mira has this habit of saying "i'm just gonna close my eyes for a second."
this statement has never once meant "i'm just gonna close my eyes for a second." it means she has accidentally initiated a two-hour nap.
it doesn't matter where she is. couch, floor, car ride, rumi's shoulder. if she's comfortable for more than a minute, she's gone.
after enough years together, rumi and zoey have learned to stop asking if she's asleep. they'll hear complete silence, glance over, and immediately start debating whether they should put a blanket on her now or wait until she's fully committed to unconsciousness.
[said with increasing amount of distress] i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this i got this
The key to writing good fanfiction is to harbor a deeply humiliating desire, and the trick there is that even pretty basic and societally-accepted desires like “being held” and “being wanted” CAN and WILL be humiliating if they’re intense enough. Become so estranged from human connection that the idea of someone playing with your hair fills you with yearning so deep you feel like you’re going to throw up and you will write some banger fanfiction. It might have some other consequences too but idrk about that.
im bad to argue with because i have jesters blood if you misintepret me i'll just go along with it. when i was a teenager i was trying to explain the concept of the heterosexual default to someone and they were like "so you think everyone should become bisexual?" and i was like. what the hell sure. lets have legally enforced bisexuality. i'll die on a hill for the bit dont fuck with me.
thinking about the polytrix parent trap au again. the camp counselor thinking it must be a prank that three nearly identical looking children (because the triplets are actually triplets who look alike and not just twins and another full sibling born at the same time in this au) all have different last names (choi jihae, kang aeri, and ryu hani) and one of them is claiming to be american.
jihae, the only one who knows she has two sisters that are still alive (aeri thinks she has two sisters who are dead, and hani doesn’t even know she has sisters) freaks out because “oh my god oh my god its happening”
eventually they realize who each of them is and they start to bond and, like in the og parent trap, swap places.
they each cover up their respective “patterns” (a skin condition they all inherited from their mama; although i am EXTREMELY tempted to say demons are still a thing in this universe), and paint on whoever’s place theyre taking with fake tattoos that are made to last longer.
jihae having the time of her life helping take care of the grounds of rumi and celine’s home on jeju island. she loves all the different plants and animals, which rumi is curious about because hani never cared that much about them before, but writes it off as her daughter just learning to love the outdoors while at camp. celine figures her out early on but she hasn’t seen or even been allowed to speak about her other two granddaughters in so long. she has beef with mira (so much so that she blocked mira’s numbers and banned her from ever stepping foot near her home on jeju, which is how mira never finds out about rumi and hani still being alive), but she KNOWS hani is in safe hands with mira. she’s seen aeri thriving through entertainment news that she watches while rumi isnt looking (acknowledging the existence of her other daughters is so painful to rumi that she shoves it all away and made celine promise to never remind her of them). she knows hani will be cared for.
(i also changed hiw i think mira believes zoey and rumi and their daughters died. she believes rumi and hani were on a boat to jeju that sank with no survivors, and was unable to find reports of rumi making it to jeju safely because she used a private boat instead, and she believes zoey and jihae were on a plane that crashed and was unable to find anything about them, because zoey changed her and jihae’s last names entirely.)
hani is an absolute nervous wreck meeting mira. she’s caught glimpses of her on tv and the internet, and was fascinated with her in an entirely different way than she was with other beautiful celebrities she’s seen. she always had a desire to meet her, maybe even hug her, but she never understood why. and now she knows why; because she’s her mother. she cries when she gets to meet her, the connection finally clear to her, and mira is surprised but she just figures it’s just aeri’s mutual separation anxiety with her kicking in. she doesn’t even care that her daughter seems to not care much for her usual hobbies, just figuring she’s tuckered out from camp. bobby figures out who she is fairly quickly, but he’s so excited to meet this girl who he figured was dead and hasn’t seen since she was a baby that he lets her make him cross his heart and hope to die, pinky promise, AND swear on his mothers grave (she’s alive but he’s terrified enough of this 9 year old that he figures she might end up in a grave if he backstabs her) that he won’t tell.
