Chapter Text
Rumi just couldn’t sleep.
Staring out her windows at the dark night sky, Rumi thought she would have fallen asleep as soon as she fell face-first into her bed a few hours ago. It had been a long day for HUNTR/X. Between several TV interviews, an autograph signing event and a recording session for the group’s new album, the day had been packed.
And then a horde of demons decided to launch an attack in a local mall. Just because that’s how their day seemed to be going.
As a result, Rumi, Mira and Zoey were completely exhausted by the time they returned to their penthouse late in the evening. Rumi was pretty sure Zoey had been sleepwalking at one point during the trip home.
After a relatively quiet dinner where Zoey regaled Rumi and Mira with just two stories about turtles, Rumi had let out a huge yawn, wished her bandmates a good night’s sleep and then headed to her room.
Rumi hadn’t missed how her friends glanced at one another when she said she was going to bed, but Rumi had decided to ignore it. She was too tired to deal with anything else today.
Or at least she thought she was tired.
But here Rumi was, lying under her comfy bedsheets in the middle of the night and unable to fall asleep. Though Rumi had a pretty good idea as to why she couldn’t sleep.
Grumbling, Rumi pulled back the left sleeve of the baggy gray hoodie she had worn to bed, exposing the bare skin underneath. Though bare probably wasn’t the best way to describe her arms, Rumi thought as she gazed at the iridescent patterns that ran along her body.
Her demon patterns had been flaring up recently. As the horrendous marks slowly increased their coverage across Rumi’s body, they had started to feel as though they were burning, causing Rumi to feel quite a bit of discomfort. Rumi wasn’t sure why they were acting up like this, but it was making it a bit harder to sleep.
Originally, her patterns had started forming around her arms and around her core, making it pretty easy to hide her patterns under her clothes. But as her patterns grew in size, Rumi was getting more and more nervous about the growing possibility of being unable to effectively hide her patterns for much longer.
And that got Rumi more and more nervous about the growing possibility of Mira and Zoey discovering her half-demon heritage.
Rumi really didn’t want to imagine how her fellow demon hunters would react when they discovered that she had been lying to them since their first meeting.
But Rumi already knew deep down they would despise her for it.
Rumi sighed and climbed out from under her covers. She swung her legs off the bed and stepped onto the floor. Rumi sighed at the feeling of the soft carpet underneath her bare toes.
“Maybe some water will help.” Rumi groggily mumbled before letting out another yawn. After throwing on a pair of gray sweatpants over her black boy shorts and putting on some comfy slippers (it did take her a few tries to successfully place her feet in her slippers while she stumbled around in the dark), Rumi quietly stepped out her room.
Rubbing her eyes with one hand as she made her way into the penthouse’s well-furnished kitchen, Rumi opened the refrigerator door with her other hand. At once, bright fluorescent lights from the inside of the fridge illuminated the entre kitchen. Rumi squinted her eyes and hissed in response to the sudden burst of light blinding her vision. She slammed the door closed, returning the kitchen to darkness.
Realizing how much noise she was making this late at night, Rumi facepalmed as she felt her face burn in embarrassment. After glancing down the hallway to make sure she hadn’t disrupted Mira or Zoey, Rumi turned back towards the fridge and furrowed her brow.
This time, she gently opened the door and, with her eyes still squinted, Rumi grabbed the pitcher of water out of the fridge and filled a nearby glass.
After slugging down the cup of water as though she were in the desert and dying of thirst, Rumi refilled the glass with more water. Once satisfied, Rumi slowly crept out of the kitchen and back towards her room. Just as she was about to enter her room, however, Rumi noticed a light shining from down the hallway.
Rumi turned in the direction of the light. She hadn’t noticed it before, but the door to Mira’s room was partly open. A gentle light streamed from the crack in the door into the hallway.
Rumi slumped her shoulders and sighed. She should probably go check on Mira and apologize for waking her up. Rumi knew from years of living with her bandmate that Mira was not a fan of being disrupted from her beauty sleep. Rumi would probably need to make a grandiose apology to avoid incurring Mira’s wrath.
As she slowly walked down the hall, Rumi heard Mira’s voice come from the bedroom. “Oh, you feel so good, Zoey.”
Rumi froze in place.
Rumi knew Zoey tended to seek out her or Mira for comfort whenever she had a nightmare, usually resulting in an impromptu sleepover. It sounded like Zoey had apparently gone to Mira’s room this evening. But this certainly didn’t sound like just a sleepover.
