#i need to get hit with a metal pole to reset my brain or something

[bratdotcom]

Death island leon teasing u with his stubble...I need to be put in a hospital bed rn and be restrained I can't stop thinking abt him doing that

[larksinging]

okay and here is a birthday gift for @mystoffelees ! i decided to feed them a little bit of denny ladybug 

hunter! im so glad we started talking. i cant possibly describe how much i just enjoy talking and coming up with all sorts of aus and concepts and everything, i swear anytime im in a bad mood hearing you go “consider” cheers me right the fuck up and i appreciate it and your creativity SOO much. i know this has been a really.... really hard year, but you’ve made it this far and we’re here for you <3 here’s to hoping there’s only bright things on the horizon

Their shoes skid on the asphalt as they both land and come to a halt. Across the empty lot, Blake meets Ruby’s eyes. Ruby nods once, and they’re off again. 

Ladybug isn’t the most complicated of the moves, but that’s to keep it flexible. It’s all about timing and precise strikes. It hadn’t been hard for her and Ruby to master it when they first invented it, but…

Blake narrows her eyes so she can track Ruby’s movements, predict when she’ll hit the pole they set up. She surges forward to cut down the seconds and hit it at the wrong time, but she calculates wrong -- the metal rings out one-two hits, Gambol Shroud striking is a half-second before Crescent Rose. Blake’s supposed to be a half inch further back than she is to avoid the tip of the scythe, but instead she had to turn on a dime and go sideways. Ruby, in surprise, nearly flubs her landing. 

“Sorry!” Blake blurts out when they bod skid to a stop. “I’m sorry. That was my fault. I just --” 

“It’s okay! It’s okay.” Ruby awkwardly hop-skips over to linger closer to Blake. “It’s been a while, right? That’s why we’re practicing!” 

A while, yes. Though that hadn’t stopped her before, on the train. Her mind wanders, wondering how long it’s been for Ruby. Nobody will tell Blake how long exactly it’s been since the Hunger Games -- she won’t ask -- but she wonders.

“Yeah,” Blake agrees. “Just out of practice.” But her stomach twists at the thought of doing more. “It’s getting late. Why don’t we get something to eat?” 

Ruby smiles. Blake, trying her best, smiles back. 

------

It’s one of those nights where Blake gets back to the apartment later than she intended. Another one of those strange meetings at the welcome center -- this time with some man in an old-tech diving suit. She rubs her heads as she unlocks the door, scratching her ears in the process. The others are probably asleep, since she doesn’t hear the TV or anything in the kitchen going. 

Just as she’s about to drop her stuff off on the table near the door, she hears a muffled giggling. Sounds like Weiss, if she listens closely. 

Blake turns towards the hallway, fully intended to go see what’s so funny, until she hears Ruby’s muffled laugh. There’s something a little strange about the tone, something private and just between them. Blake takes a step back. 

She’ll go see what Sun is up to.

----- 

During one of the hotter nights when she can’t sleep, Blake creeps out the window and up onto the rooftop. Being alone and high up enough to see the city has always done wonders to calm her. Except she’s not alone. Her tension bleeds away quickly when she sees it’s Ruby. 

So slowly, she goes over and stands next to her leader, with an awkward cough to announce her presence. 

“I didn’t know you were up here,” Blake apologizes. 

Ruby shakes her head, doing that I-am-perfectly-fine smile of hers. “It’s okay! The company can’t hurt.” 

Can’t it? But maybe right now Blake doesn’t want to be alone, either. “Is something bothering you?” 

Instead of answering, Ruby just looks out over the city. Blake frowns. Just as she opens her mouth to say something, Ruby smiles again. “It’s almost the end of the month. That’s all.” 

Rent, her mind jumps to immediately. No, that can’t be it. That’s not a problem, between the six of them. She scours her mind for what else it could be. It’s still summer, but maybe Ruby’s anxious about getting older here? Here…

“The glitches reset every month, right?” Blake ventures tentatively. 

Ruby pauses, like she wasn’t expecting to get caught in the truth, and then nods. “And we don’t know what they are until we get there.” 

“We’ll get through it, like we always have,” Blake offers. Ruby buries her wince, but Blake sees it. Wrong thing to say. They didn’t all get through it, did they? What would the other Blake have said? And even then -- she sees the haunted look in her teammates’ eyes, sometimes. More haunted than she remembers. 

“As long as we’re together.” She corrects. 

Ruby smiles. It doesn’t reach her eyes. “Thanks, Blake.” 

-----

“And when we get back home---” 

“What?” Ruby mumbles through a mouthful of toast. Blake stirs her tea and they both blink at each other. 

“Back to Remnant,” Blake corrects. “Don’t you miss it?” 

Something in Ruby’s eyes waver, even if her expression struggles not to change. Wrong thing to say, Blake, she chides herself, wincing internally. 

“I just mean--” 

“Of course!” Ruby smiles. She glances to the window. “It’s just… um….” 

Blake hates that it takes a second for her brain to sort through why Ruby’s upset. Oh, of course. Her friends here. Now Blake feels the pang too, imagining just leaving Villanelle and the others without a word. And she knows, more than anyone, what that’s like -- even here. 

“You have a life here too,” Blake says gently. Ruby nods. 

There doesn’t seem to be a good way to respond to that. Instead, Blake just passes Ruby the jam. 

---

It takes a few more days before Blake gets the chance to really corner Ruby alone. Eventually it’s the rooftop in the middle of the night that she gets her chance. Ruby smiles at her, more genuine this time, but her silver eyes dart down to the package in Blake’s hands. 

“I was thinking,” Blake explains before Ruby can get a word in edgewise, “I know I missed your birthday by… a lot, but I still wanted to get you something.” And she hands the present to Ruby. 

“That’s so sweet of you! But you really didn’t have to,” Ruby says, even as she tears into it. Blake just shakes her head. 

“It’s just a book,” Blake says, shrugging to brush off the moment, “But I thought you’d like it.” 

“What’s it about?” “A time-traveler who fights interdimensional aliens,” Blake explains. “But it was good. And it had lots of action, so…” 

And because of the subplot about the heroine struggling between her lives in different periods, the need to keep everything she knows a secret -- maybe that’s too heavy handed. Or maybe it’s just what Ruby needs. 

Ruby looks up at her, and this time there’s nothing hidden about her smile. “Thanks, Blake.” 

When Blake smiles back, there’s nothing forced about it. “Happy late birthday, Ruby.” 

[bratdotcom]

Crying over rookie leon again ermmm