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- Rumi -
Bobby messed up. He knows that.
He’d accidentally leaked HUNTR/X’s schedule for the next two weeks and hadn’t even realized it until he brought them to a photoshoot today and there was a crowd of rabid fans outside of the studio. The girls had handled it well, plastering smiles on their faces and waving enthusiastically, but Bobby could tell they were taken aback. Zoey’s shoulders had been halfway up her neck, Mira’s left hand had been clenched in a fist, and Rumi’s eyes didn’t stop scanning the crowd for threats.
While they were at the photoshoot, he dug into what happened and realized the mistake was his own. He feels horrible knowing he put his girls in a position where they felt uncomfortable at best, and has been apologizing to them profusely since. They believed him immediately when he said it was a mistake and keep assuring him they’re not mad and they forgive him.
But when they return to the tower and enter the penthouse, Celine is there waiting for them.
She asks to speak to Bobby privately, and the girls trudge out of the living room, each patting his shoulder and giving him sympathetic glances as they go.
Celine is much less forgiving, and Bobby understands that. While he’s gotten to know the girls personally over the countless hours they’ve spent together over the years, Celine still just sees him as someone she hired to manage them. And with there being enough cases in the industry of managers leaking schedules for money, he knows how seriously she must be taking this situation. She might be the one person more protective of the girls than he is, and she’s right to doubt him for this.
It doesn’t help that his schedules are rather detailed.
“The schedule has been too widely circulated at this point. We have no way of reigning it in,” Celine berates him. “Their performance on World Cable News was supposed to be a surprise, and the network is furious that that’s been leaked. Fans are having a field day with the ‘How It’s Done’ recording session on there. And everywhere that the girls go for the next two weeks, they’ll be under greater scrutiny and could even be in danger."
“I know,” Bobby sighs. “I feel terrible. I’ll rearrange the schedule so people can’t follow them as easily, I’ll find a way to smooth things over with World Cable News, and I’ll figure out how to spin the ‘How It’s Done’ situation into good promo for the single.”
“You won’t be doing any of that. I’ll be taking over from here until I can find a new manager for them.”
“What do you mean?”
Bobby knows exactly what she means. He’s just hoping this isn’t really happening. He doesn’t want to lose his job. But even more importantly, he doesn’t want to lose the girls who’ve become his family.
He felt more proud seeing them win their first Idol Awards than he did of any of his own accomplishments from his idol days. He’s watched Rumi and Mira go from being at each other’s throats constantly to being so incredibly soft with each other. He’s seen Zoey not only open up to them more, but also him, always showing him videos she thinks he’d find cute of various sea creatures. They’ve all shared countless corn dogs after big events and long car rides full of sing-alongs.
To think that all could just disappear is devastating.
Before he can even open his mouth to beg to stay, Rumi appears from the hall. “You’re not firing him.”
Celine whips her focus to Rumi, rather apparently irritated that she must’ve been eavesdropping. “Rumi, I know you’re close with him. That’s why I’m doing what’s best for you and the girls.”
“No, you’re not. We’ve gotten as far as we have because of him.”
“There are other managers.”
“We don’t want another manager.” Rumi practically growls. “Bobby made a mistake. He fixes our mistakes all the time. Give him the chance to fix his own.”
Bobby eyes grow wider and wider as he witnesses this defiance from Rumi.
He’s seen Mira talk back directly to Celine, pushing her luck about as far as she can.
He’s heard Zoey whisper criticisms of Celine to Mira when their mentor isn’t around.
He’s definitely heard those two impersonate Celine before, straightening their spines as much as possible for maximum effect.
But never once has he heard Rumi question Celine in any way, shape, or form.
Until now.
All to defend him.
They’re talking about him like he’s not even there, but Bobby doesn’t mind. It feels much safer to lean out of this conversation and let these titans go to war. It’s eery in this moment to be reminded of how clear it can be that Celine raised Rumi. Their crossed arms and steely glares are a perfect mirror of each other.
When Celine still doesn’t reply after a long moment, Rumi drops the hammer. “If you fire Bobby, I’ll throw the Idol Awards this year.”
Bobby nearly intervenes and tells Rumi that she absolutely can’t do that. She can’t risk everything HUNTR/X has been working so hard for just to save him from his own mistake. But he’s not fast enough in picking his jaw up off the floor before Celine’s snapping back.