Feeling her pulse quicken, Rumi hurried her pace down the hall and then leaned up against the wall just outside of Mira’s room. She peered through the crack in the door and felt her mouth drop open in shock.
There, with only the bedside lamp illuminating the room, Mira and Zoey were on Mira’s bed. A smiling Mira hovered over a currently moaning Zoey.
Rumi’s eyes widened. Her two friends were naked.
Rumi had never seen her bandmates undressed before. Her hesitance to show any sign of her patterns meant that she usually changed in separate rooms from Mira and Zoey. Additionally, Rumi always refused their invitations to visit a bathhouse together, usually by citing her preference to bathe in private. So there really wasn’t an obvious time when Rumi would have naturally seen her friends unclothed.
Therefore, as she gazed into Mira’s room, Rumi committed to memory every inch of their exposed bodies. Tall and lean, Mira had a svelte figure while Zoey, ever so lovely and adorable, had a gentle bust and wonderfully wide hips.
Rumi felt her core twist in agony at the sight of how beautiful her friends were. How beautiful they were undressed without shameful, iridescent patterns running along every inch of their skin. She nervously tugged at her hoodie and sweatpants. It was a shame she was ugly as sin underneath all of her layers.
She wished she could be like her friends. She tended to make that wish quite often.
With her vision shaking, Rumi leaned against the wall and continued staring through the crack in the door. She watched a moaning Zoey arch her back as a grinning Mira pumped several fingers into her entrance. Mira gently pinched her left nipple with her free hand as she continuing thrusting into Zoey.
Though she had no experience of her own, Rumi knew what sex was. When a teenage Rumi had approached Celine and eagerly asked the older woman if babies were conceived by lovers holding hands, an aghast Celine realized proper sex education was desperately needed.
But this moment between Mira and Zoey looked way more passionate than the almost clinical way Celine described the intimate act.
“M-miraaaahhhh! I…I’m gonna…gonna…ohhhhh…”
Using the hand currently not holding a glass of water to cover her mouth and muffle her gasps, Rumi watched in awe as Zoey let out a loud scream as she orgasmed on Mira’s hand.
Rumi then felt her throat dry as Mira withdrew her hand from Zoey and daintily licked her wet fingers. As the pink-haired woman licked herself clean, Mira chuckled. “Who knew you were so tasty, Zoey?”
Sweaty and disheveled, Zoey could only groan in response. A beaming Mira laid down on the bed next to Zoey and pulled her into a warm embrace.
And then they kissed. Over and over. Passionately. Fervently.
Peeking through her fingers, a wide-eyed Rumi could even see that there was quite a bit of tongue involved.
Despite feeling her face burst into flames in embarrassment at the sight of her two friends locking lips, Rumi just couldn’t stop watching. The two of them looked so happy.
She knew Mira and Zoey were close, but Rumi genuinely had no idea the two of them were this close.
Then again, with Rumi basically refusing any invitation for all three of them to hang out together outside of work, Mira and Zoey usually only had each other to turn to for companionship. It was her own fault that her only friends no longer needed her presence to be happy.
As a pit formed in her stomach, Rumi frowned. She shouldn’t be watching this private moment. She needed to leave. Now.
When she abruptly turned away from Mira’s bedroom door. Rumi bumped her right elbow on the wall, causing some water to spill from her cup onto the floor below. Wincing in pain, Rumi did everything she could to keep a steady grip on her glass as she scurried back to her room.
When Rumi got back in her room, she placed her glass of water on her bedside table and then dove back into bed. As she felt her patterns burn brightly underneath her clothes, Rumi squeezed her eyes shut.
How long had this been happening? Why didn’t Mira and Zoey tell her that they were together? Was there something wrong with her that led them to decide to not inform her about this at all?
Feeling her eyes beginning to tear up as her mind spiraled, Rumi whimpered. She wanted to be loved like that so badly. She wanted them to love her like that.
But no one would love a girl with demonic patterns like hers. No one would care for a monster like her. At this rate, Rumi was going to be alone forever.
Rumi clenched her fists when that thought drifted in from a dark corner of her mind. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She was going to do everything in her power to make things right.
She just needed to endure this pain and frustration for a bit longer. And then, everything would be golden. Rumi would be able to get everything she ever wanted.
