Work Text:
“And this is my old room! Bit smaller than you guys are probably used to, I’m sure, but…” Zoey shrugged, waving a hand in front of her, “‘Twas sufficient enough for younger me.”
Mira’s eyes swept the room, “Younger, somehow even littler you, you mean.”
Zoey huffed, stomping her foot, “Mira! Mean to me! Rumi, tell her to stop being mean to me!”
Stepping into the room, partially stunned, Rumi said, “Uh, so are we just gonna…”
”What, sleep here? No, definitely not. That old bed would NOT fit the three of us even just sleeping on it, let alone if we decide to get up to some other stuff.” Zoey waggled her eyebrows.
Rumi looked at her incredulously. “Yeah, that’s not what I was talking about, and also that’s not gonna happen considering the-“ She gestured around the room, “The fucking elephant in the room!”
The walls of Zoey’s room were lined with posters, some of American pop stars they barely recognized, and others of Kpop stars they knew all too well.
”Yeah, Zo, I knew you were a Sunlight Sisters fan growing up, but jeez, this is a lot,” Mira said.
She stepped into the room, and Zoey followed, her face bright red, shutting the door behind them.
”Listen, I was a preteen autistic girl with ADHD, of course everything I loved became an obsession!” She paused, then put on what she called her Maknae Smolder, “In a way, they still do, my loves.”
Mira rolled her eyes and Rumi glared. The older girl asked, “Was that supposed to be a pick up line?”
”Number 1, I don’t need to pick up what I’m already holding, and number 2, it worked. You’re both blushing.”
“No, we’re not,” Mira lied.
“That would be absolutely ridiculous,” Rumi fibbed.
Zoey laughed at them both, “Yeah, alright. Whatever you say.” She made her way over to her closet, clearly searching for something. “You guys can take a look around if you want. See if there’s anything of interest that would distract you from what’s on my walls.”
They did decide to search around.
Mira moved over by the bed, looking at the cartoon turtle sheets (“Cute!”) and shelf full of memorabilia from Zoey’s childhood.
Rumi searched the small desk in the corner, looking fondly at old, dusty pencils she could imagine little Zoey furiously jotting down lyrics with in one of her notebooks. Speaking of…
She spotted what appeared to be a classic Zoey notebook sticking out of one of the drawers, and pulled it out. It wasn’t a notebook, though.
“Zoey, is this…is this a sketchbook?” Rumi asked, brushing off the dust from the thing. Mira’s interest piqued, and she made her way over to where Rumi was staring.
Without looking away from the closet, Zoey responded, “Hm? Oh, could be. You guys can take a look, if you want.”
They did want. Rumi opened the book up, and the drawing on the very first page surprised her somewhat. She’d known Zoey could draw, had seen some of the sketches in her lyric books, but those were usually much more cartoony than these. She’d never expected to see this far more realistic style, especially considering how old Zoey must’ve been when she drew these.
The first drawing was of a turtle (of course), depicted in shocking detail, gorgeous and majestic, looking as though Zoey had plucked it out of the ocean, stolen all of its color, and slapped it right on the page.
She flipped through the first few pages, finding more and more drawings of turtles just like first one, until she stumbled across one of-
“Is that a drawing of little you?” Mira asked, her voice warbly with affection.
“Could be,” Zoey repeated, distractedly.
The girl in the art had little pigtails instead of her usual space buns, the count of freckles on her face was wrong (Rumi and Mira would know; they’d counted them more times than they could…well, count), and she was depicted with a missing tooth, but it was absolutely their girlfriend. She was adorable, and Rumi’s heart swelled at how those cheeks of hers, big and chubby, never really went fully away.
Much of the sketchbook contained more of the same; drawings of turtles and the occasional self-portrait, depicting an older and older Zoey, until eventually Rumi turned the page and saw something that caught her eye.
In the corner of one of the pages, there was a heart, with the letters “Z+M” written in it.
