Chapter Text
Rumi knew she was far from an expert on hybrids. The rural town where her mother and stepmother had raised her wasn’t the most accepting of places, and Rumi could count on one hand the number of times she had seen a hybrid in real life.
Luckily, though, her mothers had taught her that everyone, human and hybrid alike, deserved to be treated with respect and dignity. The days of people thinking hybrids were more akin to thoughtless animals were long gone, even if there were some places that were slower to accept that change.
All this to say that while Rumi had no reservations about living with two hybrids upon moving to the city for grad school, she had been a bit nervous. She had done as much research as she could on hybrid etiquette before their initial meeting, not wanting to accidentally offend her potential roommates. When the meeting went smoothly and Mira and Zoey had immediately offered her the other room in their apartment, Rumi had accepted just as quickly.
In their time living together, Rumi had learned a lot about Mira and Zoey, and hybrids in general. Maybe it made her a nerd, but she’d recorded her findings in a notebook tucked discreetly in her desk. Her notes are as follows:
Do not start a game a fetch unless you have more than two hours to spend and a lot of energy.
Rumi had thought it would be demeaning to assume hybrids had interest in the things enjoyed by their fully animal counterparts, so when Zoey had asked her to play fetch a few weeks into living together, she had been surprised. But the puppy had come to her of her own volition, ears perked with excitement, begging Rumi to come with her to the park to play since Mira was busy with a shoot.
Rumi had agreed, of course. Who could say no to the literal embodiment of sunshine? Zoey’s tail had wagged so hard when she said yes that the wind from it knocked Rumi’s papers off the coffee table.
There was something about the dog hybrid that was just so energizing, like her vivacity and enthusiasm were contagious. She had a way of making long days seem not as long, scary thoughts seem not as scary, boring movies seem not as boring. Being around her was like a gift, and certainly not one Rumi would let go to waste.
But everyone had their limits. Which led to the current situation: Rumi, sunburnt and exhausted, arm sore from throwing Zoey’s ball over and over again. Every time she tried to gently suggest stopping, the younger girl pouted at her and said, “Just a bit longer, please Ru?”
Rumi was hoping she would get tired eventually, but two and a half hours in, Zoey was still going. She bounced on her feet in anticipation, panting lightly. Rumi caught a glimpse of her sharp canines peeking out, her freckled tongue lolling happily.
“I’m getting tired, Zoey, do you think we can wrap it up soon? I have some work to finish,” the human said finally.
Zoey’s tail drooped as she seemed to notice for the first time how worn out Rumi looked. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize how long it had been. I can get a little too excited sometimes,” the puppy said softly, eyes downcast. It was like she shrank into herself, her usual larger-than-life energy dying down in the blink of an eye.
“No, no! It’s fine,” Rumi rushed to reassure her. She bit her lip, glancing down at her watch with a wince. Screw her work, she decided. She could just stay up late tonight. “Let’s play a bit longer.”
“Are you sure?” Zoey asked hesitantly, tail still tucked between her legs. Rumi hated whoever had gotten in her head so badly that she became so unsure of herself.
“I’m certain,” Rumi confirmed with a smile. The way Zoey lit up made the lack of sleep she got that night completely worth it.
Hybrid fur, like any cat or dog fur, gets everywhere. Invest in some lint rollers. And a Furminator.
This was a problem that Rumi had noticed pretty quickly. Living with Mira and Zoey was great in almost every way, but in terms of fur, it was the worst of both worlds. The fluffy golden fur of Zoey’s floppy ears and tail showed up vividly on any dark clothes, and the long, silky black hair of Mira’s ears and tail were a stark contrast on any light colored clothes.
In general, the three of them kept up pretty well with the cleaning, but no matter how much they vacuumed, the fur was everywhere. Mira and Zoey even spent time brushing out their fur every day with de-shedding brushes, but it was in vain.
The two hybrids had been dealing with this for their entire lives, so they did their best to teach Rumi all the tricks for getting the hair off. Their apartment was well stocked in lint rollers, at least.
Other unfamiliar dog hybrids in the apartment are a no-go.
About a month into her grad program, Rumi had befriended another student, a German Shepherd hybrid named Jinu. He was a bit of an asshole but genuinely kind under the ribbing and cockiness.