“You wouldn’t,” she says, and Bobby’s not sure he’s ever heard her sound so grave. “That would jeopardize everything.”
“I would. Everything else we can work around. But we can’t find another Bobby.”
The standoff holds for several long moments.
Over his pounding heart, Bobby can hear Celine’s sharp, angry inhales as she waits for Rumi to fold. But Rumi just stands there, so still she could be a statue.
To Bobby’s complete and utter shock, it’s Celine who folds. She straightens her back and uncrosses her arms, instead folding her hands at her waist. It’s a shift that screams defeat in a way Bobby didn’t think was possible from her.
“You’re right. I’m letting my fears in this situation get the best of me, and that’s not how I trained you and the girls.” She sighs and turns her gaze towards him for the first time since Rumi entered the room. “Bobby, you will see to this mess getting cleaned up?”
It’s not really a question.
Rumi has saved him this time around, but Celine’s tone makes it clear that won’t work again.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Celine leaves briskly without another word. Once the elevator doors slide closed, he and Rumi both let out a huge sigh of relief. Rumi stares at the elevator, like she herself is shocked by what she just did. She doesn’t seem regretful…more like she can’t believe the power she has.
Bobby snaps her out of her daze, bowing to her with a sort of formality he hasn’t shown them in years. “Thank you so much, Rumi. You didn’t have to do that. I promise I will clean this all up and-”
Rumi places a hand on his shoulder, gently guiding him to be completely upright again. “Don’t thank me, Bobby. She shouldn’t have threatened to fire you in the first place. You’re family.”
Bobby tears up and he’s not sure who initiated it, but in the next moment they’re hugging. Eventually, he feels two more sets of arms wrapping around them and knows Mira and Zoey must’ve sensed it’s safe to come out now.
When they all separate, the girls try to lure him into playing video games with them but he insists he has a job to do first. He spends hours contacting everyone involved in the next two weeks of HUNTR/X’s schedule to shift things around, calls in a number of favors to help set things right with World Cable News, and then he drafts up a master plan for “How It’s Done”.
The sun has long set by the time he finally frees himself from the war table he’d set up on the kitchen counter. He moves towards the living room and finds his girls passed out on the couch in a mess of pillows and tangled limbs, controllers in hand and the console still lighting up the TV. He spots a fourth controller on the coffee table, ready for him had he been able to join sooner. With a small smile, he tosses a blanket over them and heads out for the night.
Two months later, HUNTR/X wins the Idol Awards after performing their hot new single, “How It’s Done”. Upon the announcement, they bow, accept the bouquets handed to them, and Rumi takes the mic for the acceptance speech.
She passes out all the usual gratitude and finishes with, “The biggest thanks goes to our manager, Bobby, who we’d be lost without.”
They thank him in every acceptance speech, and it warms his heart every time. But this time feels different, heavier. Like the words aren’t just said as pleasantries in a moment of elation. Rumi truly believes they’d be lost without him.
He’d be lost without them, too.
- Mira -
Bobby wrings his hands as he walks into the HUNTR/X dressing room, the telltale sounds of their snacking assuring him none of them are changing and it’s safe to look up. They don’t even hear him come in over the crunching of shrimp chips, slurping of bubble tea, and crinkling of ramyeon lids peeling open.
“Hey, girls?” Bobby says and they’re still oblivious. He clears his throat and tries again, “Hey, girls?”
Almost as rehearsed as any of their choreography, their heads all turns to him in sync and let out a, “Hi, Bobby!”
“Sorry to interrupt your pre-show preparations. I…I kind of have a favor to ask.” They all keep looking at him, waiting for the request. But it’s Mira’s gaze that becomes sharper. An eyebrow lifts and her eyes flicker between his fidgeting hands and the sweat on his brow. “My brother is here with his kids. I managed to get them box seats, but it was so last-minute I couldn’t get them VIP passes through our normal processes. Mind if I sneak them backstage after the show to meet you? My nieces are huge fans.”
“Of course!” Zoey chimes in. “Bobby, you’re our family! We’d love to meet people you care about. I just wish we’d known sooner. We could’ve gotten them some super exclusive merch or prepped a really cool experience for them.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I offered tickets and passes to my brother months ago but he kind of just blew me off until yesterday.”
