Chapter Text
“Rumi, have you seen those shoes of mine? The ones with the things on them?” Mira yells from the hallway, not quite sure where Rumi is in their shared space. She had just come out of Zoey’s room after asking her if she had seen them. Mira was sure the box was somewhere in the apartment.
“Uh, no? Check my closet maybe,” Rumi calls out, sounding like she is in the kitchen.
“Okay!” Mira yells back to confirm she heard Rumi while already halfway through the doorway to Rumi’s room.
Mira moves to Rumi’s equally big ass closet to start her search. They have got to stop just throwing things anywhere they fit. Mira moves around some shoe boxes on the floor of Rumi’s closet, checking each one as she goes and haphazardly throwing them into a pile in one corner, a pile Rumi will definitely complain about having to clean up later.
Eventually Mira goes through all of the shoe boxes in Rumi’s closet, ending with a final box tucked so far in the back she almost missed it. It almost seemed to be placed strategically so as not to be found by someone who didn’t know it was there. Mira squints at it suspiciously, but moves to check it. She doubts it’s her shoes, but she won’t leave any stone unturned in her search. She’s glad she does because when she lifts the lid she finds something else entirely, something that makes her blood run cold. Needles.
Mira is storming out of Rumi’s room before she even fully processes what’s in her hands. Her chest aches painfully and her hands shake as she charges at Rumi and throws the box on the kitchen counter in front of her.
“Rumi, what the fuck is this?” Mira demands, her voice dangerously quiet.
Rumi’s eyes widen from where she had been sitting enjoying a cup of tea while reading something. She doesn’t even need to look at the contents of the box to know what’s in it and she can tell Mira notices that. Fuck.
“Wait! Mira, it’s not what you think!” Rumi says immediately, her hands waving in front of her in defense.
“Rumi. I know what steroids look like. God, I was wondering why you seemed to be putting on muscle recently, I thought it might be a demon thing, but not this, never this,” Mira’s voice is flat, her expression hard and guarded.
Rumi’s brow furrows. “What? Steroids? No, no, that’s not what this is, I promise. I would never!”
“Well, then what the fuck is it, Rumi?” Mira snaps and Rumi knows that it’s fear and hurt behind the hard edge of her voice, knows that Mira is angry because she cares about Rumi and Rumi has hidden something important from her once again.
“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Zoey’s voice calls hesitantly from the hallway.
Mira and Rumi both soften immediately as they turn to see Zoey, her eyes wide and worried, a familiar distress in her expression that always appears when Rumi and Mira fight. Mira’s eyes return to Rumi after a moment, waiting to see how she will respond.
“I- uh, I have something I need to talk to you guys about,” Rumi says quietly, holding Zoey’s gaze, before turning back to meet Mira’s. “I promise I can explain.”
Mira nods and walks over to take a seat on the couch, her arms crossed. Zoey joins her, her leg bouncing anxiously as they both look at Rumi expectantly. Rumi takes a shaky deep breath and walks over to stand in front of them.
“So, um, do you guys remember when I had that doctor’s appointment during the last leg of our last tour?” Rumi starts haltingly. She fiddles absently with the short sleeves of her t-shirt, her arms coming up around herself protectively.
“Like 2 months ago? Yeah, I thought it was a little weird for you to have a check up while we were on tour,” Mira says, her voice softening just a little at seeing Rumi fidget like that. She hasn’t looked that nervous since they had their first big talk about her patterns after everything that happened with the Saja Boys.
Rumi heaves out a sigh. “That’s because it wasn’t a check up. It was… something else. I had to check something. Ever since accepting my demon heritage, I’ve been feeling some things and I needed to figure out if the way I was feeling was normal or if there was something wrong with me,” Rumi explains, swallowing thickly like there is something stuck in her throat.
Zoey and Mira immediately make noises of protest.
“Hey! There is nothing wrong with you, Rumi!” Zoey argues.
Rumi’s eyes widen and her expression grows soft around the edges. “No, I know, I didn’t mean it like that, I just— I needed to know if what I was feeling was abnormal, a cause for concern. And, uh, well, turns out it is. And I meant to tell you guys! I really did, I wanted to tell you before I went, but I just didn’t know how to explain it and I didn’t want to make a big deal about it before I even knew if it was actually going to be something significant.”
Rumi pauses to take a deep breath. Mira and Zoey wait patiently, all of their focus on Rumi as she stares at the ceiling looking for the right words.
