Chapter Text
Celine was used to waking up early. She had always appreciated the serenity of morning, particularly after she retired from idol life. When Rumi had been a toddler, mornings were often the only time that the hanok was calm and quiet. Of course it had been challenging as she tried to balance raising a half-demon child, transitioning from being an idol to managing and building the new entertainment company that she had started with her girls before their deaths, and being the only demon slayer still alive, but those quiet mornings gave her just a few moments of peace. And the habit of raising early had stuck.
She nursed a cup of steaming tea as she watched the sun crest the horizon, painting the scattered clouds shades of pinks, purples, and orange. She would take the company jet into Seoul and head into the office for a little to continue hunting down those putain de parasites suceurs de merde that dared to call themselves journalists. Just thinking of those gossip mongers made her blood boil. Once she found them, she would absolutely ruin them. They would regret preying on her baby. Celine took a deep breath a tried to center herself. She needed to be calm and in control, especially since she also needed to call Ji-Hye to set up an appointment for all three of the girls.
That was another thing. Celine needed Ji-Hye to agree to retest the girls. She had come to the conclusion that there was in fact no other way that Rumi was going to accept her proper classification without hearing it directly from a doctor and seeing it written on an official form. But even though it was necessary, she really didn’t want to call Ji-Hye and listen to the Caregiver lecture her on all the ways she had failed Rumi. Celine was already painfully aware of how many mistakes she had made with her precious baby. But she had to do it.
With a sigh, Celine finished off her tea and took one last look at the sunrise. Padding into the kitchen, the retired idol washed her tea cup and gathered her things. A driver would be arriving soon to take her to the private airfield where she would take the company jet. She would call Ji-Hye from the plane, maybe from the office if needed. There were a lot of moving parts for the day and it was imperative that she stayed on schedule.
Soon enough the car arrived, crunching the gravel as it approached. Celine nodded to the driver as she slid into the back seat and got settled. She leaned back into the plush leather seats and let her mind wander as they drove past familiar scenery to the airfield. Celine was worried about Rumi. Her girl had barely spoken during her phone call. And a quiet Rumi was not a good sign. Celine knew her baby well enough to know that something had to be wrong. Was she dropping? It was perfectly healthy for her baby to do so, it just scared Celine to know she wasn’t there. She knew that Mira and Zoey were perfectly capable Caregivers. She knew that. But Rumi was her baby. She sighed through her nose, closing her eyes. She would see for herself how her baby was doing soon.
She boarded the waiting jet, waving off the flight crew as they offered her coffee or juice with a polite dismissal. Once they were airborne, Celine pulled her laptop out of her bag and answered some emails. There were no leads yet on those parasites, but she would find them. And she would ruin them. She answered a few other emails, looked over a few budgets and contracts. Then glanced at the time. It was still early but not too early. And Ji-Hye could suck it if she thought it was too early.
“Do you know how early it is, Celine?!” Ji-Hye hissed in lieu of greeting. “Is someone dying? This had better be an emergency!”
“Good morning to you too, Unnie,” Celine replied. The childish part of her brain was cheering at Ji-Hye’s reaction, mentally sticking her tongue out at the older woman.
“What was so important that you needed to call me at 6:54 in the morning, Baek Celine?!”
“I apologize for the early hour, Ji-Hye Unnie,” Celine fought back the smile. “The girls have sealed the Honmoon and, per your wishes, I’ve been weaning Rumi off of her suppressants. She is beginning to show some more Little indicators.”
“That’s good,” Ji-Hye sighed through the phone. “But I don’t think it warrants a call at 6:54!”
“Well, my apologies but I’ve come to realize that she won’t accept her classification without being tested now,” Celine sighed.
“That sounds like a you problem,” Ji-Hye responded. “Or a problem for a reasonable time, Celine.”
“Even if I were to show her the original results, I doubt she would believe me,” Celine continued ignoring the doctor’s words. “Rumi has agreed to be retested, though. Plus the girls have also asked to be retested in solidarity and to make sure that nothing has changed since they sealed the Honmoon.”
