Just For Me

and you know how it all goes: she gets snatched, trains, sings and dances, and here she is. and maybe they're strolling down the street or it's valentine's day or something, and she stares at the items in the shop with a hefty price tag with a sigh and big eyes—force of habit—before either rumi or mira tell her to buy it.

and she blinks a few times before remembering that her credit card is stuffed.

mira buys her an expensive perfume, and all she can think is, who spends this much on perfume of all things?? and you can get a fragrance that's just fine for a much better price.

rumi buys her a huge marine lego set, and all she can think is, shit, that must have cost a kidney of mine and i wouldn't have minded the smaller set, this one is... a lot.

one theory states its zoeys tits. that she just flashes them to get rumira to do her bidding in exchange for getting to continue staring at them. some hypothesize that she lets them touch as payment for bigger requests

another theory states its actual nukes. that zoey just happens to own an entire missile silo for some unknown reason. this is more of a joke theory of course but a few people do genuinely believe zoey used her wealth to buy nukes

another few theories float around like them referring to sex toys, action figures (?), drafted tweets that would get rumira and/or huntrix as a whole cancelled, celines tits (???), and various other body parts

eventually, the fandom finds out. zoeys on stream when it happens. rumi and mira are hanging out with her while she plays a relatively chill game and they watch her. shes kinda locked in but she finishes her drink and wants another one. she asks rumi to go get one for her from the kitchen, but rumi tells her to go get it herself. and then zoey does it

she pulls out the Puppy Dog Eyes

rumi crumbles instantly and starts grumbling on the way out of the room

mira (whos been in the background laying on the bed playing a different game on zoeys old ds this whole time) laughs at her “she got you w the wmds huh?”

rumi glares at her and flips her off

it takes a sec for chat to realize she means weapons of mass destruction

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/muir_interview/

As they grew closer these notes would include more personal information, stories they've told her she wants to remember, extended family members/other friends names in case she ever meets them, things they like to eat, watch, listen to, etc.

Eventually the notes turn into something even more intimate. Like how Rumi prefers to be told things that are tangible over empty platitudes/promises when she's upset (ie "I'm right here." Instead of "everything's gonna be ok") or how Zoey needs extra reassurance when she asks for help with something (saying "no problem" isn't enough, she likes to feel like you actively want to do the thing/she's not a burden.)

It's when she goes to write her newest addition to one of the files that she realizes what she's documented. It's not just the progression of their friendships over the years. It's the slow development of her deep love for each of them. Blossoming from acquaintances to the loves of her life. It dawns on her looking back over the last several entries, that she's been in love with them (Rumi and Zoey, not Bobby 😅) for years but she just didn't realize it until now. How all this time it's been clearly written, plain as day.

And so she couldnt think of a better way to tell them, than by printing these notes out and handing each of them a stack of papers, to let them see for themselves. They're confused at first, but by page ten they both start to see it. Rumi finishes reading first (she's always been a bit of a speed reader due to needing to read so many contracts and other paperwork by specific deadlines.) She finds Mira in her room and says, "Mira shows how much she cares in actions more than words. She never expects recognition for the things she does, but we notice. Like how she puts extra blankets on our beds when the forecast calls for colder temperatures. Or when she silently hands us medicine the moment we show any signs of illness. And especially how she always knows when we need a hug or comforting touch." She wants to continue her speech, but Zoey joins them and takes over.

"Mira is very observant, but she has a couple of huge blindspots. Because if she didn't she would see how Rumi meticulously arranges our schedule to have the least physical impact on Mira's back pain. Or how I constantly look at her like she's hung the stars, silently begging to be part of her constellation so I can reflect her light."

"Fuck." "Bars." Mira and Rumi breathlessly react to Zoey's phrasing.

QUICK EDIT TO ADD: literally as i was posting this prince shared this image omggggg

wherein: somethingsomething vivienne gets lost in a bookstore. she was reading in the children's corner but then this mean boy came and wasn't being nice to the books even though she told him to stop, so she left because appa always says sometimes it's better to walk away and get her unnie. but then she can't find her unnie - the shelves were too high and it felt like that mirror maze where she had to close her eyes and hold onto eomma.

but then an adult person kneels down and talks to her with a gentle voice and they have a nametag and blue hair and vivienne at least feels like it's okay to talk to this particular stranger. "vivienne," she says, trying not to cry. 

"that's a beautiful name," they say, smiling, and vivienne manages a little one of her own. "are you here with anyone?"

vivienne nods. she likes being able to answer adult's questions. "unnie!" 

the adult's smile widens. "great! do you know your unnie's name?" 

vivienne blinks. she just gave them the answer. "unnie," she says again. maybe they didn't hear her. sometimes she has to repeat herself to appa and eomma, especially when they're doing things with their faces and unnie calls them gross. 

the adult's smile does something weird, kind of like appa's smile does sometimes. "i mean, like, her real name. oh! like, see," they point to their nametag, "my name is min." 

vivienne frowns. what do they keep asking the same - then she remembers the other name unnie has, the one everyone calls her. of course! vivienne straightens, and says with every bit of confidence, like her eomma always says she should do: "bean!" 

min blinks.

vivienne blinks back.

oh! right, her manners. "unnie. bean-unnie!" she nods. the perfect answer. 100 purses, gold star, like all of unnie's homework. 

min's mouth opens, then closes without a sound. shrugs. mutters to themself about naming trends. "well, how about we go to the front desk and maybe we can find your unnie, hm?" 

they hold out a hand, which vivienne takes. it's smaller than eomma and appa's and much larger than unnie's but it's still warm and soft as they lead her out of the shelf-maze. 

Can bean-unnie please come to the front desk? 

(vivienne doesn't really understand why everyone's laughing when she was really scared so she pouts the whole car ride back as unnie hayoung tells eomma and appa what happened. vivienne crosses her arms over her chest and vows never to call hayoung 'unnie' ever again.) 

(and she doesn't -for several days, even - until one evening when vivienne gets a nightmare where she's pulled into a deep darkness by a powerful grip and she's thrashing to get free and the only word she can remember is "unnie" —)

(— and there she is. by her bed already, hands warm, voice low, and vivienne can't help but reach out, instantly curling up into her unnie's arms when she joins her in bed.)