Zoey hesitates only a second before padding toward the kitchen. The overhead light is off, just the soft glow from the fridge bulb spilling across the counters as she opens it, more for something to do with her hands than because she’s hungry. She pulls out a bottle of water, sets it on the island, then just… stands there.
Her fingers drift to the yellow bracelet again.
She had laughed so hard tonight her stomach hurt. Ishkode was easy—that was the dangerous part. Easy to talk to, easy to be around, easy to slip into a version of herself that didn’t have to think about missions or demons or consequences. He didn’t push. He just… resonated with her. Like he didn’t even know he was doing it.
But then she thinks of the silver bracelet, cool against her skin. The aquarium lights dancing across Mystery’s face, the warmth and comfort as he held her close and reassured her that she was still Zoey after what happened with the ghoul. A quiet steadiness and encouragement that promised she'd never been too much.
Two feelings. Two directions. Two versions of her heart tugging at different rhythms.
She chews at her lip, annoyed that her pulse speeds up for both. When she heard Rumi approaching, she nervously hid both her hands behind her back and put on that awkward grin that she always wore when she tried pretending everything was just perfect and nothing was going on, the one that made her look entirely guilty.
"Sorry, I didn't interrupt anything or wake you up, did I?"
As soon as she'll get her hair on a ponytail because that amount of hair? As much as she loves keeping it open too, it's nicer to have it out of the way whenever she's in the kitchen or eating anywhere else too. It takes a moment but it doesn't take a long time because she's so used to putting that hair to that style too.
One more look to the demon sleeping on the bed and she's just a little tempted to go back there, do something more and struggling to leave him...
Except then the tiger realizes, that Rumi is about to go somewhere and Jinu's going to stay in the room, so he's quick to climb onto the bed to keep company to the demon. Sorry, Zoey, but Rumi must take a video of it so that means a little more waiting for Zoey. She's trying not to laugh, and surely Jinu is so used to the tiger doing that over centuries but nope, still hasn't stopped being amusing to Rumi when it's only been months to her. She even takes her device with her once she's done recording the whole moment of the tiger settling in there before she turns off the lights again after turning them on to get dressed earlier and leaves the demon and his animal companions to the room.
She arrives to the kitchen and smiles at Zoey, putting her phone right in front of her to that island for reasons. Rumi knows that look. Definitely a girls' talk time.
"Of course not. I would have said "Not now" or something else if this hadn't been a good time. Anyway, I was literally struggling to leave him to sleep there because I couldn't sleep while I was hungry, so you just made this so much easier to me? Him? Both of us? ...All of us."
It's all true. Nothing but the truth now here too. She really didn't interrupt anything or wake her up.
"Besides... Look at this, someone's glad I left."
Rumi plays that video to Zoey.
"How could I ever say no to still letting him be Jinu's personal weighted blanket?"
She grins, or well, it's more like a mix of a grin and smirk right now. What a nice girlfriend. But obviously they both, and everyone else, actually say no to that too, whenever they don't want the tiger to do that but that's to lighten up the mood and that guilty look from Zoey's face.
Zoey can’t help it — the second the video starts playing, the tension in her shoulders cracks. A tiny puff of laughter escapes her, soft but real, the kind that lifts her whole chest for a beat. Leaning closer over the counter to watch the tiger flop down over Jinu like he’s claiming a warm rock, Zoey is thankful for the brief distraction.
"Oh my god… he really is a weighted blanket. That’s… actually adorable. Like, aggressively adorable."
Her smile lingers a moment too long — not because of the video now, but because the warmth of the moment gives her something to hide behind. Something easier than the storm she brought into the kitchen with her.
But that guilty expression doesn’t entirely go away. It flickers back into place as she straightens, rubbing the back of her neck with a soft groan.
"So, uh… okay. I wasn’t gonna, like, word-vomit the second I got in here, but my brain is on maximum loud mode and I cannot do the whole ‘lie in my bed staring at the ceiling' thing tonight."
Or hide under a fortress of blankets, again.
"You ever have one of those nights where your heart is like—"
She lifts both hands trying to figure out what she's trying to say, then freezes when she realizes the bracelets are on display. The yellow. The silver. Both catching the dim light. The silver Rumi might have noticed after her aquarium date with Mystery, where the yellow had been given to her by Ishkode at the concert, and remember the emergency touch up needed for her make-up.
