Zzz

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"IT'S HERE!!!" Zoey couldn't contain her excited squeal as pulled something from the 'Huntrix - Personal' mailroom bin. Crushing the package to her chest she squealed again as she danced in place. "It's here it's here IT'S HERE!!!!"

She had been waiting forever for this and now- now she could hardly believe that it was really truly finally here!!!

Waving a quick good-bye to the nonplussed mailroom staff, Zoey zipped to the elevator, whizzed through the doors the second they opened on an intern returning from a coffee run, and mashed the button for the penthouse.

Humming an allegro ditty as the elevator rose, Zoey rocked back and forth on her heels, excitement bubbling like soda fizz. She watched the numbers climb, the package- the wonderful, amazing, she can't believe it finally came package- clutched tight in her arms, already planning to rocket to her room the very second those doors opened and devote her gloriously empty afternoon to ooh-ing and aah-ing over its contents.

And, best of all, she'd have complete and utter privacy: Rumi was at a board meeting and Mira had grumbled her way out the door before sunrise for a photo shoot (the director was apparently 'a visionary,' but Zoey seriously doubted Mira would agree to work with her again since she was, just as apparently, an early bird). Neither of them were supposed to be back until late in the afternoon, so she was guaranteed to come home to an empty penthouse.

Admittedly, such complete and total alone-ness wasn't something she usually craved, especially not from Mira; she loved sharing things with her girlfriend and would love to share this, but…

She winced at the alcohol sting of the memory of the day she'd made the mistake of bringing a Sunlight Sisters zine to school, as caustic as when it was fresh.

Yeah, it was best she was alone.

Which she would be. So, back to fantasizing.

She was just debating if one of her shin-kal would be able to slice through the tape or if she'd have to hunt up some scissors (she thinks she has a pair in her desk, but did she put them back after opening that new headset? Even odds she didn't…) when the elevator stopped and the doors whooshed open, dinging a fanfare. "WHOO HOO!" She crowed as she flew into the penthouse, barley stopping to kick off her shoes. "Let's get this party started!"

"Sweet. Am I invited?"

She may as well have ran into a brick wall, the wind was knocked out of her that fast by the sight of Mira unfolding herself from where she'd been curled up on the couch with an almost-finished novel.

"M-Mira!" Zoey squeaked, having at least the presence of mind to whip the package behind her back. Heat- not the nice rosy kind she usually got from being surprised by her girlfriend- rose up her neck. "What- you're back early."

"Director decided she got everything she wanted. Said she'd never had someone who needed so little direction to capture her vision." She flipped her hair, striking a pose equal parts smug and sexy. "Perks of being a natural."

Zoey swallowed, nodding, feeling her face growing redder. She didn't think about it much, but there were some downsides of having a smoking hot girlfriend, especially when you were already being boiled alive by embarrassment.

Mira glanced at Zoey, chuckled at what she clearly assumed was exclusively the work of that hair-flip. "Thought we could spend the afternoon together." Tossing her book, she climbed over the back of the couch, clearing it easily with her long legs. "Make a date of it. Grab some lunch, hit up a noraebang, swing by the bath house."

It honestly sounded like the perfect afternoon, and any other day Zoey would be dragging Mira to the door, rattling off a list of her top five suggestions for where they should eat while pulling up the directions to the hot new noraebang place she'd heard about. But…today wasn't any other day, it was package day, and…she really just wanted to spend it in her room with her box and the amazing-ness inside.

Not that she could tell Mira that.

"That sounds really great, Mir. But…um…" She shifted from foot to foot, scrambling for- not an excuse, certainly not a lie- but something when Mira spoke again.

"Or we can stay in if you'd rather do that. Maybe watch that documentary you've been raving about. The one with the jumping sharks."

"Makos," Zoey rasped out.

Mira nodded, lips soft with a smile. "Yeah, those. Just whatever you want."

Zoey wilted. Even though it wasn't Mira's intent, she immediately felt worse. Here her girlfriend was, trying to plan out an afternoon together, suggesting things she knew Zoey would enjoy, and what was she doing? Trying to think of a way to blow her off. Some days she really didn't think she deserved Mira.

"Hey, you alright, Zo?" Mira tilted her head to a side as she looked the shorter girl up and down. "Something bothering you? And-" She paused and craned her neck. "What's behind your back?"

Zoey sighed; there really was no hiding things from Mira. Best to just admit defeat and barrel through her impending valley of humiliation. She presented the package to Mira as though it were the evidence of the most shameful crime. "This came today," she said in a gray tone, the earlier joy she felt over its arrival gone. The Honmoon chimed as she pulled out a shin-kal and morosely sliced through the tape with a quiet chuk. A smattering of packing peanuts fell to the floor as she pulled out the prize she'd been anticipating for so long: a glossy magazine-type publication.

