Work Text:
Zoey is trying to analyze her boyfriend Mystery's text and goes to Rumi and Mira for help.
Zoey burst into the living room like she was carrying classified government intelligence instead of her phone. “Emergency,” she announced dramatically, dropping onto the couch between Rumi and Mira with a level of urgency that suggested someone had confessed undying love or declared war. “I need both of you. Immediately.”
Rumi, who had been curled comfortably against Jinu’s side with her legs draped over his lap, blinked up at her in mild surprise. Jinu lazily continued tracing patterns on Rumi’s knee, entirely unbothered. Mira didn’t even look up from where she was scrolling on her tablet. “If this is about snacks again—”
“It’s about Mystery,” Zoey cut in, holding up her phone like evidence in a trial. “He texted me.”
There was a beat of silence.
Rumi’s expression softened into a smile. “Okay?”
“That’s it?” Zoey demanded. “You’re not alarmed?”
“Should we be?” Jinu asked mildly, pressing a soft kiss into Rumi’s hair while she shifted slightly closer to him.
Zoey shoved her phone in their faces. “Read it.”
Mira leaned over first. “‘How’s your day going?’” she read flatly. She blinked once. “Zoey.”
“That’s not all,” Zoey insisted. “Read the tone.”
Rumi took the phone gently, squinting slightly as if the text might reveal hidden ink under careful examination. “‘How’s your day going?’” she repeated slowly. “There’s a smiley face.”
“Yes,” Zoey whispered. “Exactly.”
Jinu tilted his head. “It’s a smiley face.”
“But what kind of smiley face?” Zoey pressed. “It’s not the basic one. It’s the slightly tilted one.”
Mira stared at her. “You cannot be serious.”
“I am extremely serious.”
Rumi tried very hard not to laugh. “Zoey, sweetheart, I think he’s just asking how your day is going.”
“Or,” Zoey countered, “he’s asking how my day is going because he’s testing something.”
“Testing what?” Jinu asked, amused.
“My emotional availability.”
Mira dropped her tablet onto her lap. “It’s 3:12 in the afternoon.”
“And?” Zoey demanded.
“And nothing about ‘How’s your day going?’ screams psychological warfare.”
Zoey crossed her arms. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Mira’s eyebrows lifted. “Excuse me?”
“Your relationship with Abby is still new,” Zoey said pointedly. “You should be analyzing everything.”
Mira immediately flushed. “I do not analyze everything.”
Rumi slowly turned her head toward Mira with exaggerated curiosity. “Oh?”
Mira’s ears turned pink. “Abby gets straight to the point.”
Jinu snorted softly. “That’s true.”
Zoey narrowed her eyes. “You’re telling me you’ve never stared at a text from him for twenty minutes wondering what he meant by a period?”
Mira hesitated for half a second too long.
Rumi gasped dramatically. “You have!”
“I have not,” Mira protested, which only made her look guiltier.
Jinu chuckled, leaning down to kiss Rumi’s cheek as she laughed. “She absolutely has.”
Zoey pointed accusingly. “See? You’re in the analyze stage.”
Mira crossed her arms. “Abby texts clearly.”
“Give an example,” Zoey challenged.
Mira hesitated, then muttered, “‘I miss you.’”
Zoey blinked. “That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“No hidden layers?”
“No.”
Zoey looked scandalized. “That’s suspiciously straightforward.”
Rumi giggled, curling more securely against Jinu. “Not everyone communicates in riddles, Zoey.”
“But Mystery is mysterious,” Zoey insisted. “It’s in his name.”
“That’s branding,” Jinu said dryly.
Rumi handed the phone back gently. “Okay. Let’s analyze it properly if that makes you feel better.”
Zoey straightened immediately. “Thank you. Finally.”
Jinu shifted slightly, wrapping an arm more snugly around Rumi’s waist. “Fine. Step one: context. What were you doing before he texted?”
“Breathing,” Zoey replied.
Mira pinched the bridge of her nose.
Rumi smiled patiently. “No, I mean earlier today.”
“Oh. I told him I was going to reorganize my closet.”
Jinu blinked. “That’s… intense.”
“It needed to be done.”
Rumi nodded thoughtfully. “So maybe he’s just checking in to see if you survived.”
Zoey considered that. “You think he cares about my closet journey?”
“Yes,” Jinu said simply. “He cares about you.”
Zoey looked briefly disarmed by that.
Mira leaned forward. “Zoey, he literally kissed your cheeks last week for ‘being yourself.’ I don’t think he’s secretly testing you with a smiley face.”