Even if the two people she wanted most of all were well out of reach.
As Rumi scampered back to her room, Mira’s gaze flickered towards her partly open door. She knew this wasn’t going to end well.
“Was…was that Rumi?” Zoey whispered as she loosened her grip on Mira’s bare hips.
Still staring at the door, a frowning Mira nodded.
Zoey tugged on Mira’s forearm. “We really should have told her about us, Mira.” Zoey looked at Mira with teary eyes. “D-do you think Rumi will be mad?”
With a sad smile, Mira turned back towards Zoey and sighed. “I don’t know, Zoey.”
Zoey frowned. “But…but this could be good, right? We can clear the air and then we can tell Rumi how we feel about her and then maybe she’ll want to be with us too and-!”
Cutting off Zoey’s tearful rambling by gently stroking the side of the black-haired girl’s face with her hand, Mira firmly shook her head. “I wish I could say that would be the case, Zoey, but…”
Mira turned her gaze back towards the door to her bedroom and sighed. “We both know how skittish Rumi can be. A direct approach like that could scare her away. We don’t even know if she even likes girls.”
“She likes us though, right?” Zoey whispered. “Right, Mira?
After turning off her bedside lamp, Mira pulled Zoey into a tight embrace and laid her chin atop her head. Zoey snuggled into her chest.
“I love Rumi as much as you do, Zoey, but all we can do right now is be patient with her.” She kissed the top of Zoey’s head. “It’s going to be okay.”
Mira felt Zoey shift uncomfortably in her arms. “I hope so, Mira.” Zoey whimpered. “I really, really do.”
They both struggled to fall asleep after that.
The next morning was awkward.
After their hectic schedule the day prior, Bobby had energetically guaranteed that HUNTR/X would have no events on the itinerary for the day. Their wonderful manager urged the trio to use the day for some well-earned rest and relaxation.
And so, wearing her most comfy pajamas, Rumi found herself eating breakfast with Mira and Zoey. As she munched on a bowl of cereal, Rumi pretty quickly realized that something was up.
Between making their own breakfasts and sitting next to Rumi on their comfy sofa, Mira and Zoey kept exchanging looks with one another.
When Zoey shot Mira a worried look before their group’s maknae glanced over at her, Rumi smiled. “Is something the matter, Zoey?” Rumi gave her a teasing grin. “Not enough blueberries for your pancakes?”
Eyes very wide in fear, Zoey looked like a frightened deer. “Who? Me? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with me, Rumi!” Zoey started awkwardly laughing. “My pancakes are totally de-lish! Hahahaha!”
Rumi grimaced at Zoey’s absurdly enthusiastic tone. She was absolutely certain the two of them knew that she had been outside Mira’s room last night.
Still, Rumi thought as she sipped on her mug of coffee, she wasn’t going to pry about what happened last night. How Mira and Zoey chose to spend their free time together wasn’t her business, despite her mind’s fervent protests otherwise.
Even if Mira and Zoey had been cavorting behind Rumi’s back for who knows how long, the three of them had been making wonderful progress towards their ultimate goal of creating the Golden Honmoon despite all of that nonsense.
If the three of them were already so in sync despite all of this going on behind the scenes, then Rumi believed maintaining the status quo would keep things on track. She was so, so close to getting rid of these patterns, so she’d do whatever it took to achieve that goal. Even if that meant suffering in silence.
And so, the three of them fell silent as they finished eating their breakfast.
Afterwards, Rumi took on the responsibility of washing their dishes. As she fervently scrubbed Zoey’s syrup covered plate, she felt a hand gently rest on her right shoulder. Rumi jolted in place, but she thankfully didn’t drop the plate in the sink. After turning the water faucet off, she turned her head to see Mira standing behind her.
Rumi raised her eyebrows. “Mira? Is something wrong?”
Mira gave her a smirk. “That should be my line, Rumi. You’ve been scrubbing that plate for the past five minutes.” She looked over Rumi’s shoulder and into the sink. “Surely Zoey didn’t make that much of a mess?”
Face flushing, Rumi winced. “Oh, sorry, Mira! Just had some stuff on my mind.”
A concerned look cross Mira’s face. “Oh? Did…did you want to talk about it? I’m happy to lend an ear if something’s bothering you.”
Blushing as the memory of watching her two friends make love flashed in her mind, Rumi rapidly shook her head. “Oh, it’s nothing really! Just thinking about our schedule next week, I guess.” She winked at Mira. “We’ve got quite a lot of big events coming up!”