Mira, who he’s not sure has even blinked since he walked in here, finally speaks up. “Don’t apologize for your brother being difficult. You’re being an awesome uncle.”
Don’t apologize for your brother being difficult.
With Bobby’s entire job being taking care of these girls, he sometimes forgets how wise beyond their years they can be. And Mira, whose reputation is all but built on her strained relationship with her family, definitely knows a thing or two about forging ahead of people who treat you as lesser.
Any time he’s mentioned struggles with Hwan before, people always made excuses in the name of family.
Oh, I’m sure he’s just busy.
He can be forgetful sometimes. Don’t take offense.
This isn’t worth getting upset over.
You’ve just got to let some things go.
One day, you two will be the only family you have left. Don’t ruin your relationship by holding grudges.
You know how brothers can be.
Men don’t hold onto things. It’ll all be water under the bridge soon.
His brother has never cared about anyone but himself.
During Bobby’s idol days, Hwan never attended a single one of his concerts. At every family gathering, where most of the relatives were actually proud of Bobby, Hwan made jokes about his accomplishments like they weren’t real achievements. When Bobby moved into the management side of things, Hwan somehow seemed to think even less of him. While Bobby takes pride in his work of helping build up the most popular group in Korea, Hwan thinks he’s like their servant.
But when it can serve Hwan’s own self interests, like being the coolest dad by getting his two daughters an exclusive HUNTR/X experience on a moment’s notice because he has an in, Bobby’s career suddenly doesn’t seem so silly.
“Thanks, girls,” he tells them. “I really appreciate it.”
“Anything for you,” Rumi says, Mira and Zoey nodding in firm agreement.
The show goes off without a hitch. The stadium has been sold out for weeks and the crowd is electric. Bobby watches every minute of it and lets his very sweaty girls pounce on him with hugs once they bound backstage from their encore. He gives them time in their dressing room before ushering them back out to where the VIP meet and greet has been set up. While they do that, he retrieves his family and brings them to a different space backstage to wait.
His nieces, decked out in HUNTR/X merch he’d gifted them for their birthdays, are bouncing with excitement. Even Hwan seems happy and impressed by the show. Bobby makes small talk, asking his nieces about their favorite parts of the show while they wait for the official meet and greet to wrap up. They’re in awe as every crew member greets him as they pass by, as though he runs the place. Which, in many ways, he supposes he kind of does.
Thankfully, HUNTR/X appears before he has to come up with any conversation to have with Hwan.
Bobby has the biggest smile on his face as he watches his nieces fawn over them. And his girls are so good with them - taking selfies, signing posters, and asking about the show with practiced ease. He can see the extra warmth they’re giving in the ways they wrap their arms around his nieces in the selfies and ask them more questions than they would the average fan. He doubts they even realize they’re doing it. They just feel closer with them by the simple fact that they’re tied to Bobby.
Eventually, Zoey grabs each of their hands. “Do you girls want to go onto the stage?”
“YES! Can we go, daddy? Please, please, please-”
Hwan nods with a gentle laugh. “Go ahead. Have fun.”
Zoey starts tugging them along to the stage and Rumi falls in behind, faltering for a second when she realizes Mira isn’t alongside her. “You coming, Mira?”
“You two go,” Mira tells her. “I think I’d like to get to know Hwan a little better.”
Bobby can’t figure out what exactly they are, but he can read from Mira’s tone that she has other intentions in staying behind. By the puzzled expression on her face, Rumi seemingly can’t figure it out either. After a moment, she relents with a nod and goes to catch up with Zoey.
Once they’re gone, Mira’s eyes land on Hwan. Hwan probably doesn’t pick up on it, but Bobby can tell Mira is sizing him up. He wonders what’s causing such scrutiny. His relationship with his brother isn’t perfect, but he hasn’t really aired his grievances about it to any of them before. Is she just being protective?
“It’s nice to meet some of Bobby’s family,” Mira says with a perfect smile. “Your daughters are lovely.”
“Thank you,” Hwan replies. “They were so excited when I surprised them yesterday.”
