Archive of Our Own

Despite what people thought, Zoey didn't actually hate her job.

Sure, the pay wasn't the best, and sure, dealing with customers was always a little frustrating, but working in a pet store had a number of benefits, too.

For example, she was responsible for taking care of the in-store pets that were for sale—birds, fish, snakes, geckos, that sort of thing—and, okay, yes, sometimes she got a little too attached and missed them when they got bought, but at least she could make sure whoever was buying them actually knew what they were doing.

Another benefit was that people sometimes brought their dogs in so they could pick their own toy out, which was completely adorable and almost made up for the fact that, between work, studying for her degree, and being a hobbyist leatherworker—the only one of her ADHD-fuelled 'new hobbies' that actually stuck—she didn't have time for a pet of her own.

What really made it worth it, though, was the woman currently crouched down in an aisle, long pink hair tied up neatly, gold rimmed glasses balancing on her nose, fingers pressed to her lips thoughtfully as she seemingly debated between the selection of cat toys with all the severity of a heart attack. Given the information Zoey had gleaned about her cat—Derpy. Derpy!—it wasn't going to matter anyway; he'd undoubtedly be more interested in the crinkly receipt.

At first Zoey had been intimidated by her—and, like, embarrassingly attracted to her, but she was tall and beautiful and kind of intense, so nobody could really blame her for that—but the more Mira visited the store the more obvious it became that the stony exterior hid a surprisingly soft nature. She'd seen her admiring the tarantulas and snapping pictures of the budgies more than once, and she absolutely spoiled her cat, judging by how much she spent on him.

So now she was even more attracted to her.

It took all of a month for them to have a conversation that consisted of more than a price and a polite 'thanks'. Mira had asked for her name in that low, silky voice of hers and repeated it like she was rolling it around on her tongue while Zoey desperately hoped her face wasn't as red as the heat lamps, and then they were chatting every time she came to the store.

That had been several months ago now, and, look, Zoey wasn't egotistical, but she was pretty sure Mira was flirting with her.

If it had taken her annoying coworker pointing it out for her to recontextualise their interactions, that was nobody's business but hers.

Mira unfurled from where she was crouched and peered around the store. Zoey gave a little wave when she locked eyes on her.

"Did Derpy break another toy?" Zoey asked lightly as Mira approached with easy strides of her long, toned legs.

"Yup." Mira rolled her eyes. "The little bastard keeps chewing through the string instead of chasing the feather."

Zoey propped her chin against her fist with a smile. "Wouldn't it be cheaper to just fix them?"

"Oh, believe me, I am. But when I tie a knot in the string it only makes him more interested." With a sly little smirk, she added, "I don't think you're supposed to tell me to not buy things. Are you just trying to get rid of me?"

A frankly ridiculous giggle bubbled out of Zoey, down-bad enough that she knew if her coworker overheard it she'd get roasted later. It made Mira's expression soften slightly, though, and he could go fuck himself anyway—he was absolutely just jealous that the pretty girls always flirted with Zoey and not him.

"I'm sure you'd find a new excuse to stop by."

Mira snorted, but she didn't seem put off by the accusation. She didn't deny it, either. Her eyes trailed over the aisles and landed on a different one to the aisle she'd just been crouching in. She froze for a moment, barely perceptible if it weren't for the fact that Zoey was watching so closely, and when she spoke again she sounded almost nervous.

"…Actually, could you help me with something?"

Zoey stood a little more upright, no longer leaning on the counter. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"What's the best brand of collar you sell?"

Zoey's eyebrows shot up. "You got a dog?"

Mira hesitated, then shrugged. "Something like that, yeah."

Which was a weird way to answer that question, but the thought was knocked aside by the excitement at being asked about a subject she was actually pretty knowledgeable on. She'd made them before on commission, so she knew what to look for—if it was a leather collar, anyway.

She circled the counter and led Mira over to the dog supply aisle, explaining as she walked. "We sell fabric and leather ones, but I personally think the leather is better. Don't get me wrong, the fabric ones are great too, and plenty of people prefer them, especially 'cos they come in fun patterns, but leather ones tend to last longer, and I think they look… I dunno, sophisticated? It really depends on the kind of dog and what you're getting up to, though."

Mira's lips quirked at that. "Leather."

Zoey grinned. "Good choice." Her next move was bold, but she'd never been accused of being shy. "I know plenty about leather."

Mira raised an eyebrow. "That so?"

"Mhm. Leatherworker." She waited for Mira's reaction—a slow understanding that bordered on disappointment—before adding, "Among other things."

Mira barked out a laugh, loud enough that a bird squawked in offence. "You're a real piece of work, Zoey."

Zoey winked in response, but before Mira could say anything to make her blush she started showing her the different collars they stocked. They didn't have the biggest selection, limited even further by the apparent size of the dog, but it didn't take too long for them to narrow it down to one of the more expensive collars, a dark brown leather on the exterior with a softer, lighter padding on the inside.

"I'll go ring this up for you." Zoey took the collar from Mira's hands. "We have an engraving machine as well, if you wanted to get a tag?"

Mira blinked. "Oh, yeah, she'd-… yeah. Good idea."

Back at the counter, Zoey watched her spend a bizarrely long time picking out a tag. Like the collars, there weren't that many options, but at least she was taking dog ownership seriously—seriously enough to be worrying about the comfort of a collar, anyway.

When Mira joined her at the counter she slid a shiny golden tag towards Zoey, who promptly flipped it over to discover the name of this mystery dog.

She breathed out a laugh, and for an uncharacteristic moment Mira hesitated, heat travelling up her neck.

Ah, shit. She hadn't meant to embarrass her. "No, no- it's cute! I think it's cute," and, to change the subject before she put her foot in her mouth again, "Does Derpy like her?"

Mira hummed. It was a fond little sound. "He adores her. I think he likes her more than he likes me, to be honest."

"Weird! But that's cats for you, I guess." Zoey reached out to pat Mira's arm soothingly as she handed her the bag with her other hand. "Don't worry, I still like you more."

"Well, you've not met her. She's hard not to love."

Zoey propped her chin on her fist again. "You should bring her in some time. I'd love to see her."

For some reason, that made Mira laugh. "Yeah, maybe. She knows all about you, after all."

The idea of Mira telling her dog about Zoey was so adorable that she found herself unable to formulate a flirty response back, instead simply ducking her head down with another giggle.

After Mira left, she thought about the name on the tag again. It was very different to what she'd named her cat, but she kind of loved that—it was always funny when someone had one pet with a bizarre name and one with a regular human name.

Rumi. Cute.

It was a little weird that Mira hadn't bought anything else for her dog in the weeks following her purchase, but, hey, maybe she'd bought stuff online—the same way she ordered Derpy's food in bulk—or maybe she'd had a dog in the past and all she needed was a new collar. She was clearly a good cat owner, and the way she spoke about Rumi suggested that she absolutely adored that dog, so Zoey wasn't worried.

She still hadn't managed to glean what kind of dog Rumi was, except that she was probably a high-energy working breed, since Mira had once responded to Zoey asking how Rumi was doing by telling her that 'work was stressing her out'—something she almost seemed embarrassed about saying afterwards, and absolutely refused to elaborate on—and whenever she came in seeming a little tired she said that Rumi had worn her out.

It took a month for Mira to have another request, and it was one Zoey hadn't expected.

"You said you're a leatherworker, right?"

Zoey stood from where she'd been crouched down to restock the shelves, brushing her palms off on her jeans. It was a surprise that Mira even remembered her saying it, but then, she seemed to pay a lot of attention to the people around her. "As a hobby, yeah. Why?"

"Do you take commissions?" Mira asked, leaning against the shelves.

It took a moment for the question to really regsiter, and then Zoey was spluttering through an explanation, gesturing wildly and helplessly.

"Uh- I mean, yeah, but- but you don't know what I make. It might suck."

Which wasn't the best way to make a sale, but what if Mira asked for her something and then hated it? She was good at it, but that was with strangers. Selling to someone she wanted to impress was something else entirely.

Mira only laughed, not unkindly. "I trust you. You seem like you're pretty talented with your hands."

That made Zoey splutter for a different reason. Normally she'd have a smooth and hilarious response, but it wasn't fair to ask for a commission and then flirt with her before she'd even recovered.

She knew she must've been blushing from the way Mira's laugh turned softer, teasing. "Was I wrong?"

"What- no! Pfft. No. I'm great with my hands. What did you want me to make?"

"A collar and leash."

Zoey tilted her head. The collar she'd got before had a long life on it. She shouldn't need a new one, unless she wanted different ones for different circumstances? Which made sense, if Rumi was a working breed.

Mira apparently understood Zoey's question without it being voiced. "The other one was fine, I just wanted to be sure-… she's important to me, and I like spoiling her."

She wished Mira would spoil her.

God, was she getting jealous of a dog? She needed to pull herself together.

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll need, like, measurements and stuff, so I can make sure it's comfortable. And you'll need to tell me how long you want the leash to be to suit your…" Zoey gestured vaguely. She had no idea what this dog with a job did. "Needs."

Mira's eyes widened slightly, then narrowed with mischievous amusement. "Was I that unsubtle?"

"I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret?" Zoey laughed, a little awkwardly. "You literally said she had a job."

Instead of elaborating, Mira only snorted and shook her head. "Can I get your number? I'll send you the specifics when I get home."

The reassurance she hadn't done something wrong by pointing out that Mira's dog was apparently employed settled her anxiety, only for it to be replaced by nerves for an entirely new reason.