Rumi blinked at it, and turned to look at Mira, who also seemed stunned by the find. “Uh, Zo, all of the stuff in here is from before you left home, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
”No reason.” She lowered her voice, “So then who the fuck is M?”
Mira pouted, “I thought I was the only M in her life.”
Normally, Rumi might’ve laughed at her girlfriend’s jealousy over their girlfriend’s childhood crush, but her curiosity (and maybe the realization it would be hypocritical to do so) overtook her amusement. She flipped the page again, surprised to see yet another heart with the letters on it.
The next few pages were the same, until eventually, one page was entirely taken up by a heart.
Except, strangely enough, the letters were different. Instead of “Z+M”, it now said “C+M”.
Now Rumi was even more baffled. “Who the fuck is C?”
”Why did she get rid of her own name?”
Their questions were, unfortunately for Rumi, answered on the very next page.
She almost dropped the sketchbook in shock. “What the fuck?!”
”Holy shit!” Mira’s mouth dropped.
“Huh? What?” Zoey finally turned away from the closet, and jolted when she saw what they were holding, “Wait, no, not that book!” She rushed forward, but Mira caught her before she could take it.
Rumi gaped, horrified, “Zoey, is this…is this my mom? And Celine?”
The maknae wriggled in Mira’s arms, struggling to escape, “I-I can explain!”
Mira cackled, “Explain what? The hyperrealistic fanart of Han Celine and Ryu Miyeong making out?”
Zoey and Rumi both groaned, one in embarrassment and the other in disgust. “Shut up! Shut up!” Zoey bit Mira’s arm, and she barely winced, too caught up in her laughter.
“Holy shit, wait! Is that who M is?” The taller girl asked, tears in her eyes from laughter, “Were you looking to make your way down the bloodline, Zo?”
Zoey slumped against her chest, finally defeated by the weight of her own mortification. “Stop iiiiiiit! I was 11 and stupid!”
Her laughter finally dying down, Mira pressed a few kisses to the top of her girlfriend’s head. “I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to poke too much fun. I just thought it was kinda funny, is all.” She smoothed a hand over her back, scratching gently and delighting in the light sounds of pleasure Zoey let out from it, “You drew stuff that was perfectly normal for a preteen girl to draw of her childhood idols. And everything you drew in there looked amazing.”
Her voice squeaking, Zoey asked, “You think?”
“Totally. Plus, I’ll be honest, I got a teeny bit jealous when I saw those hearts, and seeing it was just a celebrity crush made me feel weirdly happy.”
Pouting, Zoey looked up at her, “You did?”
”Oh, yeah. I thought I was your only M.”
Pinching at the front of Mira’s shirt, Zoey said, “Well, I mean, you’re the only M for me.”
Mira blushed, and smiled warmly, “Aw, baby!” She lifted Zoey up into a bridal carry, pressing kiss after kiss against her flushed cheeks. “My Zoey! You’re the only Z for me!”
Zoey giggled, embarrassment forgotten in all of the affection she was receiving. “Mimi! You’re so cute!”
”No, you’re so cute!”
”No, you’re so-“
“Is that the third Sunlight Sister making out with my mom and Celine?!”
Zoey groaned, “Okay, I’m burning that sketchbook.”
(Later that day, when they were lying in their hotel bed, Mira turned to Zoey and asked, “Hey, why did you stop drawing like that? You were really good.”
Fixated on something on her phone, Zoey didn’t look up, and said, absentmindedly, “Hm? Oh, some kid in middle school saw my drawings and made fun of me for them. Called ‘em lame or something.”
Mira’s eyes narrowed, and she looked over at Rumi, who looked similarly affronted. They shared a silent conversation between them, before Rumi asked, “Name?”
”What?”
”What was his name?”
”Huh?” Zoey put her phone down, and, seeing their infuriated faces, pointed at them, “Woah, hey! You are not hunting down the guy who made fun of me when we were 12 and beating him up!”
”We’re not gonna beat him up,” Mira said.
”Thank you.”
”We’re gonna kill him,” Rumi continued, nonchalantly.
“Wh-No! Guys!”)