wait, what was that about aeri having separation anxiety? oops. yeah so at first she’s REALLY excited to be in the us and be meeting her mom, who she thought was dead. meeting cool sea creatures at the aquarium is awesome! but then she starts missing her eomma. and then she REALLY starts missing her eomma. nobody figures out aeri, because zoey only really has jihae and this weird dude she’s dating that seems to think very little of zoey’s daughter to begin with. instead, aeri outs herself to the guy when he walks in on her having an anxiety attack about missing her eomma, entirely in korean, which he at least knows jihae wouldnt do. he drags her out to zoey very roughly and reveals her as an imposter. but zoey knows that’s her daughter. it must be, so-
she gasps, sees his grip on her daughter, and pulls her away from him. she breaks up with him and kicks him out after that. aeri, now in accented english, apologizes for lying, and tells her who she is. zoey is overjoyed to see her daughter, but knows she needs to get her home. they get on a plane to jeju pretty soon after finding out that that’s where jihae is, partly because she wants her daughter that she raised back quickly, and partly because she knows it will be easier to get to rumi first, and if both of them are together, she thinks it’ll be easier to get to mira.
she suspects she won’t be allowed onto celine’s property, for the same reasons mira wasnt, so she opts to sneak in (“like i used to as a teenager whenever i wanted to see your mama” she tells aeri, who is absolutely enthralled by any story she can get about her long-suspected-dead parents) through the forest behind it. aeri runs off once they get into the woods, so eager to meet rumi, and zoey struggles to keep up because she gets stuck for a bit.
aeri runs into jihae, who’s tending to some flowers and admiring the animals just in front of the forest. as in, literally runs into her. they’re excited to see each other again though and start talking a mile a minute, updating each other on everything they’ve seen and learned, but then rumi comes over to see-
she stops in place. she’s seeing double. “hani?” she asks.
they freeze and turn to her. sheepishly, they both begin scratching the back of their heads, a gesture they both inherited from zoey. “no.” they admit in unison.
rumi shakes her head, “i dont understand, what-“
zoey comes stumbling out the forest then. “aeri, you cant just-“ she gasps. “JIJI!” she rushes forward and hoists jihae in the air, spinning her around while jihae giggles.
“mom!”
aeri jumps in too. “wait! i wanna hug too!”
jihae glares. “you had her for three weeks!”
“so? she hugs really nicely!”
“true.”
rumi watches the whole scene in utter disbelief. “aeri…? jihae? zoey?”
they turn to her. aeri and jihae wave shyly. “hi, mama.”
zoey places jihae on the ground, and gives her ex wife a thin lipped smile. “hi, rumi.”
theres a charged moment between them. aeri and jihae look between them excitedly.
but rumi has other things on her mind (as well). “wait, if you’re here, where’s…”
zoey grimaces. “with mira.”
rumi glares. “you knew about this?”
rolling her eyes, zoey scoffs. “of course not! i was as blindsided as you are! and i suspect mira will be too!”
they both glare at their children, then. they shuffle their feet nervously.
“we just wanted to meet our other parents,” jihae admits.
zoey sighs. she puts a hand on her shoulder. “jiji, i told you one day i’d take you to meet your mothers and sisters.”
“but WHEN, mom?”
“you told her that?” rumi asks in disbelief.
the children turn to look at her. “didnt you wanna meet us too, mama?” jihae asks.
rumi suddenly feels choked up. “y-yes. i did. i just…it hurt so much to think about it…”
“why?” aeri asks.
rumi looks at the ground, desperately trying not to cry. “because i couldn’t stand the thought of you just seeing me as a stranger. of my own daughters not thinking of themselves as mine.”
out of nowhere, she has an armful of her two eldest daughters. “of course we’re yours, mama!” aeri declares.
“yeah! you’re still our mama!” jihae affirms.
rumi gasps and hugs the two daughters she never thought she’d see again close to her.
the sight of them moves zoey to tears.
that’s when celine decides to leave the house, having heard the shouting from inside. “rumi, what-“ she sees zoey and glares. “zoey.”
