Chapter Text
The call comes when she's in the middle of making dinner.
"What do you mean you won't be around?" Rumi sets down the knife she was just using to chop carrots and pushes the cutting board back, grabbing a towel to wipe her hands off so she can hold her phone properly.
On the other end of the line, Jinu sighs. "I mean I won't be free. I have plans."
"Since when?" Rumi asks suspiciously. "You never have plans."
Jinu makes an offended sound. "Okay first of all, since this morning. And second of all, I'm a busy guy! I just typically make time in my schedule for you because I'm a good friend."
Rolling her eyes, Rumi leans her hip against the counter and props her elbow on her arm. "Alright, busy guy. What are you gonna be up to then?"
"I just have a thing I gotta do," Jinu replies ominously.
Rumi frowns. "A... thing? What kind of thing?"
"Yeah, a thing. That you don't need to worry about."
"A thing that I don't need to worry about."
"That's what I said, yeah."
She blinks, perplexed and a little wary. The beginnings of a stress headache are already blooming behind her temples. "Why are you being so weird?"
"I'm not being weird." There's a pause, a hint of hesitation suddenly creeping into his voice that immediately has alarm bells blaring in her head. "Hey, I've told you how much I appreciate everything you do for me right?"
Concern immediately spreads cold through Rumi's limbs. It has her standing up straight.
Frankly, never once has she ever worried about Jinu hurting himself–not on purpose. There's not much he keeps to himself even though sometimes she really, really wishes he would.
But the way he's talking right now is so off-putting that she knows she at least has to ask because she'd prefer not to find out the hard way.
"Jinu," she says slowly, like she's trying not to spook a wild animal, "are you... You haven't been having any suicidal thoughts lately, have you?"
Silence is the only thing on the other line for a few unbearably long seconds until, giving Rumi's blood pressure ample time to spike, before a sharp laugh crackles through the speaker so loud that she has to pull her phone away from her ear, wincing.
"Rumes I'm not gonna kill myself, oh my god. Why is that the first place your mind went?" her friend chortles.
Any concern she was feeling fizzles out and is replaced with annoyance as Jinu keeps laughing on the other end.
"Because you're being weird!" Rumi fires back. Just then, Mira walks into the kitchen and shoots her a questioning look at the outburst. The bottle of wine she had just gone downstairs to grab is tucked under her arm.
"Who's being weird?" Mira sets the bottle down gently on the counter.
"Jinu!"
"What?! I'm just saying–"
"Not you, shut up," she snaps at her phone.
"Excuse me–"
Tuning him out, Rumi turns her focus back to Mira and huffs. "Jinu can't watch the house next week because he has strange mysterious plans he won't elaborate on."
Her wife raises a thin eyebrow. "So tell him to cancel them."
"Not an option," Jinu responds loud enough for both of them to hear.
Mira moves to stand next to Rumi and directs an icy glare at the phone. "And why, pray tell, are you only telling us three days before we leave?"
"Because I just found out and I–" Jinu sighs. He sounds genuinely apologetic. "Look, I'm sorry but I really need to do this. If I could reschedule I would, you know I would, but I can't miss this and I promise I can explain why soon."
Rumi runs a hand through her hair, her mind already running a mile a minute. "Alright, I believe you. It's just, this is such short notice and there's not anyone else we trust enough to–"
"Well about that," Jinu cuts her off before she can spiral, "I know someone who'd be willing to help. My friend owes me a favor and she's on break right now so she can't pretend to be busy with school to get out of it."
Mira and Rumi share a look.
"I don't know, Jinu. You know what happened last time. Have we even met her before? We'd be letting a complete stranger into our home again."
Jinu's tone softens a fraction. "I know, I hear you. But I swear she's completely harmless and also will probably do a better job than me but please never tell her I said that. She's great with animals, friendly, and knowing her she could really use the extra cash but don't tell her I told you that either. You still have time to meet up with her and feel out her vibe or interview her or whatever it is you guys used to do before me."