Rumi couldn’t miss the deep frown that appeared on Mira’s face. “I see.” Mira then sighed and gently rubbed Rumi’s shoulder. Rumi tried her best not to lean into the warmth of Mira’s hand. “Rumi, if something’s wrong, anything at all, you can always tell us, okay?
Trying her best not to frown, Rumi wordlessly nodded. Now smiling, Mira removed her hand from Rumi’s shoulder and walked out of the kitchen.
Turning her gaze back to the remaining dirty dishes in the sink, Rumi scowled. Rumi was never going to tell them anything in a million years. Not if that would jeopardize their mission.
And wasn’t Mira such a hypocrite, saying that and then still hiding her own secrets from Rumi?
As she washed another plate, Rumi sighed. She had no room to complain, considering what she was hiding from Mira and Zoey. But maybe that’s how things were meant to be between her and them, just tenuous bonds of friendship built upon a foundation of secrets and lies.
When Rumi finished cleaning the dishes, she stepped out of the kitchen and saw Mira and Zoey quietly whispering. Rumi frowned. What were they conspiring about now?
When they heard Rumi approaching and turned towards her, Zoey’s face lit up. “Rumi! Perfect timing!” Zoey dashed over to her and gently grabbed both of her hands with her own. Rumi felt her heart soar at how warm and eager Zoey’s tone was.
When Zoey started rubbing the top of Rumi’s hands with her thumbs, Rumi frowned. “Uh, Zoey? What’s up?”
Zoey just giggled happily. When Rumi shot Mira a bewildered look, Mira just smirked at her. Trying her best once more not to frown, Rumi just felt cold as she returned her gaze towards Zoey’s warm hands caressing her own.
As Mira stood next to Zoey with her hands on her hips, Zoey grinned up at Rumi. “So! Rumi! Since it’s our day off and all, Mira and I were thinking we could watch a few movies together!”
Rumi smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Zoey. We haven’t had a movie day in a while.”
Blushing, Zoey then looked over at Mira, who gently nodded back at her. When Rumi raised an eyebrow in confusion, Zoey turned back towards Rumi with a determined expression. Zoey tugged at her hands.
“And then, um, Mira and I talked and, uh, we should go to the bathhouse later tonight. All three of us!” She stammered.
Rumi immediately grimaced. Then, feeling her frustration rise, Rumi sighed. “I’m really sorry, but I think that’s a terrible idea, Zoey.”
When she saw Zoey shrink back in fear as though she had been struck, Rumi immediately wanted to slap herself for being so harsh. Zoey didn’t deserve that.
As she gently pulled her hands away from Zoey, Rumi tried her best to ignore the scowl that appeared on Mira’s face. “Rumi, we completely understand if you’re uncomfortable, but we really think you’d enjoy it. It’ll just be the three of us, chatting freely as we enjoy a nice bath.”
Rumi fought down another harsh retort and just gazed out the window of their penthouse. Chatting freely and bathing with others were the last two things she wanted to do right now.
When Rumi remained silent. Zoey clutched her hands together. “It’s just…I know we’re together all the time, but we don’t know the first thing about you, Rumi.” Zoey frowned. “We just don’t want you to feel like you can’t be yourself around us. We’re your friends!”
Mira nodded. “We’re a team, you know. We should all be able to let our hair down and have some fun together, Rumi.”
That got Rumi incensed.
Before she could stop herself, Rumi crossed her arms. “Oh, like last night?” She felt a vicious smile appear on her face. “It sure looked like you two were having quite a bit of fun, huh?”
Immediately, Mira’s eyes went wide. “Wait! Rumi, about last night, we-”
Rumi gave Mira a flat stare. “I honestly don’t really care about the intricate details of what you two get up to, just as long as your lovemaking doesn’t impede our mission.”
Mira glared at her and made to speak, but Rumi raised her hand up to cut her off. “What? Were you two just going to never tell me? Was I not important enough to be informed that my two best friends happened to be dating?”
Rumi felt a vicious grin cross her face. “That’s pretty low, Mira. Who knew you could be so cold?”
When Mira looked down at the floor after that, Rumi couldn’t see the exact expression on her bandmate’s face. But Rumi sure felt good, letting out the frustration that had built up since the night before.