"—like it’s trying to sync to two different songs at the same time? And they’re both… good songs. But you’ll explode if you try to listen to them at once."
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Zoey hesitates only a second before padding toward the kitchen. The overhead light is off, just the soft glow from the fridge bulb spilling across the counters as she opens it, more for something to do with her hands than because she’s hungry. She pulls out a bottle of water, sets it on the island, then just… stands there.
Her fingers drift to the yellow bracelet again.
She had laughed so hard tonight her stomach hurt. Ishkode was easy—that was the dangerous part. Easy to talk to, easy to be around, easy to slip into a version of herself that didn’t have to think about missions or demons or consequences. He didn’t push. He just… resonated with her. Like he didn’t even know he was doing it.
But then she thinks of the silver bracelet, cool against her skin. The aquarium lights dancing across Mystery’s face, the warmth and comfort as he held her close and reassured her that she was still Zoey after what happened with the ghoul. A quiet steadiness and encouragement that promised she'd never been too much.
Two feelings. Two directions. Two versions of her heart tugging at different rhythms.
She chews at her lip, annoyed that her pulse speeds up for both. When she heard Rumi approaching, she nervously hid both her hands behind her back and put on that awkward grin that she always wore when she tried pretending everything was just perfect and nothing was going on, the one that made her look entirely guilty.
"Sorry, I didn't interrupt anything or wake you up, did I?"
no subject
As soon as she'll get her hair on a ponytail because that amount of hair? As much as she loves keeping it open too, it's nicer to have it out of the way whenever she's in the kitchen or eating anywhere else too. It takes a moment but it doesn't take a long time because she's so used to putting that hair to that style too.
One more look to the demon sleeping on the bed and she's just a little tempted to go back there, do something more and struggling to leave him...
Except then the tiger realizes, that Rumi is about to go somewhere and Jinu's going to stay in the room, so he's quick to climb onto the bed to keep company to the demon. Sorry, Zoey, but Rumi must take a video of it so that means a little more waiting for Zoey. She's trying not to laugh, and surely Jinu is so used to the tiger doing that over centuries but nope, still hasn't stopped being amusing to Rumi when it's only been months to her. She even takes her device with her once she's done recording the whole moment of the tiger settling in there before she turns off the lights again after turning them on to get dressed earlier and leaves the demon and his animal companions to the room.
She arrives to the kitchen and smiles at Zoey, putting her phone right in front of her to that island for reasons. Rumi knows that look. Definitely a girls' talk time.
"Of course not. I would have said "Not now" or something else if this hadn't been a good time. Anyway, I was literally struggling to leave him to sleep there because I couldn't sleep while I was hungry, so you just made this so much easier to me? Him? Both of us? ...All of us."
It's all true. Nothing but the truth now here too. She really didn't interrupt anything or wake her up.
"Besides... Look at this, someone's glad I left."
Rumi plays that video to Zoey.
"How could I ever say no to still letting him be Jinu's personal weighted blanket?"
She grins, or well, it's more like a mix of a grin and smirk right now. What a nice girlfriend. But obviously they both, and everyone else, actually say no to that too, whenever they don't want the tiger to do that but that's to lighten up the mood and that guilty look from Zoey's face.
no subject
"Oh my god… he really is a weighted blanket. That’s… actually adorable. Like, aggressively adorable."
Her smile lingers a moment too long — not because of the video now, but because the warmth of the moment gives her something to hide behind. Something easier than the storm she brought into the kitchen with her.
But that guilty expression doesn’t entirely go away. It flickers back into place as she straightens, rubbing the back of her neck with a soft groan.
"So, uh… okay. I wasn’t gonna, like, word-vomit the second I got in here, but my brain is on maximum loud mode and I cannot do the whole ‘lie in my bed staring at the ceiling' thing tonight."
Or hide under a fortress of blankets, again.
"You ever have one of those nights where your heart is like—"
She lifts both hands trying to figure out what she's trying to say, then freezes when she realizes the bracelets are on display. The yellow. The silver. Both catching the dim light. The silver Rumi might have noticed after her aquarium date with Mystery, where the yellow had been given to her by Ishkode at the concert, and remember the emergency touch up needed for her make-up.
"—like it’s trying to sync to two different songs at the same time? And they’re both… good songs. But you’ll explode if you try to listen to them at once."