Beside her, Mira contemplates his words for a moment. "And if it doesn't work out?"
"Uh... that's all I got honestly."
Rumi rubs her temple, leaning into the grounding palm that settles on her upper back. "I guess we could just... cancel our trip?"
A heavy silence follows, the two women having a wordless conversation with their eyes. There's more at stake than they're willing to risk again.
Jinu sighs, taking the lack of response as refusal. "Look, just... meet up with her before you decide anything, okay? I wouldn't hand this off to someone who'd let anything bad happen."
After another moment, Mira nods imperceptibly. Rumi returns it with a weary upturn of her lips.
"Alright, send us her number."
The relief in Jinu's voice does nothing to make them feel any better. "Done and done. I mean it, you'll love her right away."
Mira hums, doubtful. "We'll see."
After the call disconnects, Rumi's eyes follow her wife as she pushes off the counter to grab two wine glasses out of the cabinet above the sink. She fills both of them almost to the brim, and it makes Rumi huff out a tired but grateful laugh.
"I'll go grab another bottle."
They shoot her a text later that same evening. All Jinu had given them was a number and a name.
Zoey.
After cleaning up dinner, the two women are finally able to sink down on their large couch while they wait for a response.
Like clockwork, a lump of plush cream fluff appears out of nowhere, hops up and gets comfortable on Mira's lap. Happy purrs fill the air in response to the fingers that begin running through silky fur.
"I'm worried," Rumi admits. A much smaller blur of black rounds the corner full speed and leaps onto the couch, flopping down just to start attacking the loose fabric of her pajama pants. She scoops him up and drops him in her lap, unphased.
"I am too." Mira tilts her head to rest against the back of the couch. Her eyebrows are furrowed, the line of her shoulders still carrying tension from the hectic last six months, and now this. "This is less than ideal."
Three days.
Two now, really.
That's how long they have to find someone to watch the cats and the house before they'll be off to Bora Bora for a week.
The issue isn't a lack of people who'd be willing to do it, it's that they'd learned the hard way that putting the safety of their home and pets in the hands of other people can go horribly wrong in the blink of an eye.
Which it somehow had.
Every single time.
They've come back from trips to find things missing or broken more times than they can count, but monetary items can be fixed or replaced easily.
Their cats can't.
So when they'd return to–despite their very uncomplicated and concise care instructions–pre-prepped cat food still half full, dirty litter boxes, empty water bowls and hungry, unhappy yowling, the outcome was never pretty.
After the third incident they were ready to just stick to only going to pet friendly places, but then Jinu had stepped in and proved to be competent enough for them to leave and return to everything just as they left it. Her best friend is surprisingly good with them, and has taken it upon himself to refer to himself as Uncle Jinu despite the fact that both women still refuse to call him that.
Loathe as Rumi is to admit it, the cats love Uncle Jinu.
So during they few times a year they have the opportunity to treat themselves to a vacation for no longer than a week at most, they've had someone they can rely on to take care of things in their absence.
Now they're going to have to go back to trusting a total stranger again.
Honestly, Rumi would rather just cancel the flights and stay home. But this exact scenario is why they really do need to have a backup plan, and starting with someone her best friend trusts isn't a horrible idea.
But Jinu can be kind of an idiot sometimes, so she's still going to err on the side of caution.
At some point the endless bundle of energy in Rumi's lap squirms out of her hold to go harass a mouse toy on the rug. She shifts closer to Mira and leans against her side, dropping her head against her shoulder.
The familiar warmth and smell of her wife's lingering perfume is like an instant balm to soothe her racing mind. Rumi relaxes the smallest bit, reaching down to pet the now dozing cat curled up on the taller woman's thighs.
She lets her eyes slip shut for a moment, breathing out a long exhale. "I really don't want to spend the entire trip stressing about whether or not they're being taken care of properly."
