Rumi hears them before she sees them. Their voices echo down the hall.
She peeks around the corner. Zoey is curled up on the couch, one of her treasured lyrics notebooks on her lap and a pencil on her hand, the rubber end caught between her teeth. Celine is sanding behind the couch, leaning on the back of it with her forearms. Zoey’s talking animatedly through the pencil, her free hand waving in the air as she tries to explain her words to the older woman.
She can only see the side of Celine’s face, but her eyes are soft and there’s a proud smile on her lips. She says something, and moves one hand to ruffle Zoey’s hair.
“You have a gift with words, Zoey. You’ll figure it out.”
Zoey beams up at her, eyes sparkling. Rumi steps back into the darkness of the hallway, a tightness in her chest she doesn’t know how to explain.
Rumi doesn’t know what time it is. She stumbles a little on half asleep feet, rubbing at her eye with one hand while the other’s fingers skate over the wall, guiding her towards the kitchen. The light coming through the doorway stops her in her tracks long enough to register the hushed voices coming from within. She tiptoes the rest of the way and looks inside.
Mira and Celine are standing on front of the window, both still in their PJs. Celine has an arm wrapped around Mira’s shoulders as the younger girl leans against her side. She can’t hear what they’re saying, but if the way Mira’s curling into herself is anything to go by, it must have something to do with the call she’d gotten that afternoon from her parents.
Celine moves her hand to Mira’s head, brushing her hair back as she turns her head and presses a soft kiss to her forehead.
“You’ll always have a place in my home.” she hears her murmur.
Rumi turns around and goes back to bed, the glass of water she’d been after long forgotten.
Rumi steps into the living room, fingers fidgeting as she look back to where Zoey and Mira are hiding (well, “hiding”. They’re fully in view, but it’s kinda funny that they think they’re being conspicuous). The maknae gives her a goofy smile and a double thumbs up while Mira just shoos her in, her raised eyebrow silently judging her for being a wuss. She grimaces at them and turns back to where Celine stands next to the piano shuffling through sheets of music.
She steps closer, shuffling her feet. Celine looks up and tilts her head, giving her a questioning look. She tries to ask, just like they practiced, but the words don’t come out. She looks down and grabs at the rolled up sleeve of Celine’s shirt. Celine blinks at her, then looks behind her to where Zoey and Mira are. Then her eyes get sad, and she sighs as she sets the sheets down.
Her arms come up, and Rumi can’t resist burrowing down into her warmth, her citrusy perfume filling her nose. Celine holds her close, and as the seconds stretch, Rumi realizes Celine isn’t going to let go until she does.
Tears spring to her eyes as she curls in further, and all Celine does is hold her tighter.
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