Customers may have flirted with her before, but none had ever actually asked for her number—until Mira. Cool, cool. That was cool and fine and good.

She grabbed a flyer from the counter, writing her number as neatly as she could on the back of it and passing it to Mira, who folded it and slid it into her pocket before turning to leave.

"Wait- did you need to buy anything?" Zoey asked before she got to the door.

Mira looked over her shoulder at her. "No, I… I only came in to talk to you, actually. Text you later?"

Zoey's brain was sprinting ahead of her body, chasing after the idea of maybe being able to swing an actual date with Mira instead of taking control of her body. So nothing was there to stop her from shooting finger guns at Mira as she spoke. "Yep, yep. You got it."

She immediately ducked her head down and grimaced, but Mira only laughed and shook her head, apparently pleased by Zoey's behaviour.

That was good. If Mira could handle her at her awkward finger guns she'd probably be fine.

Mira's dog was quite large, judging by the measurements she'd sent over. It made it slightly more expensive, but she was giving Mira a discounted price anyway—the pretty girl discount, which was totally a real thing.

It was a commission anyway, and she set her own prices, so nobody could stop her.

She sent a quick text to ask what colours Mira wanted and headed to her garage-turned-workshop to check her supplies while she waited.

She didn't have to wait long.

Mira
Light purple if you can
I don't know how easy it is to dye leather with lighter colours

Zoey smiled at her phone. It was considerate of her.

Zoey
ofc i can
anything u want
tell me ur deepest collar desires

Mira
Careful
Don't ask for something you can't handle

Zoey
what makes u think i cant handle it ;)

Mira
Maybe one day we'll find out


Heat pooled low in Zoey's stomach. God, Mira was unfairly hot. She couldn't even think of an intelligent or witty response with all her blood heading south.

Zoey
promises, promises
also
i can engrave the leather if u want a pattern

Mira reacted to the first message with a wink, but it took a while longer for her to come back with an answer to the second part, long enough for Zoey to busy herself by cutting the leather into appropriate sizes.

Mira
Could you engrave flowers on it
She likes lavender


Zoey choked out a laugh. Her dog had a favourite flower? How was Mira so intimidating to people and so weirdly cute about her pets? She'd been about to tease her, but she remembered how she'd reacted to the name being laughed at and she didn't want to make her feel bad about it—or worse, discourage her from sharing.

Zoey
no problem! gonna make some designs and send them to u so u can pick
lavender is a nice flower
i like it too

Mira
I'll keep that in mind
Is it your favourite

Zoey
no
sunflowers

Mira
Good choice


Zoey preened under the praise, as small as it was.

In the end Mira picked a relatively simple design—with sprigs of lavender emerging either side of the buckle at the back and flowering just before they reached the D-ring at the front—which only took a few days to make in the free time she had between work and studying. She'd opted for a lavender dye to match the theme for both the collar and the leash and, honestly, she was pretty damn happy with it.

Hopefully Mira would like it, too, and then maybe she could offer to take her out for dinner. There were plenty of dog-friendly restaurants in the area, so Rumi could come as well.

But that was getting ahead of herself. She fished her phone out from under the pile of general Zoey detritus—sheets of paper, scraps of fabric, that sort of thing—and sent a text to Mira.

Zoey
all done!
u can pick it up after i finish my shift on monday? ill get in trouble if i sell it to u while im working
or i can mail it to u

As per usual, Mira responded within a few minutes.

Mira
You could bring it to mine if you wanted to meet Rumi
If you're both up to it maybe we could have a session

Zoey furrowed her brow.

Zoey
a session?

Mira
Like play
Test the new collar

Zoey
oh!!
yeah sure that sounds fun!
is tomorrow good

Mira
Tomorrows perfect

Spending a Saturday playing with Mira's big weird dog sounded like a great time, honestly. She packaged the collar neatly and put it near the front door, just to make sure she remembered to actually bring it with her.

The idea of spending a whole day with Mira made it difficult to focus on studying but, to be totally fair, she probably would've struggled with focusing anyway. She had plenty of time to study—the whole weekend, even—so she could afford to spend the evening picking which clothes to wear and then rotting in front of the TV to nature documentaries until she was tired enough to sleep.

It was a favourite past-time of hers, and a good reward for the end of the week.

Unfortunately, it did mean she fell to sleep on the couch and woke up late. Like, midday late. She had just enough time to shower and grab something to eat before heading out to the address Mira sent her. Her phone buzzed several times as she buckled her seatbelt and started her car, and a quick glance at it told her she had texts waiting from a few people, but she'd respond later; if she wanted to be on time she had to leave now.

Mira didn't live very far away, as it turned out. She must have picked the store Zoey worked at for convenience—at least at first.

She pulled up to a modest home and had to walk through a small, well kept lawn—mostly wildflowers and, to Zoey's delight, lavender—to get to Mira's front door, where she squared up, rolled her shoulders like she was gearing up for a fight, and rang the doorbell.

The door opened, and Zoey hesitated.

It was not Mira.

Instead, she was greeted by yet another absurdly attractive woman, her long purple hair tied back in a braid, wearing a tank top and shorts that showed off muscles that Zoey would very much like to lick if given half a chance-

"I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong house," Zoey said quickly before that line of thought could go any further.

The woman blinked, then smiled warmly, as if she'd been expecting her. "You must be Zoey, right?"

"Um." Zoey fidgeted with the bag in her hands, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She'd already been nervous, and this was not helping. "Yeah—yes, I'm Zoey. Is Mira…?"

"She's just in the kitchen. Come in." The woman stepped out of the way and gestured for Zoey to enter the house.

After kicking her shoes off and putting them on the rack she looked around and, wow, this was a house full of love. It wasn't cluttered exactly, but it was bright and cheerful; artwork was carefully placed on walls, vines were tumbling out of plant pots and curling around bookshelves, corners that might have looked lonely had large, deep green leaves spreading out of them. A cat tree—tragically empty of cats—stood near the largest window, catching rays of afternoon sun.

A familiar face sauntered into the room from an open doorway, and, nonsensically, Zoey's first thought on seeing Mira was that she was wearing boots. Inside the house. They were very nice boots, a thick black leather that stopped half way up her calf, and they looked clean, but they were in the house. Zoey's parents would've killed her for less.

Then again, these were hardwood floors, and it was Mira's house, so she could do whatever she wanted.

"Hey, Zoey," Mira said, voice low enough that it knocked all other thoughts clean out of Zoey's head. "This is my girlfriend,"—oh—"Rumi."

She barely had time to be outraged that Mira had been flirting with her when she had a girlfriend, had the audacity to invite her to her house, because-

Oh.

She looked between the two of them; at the difference between the other woman's—Rumi's—loose, comfortable clothes and Mira's boots and fitted shorts and crop top. Her mind frantically scrambled to pull together the scraps of information she'd been fed over the past month to form a picture.

The collars were for-

Oh, what the fuck.

It wasn't like Zoey was a prude. She knew about kink—hell, she knew some of the things she sold were used for kink—and she'd also had thoughts about Mira putting a collar on her late at night when it was just her and her imagination, but-

"Oh my god," Zoey murmured. She could feel the heat radiating from her face. "You don't have a dog."

She saw a ripple of uncertainty travel between them as her words registered.

Rumi shot Mira an incredulous look. "You didn't tell her?"

Mira's head whipped around to look at Rumi. "I thought-" she looked at Zoey, voice pitched with the frantic energy of her spluttering explanation. "I- I told you she had a favourite flower! What kind of dog has a favourite flower?!"

She couldn't help it. Zoey burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh my god."

Rumi buried her face in her hands in what seemed to be a vain attempt to hide how bright red she'd gone, as if Zoey hadn't already seen.

"I'm so sorry," Mira said imploringly. "I thought you'd clocked us. I-… Jesus, don't check your phone. Let me delete the text I sent to you."

Zoey only wheezed in response.

When Zoey didn't make any move to look at her phone—she would've, but she was kinda processing a lot and her brain was struggling to keep up—Mira groaned. "I gave you a list of kinks. We're poly, and I thought you knew, and you said you'd be down to play…"

Zoey ran back their conversations, then laughed again, because what else was she supposed to do?

It had a cascading effect, and suddenly Mira and Rumi were laughing too—a pair of exasperated, helpless sounds.

"This is so stupid," Rumi laughed, dragging her hands down her face. "How did neither of you think to ask a single clarifying question?"

"Okay, in my defense-" Zoey started.

"I said she had a job!"

"In my defense, why would that be my assumption? …And sometimes dogs have jobs!"

"You're both idiots," Rumi said between breaths, but it almost sounded fond.

Zoey couldn't even be offended, anyway. It wasn't she was wrong, and now that she thought back on it Mira had the subtlety of a brick through a window.

It took a while for the laughter to die down, but when it did Mira cleared her throat and spoke a little more evenly.

"You're being very cool about this, which I appreciate. We can just… I can pay extra and we can forget this ever happened, yeah?"

That was reasonable, but Zoey wasn't going to charge her more because of a misunderstanding.

And, well, she wasn't sure she did want to pretend it never happened. In fact, she kind of wanted to see what Mira and Rumi had originally planned for the day because—oh, holy shit, it finally sank in that she had explicitly been invited to have sex with both of them.

All the blood evacuated from her brain and migrated south, down to the pooling warmth in her stomach.

"I- uh." Zoey paused and swallowed, because her mouth was abruptly very dry. "I can still make sure it fits." Mira and Rumi's matching raised eyebrows confirmed she sounded as strained to them as she did to herself, but seriously, who could blame her?

"You… what?" Mira asked slowly.

