Work Text:
Zoey leans slightly out the door with Rumi a couple of steps behind her. Mira is busy; they know it.
The woman is in front of her computer with her hair in a disheveled high ponytail; she has both headphones on and her black-rimmed glasses. Type on the keyboard without taking your eyes off the screen while humming softly.
She told them a couple of hours ago that she would be in her room reporting that they asked her to do at work, and Zoey and Rumi were fine watching movies, but now they are hungry.
They were going to make ramyeon, but their cupboard is empty, their supply is gone, and they're both a complete mess in the kitchen. They are then waiting for Mira to notice their presence to ask her to eat together. Which implicitly means "cooking for us?”
"How much longer will you be standing there without saying anything?" Mira said, still looking at the screen.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to bother," Rumi said, leaning out, putting her chin on Zoey's shoulder.
"It's okay, what's wrong?" Mira takes off her headphones and turns in her chair to look at them.
"Aren't you hungry?" Zoey asked in a murmured, she didn't know how to make it more subtle.
"No," Mira turned again, but they both saw the corner of her lip rise.
"We're going to eat, and we wanted to invite you," Rumi said.
"What are we going to eat?" She asked as Zoey watched her save the file.
"What are you going to cook?" Rumi replied in a whisper. There was no way it sounded subtle.
Mira just shook her head with a slight smile on her lips. She walked in her direction and left a kiss on their foreheads before walking towards the kitchen. She and Rumi followed her.
She opened the cupboard and saw it half empty, a few bottles of spices, the bag of flour, cereals, and other containers, but nothing with anything she could make to eat. The rice container is completely empty, not a single grain.
Mira moved to the refrigerator, but the same story was repeated. Tupperware with old leftovers, a dried orange, and a single egg.
"What are you supposed to have eaten during the week?" Mira asked, closing the door.
"Ramyeon," Zoey said.
"We order at home," Rumi said.
"Who had to make the groceries this month?" Mira replied, looking at the calendar stuck on the refrigerator.
"It was Rumi's fault," she pointed to Rumi next to her, who looked at her indignantly.
"Me? But it was my turn last month.”
"It's not my turn," Zoey claimed. Both were about to start one of their childhood arguments, a simple fight of egos.
"I'm sorry, it was my turn," Mira said with a sigh. “I've been busy, and work consumes all my time.”
"We know, you've skipped three of the five movie nights," Rumi said.
"And the only way to forgive you is if you take us to make the groceries. Together," Zoey added.
"Oh, no. Not that, ask me what you want except that," Mira complained as she returned down the corridor to her room. “Rumi,” she asked for help.
"No, I'm with Zoey in this. Come on, for a while, the three of us. You've been working late all week, and on your day off, you spend time sitting in front of your computer. It'll only be a couple of hours, and we won't bother you, right, Zoey?”
"Yep," he replied, emphasizing the p. “Please, Mimi.”
She only called Mira that way when she really wanted something; they were one of her last weapons to achieve it. If Mira refuses, after that, she knows it's a losing battle. But because of Mira's posture: her shoulders slightly hunched over, her gaze full of guilt, and her lower lip between her teeth, she knew she had won.
"Well, they're right. Come on," Mira let out a sigh as she said it. “Please don't make me regret it.”
"We'll be good," she said, jumping into Mira's arms and leaving a big kiss on her cheek before heading down the hallway to her room.
Before closing the door, she could see how Rumi kissed Mira while caressing her cheek in a comforting way. She loved her girls.
Zoey followed Mira and Rumi closely. The first pushed the cart while Rumi read to her the list of things they had to buy and put together on the way to the supermarket. Zoey loves to wander the aisles, compare prices, rigorously put and arrange products in the cart, or just hang around.
"We can come back later for the fruit and vegetables. If we put them in now, they will be crushed," Rumi said, pointing to those products on the list.
"Well, just don't forget.”
"So, what's the first stop?" She asked, moving forward and walking in front of the cart.