When they were assigned a project together, Rumi invited Jinu to their apartment to work on it since the man lived with four roommates. They had scarcely walked in the door when Jinu froze, turning to Rumi slowly.
“Rumi,” he began in a tight whisper, “don’t tell me you live with-”
His words were interrupted by a loud snarl. Rumi spun around to see Zoey staring at Jinu with her teeth bared, every inch of her body language screaming ‘alert.’
Rumi was confused. Zoey had never had an issue with any other dog hybrids, as far as the human knew. She loved to go to the park to meet other dogs, usually befriending them with ease.
“Rumi,” the younger girl growled. “Who is that? Why did you bring him here? He needs to leave before-”
Again, before Rumi could hear the whole sentence, Zoey was cut off by an angry noise. Mira had appeared behind the Golden Retriever hybrid, ears in airplane mode, tail puffed up and held low like Rumi had never seen.
A furious hiss was coming from her throat, and Zoey seemed to grow larger somehow in her protective position in front of Mira, metaphorical hackles completely raised.
Much to Rumi’s surprise, another snarl erupted from behind her. “Jinu!” she admonished harshly, glaring at the man over her shoulder as he bared his teeth.
“What!” he exclaimed. “They started it.”
“This is our apartment,” Mira said, a growl rumbling in her words. “Get out.”
Rumi could see her pink-painted claws coming out as she flexed her fingers. “Okay, okay! Let’s all calm down,” the human said, standing between them with her hands raised in an attempt to defuse the situation.
“Jinu, why don’t you leave? We can meet at a cafe or something to work on this tomorrow, okay?” Rumi suggested, begging him with her eyes to agree.
Jinu nodded reluctantly, fixing Mira and Zoey with one last glare before walking out of the apartment.
As soon as he was gone, Zoey whirled around towards Mira, rubbing her hands along the cat’s sides soothingly as she spoke to her quietly. Rumi stayed silent, sensing that the couple needed a moment.
After a few minutes, Mira’s tail un-puffed and her quiet growling abated, her ears raising to a calmer but still alert position. When Zoey turned back around to face Rumi where she was still hovering in front of the door, Mira draped herself over the puppy’s back, burying her nose deep in her girlfriend’s neck in an uncharacteristic display of clinginess.
“I’m so sorry,” Rumi said. “I didn’t even think before inviting him here, I didn’t realize.”
“It’s fine, Ru,” Zoey said reassuringly. “We never told you it would be a problem. Living with a human is new to us just like living with hybrids is new to you. We shouldn’t have just assumed you would know things like that. And… Mira has a bit stronger of a reaction to dog hybrids than most cats do, so it wouldn’t normally be such a big deal either.”
She rubbed the top of Mira’s head gently as she spoke, her words making the taller girl grumble quietly and nuzzle deeper into her neck.
“Still, I should’ve thought about it more. I don’t ever want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home,” Rumi replied, looking at Mira’s tense form guiltily.
Much to her surprise, the cat was the one who spoke next, words muffled from where she was curled into Zoey. “It’s your home now too, Rumi. You couldn’t have known. It’s okay.”
After that incident, they established ground rules: Zoey and Mira had no issue with Rumi having most hybrids over, but for other dog hybrids, they would prefer to meet on neutral ground. She should also tell any hybrids she invited that she lived with a dog hybrid and cat hybrid, since their comfort levels might also vary.
Eventually, Zoey and Jinu reached a level of civility, though Zoey was clearly not his biggest fan. Mira was still outright hostile, but Rumi suspected she and Jinu actually somewhat enjoyed their routine of growling and insults.
It wasn’t until after they all started dating many months later that she learned the other two mostly hated Jinu after meeting him properly because they were jealous.
If a cat hybrid shows you their belly, do NOT try to pet it.
This discovery came a bit later. By this point, Rumi was used to Zoey’s tendency towards physical affection. The puppy loved to cuddle up to her and Mira on the couch, begging them to scratch behind her ears or rub her tummy.
Mira was much more aloof. Rumi had seen her cuddling with Zoey before, but she never initiated touch with the human. Which was fine. Rumi obviously respected her boundaries, even if she wished Mira felt comfortable enough to be physically affectionate with her.
