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“Scale of one to ten, how excited are you?”
Rumi hums as she looks over at Mira as she settles the car into park before leaning back in her seat, glancing over at Rumi with that half-smirk that has no business being as attractive as it is.
“Like... thirteen. And I’d say nine of that is for the otters alone.”
Mira rolls her eyes, but her expression is fond as she unbuckles her seat belt and reaches over to unfasten Rumi’s as well. Which is totally unnecessary, Rumi can get out of a car just fine on her own, thank you very much. But Rumi has learned not to argue with Mira about the little things. Especially when the idea of Mira not being allowed to dote on her in even the smallest of ways leaves her pouting like a wounded puppy.
“And the other four?” Mira busies herself with picking up Rumi’s purse from where it sits at her feet and snatching it away from her before she can take it to carry herself.
Rumi pouts, but it’s all in jest. “Well, I was going to say spending time with you, but…”
Mira cuts her gaze back to her, eyes narrowed and unimpressed. “Wow. I only get thirty percent of your excitement. I see how it is.” She says nothing else as she opens her door and exits the car, and Rumi is almost concerned this will be the first time she does not come open the door for her out of playful spite for her comment, but seconds later, Mira has come around the back of the car, Rumi’s purse on her shoulder as she opens the door with one hand and holds the other out for Rumi to take.
Rumi lets herself be pulled to her feet, smoothing at her clothes absentmindedly as Mira’s hand leaves hers to settle at her hip as she puts an arm around her, drawing her in close as they head for the main entrance of the aquarium. This earns Mira a brief kiss on the cheek before Rumi relaxes into her side, a wave of calm washing over her at the easy proximity they always manage to find.
The walk to the entrance is quiet, at first, but as they get closer to the person scanning tickets and the copious amounts of signs showcasing the different animals they’ll be able to see on their visit, Rumi’s excitement returns, and as they patiently wait in line, she bounces on the balls of her feet, eagerly reading over each sign as they inch forward far too slowly for her liking. After a moment, she feels Mira’s hand squeeze gently where it sits at the curve of her hip, her palm warm even through the fabric of her skirt, but not as warm as her breath as she leans down so her face is close to hers.
“You’re cute when you’re excited.”
Which is a very innocent thing for Mira to say, but it makes Rumi blush all the same, her cheeks flushing soft pink as she fights the urge to hide against Mira’s shoulder. She loses the battle, nuzzling into the soft fabric of her sweater as she feels Mira’s soft laugh, then the press of her lips to the crown of her head.
“Mira… People are watching…” she whines, which is pointless, because Mira has never had a care in the world about showing off her affection for the people she loves, and there is no one she loves more than Rumi.
“So what if they are?” The words are mumbled against the top of her head, but Mira draws back as soon as she says them and looks forward again, a silent agreement to reel it in for Rumi’s sake. “Do you need the bathroom when we get in? It was a long drive.”
“Are you kidding? I’m here for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to see the new otters. The video they posted on their TikTok said they have two new babies that are ready to be introduced into the viewing area soon. Maybe today will be the day!” Rumi’s excitement renews as she realizes they are the next in line to get in, and she straightens again, smile widening as Mira holds out her phone to be scanned. She gushes out a thank you to the worker, and then turns to beam at Mira, who she is not surprised at all to see already looking at her with such gentle fondness that she almost can’t bear it.
But there are places to be and otters to see, and Rumi has waited long enough.
“Come on! It’s just up here!” Rumi bounces in place exactly three times, then threads her hand with Mira’s and takes off in an excited half-jog, giving Mira no choice but to trot after her with an amused grin as she watches the back of Rumi’s head as she weaves in and out of the crowd with polite little “Excuse me’s” and “Sorry, so sorry’s.”
