Finding Cassiopeia in the City

by CaveDwellers

In which a meteor shower becomes the catalyst for something that Ruby never knew her relationship with Sapphire needed. [college-age human AU, part of the Starry Eyed series; be mindful of the rating. Cover art by Spatial, used with permission]

1. Finding Cassiopeia in the City

A/N: We have gone rounds, me and this fic. It's been a long time since I wrote something that fought me tooth and nail, every step of the way. I'm used to having my muses take over, but this went above and beyond that. This thing blew itself up way bigger than I planned, and it forced me to bring up some unexpectedly personal topics. At some points I almost felt as if I was talking to myself while writing this (an odd sensation if there ever was one), so I think I should apologize if some things feel like they're too much. All I wanted was see what would happen if my favorite characters could swear and enjoy human food like I do, I swear!

In regards to this story's NC-17 rating: you really don't have anything to worry about until your 3/4s of the way down. Everything up until that point is emotional lead in and gratuitous world building. ;P I actually love writing sex scenes, though I don't post them very often. It's not embarrassment, really, more that I'm terrible about releasing my own work. ^^"

All of which is to say, thanks for being here and reading. Please enjoy :)

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All of Sapphire's pictures from high school feature her with bright blue hair.

She doesn't have blue hair anymore ("We've got to be adults now, right? Adults don't have blue hair"), but somehow the bright blonde Ruby has always known her for just isn't as fitting in juxtaposition with blue.

"What's your natural color, anyway?" asks Ruby, glancing up from her smartphone. She's at Sapphire's studio, laying on the floor with her knees hooked over the armrest of the shitty free couch Sapphire scored from craigslist, flicking through her girlfriend's old facebook pictures because it's something to do—and, okay, she's kind of curious, too.

Sapphire, standing in front of the full length mirror on the other side of the little room with her arms akimbo and legs shoulder-width apart like she's about to win a pissing contest, shrugs. That's it. Just shrugs.

Ruby rolls her head over the carpet. "You don't remember, do you?"

"I think it was brown. Maybe black. My roots come in black."

Yeah, Ruby knows. "Your mom is blonde, though. Naturally, I mean." Ms. Ortiz (technically Mrs., still? She's pretty sure Sapphire's parents are still married, legally speaking) has been dyeing her hair brunette for the last year now, to combat the greying that comes naturally with aging.

Confusing? Yes, Ruby is very aware. Hair is a big deal in Sapphire's family, though, so she's learned to get all of her Hair Facts straight by this point.

Sapphire's only response is a mild, "See what I mean? Who knows."

Ruby lets out a sigh that's also a little huff of laughter. She lets her phone fall to the side and thrusts her palms towards the ceiling, holds them there to see how long it will take her arms to get tired. "Are you done yet?"

"Help me out, if you're so bored."

Ruby makes a 'yuck' of distaste. She rolls her wrists. "You know fashion isn't my thing."

"That's because it doesn't need to be. You just throw on a tank top from the floor, and voila!"

Is that supposed to be a compliment?

"You should try it sometime," Ruby says, staring at the ceiling. "It's a lot faster."

When that garners no response (of course it doesn't), Ruby rolls to her knees and grabs Sapphire's guitar. She sprawls against the couch without actually sitting on it and starts to idly pluck. While she doesn't know how to play, that isn't going to stop her from pretending.

When she looks up, Sapphire is leaning down in front of her, arms crossed. She is also in the same sleeveless patterned-silk blouse, flats and skinny jeans she was wearing when Ruby first came over. Her waist-length blonde hair is twisted up in a pretty bun, though (sans bangs, of course, because who is Sapphire without her bangs?) and she seems to have put on chunky hoop earrings. And a necklace with a slender silver pendant. And… changed her makeup? Maybe? Ruby hadn't been looking that closely when she came in.

Honestly, she's not paying much attention to the details right now. From this angle, she can see the curve of Sapphire's smooth brown breasts over the collar of her blouse.

"Look who's holding us up now," Sapphire says.

Ruby glances up at the blue of her eyes. "Oh, you've finally decided you feel fashionable enough?"

They stare each other down for about thirty long seconds before Ruby decides she can't resist. She grins and says, "Did you use sugar? Because I see some pretty sweet—aw, come on, I was going to say earrings!"

"You absolutely were not." Sapphire's cheeks are now a rich mahogany shade, though, which honestly makes the whole waiting thing worth it.

"Okay, let me try again." Ruby sets the guitar on the couch cushion next to her shoulder and clears her throat. Serious face—yes, that's it. These things are no good if they aren't delivered with finesse.

Sapphire groans, but nonetheless straightens up and gestures the go-ahead with one hand while keeping the other crossed over her abdomen.

"If you were the printed word, I'd have to call you the fine print, baby!"

