Chapter Text
It was bad. It was very bad if the dozens of texts from Celine had anything to say about it. There was no other way to put it. She didn’t know how she was going to look Bobby in the eye and she definitely didn’t know how he was going to spin it. It felt too late for that anyway, the photo was already making the rounds.
Her phone buzzed and Celine’s contact popped up on screen. She quickly pressed decline and dropped the phone to the bed in front of her. The texts said enough about Huntrix’s downfall and Rumi’s shortcomings. She didn’t need to hear them yelled at her through the phone as well.
The problem was that it was her fault. She had let everything get out of control. One night and she ruined their lives.
Mira had already slipped out of bed for the gym and Zoey was still sleeping, lying on her stomach, sheets only pulled halfway up her bare back as she drooled onto the pillow beneath her head. Dotted, faded purple bruises across her shoulder blades from Mira’s lips the night before. Which left Rumi alone to spiral, eyes wide, head in her hands, patterns pulsing in time to the rapid beating of her heart.
Zoey was sleeping, so she didn’t know. Mira spent absolutely zero time on the internet so she wouldn’t know. And Bobby hadn’t called so he hadn’t seen it yet. Rumi felt like she was the only person in the world who knew that everyone in the world had seen it.
Her world versus the world at large.
Through the glass door to the balcony, she could see the pink and purple of the sky as the sun rose above the buildings. She could see the tiger staring at her with his unblinking eyes, the bird sitting on his head, but she couldn’t deal with them right now. They weren’t pets as much as they were spiritual manifestations of guardians. And apparently Rumi was in need with the way they had stuck around.
She heard a door close down the hall, footsteps; she heard the shower turn on, meaning Mira was back. With heavy shoulders, she shifted to the edge of the bed and stood. A whimper from Zoey, but she only rolled to the side in her sleep, sheet shifting, exposing the curve of her breasts. Rumi didn’t have to look to know there was a scar there, faded and smooth now, but a reminder of some back alley scuffle from years ago.
She padded softly out of her own room, closing the door as quietly as she could manage. Usually this was her favorite time of day. Soft and quiet in the morning, a moment to herself before the responsibilities of being an idol pressed into her again. She would make tea and sit on her balcony to watch the city come to life. Or she’d roll out a yoga mat in their living room, stretching her muscles for a new day. Or she’d roll over in bed and nuzzle into Mira’s neck, chasing a few extra minutes of sleep.
She flicked the light on in Mira’s bedroom and sank down onto the edge of the bed. Nothing to do but wait for her and mull over exactly how she was going to explain that everything was crumbling down around them.
It was just supposed to be fun, a way to let go and celebrate after winning the Idol Awards and instead, she had managed to nullify that win completely by being caught red-handed in public. One too many drinks, a hot dance floor, and the leading, explicit touches of Mira and Zoey had her giving into them in a way she wouldn’t normally have outside of the confines of their penthouse.
A heady moment of letting go resulting in the destruction of their careers.
She heard the water from the shower letting up and a door open, footsteps in the carpeted hallway before Mira appeared in the doorway, loose T-shirt, shorts barely showing underneath, head tipped to the side as she dried her hair with the towel in her hand. She froze upon seeing Rumi, hand dropping to her side.
“I messed up.”
Mira hung the towel on the doorknob and crossed the bedroom to the bed but Rumi shifted farther away from her. She could hardly look at her, she wouldn’t survive being touched by her.
“I ruined everything.”
Idols were not allowed to date. Or more specifically, idols were not allowed to date unless their management company had signed off on the relationship, a contract was drawn up, and there would be some positive effect on the growth of the brand. Idols were definitely not allowed to date members of their own group. Let alone two members. Not to mention they were all women, which would go over about as well as a lead balloon.
Mira opened a drawer to her dresser and pulled out another T-shirt, holding it out to Rumi. Heat flushed across her cheeks and she grabbed at it, quickly pulling it over her head. In her spiral, she had forgotten she was only wearing underwear.
“Can I sit?”
Rumi nodded. Mira sat, keeping space between them.
“I wish I could read your mind, Rumi, but you’re going to have to tell me.”
And then it all came spilling out in a flood of thought and self-deprecation that Rumi couldn’t contain anymore. “I ruined everything,” she repeated. “I shouldn’t have suggested we go out last night. We should have come home and had couch time and celebrated by ourselves. But I dragged you out, and I drank too much, and I let - I gave - I didn’t put a stop to any of it when I should have. And I wasn’t careful enough, I couldn’t protect you, us. And now it’s all over. Everything, all of it, was for nothing. Because I was selfish. Because I couldn’t control myself.”
Her hands clenched into fists to stop her claws from coming out.
“You both were so happy, Mira. And I couldn’t say no.” She could remember Zoey’s bright smile and Mira’s hooded eyes and smirk as they descended upon her in the club. “I didn’t want to say no. I wanted all of it, but I can’t. I shouldn’t have and - I can’t…” A sob broke out from her throat, raw and scratchy and caught her by surprise. “I have to be better than that.”