She does not stop until they are in front of a glass window that takes up the entire length of the wall, split perfectly in half by a tank of water so large she can’t even see the floor of it, though that could have to do with the somewhat murky-green quality of the water and the roughly fifty dozen shells creating a layer on the bottom of tank, making it difficult to see anything that might lay underneath them. She drops Mira’s hand like she has suddenly lost all interest in the contact, and Mira muses it’s very well likely that she has, given the way she presses both palms against the glass and leans so close that her nose smushes up against it, her breath fogging the glass in brief little patterns as she breathes in and out, gaze darting this way and that as she tries to locate the otters.
Mira doesn’t mean to stare at Rumi, but it’s a little hard not to when she’s being so absolutely endearing that Mira feels a wrench in her heart so intense she can feel the very beginnings of tears pricking in the corners of her eyes. She has always found Rumi beautiful, from the first time she saw her on the date their mutual friend set them up on to every single morning she gets to watch her blink herself back to reality in the cozy cocoon of their bed. But there is something in the way Rumi seems lit from within as she squints around the tank, the way she presses her lips together with eagerness that edges on worry that she might not get to see what she came for, the childlike wonder that is radiating off her very being that hits Mira hard, makes the hollow of her chest fill with so much love that she can hardly stand it. Mira does not have time to dwell on this for long, as Rumi gives an excited little shriek that startles her out of her reverie as she reaches for her hand without looking at her and tugs it.
“There’s one right there! Look, she’s swimming this way!”
Mira follows Rumi’s gaze to, indeed, see an otter darting through the water in a soaring arc, little hands clutched together at its chest as it approaches the glass hardly a few inches away from them, turning upside down so that it can turn over and make the return journey. She looks back at Rumi to see her eyes have gone impossibly wider, her palm still pressed against the glass as she watches the otter swim away again.
This happens three more times before Rumi tears her gaze away, and even then, it is only so that she can look at Mira, eyes wide like she can’t believe she’s seeing this and needs to make sure Mira is seeing it, too. Mira can only hope that whatever weird thing her emotions are doing to her isn’t as visible to Rumi as it feels in her own body. Just in case it comes through in her voice, though, she smiles and nods encouragingly, softening when Rumi squeezes her hand again before turning back to the tank, gaze now trailing to the small platform area where they have plenty of enrichment toys for the otters to choose from when they want to play.
“There’s another one up there! Awwwww, she’s playing with a ball,” Rumi coos, lips trembling in a way that makes Mira wonder if she’s about to cry from the excitement of it all. But instead, she continues. “You know, they use enrichment toys like that so that the otters can still have a chance to use their foraging skills like they would in the wild. Usually, the keepers will put fish in there, or a clam or oyster for them to get out and open up. That way if they’re able to return to the wild, they still have important life skills!”
Mira knows all of this already, of course, because Rumi has been talking about the otters since Mira bought the tickets for them to come, and she’s pretty sure there’s nothing Rumi knows about otters that she, too, doesn’t know now. All the same, she points to a log that is floating in the water between where they stand and the platform.
“And those are used for enrichment, too, right?”
Rumi gives a sound of affirmation and nods, her nose leaving a tiny streak on the window that she doesn’t seem to notice. “It’s also to help keep their environment looking as natural as possible. It’s so cool, right?”
“The coolest,” Mira agrees, brushing her thumb over the ridges of Rumi’s knuckles as she turns her gaze back to her. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. There’s one more thing about our trip today.”
Rumi’s brow furrows as she fully turns to look at Mira, pouting in the way Mira knows means she is confused that she has not been made privy to important information. “What do you mean?”
Mira grins, reaching to hold both of Rumi’s hands, just in case she passes out after what she’s about to tell her. “I maybe pulled a few strings so that maybe we get to go behind the scenes and play with the otters. Like a little… zookeeper for the day kind of thing.”
If Rumi had been excited before, she is positively vibrating now, her eyes going comically wide as she processes what Mira has told her. She looks back at the tank, distracted for a moment as one of the otters swims by again, then looks back to Mira, mouth hanging open in sheer awe. “…I get to play with them?”