"Mmm... Rice," Rumi replied.
"Come on!" She turned right into the hallway.
"It's on the other side, Zo," Mira announced, turning around on the opposite side.
Zoey followed Mira and Rumi, occasionally stopping to look at a product that caught her eye. Other times, she would end up bumping into Mira's back when she didn't realize they had stopped. Every time Rumi or Mira took a product, they gave it to her to add it to the cart.
The path through the corridors was full of laughter and comments. When they had entered, Mira looked tired, dragging her steps down the hallway. But now she seemed lighter; she no longer walked hunched over, and she seemed happy. And anything that made Mira happy made her happy.
They bought rice, ramyeon, eggs, milk, meat, and more soy sauce. In addition, Rumi asked to go through the cleaning products aisle in search of a conditioner, and Mira only followed them to the aisle.
On the way to the cash register, they found a shelf with a collection of themed products. There were notebooks, pens, stickers, cutlery, pieces of crockery, blankets, and other products, but her eyes went directly to a small tower of stacked cups; the bottom one was pink, the middle one was lavender, and the one above was a turquoise that immediately made her think of them.
"Look!” She pointed to the small tower of cups. "It's us."
"Cups?" Rumi asked, following her and Mira a couple of steps behind.
"Yes, this is Mira, this is you, and this is me," she pointed to the cups in order.
"Do you want them?" Mira asked, approaching to inspect them.
"No, I mean, I don't know. I just thought it was cute," she said softly. She doesn't know how to receive gifts.
Mira and Rumi saw each other for a few seconds and had one of those conversations that didn't need words. And then Mira took the box with the 3 cups and gave them to her. No one said anything. Rumi saw the other products on the shelf, and Mira saw her cell phone and seemed to answer a message. But she saw with heart's eyes the matching cups.
She felt heard, for anyone that comment meant nothing. Not for Mira and Rumi.
And before continuing their journey to the cash register, Rumi put a notebook in her hands, turquoise with a purple turtle pendant and a pink pen, and then joined Mira to review the list. These minute details are her girl's way of telling her "I love you".
Once at the checkout, the products passed, Mira watched the screen while Rumi put the products on the conveyor belt. But she saw something else, a chocolate, one of those super cloying ones that Mira hates, and Rumi can barely stand, but she loves them.
"Mira?" she asked, standing beside her.
"What happened, Zo?"
"Can you buy me one more thing?" She said softly with the box of chocolates in her hands.
"That?" she asked.
"Yep." Mira took the chocolate and gave it to the cashier to scan as well, and when it was already on the list of products, she stood on tiptoe to reach Mira's lips as much as she could and left a quick kiss on them. “I love you.”
"Really?" Chocolate and you already love her?” Rumi complained as Mira swiped her card to pay.
"You know I love you too," she stretched as far as she could and left a kiss even faster than the one she gave Mira in the corner of her mouth.
The cashier froze, passing his gaze between Mira and Rumi, as if he expected one of them to get angry or there would be a big scene. The three of them have become accustomed to that look. They knew it from the day they made their relationship official, but Zoey was always going to be amused by people's reactions. It's not that she does it on purpose — at least not most of the time — it just happens, kissing both of her girlfriends is the most normal thing that exists in Zoey's world.
"Is something wrong?" Mira complains, lowering her gaze with a more abrupt tone than she had when she arrived.
"Eh... Oh, no. It's all right.”
And when they left the cash register area with their purchases in the tote bags they were carrying. Zoey, with no purpose in mind, left a kiss on Mira's cheek and another on Rumi's cheek before continuing walking, although she looked back before doing so and saw the cashier's reaction, which was undoubtedly worth the look of that poor boy.
"Stop," she said, opening her arms and preventing them from continuing to walk.
"What's wrong?" Rumi asks.
"Let's take a photo for the memory," she said, looking for her phone in the small bag she always carries.
“Remember what?" Mira asked.