“Yeah, it was cool of Bobby to pull all this off so last minute for you all.”
“Yes, of course. I try not to take too much advantage of my brother being the HUNTR/X lapdog,” Hwan laughed, as though he genuinely thinks he’s being playful.
Bobby doesn’t even blink at the remark - such comments are simply expected at this point. Mira, however, smirks like Hwan has walked right into the trap she was laying for him. Like she was baiting him into saying something she could rip him apart for and he fell for it embarrassingly easily.
Bobby could intervene and keep things from getting uncomfortable.
But he doesn’t.
“What do you do for a living?”
Hwan seems confused by the lack of laughter and abrupt topic change. “I’m an insurance claims adjuster.”
“You prey on people so insurance companies can make ludicrous amounts of money? How noble of you.”
“That’s an awfully bold judgment.”
“Then I guess we’re both full of assumptions today,” Mira sneers, really settling into the mean girl side of herself that terrifies Bobby. He knows that Hwan could’ve said he works for a cancer research charity and Mira simply would’ve had another question at the ready to find a way to dig into Hwan.
“I was just making a joke.”
“Were you? Bobby is not our lapdog. Just because he’s not on stage with us, that doesn’t mean he’s not a critical member of our team. We don’t tell him what to do. He guides us through our day-to-day.”
“Okay, okay. I get it,” Hwan puts his hands up, attempting to defuse the tension.
But Mira’s on a roll. “Maybe your daughters should spend more time with their Uncle Bobby. He really loves them and goes out of his way to do things like this that’ll make them happy. He’s a great role model with how well he takes care of us. Meanwhile, what are you teaching them? How to look down on people? Or maybe how to use family as tools of your own personal gain?”
It falls quieter than a stadium ever ought to be. Hwan has no immediate response to that, floundering like he’s been hit between the eyes. Mira’s posture is nonchalant, arms crossed and stance wide, but her eyes might as well be firing daggers.
Bobby’s still processing what has unfolded. No one has ever seemed to think Hwan was in the wrong, nonetheless called him out on it. And yet Mira, someone who Bobby is supposed to protect and look after, just knocked Hwan down several pegs like it was nothing. That burns behind his eyes, but Bobby refuses to let tears come through and interrupt this menacing thing that Mira has going.
It’s at that moment that Rumi and Zoey return with his nieces in a whirlwind of enthusiastic chatter. While his nieces babble to their dad about every cool thing they saw on the stage, Bobby watches Rumi and Zoey flank Mira, each placing a hand on her shoulder as though silently checking if everything is okay. Mira throws one more glare at Hwan before smiling at them both, assuring them she’s fine.
Then, all of their eyes fall to Bobby.
Realizing his mouth is still open in shock and his eyes are still squinting back tears, Bobby schools his facial features and gives them a thumbs-up.
It’s enough of an assurance for Mira, who waves for everyone to follow her deeper into backstage. “Let’s show you our dressing room and I’ll tell you all about how awesome your Uncle Bobby is. Did you know he used to be a popstar too?”
“WHAT?!?!”
And just like that, the rest of this visit becomes all about Bobby. His nieces have a million questions for him about his idol days, and Mira looks wickedly proud of herself the whole time. Hwan, on the other hand, is looking at Bobby as though he’s seeing a completely different person than he knew.
Bobby’s not sure what to make of that. He’s dared to think his relationship with his brother might change before, and it never has. He won’t hold his breath. He’s just enjoying his time with his nieces now and basking in the stardom they see in him.
After a tour to the dressing room, his family leaves and he splits from his girls so they can all get done what they need to in order to leave. Eventually, Bobby makes his way to the car and finds Mira already waiting there, leaning against the driver door.
“Hey, Mira,” Bobby greets. He rubs the back of his neck, unsure exactly what to say considering everything that transpired earlier. “Where are-?”
“Sorry if I overstepped earlier,” Mira says, words rushing out like she’s been turning them in her head and couldn’t quite settle on what to say. “I feel like I projected my own family stuff and when he talked down at you so confidently I just-”
Bobby tugs her off of the car and into a hug. He means to reassure her, but with the way her chin settles on top of his head and her arms wrap around his shoulders, it feels more like she’s doing the reassuring. They stand there like that, indulging in the comfort they so rarely seek from others, until Rumi and Zoey eventually make it to the car and they all get in to head to the hotel.