Her voice is a reverent whisper, and Mira feels another tug at her heart as she nods, squeezing her hands gently as she holds them tightly. “Might get to cuddle them, too, if you’re good.”
Rumi lets out such a squeal that a nearby kid turns to stare, but she is oblivious as she bounces in place. “I’ll do everything they tell me to. No interfering with their enrichment, no giving them too many treats. Promise.” She lets out another little noise of excitement, and her energy is so contagious that Mira can’t help but to be excited with her.
Before she can even say anything else, the wind is knocked out of her as Rumi crushes her in a hug, arms wrapping around her waist and face burying against her chest. Mira gladly returns the affection, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and settling her cheek there, closing her eyes and relishing in knowing that a silly little thing she has managed to make happen means the absolute world to Rumi. She only draws back when Rumi does, and when she glances down at her, she sees her face twisted in confusion.
“Wait, this aquarium doesn’t offer any meet and greets with their otters. I know. I checked. It can interfere with their rehabilitation process. Is it even safe for them? How did you…?”
Mira laughs softly, unable to resist the urge to lean down to kiss her nose when she’s being so cute. “…Zoey.”
Rumi immediately nods in understanding. “Zoey.”
Their mutual friend. The one that set them up on their first date two years ago, that encouraged them to move in together after only three months of dating because she’d ‘never seen anyone get along so well so fast’ before.
The one who is also a marine biologist who specializes in a variety of the sea creatures the aquarium rehabilitates.
“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Rumi pouts, but Mira quickly kisses it away before Rumi can look too upset about it.
“Oh, this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever kept from you.” Mira laughs at Rumi’s little dazed expression, the same face she always makes when Mira kisses her when she isn’t expecting it, and Mira half-worries she’s gonna get another earful about public displays of affection.
That is, until Rumi leans up on her tiptoes to kiss her again, lingering just a half of a second longer than Mira did before she pulls away, grinning. “I suppose I can allow it, just this once.”
“Phew,” Mira sighs out dramatically, and Rumi rolls her eyes and hits her arm with very little force, and then she’s back to looking at the otter exhibit, one hand pressed against the glass but the other still holding Mira’s, fingers threaded together effortlessly even as her attention remains on the otters as they swim back and forth and dive through the tank in playful little spirals.
“When do we get to play with them?” Rumi asks after a while, still half-distracted even as she turns her face somewhat toward Mira.
Which is just so adorable Mira thinks she might combust right there on the spot, but somehow she manages to keep her emotions in check as she hums softly. “We check in at two. I thought that way you have a good few hours to spend watching the otters, then maybe we can get food, and then it’ll be time by then.”
Rumi nods and finally seems to tear her gaze away from the otters to look up at Mira, a frown tugging her lips downward. “What about what you wanna see?”
“I’m already looking at it.” And she means it. The whole point of this trip was for Rumi to get to see the otters she’s been talking about for months, and maybe one other thing, too, but she already knows this trip will go down in the history books as one of the best dates she’s ever planned.
Rumi gives her a look like she doesn’t quite believe it, but Mira’s expression doesn’t change, her smile soft and her expression radiating nothing but unadulterated affection as she squeezes her hand one more time before she lets go, digging in her pocket to fish her phone out. “Turn around. I wanna get your picture with the otter in the background when it comes back this way.”
Rumi lights up immediately as she turns so her back is leaned against the glass, cheesing so hard that her eyes aren’t even open in any of the pictures Mira takes of her, but it only makes her look all the more endearing, and Mira has plenty of opportunities to take other pictures of her when she’s distracted by one of the otters lingering in the corner and grooming itself. Mira’s pretty sure she takes about a thousand candids of Rumi pressed against the glass or cooing in the direction of the otters as they swim by, and somehow every single one is more precious to her than the last.
