Work Text:
"The internet loves this, and the internet is never wrong!"
...Bobby knows there's more to the internet than just good memes and long ads, right?
Of course, he's an adult adult, he didn't grow up unsupervised on the internet like she did. His eyes are still pure and innocent, free from the horrors of Twitter, Tumblr, and dubious forums of names she will never say out loud.
She wonders what it's like to live with that level of ignorance and naiveté about human purity. Rumi must know; she never posts or goes on social media unless Zoey or Mira encourages her.
Zoey hasn't been the same since she was eight, and the Jar Accident™ happened.
It still gives her chills when she remembers that.
She will save Rumi and Bobby from that, even if it's the last thing she does.
To make an unbreakable promise, she dramatically raises her fist in the air.
It says a lot about their relationship that neither Mira nor Bobby react, which doesn't make her eyes burn at all, nuh-uh.
She's used to it. At least, that's what she says.
Sometimes it's hard not to remember when she was the weirdo and loser at school. When the bruises on her skin were from real demons, and the confinement was not in firm and warm arms, but in tight and suffocating lockers.
Everything still feels like a dream. Having friends, family (not estranged, not broken), and people who admire what she does? And who doesn't see it as a waste of time or something useless?
Teenage Zoey would have gone crazy. And if she'd known she'd have the two most beautiful girls in Korea as her roomies? Oh, that Zoey would have thought she'd sold her soul to the devil or something.
Which is not wrong, in a sense she sold her soul to the Honmoon and her BFFs. Who wouldn't, when you found soulmates like that?
"Rujinu? That's genius!"
Riiiight. The real world exists. Life isn't just her thoughts.
And... Rujinu? Like a ship? Wow, the internet works fast. She wonders if they already have fanfics. Would it be weird to read them?
It's not like Rumi would fall in love with Jinu in real life.
...Because she wouldn't, right?
Even though she had played with his feet under the table, talked to him nonstop, and complimented him in front of everyone, she wouldn't...
Oh no.
Rumi... Could she really be interested in him? He's a demon, and Celine and Mira would never approve, but... But that doesn't stop it from happening, right?
And she's been more closed off since the Saja Boys came along. More private.
The signs are there for her to see. But... Rumi would never meet with a demon behind their back, right? She would never prioritize him over them, who have been by her side this whole time.
At least, that's what Zoey wanted to think.
The thing is, she's never exactly been a permanent fixture in anyone's life. She's never been prioritized. Mira neither.
Trusting Rumi to stick with them, when she has never opened up, or let her armor fall with them, is difficult.
Don't get her wrong, Zoey loves her and trusts her with her life, but it gets harder and harder to justify her behavior every day. They're best friends, but sometimes it doesn't feel that way. Not when Rumi is afraid to look at her.
Has Zoey done something to make her not trust her? She's failed in an irreparable step of friendship, and this is the consequence?
She doesn't know. She's never had friends, not like that. Not real ones. Back in the US, it seemed like everyone hated her for having weird eyes and useless hobbies.
It's hard to remember that things are different here. Especially when an uncomfortable tension arises between Rumi and Mira. One that she knows will explode at any moment.
But if being a daughter of divorce did help her in something, it was to smile and put all her problems far away from her mind.
Bobby is still talking, which suits her just fine.
"Zoeystery? Where did they come up with that?"
So she got one ship too, huh?
With that handsome, protective, cute, and quiet demon boy, whose smile must be perfect and oh so full of fangs.
If she weren't absolutely loyal to her friends, she wouldn't hesitate to date him. Mistery was her type. Demon or not. It could be an amazing Enemy to lovers, or maybe she could be the villain's weakness or-?
"Miromabby?!"
Her face wrinkles into a grimace, her shoulders tense.
She closes her eyes, inhaling deeply, and exhales.
Loud voices don't mean anger, she repeats to herself.
Mira just lost control. She can't blame her. Mira is usually good at avoiding that tone of voice with her, just like Rumi. It's just that the last few days have been stressful what caused it.
She didn't mean to hurt her, not intentionally. Zoey knows it.
Still, when her eyes flick to Bobby's cell phone, the ache in her chest that she'd been trying to ignore grows.
Watching Romance and Abby stare at Mira, holding her close, trying to get her attention, makes her feel...
She doesn't know.
"Aw, you're so cute together!"