Mira moves her hand away from soft fur to find Rumi's and intertwine their fingers together. Warm palms press together; a tether to keep her from getting swept away by her thoughts. "I know, jagiya. We'll make sure they are, one way or another," Mira murmurs.
"Do you think she even knows Jinu gave us her number?" Rumi snorts dryly.
Right as she asks it, her phone lights up with a buzz, startling her eyes back open. She hastily snatches it off the cushion and swipes the notification open, skimming the other two that follow it in quick succession.
Rumi:
Hi. Is this Zoey?
Zoey:
yeah hey!!
this is the people who need someone to watch their pets next week right?
or shit wait is this my dasher are they out of meatballs again
She angles the phone towards Mira so she can see better. Having left her glasses in the kitchen, her wife has to squint to see the screen, and Rumi smiles fondly.
Rumi:
Yes, this is Rumi and Mira.
Zoey:
okay thank god hi rumi!
or mira idk who i'm talking to rn
i mean ur probably both reading these so that doesn't matter but yes hi! are u guys just needing someone to stop by once a day or like what's the deal jinu was very vague
"Is she just typing every thought that pops into her head?" Mira asks, slightly perplexed.
Rumi shrugs. "Maybe that's a good thing?"
Rumi:
We're both here, but this is Rumi typing.
Would you be available to meet tomorrow afternoon to discuss details? We'd like to meet you first and speak in person to go over everything without any misunderstandings.
Zoey:
oh yea sure, we can do that!
just lmk when and were and i'll be there 🫡
where**
Rumi:
Does the Canyon Coffee off of Echo Park at 1pm sound alright?
Zoey:
works for me!
Rumi:
Great, see you tomorrow.
Zoey:
c u tmrw 👋
Rumi turns her phone off and drops her head forward with a groan. "God, I hope this works out."
"You and me both," Mira sighs.
ᓚᘏᗢ
Zoey is half convinced Jinu is setting up an elaborate scheme to get her kidnapped.
Thanks to the shortcut she took that let her avoid the worst of the Friday LA foot traffic, she had miraculously gotten to the coffee shop slightly early–but now she's sitting at one of the three tables outside by herself wondering what kind of mess she might be about to get herself into.
For starters, Jinu had quite literally given her as little information as possible. All his text had said was "cashing in that favor, i gave ur number to some friends that need someone to watch their pets next week so lock tf in and also good luck" and then proceeded to answer absolutely none of her baffled follow-up messages.
From what Zoey was able to infer after said friends reached out to her, it's two women–probably roommates, and Rumi types like her anthropology professor who's in his sixties–but that's it.
All she had gotten in response to her telling them she was on her way and wearing a yellow hoodie was a liked message and silence, and now she feels like she's just wearing a giant target on her torso. She swears she keeps feeling eyes on her, but nobody is paying her any mind every time she looks.
Her foot absentmindedly kicks the wheel of her skateboard propped against the metal table as the minutes tick by.
Briefly, she considers running inside to grab something to drink, except she has an "only two overpriced sugar loaded drinks per week" rule to keep her checking account from hitting the negatives again and she already cheated with a third bubble tea this week.
Her breaks are always when she snatches up a couple of part time jobs and saves enough to hold her over when the new semester starts again. Since her summer break just started four days ago, she really needs to get moving.
The reason she hasn't yet is because she's starting to feel burnt out–turns out she's not immune to it after all. Zoey has always thrived off of being busy, especially when she gets to do things she likes, but the complete lack of time she's had to just decompress for a bit is catching up to her.
It's also a big part of the reason she's not trying to crucify Jinu for dumping this on her out of nowhere.
The only reason she even owes him a favor is because she begged him to go see a horror movie with her that gave him nightmares for a week. Zoey had no clue what he'd end up using it for, but she supposes a week of covering for him while he's gone is a reasonable enough request after compromising his sleep.