They end up spending their first three hours of the day there by the otters, interrupted only once when Rumi complains that she’s thirsty and Mira immediately assures her to stay there while she pays an exorbitant amount for a souvenir cup just because it has otters on them. The look on Rumi’s face when she hands it to her more than makes up for the damage her wallet has accrued.
By noon, Mira has to gently insist to Rumi that they have to eat something, since Rumi had been too excited to eat anything for breakfast and Mira can only go so long between meals before she begins to get hangry. Begrudgingly, Rumi agrees that they can go to the small café to get something for lunch, and they end up sharing an overpriced burger and a tray of fries between them because Rumi is still too excited to eat very much and keeps looking over Mira’s shoulder in the direction of the otter exhibit, afraid she’s going to miss something exciting while they’re gone. Mira distracts her with telling her about what Zoey has planned for them during their encounter.
“Zoey says we get to make a meal for the otters, and we’ll learn a bunch of stuff you probably already know, and then we get to meet the otters and play with them. They don’t usually let people in with the otters, or really any of the animals here, but Zoey’s got seniority, and so some pretty strong sway. And she’ll get to be with us the entire time to supervise.”
Rumi beams and wiggles in her chair as she takes a sip from the souvenir cup she’s cradling in her hands like treasure. “You owe her big time,” she concludes after a thoughtful hum, nodding sagely before reaching over to steal another fry from the tray between them.
“Oh, I definitely do,” Mira agrees, pushing the tray closer to Rumi, just glad that she’s at least eating a little more now.
“Do we get to wear wetsuits? Are we getting in the water? I bet that water is really cold. They temperature control it to make sure it’s as close to how it would be out in the real world.”
Mira can’t help but to laugh at Rumi’s rapid-fire sentences, like she’s trying to speak as fast as her brain is sending her thoughts. It’s cute, and it makes Mira’s heart ache with affection as she shakes her head. “No, baby, we’re not getting in the water. Is playing with them not enough?”
Rumi immediately pouts, worried she’s said the wrong thing, and reaches over with both hands to hold Mira’s. “Of course it is. Honestly, we’re lucky to even get to go back to see them, considering it’s not usually allowed. I still just can’t believe this is happening. This is like… the best day of my life. I might cry. Fair warning.”
Mira only laughs again, and brings their hands up so she can kiss the back of each of Rumi’s. “I’d honestly be a little surprised if you didn’t.”
Rumi scowls, but it’s playful and silly, and she picks a fry up and throws it at Mira’s face, snorting when she tries, and gloriously fails, to catch it in her mouth.
By the time they finish eating, Rumi’s restlessness levels have gone off the charts, and as soon as Mira picks up the tray with all their garbage and pushes her chair away from the table, she’s on her feet, as well, clutching her cup as she leans over to look in the direction of the otters again. Mira returns from the trash bins and takes the cup from her and gives her a light push at the small of her back.
“Go ahead. I’ll just refill this and be right over.”
The smile that Rumi gives her, nose scrunched and eyes wrinkled around the corners, leaves her heart skipping at least three beats as she watches her bound back over to the otter exhibit.
Mira gets back to the enclosure to find that Rumi is pressed against the glass once more, politely tucked in a corner so that the kids and other aquarium-goers can have their turn looking at the animals, too. When Mira nudges her with a hip, Rumi grins at her with a smile that could light up the entire planet, slipping one hand in hers as she points to the back of the exhibit.
“Zo’s in there! Lunchtime for the otters, too, I guess!”
They listen in as Zoey gives a small speech about the different kinds of food they prepare for the otters every morning, and the different behaviors they encourage them to perform to make sure they are retaining skills they would use out in the wild. At the end of the feeding, she meets their eye through the glass and waves excitedly, holding up a finger before disappearing through a hidden door to get out of the enclosure.
A few minutes later, Zoey greets them with a hug, throwing her arms around the both of them as she gives an excited little shriek. “I’m so glad you guys got here okay!” She lets go of them so that she can turn to look at Rumi, who is shaking in her anticipation. “I hope you’re excited, we have a fun afternoon planned. If you’re ready, we can head back now!”