Rumi was still pretty confident that Mira liked her, though, despite her stubborn nonchalance. She never brought it up, but she had noticed how the taller girl would follow her from room to room wordlessly, every time pretending like she had something else to do in the same space.
She caught the glances Mira sent her out of the corner of her eyes, the way the cat curled up close to her while pointedly looking away like it had nothing to do with her. Rumi had even caught Mira slow blinking at her a few times, though she looked away with pink cheeks as soon as she noticed the human looking back at her.
So, Rumi knew Mira liked her. Rumi knew Mira was comfortable with her. And Rumi knew Mira didn’t seem to be seeking touch from her.
But on the fateful day that Rumi had cataloged this observation, she had been exhausted, distracted, and just overall out of it. When Mira stretched out languidly on the floor next to where Rumi sat with her back against the couch, the human hadn’t really thought about her actions. She just reached out towards Mira’s tummy on instinct, used to Zoey adopting a similar position as a wordless request for belly rubs.
As soon as her hand touched Mira’s stomach, the cat folded in on her, grabbing her arm with her claws out, legs coming up to curl around the offending limb, feet bunny kicking lightly like a real cat. In a flash, Mira’s sharp little fangs had sunk into Rumi’s hand, biting hard enough that the human yelped loudly, shocking Mira into releasing her grip.
Rumi pulled her hand back quickly, clutching it to her chest. Mira was completely frozen, staring at her with her eyes wide. For a second they just looked at each other before they both began to speak at once.
“You first,” Mira said, eyes locked on Rumi’s bleeding hand.
“I’m so sorry,” the older girl said, trying to convey her sincerity with her eyes. “That’s what Zoey does when she asks for belly rubs, so I just reached without thinking.”
The cat shook her head emphatically, more expressive than Rumi had yet seen her. “It’s okay. I mean, yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have done it without asking, but that’s no excuse for me biting you.”
The next part of her sentence was quieter, hesitant. “It’s not even that it doesn’t feel nice, the belly rubs. It’s just, like, instinct to bite if I’m not expecting it.”
“You didn’t even bite that hard, don’t worry,” the human reassured her, hating the forlorn look on her face.
Mira just shook her head, slowly reaching out, claws retracted. “Can I?” she asked, nodding towards the injured hand.
Rumi reached out, putting her hand in Mira’s without hesitation. She watched as the cat brought the hand to her mouth before lightly licking over the puncture marks, cleaning off the blood.
Mira’s tongue was a little rough, not as much as a real cat’s, but definitely more than a human’s. Her long, tufted ears were tucked almost flat into her pink hair, and her tail was flicking anxiously.
Rumi was speechless. It felt so intimate, and Mira’s little pink tongue was so cute as it darted out to clean the wound. After what felt like an eternity but was probably just a few seconds, Mira released the hand.
“There,” the taller girl said, clearing her throat. “It’ll heal faster now. I think. I don’t know, that’s what my instincts say. But, um. I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine, Mira,” Rumi said, cautiously laying a hand on Mira’s shoulder. She was relieved when the other girl leaned into the touch. “I promise.”
Mira just nodded, but her ears relaxed from their tightly flattened position and after just a moment, she lay back down, this time resting her head almost close enough to touch Rumi’s thigh as she began to purr.
(Some) hybrids do not like thunderstorms.
It was quite a while of living together before the trio had to deal with a thunderstorm. Worse still, when it happened, Mira was gone for New York Fashion Week.
Rumi had actually always been a fan of storms. She loved to fall asleep to the sound of rain and the flashes of lightning outside her window, so she was getting all settled in bed when her door flew open.
Zoey stood in the doorway clutching her favorite turtle toy. She was shaking like a leaf, tail tucked tightly between her legs and tears in her eyes. She tried to speak but couldn’t get real words out between her sobs, only able to whine loudly.
“Oh, Zo,” Rumi said, opening her arms. “Come here.”
The puppy closed the door and launched herself at Rumi immediately, wiggling as close to the older girl as she could, face hidden in her neck.
“Is it the storm?” the human asked quietly to confirm her suspicion, ignoring how comfortable Zoey’s weight felt in her lap.
Zoey nodded into her neck, still sniffling. “I don’t like the noise,” she managed. “It hurts my ears a lot. Mira, too. But normally when we’re together it isn’t so bad.” Her sentence ended with a squeak as the thunder crashed again.