Zoey shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. "I mean. I'm here, right? It's not like I've never heard of this kind of thing."

"You really don't have to-" Rumi started.

Zoey cut her off. "It's fine. I'm a big girl, I can handle a little kink."

To prove her point she held the bag out to Mira, who took it from her hands with all the energy of someone trying not to spook a wild animal. When Zoey didn't immediately flee, Mira set the bag on the coffee table next to a potted sunflower. Zoey nearly did a double take—there was no way Mira had gotten one just because they were Zoey's favourite, right?

The thought was shaken from her when Mira unwrapped the collar; now she was focused on seeing if she approved. She ran her fingers over it gently, almost reverently, then held it out for Rumi to look at.

Rumi's expression shifted from the earlier embarrassment to something softer and warmer.

"This is beautiful, Zoey," Rumi breathed.

Zoey opened her mouth, then closed it again. It took a moment for words to formulate, but when they did…

"A pretty collar for a pretty girl."

She grimaced. That was so cringy. They were going to kick her out for flirting crimes. They'd never talk to her again. This would forever be a memory of the time the hottest possible thing almost happened to her-

Rumi ducked her head down, cheeks flushing pink again as she held the collar back out to Mira.

"Thanks. I… um. I like it." The latter part seemed to be directed at Mira more than Zoey.

"Would you like to try it on now?" Mira asked, and, oh, Zoey could feel the weight of the question, held down by the other question waiting just out of view.

The column of Rumi's throat bobbed, then she nodded.

Mira's eyes flicked over to Zoey, and she understood it as another unspoken question, or an opportunity to change her mind. When she didn't—because what sane person would get this opportunity and walk away?—Mira unbuckled the collar and took a step closer to Rumi.

Rumi tilted her head up slightly, a tiny movement that should not have been as hot as Zoey found it.

As soon as the collar closed around her neck Zoey saw the shift in her. It was almost impressive how quickly her shoulders relaxed and her expression softened—they clearly did this with some frequency, if the collar alone could have that impact.

"Is that okay?" Mira asked, voice a fraction lower now than it had been moments ago.

"Yes," Rumi answered quietly.

Zoey jolted when Mira looked over at her. "Do you want to check it's fitting properly?"

It was a pointless act. Mira and Rumi both clearly knew it fit just fine, but Zoey found herself taking a step closer anyway, reaching up slowly to trace her fingers over the edge of the collar, making sure there was sufficient space, that there weren't any raw edges that might rub against the soft, sensitive skin beneath it.

Very soft skin, she realised as her fingers brushed over Rumi's throat. Warm skin, too. She had the sudden urge to press her lips to her pulse point, but that would be overstepping. Probably.

Rumi shuddered, breath coming out shaky and uneven from the brief contact alone.

Zoey's eyes darted to Mira. Relief flooded her system when she saw that Mira was watching with dark, blown out pupils. Okay. Okay, cool. This wasn't how she'd planned to spend her Saturday, but she was not complaining. If the two hottest people she'd ever seen in her life wanted her to fuck them—or get fucked by them—she'd be an idiot to say no.

That was why when Mira, voice low and thick with want, asked "Do you still want to play?" Zoey didn't even have to think about her answer.

"Yes."

Mira hummed approvingly. "Safety first. We use the stoplight system, that okay with you?"

Zoey nodded. She was familiar with it, had even used it herself a few times. "Yep."

"And if Rumi can't speak, she'll snap or tap instead. Three or more for red."

"Got it."

"Will you do the same?"

Zoey nodded firmly. "Yep."

Rumi cleared her throat. Her voice was a little unsteady. "Check the text Mira sent you and tell us if there's anything you don't want us to do."

Zoey blinked, then fumbled for her phone. She ignored Rumi and Mira's poor attempts at hiding their laughs and read through what Mira had sent her.

It was… honestly, not as much as she expected. Kinky, yes, but nothing extreme—aside from the whole collars thing, which was probably on the more extreme side. But the rest of it? Nothing she wasn't unfamiliar with or couldn't handle. "Yeah, this- um. Yep. All fine. With any of this."

Mira nodded. "Can we mark you?"

Fuck. Zoey's brain was still lingering on the list and wasn't present to stop her mouth from moving. "I'd be offended if you didn't."

Those weren't the words she meant to say, but whatever. Mira exhaled a laugh and shook her head, amused, then, to Rumi, "Colour, baby?"

She answered immediately. "Green."

Mira looked back to Zoey. "Colour?"

"Greenest I've ever been, holy shit."

Mira snorted softly as she took the leash from the bag. "Bedroom, then."

Rumi and Zoey followed obediently as Mira lead them through one of the doors, into a hallway that split off into three other rooms. Zoey wasn't given time to wonder about them, because Mira opened the first door and, actually, she had much better things to wonder about, things such as 'what sounds would Rumi make' and 'was she going to get to kiss Mira' and 'how was she so embarrassingly wet already, oh my god'.

The bedroom was large and cozy and lived in, but none of that mattered because as soon as the door was closed Mira turned to Rumi.

"Strip. Underwear stays on."

Her tone was so different, harsh and low in a way that didn't leave room for discussion or debate. It sort of made Zoey want to push, but the order wasn't for her anyway, and Rumi seemingly didn't share that desire.

She pulled her shirt over her head and discarded it somewhere off to the side, revealing—holy shit—her bare tits and—holy shit—her fucking abs. She removed her shorts, too, and something about leaving her underwear on was even more enticing than if she'd stripped fully bare.

And, also, thighs.

She didn't know what she wanted to stare at more. She was so entranced with the curves and hard lines of Rumi's body that she didn't even notice Mira brushing past her until she heard the resolute click of the leash being attached to the collar.

Rumi gave a soft, shuddering exhale and Zoey found herself copying it.

Fuck. Maybe she did want Mira to put a collar on her, too.

If Mira noticed, she didn't say anything. Not to Zoey, at least. To Rumi, she gave a single order.

"Kneel."

Rumi dropped to her knees immediately, sudden enough that Zoey was glad there was a plush rug underneath her—which was probably on purpose, actually.

Zoey watched as Mira ran her nails across Rumi's scalp gently, lovingly, drawing another shiver out of her as her eyes fluttered closed.

"Good girl."

The praise hit Zoey's core and it wasn't even aimed at her. She swallowed hard in attempt to pull herself together. It might have helped, except Mira was looking at her now and, once she was sure she had her attention, she gestured for her to join them with a twitch of her chin.

Zoey stepped into their space obediently, eyes trailing back down to Rumi and, oh, she was even prettier like this, on her knees, shirtless, staring up at her with wide, slightly glassy eyes.

Mira's fingers brushed the back of her hand and startled her out of her reverie, but before she could say anything she tapped her fingers to Zoey's chin with the hand not holding the leash and pulled her closer, close enough to kiss, and then waited.

Zoey didn't like waiting. She pushed up and crashed her lips into Mira's, a kiss far hungrier than she'd planned, but, fuck, who could blame her?

Mira chuckled, low and pleased. She felt her mouth curve into a smirk and the movement of her lips as she spoke. "Impatient."

Under normal circumstances she might have pushed back, but she got the feeling if she did Mira would stop and, actually, she couldn't take that risk right now, not when she was finally getting what she'd been waiting months for.

Maybe later.

Mira's hand slid along her jaw and to the back of her neck, firm and unyielding, pulling her closer and then holding her in place. Zoey's hands weren't idle, either, landing on Mira's hips and digging her fingers in as she fell into the rhythm set by the movement of Mira's lips.

…Right up until Mira bit down, hard enough to make Zoey gasp. She took advantage of it, deepening the kiss and licking into her mouth. It wasn't urgent or rushed like it would've been if Zoey had been the one to take the initiative, but instead slow—confident—like she knew Zoey would match whatever pace she set.

Earlier reservations forgotten in her desire to have more, more of whatever Mira was willing to provide, Zoey pushed against Mira's hips firmly, not quite a shove, but enough to make the backs of her knees hit the bed. Instead of stopping, or pushing back, or threatening her with punishment, or doing anything Zoey expected her to do, she allowed herself to sit against the edge of the bed and pulled Zoey with her, forcing her to straddle Mira's lap.

The leash clinked as it was pulled taut behind her, followed by a soft whimper and a shuffling sound as Rumi followed the movement. Her attempt to look over her shoulder to admire the sight that no doubt awaited her was cut short by Mira squeezing the back of her neck harshly in a silent threat. She couldn't quite stifle the way it made her whine, and she didn't even try to stop herself from rolling her hips against Mira's abdomen.

"Don't worry about her," Mira crooned. "Worry about me."

Zoey's mouth kicked in before her brain did. "But I wanna see her."

Mira hummed disapprovingly and pulled Zoey's head closer, pressing her lips to her ear. Her warm breath fanned across Zoey's skin as she murmured, "Don't you wanna be a good girl, too?"

Any motion her brain was suggesting was promptly slammed to the back of her skull by the force of the shudder that ran through her. She rolled her hips against Mira again. It was barely any friction at all with the layers of fabric between them, but even that tiny amount sent little sparks of pleasure that stoked the furnace growing inside her.

"I… fuck- yeah, yeah, I can be good for you."

Mira pulled back slightly, tilting her head to the side and, despite the lazy condescension in her tone, everything about her expression was alert, searching, watching for Zoey's reactions. "Can be? No, you will be."

Instead of answering, Zoey surged forwards and kissed Mira again, all tongues and teeth and bruising force, and hoped it was a clear enough answer to the unspoken question. Yes, she wanted Mira to make her. Yes, she wanted Mira to be rough.

