Work Text:
"What do you guys think about marriage?" Rumi asked out of the blue. She blinked — that was supposed to be an inside thought.
Mira put her phone down, then pulled her glasses off and stared at Rumi as Zoey—who'd had her head in Mira's lap—sat straight up, asking, "Like as a concept or…?"
"Rumi, is this a proposal?" Mira arched her brow.
"No, no! Of course not, I'm just curious." Rumi looked down at her fingers, blood rushing in her ears and immediately regretting saying anything. Especially after her research, "Unless…"
"Hello? Yes?" Zoey scooted over to Rumi and grabbed her hand, tracing her fingertips along Rumi's thumb.
Rumi looked at her, then at Mira, whose eyes were glistening as she nodded. No remark, no teasing, simply gentle affirmation.
Oh. Oh this was…maybe she didn't regret it but… but then Zoey kissed Rumi before jumping to her feet and running to her room.
"Com'mere kitten."
Rumi immediately obeyed, Mira cupping Rumi's face in her hands and kissing her. It was long and hard and deep, speaking volumes. Rumi wrapped her arms around Mira and returned the kiss, smiling against Mira's lips and relaxing. It'll be okay.
"Okay okay okay," Zoey called out, skidding back into the room and rushing back. She dropped down onto the couch, forcing Mira and Rumi apart, "Kissy face later!"
Laughing, Rumi elbowed Zoey as she settled in between them, then slipped her arm around her, "What do you have?"
"Well." Zoey held up a ring box and Rumi stared blankly at it.
"Zoey?" Mira's voice wavered, "Is that-?"
"What?" Zoey looked confused, then her eyes widened, "Oh! Oh no it's not! I haven't been plann— I mean maybe— oh boy."
"Breathe," Rumi told her, trying to take her own advice. Because that looked like proposals had already been on Zoey's mind. Rings made everything suddenly much more real.
"I've been thinking about doing something special for us for awhile and I had this specially made as like a throuples ring. Like couples rings but for three." Zoey's face was bright red as she opened the box. "But when Rumi … I thought it would make a good engagement thing too."
The ring was gold, the band wide, the setting like a flower with interwoven petals lined with purple,pink and blue gems. Zoey smiled, "They're all flavors of diamonds and garnets, so they're the same but different. Like us."
Then Zoey separated the ring into three, each resulting ring with a unique setting. She put it back together to reform the flower, "Three beautiful and unique pieces that form a greater whole. See? It also fits in any combination of two. Like us…"
Falling silent, Zoey stared down at the ring, her face red, fingers caressing the band, pulling one piece off, then the other, putting it back together again.
Confounded, touched, and so, so in love with this woman, Rumi struggled to speak, "Zoey, that's…"
"It's Zoey. Pure, beautiful Zoey." Mira held out her left hand, "Now put it on me already."
Zoey looked up at her, smiling, then slid the pink ring onto Mira's finger. Mira lifted her hand, looking at it in the light, then pulled Zoey in and kissed her with the same intense emotion that she'd given Rumi a moment ago.
Leaning her chin on her hands, Rumi watched them, absorbing them. At first, she'd been afraid of how they'd balance the emotions and the physical things. Touching, kissing, love making. She'd worried she'd feel jealous or accidentally make one feel left out.
All she felt was adoration.
Pulling away, Zoey nuzzled her forehead against Mira's, then both of them turned to Rumi.
"Hand," Mira ordered.
Rumi presented her hand, trying and failing not to laugh.
"Purple for our Rumi," Zoey said. Rumi looked down at the ring, rubbing the band with her thumb. There was a weight to it; not a bad weight, or a heavy one, but the same kind of weight she'd felt when she'd first realized she loved them. A heart given freely.
"Rumi," Mira said, catching her gaze when she looked up.
Nodding, Rumi plucked the third ring from Zoey's hand as Mira gently held it in place, and together they put it on Zoey's finger.
Zoey let out a squeal, wrapping one arm around each of them and pulling them in close.
"We are such fucking saps, what have you done to me?" Mira complained, not sounding like she minded in the slightest.
"This wedding is gonna be lit." Zoey kissed each of their cheeks.
Rumi bit her lip, looking down at her ring again. She'd forgotten until now why she had meant to keep all this an inside thought. There were logistical things that made her sad. She didn't want to be sad about this.
