Chapter Text
Mira has three things in her life that she would classify as a “favorites:” Zoey Couch, and pizza.
Zoey being the first one of course. Her girlfriend was and always would be at the top of the list. Her bubbly demeanor was infectious, filling up whatever room she was in with sunlight and joy, how could anyone not put her into the favorites category. Mira never tired of how amazing Zoey was. Kind, funny, smart, and so damn beautiful that sometimes it hurt. They’d met over a year and half ago in one of the many dance classes Mira taught at the local gym. Zoey had burst in, late and surrounded by chaos and rainbows, her laugh ringing through the room like silvery bells as disrupted every inch of the space. Mira had been smitten immediately. Taken by the girl who was the embodiment of disorder but did so with nothing but a smile on her face. It hadn’t taken long for her to ask Zoey out, then before they knew it, they were moving into a one-bedroom apartment together, and the rest was history. Now they’d been together for one year, four months, and sixteen days (not that Mira was counting) and Mira couldn’t be happier.
Couch was second on the list, because, well. It was Couch. The aforementioned, formally named piece of furniture, which the girls spoke about as if it were a real, living, person, was by far the best financial decision they had ever made. At least as far as Mira was concerned. Couch was huge. Taking up almost every inch of their tiny living room, so much so that the only way to get anywhere was by crawling across it’s vast surface. Mystery had called it a fire hazard when Mira and Zoey had forced him and Baby (Mira still thought it was a stupid nickname) to help them lug the thing up the five floors to their apartment. He had been subsequently banned from sitting on Couch for an entire month for “offending it.”
Couch had also once been white. Now, after months of eating in front of the TV, shoes walking across it to get from one part of the apartment to the other, and late-night dalliances that left Mira winded, sweaty, and tingling, Couch was a cocktail of multicolored stains and splotches. Mira tried cleaning them off, but the best she managed was keeping Couch from collecting smells as well as stains.
“It’s got character,” Zoey would say, and Mira would just roll her eyes and agree because, well, it was Zoey. Mira had tried to convince Zoey that they were far too messy, and Zoey accident prone, to have a white couch. Something would stain it the moment it entered their lives (Zoey spilled a glass of red wine on it within the first hour of Couch being home). But the moment Zoey had shrugged and simply pulled Mira down to test Couch in the store, she’d been sold. Because Couch was basically a cloud in the shape of living room furniture. And every since Couch had entered their lives, it had been a constant, perfect presence that Mira wouldn’t give up for anything.
The final thing on Mira’s list was pizza. Because who didn’t love pizza? Psychopaths, that’s who. But it wasn’t just pizza itself that Mira loved. It was everything that came with pizza. Because the first time she’d ever tried pizza, it had been on a date with Zoey. Their third date, to be precise. Zoey had demanded that she be the one to chose the date after Mira had pulled out all the stops to woo her for the first two, and Mira was helpless to refuse. She did have some reservations, however, when Zoey dragged her to a small pizza place that was tucked into a random corner on the sketchiest street she’d ever seen. The place was…interesting to say the least. The outside looked like it had been struck by lightning no less than seven times and then hit with a 9.2 magnitude earthquake. But Zoey had insisted that it was “the best pizza around” and Mira, again, couldn’t say no to her. Especially when Zoey got that manic look in her eye when Mira had shyly admitted that she’d never had it before.
Once she’d tried a slice of their pizza, she was glad that she did. Because pizza was clearly a gift from God sent down to them, gift wrapped in ooey gooey cheesy perfection. Growing up, Mira didn’t eat things like pizza. She didn’t eat anything that could be considered “unhealthy” or “not proper for young ladies.” Her mother was very…strict when it came to those things. Well, when it came to most things. So, for most of Mira’s life until she moved out (was kicked out) at eighteen, she had really only experienced high dining, and there were a lot of things in the four years since then she hadn’t had a chance to try. She had a list, not that she would have told Zoey that, but she hadn’t quite gotten around to pizza yet. But now that she’d finally had a taste? And not only that, but seeing the way Zoey lit up when she realized Mira had loved it? Yeah, it was definitely going into her top three.