She just knows she doesn't like it at all.
Because it's... It's different.
Jinu didn't look at Rumi with such blatant romantic interest. And who knows, maybe he wasn't Rumi's type. She doesn't even know if Rumi likes people like that. Part of her wishes she wouldn't, because it would be easier.
But Abby and Romance... They're exactly the kind of man someone like Mira would like. Romance, loving and adorable, and Abby, flirtatious and challenging.
If they weren't demons, Zoey could imagine them being something. It's proven that Mira loves people who challenge her, yet obey her when necessary. That she loves people she can coddle, yet argue pointlessly with.
Because she does those things to them. To Rumi and Zoey. She can't count how many times Rumi and Mira's arguments have turned from aggressive sparring to a tickle fight in the floor, or how many times Mira has cursed Zoey's name after doing something stupid while holding her in her arms.
It's natural for them to do so, but now she can't help but wonder if it's something special Mira reserves for them, or something she would do with anyone she cared about. Something she could do with Romance and Abby if, perhaps, she were ever to accept demons.
Thinking about Mira underneath Abby, sweating and smirking, struggling to tickle him instead of Rumi, feels wrong. Thinking about Mira holding Romance on her lap and stroking his hair makes her want to throw up.
Because that's her place. Theirs place.
Why would anyone think Mira could give it to someone else? She can see where Rujinu is coming from. Rumi and Jinu had acted very close during the fan signing, and she can see where Zoeystery is coming from, given her small attraction to him but Miromabby?
Where did that come from? And why does it bother her more than anything else?
Is it because the world saw that Mira can fall in love with two people at the same time, and decided that Zoey couldn't be one of them? Is it because all the signs she had denied, but was desperate to believe were true, were all in her head, and turns out that Mira had more chemistry with two boys she had just met than with her and Rumi? The girls who have been with her most of her life? Literally her soulmates united by the Honmoon?!
What did those demon boys have that they didn't? Rumi was definitely more attractive than Abby and his stupid, finely sculpted abs. Hell, Zoey was sure that under all those clothes Rumi had more defined abs than he did. And Romance... Sure, he was cute, romantic like his name, but he could NEVER be as adorable as Zoey when she wanted to be.
They didn't deserve Mira. They didn't deserve the fans thinking they should be with Mira. Anything they could give her, Zoey and Rumi could give her a thousand times better.
Assuming Rumi liked them that way.
Zoey... had always thought (deep inside, hidden, and never spoken) that she felt the same way. That one day, the three of them would abandon their cowardice and say something.
But now, with Jinu in the picture, how can Zoey think that, when the two of them look so... Pleasing to the eye together? Harmonious? Rumi has a good heart, if she saw something worthwhile in him, she would help him become good. Nothing but Celine could stop them to be together after that.
And if he became good, wouldn't the Saja Boys become good too?
Mira may hate demons, but if Rumi asked her not to hurt them too much, she would respect that.
And if Romance and Abby had already had the nerve to push her towards their bodies, and to devour her with their eyes when Mira only wanted to kill them, what would they do when they found out that she couldn't do it?
"No..." Her hand trembles against her side, her fingers yearning for the familiar weight of her Shin-Kal. Mira is hers, Rumi is hers. They are her friends, her...
Her...
Her nothing.
"Oh, girls, look!"
Is this the moment Zoey's always feared? The moment when she's become too much, and is replaced by someone better? Has it finally arrived?
She had always been so much, and not enough.
Not enough to keep her parents together. Not enough for them to want to pay attention to her. Not enough to make people at her school like her for anything other than doing their homework and smashing her face in the toilet or in the locker.
And now, not enough for Mira and Rumi to love her the way she wants it. A way that not even their fans, the people who watch and analyze them the most, can see, because it doesn't exist.
God, Zoey wants to cry. She wants to go to her room, curl up in a corner, and write in her notebook until her fingers throb and calluses form. Until her vision is blurred and she sees nothing, until her thoughts can finally be silenced.
She doesn't want to be here. She doesn't want to see any more of this. She wants it to end.
"Look, Miromabby only been here a few time, but it's already competing against Polytrix!"
Would it be too much for her to run away from here?
Her smile feels tight.
Her body itches, and her eyes burn, but she can't stop smiling. What is Zoey, if not the one who's always happy, the one who always keeps the spirits high?