"Yeah. A lit wedding."
"Whoa sudden mood shift," Zoey noted, forcing Rumi to look up again. "What's wrong?"
"It's not important," Rumi said. "Well, it kind of is but its something for later."
"Out with it," Mira said. "This qualifies as a secret and under our treaty agreement you have to tell us."
"Rude," Rumi leaned against Zoey, "All right, might as well get it over with. It should be you two, paper-work speaking."
"I'm sorry, what?" Mira straightened, furrowing her brow at her.
"Uh no?" Zoey stared at her, then waved her hand, holding up her fingers to match her count, "There's no two here, there's three plus don't we get to help make that choice?"
"Paper-work," Rumi insisted. "The wedding ceremony is all three of us but legally speaking it can only be two of us. And I volunteer to be the odd one out, its fine."
It wasn't fine. Now that she'd said it it wasn't fine.
"Yeah no," Zoey said.
"Not happening."
Rumi sighed, "Its the best option! At least you two get the legal protection and-"
"Rumi-"
Mira touched her cheek, "Kitten."
"That's cheating," Rumi complained, but let Mira speak.
Mira pressed her lips to her chin, speaking as though she'd done this research already, "Powers of Attorney. Wills. Pre-nups and other contracts. We don't need a marriage certificate for any of that."
"But if one of us ended up in the-"
"Powers of Attorney," Mira repeated. "That or I'd buy the fucking hospital. And some politicians."
"I don't care about paperwork." Zoey still her her arms around both of them, "I know its important to some people and that's cool but its not as important as like, the part where we promise ourselves to each other."
"We'd just have a few dozen pieces of paper instead of just the one," Mira pointed out.
"Tell me it wouldn't hurt every time you realized your name wasn't on that stupid piece of paper? Seeing ours but not yours?"
"It would have. I really … would have liked it with all three," Rumi admitted.
"I can make one." Zoey rested her chin on Rumi's shoulder, "We can stick it on top of the actual stuff Mira said we could do."
"A polyamorous wedding certificate would make a bitching album cover," Mira mused.
"Damn it, you didn't even give me sixty seconds to mope about it." Rumi laughed.
"Seeing you dejected and not doing something about it is like like trying to stay mad at Zoey," Mira said. "Impossible."
"Except that time she ate the last ramyeon," Rumi reminded her.
Mira squinted, "Some things are unforgivable."
Zoey pouted at her, taking her hand and rubbing her finger against the new ring there. Smiling, Rumi joined her hand to theirs as well and Mira immediately related, "Fine, you're forgiven."
"All too easy."
"Don't make me take it back."
"Girls." Rumi gazed at them, "It's probably too soon to worry about but is there anything you want for this? The wedding I mean."
Mira didn't hesitate, "We write our own vows."
"I want it outdoors," Zoey insisted. " And Bobby walks us down the aisle. All three of us, we do the walk. Poor guy is gonna have to sprint back one after another."
"Oh he'll love that," Rumi laughed.
"You know that place you took us to once?" Mira asked, "Had a view of the ocean. You said your mom loved it. I want to get married there."
"So your mom can be there for you," Zoey added, as if she and Mira had plotted that together.
For all Rumi knew, they'd discussed it some time. It did feel a little like the idea had been on their minds just like it had been on hers. But it brought a lump to her throat and an ache in her chest like a sucking wound. Her girls immediately enveloped around her.
"I … am going to cry," Rumi announced.
"Go ahead, Rumi," Zoey whispered.
She didn't, though her eyes were watery and puffy. Instead, she looked down at their fingers, "I want flowers. In these colors. Lots of them."
"Spring?" Zoey suggested, "Give us time to get a tour out of the way too. How are we announcing? Are we announcing? Just let people speculate wildly when they see our rings ?"
Feeling bold and a little crazed, Rumi declared, "I want to drop a surprise album with that marriage certificate cover and themed around our ... discovery process with each other."
Mira's eyes widened and she grinned, "Heads will explode."
"My brain just exploded with lyrics."
Rumi looked between them, blown away at how easily they'd salved her worries. Three, not two. The way it should be. It really was making her sappy, "Listen, the whole album doesn't need to be some sappy romance but if we don't have a wedding power ballad I'm rioting."