Though, honestly, she didn't think she'd be able to put up that much of a fight, because behind her she could hear Rumi's quiet whines and whimpers and knowing that she was getting worked up just watching was doing something for her.

Mira's hand dropped from the back of her neck and landed on her hip, the subtle dig of her fingers encouraging her to keep moving, to keep grinding against her, to keep kissing her, and, fuck, did she want to, she would, but-

But she had too many clothes in the way.

She broke the kiss so she could pull her shirt over her head with every intention to continue the moment it was gone, but Mira seemed to have other ideas. Once Zoey's shirt was out of the way she instead pressed her lips to the underside of her jaw, then mouthed down the column of her throat to the sounds of Zoey's gasps as she unclasped her bra and flattened her palm against her spine to keep her close.

Warm leather touched her skin and made her twitch.

Mira was still holding Rumi's leash, and Rumi was still whimpering just out of view.

Zoey tilted her head back, giving Mira better access as her kisses travelled along her collarbone, but also, crucially, letting her see what Rumi was doing.

As soon as her eyes locked onto Rumi any chance she had at subtlety was gone, because she was not just watching. She was still on her knees, propped up by her hands on the rug behind her, leash taut, the toe of Mira's boot against the gusset of her underwear. Mira was pressing down—firmly, if the flex of her calf muscles were anything to judge by—as Rumi canted her hips up. Her parted lips were doing absolutely nothing to hide the sounds, sounds that only increased in volume when her eyes met Zoey's, eyes glassy and near black with how wide her pupils were.

They'd barely started and she already looked fucking gone.

Zoey let out a breathy "Fuck" at the sight.

And then she moaned, because Mira had kissed her way down to her chest now and closed her lips around her nipple, tongue flicking over the sensitive skin.

"God, that- fuck!"

Mira bit down lightly, pulling with her teeth before she let go and soothed her nipple with a gentle lick. She knew she should look back at Mira, but she didn't want to look away. She wanted to see Rumi come apart like this, just from fucking herself on Mira's boot.

"Pretty, isn't she?" Mira murmured against her skin.

Zoey nodded rapidly. Her hips were moving of their own accord, trying to match the pace set by Rumi's needy grinding. It wasn't enough. She needed more.

"You'll have to use your words. My puppy's head gets a little empty when she's like this—only thinks with her cunt." Mira squeezed her hip, and Zoey stilled.

Fuck, okay. She probably wasn't just talking about Rumi, still gasping and panting and whining behind her.

"Words, Zoey."

"Yeah- yeah, she's so pretty. Fuck, she's… she's perfect."

Rumi moaned, loud and broken and beautiful, and rutted harder, faster, against Mira's boot.

But Zoey wasn't given time to appreciate it, to really admire the way Rumi's muscles shifted with each roll of her hips or the way her eyes fluttered closed when her clit brushed against the leather just right, because Mira snatched her attention back by biting the top of her breast, pulling the skin between her teeth and sucking hard enough to leave a bruise and force a whine out of Zoey's throat.

"What- oh-"

Mira hooked a finger under the waistband of Zoey's pants, pulling her even closer. "I want these off."

She didn't need to be told twice. She'd been planning to take them off anyway, until she got distracted. She ignored Mira's mean little laugh as she scrambled onto her knees to give herself room to pull her pants and underwear down, wriggling in a way that, admittedly, was pretty pathetic to get them over her knees so she could kick them the rest of the way off.

As soon as she was free of her clothes—was it embarrassing to be the first person fully naked at the threesome? She didn't know the etiquette; it was something she would've looked up first if she'd known—she sat back in Mira's lap, shamelessly pressing her core back to Mira's toned stomach.

She let out a breathy whine at the contact, at the heat of Mira's skin as she rutted against her. It was still barely anything, but compared to how muted it had been earlier-

Mira tutted, and Zoey froze.

"You're making a mess."

She looked down to where she was pressed to Mira and—yeah, okay, that was a little embarrassing. She was so wet she could see it, shiny and slick against the faint outline of Mira's abs. For a second the only sound was Rumi's harsh panting and the quiet clink of the leash against the D-ring as Mira waited for Zoey's response.

Sense really had left the building because, instead of apologising Zoey huffed and grinded down on Mira's abdomen again. "So clean it up. I'm- ah- I'm a guest."

The slow, unamused arch of Mira's eyebrow was more threatening than any words could've been, but the words that followed certainly didn't help. "Guess you aren't a good girl. Still time for me to turn you into one, though."

Zoey's brain scrambled for a response, but any attempt at speaking was stopped in its tracks by Mira shoving her off her lap and twisting them both until Zoey was pressed against the mattress.

Rumi let out a low, pitiful whimper at the sudden loss of anything to fuck herself against.

Mira stood, leaving Zoey dazed on the bed, blinking slowly as her brain tried to process her new position. She propped herself up on her elbows and exhaled shakily, half way to a fucking moan, because Rumi was kneeling upright again, staring at Mira, eyes glassy and lips parted, as Mira wrapped the leash around her hand slowly.

Once.

Twice.

Rumi let out a soft, whiny gasp, and, instead of waiting for the leash to be pulled taut, shuffled closer until she was kneeling obediently at Mira's heels.

Fuck. Fuck. Heat rushed between Zoey's legs. Her hips twitched of their own accord. She was definitely making a mess now.

Mira looked down at Rumi. "Poor puppy," she crooned, cupping her cheek with her free hand. "You can wait, can't you? Speak."

When Rumi only whined in response, Mira tugged on the leash lightly with a small twitch of her fingers.

"Yes- I can- I can wait," Rumi croaked.

Mira's expression softened. Her hand drifted up to scratch Rumi's head gently, making her eyes flutter closed again for a moment.

"Good girl. Showing Zoey how to behave, hm?"

Rumi swallowed hard and nodded.

"Want a taste?"

Another nod.

"Come here, then."

Zoey watched, slack-jawed, as Rumi lifted herself up on her knees and braced her hands against Mira's hips so she could lean in and—fuck—lave her tongue over the mess Zoey had left on her stomach, making the muscles tense and flex at the attention. Rumi moaned, either at the act or the taste, and the sound shot straight through Zoey. She closed her legs, rubbing her thighs together—subtly!—in attempt to get any kind of relief from the molten heat raging inside her.

It wasn't subtle enough, apparently; Mira's eyes snapped over to her, even as her hand came up to cradle the back of Rumi's head.

"You'll wait, too. Keep your legs open."

She should've told Mira to make her, should've stayed consistent with being a bit of a brat, but the reverent way Rumi lapped at Mira's skin was maybe the hottest thing she'd ever seen and she'd very much like her to put her tongue to a different use. Maybe if she behaved, that would be her reward.

She spread her legs again and pressed them hard into the mattress, as if pinning herself in place.

Mira hummed approvingly—and a little shakily. "Better."

She slid her hand down to Rumi's shoulder and pushed her back gently. Rumi followed the correction readily, sinking back to her haunches and staring up at her, doe-eyed, as she waited for her next instruction.

"Fuck, she's so…" Zoey breathed, half to herself.

Mira chuckled. "Isn't she just?" then, to Rumi, "Up."

Despite the firmness of the order, Mira held her hand out to help Rumi to her feet and guided her over to the bed, then draped the loop of the leash over the bedpost.

"Keep each other company for a minute—but be sensible. If either of you come you'll both be punished for it."

Zoey let out a whiny little "Fuck" at the threat, but Rumi just exhaled unsteadily. She wasn't sure if it was out of fear or excitement.

She wasn't given time to think on it, either, because as soon as Mira stepped away Rumi damn near pounced on her. The leash clinked as it reached its limit—it didn't quite have enough slack—but that didn't matter because Rumi simply gripped Zoey by the hips and pulled her closer. Zoey wasn't complaining. She'd never complain about being manhandled by someone so pretty.

Rumi braced her arms either side of Zoey's head, throat bobbing against the leather of her collar, chest heaving as she panted. The pause gave her enough time to wonder if she was supposed to give her orders, or if that would be rude and only Mira could order her around, but then-

Rumi leaned down and kissed her, hungrily, messily, and uncoordinated—which wasn't helped by how eagerly Zoey met her. Their teeth clacked together, tongues pressing against each other as they both sought to deepen the kiss. She could taste herself in Rumi's mouth. She was going to lose her fucking mind.

Her hand trailed up to Rumi's neck, up to her collar, but Rumi froze as soon as her hand brushed against the leather. She knew what she wanted to do, but she didn't know if the collar was just for Mira. She'd touched it earlier, but that was before, and she hadn't handed her the leash, so maybe…

Zoey pulled back just enough to murmur, "Can I touch…?"

She felt Rumi's little smile against her mouth. "Please."

Okay, cool. Rumi froze because she was unfathomably horny about Zoey touching her collar. Excellent. Perfect. Zoey, too, was unfathomably horny about it.

She hooked a finger underneath the leather, knuckle grazing the tender skin of Rumi's throat, and tugged.

Rumi moaned, sweet and low—Zoey felt the vibration of it against her knuckle—and then they were kissing again, somehow even more desperate than before, tongues brushing against each other in a heated push and pull as they both tried to get more.

The firm, sudden pressure of Rumi's knee against her bare core made Zoey moan just as pathetically, just as needy. Zoey rolled her hips into the contact on sheer instinct.

That was more like it. She hadn't been able to get enough contact against Mira with the way she'd been straddling her but this… this felt good.

