her, and Zoey shoved her back and then they were wrestling a little and Rumi—
—Rumi jumped off the bed, grabbed her suitcase and ran into the bathroom. Splashing cold water in her face, she stared at herself in the mirror.
With a door and wall between her and the girls, she felt like she could breathe a little easier. But her heart ached. She peeled her hoodie off and rubbed at her chest over her shirt.
A lot of things she'd noticed since before they'd started the US leg of their tour were making a lot more sense.
Zoey did frequently sneak into Mira's room at night.
The way they could communicate without a word, the ease with which they held themselves around each other, how tactile they were with each other in a way that was out of Rumi's grasp. Once, she was pretty sure she'd caught them almost kissing…And then just a little while ago, Mira staring at Zoey's ass. Rumi had been too but that was different.
No, none of that had been normal and her best friends had found each other and had something Rumi could never have. At least not until they turned the Honmoon golden.
Rumi ripped her shirt off and dug her fingernails into the patterns over her heart.
They'd flaunted it in front of her and the worst part was that there was no way they'd known what they'd done to her. That ease of casual intimacy, a skinship that she hadn't known she craved before now.
A choked, agonized sound caught in her throat and she covered her mouth, struggling to keep from crying.
Her best friends had found each other and Rumi was on the outside looking in at something she desperately needed but couldn't have.
If she walked out right now she'd either combust or start sobbing or possibly both, so Rumi finished undressing and stepped into the tiny shower. The water was like ice and never did warm up, but honestly that was welcome.
Miserable but welcome.
Rumi dried herself off and after a moment's hesitation, pulled on some underwear and her favorite sleep hoodie. It hung high on her hips but kept her arms and shoulders completely out of view.
For some reason, Rumi was disappointed when she stepped out and saw that they'd put shirts on, even while under the covers. The disappointment was alleviated in part by the way two pairs of eyes raked up her legs and back down again.
"Rumi?" Mira was the first to focus on Rumi's face, "I'm sorry if we made you uncomfortable."
"We were just fucking around." Zoey's fingers worried at the edge of the blanket as she sat up and scooted against the headboard, "We forgot you're not comfortable with a lot of skin showing and stuff."
"No no!" Rumi waved her hands in front of her, "It's not that! I mean, I'm… probably a little uncomfortable showing off my own skin more than I do in our stage outfits, but I don't mind your skin. I mean it's okay if you want to sleep naked I'm not going to judge."
And now her face was heating up.
"I want to be considerate of the other people in my life," Mira said. "Otherwise I probably would walk around the penthouse in just my panties."
The visual of the visual doing just that was now a permanent part of Rumi's brain, enhanced by the memory of it.
Zoey thwapped the back of her hand against Mira's chest, "Not helping! Look at her! She's the color of your hair!"
Mira cackled, "I can't help it, she's so cute when she's flustered." Her eyes locked onto Rumi's, and she looked almost earnestly apologetic, "I'm serious, though. I'm really sorry."
Rumi blurted out, "Mira you can't just flirt with me like this, you're with Zoey, it's not right!"
As Rumi's brain caught up with what she'd said, her face grew hotter, but the only sound she could hear was the poor air conditioner as it kept the room somewhere south of the Antarctic Circle.
Could she go back to when they were all just sitting on the bed? That would be great.