The next morning while eating breakfast at the hotel, Bobby gets a text from Hwan.
It’s lengthy, starting with thanks for the tickets and backstage access. That alone is more than Bobby ever expected to receive from Hwan. But the message continues, saying that he’s sorry for what he said last and even going on to apologize for making Bobby feel lesser over the years. It concludes with asking if there’s any chance the two of them could meet for lunch before HUNTR/X heads back to Seoul.
He immediately shows the message to Mira, who’s sitting across from him while Zoey sleeps in and Rumi is in the gym somewhere.
“How do you feel about that?” She asks.
“I don’t know,” he admits. “After so many years, it’s hard to believe things could be different. But I’ve also never seen him make an attempt like this. Is it foolish of me to have hope?”
“Not at all. My parents have only spoken to me through lawyers since I left and my brother only occasionally texts me to berate me for embarrassing the family, and for a while I still hoped things could change.” She places a comforting hand on his forearm. “Your brother, on the other hand, seems like he’s making a genuine effort. If you want to give it a chance, you should.”
“You really are wise beyond your years.” Bobby doesn’t realize he said that out loud until he notices the way Mira is blinking at him like her brain is having to restart. “Thank you. For everything.”
She waves off the praise and settles back in her chair. “I’m always happy to tear a man down, especially if they cross one of you.”
One of you.
The way that she lumps him into the safe protective bubble as Rumi and Zoey makes a lump well up in his throat.
They politely ignore the tears in each other’s eyes as they finish up breakfast.
- Zoey -
Dating is nearly impossible when you’re managing the biggest pop group in Korea.
While he loves his girls and would do anything for them, the familial relationship he has with them can’t fill the absence of a romantic one. He doesn’t think too often about these kinds of things, but sometimes it wears on him. Especially when they’ve moving cities every couple nights for the better part of the year on a world tour.
He misses being courted or planning cute date ideas for a partner. He misses the small talk of getting to know a person he’s interested in. He misses fun, flirty banter. He misses kissing someone. He misses doing a lot more with someone than just kissing.
It’s what led him to downloading a dating app and setting up a profile when they landed in Los Angeles.
They’d purposely built a longer stop here into the world tour so that Zoey could spend time with her dad, so he has a little more time to browse and meet up with someone. He didn’t used to be much of a one-night-stand person, but he’ll take what he can get considering he only has one free night.
Rumi and Mira had gone to lunch with Zoey and her dad earlier so they could meet him, but Zoey is staying in Burbank for the night to spend some time just the two of them. Rumi and Mira headed to a couple museums they’d been interested in that Zoey had been to several times already or deemed “stuffy and boring” and made plans to stay downtown for dinner after.
So Bobby actually has a night to himself. For the first time in a very long time.
Or so he thought.
He’s at the hotel bar, having a drink of liquid courage as he works up the nerve to ask one of the guys he’s been chatting with to meet up somewhere, when Zoey plops down in the bar stool next to him.
“Hi, Bobby!”
“Zoey? I thought you were staying in Burbank for the night?”
“I was going to.”
He forgets all about his phone, bringing a hand to rest between her shoulder blades. “Is everything okay? What happened?”
“Everything’s fine. My dad…it’s just…he told me he has a new girlfriend and she would be meeting us for dinner.” Bobby doesn’t mean to seem unsupportive but he’s a little confused. Zoey’s parents have been divorced for a long time. This can’t be the first person he’s dated since. Zoey picks up on his confusion and explains, “I love my dad, but it can be hard watching a parent date. I don’t know if I’ve liked any of his girlfriends. One didn’t like that he has a daughter, one cheated on him, one stole money from him, etc.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Apparently, he’s only been dating this one for a few months. I don’t want to put myself through this again until they’ve at least been dating a year.”
“That seems fair.”
“He was so excited to introduce me to her though and was telling me all these great things about her. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t want to meet her, so I just made up a work excuse and came back here for the night.”
“I’m sorry, Zoey.”
She shrugs. “I’ll have a good cry about it with Mira and Rumi later and then I’ll be over it. What’ve you been up to?”
“Oh, nothing much,” he stammers. “Just figured I’d come unwind with a drink at the bar.”