Rumi looks over at Mira, who only nods and wraps an arm around her and pulls her against her side as she looks back to Zoey. “Lead the way.”
The kitchen Zoey leads them to to prepare food for the otters is bigger than Rumi expected it to be, the walls lined with metal tables, sinks, and refrigerators. The scent of fish is strong in the air, and it’s significantly colder here than the rest of the aquarium. Without missing a beat, Mira shrugs off her sweater and drapes it over her shoulders as Zoey points out what items are kept where and how much of each type of fish each different otter gets.
“We’ll actually be getting to play with one of our resident surrogate mothers today, Ivy. She’s been spending a lot of time out of guest view while she’s been raising the new pups, so she could benefit from some socialization.”
Rumi gasps so sharply Mira whips around to look at her, afraid she’s somehow gotten hurt.
But Rumi is just looking at Zoey with the most hopeful eyes. “Are we gonna get to play with the babies?”
Zoey presses her lips together with a barely-contained grin, nodding excitedly. “We’ve actually been preparing them to go out into the habitat soon, and this can be a great way to see if they’re ready for that really big step. But if they start showing signs of distress or if Ivy doesn’t seem happy with it, we’ll have to take them back to the nursery.”
Rumi nods, understanding that this is for the safety of the pups, something she definitely does not want to compromise, even if she is extremely excited at the very opportunity to meet them. “Got it.”
“I’ll show you how we prep their meals, hands on!”
They stand at one of the tables for about ten minutes, prepping a variety of fish, crabs, and clams while Zoey goes over a bunch of facts Rumi already knows by heart, like how otters have the thickest fur of any animal, how they excel at using rocks as tools to help them crack open clams, and how they hold hands when they sleep so they don’t get separated from each other. By the time they have a small bucket ready to go, Rumi’s excitement has skyrocketed, especially when Zoey says it’s time for them to go into the training area to meet the otters.
Rumi wraps both arms around Mira’s as they follow Zoey into a quiet room not too far from the kitchen, grinning up at her with thinly-veiled impatience.
“Why don’t you both sit down right over there, on the floor is fine, and I’ll go get Ivy and the babies!”
Rumi plops herself down cross-legged enthusiastically, dragging Mira down with her. She lets go of her so that she can tap her hands against her knees, then stops moving, then pats them again, then stops.
Mira laughs softly. “Too excited to keep still?”
Rumi nods. “Yeah, but I don’t want to scare them so I’m trying to get all my nerves out now. But I don’t wanna be too loud and then they’re scared to come in with Zoey.”
Mira laughs and leans down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “Just breathe, jagi. If they can handle Zoey and all her… Zoeyness, I’m sure they can handle you.”
Rumi sends her a skeptical glance, but then there’s the sound of a door opening, and Zoey is entering the room with two little balls of fur in her arms, looking down at her feet as she holds the door open just enough for an otter to come scampering in on all fours.
Rumi is unable to contain an enamored little coo as the otter runs around in a tiny little circle, then stops right next to Zoey, sitting back on her hind legs and looking up at her.
“Good, Ivy. Can you go say hi?”
Zoey gestures in their direction, and the otter looks over at them and patters over curiously, stopping just shy of where Rumi sits with her hands clasped in her lap, back rigid and hardly breathing.
“You can hold your hand out for her to see if she’s interested in getting closer,” Zoey encourages as she makes sure the door closes behind her before going over to sit so the three of them are positioned in a wide circle.
Rumi finally exhales, and lifts out a shaking hand, palm-up. Her eyes never leave the otter as she inches closer and then immediately puts both little paws on Rumi’s hand, then settles her head atop. Rumi’s breath hitches, and she can feel her eyes began to water in absolute elation as she looks over at Mira to make sure she’s seeing this.