“hi, celine,” zoey waves awkwardly.
she looks at the two children hugging her daughter. “hello.”
rumi goes to introduce them but- “you must be aeri,” celine smiles at her other granddaughter.
aeri steps back. “h-hi.”
rumi blinks. “how did you…” she squints her eyes. “you knew.” its not a question.
celine nods. “i figured it out a week ago.”
“why didnt you tell me?”
“because i wanted to spend time with one of the granddaughters i was denied of meeting.” celine says.
“eomma, hani is-“
“with her mother, who you know as well as i would never harm a hair on her own daughter’s head.”
aeri takes this moment to break some news to them. “is now a bad time to tell you that my eomma thinks my other parents and sisters are dead?”
“she WHAT?” everyone but jihae turns to stare at her in shock.
they end up staying for a few days while they figure out the logistics of getting to mira.
while celine bonds with her granddaughters and rumi does ask a little about her daughters, there’s a lot of tension between zoey and rumi that is building and building.
the day that they plan to go to seoul, the two of them are late to breakfast. celine eventually goes to check on them. aeri and jihae hear a few shouts of surprise, and then, five minutes later, celine returns, dragging their disheveled looking parents to the kitchen table. “its like you’re a pair of disobedient teenagers again,” celine growls as she seats them as far apart as possible at the table.
they eat their breakfast with red faces.
they also can barely look each other in the eye on the plane to seoul.
outside the building mira lives in, the five of them go over logistics of how they’re gonna get inside so that they can get aeri back to mira and get hani back-
aeri disregards all of that and just walks into the front door. they run in after her, only briefly stopped by security, who aeri waves off. “they’re with me, guys!”
the man in the lobby at first greets her excitedly (he’s known her almost her whole life), but then does a double and triple take. “miss aeri?! i thought you were upstairs with your mother?”
“thats my sister, hani, sir! now, can we please go up? ill get you some extra sweets next time eomma and i go to the bakery!”
he’s in shock, but he lets them up.
the elevator opens up to reveal mira’s penthouse, and the five of them all exit it, four of them trepidatiously. aeri just skips out.
mira emerges from deep within the house, looking at something on her phone. “bobby, what are you doing here-“ she looks up. her jaw drops. “what…”
aeri rushes forward, tackling her. “EOMMA!”
mira hugs her back, but looks at her in shock, breathlessly whispering, “aeri?”
hani runs down the hallway then. “whats going on?” she gasps when she sees rumi and celine. “MAMA! HALMEONI” she runs towards them and drags them down into a hug.
zoey and jihae stand back, watching two families they suddenly feel a bit left out from.
but then mira rises up from the ground, staring at them in utter disbelief. “zo? how?”
“but…the plane…” she looks at rumi and hani. “the boat…”
“not my flight,” zoey clarifies.
“not my boat,” rumi says, face buried in her youngest’s hair.
mira shakes her head. “what are you two doing here? and why was hani…” she gasps. “you didn’t…”
“we didn’t,” zoey starts, crossing her arms.
“they did,” rumi pulls away, also crossing her arms.
when mira does the same thing, all three children gulp. “uh oh.”
(and thats all ive thought of for now ngl. eventually mira profusely apologizes for the fight all those years ago and rumi apologizes for escalating it and zoey apologizes for just giving up on them and they cry and fuck and get back together about it)
very nice to have a psych that doesn't gaslight me 😌
(a previous psych said I didn't have adhd bc i could pay attention to a lecture I'm interested in for 20 min. Never mind all the rest of my dysfunctions)
Anyways, adhd meds prescribed again!! Unfortunately, shortage!!! Or also new provider might have goofed? Idk
I wanna write badminton AU solely bc world class badminton players polytrix having a kid who grows up to become a pickleball pro is so fucking funny to me
polytrix frantically trying to keep their baby away from racket sports the same way canon polytrix wants to keep their kid(s) away from becoming hunters, but ultimately failing bc pickleball is taught in PE and also extremely popular where they live
Polytrix baby reminding her moms of each other (Zoey's relentless physicality, Rumi's swag and hand skill, Mira's height (lol)a)
Polytrix trying to be the exact opposite of typical sports parents—no pressure, no hovering, encouragment without expectations—but also fighting the valiant battle of trying to hide how much they wanna scream WHY PICKLEBALL
Also major salt abt how much PB pros make compared to badminton lol
So it turns out you don't need to write the main fic of an AU to write a self indulgent snippet. Crazy.