Plus, feeding someone's pets is an easy way to make some money without having to fully commit to a contractual job. If she's lucky, she'll get to spend the next week laying around in her blissfully silent dorm since her roommate went home for the summer and only have to leave to check up on the animals twice a day.
That is, assuming there's not more to this than Jinu let on. She's still partially expecting a guy with a camera to get all up in her face to reveal that there's been a piece of paper with "idiot" written in Sharpie taped to her back since she left campus.
Man, it would really suck if this was a prank and she's about to get drenched in a bucket of Nickelodeon slime because she actually managed to get her bangs to cooperate this morning and oh holy shit that's the hottest couple she's ever seen.
Zoey does her best not to openly gawk, but two women who look like actual supermodels just turned the corner on the far end of the sidewalk and she has never claimed to be god's strongest soldier.
In the most cliche tropey way, her perception of time literally slows for a few seconds.
Long pink and purple hair respectively, one of them all legs and large black sunglasses with loose white pants and a sage green halter top, the other all toned arms covered by a skin tight white turtleneck paired with shorts in the same color as the other woman's shirt.
They're fucking matching. Their outfits are coordinated like they're walking back from a magazine photoshoot or something.
A handful of heads turn to admire the two women walking hand in hand, so Zoey takes the chance to appreciate the absolute vision they are together until they're close enough that she finally needs to look away before she outs herself as a weirdo.
Except before she can, their eyes land on her. First her hoodie, then her face.
And for some reason, instead of walking past, they're walking towards her.
Her fight or flight kicks in so fast it she almost knees the table.
There's... there's no way.
Zoey is frozen like a deer in headlights as they approach the table she's sitting at, stopping right in front of it while a hundred explosions go off in her head.
"You're Zoey?" the purple one asks, the expression on her perfectly symmetrical and almost angelic face unreadable. She's honest to god probably the most attractive person Zoey has ever seen in her entire life.
"Yuh," she replies eloquently.
Seeming unbothered by the way she's gaping up at them like a fish, the pink one pushes her sunglasses up on her head to reveal gorgeous angular features that have Zoey automatically revoking her prior statement because they're both the most attractive people she's seen in her life.
The two women pull out chairs across from her and sit down.
"I'm Rumi," the purple one says politely, extending her arm for a handshake that Zoey returns numbly. Her hand is soft and warm and firm at the same time. "Thanks for agreeing to meet with us."
"Mira," the pink one nods in acknowledgement. She forgoes a handshake and crosses her arms instead. With the sunglasses pushed up, Zoey is incredibly aware of the sharp eyes pinning her in place, scanning her up and down.
Holy shit. Okay, no yeah, this is fine. This is cool. Act cool.
Pushing past the initial disbelief, Zoey blinks herself out of her stupor and plasters a too-wide smile on her face.
"No yeah totally, of course, hi! Sorry, I just wasn't expecting... well actually I have no idea what I was expecting, but anyways it's great meeting you!" Zoey winces. "You wanted to discuss details?"
She thinks she sees the corner of Rumi's mouth tick up for a second, but it's gone before she can really tell.
"Correct," Mira answers cooly. Instead of jumping right into it like Zoey is expecting them to, she follows it with, "Before we begin, tell us a little about yourself, Zoey. What do you do?"
Her voice is low and rich like warm spiced honey. In some strange way, it manages to ease some of the panic trying to drown her.
"Oh, I'm a music production student at USC! Second year, and I'm minoring in marine biology which combines basically all of my interests together and I love it even though my schedule is trying to kill me most of the time. Other than that, uhhh, I'm twenty-three, I like to skateboard, my backup plan if all else fails is to be a Twitch streamer, and I once finished a five pound burrito in nineteen minutes so now my face is hanging on the wall of a restaurant in Burbank."
Zoey nods to herself afterwards, feeling rather proud of the fact that she didn't stutter once.
The other two women, for their part, look like they don't know what to say.