Mira took her words in with quiet calculation. She was silent for so long that Rumi eventually had to look over to her, had to find someone to stop the roiling anxiety that was building an unsustainable pressure in her chest.
Mira’s face was soft, neutral, giving nothing away. She felt Rumi’s eyes on her because she looked over. “You’re allowed to want things, Rumi.”
Rumi felt her mouth fall open in surprise at the tenderness of Mira’s words. Of course she could want things, she just wasn’t allowed to have them.
Mira’s eyes flicked down to her lips and then back up to her eyes. “But none of that explains what’s going on.”
As soon as they had ducked their heads from the flashing lights and breathed in the stillness of their car home, Rumi had all but forgotten about the cameras and the people and had barely contained her urge to climb into Mira’s lap. By the way Zoey had gripped her thigh, and the way Mira slung her arm around her shoulders, they had obviously felt the same.
By the way Zoey had grabbed her shirt in the elevator and backed herself up into the wall, by the way Mira had sandwiched her in from behind, lips on her neck, they had more than obviously felt the same and the rest of the night had faded into oblivion as they stumbled through the penthouse, kicking off shoes, pulling off shirts, unbuckling pants, until they were all sweaty and writhing against the soft sheets of Rumi’s bed.
“Were you not happy?”
“What?” Mira’s sudden question pulled her out of her reminiscing, face pink from the memory, but heart pounding from the fate that had descended upon them.
“You said Zoey and I were happy, but were you? Are you?”
Right now, in this moment, Mira, I’m devastated. “It doesn’t matter because all of this” - she gestured loosely, her hand rotating in the air - “is over now.”
Mira reached up and grasped her hand, threading their fingers, and took the moment to scoot closer to Rumi, until their thighs were pressed together. She brought their intertwined hands up to her lips and pressed a kiss to Rumi’s knuckles. When Rumi tried to pull away, Mira squeezed tighter. “What is going on, Rumi?”
“Everyone knows.” Her shoulders slumped forward. “There’s a picture. From last night. Of me. And… and I’m sure there’s more. But it’s already gone viral. Everyone knows.”
“Can I see?” Mira put her hand out for Rumi to place her phone in it and she did.
And it’s there, the evidence, in front of her face once more. It’s her, walking out of the club, looking shocked at the group of paparazzi that have arrived. Her mouth dropped open, eyes wide, hair mussed, strands coming out of her braid and falling into her face. Her jacket halfway off her shoulders exposing more than her patterns. Exposing the evidence of Mira and Zoey and what they all were to each other: a dark red lip print on her shoulder and a pink one shining on her neck.
“Fuck.” The word leaves Mira’s mouth in nothing but a breath.
Rumi’s head falls into her hand. “I know...”
“You look so hot.” Rumi’s head snapped up so fast, she pulled something in her neck. “No wonder I couldn’t keep my hands off you.”
There had been Mira pressed up close behind her on the dance floor, Rumi grinding into her as she ran her fingers up her sides, under her jacket, dancing below her breasts and across her ribs.
“What?”
“I kinda like you all disheveled like that.”
“Mira…” She couldn’t believe her nonchalance, or rather she could, it was Mira after all, but this deserved a lot more concern than Mira was currently giving it. “Do you not get it? We’re done. Huntrix is dead. We’re over.”
Mira’s brow furrowed and her eyes darted to the real Rumi in the room, not the image on a screen, hurt threatening to spill over. “You don’t mean that.”
“How can we possibly go on now?” Rumi asked, voice small and desperate for a solution.
Mira wrapped her arm around her shoulders, pulling her in, pressing her lips gently against Rumi’s temple.
“Guys?” Zoey appeared in the doorway rubbing at her eyes, in underwear and Rumi’s yellow leather jacket she must’ve picked off the hallway floor, left unzipped.
The last thing Rumi wanted to do was tell Zoey and break her heart into a million pieces.
“Why is Rumi crying?”
She swiftly wiped at her cheeks as Zoey walked across the room and sat on the floor in front of them.
Mira’s fingers trailed over Rumi’s bicep. “We might have a little PR dilemma.”
“Little?” More like Titanic in proportions.
“There were paparazzi outside the club last night.”
Zoey cocked her head and wrinkled her nose. Okay… and?
“Why are you both so okay about this!?” Rumi exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “This is bad.“
“I know they were there Rumi. I winked at them.”
“You what!?”
“Or at least I think it did. My mouth still tastes like tequila.” Zoey stuck her tongue out as if the air would whisk away the taste of liquor. “But I don’t think that’s a scandal in waiting or anything.”
Mira stuck her thumb against her tongue and then rubbed the lipstick mark on Zoey’s neck. “The wink wasnt really the problem, Zo.”
“Oh.” Zoey blushed and then giggled, leaning back, the jacket spreading wide across her torso, barely covering her anymore. “Rumi was bitey.”
In any other situation, Rumi may have managed to be embarrassed, but she was far too stressed for anything so trivial.