(the 80hds is barking y'all)
"We should do it."
Rumi's expression is flatter than her tone.
Zoey buries her face in her hands with a sigh. "Should we? It's probably just a pha—" her hands slide down and she groans loudly "—oh my god that sounds like my mother."
Mira soothes her wife with a gentle hand through Zoey's hair, "It's not the end of the world, jagi."
"Ughhhhhh," Zoey whines pitifully, "We should've put a racket in her hand as soon as she started walking." She huffs. "She's so athletic! She could do so much better than pi–"
The front door rattles open.
"Eomma-man-mi!" A bright voice shouts from the entryway, "Jeo-wasseoyeo!!"
"Wasseo?" Zoey's expression flips like a switch as she leaps up from her seat to hug her daughter, "Did you have fun?"
Ha-jin vibrates in her mother's embrace. "Yeah!!" She stops squirming long enough to accept her welcome home forehead kisses. "We got to play for free!" Ha-jin bounces on the balls of her feet. "And a bunch of ladies wanted to play with halmeoni!"
"Did they now?" Mira smirks at the older woman entering behind Ha-jin.
Celine replies with a cold glare—then immediately replaces it with a placid smile as Ha-jin turns back to her.
"Yeah!! They wanted to help her play! Like this!" Ha-jin mimes putting her left hand on someone's hip and rotates through a forehand swing.
"Lovely." Rumi says drily before softening her tone, "Ha-jin, it's almost time for lunch. Let halmeoni give you a bath and we can eat together after."
"Okay!!" Ha-jin zooms towards the couch to peck her mothers' cheeks, "Mwah! Mwah! Stinky kisses!" She dodges Rumi's retaliatory hair ruffle and Mira's cheek pinch, then sprints up the stairs. "Gotta go fast!!"
"Did she even play at all?" Zoey returns to her seat and chuckles softly, "She's still got a full battery."
"Yeah, eomeoni," Mira's shit eating grin returns, "Did Ha-jin get sidelined by grannies flir–"
"Ahem." Rumi clears her throat abrasively.
"Yes, jagi." Mira ignores Zoey's imitation of a whip cracking.
"If you must know–" Celine starts.
"I really don't." Rumi grumbles under her breath.
"–it was all perfectly professional instruction–"
Mira snorts.
"–Yes, Mira. Women can play doubles without lusting after their partner. I know it's a foreign concept for you–"
"Hey." Rumi warns.
Celine sighs and apologizes to her daughter. "Mianhae." She turns back to Zoey, "But yes, Ha-jin played plenty of matches. And whenever she wasn't playing, she was messing with one of those…what are they called? Plink masters?"
"Dink master." Rumi replies hollowly. "Dinking. They spend all their time playing net and call it dinking."
"Yes, that." Celine continues breezily. "Honestly, a lot of the club members were very impressed. Called her a natural." She raises an eyebrow at the stony expressions on her daughters' faces. "Right. Well. I'll go make sure Ha-jin isn't mixing all the bubbles together again."
Zoey sags into the couch and cradles her head again. "Our daughter is a natural. At pickleball." She turns to Mira and shakes her shoulder. "And she's already started doing drills! On her own!!" She face plants into Mira's chest with a dramatic sob.
"Yeah…" Mira rubs Zoey's back, then frowns gently. "You're not…actually upset, are you?" She glances at her other wife. "Right? We agreed we didn't want to push Ha-jin into badminton."