She tugged on Rumi's collar again for no reason other than to hear the pretty sounds she made, and was immediately rewarded with exactly that—she gasped out another moan against her mouth, one that Zoey swallowed down greedily as she canted her hips up against Rumi's knee, free hand sliding to the back of Rumi's neck. Rumi pushed harder into her in response. Pleasure sparked in her core and spread heat through her. She rutted faster, faster, chasing the feeling of Rumi's skin against hers, of her tongue in her mouth, of the sounds they were both making-

"Maybe you're a puppy, too, hm?"

Zoey broke the kiss and lolled her head to the side so she could see Mira, and her brain—whatever was left of it, anyway—simply shut itself down at the sight of her wearing a strap-on, harness sitting snugly against her, curving over her bare hipbones where they peeked out above her shorts, and, fuck, Zoey really wished she could kiss and bite her way along the places the leather touched skin.

Rumi pressed a kiss to her jaw, then to her neck, running her tongue along the sensitive skin before biting, hard enough leave a mark, hard enough to spur Zoey's hips back into movement as she groaned, pleasure coiling tighter, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.

"Fuck, Rumi…" Zoey whined.

Mira made an amused sound in her throat. "Enough of that."

Zoey had every intention to stop, but it felt so good, and she was so fucking turned on, and her hips didn't stop moving even as Rumi stilled, and-

Mira tutted. "At least one of you is obedient. Rumi, keep her still."

Zoey whined at the loss of contact, hands sliding away from Rumi's neck as she pulled back. She would've tried to keep her there, but something about Mira's clipped tone told her that it would be a bad idea to continue to ignore her instructions and, as much as she wanted to see what Mira's idea of punishment was, she also wanted to actually survive it.

Mira lifted the loop of the leash from the bedpost, allowing Rumi to move to kneel by Zoey's head, where she promptly grabbed her wrists and, with an embarrassing lack of resistance from Zoey, pinned them against the mattress. She gave a performative wiggle to try and get free, but Rumi was strong, and, honestly, she didn't want to get free. The sudden lack of control sent heat straight through her and made her entire body feel light and tingly—a sensation that only increased when Mira stood between Zoey's legs, stopping her from being able to close them and get friction even if she tried.

She throbbed, at both the sight of that and at the promise of the strap mere inches from her cunt. Fuck, she needed one of them to start touching her properly right now.

She bucked up into Mira, and Mira laughed.

"Do you want a collar, too? Is that it?" Mira traced Zoey's throat gently with her fingertips. "Would that make you behave yourself?"

Zoey froze. Did she? She'd thought about it before, but she hadn't actually considered it. The immediate impact it had on Rumi was… interesting. Appealing. She wasn't unfamiliar with subspace—far from it—but the collar seemed to act like an off switch. But then, she liked the fight, the back and forth of being told what to do and not doing it, and would that be okay with a collar?

She was overthinking it. It was probably a joke. Empty words said to rile her up—which had worked, because she felt herself clench down on nothing as her thighs twitched against Mira's weight.

"Zoey?" Mira said, a little softer. The weight on her wrists lifted a fraction. "Colour?"

Zoey blinked. "Uh. Green, just… no collar this time?"

This time? She hadn't meant to say that part, not when she didn't know if they wanted this to be a regular thing. God, had she overstepped?

The pressure on her wrists increased again, and Mira leaned down to press a kiss to the tip of her nose. "Another time, then. Thank you for telling me."

Oh. Okay.

Great! Wonderful! Perfect! There would be another time!

The brief anxiety she'd felt was knocked aside with force by the return of how goddamn horny she was.

Her face felt almost as hot as her core did, and Mira smirked. "Now how about I get you ready?"

"Fuck, yes- god," Zoey whined before she could stop herself.

Mira chuckled and slowly, agonisingly slowly, trailed her fingers from Zoey's throat to her collarbone, then down her sternum and across her stomach, leaving a path of sparking heat that made Zoey twitch and gasp until it came to rest against her hip. The bed shifted above her as Rumi fidgeted at the sight.

"So pretty," Mira murmured. "Can't wait to hear you."

Zoey had been about to respond—though she had no idea what she would've said—when Mira's fingers dipped even lower, her thumb pressing to Zoey's clit firmly, making her pull against Rumi's firm grip and buck her hips up hard. Mira hadn't moved her hand, but even just the steady pressure felt good.

Maybe taking pity on her, Mira began moving with small, tight circles against her clit. Zoey arched into it as much as she could with how restricted her movement had become, tilting her head back until Rumi was in her line of sight—Rumi, who looked as wrecked as she felt, pupils wide, a pretty pink flush travelling from her chest to her cheeks.

"You're soaked." Mira almost sounded awed by the state Zoey was in, and when she dipped her fingers lower and slid a finger inside with embarrassing ease she had the audacity to mutter "Fuck," under her breath.

Not that Zoey had the capacity to react to it when her entire body jolted in response to Mira's long finger pressing in until her palm was resting against her clit again. The moan that escaped Zoey was long and low and relieved, and Rumi gasped at the sound as if she was the one being touched instead.

A second finger was added with just as little resistance, scissoring open as she stretched her, thrusting in and out slowly, like this was for Mira more than it was for Zoey; she'd liked to get fucked hard and fast.

She tried to say as much, but it came out broken and a little pathetic. "More—fuh—faster… need- Mira…"

Mira hummed. "You need me?"

Zoey nodded rapidly, panting and twitching as Mira pressed her palm more firmly to her clit.

"What do you need me to do? Stop? Pay attention to Rumi?"—Rumi whined and was promptly ignored—"Slow down?"

"More," Zoey gasped out. "Need to- oh fuck-"

Mira added a third finger, and Zoey keened, bucking up into Mira's hand and thrashing in Rumi's unfailing grip.

But she was still being too gentle. Sometimes she liked that, sometimes that was what she wanted, but right now she wanted to be fucked, and Mira's stupid sexy smirk told her that she knew damn well.

Still, with how worked up she was she could feel the pleasure building steadily, and if Mira continued she'd come like this anyway. Mira curled her fingers just right and Zoey let out a frankly debauched moan as stars flitted behind her eyes. She grasped at Rumi's hands and rolled her hips against Mira's palm, grinding her clit against her, seeking the white hot sparks of pleasure, trying to chase her peak, and she was getting close-

Mira withdrew her hand and Zoey gave a frustrated, pitiful whine.

"No- nonono- I was- Mira."

Mira cooed. "Were you close?"

"Yes."

"You poor thing. That was mean of me, wasn't it? You can take it though, can't you?"

Zoey took a few steadying breaths. The way she was being spoken to was doing something for her, pushing her into a soft and cottony place deep in her mind, far away from her desire to be difficult.

Eventually, Zoey managed a shaky nod. Mira smiled, then raised her fingers up to inspect them and, fuck, they were dripping. Dripping with Zoey.

And then Mira opened her mouth and licked along the length of a finger, humming her approval at the taste, closing her eyes as if savouring it.

There was a whimpering sound that Zoey was sure must have been her, even though she didn't think she'd made any noise, until Mira's eyes flicked up.

"You want something, puppy? You can ask."

Zoey tilted her head back to look at Rumi.

"Can I-" Rumi started, voice hoarse. She swallowed and tried again. "I want a taste."

"Yeah, I bet you do," Mira murmured, voice a little rougher than it had been before. She reached across, her hand appearing in Zoey's vision, and, without hesitation, Rumi leaned forwards and took her fingers into her mouth, closing her eyes and moaning around the digits. The sound sank deep into Zoey's stomach, making her clench and flutter around nothing. She was distantly aware she might be drooling, but directly above her face Mira was gently fucking her fingers into Rumi's mouth while Rumi licked and sucked at them eagerly and, honestly, if she was drooling it'd be a perfectly reasonable response.

And, look, it was hot—devastatingly hot even—but she got the idea Rumi would've been content to do that all day, and Zoey was aching.

"You could- could always just eat me out, if that's what you wanted," Zoey said. It would've been petulant if she hadn't been so breathless.

She wasn't even sure if Rumi heard her, but Mira certainly did. She clicked her tongue and pulled her fingers free of Rumi's mouth, drawing another needy, almost dejected whine out of her.

"If you take me all nice and pretty, maybe she will." Mira took hold of one of Zoey's thighs and pushed the blunt tip of the strap against her clit—slippery and a little cold with lube that she hadn't seen Mira even apply—with a slow, deliberate thrust. "Think you can do that?"

Zoey jolted at the contact, and she was so close to getting what she wanted that any further thoughts of disobeying were gone. Her voice shook. "Yeah, yeah- I- fuck, yeah, whatever you want."

She knew it was a mistake the moment she said it, but then Mira lifted the leg she was holding up and braced it against her shoulder and her brain went entirely blank, her entire body tensing in anticipation.

Finally, Mira pushed into her with a slow, controlled thrust.

The sound it pushed out of Zoey's throat was downright pathetic, high pitched and whiny, but, fuck, she didn't care anymore, not when she felt so full, so stretched, so fucking good. Mira's other hand—the one still holding the leash, though she only knew from the feeling of the leather against her skin—landed firmly on her hip and pinned her in place. She didn't move again, watching Zoey cautiously, waiting, she realised, for permission to carry on. Or maybe for Zoey to beg.

If it meant she moved again she'd give her both.

"Green. Please."

Mira drew her hips back and slammed them forwards.

Zoey's hands scrambled, grabbing at whatever she could, because Mira had remembered that she said she wanted it fast and she set a brutal pace. Rumi's grip on her was just as brutal, because no matter how much she twisted and pulled against her she barely moved an inch. She was completely helpless, she had no choice but to take Mira, and holy fuck did it feel good. The helplessness only enhanced the sensation of Mira fucking into her, made her more aware of the way Mira's grip on her calf tightened and the way Rumi's hands trembled.