Zoey tilts her head at his sudden nervousness and looks him over closely for the first time since she arrived. She takes in his crisp button-up, neatly brushed hair, and distinct lack of HUNTR/X merch. “Wait a minute…are you going on a date?!”
“What? No! Not exactly…”
“Not exactly? Oh my god! You’re looking to find someone? Bobby, the lobby of the hotel where you’re staying with us is not the best idea.”
“I’m not trying to find someone here. And you weren’t even supposed to be here!”
Zoey’s jaw hangs open. “You’re on an app, aren’t you?”
“Um…no?”
“Lemme see! Lemme see!”
Bobby unlocks his phone and surrenders it, knowing that fighting this is useless. Zoey squeals and starts flicking through his profile photos. Her smile grows with every photo, and he realizes that his girls have taken almost every single one - him posing on the Brooklyn Bridge when they were in New York, him singing during one of their karaoke nights back home, him in full ski gear during a winter trip they took last year, and so on.
His heart momentarily stops when she scrolls to read his short bio, knowing there’s a field there that indicates he’s looking for other men.
He’s never actually talked to any of them about being gay. He doesn’t go out of his way to hide it, but it hasn’t really presented opportunities to come up before either. He sincerely doubts any of them would have a problem with it. He’s just never had to confront it, and now he can’t help getting in his own head about it.
When Zoey sees the field, she gasps so loudly Bobby nearly jumps out of his skin. “We need to go to West Hollywood! I haven’t been in LA since I turned 21, so I’ve never gotten to go to the gay bars. And we can find you a fun, flirty evening! I promise I’ll be the best wingwoman ever!”
It’s definitely not the night he anticipated.
He has to admit that it sounds way more fun than using an app, but he thinks back to the reason Zoey isn’t in Burbank right now and how somber she was just a couple minutes ago. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Zoey freezes, they way Bobby’s noticed she does when she fears she’s said too much or gotten too excited. “I’m sorry. We don’t have to. I didn’t mean to commandeer your night. I can just go watch movies in my room until Mira and Rumi get back.”
“No, let’s do it!”
“But-”
“I’ll admit, it feels a little weird having you as my wingwoman. But this does sound way better than sitting here and waiting for messages.”
“Yay! Give me 20 minutes to get ready.”
With that, she’s off in a flash. She comes back 25 minutes later and Bobby barely recognizes her. Since they’re not in Korea, none of his girls have to worry quite as much about being recognized by strangers. Zoey, without her pink-and-purple-haired bandmates by her side, is even less likely to attract attention. With her hair down from its usual buns, a simple black dress on, and only half the amount of jewelry she normally wears, it’s all enough of a disguise without any covering up.
“I thought you were coming as my wingwoman.” He comments, unsure why she has done herself up to go to a gay bar.
“I am! But who said I can’t also be fun and flirty while doing it?”
Bobby only gets more confused as the night goes on. It seems that Zoey’s strategy to get him a man is to find a queer group of friends, flirt with the women (and some seemingly nonbinary folks) to get close to the group, and then talk to one of the cute guys and introduce him to Bobby.
She’s good at it. Really good at it. In a way a straight woman simply could not be in this crowd.
She wraps these people around her finger so easily. Flips her hair in a way that makes them stare. Giggles at anything remotely funny they say. Places a hand on their shoulder or brushes their hand with hers at all the right times. Dances on them in ways Bobby avoids looking at. Flashes those puppy-dog eyes when she tells them about her friend who’s looking for a guy.
Her friend who feels like an awkward little stump next to her. But she talks Bobby up so effortlessly it feels like an IV of self-confidence has been patched into him.
Unfortunately, the first three guys she introduces him to turn out to be total duds.
They’re definitely cute, but they either turn out to be completely drab or what Zoey referred to as a “finance bro”. Bobby isn’t expecting to meet the love of his life tonight, but he can barely get through a single conversation with them.
They move to the third bar of the evening. They get drinks and settle at a table while Zoey scopes out the crowd, pointing out different guys to Bobby to see if he’s interested.
It all starts to feel a little hopeless, and Bobby’s a few drinks deep at this point, so he begins to lament. “Why must men be so bad with their emotions? Dating women must be so much easier.”