"That we were able to make the groceries and not die trying," she replied as if it were the most obvious thing.
The three posed when she picked up the phone to the monitor. Zoey took several photos, and they made several poses regardless of whether the cart was full of their purchases. She paused for a while to review the photos, and that's why he didn't notice when Mira and Rumi saw each other and nodded in a silent plan.
"Can you take another one? I don't like the way I look in that one," Rumi said, although Zoey saw her perfectly.
She didn't refuse, returning to the camera app and pointing it back at the monitor, but just before pressing the screen to capture the photo, she felt both cheeks being kissed by each of her girlfriends, and with a smile, she took another burst of photographs.
When they got home with the bags in their arms and put them on the kitchen island, she didn't hesitate to take the cups and take them to the sink to wash them so they could use them for dinner. Meanwhile, Rumi and Mira oversaw putting the groceries in the pantry.
"I knew we were forgetting something," Mira groaned, folding one of the bags and putting it in the drawer.
"What?" Rumi asked.
"The vegetables and fruits and stuff," Mira said, moaning again and putting her head on the counter.
"I can stop by tomorrow; do you need them?" Rumi replied, leaving a kiss on the crown of Mira's head, knowing that their girlfriend does not manage frustration very well.
"No, well, we won't have the best food, but I can make it work for today."
"Well, tomorrow when you get home, you'll have it in the refrigerator."
Mira cooked something simple: rice, egg, and some well-seasoned chicken. She sat down with them to eat, but she did it more quickly than she usually would, and she always washed her dishes, but this time she kept by leaving them in the sink.
"I'm sorry, I have to go finish my work. We took longer than I expected in the supermarket. I love you." Mira kissed them both on the cheek before getting lost again in the hallway.
When they finished eating, she and Rumi threw themselves on the couch to watch another episode of a series about killers. Although Zoey could concentrate and explain what had happened in the episode, her mind was on what Mira would be doing.
"I'll make tea, do you want?" She asked Rumi. She needed to do something.
"Yes, thank you.”
Zoey boiled the water and put a tea bag in each of the three cups; she waited for the infusion to be ready before taking the purple and turquoise cups back to the room. She put them on the coffee table, and Rumi thanked her but went back to the kitchen for one more.
"I'll take it to Mira," she announced.
The hallway was completely silent. When she reached Mira's door, she knocked on the door a couple of times.
"Go ahead," Mira replied, and Zoey entered. “Is something wrong?” Mira asked, taking off her headphones and looking at her.
"Not only..." Zoey saw the cup in her hands. "I brought you some tea."
Zoey put the cup down on the desk.
"Thank you, Zo." Mira's voice was tired, but full of gratitude.
"There's no need," she answered. She was about to turn around and leave, but Mira interrupted her.
"Zoey?" She heard behind her.
"Yeah?"
Mira just opened her arms, and Zoey knew what her girlfriend was looking for. Without hesitation, she approached and let Mira hug her from the chair and put her head on her abdomen while she massaged Mira's scalp.
"I'm tired, and I miss you," Mira murmured.
"We miss you too, sweetheart," Rumi said, entering the room and joining the hug.
Zoey fell asleep on the couch; it's not the first time, and it won’t be the last. It had been a long time since midnight; in fact, she couldn't tell what time it was, but she knew perfectly well who was carrying her.
"Mira," she stammered, half asleep, half awake.
"Tell me, Zo," she replied in a whisper.
"Thank you for spending the day with us, even when you were busy." With each word she said came out more like a whisper and was meaningless.
"That's how the rest of our days will be," she said with a kiss on her forehead as she left her on the bed in Rumi's room, where the three of them usually slept.
She could hear Rumi's soft snoring to her right, and before she could tell Mira to stay, the blankets settled on her body, and seconds later, she felt Mira's chest on her back with her hand in the space that separated them from Rumi.
Zoey knows a lot of things, but her favorite thing is that no matter what, she will always have her girls: Mira and Rumi. Just for her.