Zoey, the least liked member of the trio. Zoey, the one who never fits in anywhere, neither in the US nor in Korea, because she's always more of one than the other. A stranger who simply doesn't belong anywhere.
Not with her parents, not in her countries, not with Rumi and Mira.
"Zoey?"
There's a hand on her shoulder that wasn't there before.
Zoey blinks, and suddenly, she's back next to Mira and Bobby.
"What's up, Mira? Is something wrong?"
Did she see through her smile? It's Mira, who not only knows her well, but is also an expert at reading body language. There's little chance she hasn't been discovered.
"You look weird."
"I'm just tired."
"Hm." Mira's eyes pierce hers. In the distance, footsteps were approaching. Rumi. "You know I don't like lies, Zoey. What's wrong with you?"
How can Zoey even tell her, when it's such a stupid thing?
But damn if she can't forget how Abby held Mira against his chest, how Romance looked at her spellbound or how Jinu and Rumi whispered passionately to each other.
She had never felt so disgusting and envious. Not even when she was a child, and saw other children with their parents, both parents, being happy.
Celine would not approve of this immaturity. She has to control herself. She's better than this.
"I just..."
Her voice trailed off. Why did she have to answer this, when Rumi never told them the truth? When Mira never explained anything?
Why was she the one who had to be honest, when it was her friends who weren't?
No, bad Zoey. She can't think like that.
She is the one supposed to promote good habits and healthy communication among everyone.
She's the one who had parents. The one who had a childhood.
This is her role.
But as Rumi approaches them, looking at her with the same concern in her eyes as Mira, she doesn't know what to do, what to say.
She's the lyricist, but her friends have always had the gift of leaving her speechless.
"I..." How can she explain... This? That feeling of knowing that she'll never be enough for people as amazing as Rumi and Mira? That, if it weren't for the connection she has with the Honmoon, she would feel even more replaceable? "It's just that I don't really like this 'ships' thing."
"Ships? Like sailing ships?"
"I don't like them very much either. The mere thought of dating one of those stupid demons makes me want to beat them to a pulp."
Is that so?
"You'd never date any of them, even if they were human?"
"Of course not, Zoey. Where did you get that idea? I'd rather stay single for the rest of my life like Celine than date one of them. Demon or not."
The pain in her chest lessened a little.
Zoey had been overreacting, hadn't she? When had Mira, of all people, ever paid attention to anyone other than her and Rumi?
Platonically or not, Mira has always looked only at them. It was foolish to think that she... could look at Romance and Abby the same way.
But when was Zoey not a fool?
"Girls, what are we talking about?"
Right. Rumi. She's never had enough online presence to understand this conversation.
"People pair us with the Saja Boys." She explained, biting her lip. "Like... In a romantic relationship."
"They do what?!" The light in the room gave Rumi's eyes a unique golden hue. Of course, only she could make the lights work in her favor, making her look like an angel. "Why do they do that?"
"Fans are like that, it sucks, but that's the way it is."
Rumi frowned, clenching her fists until they turned white against her sides.
"Who do they pair you with?"
Was this... Jealousy?
No, that couldn't be the case. Rumi, being the leader she was, was only concerned of them. But if that was the case, why didn't she ask about her own ship?
Why theirs, precisely?
"Mistery." She could stay quiet here, as she should, or she could... "I'm not going to lie, he's exactly my type."
"He is a demon, Zoey."
"I know, but if he were a good demon, I'd date him."
"You would date a demon?" Rumi looked incredulous, as if that idea had never crossed her mind. As if she didn't know that was even possible.
"Yeah."
If Zoey judged them by where they were born and by their appearance, would she be different from her bullies?
The bad demons obviously deserved to die, but if there were any good ones out there...
Rumi opened her mouth, but closed it instantly.
Zoey should probably ask what was going through her mind, but she didn't think she'd get an answer. Not from Rumi.
"And Mira... Who is she paired with?"
"Stupid Abby and-"
"And? And!? Do they pair you with two people?"
"As I was saying before someone interrupted me: Abby and Romance."
"Why out of all the two people you could have been paired with, it was them?" Rumi gritted her sharp teeth together. Damn, Zoey wish she could one day feel those same teeth piercing her skin. "It should be Zoey and me!"