Rumi hummed as she rocked Zoey gently, scratching behind her ears the way she knew the younger girl liked. Still, every time the thunder crashed, Zoey flinched in her arms, whimpers renewing in intensity. It was like every time she had almost relaxed enough to sleep, they ended up back at square one.
Finally, Rumi had an idea.
“Okay, puppy, I need to get up for a second, just to get something,” she said gently, not even realizing the nickname she used. She pried Zoey’s tightly clenched hands open from where they were gripping her sleep shirt.
Zoey whined louder, but she released Rumi obediently, tugging the covers over her head.
The human darted around the apartment, gathering everything she needed as fast as she could. Mira’s favorite throw blanket from the living room for the scent, Zoey’s hybrid-specific headphones, and her own tablet.
Rumi rushed back into her room, climbing into bed next to the trembling lump in her blankets. “Hey, Zo, can you take your head out for me?”
Her heart broke at the younger girl’s terrified expression, and she couldn’t resist lightly kissing her forehead. She immediately put Zoey’s headphones on her and wrapped her in Mira’s blanket, hoping to avoid any comment about the fact she had just kissed Zoey's forehead. What was wrong with her?
After connecting her tablet to the headphones, Rumi opened YouTube, looking up “calming sounds for dogs.”
To her relief, the video worked like a charm. Zoey fell asleep in less than an hour, leaving Rumi to awkwardly curl up in her bed as far away as possible, fearful of invading the puppy’s personal space while she slept. She knew Zoey was cuddly, but it didn’t feel right to touch her while she was sleeping without invitation, no matter how sure she was it wouldn’t be an issue.
Of course, by the time Rumi woke up, Zoey was snuggled tightly to her chest, feet kicking lightly and soft growls coming from her mouth as she dreamed. The older girl felt no desire to escape her position, scratching behind Zoey’s ears gently before failing back into a peaceful sleep.
She woke a second time to Zoey’s bashful face, the smaller girl already awake and looking at her.
“Sorry,” Zoey whispered, like this was some kind of inconvenience.
“I don’t mind,” Rumi quietly reassured her friend. “I haven’t slept that well in a long time, actually.”
They were silent for a few minutes before Rumi spoke once more. “So, sorry if this is rude, but have you ever tried one of those ThunderShirts?”
Zoey laughed so hard she cried. Rumi was much happier to see the tears this time.
Cat hybrids do, in fact, like to chase laser pointers.
This discovery, unlike most others, was not completely accidental.
It had started when Rumi was messing around on her phone on the couch. It was a warm, sunny day, and the room was bright with natural light. Mira was curled up in a sunspot on her “floor cushion,” which was really a giant pet bed that the cat hybrid insisted was “just a cushion, a completely made for humans cushion!”
Rumi had been minding her own business when a movement caught her eye at the same time Mira’s quiet purring stopped. She looked up to see Mira’s tail lashing as she stared at a spot of light on the wall.
When the human moved to sit up, the spot moved, Mira’s head turning to follow it.
Rumi moved again, and so did the spot, and so did Mira’s gaze. Interesting.
The older girl looked down and realized that the spot of light was the reflection of the sun off of the back of her phone. She moved her phone experimentally, watching Mira’s intense focus until the hybrid was apparently unable to resist and pounced at the spot of light on the wall when it neared her.
Rumi laughed, immediately trying to disguise it with a cough when Mira’s head whipped towards her with a glare.
Now, Rumi was generally a pretty straightforward person. She wasn’t one for mischief or pranks. But something about that moment just made her unable to resist thinking about it.
So, embracing the playful energy, Rumi made her way to an office supply store to buy herself a laser pointer. She knew that laser pointers weren’t great for cats if they played with them too much, but surely just a little bit would be fine.
It was a few days before she was able to enact her plan. Once again, Rumi was on the couch while Mira snoozed on her floor cushion, Zoey busy at work. She saw Mira begin to stir, blinking at the ceiling sleepily, and knew this was the moment.
Rumi pulled out the laser pointer, pointing it towards the ceiling so it would be right in Mira’s eyeline. Instantly, she saw the hybrid’s ears prick with interest.