"That's... actually really impressive," Mira settles on after a moment. Zoey knows it's only her delusional imagination detecting the smallest hint of amusement in her tone.
Rumi nods thoughtfully. "You said you're minoring in marine biology, you have an interest in animals, then?"
"Boy, do I!" Zoey perks up, her nervous grin turning genuine. "Sea life is far up on the list for me obviously, but I have a lot of appreciation for all animals. I worked at a zoo as a tour guide for two summers in high school and got to make a documentary for my filmmaking class in my senior year about the birds native to the Pacific Northwest, they played it at a school assembly and I won an award for it."
"What about pets, do you have any?" Mira asks, uncrossing her arms to rest them on the table, leaning forward slightly.
Forcing herself not to ogle the sharp lines of the other woman's bare shoulders, Zoey makes an affirmative sound. "I do! They live at home with my dad, but I have two dogs and growing up I had a frog, a hamster, and a beta fish that had beef with his own reflection. My aunt also has a cat and a bunny that I used to watch on Friday nights because she would stay out until morning and to this day I try not to think too hard about why."
Zoey worries for a brief moment that she's rambling and oversharing, but the other two women seem to be carefully listening to and considering every word. She has no idea if she's passing whatever test this is, but she's happy to keep answering their questions. She'd bark and do a backflip if they asked her to.
Rumi lifts her hand to place it over one of Mira's on the table. The glint of a ring catches Zoey's eye, the sunlight making the gemstones on the silver band glitter. There's a nearly identical one on Mira's other hand.
Married, then.
Zoey feels a little giddy about that for some reason.
"And your schedule is completely free next week?" The way Rumi asks it has her sitting up a bit straighter, sensing that this is the part of the conversation that needs her full attention.
"Yep! I got nothin' going on whatsoever."
Rumi and Mira share a quick look. The air turns serious when their gazes fall back to her.
"Alright, here's the deal," Mira declares bluntly, "if we agree to this, you're going to take it seriously. No half-assing things, no doing it on your own time, no exceptions. We will give you straightforward instructions that do not demand anything unreasonable from you, and you will follow them to a T. You will treat our animals with the same respect and care you'd treat your own, and if you fail to do so we will know and there will be repercussions."
With every sharp word, the smile on Zoey's face falls. In any other scenario the demanding tone from such a gorgeous woman would've made her feel some type of way, but as it is, Zoey's eyes are wide with mild surprise at the sudden shift in energy. She's not entirely sure how to respond.
Seeming to realize that, Rumi places a gentle hand on her wife's shoulder to ease her back a bit. She turns to Zoey with a slightly apologetic but no less serious look.
"We've had problems in the past with people taking advantage of our space and leniency and not properly caring for our animals. It is very, very important to us that it never happens again. Jinu told us we can trust you, and we're willing to give you a chance so long as you understand the gravity of the situation."
It takes Zoey a few beats to process everything, but then her eyes widen in horror. "You mean they neglected them?"
The nod she recieves makes her feel slightly sick to her stomach.
"That's... that's awful, I'm so sorry. How could they do that? There is something so fucking wrong with people who think animal's lives have less value than their own. I don't even..." she shakes her head to stop herself from going down that train of thought. "I'm really sorry that happened to you and your babies, I don't think I'd ever be able to trust anyone else with mine after that."
By the time she's finished, both women's tense expressions have loosened into something more akin to weary relief. Still cautious, but less heavy now.
"For what it's worth," Zoey adds, giving them a small, sad smile, "my pets' wellbeings have always taken priority over my own. For a while my dad and I were hardly able to afford to feed ourselves, but we always made sure the dogs ate first. I would do the same for someone else's pets too."
At that, their guards seem to lower almost fully. Rumi's eyes soften and Mira relaxes back into her seat, watching Zoey with open curiosity now.
"Can I ask what their names are?" Zoey tries to lighten the mood.