“But it is significant. Like terrifyingly so. And it’s not even that I didn’t want to tell you at that point, after it all started to make sense. It was just that I knew that after I told you guys I would have to take the next step and that step is way more scary and hard to face, so I just kept avoiding telling you so that I’d never even make it to the point where I’d have to do the hard thing. Even though obviously that doesn’t make any sense, I can’t avoid it forever, especially because—“
Rumi’s voice cuts off and her gaze focuses in on the box left on the kitchen counter across the room.
“Rumi?” Mira prompts gently.
Rumi jolts back to herself with a sharp inhale. “I should have told you. I know I promised no more secrets. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to send our whole lives into chaos for something I wasn’t even sure about. But I think I am sure now, and I have been for a little bit, maybe, I was just too scared to admit that to myself,” Rumi says, her voice choked with emotion.
Zoey and Mira’s expressions are fully those of concern now as tears well up in Rumi’s eyes. They both twitch a little in their seats like they have to physically restrain themselves from throwing themselves at Rumi to comfort her.
“That box… contains testosterone injections. Prescription. I came out of that appointment with a, uh, gender dysphoria diagnosis,” Rumi manages to finally say, her eyes squeezed shut and her heart beating so fast in her chest as she waits in the silence for the response of the two people who mean the most in the world to her.
Mira and Zoey’s eyes are wide in surprise for a single second before they are on their feet and wrapping their arms around Rumi. Rumi lets out a startled grunt from the force with which they fling themselves at her, their arms crushing around her.
“Thank you for telling us, for trusting us,” Mira murmurs, tightening her arms around Rumi to try to communicate all of the love and acceptance she can’t find the words to express quite yet.
“Yes! I’m so happy for you, Rumi! We love you so much! No matter what! We will support you every step of the way, I promise! Are you changing your name because I definitely have some ideas if you need some? Oh! Or what about pronouns?” Zoey rambles as she jostles all three of them back and forth with her enthusiasm.
Rumi is fully crying now, but she lets out a watery laugh at Zoey’s words. “I’m not changing my name, Zoey, but thanks. And I honestly haven’t thought about pronouns that much,” she says, wiggling an arm free from their grasp to wipe at her eyes.
“Oh! Oh! I’ll get a new notebook ready and we can write down all the possibilities and start using them at home and keep tally of which ones you like and when!” Zoey says excitedly.
“Sounds like a plan,” Rumi says with a sniffle, wrapping an arm around Zoey to pull her closer and nuzzling her face against Zoey’s. Zoey smiles and nuzzles back.
“I’ll arrange for us to meet with Bobby to talk about how to handle this going forward. How do you feel about seeing him later this week?” Mira asks quietly like she’s worried about ruining the moment with the practical reality of her question.
Rumi tenses a little at the question, but just for a moment before relaxing back into their arms. “Yeah, that sounds good,” she says, sounding suddenly exhausted.
Mira smiles softly as she disentangles herself from their little clump. “Why don’t you guys set up on the couch while I go call Bobby quick, and then we can watch something together.”
“Yes! Ooo! We should order something to celebrate!” Zoey says, already dragging Rumi to the couch.
“Celebrate?” Rumi asks, confused.
“Duh, celebrate your coming out! This is like a super momentous occasion!”
Mira can hear Rumi laugh awkwardly and Zoey suggest food options as she walks to her room to make the phone call.
Bobby picks up on the second ring.
“Hey, Mira! What’s up? The hiatus going okay?” Bobby’s friendly voice comes through the phone.
“Yeah, although we have a little unforeseen wrinkle that might require some changes in the near future. Do you have time to meet us on Friday to talk about it?”
A brief second of hesitation is the only indication that Bobby is thrown by Mira’s words. “Yeah! Of course! Is there anything I need to prep beforehand?”
“Nope, you’ll be ready to handle it just fine,” Mira says with that hard confidence that she’s been told is encouraging from her. Not that it’s put on, Mira could not be more certain that Bobby will react well to Rumi’s news.
“Okay, I’ll check the schedule and send you guys some times. And, uh, Mira?”
“Yeah, Bobby?”
“Is everything okay? Not that I’m not always happy to help with whatever you need, but this is a little more vague than usual.”
“Everything is great, it’s good news, I promise. It’ll make sense when we get a chance to talk,” Mira says, smiling a little to herself.
“Okay! I’ll see you three then!” Bobby says cheerfully before hanging up.
When Mira comes back out into the living room, Rumi is bundled up in a blanket in a way that looks like Zoey did it against her will, and Zoey is sitting next to her with a notebook in hand. Snacks are already spread out over the coffee table and a movie is queued up on the TV.
“I had no idea there were so many pronouns,” Rumi says, brow furrowed.
“Oh yeah, there’s tons. Hi, Mira! Welcome back!” Zoey says, dropping her pen to wave at Mira.