Rumi moved the pointer around, seeing Mira’s pupils dilate as she watched it. She started to make a quiet chattering noise, a little ekekekekek that was maybe the cutest thing Rumi had ever heard. After she was sure the cat was locked on, she moved the pointer down to the wall, flicking it back and forth until it was within Mira’s reach.
Immediately, Mira pounced, batting at the wall. Rumi was unable to suppress a quiet chuckle, but even though the hybrid’s ears twitched in her direction, she was too focused to really pay attention to the human.
Rumi played with her this way for fifteen minutes before deciding it was probably enough, turning off the laser pointer. Mira looked around in confusion for a second before she froze, snapping out of her predatory haze.
The cat turned slowly to look at Rumi, eyes narrowing in a glare. “You…” she said in a tone that would probably terrify anyone unaware that she was secretly a softie.
“Me?” Rumi parroted, feigning innocence. “What did I do? I’ve just been working.”
“You-the laser-” Mira stammered, gesturing towards the wall, unable to explain without admitting she was chasing a laser pointer like a housecat, which she clearly didn’t want to do.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rumi said smugly.
Mira rolled her eyes, but when she curled back up, her purring was louder than before.
Do not try to steal back clothes from the nest, even if they’re your favorite.
Rumi was aware of what nesting was. She had been inside Mira and Zoey’s room before and saw the nest in the corner, a large, bowl shaped nesting bed filled with pillows, blankets, and stuffies. It was almost shaped like a kiddie pool, but cushioned and incredibly soft.
Rumi knew that Mira and Zoey put a lot of effort into curating their nest, especially Mira. Zoey had told her that while she loved the nest, the cat hybrid adored it, spending hours washing the bedding and refreshing the nest with new clothes and stuffies every weekend.
Even if the puppy hadn’t told her, Rumi probably could have guessed how much Mira cared about the nest by the way the taller girl's tail shook with anticipation and her ears stood alert when they had shown it off to the human after nearly a year of living together.
Of course, like any person with eyes and sense would, Rumi had immediately praised the nest’s design, telling Mira and Zoey how comfortable it looked and how impressive it was. Zoey had lit up, wagging forcefully, but Mira had melted. Her tail shot straight up, cheeks going completely pink as she slow blinked at Rumi repeatedly, purring louder than the human had ever heard before.
So, yes, Rumi knew that the nest was special. But she’d had kind of a long day and she just wanted her comfiest sweatshirt. When she couldn’t find it, she knew immediately it was in Mira and Zoey’s room.
Her roommates had been behaving weirdly the past few weeks. It started with Zoey bringing Rumi all her favorite toys and then just staring at her expectantly, but when the human went to throw them, she had no interest in playing. It seemed like she just wanted Rumi to have them. She had also been giving Rumi gifts all the time, snacks and clothes and anything Rumi even mentioned being interested in, as well as handmade things like beaded friendship bracelets and earrings.
And Mira had been cooking up a storm lately, making all of Rumi’s favorite dishes and watching her try them with bated breath. Not to mention the fact that the cat hybrid had taken to rubbing her head against Rumi all the time. Once, Rumi even saw her rubbing her head against the older girl’s backpack and jacket, purring quietly the whole time.
On top of all of that, Rumi had been noticing her things going missing. Not many of them, and never anything all too important, but things like her pillowcases disappearing in the laundry and being replaced with new ones, her sweatshirts vanishing when she left them in the common areas, even her good winter scarf going missing from the coat closet. That was fine, since it wasn’t yet winter, but still!
The other day Rumi swore she caught a glimpse of the distinctively patterned scarf in Mira and Zoey’s nest while walking past the slightly cracked door, which fed her sneaking suspicion that her friends were behind her disappearing clothes.
Normally, Rumi would never enter someone’s bedroom without permission, even though Zoey had told her it was fine to go in their room to grab something if they weren’t there. But right now, she was tired and a bit grumpy and all she wanted was her favorite sweatshirt, so with only a little bit of guilt, she walked into their bedroom.
Just as she expected, all of the human’s missing items were there. She was flattered that the two hybrids cared about her enough to want reminders of her in their nest, but in her exhaustion, Rumi failed to really consider whether there was any significance to their place there, or what it would mean to take them back. She just thoughtlessly gathered her stuff and brought them back to her room.