Mira's lips curl into the suggestion of a smile. "Bomi and Fig."
The first thing Zoey thinks is wow, those are lowkey weird names for dogs, but the second thing she thinks is, "Aww Fig is such a good one!"
It makes Rumi chuckle, the sound airy and musical. "His legal name is Ficus, but Mira said he hasn't grown into it yet so we call him Fig."
Zoey coos at that. "Is he still a baby?"
"Mhm, just turned six months. He's a handful sometimes, but Bomi was worse at that age."
"Let me guess, you got Bomi in the spring?" Zoey surmises, grinning.
To her surprised, Mira shakes her head. "That was already her name when we got her. She was seized from a shitty breeder who shouldn't have been in the business for as long as he was. Fig was rescued from an apartment complex fire, nobody claimed him afterwards."
Somehow, the fact that they have rescues and not fancy breeds that cost them thousands makes them even more attractive to her.
Down, girl. They're literally married.
"Wow! So are you just needing me to stop by to take them outside, feed them, and walk them? Or do they also have medications I need to give them and whatnot."
For some reason, her question seems to confuse the other two.
"Um, you don't need to take them outside, no. They're indoor only." Rumi explains slowly. "You will need to feed them, yes, but since you'll already be there keeping an eye on the house it shouldn't be any trouble. We'll prepare and portion their food for the week in advance to make it easier."
The idea of indoor-only dogs puzzles her momentarily, but the dawning realization of the other part of what Rumi said overshadows it. "Oh. Oh! I didn't realize I'd be pet and house sitting, Jinu left that part out. That's fine though! Way more convenient."
Oh my god I'll be staying at their house.
Without them there, her brain reminds her. But still.
"We have a guest room you'll be sleeping in, and I hope you don't mind sharing it because Bomi and Fig will try to suffocate you in the middle of the night," Mira muses. "They're cuddlers."
"Good 'cause so am I," Zoey giggles. "When will you guys be leaving?"
Rumi's hand finally drops from Mira's shoulder to rest over the one on the table again. "Sunday afternoon. We'll have you come by early enough to get through introductions and everything else before we leave."
"Also don't stress about packing toiletries, we keep our bathrooms stocked up with everything you should need," Mira adds.
Zoey is so busy staring at the way Rumi's shirt hugs her biceps that she almost misses it when she says, "In regards to payment, we'll start you at five hundred dollars per night, but that's susceptible to change based on performance."
She balks and stares at them like they just told her the ocean dried up.
"Five hund– per night!? That's like," Zoey does the math in her head rapidly, "I dunno, a lot. Seriously?"
Rumi tilts her head like a confused puppy. Mira raises a thin eyebrow. "It's not that much. Depending on how things go, we might raise it still."
Holy shit, how rich are they?
Zoey waves her hands in front of her frantically. "Nononono that's fine five hundred is fine I'd do it for like thirty but please not any more than that I really cannot in good conscience accept that much money!"
The two women share a look she can't decipher, but they don't with argue her on it. Instead, Rumi just says, "We'll dicuss it more later. We have a few more things we need to get done before our trip, but we'll text you the address and a time for Sunday. Do you have any more questions?"
Yeah, can I be your dog too–
"Um, nothing that can't wait, no."
"Good." Both women stand and push their chairs back in. Rumi smiles down at her gratefully. It makes Zoey's cheeks warm. "Thank you for agreeing to meet and for your honesty, Zoey. We'll see you on Sunday."
There's still a lingering wariness in Mira's eyes, but it's edges are dulled.
Still feeling dumbfounded, Zoey nods and returns the smile paired with an awkward wave. "Of course! Thanks for giving me a chance, I know it's a huge deal for you guys. See you Sunday."
Zoey stares blankly at their retreating backs and not any lower until they disappear around the same corner they came from. Beneath the table, she pinches her arm to make sure this isn't all some really sadistic lucid dream.
"Ow, shit!"