Purple lines crashed into the Honmoon, causing it to shudder and twist around them.
And the cause was Rumi. Rumi, who looked at them with wide eyes and slack shoulders. Rumi, whose patterns were now visible on her skin.
Is that why she was surprised by her comment about demons? Rumi... had she never thought someone could love her like that?
If this was her secret, if this was who Rumi really was... Where had Mira and Zoey gone wrong that she never told them?
Did she think they would kill her? That they would leave her? Is that why she got along so well with Jinu? Because he understood her in a way they never could?
Her hand reached for Mira's. Her eyes stung, and she felt like she was about to start crying because...
Because Zoey thought she was a decent friend, but if Rumi had never been able to trust her with this, was she even that?
Mira squeezed her hand, Zoey didn't have to look at her to know her back was straight, her breathing controlled.
Where Zoey collapsed in on herself, Mira hardened her old shell, and put it back on.
It had always been like this.
And even now, where Zoey should have felt happy because Rumi wanted to be with her and Mira, and felt upset because other people didn't see the same thing, she could only feel pain.
As if she didn't deserve those feelings, that possession over her.
Because Rumi's lies might hurt, but what hurt most was the fear in her eyes at this moment, the confidence that they would hurt her.
Zoey could never, Mira neither.
But oh, how it hurt them that Rumi thought so. That she was more afraid of them than any other demon they'd ever encountered before.
"Girls, I'm sorry, I-"
"How can you love us, when you always thought we were going to hurt you?" Her voice came out weaker than she intended. "Rumi, we'd never do that. You know that, right? Please, please tell me you know."
The patterns on her skin danced, darkening beyond purple.
"I- I know." Rumi raised her hands, taking small steps towards them, gaining more confidence when she saw that they didn't move to attack her. "I know. It's just that... I'm always afraid that you'll see me and think I'm broken, corrupt. A monster."
"You would never be a monster, Rumi." Mira took a deep breath, reaching out for her. "Even if you tried."
"But I am, don't you get it?" Rumi raised her hand to Mira's. Her nails were as long as claws. "Look at me! Look how I look. I'm not human. I don't feel the same way as a human. My eyes see you two, and my brain just says 'mine'! Isn't that what an animal would think?"
"If you are an animal, then so am I, Rum." Zoey took her normal hand in hers, letting Mira grab the clawed one. "The reason I was upset before... It's because the thought of seeing you or Mira being with someone other than me made me feel uneasy. Because I know... Because I know that they don't deserve you like I do."
"Really? Am I...not weird for thinking that way about you?"
"Since when have any of the three of us been normal, Rumi?" Mira sighed, pulling her closer.
"But you... You're human, I'm not. I'm a demon. I don't deserve to live. Especially when I'm... Like this." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "How can you look at me, no, love me, when I myself can't?"
"Because we see you, Rumi, all of you, in this moment, and you couldn't be more beautiful." Her thumb caressed the back of her hand. "I've said it before, haven't I? If there was a good demon who is also my type, I'd date them, and you, Rumi, are very good."
"Yes, you are, and never forget it." Mira gave them a small smile. "Are you a demon? Great. Are you possessive of us? Hot, and I think we all are with each other. Do you feel like you don't deserve to live? We'll work on that. And you love us? Perfect, we love you too. There is no problem you can think of that we cannot solve."
Rumi pushed herself against them, holding them tightly.
"I love you girls so much." She murmured in a trembling voice, her face buried in her clothes. "I'll try to love myself as you love me. To... accept myself."
Zoey stroked her hair. It was soft against her fingers.
"And I... I'll try to be more open with you. To stop being so complacent to the point of hurting myself without saying nothing at all." She didn't have to admit this, but Zoey felt she wanted to. "It's just... You guys are amazing, and I never feel like I'm enough to make you stay. To belong with you."
"You're enough, Zoey." Mira put her arm around her. "Your place is with us, and it always will be. The same goes for you, Rumi. You're my family and...and you're both are perfect."
"You are too, Mira."
"Don't say that or you'll make me cry."
"Don't worry, we'll be a crying mess together."
...
"While this is all very adorable and I'm definitely crying with you, girls, why does Rumi have color-changing tattoos and call herself a demon?" Oh no. "By the way, I'm so glad you three are finally together! You're so cute."
"Bobby!"
How could they have forgotten that he was here?!