Zoey sighed dramatically. “But what if the tilt of the smiley means something?”
Rumi glanced at Jinu. “Should we demonstrate?”
Jinu smirked. “Oh, absolutely.”
He pulled out his own phone and typed something quickly before showing it to Rumi.
Jinu: *How’s your day going? :)*
Rumi looked up at him, smiling. “It’s going very well because I’m sitting next to you.”
He grinned. “See? No secret code.”
Zoey squinted. “But that’s different. You’re married.”
“And obsessed,” Mira muttered.
Rumi didn’t deny it. Instead, she leaned over and kissed Jinu softly, just because she could. He kissed her back immediately, lingering long enough to make Mira groan.
“We’re in the middle of a crisis,” Mira reminded them.
Jinu pulled back slowly, still smiling. “Right. Sorry.”
He kissed Rumi’s temple one more time anyway.
Zoey stared at them. “How do you not overthink?”
Rumi shrugged gently. “We used to. But eventually you realize that if someone means something, they’ll say it.”
Jinu nodded. “Mystery is pretty straightforward.”
“He is?” Zoey asked.
“Yes,” Jinu said. “If he likes you, you’ll know. If he’s confused, he’ll ask. He’s not subtle.”
Zoey stared down at her phone again.
Mira softened slightly. “You really like him, don’t you?”
Zoey hesitated. “Maybe.”
“That’s why you’re spiraling,” Mira said knowingly.
Zoey gasped. “You spiraled!”
“I did not.”
“You absolutely did,” Zoey shot back. “You once asked me what it meant when Abby said ‘goodnight’ without a heart emoji.”
Rumi burst into laughter.
Mira covered her face. “That was one time.”
Jinu chuckled. “So you analyzed.”
“Fine,” Mira admitted. “A little.”
Zoey pointed triumphantly. “See? Analyze stage.”
Rumi squeezed Zoey’s shoulder gently. “It’s normal. But you don’t have to live there.”
Zoey sighed. “So you really think he just wants to know how my day is going?”
“Yes,” Jinu said.
“Yes,” Mira echoed.
“Yes,” Rumi confirmed warmly.
Zoey stared at the screen one more time before typing carefully.
Zoey: *It’s good! Closet is 60% conquered. How’s yours?*
She hovered over send dramatically.
“Press it,” Mira urged.
She sent it.
The three of them stared at the screen as if expecting fireworks.
Jinu leaned down and kissed Rumi’s cheek again. “You’re very cute when you play therapist.”
“I learned from the best,” she murmured, kissing him back lightly.
Zoey glanced at them. “Can you two not flirt while I’m emotionally exposed?”
“We’re not flirting,” Jinu said innocently.
Rumi grinned. “We’re existing.”
Mira rolled her eyes fondly. “They can’t help it.”
A moment later, Zoey’s phone buzzed.
She gasped.
Mira groaned. “It’s been five seconds.”
Zoey read the screen. “‘Pretty good. Send me a picture of the closet when you’re done. Proud of you.’”
She froze.
Rumi smiled softly. “See?”
“He’s proud of me,” Zoey whispered.
Jinu nodded. “That’s not coded.”
“That’s sweet,” Mira added.
Zoey’s dramatic tension visibly melted. “Okay… maybe I overreacted.”
“Maybe?” Mira repeated.
Rumi laughed gently and pulled Zoey into a quick side hug despite Jinu’s arm still around her. “It’s okay. That’s what we’re here for.”
Jinu leaned over and kissed Rumi’s cheek again, because he genuinely couldn’t seem to stop. She smiled against his lips.
Zoey squinted at them. “You two are disgustingly stable.”
“Emotionally secure,” Jinu corrected.
“Obsessed,” Mira corrected again.
Rumi didn’t argue. She just tucked herself back against Jinu’s chest comfortably.
Zoey looked down at her phone with a softer expression this time. “Maybe I’ll just… take it at face value.”
“That’s growth,” Mira said approvingly.
Zoey glanced at her slyly. “You’re still analyzing Abby’s punctuation, though.”
Mira turned red again. “I am not.”
Rumi and Jinu exchanged a knowing look.
Zoey grinned. “We’re teasing you later.”
Mira groaned.
And as Zoey finally relaxed into the couch, texting Mystery back with far less panic than before, Rumi and Jinu settled into their usual comfortable tangle of limbs together and completely obsessed, completely unbothered and quietly pleased that, for once, the only mystery in the room had been successfully decoded.