“Ugh!” Ji-Hye groaned. “Fine! I’ll do it but I’m not lying for you, Ce. You made your choices and now you have to deal with them.”
“I understand, Unnie. When can I bring them in?”
“Celine! It’s barely 7 in the morning. Please call the office at a reasonable hour so we can schedule the appointments.”
“Alright, alright,” Celine smiled into the phone. “No need to bite my head off. I’ll call the office later. Ideally since I’ll have all of Huntr/x with me, I’d like to make sure the office if clear.”
“Fine,” Ji-Hye grunted. “Fine. I will talk to you later. Goodbye, Celine.”
“By-” Celine started only to be cut off as the line went dead. She looked at the phone in her hand and smiled. That went better than expected. And she got to nettle Ji-Hye too. So, it was definitely a win. Yes. Today was going to be a good day. She could feel it.
*~*~*~*
Rumi was warm. That was the first thing she noticed when she woke up. There was a gentle pressure on her legs and a comforting thumping under her ear. It was nice. Comfortable. She couldn’t help the little whine that escaped as the sunlight landed on her still closed eyes and she snuggled deeper into the warmth she was cuddled against. Rumi felt a gentle patting on her bottom and the steady rhythm soothed her.
“Shh… shh… baby. It’s still early… Go back to sleep, lovebug.”
The gentle words, the soothing jostling, the warm pressure, and the comforting thumping nearly lulled her back to sleep. Nearly. It took a moment too long for the words to catch up to her and the memories form yesterday to crash into her. Rumi’s eyes snapped open.
Oh no.
Not again.
No.
Absolutely not.
Rumi was absolutely mortified to find that she was once again cuddled against Mira. The dancer was wearing only her sports bra and shorts, arms wrapped loosely around Rumi, her long pink hair pooled around her. Rumi’s head was resting against Mira’s sternum. She realized after a moment that the thumping under her was Mira’s heartbeat. Rumi groaned and lazily rubbed her eyes, and looked down to see that Zoey was sprawled across her legs, partially hanging off of the couch.
She tried to stretch and extract herself from the pile of limbs. She could feel the uncomfortable, clammy, wetness from the pull-up and she desperately wanted to change it. Take it off. She wanted to take it off. Not change it. Because she wasn’t Little and didn’t need pull-ups during the day. Plus, Celine was coming over later. And Rumi needed to prove that she was a big girl. Unconsciously, Rumi began suckling harder on her pacifier. The relief was instantaneous. Her shoulders relaxed and her eyes grew heavy. Sleep was washing over her again.
Then the pressure building in her bladder made her shift and stir more.
Mira’s arms tightened.
“Five more minutes,” Zoey mumbled sleepily.
“Guys. Guy! Please let me up!” Rumi lisped around the soother, shifting more, practically thrashing in their hold. “Please! I need to go potty!”
Arms immediately released her and Zoey quickly sat up.
“Sorry, Ruru,” Zoey smiled sheepishly. “Do you need any help, love?”
“No!” Rumi shot down the offer as quickly as she could as she sprinted to the bathroom, feeling urine spurt into the already wet pull-up. She slammed the door behind her as soon as she made it to the privacy of her own bathroom, and barely ripped the pull-up and sat down on the toilet before she was peeing helplessly over the toilet. There was something embarrassingly reassuring about the sound of the her urine splashing into the waiting water. She sighed with relief as she finished, wiped, and flushed. As she went to was her hands she paused as she caught sight of the purple pacifier bobbing in her mouth.
There was something deeply humiliating about the soother. Rumi couldn’t quite decide if it was the fact that it helped or if it was the fact that Zoey had been holding on to it for over a week. That Zoey that that Rumi was Little for at least a week. Still, Rumi couldn’t quite bring herself to spit it out. At least not yet. The half-demon washed her hands and decided that she could really do with a quick shower. Just to cleanse her body.