Zoey laughs so hard she nearly chokes on her drink. “I don’t know about that. You’re talking to someone who seems to have a thing for emotionally unavailable women.”
And there it is. Confirmation of what he’d been starting to assume from the moment Zoey suggested they go to West Hollywood.
“Thank you for tonight,” he says. “Even if we don’t find me a guy, it’s been nice being in a queer space with someone who gets it.”
Zoey’s smile looks like it could power the city’s electric grid. “Oh, I will find you a man. But you’re right. Thank you for trusting me with all this. We need to do this again sometime.”
“Thank you for trusting me.” He doesn’t want to bring the mood down, but he can’t help asking a question that’s bothering him. “Do Rumi and Mira know you’re…?”
“Pansexual?” Zoey fills in the blank for him. “Mira does.”
It surprises him that one of them knows but not the other. “You think Rumi wouldn’t be okay with it?”
“Not exactly.” He’d heave a sigh of relief if Zoey didn’t still seem sad. “It’s just…Rumi hides away so many parts of herself from us. It can make it difficult to be open with her sometimes.”
He wishes he didn’t understand what Zoey meant, but he’s seen it too. “To be honest…I’ve wondered if Rumi might be trans.”
Zoey’s head turns, very slowly, in his direction. “What?”
“Well, she always refuses to go to the bathhouse with you guys. And she’s very particular about covering up certain parts of herself and she’s sworn to me she’s not hurting herself every time I’ve offered to set her up with mental health support. Some of the lyrics and the way she talks sometimes just seems very…closeted.”
Yep, the alcohol has definitely loosened his tongue a bit.
“Bobby!”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s absolutely not my place to-”
“No, I think you might be right!”
“Oh.”
“Oh my god. What if she’s been afraid to come out to us? Have we not seemed supportive enough?”
“Never! It’s obvious you all would do anything for each other. We should just bring her the next time we do this. Maybe it’ll help her open up a little like we have.”
Zoey laughs at that. “I can’t bring Mira or Rumi anywhere near a gay bar until they get better disguises.”
Just like that, the prior heaviness of the conversation dissipates. Zoey excuses herself for a moment to do a lap of the bar. Ten minutes later, she returns with the cutest guy Bobby has seen all night. One who actually smiles and talks about something other than his job too.
Zoey leaves them to chat and soon enough Bobby goes to tell her that he’s leaving with this guy and offers to call her a ride. She squeals again and hugs him, telling him to be safe and have an amazing night. She seems to consider passing on the ride back to the hotel and staying longer, but ultimately asks for him to call it.
The next morning, Bobby practically dances his way back into the hotel. The night was everything he needed and despite getting very little sleep, he feels light and energized. He’s humming a catchy tune he thinks he remembers from one of the bars last night as he makes his way out of the elevator.
The moment he taps his keycard to the door handle and the lock clicks open, his girls all come bursting out of Zoey’s room. Rumi and Mira are dressed for the day already, while Zoey still has her hair down and looks pitifully tired in her pajamas. Rumi and Mira pounce on him, trading off rapid-fire questions faster than he can process them.
“How’d it go?”
“Was he respectful?”
“Was he cute?”
“Are you going to see him again while we’re still here?”
“What was his name?”
“How’re you feeling?”
Bobby blinks at them. “Um…good morning to you too?”
Zoey slumps against her doorway. “I’m sorry. I told them. They grilled me when I came back looking like a snack last night and were worried when they didn’t know where you were.”
Bobby doesn’t want to get into the dirtier details of last night them, and he doubts they really want that either, but the way they’re all looking at him right now brings him to tears. They look like all they want to hear is that he had a great night. Like nothing will make them happier in that moment than knowing that he’s happy.
Mira interprets his tears very different, snarling, “I will find that man and end him.”
“No!” Bobby interjects with a wet laugh. “No need, Mira. I had a wonderful time.”
Zoey meekly pumps a fist into the air. “I knew I’m a good wingwoman.”
“The best. I’ll meet you all downstairs for breakfast in fifteen minutes?” They all nod vehemently, and Rumi and Mira start shoving Zoey back into her room to get ready. Still laughing with tears running down his cheeks, Bobby calls after them, “I love you, girls!”