"I'm not…" Rumi sighs and pinches her brow. "I can't say I'm happy. She's so competitive, and I don't want her to…"
Zoey and Mira nod knowingly. Out of the three of them, Rumi was the youngest when she started competing.
Zoey tilts to rest the side of her head on Mira. "I'm not mad either, really." She sighs. "I know it's so petty, but…" Zoey groans quietly. "Pickleball? It's so slow."
"But it's what she likes, aegi," Mira kisses Zoey's hair. "And we're in a unique position to support her."
"It makes sense financially, too." Rumi grins wryly. "The market is open—people are paying ridiculous prices for court rentals and lessons. Expanding the club would pay for itself in a couple years. Sooner if we get decent coaching staff to run some classes."
"Or be the coaching staff," Mira nudges Zoey. "C'mon, you love building new programs."
"She loves naming them," Rumi teases.
"…the PB&J program," Zoey mumbles reluctantly, "Pickleball and Jim."
"Thats awful, jagi." "I hate it already."
Zoey grins at her wives' disgust, then settles back into the couch. "So we're really doing this?" She looks at Rumi. "The numbers work out?"
Rumi nods. "We'll have to dip into our savings, but the renovations won't be nearly as expensive as when we first set up the club."
"And you're okay, too?" Zoey asks Mira.
"I–" Mira hesitates. "Yes. I'll be okay."
Mira's wives turn to her abruptly, though Zoey is the first to speak. "Jagi?"
Mira blinks, eyes starting to become glassy. "I'll get over it." She sniffles. "I just… a part of me always hoped she'd want to share the court with us."
Rumi reaches out to rub Mira's thigh. "She does, jagi. It might not be a badminton court, but you know she'd leap at the chance to play with us."
"You're right." Mira tangles her fingers with Rumi's with one hand and wipes her tears with the other.
The three sit quietly together, trading casual touches until Mira stiffens with a scowl.
"We're not adding a court to the yard," Mira hisses, "She's the light of our lives and treasure of our hearts, but if she makes me listen to that popping all day–"
"You'll buy earplugs because you can't say no that girl." Celine interrupts. "Don't worry," she adds when Mira's face pales, "Ha-jin didn't hear, she's still upstairs. She wanted to clean and 'mod' her paddle. Whatever that means."
Mira blows out a sigh in relief.
---
Local badminton club, Taeyang, picks up pickleball
8 year-old Hajin Ryu becomes world's youngest pickleball pro
Record breaker Hajin Ryu wins US Open at age 9
"My moms played rock-paper-scissors." Hajin Ryu wins her second US Open after switching doubles partners
Three-peat! Hajin Ryu wins third US Open in a row with yet another doubles partner.
"I'm the hard carry." Hajin Ryu, 12, discusses double-crown in singles and winning her 4th US Open in a row with her grandmother."
---
Notes:
Ha-jin calls Mira, Rumi, and Zoey Eomma, Maman, and Mami respectively, so she calls for her Eomma-man-mi when she wants all three
Ha-jin won her first US Open with Mira, the second with Zoey (she lost rock paper scissors lmfao), and her third with Rumi
Rumi enjoyed playing PB the most out of polytrix
It is canon to this AU that Celine is GILF bait at pickleball clubs. They all wanna show her their 3rd shot drop if you know what I'm saying
If it wasn't clear from the text:
Rumi didn't want Ha-jin to suffer through competing in pro sports at a young age
Zoey, who has an extremely explosive and fast play style in badminton, worries that Ha-jin's athleticism is wasted on a slow sport like pickleball
Mira is both the least and most bothered—she's able to appreciate that PB is what makes Ha-jin happy, but feels like she's losing something that they could have bonded over (she was hoping Ha-jin would develop an interest in badminton organically)
Celine has reached her quota of fucking up kids with badminton. Also very grandma of her to indulge Ha-jin in contrast to the pressure she put on Rumi lol
I am not Korean nor have I taken classes, have mercyq
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