"'B-Sides?'" Mira's eyes widened out of their squint shen she saw the entwined 'Z' and 'M' on the cover. "Is this some sort of magazine?"

"It's a fanzine," Zoey mumbled, shrinking under Mira's confused gaze. "About…us."

Mira blinked. Looked from the zine to Zoey, then back. Blinked again.

"A…what?"

"A fanzine. Some of our fans who ship us-" Mira huffed, amused as always by the fans inadvertently supporting what the label had mandated be kept secret "- made a bunch of art of us and wrote some fanfiction and put it together to make…this." She cringed, eyes on her socked feet curling against the floor. The sneers and mocking laughs of her old classmates roared in the silence as she waited for Mira's reaction.

"Cool."

What?

Zoey's jaw hung slack as she looked up at Mira, nodding appreciatively at the zine. "You…really? You don't think it's weird?"

"Well, I mean, a little," she shrugged, giving Zoey a smirk. "And a little weirder that you bought one, but more cool than anything. I think it's really sweet that our fans are so into the idea of us together. And…that you are, too."

Mira really was the biggest softie.

Like that, all Zoey's worries evaporated. A blizzard of packing peanuts flew around the girls as Zoey flung her arms around Mira. "Aw…Mir!"

"Don't suppose you'd want to look through it together?" Mira asked, a budding smile in her words.

Zoey pulled away with a gasp, face shining in a way that made her mailroom elation subdued by comparison. "Oh my gosh, yes! Gaja gaja gaja!" Grabbing her girlfriend by the arm she tugged her down the hall, stepping on cotton-candy clouds. Soon they were settled in Zoey's room on a nest of pillows at the base of her bed, Zoey snuggled up against Mira's chest. Early afternoon sun pranced through the windows as they perused the zine, Zoey commentating animatedly on the art and fic as Mira listened with her usual steady interest.

A tickling, fluttering feeling sparkled through Zoey as she flipped through the zine, not alone like she'd envisioned but with Mira's hand resting comfortably across her midriff and the weight of her chin atop Zoey's head.

Ever since that day when she'd made the mistake of bringing something of her online fandom into the offline world, she'd been careful to keep that part of her hidden. Zines were for private places, she'd learned in the school cafeteria as even the not-so-popular girls mocked the paperback proof of the extent of her Sunlight Sisters obsession, not her backpack or anywhere else someone else could see. Even after she'd traded the life of a bullied teen for a beloved popstar, the zines had stayed in a corner of her closet where not even Sussie's ever-prying eyes would spot them.

It had hurt, sure, but she'd accepted it and continued to read the zines in secret as if they were not safe-for-work. Sharing a zine with someone who was physically next to her had been strictly the stuff of fantasy.

And yet here she was, a zine splayed for the world to see in her lap and her insanely-cool girlfriend seated behind her. Not laughing or even wrinkling her nose in quiet contempt but enjoying and appreciating the passion project before her, each brush of her breath across Zoey's neck causing her heart to leap like a mako shark out of the waves.

She never thought she'd find someone who loved this part of her. And even if she had-

"Why do people always pair flower shops with tattoo artists?" Mira asked as Zoey turned the page to an AU fic depicting the same setup as three different pieces of fanart.

"It's a trope," Zoey replied with the air of an expert (which she may as well be, considering she'd been doing the fanfiction thing since before she got her period). "You can thank 2014 tumblr for that one."

Mira hummed, already running her eyes over the opening lines of text. "Suits us. I can see you being a tattoo artist."

"Not a florist?" Zoey twisted around just enough to catch Mira's eye.

"Considering what happened when you plant-sat for Rumi, no."

"It was only one plant!" Zoey protested. "Or- okay, well, two. And they only died a little."

"How does something die 'a little?'"

"Not sure, but that's what those plants did."

Mira laughed, the sound reverberating pleasantly through Zoey's back as she turned back to the zine.

"You know, I thought of writing an AU like this for the zine," Zoey tapped the page and stuck out her lip in a little pout. "But they didn't pick my application."

Mira stilled, processing what Zoey said. "You applied to write for a zine about yourself?"

"Well, yeah, why not?" Zoey gestured lightly, then cringed, pulling her shoulders up to her ears. "Is that…weird?"

"Yes." Before Zoey could say anything else, Mira leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "But it just makes me love you more."

Zoey made a squeak of surprise, then turned around so their lips met, returning the kiss. Warmth bloomed in her as the Honmoon sung around them.