Every thrust punched another moan out of her—she really hoped they didn't have neighbours—and every moan made Rumi's fingers twitch against her wrists as if she was restraining herself just as much.

Pleasure coiled in Zoey's spine, sharp and bright like fireworks every time Mira bottomed out inside of her. She arched her back involuntarily and her vision was filled with the sight of Rumi watching like she was starving, like it was taking everything in her to stay where she was, and that sent molten heat down to meet the pleasure that bloomed through her.

"You're taking me so well. Aren't you-" Mira's breath caught, not a moan or a gasp, but a tiny crack in the mask that told Zoey just how affected she was, too. "Aren't you grateful? That I'm giving you what you want?"

She knew she was being asked to say thank you—and she also knew it was patently unfair. She could barely formulate thoughts, much less speak, but she was given an instruction, and she'd been about to follow it, she had, but then the strap brushed against the exact spot she needed to and her brain gave up on her completely. Her attempt at thanking her came out warped around a moan, and Mira slowed down.

It prompted her to find her words pretty damn quickly, even as she felt herself slide into that soft, fuzzy place in her head that made it hard to think.

"No! Nonono- thank you! Thank you, fuck, thank you, I- god-" Zoey cut herself off with a long, high moan.

"That's better, isn't it? Isn't it better when you're polite?" Mira said, so kindly it swung around into mocking.

Zoey wasn't afforded the chance to be offended about it, because as soon as the words left her lips Mira started fucking her hard, with deep, rough thrusts that bordered on painful but fell just shy and sat comfortably at perfect, and Rumi was still whimpering above her, fidgeting and twitching but being so beautifully obedient, and she was so goddamn horny that it wasn't going to take much longer, her pleasure was cresting blindingly fast, stumbling over itself in its eager rush to climb higher, higher-

"Close, m'close, I- fuck, oh god- please- pleasepleaseplease-"

The words died in her throat when the hand on her hip slid down and Mira pressed her fingers to her clit, drawing quick, firm circles against the bundle of nerves and oh fuck-

Zoey shattered, orgasm hitting her so hard that for a second she couldn't make any sound at all as she arched up, calf pushing against Mira as Rumi—good, obedient Rumi—continued to hold her in place. When sound did escape her throat it came out in the form of a hoarse, gasping moan, loud enough to make her throat ache. Mira lowered her shaking leg back to the mattress and slowed her hips, the fingers on her clit staying perfectly still as she let Zoey fuck herself through the aftershocks until she was a trembling, panting mess on the bed. She pulled out slowly, leaning down to press a light kiss to Zoey's hipbone that made her twitch anyway.

"You were so good, so good," Mira soothed. "And I told you, didn't I? Rumi, come here."

The pressure on Zoey's wrists lifted immediately and Zoey pulled her hands to her chest on instinct. Her brain was buried under layers of silk and fog. What had she been told? She'd been told to be good, and she had, she'd been so good she'd feel the pleasant ache of it for days, but there was something else.

She felt Mira move from between her legs, and then a new warmth filled the space. She propped herself up on her elbows and peered blearily at Rumi as she sank to her knees, hands sliding under Zoey's thighs like she was going to have to hold her in place-

Oh.

Oh fuck no.

"Wait, wait wait- s'too sensitive, I can't-"

Mira adjusted Rumi's collar, turning it gently around her throat until the D-ring where the leash connected to it was at the back. "You said you wanted her to eat you out, didn't you?"

It was cruel. It was evil.

It was so, so hot.

Mira made eye contact with Zoey and fucking smirked. "Go ahead."

Then Rumi's tongue was against her clit and Zoey jolted, scrambled to get away, but Rumi was strong and she had a perfect grip on her thighs and no matter how hard Zoey wriggled she couldn't get away from the onslaught of sharp and blinding pleasure, so intense it curled in on itself and became painful.

"Too much, I can't- fuck- too much-"

"You can take it," Mira said casually, which was fucking easy for her to say.

Zoey whined and writhed, clawing at Rumi's hands on her thighs, trying desperately to get away from the overwhelming sensation, but Rumi didn't stop, didn't even slow down, just kept laving her tongue over her clit and holding her still every time she bucked up into the sensation, spurred on by Zoey's gasps and choked off whimpers.

"Good girl," Mira crooned.

Zoey wasn't sure which one of them it was aimed at but Rumi moaned in response, and the sound vibrated through her in a way that would've felt good if she wasn't so fucking sensitive.

Rumi was just going to keep going until Mira told her to stop. Might keep going forever, even-

"Fuck, fuck- oh fuck… Mmh- Mira- stop- I can't-…"

"But you look so good like this." Mira took a step closer, something Zoey was only barely aware of. "All pretty and whiny. So fucked-out, and you're just taking it anyway. For us, yeah? Just a little more."

Fuck. She absolutely could not take more, not even for a second, but-

But she didn't want it to stop, either, and suddenly the pain was stumbling back into sharp, perfect pleasure. It shivered up her spine and bloomed through her entire body, it made her fingers tingle, it emptied her head and replaced her brain with balls of cotton, and, oh, fuck, she was close again.

If her brain had been in place she wouldn't have said anything, but she wanted to be good for them, so-

"C-close, I-… fffffuck- close, closecloseplease-"

She heard the leash clink as it was pulled taut, and suddenly Rumi was being pulled away. Her orgasm brushed against its peak and slowly tumbled backwards.

Zoey let out a whine that bordered on a sob. "Nono- why-"

Mira hummed, amused, as Rumi leaned into her collar for a few seconds before giving up and sitting back to catch her breath, whining as if she was the one being edged. "I thought you wanted us to stop?"

Zoey slumped back against the bed, trembling, desperate tears pricking the backs of her eyes. "That was before."

"Before what?"

"It was- before it felt good. Mira, Rumi, please…"

Mira laughed lightly, and Zoey peered over just in time to see her trailing her nails over the back of Rumi's neck—an act that seemed to made Rumi just as shivery as Zoey was.

"You're giving me mixed messages, here. Stop, don't stop. But you did beg very prettily, so-"

Zoey latched onto it without thinking.

"Please. Please? Mira, please."

Mira laughed again, but this one almost sounded genuine rather than teasing. She loosened her hold on the leash. "Okay. You heard her, puppy."

And then Rumi's mouth was back on her, tongue dragging along her cunt and up to her clit, where she lapped at her hungrily, as if being pulled away had been as much torture for her as it had been for Zoey. It wasn't going to take long to build her back up to the edge, not with how fucking skilled Rumi's mouth was, and especially not when she dipped her tongue down and pushed it inside.

"Oh, fuck- yeah, yeah- like that, god-"

Zoey's hand shot down to take a fistful of Rumi's braid and hold her in place, but before she could Mira took hold of her wrist. Fine. Whatever. She grasped at Mira's hand instead, the other clawing into the bedsheets beneath her as she arched up into Rumi's mouth, into the way she was fucking her with her tongue, to the way her hot, wet breath fanned over her clit.

And then Rumi was yanked away by her leash again, and this time Zoey's tears slid free, hot against her cheeks. This wasn't fair. She was being good, she was-

She hadn't realised she'd said it out loud until Mira responded, voice low and rough. "Poor thing. But look at you, still so pretty." The praise sank in deep, and even as Zoey's breath hitched she felt herself settle. "Am I being too mean?"

"Yes," Zoey whimpered.

Mira took a seat next to Zoey on the bed—when had she taken the strap off?—and wiped a tear away with the pad of her thumb. "Okay, okay. Go ahead, Rumi. Be nice, yeah?"

This time Mira didn't stop her from grabbing hold of Rumi's braid, instead opting to stroke Zoey's hair soothingly as Rumi lapped at her slowly, pulling her clit between her lips and flicking her tongue over it before dipping further down and gathering more of the slick pooling between her legs.

"That's it," Mira murmured. "This is as much for her as it is for you, y'know. She loves this."

God, she could tell. Rumi hummed in agreement, the vibrations passing from her throat to Zoey's clit and making her twitch pathetically. The pleasure built slower and steadier than it had before, but it wasn't any less intense for the lack of ebbing and flowing. If anything, it made the sensations bloom even further. She could feel it in the tips of her fingers and down to her toes. It made her arch her back and tighten her grip—on Rumi and on Mira, because at some point she'd grabbed Mira's arm as well. Her whines and moans increased in pitch as she crept towards the edge until she was making a single, steady sound only broken by her unfortunate need to breath.

"Gonna let you come this time, and then Rumi's gonna get her reward for being such a good girl for us."

It wasn't that the words had an effect on Zoey, it was that they had an effect on Rumi. She didn't increase the pace or pressure, barely changed anything at all, but the next time she pulled Zoey's clit between her lips she sucked and- god- it felt- it was-

The pleasure exploded, every soft layer of it snapping at once and sending fragments of it through every inch of her. Whatever sound she made as she came was so loud it hurt. It was so intense it forced more tears out the corners of her eyes, tears that were kindly swiped away by a calloused thumb as Rumi eased her through her orgasm with gentle little licks, her grip on her thighs loosening to let her set her own pace and ride it out until she collapsed against the bed, shaking all over and still whimpering, brain somewhere very comfortable and far away.