After a month straight of nothing but pizza, Zoey had to put her foot down. Which was both adorable and incredibly sexy at the same time because it was Zoey. And she had declared that as perfect and wonderful as pizza was, they needed variety in their sustenance. Which is how they came up with the compromise (is it really a compromise if both girls looked forward to it?) that they would eat pizza once a week, specifically Friday nights. Because then they could order a case of beer with it, guilt free, and simply enjoy their weekend. They even made a little game of it after a while, trying a new place every week, or a new flavor they’d never heard of. Just to keep it fun. Now, it was practically tradition, one that Mira wouldn’t give up for the world.
Which is why Mira was currently sitting on Couch, her laptop in hand, clicking through various pizzerias in the city, trying to find one they hadn’t already tried yet.
“Miraaaa,” Zoey called from their bedroom, just having finished her post-work shower. She was a waitress at a local diner, one of the ones that had their workers move around on skates and do silly little dances when a specific song came on, so she usually came home sweaty and exhausted. Mira didn’t mind so much, she loved Zoey no matter how smelly she was, but Zoey was a stickler about her shower time. As far as she was concerned, they were sacred. “Did you pick a place yet? I’m starving.”
“Not yet, Zo, but I’m honing in as we speak,” Mira replied, eyes narrowed in focus, as if this was a life-or-death situation. And after last weeks fiasco with the undercooked chicken toppings that lead to them alternating their heads in the toilet bowl, it practically was. She pushed her glasses up her nose and scrolled again, hemming and hawing between two potential victims. Behind her Zoey leaned over Couch, wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping around her ears and pointed at the one with a blue tiger and a bird in it’s logo.
“That one” she said with finality, offering no explanation as to why. Mira grinned and leaned up to kiss her jaw, humming in acknowledgement as she clicked the link to their menu, then shoved her back towards the room.
“Go get dressed, drippy. You’re getting Couch all wet.”
“Like Couch as never been wet before,” Zoey quipped with a wink and Mira flushed remembering just the other night when she and Zoey had made Couch very wet. Then Zoey stuck her tongue out and skipped off to the bedroom.
“Yeah, you better run,” Mira huffed playfully, smiling warmly after her girlfriend. She scrolled through the sight for a few minutes, checking out the specials, before deciding on one called “Gwi-ma’s Inferno” that was basically a meat lovers with five little red chili’s next to the name for herself. Zoey plopped down next to her, now dressed in her favorite turtle themed pajama’s and her hair wrapped up in two small, messy space buns, as she added it to the cart, and Mira passed her the laptop to choose her own. Zoey looked through the menu with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, a trait Mira found endlessly endearing, before picking one called “Derpy’s Choice” that had pineapple, chicken and—
“Anchovies? Really babe?” Mira made a face and Zoey giggled.
“What? I’ve never tried them before!” Zoey said, bopping Mira’s nose.
“That’s because they’re an atrocity that should never see the light of day, much less be on a pizza,” Mira replied dryly. Zoey only giggled and added it to the cart without another word. Then she paused, head tilted, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Mira knew that look.
“What’re you thinking,” Mira drawled, her lips already quirking up as her girlfriend’s eyes sparkled.
“What if we have a little fun this time? Nothing crazy, just something silly,” Zoey said, opening the “special instructions” tab at the bottom of the order.
“What, like having them spell out ‘Mira x Zoey 4EVR’ in M&M’s or something,” Mira chuckled and Zoey beamed at the reference. Mira had finally caved to her insistence at watching Princess Diaries a few days ago. But then she shook her head.
“That would be adorable, but I’ve got something else in mind,” Zoey said, her fingers flying over the keyboard. Mira leaned over, reading the words quickly, then let out a snort.
“Send your cutest delivery girl?” she read aloud, except it was all lowercase, “your” was spelt “ur” and Zoey had included a tiny little heart eyes emoji beside it. “Bold of you to assume they’re not all just sweaty teenage boys.”
“More like hopeful,” Zoey chirped typing in her card information before Mira could stop her and sending in the order. “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to fawn over a cute girl together.”