It wasn’t for several days that Rumi learned her actions might have had more implication than she intended.
The morning after she had rescued her clothes, Rumi got dressed in her (freshly washed) newly recovered sweatshirt and walked to the kitchen like normal, expecting nothing to be amiss. It was a Saturday, and Mira always made a big breakfast for them to eat together on Saturdays.
But when the human walked into the kitchen, she was surprised to find it completely empty. She tried to shrug off the uneasiness she felt, reasoning that Mira and Zoey might be busy, and grabbed a bowl of cereal for herself.
It wasn’t until the early afternoon that her two friends emerged from their room, and they looked… wrecked, to put it frankly.
Zoey’s hair was sticking up in approximately a hundred different directions and her tail was limp, not quite tucked between her legs but far from the way it was normally held exuberantly upright.
Mira looked even worse. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed with red and her ears were flat against her head. There was a trace of blood on her lips where it looked like she had nicked them with her fangs.
Both of them avoided looking at Rumi until she broke the silence with a timid “Good morning.”
Zoey responded in kind with a forced smile, but Mira said nothing, only tightening her grip where she was hugging one of Zoey’s arms. When she finally looked at Rumi, she flinched, eyes catching on the older girl’s torso.
Rumi wanted to ask them if they were okay, if she had done something, but before she could gather the courage, they disappeared back into their room with the snacks they had gathered. She waited there the rest of the day, hoping they would come back, before finally giving up and going to bed.
The human woke after a fitful sleep feeling even more anxious and upset. She checked her phone to see it was already late in the morning, and rushed out of her room immediately. Just like she feared, Zoey and Mira’s bags were already gone. They were visiting Zoey’s mother for lunch that day and she had been hoping to catch them before that to try to apologize for… whatever it was she had done.
Rumi spent the day nervously pacing, wracking her brain to try to figure out what had happened. She had completely forgotten about the nest incident, given how exhaustedly brain-dead she had felt while taking her clothes back.
That evening, she got a text from Zoey that simply read: Hi Ru, we decided to stay the night at Eomma’s. See you soon :)
It was a completely unremarkable text, friendly even, but that was what was odd. Usually Zoey texted with emojis and typos and weird capitalizations. This was far too normal to be normal.
The next day, when she had lunch with Jinu, she couldn’t help but cry to him about the situation, about how she didn’t know what she had done.
He got a weird look in his eye, asking if their behavior had been odd at all for the past few weeks. Rumi sniffled as she explained the strange habits they had developed, Zoey bringing her toys and gifts and Mira cooking for her and rubbing against her with her head.
Eventually, Jinu sighed. “This is important, okay? This is the big one. Did they invite you into their nest? Or ask you to help make it with them?”
His eyes were intense, ears pointed forward alertly as he stared at her.
Rumi frowned. “Their nest? No, they haven’t asked me to come into it or to help with it. But-”
Rumi’s eyes widened as she finally remembered what had happened the day before they had started ignoring her.
“They didn’t ask me into their nest,” the human began, a sinking feeling in her chest. “But on Friday they were both out and I couldn’t find my favorite sweatshirt so I looked for it and I found a bunch of my clothes in their nest so I… took them.”
Jinu’s eyes widened, voice raising in volume a little. “You took them? Like out of the nest? All of them?”
Rumi nodded, shushing him when people began to look over at them.
“Dumbass!” he said, flicking Rumi’s forehead. “They were trying to court you! But the nest thing isn’t even just that. Them taking your clothes to put in their nest means they see you as part of their pack, their family. That has nothing to do with courting until they ask you to make the nest with them or come inside.”
He kept staring at her with that intense gaze, like he was really trying to make the importance of his words sink in. “Taking all of your stuff out of the nest isn’t just like saying you don’t want to date them, it’s like saying you don’t want to date them and you don’t want to be close with them in any way, even friends. It’s rejecting them in the strongest terms.”
Rumi’s heart dropped.
Yeah, she had gotten interested vibes from both of them, but she couldn’t understand why Mira and Zoey would possibly want her, so she had written it off as wishful thinking and refused to consider the possibility.
But not only were they actually courting her, she had also basically spat on their attempts to do so.