With a hand raised to her chest, a trembling Zoey took a step forward. “Rumi, please, Mira and I have been talking and we were wondering if-“
Whipping her head back up from gazing at the floor, Mira shot Zoey a harsh glare. “Zoey! Not now!”
Zoey glared back at Mira. “Yes, now, Mira! We need to fix this!”
Crossing her arms, Mira scoffed. “Oh, you think getting this all out in the open will just fix everything? You heard what Rumi said!”
Zoey stomped her left foot. “Well, we have to try before she hates us forever!”
As Mira and Zoey bickered over whatever it was they were upset about, Rumi sighed and rubbed her brow with both hands. This is exactly what she was afraid was going to happen if she brought up the events of last night. But Rumi just couldn’t help herself.
But they ultimately needed to stay focused. So she needed to end this argument.
“Well, on second thought, I think I’ll be resting in my room today.” Without sparing her friends another glance, Rumi darted back to her room, her long purple braid whipping behind her. “You two can enjoy the movies and the bathhouse by yourselves. I’m sure that’s what you’d prefer anyway.”
She heard Mira snarl behind her. “Hey! Rumi! Get back here!”
She heard Zoey sniffle. “Rumi! Please wait a minute! Please!”
Ignoring her bandmates’ cries, Rumi stepped into her bedroom and locked the door behind her.
Then, trying to ignore Zoey and Mira tearfully knocking on the door, each knock feeling like a stab to the heart, Rumi climbed into her bed and laid down. She stared up at her ceiling, not looking at anything in particular.
When she heard a frustrated Mira gently lead a despondent Zoey away from her bedroom door, a frowning Rumi closed her eyes.
She just needed to keep things the same between them until their mission was complete. Even if treating her friends like this made her feel awful on the inside.
But they’d understand once she could get her patterns to disappear.
When she woke up again, the sky was dark. Grumbling, Rumi checked the time on her phone. It was late in the evening.
Rumi sighed when she felt her stomach rumble. With a grunt, Rumi climbed out of bed and opened her bedroom door to head over to the kitchen. When she opened the door to her room, however, she found a wrapped sandwich and a small thermos had been placed in front of her door.
When she saw a small piece of paper next to the sandwich, she knelt down and picked up the note.
The first thing she read was “We’re sorry.” It was in Zoey’s handwriting.
The second line was also short, but no less painful. “We miss you.” That obviously was written by Mira.
Rumi felt her heart crumple.
After delicately folding the note and placing it in her pocket, Rumi picked up the gifts her friends had left her and walked towards the kitchen.
As she moved through the penthouse, Rumi realized that she was the only person around at the moment. Zoey and Mira were nowhere to be seen. Outside of the note left in front of her door, they hadn’t even messaged her or anything.
Rumi scowled. That was just how things were going to be now. She deserved to be left on her own anyways.
And so, Rumi ate her meal in silence.
When Rumi returned to her room, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. When she pulled out her phone and checked her notifications, Rumi’s eyes went wide.
It was a message from Celine. Typical of Celine, it was short and direct.
Demon at Art Museum. Directions to follow.
Celine didn’t message Rumi often about demon appearances, but when the former demon hunter did reach out, she usually sent the message directly to Rumi, relying on Rumi to relay that information to Mira and Zoey.
But Rumi was alone right now. Mira and Zoey were nowhere to be found. They were probably spending time together somewhere, Rumi snidely thought. Rumi figured they must have gone to the bathhouse after all.
Rumi blushed. They were probably indulging in one another, passionately kissing and cuddling as they sat naked in a warm bath. Rumi’s blush intensified at the thought of her friends staring lovingly into each other’s eyes as their bosoms pressed up against one another.
Rumi shook her head and frowned. Maybe after they finished their bath, the two of them would go to a hotel to continue their romantic evening. That way, the prying eyes of a stupid, lonely monster that can’t stop herself from causing pain wouldn’t be able to spy on them.
Mira and Zoey didn’t need Rumi bothering them. Rumi could handle this on her own. She wanted to work out some stress anyways.
Rumi felt her phone buzz again. Celine had sent over the address of the museum. The demon's location was thankfully not too far away, at least for a huntress that could easily scale buildings and hop across rooftops.
Rumi tucked her phone away and turned towards her closet. As she took off her pajamas and began perusing her options for an outfit for tonight’s mission, Rumi grinned to herself.
It was time to take down some demons.