They had talked about open relationships when they got together, and while Mira did have a tendency get jealous at times, like stupid jealous, they had both agreed that as long as there was healthy communication between them, they didn’t have any issues sharing. Because at the end of the day, they knew that they were coming home to each other, and that was more than enough. That, and after a few months they’d realized that they preferred exploring other people together more so than they did apart.
“You’re a menace,” Mira said affectionately, and Zoey shrugged but didn’t deny it. She shoved the computer off her lap and crawled into Mira’s, straddling her with her arms around her neck. Mira’s hands immediately settled on Zoey’s hips, grinning up at her.
“You love it,” Zoey said, running one hand through Mira’s long pink hair. Mira hummed, melting into the touch before leaning up to press a kiss to Zoey’s neck.
“I love you” she clarified, pulling back. Zoey had a faint blush on her cheeks now, but she was grinning widely. She leaned in and kissed Mira warmly, still smiling.
“I love you too, dork,” she giggled, and Mira huffed. Zoey adjusted so she was now sitting lengthwise across Mira’s lap, her head on Mira’s shoulder and she grabbed the remote. The TV flickered to life and Zoey chose some random k-drama she’d been half watching to fill the quiet as they waited for their delivery.
Mira wrapped her arms around Zoey easily, happy to just hold her girlfriend and listen to her rattle off the names and plotlines of the show. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying each other’s company after a long week, until there was a soft knock at the door. Zoey was up in a flash, an excited look on her face.
“That must be the pizza!” she said, crawling over Couch to get to the front door. “I got it!”
“Relax, babe, it’s probably just some kid who’s going to be too embarrassed to look you in the eyes,” Mira laughed, but she followed Zoey to the door. She’d never admit it, but she was also curious to see who was behind the door.
“You can act nonchalant all you want, pookie, but I know you want to see too,” Zoey teased, finally across Couch. She grabbed a few bills from their designated “tip” jar that sat next to the door, hand already on the handle. Mira rolled her eyes at the pet name, Zoey knew she hated that one but didn’t deny anything as she slotted herself right behind Zoey with quiet curiosity.
Zoey grinned up at her with a wink, then pulled the door open. And both their jaws dropped.
Standing in front of them was the most gorgeous woman they had ever seen. Her face looked as if it had been sculpted by freaking angels. Round and soft, but still sharp where it counted. Mira’s eyes widened, her gaze tracing over the woman’s lips, her nose, the curve of her neck underneath the high-necked company jacket she was wearing that did very little to hide her physique. Then down to perfectly sculpted legs that were hidden beneath black joggers, and back up to her face again, because, holy fuck, she was beautiful. She had long, and I mean long purple hair that was braided tightly down her back, and just for a moment, Mira imagined what it would be like to tug on it while she—
“Hi, is this apartment 6B?”
Fuck, even her voice was perfect.
Both Mira and Zoey started when the woman spoke, her girlfriend clearly equally affected by the actual goddess in front of them. Then they both blushed at the exact same time, embarrassed to be caught staring.
Only…had they been caught? Because Mira realized that the entire time they were standing there gawking the woman hadn’t looked up at them. Not once. In fact, her eyes were securely locked down at the pizza boxes in her hand, and Mira noticed the faintest hint of a blush on her cheeks. Like she was…shy? Mira swallowed, because, fuck, that was adorable.
“O-oh…uh, yeah!” Zoey stammered, her lips turning up into a grin that was much too wide in her clear gay panic. Mira simply continued to stare, words impossible right now. Zoey elbowed her, hard, and she let out a small oof before blinking and offering her own, much less crazed smile.
“Yep, that’s us!” Mira said, though her voice came out much higher than she meant it.
“Great, here’s your order,” the woman said, her voice an attempt at cheery, but there was a small waiver of embarrassment behind it, and Mira almost swooned because cute. The woman held the pizza boxes out like an offering, her eyes still downcast, like she was afraid to look up. “Gwi-ma thanks you for your patronage. Please enjoy and don’t forget to leave a review.”
