#kidtrix

Do you guys think Mira dyed her hair to look more like Rumi, and her parents only allowed it because Celine did.

Did Zoey only ever come by to train during summer break for a long time before finally actually moving to Korea.

Did Mira ever run from home and go visit Rumi and Celine, staying there for a few days before her parents came to finally pick her up.

Did Zoey call them when things got rough in America and they'd sit for hours on a facetime, working on lyrics and beats, thousands of miles apart but still connected.

Did Mira ever bite Zoey for implying she (zoey not mira) had a crush on Mira's brother.

Did Rumi and Mira count down the days until Zoey would be back, and always made sure to get her gifts and doggy pile onto her.

Do you think Zoey kept it a secret from her friends in America that she just casually knows the famous K-Pop princess Kang Rumi and super fucking rich person Mira Kotadoski and has their numbers on her phone. Do you think she texted them whenever someone mentioned them at her school, and Rumi and Mira were always telling Zoey to just tell people she's their friend because the public will find out eventually when they formally form Huntr/x.

Or that Zoey and Mira joined Rumi and Celine at Red Carpet events before Huntr/x as Rumi's friends/dates.

Or that when Rumi and Celine visited the states they'd always go to Zoey's place and hang out with her parents.

Did Mira send them videos of her playing baseball or doing ballet just to flex how cool she was, doing it in reality because she got in a fight with her parents and needed some validation that she's not a wreck, and they caught on and began showering her in love.

Did Rumi drag them to the Teddy Bear Museum to look at all the cool bears, practically bouncing off the walls.

well, taking her parents into account, she probably was forced did learn piano as a kid. but due to the nature of it, she strays away from it as soon as she's away from her parents, tells celine she cannot do batshit on any instrument, and celine says that they'll work on that eventually, aka, after making sure mira won't die from a demon attack.

anyway, celine gets really caught up in the demon stuff (destiny comes first!) and maybe, sort of neglects to teach mira directly or sign her up for classes, and mira is by all means perfectly satisfied with that. no piano = no bad memories.

she still remembers the burns on the backs of her hands at every wrong note. she still remembers the red skin tightening around her knuckles, the blinding tears she had to blinkawayblinkawayblink—

so you have mira, the designated dancer, happy as is. she watches zoey and rumi play their respective instruments, notices how it calms them, how looser and more chuffed they feel after. but she could not experience that, no. and that's fine, it's fine. she is good at dancing, so it doesn't matter.

but, it doesn't have to matter. part of her wants to touch the keys again, slide her palm across the whole length of the piano. the other part remembers.

"You're staring."

Mira looks up, her trance broken, "What?"

"You're staring," Zoey now turned fully to her, patting the corner of the bench, "You want to learn?"

Tchach, learn. As if the rhapsodies aren't burned into the nerves of her fingers, as if the etudes do not shrill in her nightmares.

"Oh, no, no—I'm good, yeah. Thanks." Mira stood up abruptly, scratching the back of her neck as she looked away from the piano. A blush dusted across her cheek, a small scowling voice echoing from somewhere deep within.

there's a day when zoey and rumi are both occupied by something else. rumi is in the garden, frolicking and watering plants. zoey is hours deep into a book she recently bought.

a force she cannot explain pulls mira to the studio. to the bench. to the piano whose keys are now not teeth ready to bite, just plain plastic, smeared with fingertips. she places her palms on them, slowly, as if waiting for the burn to appear.

it doesn't.

she presses the first key, a C#, a note she fell in love with before the pain replaced delight. and it rings in her ears as she holds it, testing its patience, testing her own patience.

her left hand slides farther, pressing down on a chord. it is an anvil pressing on her chest, but she pushes through. she closes her eyes, promising herself she will not look, not peek, that it doesn't matter if she misses a note, if she misses—

it doesn't matter.

the honmoon jitters as she continues to play a slow, but not dragging melody. she's uncertain at first, taking her time to find the notes, getting used to the weight of the keys. on instinct, her foot reaches to push on the pedal, but finds empty space.

a brief look down reminds her that this piano does not have pedals. still, a distant memory comes through and replicates the reverb in her mind and it echoes as if real.

All she wanted to do was go see the Teddy Bear Museum again, but stupid Celine said that they couldn’t, because they had just gone two weeks ago, and she had a “prior engagement,” whatever that meant.

But Rumi wanted to go again!

Celine wouldn’t budge, and she was staring at her with her hands on her hips and that look on her face that said she meant business. Rumi knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get any further with this. She knew who could, though.

She stepped aside, and watched Mira step into her place. The other girl had recently begun to learn what she called the “Art of the Tantrum,” where she would puff up her cheeks and stomp her feet and throw her fists down at her sides. She had used it a few times now to get her parents to do something she wanted, with pretty good results, and considering her parents were as strict as Celine sometimes, that must mean it would work.

It didn’t; Celine rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Nice try, Mira, but I know that’s you. We’re not going to the museum again. That’s final.”

Mira deflated. Rumi pouted.

Their secret weapon gently moved Mira aside, suddenly appearing despite the fact it was way too early for her to be awake.

Zoey looked down at the floor, looking so sad both of her clustermates almost rushed over to hug her, stopped only by the knowledge that it was pretend. She sniffed a few times, and followed it up with hiccuping inhales of breath. Tiny, pathetic whimpers and sobs began to stream from her mouth. Big, fat tears started to roll down her chubby cheeks from wide brown eyes.

It was effective in pulling her clustermates’ heartstrings. It also seemed to work on Celine, who faltered as she looked at Rumi’s face, streaming with tears. She hesitated for a moment, before sighing in defeat.

”Fine, we can go to the museum again. Just let me get my things.” She walked out of the kitchen, shaking her head in disappointment at herself.

Rumi took over again, wiping the tears Zoey had let loose from her eyes off her face. She smiled brightly at the black haired girl, “Thanks, Zozo!”

Zoey giggled, tired from the cross-country move her parents had been embarking on for the last few days. “No problem!”

Mira looked at her in awe, “Wow! How did you do that?”

“Simple. Remember my halmeoni who’s super mean to me?”

”Yeah. She’s a jerk.”

”I know! Turns out, if I cry in front of her, she actually forgets to be mean for a bit and just gives me what I want.”

”Woah!” Rumi shouted.

”So cool!” Mira agreed.

“Hehe! Thanks! Plus, I think Celine really likes me, even if she doesn’t really know me yet!” She smiled brightly at that. “I can’t wait to go to the museum again!”

Mira’s eyes lit up; she loved the Teddy Bear Museum even more than Rumi and Zoey did. When they’d gone to visit it a few weeks ago, she had been the happiest Rumi had ever seen her in their three years of life.

It was the main reason why she wanted to go back again, to be honest.”

(A little scene from my upcoming Polytrix Sense8 AU fic, which will probably be coming out sometime in the next few weeks)

And the kids found them!