The water started and Rumi stiped out of her sweat soaked shirt. It was important that she looked her best when Celine came over. With a bit of reluctance, Rumi removed the pacifier from her mouth and left it resting in the sink. As the water heated up, Rumi brushed her teeth. She would do her skin care routine after her quick shower. Once under the spray, Rumi quickly cleansed her skin.
It didn’t take long for a song to slip from her lips. She found herself getting lost in the movements and the song. All too soon though, she was done. She turned of the water and dried off before moisturizing and applying her skincare routine.
Afterwards, Rumi padded back into her room, towel wrapped around her body. She slipped on a clean pair of panties and a matching bra. Standing nearly naked in front of her closet, Rumi chewed on her fingers trying to pick out her outfit for the day. It was important that she look professional and put together when Celine came over.
The sweats and other leisure wear looked so inviting, but it wasn’t exactly appropriate for a Cece visit. Cece didn’t even like it when she wore those at home. So, they were definitely out of the question for now.
“Hey, Ru?” Mira called through the door. “You ok in there, babe?”
“I’m fine, Mira,” Rumi called back. “I’m just trying to figure out what to wear.”
“You want help? Not that you can’t do it, of course,” Mira offered. “But fashion is, like, something I'm pretty good with. No pressure."
Rumi sighed and looked over at her closet again, then down at her nearly naked body and the purple patterns that still covered her torso. She chewed her bottom lip slightly and weighed her options. On the one hand, she didn’t want Mira to see her patterns or to think that she was incapable of dressing herself. On the other hand, Mira did have a good eye for fashion, and she already knew about her patterns.
Eventually she relented and opened the door for Mira, “Ok, fine. Thank you, Mira.”
“No worries, babe,” Mira smirked sauntering into the half-demon’s room. “I’m kinda an expert at this. Go wait on your bed and sit pretty for me. What kind of look are you going for?”
“Business casual? Smart casual?” Rumi shrugged, pulling Bear into her arms. “You know, I just want to look put together for Celine.”
“Hmm, ok.” Mira said rifling through the closet. She pulled out a few simple dresses before putting them back. Then a few silk blouses, finally landing on a navy blue one with a high neckline. Mira laid it out on the bed next to Rumi before moving on to pants.
“You know,” Mira started, “Celine doesn’t expect you to wear business casual when she comes to visit. Especially, when we’re on hiatus.”
Rumi shrugged. “I know, but here Celine’s our boss, you know?”
“Hmm,” Mira hummed noncommittally before laying out a pair of tan, high waisted, wide legged trousers. Mira glanced again at the outfit and shook her head, putting the shirt back. Then she pulled out a silk camisole and a baby blue cashmere sweater with a deep cowl neck. “Try this, babe.”
Rumi nodded and quickly dressed as Mira looked over her jewelry. The half demon looked at herself in the mirror nodding approvingly at her reflection.
“You look nice, girly,” Mira smiled. “It’s no surprise because I have excellent taste after all.”
Rumi snorted and lightly punched Mira’s arm. “Thanks, Mira.”
“Alright, alright,” Mira put her hands up in surrender. “You win. Come on, I’m not sure how much longer we can trust Zoey not to set the kitchen on fire.”
Rumi laughed. The anxiety of the last 24 hours fled her body. And as the entered the kitchen, Zoey waved though she was standing suspiciously close to the stove. Mira’s eyes narrowed as she hurried to check the food. Zoey gave an offended huff before winking at Rumi.
“Morning! I have your smoothie ready Rubear!” Zoey waved excitedly.
Mira was examining the food and the stove. “Did you touch anything else, Zo?”
“Nope!” Zoey winked. “Anyhoo, come on, Ru!”
Rumi snickered behind her hand as she sipped on the offered smoothie. It was good, but it was no coffee. Gods did Rumi miss coffee. Rumi found herself relaxing more and more as the easy chatter filled her ears. It was good. Normal. And Rumi really needed normal after yesterday. She didn’t want to think about the gossip magazine. She didn’t want to think about the impending conversation with Celine, though she did want to see her again. It was so nice just being in the moment. And Rumi realized that it might be a good day after all.