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Zoey had gotten Mira and Rumi into streaming not long after their hiatus ended. Zoey had been streaming since she was in high school, using it to block out the silence her parents' divorce left her with in her father's house.
Zoey had always had a close knit community, so she was used to them knowing almost everything about her; of course that got hard when she joined Huntrix. The only thing harder to hide than what Huntrix was planning was her relationship with Rumi and Mira.
Their fandom wasn't blind to how close they were, you'd have to be dead to not see it. But that doesn't mean their relationship itself was obvious, of course there was speculation in some corners of the internet but most people thought they were just a trio of best friends.
Tonight is a night where Mira has gone to the dance studio to release some excess mental stress, and both Zoey and Rumi are streaming; Zoey is doing a confession reading stream as Rumi works on learning the cords and lyrics for a few songs her chat requested she cover.
Rumi finishes the last note of "Lesbian of the Year", slowly setting down her guitar and giving the camera a small smile. "I think I finally got that one down guys." Suddenly a ringtone starts go off and Rumi reaches for her phone so fast she almost drops it when she finally get a grip on it. "Hang on chat Mira's calling me"
Rumi stands up and quickly hits the mute button as she answers the phone. When Rumi walks back into frame and gets everything set up to keep stream going, the chat can see the red rim under her eyes and the way the light reflects a little bit more in her gaze.
Her eyes flit quickly across the screen as she reads the chat, a crease forming between her brows. "Oh! Guys I'm fine I promise, Mira just did something super sweet and I got surprised, so my body apparently thought crying was appropriate." She laughs a bit before adjusting her guitar and pulling up the sheet music for the next song.
Rumi's fingers move off of the guitar neck and the last note of "Glimpse of Us" fades into silence. Usually Rumi is quick to start asking chat's opinion and looking for anywhere she messed up so she can do better on the next run; this time Rumi sits in the silence, it's almost as if she's resigned herself to it.
Chat doesn't freak out too much because sometimes Rumi will just zone out into whatever the song made her think about. When she finally moves to wipe at her eyes after a few long seconds, chat immediately starts spam checking on her. "Oh, uhm, okay so chat. I have a thing where when i cry in a day, I'm like a fountain all day after that. Like nothing bad has happened I'm just teary eyed."
rumislittleguy: ZOEY! rumi is sad!
"Wait why'd someone come into my chat saying Rumi is sad. Why is she sad? What has she done?" Zoey tugs at the drawstring on her hoodie and her eyes flick back and forth between chat and the door.
"Oh! Oh, is Rumi crying?" She watches chat for a few seconds for confirmation before she turns her chair to the door. "hold on, gimme a second guys." and with that Zoey is out the door and across the building in less than 30 seconds.
Rumi's eyes shoot up, and her mic barely pics up the faint creak of the studio door opening. "Hi," her voice is softer, and she tilts her head like a confused animal would, "did chat hop?"
Whatever Zoey say off screen isn't heard, but Rumi's face is enough information on its own. Her quickly expression melts into a soft grin and eyes filled with adoration.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a bit of a teary moment." There's a mummer of Zoey asking if something happened. "Nothing, I just started crying for no reason. I'm fine now." A beat of silence before she starts shifting to watch Zoey move deeper into the room.
"No I'm good, I'm good. I'm sorry chat hopped—"
"You're okay!"
"I told them not to."
"You don't need to worry." There's more to whatever Zoey says but because she's wrapped Rumi in a hug, her voice is muffled by the beanie on Rumi's head. The hug is long and gentle, and radiates a kind softness most friendly hugs don't have; wether they're for comfort or not.
"Sorry." Zoey pokes at Rumi's cheek as she begins to walk away, and as she does Rumi turns back to the camera. "Screw you chat! I told you not to chathop!" Zoey barks out a laugh in the background, and it makes a smile creep onto Rumi's face. "Bye, have fun." And with that the door latches and Rumi is pulling the lyrics back up onto the visible desktop.
Zoey walks back into frame on her on stream, sitting down and adjusting her hair as she settles. "Sorry guys my— uh, Rumi's a loser." Either chat doesn't notice the flush on her face from the almost slip up or is deciding to ignore it so they can use it against her later. Either way she's glad she doesn't have to deal with it now.