It took a few moments for her to catch her breath, to stop needing to swallow every few seconds, for the fog to start to clear. When her senses started to trickle back in she realised that, at some point, Mira had removed her shorts and boots—it might have been while Rumi was eating Zoey out, honestly. She hadn't exactly been paying attention—and made room for Rumi to sit between her knees instead.

"Back with us?" Mira asked, voice still thick and sweet like honey.

Zoey gave a shaky laugh. "Barely."

Mira snorted softly. "I'm gonna give Rumi her reward now. I think she's earned it, don't you?"

It took a few seconds for it to sink in through the fog, but when it did Zoey pushed herself first onto her elbows, and then up until she was sitting. She still felt a little lightheaded, but she wanted to see this.

She didn't answer quickly enough, it seemed.

"Please," Rumi croaked, looking to Zoey with eyes wide and wet and pleading. "Please… was good, was-… please."

Mira shushed her softly. "I wasn't asking you, now was I? But you have been very patient, hasn't she, Zoey?"

Zoey swallowed thickly, throat dry, tongue decidedly in the way of her ability to form words. She forced herself to speak anyway. "She was… holy shit, she was so good."

The praise made Rumi shiver, but Zoey was focused elsewhere. Mira was soaked, thighs shiny and wet with her own slick. She knew she was enjoying everything that happened, but seeing the evidence of it so clearly, knowing that Rumi and Zoey had done that to her, knowing that underneath her carefully maintained composure she was just as stupidly horny about is as Zoey was?

Fuck.

Mira spread her legs even further, and if Zoey hadn't been so worn out she probably would've been raring to go again from the sight alone—hell, just from the sight of Rumi on her knees.

Actually, no, from that and the sight of Mira leaning back against one hand while the other stroked Rumi's cheek lovingly. Zoey's eyes traced over the hard lines of her hipbones and the defined muscles of her thighs.

"Okay, baby," Mira murmured.

She had way more composure than Zoey had, because when Rumi's tongue pressed to her cunt Mira only let out a shaky, almost relieved, "Fuck, good girl."

Rumi moaned in response, and, god, Zoey knew now exactly how good that felt, so she couldn't blame Mira at all for the way she tilted her head back and let out another shaky sigh. Before Zoey could really admire the smooth curve of her neck, Mira tilted her head to the side and made eye contact with her.

"Do you want to give her a reward, too?"

Zoey blinked slowly. Her head still felt fuzzy, thoughts slow and pleasantly sluggish.

Mira smirked. "Poor thing. You don't have to if you're too fucked-out. You can just sit and watch, it's okay."

Well, no. She definitely didn't want to just watch. Rumi had been so good, she did deserve a reward. She deserved as many rewards as she wanted. It wasn't what she'd meant to say, but-

"Please."

Mira hummed in approval, the sound capped by another pleased sigh. "Go on, then."

Zoey climbed off the bed onto unsteady legs and sank to her knees behind Rumi, who barely even acknowledged her, so focused was she on making Mira feel good. The only indication she'd noticed at all was the way she spread her own legs further. Zoey watched—no, admired—the muscles on Rumi's back twitching and shifting under her skin as she reached back to push her thumb into the waistband of her underwear in a ragged and fumbling attempt to pull them off.

The urgency of the movement sparked Zoey back into motion. Her eyes flicked up to Mira for a moment—who was watching with slightly parted lips and a very pretty flush all the way up to her ears, so clearly no rules were being broken—before she brushed Rumi's hand aside and helped her out of her underwear.

Her absolutely ruined underwear, because it looked like all three of them had made a mess. Zoey let out a quiet little "Fuck." at the sight of the soaked fabric, but Rumi's needy whine drew her attention back to more pressing matters.

She pushed herself up on her knees and reached around Rumi's torso, draping herself over her back like a blanket. This close, she could hear that Rumi was fucking whimpering into Mira, tiny, pathetic sounds full of need. Zoey gave her own unsteady breath—that was unfathomably hot—then trailed her fingers down the defined ridges and valleys of her abs, the muscles tensing as they twitched and trembled in response. She kind of wanted to map out every part of her, actually, to learn where she was most sensitive.

Rumi's hand was suddenly over hers and pushing it further down and, oh, maybe Rumi wasn't always so good and obedient. Maybe she got demanding, too. Maybe Mira had to teach this to her. Maybe on another day she'd get to see what happened when Mira punished her instead of rewarding her. The idea reignited the embers in her core, but her mind was only on making them feel good now.

She could've told Mira—probably should've, even—but her desire to hear how both of them sounded when they came apart overrode her desire to see Rumi even more needy and desperate than she already was.

This time, anyway.

She let Rumi guide her hand down to the apex of her thighs and gave her exactly what she wanted. She dipped her fingers to her entrance to gather some of the wetness, then back up to circle her clit slowly, fingers slippery, drawing a muffled moan from Rumi that she could see rippling through Mira in the way her eyes fluttered closed and her breath hitched.

Rumi was shaking against her, jerking like a live-wire at each touch. In her periphery she saw Mira wrap the leash around her hand until it was so taut that Rumi had no choice but to press her tongue firmly against her and, god, Zoey didn't know who she was more jealous of.

She wasn't given the time to consider it, either, because Rumi pushed her hips back against her slightly, not as demanding, more like a question, a silent plea for more.

Zoey didn't have it in her to deny her, not when she really had been so good and patient, not when Zoey could smell the desperation on both her and Mira. She dipped her fingers back down to Rumi's cunt and—gently, just in case she'd misunderstood—pushed one inside.

She had not misunderstood.

The moan that spilled from Rumi into Mira was debauched, low and sweet and beautiful—and somehow still loud even muffled. Mira's groan was quieter, more muted, but fuck if Zoey didn't feel it like it was against her skin anyway. She wanted to hear more of it, of both of them, so after a few thrusts Zoey added a second finger and curled, stroking against Rumi's inner walls with each thrust until she found the spot that made Rumi's moans pitch up and Mira's head tilt back.

It wasn't going to take long—at least not for Rumi. She could tell from how hard she was clenching around her fingers.

"Fuck, Rumi," Zoey murmured involuntarily.

"Making her f- fuck," Mira groaned. "Feel good?"

Rumi whined.

Zoey's head still felt fuzzy and empty, but she knew now exactly what to say. "She's so greedy."

Mira gave a breathy, shaky laugh. "She's- she's insatiable. No matter what- god- what you give her, she just… just wants more."

Zoey could tell. The entire time all Rumi had been doing was wanting more, more kissing, more grinding, more of their taste. Zoey fucked her fingers into Rumi harder, pressing her palm to her clit and giving her something to grind against—she had no idea if she was the sort of person who could come just from penetration or not, and it was probably a weird time to ask.

It didn't take long, especially not when Zoey slid her other hand up to cup Rumi's breast and tease her nipple between her fingers, or when Mira's sentences turned into rapid-fire fuck's and don't stop's and good girl's. When Rumi came it was a full-body thing, something that seemed to ripple through her in time with each harsh clench around Zoey's fingers and escape in high pitched, broken moans and, god, Mira wasn't exaggerating. Even as she shook through her orgasm and rode it out against Zoey's fingers, even as she twitched when she pulled out, her tongue continued to work against Mira. If anything it became even more frantic, and Zoey could see the way her throat tightened as she swallowed.

Mira toppled over the edge shortly after, spurred on by Rumi's renewed vigour and keening moans. She was much quieter than either of them had been, her entire body arching and tensing but the only sounds a series of thin whines until she released the tension on the leash and Rumi leaned back, and then the only sounds were the three of them panting.

Even though Zoey hadn't come again, she felt spent, and just as pleasantly warm and fuzzy as she had been after Rumi had made a solid attempt at sucking her soul out through her clit. She slumped against Rumi's and pressed a cheek pressed to her warm, slightly damp shoulder, arms wrapped around her waist in a hug.

Eventually, Mira spoke. "I'm tapping out. You two can keep going, but I need some fucking water."

It was so different to the way Mira had been speaking only minutes before that Zoey gave a lazy laugh. Rumi laughed, too, a soft little sound that Zoey felt it vibrate through her back.

"'kay." Rumi said, voice hoarse, as she leaned back a little and rested an arm over Zoey's to give her a squeeze. "Think I'm done too."

Mira hummed. "Want the collar off?"

Zoey sat back, then eased herself to her feet, knees aching from the position they'd been in—she hadn't even noticed it was uncomfortable. Mira was already sitting fully upright again, and immediately reached out to steady her and guide her to sit on the bed. Zoey murmured her appreciation for it and flopped down onto her back as Rumi ran her fingers along the collar.

"…Not yet?" Rumi said after a moment.

Mira hummed and leaned in to give her a chaste kiss. "Okay. Let me know when."

Once Rumi was on the bed and they'd been asked if they were okay about three times each—something Rumi seemed used to, judging by the fondness in her expression—Mira changed into some pyjamas and left to get them all something to drink.

It was a little weird that the first time Zoey was alone with Rumi was after she'd watched her get called a puppy and then fucked her, but it had been a weird day overall, and as soon as Mira wasn't touching Rumi anymore she curled up against Zoey, wrapping an arm around her waist and resting her cheek on her shoulder.

The silence wasn't awkward—if anything it was the opposite, warm and pleasant and gentle—but if Zoey didn't talk she'd fall asleep, guided by Rumi's steady breaths and the weight of her against her side.

"Sorry I thought you were a dog." Zoey immediately grimaced. "Fuck, sorry- was that weird? Brain's not back yet, uh-"

Rumi laughed, brilliant and beautiful, breaths puffing out over Zoey's bare skin and making her shiver lightly. "Mira's such an idiot."