Mira handed the phone to Zoey, who’s eyes widened and who’s smile grew until Rumi groaned and snatched it away. “It’s not funny or hot or whatever else is going on in your mind. It’s a problem. And because I couldn’t keep it together last night, it’s all…”
Zoey reached forward, caressing her calf. “Rumi, will you look at me, please?”
Rumi slowly slid her eyes down to Zoey’s face, open and genuine and doing her best to comfort. “I know we agreed to keep this a secret. To keep us a secret. But is it really the worst thing for the world to know? I mean, it was going to happen eventually.”
Eventually being the most important part of that sentence. Once the world had grown out of Huntrix, once they disbanded, then they would be free to live openly.
“They could drop us Zoey. Everything we’ve worked so hard for, everything we’ve built, gone cause of one stupid night.”
“I didn’t think it was stupid.”
Rumi shut her eyes tight. A stress migraine coming on. Celine’s messages flashing behind her eyes.
How could you have let this happen?
You know better than this, Rumi
Do you know how much you have to lose?
Your mother would be disappointed in you
Pick up your phone. We have to discuss this
Rumi, I need all three of you to come downtown. 10am.
Her ears were buzzing or more like ringing. Throbbing behind her eyes from a source she couldn’t satiate.
She was vaguely aware of Mira and Zoey having a conversation around her but she couldn’t come back to herself enough to hear what was being said. Celine was right, she had known better. But after they sealed the Honmoon, and Gwi-Ma had been banished or killed or whatever, it seemed like a natural progression of who they were. It was barely a conversation and more of a falling and she had been so good for a year. Hidden and secret and still lovely until now. Until she gotten a little too giddy about them and had fallen a little too in love with her girls to want them to stop.
A year later and they were settled and they were so good but they were still a secret.
One she had to keep, one she was bound to keep if she wanted to have everything they had ever wanted. A single decision and she had torn their life from them.
This was her life. Every single moment in it leading to where they were. This was Mira’s escape from a family that didn’t care about her, into one that would worship her if she needed it. This was Zoey’s proving, that she was good enough, that her words mattered, that they changed lives. And Rumi had stripped that from them in the turning of a singular evening because she wanted them to touch her and mark her and it felt good.
All of it burned to the ground for her own pleasure. A night of release. Chasing something she never should have let herself want.
Celine had warned her all those years ago, about how she was a harbinger. How her mere presence would drag down those around her, would ruin reputations, would only bring ruin. And she had proved her right.
“Rumi, I need you to breathe.” A deep voice, sultry in her ear. “Can you do that for me?”
And it shouldn’t have sent a spike of heat down her spine but it did. And she turned into it on instinct and Mira let her for a total of two seconds, lips chaste and ignoring Rumi’s more aggressive search, before her hand came up to cup Rumi’s jaw. “Breathe, please.”
She sucked in air, sharply, and the fog in her head cleared even if the headache didn’t. “Sorry.”
“You’re good,” Mira said in her cool and untouchable way, leaving a kiss on the corner of Rumi’s mouth to appease her.
“We’re gonna figure it out, Rumi!” Zoey was on her knees, palms pressed into Rumi’s thighs. “But Mira thinks we should wait…”
“If there are more photos, which we think there are, we might as well wait until they all come out to see what we’re dealing with.”
Rumi’s phone rang. Zoey went to a see it but Rumi lunged to grab it. “Don’t!”
Zoey pulled her hand back as if she had been shocked.
Rumi muted the phone, ignoring the call. “It’s Celine.”
“Of course it is,” Mira muttered.
“Well what do you expect, Mira. Of course she’s going to be concerned,” Rumi shot at her with more vitriol that any of them expected. Zoey glanced to Mira. Mira frowned. Rumi shrunk even further into herself.
“I wouldn’t call it concern, but I’m more interested in talking to Bobby than her.”
“Well you can do both when we meet at Sunlight Studios at ten.”
Mira sighed deep in her chest, resigned to their inability to say no. Zoey crossed her ankles and rocked back and forth until she could pull herself up to standing.
Zoey leaned down, pressing her hands onto the bed on either side of Rumi. “Not a single thing Celine says is gonna make me sorry for last night. And frankly, Rumi, I don’t care how many people know. I’d have told everyone from the moment it all started.”
She pulled herself up and back from a Rumi who was stunned, un-moving, couldn’t quite wrap her mind around that because it didn’t make any sense. No one could know; they had agreed, unanimously.
“I’m gonna shower off this layer of sweat. Rumi, I know you won’t, but the invitation is open for you to join me. Mira, could you make breakfast? I don’t think I can take Celine on an empty stomach.”
Rumi ogled Zoey. Mira hummed an affirmative. Rumi looked between both of them. “That’s it?”
“Get cleaned. Get dressed. Get fed!” Zoey chanted.
“There’s not much else to do before the meeting. I still think we should wait out the rest before making a plan, but I’m sure Celine won’t take well to a delay.”
No, she would not.
Zoey kissed Rumi on the top of her head and all but skipped out of the room. Mira was very clearly watching her go. And Rumi didn’t understand how they could be thinking about anything except their clear and utter demise.