Mira chuckles a little as she plops down on the other side of the Rumi blanket bundle and slings an arm around her. “So what did we order?”
“Rumi’s favorite, obviously!” Zoey says, leaning into Rumi from the other side, effectively squishing her between them.
“Sweet,” Mira says absently, moving to grab some popcorn and start the movie.
“Hi, girls! What’s on the agenda for today?” Bobby says as Rumi, Mira, and Zoey take a seat across from him, all three of them flinching slightly at his unfortunate choice of word.
They are having their meeting in a conference room that feels much too big and sterile for this conversation, but Rumi didn’t want to have it at the penthouse and this was the easiest available space.
“Hi, Bobby,” all three members of Huntr/x say in unison as they get situated, Rumi in the middle with Zoey and Mira glued to her sides. If Bobby finds anything out of the ordinary about how they cling to Rumi, he doesn’t say anything about it.
“Rumi is going to start. She has something to tell you,” Mira prompts, her arms intertwined with Rumi’s in support.
Bobby’s gaze focuses on Rumi then, giving her a small encouraging smile as he waits patiently for the announcement.
Rumi takes several deep breaths, squeezing each of her girls’ hands before she finally opens her mouth.
“Right, so, Bobby, I’m… trans,” Rumi says slowly, visibly wincing once the last word leaves her lips.
Bobby’s eyes widen, but there is nothing but love and care in his eyes as he hesitantly responds, “That’s… awesome, Rumi.”
Rumi lets out a shaky exhale, her gaze flickering around the room to deflect from the attention focused on her. “Is it? It feels like it’s kind of a PR nightmare,” she says, sounding on the verge of tears.
“Hey, don’t you worry about that,” Bobby insists immediately, his voice soft and comforting. “You let me worry about that. I’ll handle all of that stuff. It’s my job after all.”
“And you’re damn good at it, so we have nothing to worry about,” Mira reinforces, rubbing gentle circles on Rumi’s palm with her thumb.
“Right, yeah,” Rumi agrees with a sigh, some of the tension leaving her shoulders.
“So, how am I referring to you now?” Bobby asks with a gentle enthusiasm.
“Rumi is just fine, and for pronouns, we’ve been trying some out and so far they all feel good,” Rumi says, a soft, grateful smile on their face.
“But we’ll keep you updated if that changes,” Zoey adds urgently, like Rumi’s feelings about various pronouns is front page news.
“Got it, any pronouns,” Bobby says brightly as he pulls out his phone to make a note of it.
“And, uh, sort of the critical part of this announcement is that I, well, started testosterone a month and a half ago. Which maybe wasn’t the best idea, but we were heading for a hiatus anyways so I thought I would at least have time to figure out what I wanted to do, but now I’m realizing we’re probably going to have to extend the hiatus, like a lot,” Rumi rambles nervously. He would be rubbing the back of his neck if both of his arms were not in death grips of emotional support.
“It’s okay to take the time you need for yourself, Rumi,” Bobby says gently while multitasking with something on his phone. After a moment, he says, “Okay, with a cursory internet search, I’m thinking maybe we extend out for a year? Based on the timelines I’m seeing.”
Rumi inhales sharply. “That’s a long time to be away from the fans,” they say, anxiety and sadness mixing in their voice.
“Hey, things are stable right now,” Mira says gently from right next to Rumi’s ear, a reminder that xe is not alone in this, “and the fans will understand.”
“What if they don’t?”
“They will,” Zoey insists from Rumi’s other side. “The fans love you just as much as we do, and this won’t change that. And anyone that it does change things for isn’t worth our time!”
“And honestly, Rumi, if it were anyone else,” Bobby adds, “I would be suggesting more time off, actually, but I know how hard this is for you already.”
Both Mira and Zoey nod in agreement.
“…Okay,” Rumi reluctantly agrees to the amount of time. “Can we at least do a check-in at like the 8 month mark or something to see if maybe we are good to come back early? Really the main thing I’m worried about is the voice drop. I’m essentially going to need to relearn how to sing.”
“We’ve already started working on some rearrangements of songs, just broad strokes stuff until we see what Rumi’s new range is,” Mira adds.
Bobby hums thoughtfully as he types a few more things into his phone. “Of course, Rumi, we can do as many check-ins as you want. And rearranging old songs, the fans will love that!”
“I know! And Mira’s been getting some new ideas for choreo with the muscle Rumi has started putting on!” Zoey says, bouncing a little in place.
“I’m going to make her pick us up,” Mira says deadpan, a faint glimmer of amusement in her eyes.