A moment passed comfortably, then Rumi spoke again. "What did she tell you about me?"

Zoey tilted her head slightly. "Uh. She said lavender is your favourite flower, that you wore her out sometimes"—Rumi laughed again—"Which, yeah, I get it now. Um. She also said you mean a lot to her, and she wants to spoil you, and Derpy likes you more, and… uh. Oh, she said that you're hard not to love."

Rumi stiffened for a moment, then relaxed all at once, nuzzling into Zoey's shoulder slightly in a way that felt almost too affectionate for—well, they weren't really strangers anymore. Not that she minded anyway.

"Such a sap," Rumi murmured. "She likes you a lot, y'know."

Zoey opened her mouth, then shut it again, and Rumi took it as a request for her to continue.

"Said you're funny and kind. And pretty. She was gearing up to ask you out on a date." Rumi paused to yawn. "But then she was convinced you knew about the collar thing and were interested-"

"Are you done?" Mira groused from the doorway.

Rumi hummed with amusement. "For now, sure."

Zoey, meanwhile, blinked owlishly. Her brain had shut down again. Mira wanted to take her on a date? She had someone as hot as Rumi and she was still interested in her? That was… maybe Mira knew a different Zoey. But then, she hadn't denied it, only grunted in response to Rumi's hum and passed them both a bottle of water.

She helped both of them sit up and watched almost anxiously as they drank.

"Do you need anything?" Rumi asked.

Mira blinked, then smiled. "No, I'm good. Just a cuddle. But do you need anything else, first? Snacks? Painkillers?"

Zoey shook her head. Honestly, all she needed now was a nap, and judging by the way Rumi kept yawning she felt the same way.

"Take my collar off, please?" Rumi asked.

Mira's expression softened immediately. "Of course, baby." She sat at Rumi's side and, with an amount of love it shouldn't have been possible to put into such a simple act, unbuckled the collar and gently removed it, then leaned closer and pressed a chaste kiss to the skin that had been underneath it.

Rumi exhaled slowly. "Thanks. Now cuddle."

Mira huffed. "Demanding."

"Okay, first, hypocrite," Zoey said. Rumi muffled her laugh in Zoey's shoulder and, surprisingly, Mira snorted in amusement as well. "Second, you literally just said you wanted to cuddle. C'mon."

With a faint, indistinct grumble Mira lay down and draped her arm over both of them, pulling them into a hug. Zoey rolled to face them both and rested her arm overtop of Mira's. Their bed was comfortable, and Zoey was exhausted, so she let Mira and Rumi's soft conversation—something about their plans for later, she thought—rock her to sleep.

When she woke up it was to a heavy, vibrating weight dead centre of her chest. Her eyes shot open—because what the fuck?—and found herself face to face with a post-it note.

we're in the living room
move the cat he won't mind
- M & R

She let out an intelligent, "Uh?"

The vibrating increased in volume.

Oh. The post-it note was attached to the forehead of a large, purring cat. A tabby cat that, once she'd gently removed the post-it note, she realised had slightly crossed eyes.

Her face split into a grin. "Derpy!"

Derpy blinked slowly at her—which was totally 'I love you' for cats, and that was a little forward for a guy she'd just met, but he was cute so she let it slide—then purred even louder somehow when she freed a hand from the bedsheets and gave him a gentle scratch underneath his chin.

"Oh, you're so cute. Mira didn't lie one bit, did she? No she didn't."

Her cheeks flushed. Right. Mira. Who she'd fucked. Who had a girlfriend. Who she'd also fucked.

Holy shit.

She very carefully slid out from under Derpy who, true to the note, didn't seem to mind at all, only rolling onto his side and curling until he looked like a perfect croissant. Okay, she understood why they put a note on him. He was definitely the sort of guy to reliably stay in one spot for several hours and, after fishing her phone from the pockets of her discarded jeans and checking the time, she knew she couldn't have been napping for more than an hour or so.

She got dressed quickly and pressed a kiss to Derpy's soft forehead. "I'm gonna go say hi to your moms. You be good, now."

Derpy blinked once in response, which was good enough.

Thankfully it wasn't hard to find her way back to the living room, especially not when she could hear the TV playing and quiet, melodic laughter.

She paused in the doorway. Mira and Rumi were cuddled up together on the couch, two mugs long abandoned on the coffee table, some reality TV show Zoey didn't recognise droning in the background.

"They'll vote him off, anyway." Rumi mused.

Mira snorted. "See, you thinking that is what makes me think they won't."

Rumi rolled her eyes so dramatically that Zoey could tell even without seeing her face and batted at Mira's shoulder. When Mira turned to press a kiss to Rumi's temple she saw Zoey in her periphery and smiled.

"Hey. Did you meet Derpy?"

Zoey grinned. "He's so cute, oh my god."

Rumi looked over her shoulder as well, smirking. "Bet you're glad to find out he really is a cat, huh?"

Zoey groaned in response. They were never going to live that down.

"Yeah, laugh it up," Mira grumbled, but there wasn't any heat to it, only warmth. "We were gonna make dinner in a bit, if you want some?"

Zoey hesitated. She was pretty hungry, but there was a non-zero chance they were just asking to be polite. "Um. You don't have to-"

Rumi cut in smoothly. "We want to. We got enough for three, anyway."

So her staying for dinner had been part of the plan. The idea of it made her chest feel warm.

"Oh."

"You can say no. Mira's an excellent cook, though."

Mira ducked her head down slightly at the compliment, but she didn't disagree, and, well, how could Zoey say no to that?

"Yeah, that sounds great, actually."

"Come sit," Mira said.

The tone was completely different, but the order made other parts of her feel warm, too, and Zoey found herself following it and taking a seat on Mira's other side.

It was nice. It felt comfortable to be sat with them, listening to them playfully bicker about the relationships on whatever terrible TV show they were watching, being filled in on all the drama and which people they were rooting for and which they hated. It was fun. They were fun.

When the episode was over Mira stretched her long limbs out over the back of the sofa, brushing against both of their shoulders, and Zoey leaned into her side on instinct.

"So. Um. Earlier, when we—" Rumi hesitated. "Earlier, you said 'not this time', which… uh. Is that. Do you. Want that?"

Mira snorted. "Good job, babe."

"Mira…"

Mira took mercy on her. "You were great. Really great. We'd like to do it again, if that's something you'd want. It doesn't have to be like that all the time either, if it was too intense-"

Zoey's response came out of her in a rush. "Nope! Not too intense. Perfect intensity—or, actually, it could be more or less intense and it'd be fine? Honestly, the collar thing was kinda new to me but it was really hot, so like, if you wanted to put me in one… but you're both super hot anyway, so whatever you want."

She grimaced as she watched the two of them absorb her rapid-fire string of words and exchange a look, but then relaxed when they both laughed, light and easy.

"So that's a yes on this being a repeat, then?" Rumi asked, words curling up around her joy.

"God. Yes, please."

"And… the collar?" Mira asked, a little more carefully.

Right. She had said she'd be interested in a collar, both earlier and literally a few seconds ago.

"Um. Maybe? In theory I like it, but I don't… I mean, what does it really entail? Like, behaviour-wise."

She felt Mira shrug against her, but it was Rumi who answered. "It means whatever you want it to mean. Just because you're in a collar doesn't mean you have to be…" she gestured a little vaguely and trailed off.

"Obedient?" Zoey asked. "A very good girl?"

Mira coughed into her shoulder in a pointless attempt at hiding her laugh. Heat crawled up Rumi's neck.

"Yes, that," Rumi said. "Also, shut up."

Zoey giggled again, then took a moment to contemplate. She did like the idea, but maybe just because she liked how it looked. She wasn't sure, was the problem, but they were both looking at her with open curiosity, so…

"What if I end up just wanting to wear it? Like, no change to anything else."

"That's fine. It can just be an accessory, and you can change your mind, too." Mira watched her for a moment. "Do you want some time to think about it?"

Zoey gave a relieved nod. "Yeah, please. That'd be good."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, then Rumi spoke up again. "Mira wants to ask you something else."

"Rumi." Mira scowled. Zoey only raised an eyebrow, waiting, and eventually Mira sighed. "I still… I know Rumi mentioned that I wanted to take you on a date. I still want to, if you wanted that."

Zoey blinked slowly. Rumi had said that.

"For the record, I'd also like to take you on a date," Rumi added, very unhelpfully. "I want to get to know you."

Her brain whirred and kicked up dust—it was somehow even stranger to hear than that they'd wanted to fuck her.

"You can say no-" Mira started.

"I want to!" Zoey said, far too quickly. It didn't seem to bother either of them, judging by the way they relaxed and gave her matching relieved smiles. "That sounds really nice. Sorry, today's just been wild."

Mira chuckled. "We were gonna watch a movie tonight after dinner. You could join us? Stay the night?"

Zoey's cheeks heated up again, and Rumi giggled. "Not like that—I mean, maybe like that? But not with that intention."

Mira looked over to Zoey and mouthed 'insatiable'.

Rumi rolled her eyes again, but she curled up against Mira's side anyway. Zoey mirrored her on Mira's other side and turned her attention back to the TV.

It wasn't how Zoey had expected her day to go, but she wasn't complaining; it was, in fact, way better than what she'd thought would happen when she got in her car to bring Mira a collar. She'd known she liked Mira, but she was surprised at just how easily she'd started to like Rumi, too. It had been a while since she got the fluttery, giddy feeling of really liking someone and finding out they liked her back. She kind of wanted to run out of the house and down the street yelling about both of them, actually-

Oh, god.

She could never tell anybody about how she met Rumi.