“We love you too!” They call back.
Before the door can swing shut, he hears Mira scolding Zoey, “But I am still mad that you went to West Hollywood without us!”
The next day, Zoey wears a “Protect Trans Kids” shirt on their way to the stadium where they’d be performing. Someone manages a photo of her and it goes viral through their fanbase instantly. The fact that it happens in America and that Zoey grew up there helps blunt down some of the vitriol in response. Regardless, the praise seems to far outweigh any hate and Bobby discovers the very queer part of their fanbase in the wake of this.
A part of the fanbase that has lots of theories about his girls’ genders and sexualities.
It’s the first time he ever sees the word “polytrix”.
- HUNTR/X -
It’s been two weeks since the strangest Idol Awards Bobby has ever experienced.
Two weeks of absolute hell.
Every news outlet is trying to get ahold of HUNTR/X to get the scoop on what really happened that day. The tabloids are all spreading vicious speculation about the markings across Rumi’s skin and the public breakup onstage. Their social engagement is insanely high, but the comments are a cesspool. Celine is keeping Sunlight Entertainment at bay, but it’s clear that many people there are furious at HUNTR/X being on hiatus right now.
He’s been so preoccupied with all of that that he’s been forced to neglect his most important job - checking in on his girls.
And they have not seemed okay.
Normally, when he makes his way into the penthouse he’d expect them to be watching some dumb drama together or yelling at a video game in the living room. But the few times he’s managed to visit, either a tense silence settles across the room like they’d been having a difficult conversation before he arrived or they’re hiding away in the bedrooms.
Hoping to actually get to see them today and not interrupt anything, he texts them in advance that he’ll be coming over with dinner for all of them.
When he arrives, things seem better. They all changed out of their pajamas today like they might’ve actually left the tower. They’re smiling in a soft way that seems genuine. And Rumi’s wearing a short sleeve shirt with her iridescent patterns on display along her arms.
He’s been in hell for the last two weeks for them.
And he’s still so proud of them.
“I brought your favorites from that Thai place across town,” he announces, plunking down the bags on the kitchen counter.
The three of them approach the counter slowly, and he notices that Zoey is keeping her hands behind her back.
“We have something for you too,” Rumi tells him.
With that, Zoey presents him with the envelope she’d been hiding behind her back. He pulls out a card with a myriad of different hearts drawn on the front in all different colors and styles as though they’d all contributed. He opens it to find the words “We’re sorry for the PR nightmare” scrawled inside. He pulls out the other item in the envelope, a folded up sheet of paper.
Before he can unfold it, Mira tells him what it is. “We booked you two weeks at that fancy resort you were supposed to go to after the end of our world tour.”
He doesn’t know what else to say, so all he chokes out is, “Two weeks?”
“We added an extra week,” Rumi says. “Figured you could use it after everything that’s happened.”
“Girls, I really appreciate it but I can’t just disappear right now. The-”
“It starts in a week,” Zoey tells him. “We figured you wouldn’t be able to drop everything right away, so you still have another week for things to settle down. Let us know whatever we can do to help make it happen.”
“Thank you. This is really sweet.”
“We also didn’t want you to leave just yet, because we want some time to talk to you,” Rumi says. She looks to Mira and Zoey, who both nod their support. “We want to tell you everything.”
“Everything?”
He has a hard time believing he isn’t imagining this. He had accepted a long time ago that there seemed to be a part of their lives that they were keeping from him. There had been too many odd moments over the years that logic simply couldn’t rationalize. He’d given up trying to speculate over them too. The past month has challenged all of that, but he still never anticipated that they would actually be willing to share this with him.
“Everything,” they confirm in unison.
He starts to cry, not even trying to hide it. This sets all of them off in turn, and the next he knows, they’re all huddled together, holding onto each other and crying out their recent struggles.
A few days later, Bobby shows up in the matching “Protect Trans Kids” t-shirt Zoey had gotten him and sits down for them to tell him everything. Only for him to learn that Rumi isn’t trans. She’s a demon.
Demons are real.
And his girls are (were?) demon hunters.
And the Saja Boys were demons.
Oh, and Bobby almost surrendered his soul to their demon king.
Yeah, he really appreciates the vacation after that conversation.