“Oh fun! I can’t wait!” Bobby exclaims.
Rumi laughs at their antics.
There is a beat of silence where they all settle before Bobby hesitantly asks, “So, have you told Celine yet?”
Rumi’s eyes widen a little like it had forgotten about that until right now. “Uh, no, not yet. That’s the next step,” it answers, fidgeting and glancing down at the table.
“Oh.” Bobby’s eyes immediately start welling up with tears. “You told me first?” He asks slowly like he’s not sure it’s real.
Rumi’s eyes grow wet too as ze meets Bobby’s gaze. “Of course,” ze says emphatically, “you’re family, Bobby. You’ve been with us every step of the way, I can’t imagine doing this without you or even where we would be without your help.”
“That means so much to me, Rumi. I’m so proud of you and the person that you are. And I’m so proud to be on this journey with you,” Bobby says as tears start to spill down his cheeks.
“Oh, Bobby,” Rumi says, also crying as he gets to his feet to walk around the table to give Bobby a hug.
Mira and Zoey get up too and join in on the hug after a few seconds.
After a minute or two, they all separate and take some time to wipe their eyes and blow their noses, before sitting back down to finish talking.
“So, I’ll prep the announcement of the hiatus extension and have you sign off on it before we release it. Obviously we’ll want to wait until you tell everyone you need to personally before we do that. I’m thinking we just say the extension is for medical reasons. There will be a lot of speculation, obviously, but we can adapt if any theories get out of hand,” Bobby explains, back to his more professional tone even with his nose and eyes red from crying.
“I don’t think we’ll have any problems with people guessing correctly,” Mira says with a chuckle.
“Ha, yeah, I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted this would happen,” Rumi agrees, slumping a little against Zoey as the crying leaves her drained.
“And then I need to know, are we going full black out on public appearances during the transition for everyone? I think the fans would get concerned if Mira and Zoey kept making appearances but you disappeared off the map, but they might get concerned either way, so I’ll leave it up to you three to decide, unless the label has any particularly strong feelings about it.”
“The label” there is code for Celine. Bobby just didn’t want to bring her up again after how Rumi reacted previously.
“Full black out, if Rumi is out of the spotlight, so are we,” Mira says firmly. “And if the “label” has a problem with it, I’ll talk some sense into her.”
“Mira,” Rumi warns, but there is a small smile on her face at how readily her girls stand with her.
“I’m with Mira, it’s an extended hiatus, that means the whole band. Man, I’ll have to, like, pick up a new hobby or something, I’m gonna have so much time on my hands,” Zoey adds.
“We’ll keep you busy,” Mira says slyly, reaching her arm around Rumi to poke at Zoey. Zoey bats her hand away and laughs.
“Okay, then that’s decided, I’ll jot that down and make some calls. I’ll also look into vocal coaches that specialize in this kind of thing and get some expert opinions on how to proceed when we get to that point. I also wanna make sure we keep a close eye on everything on the medical side. I wanna make sure that you’re getting everything you need treatment wise and if there are any problems we can address them immediately. Rumi, if you could send me the info of your current prescriber for the HRT?”
“Yes, I’ll send you their office number. They were a referral from my primary, but they aren’t in the same system,” Rumi answers, pulling out their phone to text him the number.
“Perfect, and the last thing I wanna ask for today, because I know this has been a lot, is do you want to do anything special to go with the announcement? Any last appearances before we lock you down for a little bit? I could arrange for a venue on short notice, or maybe a livestream might be a little simpler and lower stakes. I’m not sure where you’re at right now.”
Rumi thinks about it for a bit, furrowing its brow. “I definitely want to do something to go with the announcement, just so it doesn’t sound like I’m dying or I’ve been kidnapped or something. I think a livestream would work. As weird as it feels to say, I’m not sure I’m up to getting on stage right now and I want to make the announcement as soon as possible.”
“Got it! Everything should be good on your end then! Just leave the rest to me!” Bobby says brightly as he gets up from his chair. His voice drops a little before he adds, “And I’m so happy for you, Rumi. You deserve to be happy, and I’m here to do whatever I need to do to make that happen. Please don’t be afraid to reach out if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Bobby, for everything,” Rumi says, getting up to give him another hug before all of them start to make their way out of the room.
The car ride back to the penthouse is mostly quiet, all three of them emotionally tired from the meeting. They are almost home when Zoey breaks the silence suddenly.
“Soooo, people are totally going to think Rumi’s pregnant, right?”
Rumi and Mira both immediately burst out laughing in surprise. It takes several minutes for them to recover, only for them to then groan and agree with Zoey, that yeah, probably.