“How do I fix it? How do I show them that I want to court them back?” Rumi asked frantically, praying that she hadn’t missed her chance.
Several hours later, Rumi returned to their apartment armed with more gifts than she could comfortably carry. Clothes, stuffies, jewelry-anything she thought Mira and Zoey would like. Luckily, Rumi always paid attention to their preferences, so she felt confident in her selections. She had also bought some extra soft nesting blankets.
Rumi laid all the gifts out, separating the nesting items like stuffies and blankets from the personal gifts for each of them. She scurried to her room quickly, grabbing all her oldest, softest clothes and bringing them to the couch, placing them delicately next to the new nesting supplies.
Rumi checked her watch, cursing when she realized she had only about an hour before they would both be home. She got to work immediately.
“It’s just cooking, right? How hard can it really be,” she muttered to herself.
Apparently, very hard. After forty-five minutes, Rumi was forced to scrape the charred mess out of the pan. There was no salvaging it.
She ordered delivery food from both of their favorite restaurants and settled down at the kitchen table, waiting anxiously.
When Mira and Zoey arrived, they looked much the same as the last time Rumi had seen them, which is to say, not good. They were still beautiful of course, nothing could change that, but they looked tired and sad. And it was because of her.
Rumi stood up and made her way to them, trying to think of how to gracefully start the conversation. Luckily, she was spared from having to figure it out by Mira.
“We need to talk,” the taller girl said bluntly, still avoiding Rumi’s eyes.
The human nodded rapidly, leading them back towards the kitchen table, the courting gifts hidden from view by the couch.
Zoey opened her mouth, but Rumi raised a hand. “Can I go first, please?” she asked.
Mira and Zoey shared a look before agreeing.
Rumi took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry for taking my clothes out of the nest! I was exhausted, and I just didn’t even realize what it meant. I talked to Jinu about it,” Mira let out a quiet hiss at his name, which they all ignored, “and he said you were courting me? But also that the clothes in the nest just meant you consider me like part of your family, and taking out the clothes was like saying I don’t want to date you or be your family. But neither of those things are true! I do want to date you! And be part of your pack!”
Mira and Zoey both stared at her in shock, processing the words that had tumbled out of her so fast she said it all in one breath.
“Please say something,” Rumi said after a minute.
“You want to date us?” Zoey repeated, eyes shining.
“Yes,” Rumi said, nodding as hard as she physically could. “I got you courting gifts, too! I know that handmade stuff is better, so I was trying to make you dinner but I really can't cook so I just ordered food, it's not here yet though. Um, there’s some stuff for each of you, and I bought some new stuffies and blankets for the nest! And some of my clothes, if you still want any of them in there.”
She gathered her courage for the big finish, praying to stick the landing. “Maybe I could help you? With making the nest? And… maybe come inside with you?”
It was the most nerve-wracking moment yet. Rumi closed her eyes, terrified that she would see rejection written on their faces, only to open them a second later when a weight crashed into her, nearly knocking over her chair.
Surprisingly, it was Mira who had thrown herself into Rumi’s lap rather than Zoey, who was still sitting across the table with her mouth open in disbelief.
The cat hybrid was purring, rubbing her head against Rumi’s so hard it was like she was trying to merge them into one being. Rumi wrapped her arms around the taller girl’s waist, pulling her in tighter.
“Is that a yes?” she asked hesitantly.
“Of course it’s a yes,” Zoey gasped. Mira nodded in agreement, fitting the motion smoothly into her head rubbing.
“Then get over here!” Rumi said, joy warming her entire body. She held open an arm to Zoey, letting out a quiet oomph as she was once again treated to an armful of happy hybrid crashing into her, this time actually knocking over the chair and sending them all sprawling onto the floor.
Rumi barely registered the pain of hitting the tile, even as Mira and Zoey fussed over her. She was just too happy. Happier than she ever remembered feeling in her life.
And now, years in, even when Rumi woke up too early, overheating from being smothered by her two girlfriends in their nest, Zoey’s fur in her mouth and Mira chirping far too loudly for the current hour at the birds outside their window, she was happy. There wasn’t a single moment she regretted the life she had chosen, even when they fought, even when it was hard and confusing. Through it all, she had her girls, and that was enough.