Mira meets her gaze with nothing but fondness as she smiles, her heart soaring at the look in her girl’s eyes as she turns back to look at the otter in total awe.
“Good job, Ivy! Rumi, you just helped her with her ‘sit pretty’ behavior. You can give her some fish now, to encourage that good behavior. We’ve been working hard on that one for months, huh, Ivy?”
Rumi glances up at Zoey with eyes that have begun to overflow with tears, her bottom lip trembling as she looks down at the cute little otter face cupped sweetly in her palm. She carefully reaches her other hand to dig into the bucket between her and Mira, then holds out the piece of fish for her. Ivy takes it and immediately shoves it into her mouth with a delighted little squee, then sits back on her hind legs again for a brief moment before scrambling over toward Mira.
“Oh, you’ll love this one, Mir. Hold out your hand in a fist.”
Mira looks up at Zoey with a furrowed brow, but holds a fist out. No sooner has she put it up does the otter curl its tiny paw into a fist and tap it against Mira’s, a gesture that has Mira chuckling as the otter withdraws. “Sick.” She wastes no time in delivering Ivy her well-earned fish, and laughs as she all but swallows it whole. “And you said they have a pretty large diet because they’re constantly swimming right? Does that mean it’s impossible to overfeed them?”
Zoey smiles as Ivy runs up to her, and lowers her arms so she can see her babies are safe and sound. “It can happen, if we aren’t careful, which is why we keep an extensive checklist for each otter for every day, to make sure they’ve each got the nutrients and intake they need without going too overboard.”
“Makes sense.” Mira looks back over to Rumi, who still has her hand outstretched in her lap, right where she’d had it when Ivy had come up to her. “Rumi, how you feeling?”
Rumi, eyes still on the otter, gives a near-dramatic sniffle. “If I died right now, I’d be the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Zoey and Mira both laugh, and then Zoey sets down the smaller little blobs of fur she’s been holding. “We’ll see if they feel like joining in on the fun.”
Rumi holds her breath yet again as her gaze falls to where the babies are squirming to their feet, and she freezes once again when one of them trots over to her outstretched hand, nuzzling against it with an adorably high-pitched squeak before climbing its way onto her lap. She slowly tilts her chin down just enough so that she can properly look at the baby, her heart almost stopping right in her chest at the very sight of it.
“That’s the baby girl. Byeol. She really likes the shrimp.”
Rumi nods in understanding, and reaches back in the bucket until her hand closes around a shrimp. She gently lowers it toward the pup, waiting to see if she will take it. After a moment, she does, and she is much slower about enjoying her meal, chewing with a tiny set of sharp teeth that Rumi somehow finds both adorable and a little scary.
Mira watches for a moment, then is distracted by the other baby pattering over toward her. He crawls into her lap with zero hesitation, then promptly attempts to climb up her arm, as well.
“Taeyang has recently discovered he is good at climbing, and is currently very fond of crab.”
Mira takes the hint and procures a half-cracked crab from the bucket. As soon as she’s raised it, he has leapt from her arm and into her lap to snatch it away from her, tearing it into smaller bits he can chew on more easily.
“You named them after the sun and the stars,” Rumi points out, one finger gently scratching at Byeol’s head as she cuddles in the crook of her arm.
“Well, they are polar opposites, as you can probably already tell. Byeol is much more laid-back, while Taeyang is a little bit more of a wild child.”
“No kidding.” Mira chuckles as the otter in her lap finishes with his crab and tugs her hand toward the bucket again. “Is he allowed to have more?”
“Go for it,” Zoey encourages. “And while you’re feeding them, I’ll show you how Ivy can use her rock to get into clams.” She leans over and digs out the handful of clams they tucked toward the bottom of the bucket, then moves back to where she had been sitting. “Ivy, lunchtime!”