The way the woman spoke was oddly formal, but it didn’t make it any less endearing. Neither Mira nor Zoey moved right away, still in awe of the woman, and she frowned, eyes flicking up just slightly. Only for her cheeks to go even more red as her eyes dropped back down.
“I’m sorry…is there something wrong with the order?”
“No! No, it’s perfect thank you!” Mira finally snapped out of it, eyes going wide and she grabbed the boxes a little more aggressively than she meant to. When she did, her fingers just brushed the woman’s fingers, and there was the smallest spark. Then the woman’s hands dropped to her sides, almost as if she had been burned. Beside her, Zoey swallowed a laugh, and now it was Mira’s turn to elbow her.
“Yeah! Perfect,” Zoey agreed, and Mira nearly facepalmed at the tone in her voice. Then Zoey blinked and shoved the bills in her hand towards the woman. The woman nodded once, hands firmly at her sides until the bills entered her field of view. She blinked three times, like she wasn’t sure what she was seeing, before slowly reaching up and taking the money.
“O-oh…uh, thank you?” she said, almost as if she was uncertain if she was allowed to keep it. Her eyes flicked up again, this time meeting Mira’s gaze, and she gave the smallest, shyest smile Mira had ever seen, before they dropped again and she bowed deeply once. “Okay bye.”
Then she was gone, all but running down the hallway until she was out of sight, shoulders to her ears which Mira could swear were bright pink.
Both Zoey and Mira didn’t move, staring after the woman with large eyes. Frozen in place as they processed what had just happened.
“Oh. My. God.” Zoey finally said, letting the door shut with a click. She turned to Mira at the same time Mira turned to her, both girls in complete shock.
“Did you see—”
“—her face—"
“—and her voice—”
“—the way she blushed—"
They both stopped, their voices overlapping as they spoke rapidly. There was a pause. They looked down at the pizza in Mira’s hand, almost like it was sacred, then back up at each other, a single thought clicking between them in the silence.
“We have to see her again,” Zoey said. “Like. Immediately. I need to know everything about her. Her name. Her favorite food. If she is a cool ranch or nacho cheese kind of girl. I’m obsessed.”
“I’m not convinced she’s actually a real girl. I need proof she actually exists and we didn’t just have a share hallucination from Couch’s fumes,” Mira half-joked, still not totally sure that the woman had really existed. “Because there’s no way someone that hot just showed up on our doorstep. I swear to God she better not be straight. That would just be cruel.”
“We have to have her deliver to us again.” Zoey said. “For scientific research.”
“It’s the only option,” Mira nodded seriously. Then she groaned. “Fuck, we didn’t get her name.”
“It’s probably on the order,” Zoey said hopefully. They both paused, then looked over to the laptop sitting on Couch, blinking innocently. Mira and Zoey shared a look for a split second, then they were both running, diving onto Couch to get the laptop first.
Mira came up victorious and clicked through their order trying to find where it listed the name of their mysterious delivery person.
“Rumi,” Mira read out, and her heart did a funny little flutter at the name, because of course she had a name as fucking cute as she was. “Her name was Rumi.”
“Beautiful,” Zoey sighed, leaning against Mira, nuzzling into her neck. She grabbed one of the pizzas and pulled out a slice of each, handing one to Mira and eating her own, uncaring that the cheese dripped onto Couch. Mira rolled her eyes, knowing she’d clean it up later. She took a bite of her own, then moaned because damn that was a good pizza. This place just seemed to have it all. Zoey’s thoughts seemed to mirror her own, because she was devouring her abomination of a pizza, anchovies and all, before leaning back with a happy sigh.
“So. We’re having pizza again tomorrow, right?” Zoey said after a moment, and Mira burst out laughing.
“Oh yeah. We’re having pizza for the foreseeable future,” she said, pulling Zoey into her arms. And she meant it, because suddenly she had a new favorite thing to add to her list. A cute, adorable, slightly awkward and mysterious woman who had completely captured her and Zoey’s attention within the three minutes they’d seen her. A woman named Rumi.
And Mira couldn’t wait to see her again.