Ivy, who has been sprawled comfortably on the floor in the middle of their little circle, leaps to her feet and darts over to where Zoey has the clams in her lap. She settles next to her, digs around under her tiny arm, then produces what Rumi knows must be her favorite rock. She then snatches one of the clams and positions her little rock at the ready before knocking it with impressive force against the seam of the clam until it finally peels open and she can get at the meat more easily.
She does this three more times, and Rumi watches with wide-eyed wonder the entire time, not even noticing when Byeol is gently lifted off of her lap as Zoey and Mira share a look.
“We’ve got one more behavior you can help her with, Rumi. You’re gonna point to the bucket and she’s gonna bring you the last clam and, hopefully, show you how to open it. This is the newest behavior we’ve been working on. I’ve been calling it ‘wing-woman.’”
Rumi glances up at Zoey and nods, then looks to Ivy and points a finger at the small metal bucket.
Just as promised, Ivy bounds over to the bucket, reaches inside to snatch up the clam, and then drops it in Rumi’s lap.
Except when Rumi looks down at it, she realizes it isn’t a clam at all.
It’s a tiny black box, the size of her palm, and she blinks at it blankly for a good ten seconds before she looks up at Mira with eyes that have gone watery once more.
Mira can only look right back at her, heart hammering in her chest and palms sweaty at her sides where she now kneels next to Rumi, voice quivering as she clears her throat.
“Rumi, there’s about a million things I could say to you right now that would make the both of us cry, but… I just really, really would like to know if you’d do me the absolute honor of letting yourself be called my wife for the rest of your life?”
Rumi is already nodding before she’s even halfway through the sentence, tears streaming down her face as she gives a tearful giggle. “I can’t imagine a better way to spend the rest of my days.” She hesitates rather thoughtfully. “Unless there were more otters involved.”
They all dissolve into laughter at that, and it is only then that Rumi looks up to see Zoey recording on her phone with an equally-emotional expression as she wails. “I’m so happy for you guuuuuuuuuys.”
Rumi is still crying as Mira reaches over to help her open the box, pulling out a ring that is jeweled with pink and purple sapphires in the midst of a swirling gold structure that loops in on itself. It is the most perfect ring she could have ever imagined, Rumi thinks as Mira slips it onto her finger, then pulls her in for a gentle kiss. Rumi lets herself get so lost in it that she doesn’t even think about the fact that both of their hands are covered in fish guts and salt water.
Well, at least not for a good few moments.
Shortly after, they say their goodbyes to the otters and watch as Zoey scoops the babies up and leads Ivy back to the nursery, and Rumi watches them go with a sad little pout, waving at them as they disappear behind the closed door. When she turns back to Mira, though, her expression goes a little dreamy, her gaze falling to the ring on her left hand as she hums softly.
“I love you. So much.” She knows Mira knows that, but she feels the need to say it, especially now, in the face of their future.
“I love you, too,” Mira says just as gently, and Rumi cannot stop herself from leaning up on her toes to kiss her.
However, she doesn’t linger this time, her nose scrunching as she draws back. “You smell like fish.”
“You smell like fish.”
They are still laughing at each other when Zoey comes back into the room.
And later that evening, when they are packed back up in Mira’s car and Rumi is curled up with her head on the center console and a plush otter clutched tightly in her arms as she fights sleep, Mira hums softly, reaching over to run a hand through her hair as she keeps the steering wheel steady with the other.
“We can come back every year, if you want.”
Rumi gives a barely-there hum as the feel of Mira’s nails against her scalp lulls her dangerously closer to sleep. “…I think I’d like that…”
“Then we’ll do it,” Mira promises, because she could never dream of denying Rumi her every wish or hope. “We’ll do everything you could ever want.”
“Pinky promise?” Rumi lifts a sleepy hand up, pinky already outstretched, and without hesitation, Mira loops hers around it, squeezing gently.
“Pinky promise.”
Rumi falls asleep with their pinkies still linked together, and Mira leaves them that way the entire drive home.