Sapphire bursts out laughing. Her cheeks are still rosy, too. Flattery or embarrassment? Eh, doesn't matter—it's gorgeous anyway. Ruby smiles and hops nimbly to her feet, and the taller woman doesn't resist when she's tugged in until their torsos are flush.

Sapphire's still chortling, and she giggles in earnest when Ruby kisses the side of her neck. "Stop, you know that tickles!"

Ruby draws back, grinning cheekily, and happily accepts the quick peck that's pushed onto her lips.

"We're actually right on time to go," Sapphire says as she steps away and checks her phone. As she shrugs on her brown leather jacket she casts a critical look at Ruby's attire, mid-thigh shorts with cargo-pockets and a ribbed tank top. Her feet are bare right now, but her boots are waiting over by the door. "Are you sure you don't want to borrow a jacket?"

"Nah. I don't get cold—besides, none of your jackets fit my shoulders."

"Old college sweater, then." Is it technically your 'old' college if you only graduated last fall? Well, Sapphire is the first person in her family to do it at all, so Ruby supposes she has the right to refer to it however she wants.

"I'll be fine," Ruby says. "Honest."

Sapphire shoots her an unconvinced look and stuffs the largest sweater she owns in her tote with the eye drops for her prosthetic anyway. Ruby rolls her eyes, but she has to admit: it's nice to have someone looking out for you. That's a pretty new thing, for her.

Sapphire got lucky. Someone saw her potential for greatness at a young age, and teachers treated her accordingly. When she was confused about a concept, someone took the time to explain things in greater detail. They encouraged her to read and write; to ask questions; to turn her mild interests in singing and running into solid, resume-building extracurriculars; to take advantage of her Hispanic heritage and pay for her higher education with scholarships and federal grants, here, let me show you how to make your application a shoo-in. Inner city schools are never given the resources they need to give every child the same experience, and that's why teachers there have to be so selective about the kids they believe in. They'd run themselves into the ground, otherwise; they needed a surefire investment.

In hindsight, maybe that's actually how it was. Maybe that's the reason it always felt like adults were giving up on Ruby before they gave her a chance. Oh, she'll never understand anyway, so why try at all? It's not a new or unique story, and neither was Ruby's response to it. While Sapphire was being nurtured to think critically and make something of herself with those innate talents of hers, Ruby was cutting class and raising hell for foster parents who used children as ash trays, or beating the shit out of bullies who got their laughs from picking on smaller kids. It was, she thought, something that needed to be done—and if the adults were all going to turn a blind eye to it, and if school was determined to be a waste of her goddamn time, then at least she could do something useful. After all, you don't need an education to protect someone.

A menace, they would say of her. Out of control. Well, fuck 'em. Coming to terms with her sexuality somewhere along the way (well, 'somewhere' being another foster kid for the whopping three months they were in the same house together, and then suddenly noticing how freaking amazing all women were thereafter) was the icing on the cake. Just one more reason to throw up a middle finger to The System—see, even my preferences don't want anything to do with how you think I should be.

While it might have been romantic, it wasn't Sapphire who saved Ruby. Turning eighteen saved her. Being her own person, legally, released her from the custody of the state and the revolving door of foster homes who were either too overwhelmed or too fucked up to provide anything worthwhile. It meant she didn't have to dodge official representatives' robotic inquiries about whether she was cared for or happy (no and fuck no, respectively) or explain yet again why she hadn't bothered with high school.

It takes three years of steady work as an airport baggage handler and a tattoo artist named Amethyst, but Ruby gets her GED eventually, and that's what matters.

Only four months after that does she move into the newly-vacant bedroom in Amethyst's apartment on the other (read: slightly better) side of the city and take up a job bouncing at a club (why? Because she's sort of missed having an excuse to fight assholes on a regular basis). It's there that she meets Sapphire, who is a bartender as well as a fulltime student at the University.

Though it's sort of hard to believe, she's known Sapphire nearly two years now. It took more than a year of that time for them to actually get together ("finally!" said—well, pretty much everyone who knew them), but these last six months have been more or less exactly what you'd expect. They're taking salsa classes together, for chrissakes.

"Hey." Sapphire reaches out and tugs at one of Ruby's chin-length curls. Her tone is light, and she's smiling, but her blue eyes are concerned. She touches Ruby's jaw with feather light fingertips. "You still in there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry." As Sapphire's hand falls, Ruby plucks self-consciously at her headband. It's only a red ribbon tied around her afro and forehead, but she's been wearing one for years now, and fiddling with it is something of a bad habit. She digs her free hand into one of her cargo pockets and jangles her keys, tries to grin like she hasn't just been spacing out for who knows how long. "You ready to head out?"

Sapphire doesn't have a car, which is why Ruby's here in the first place. Well, that and she wants to be. If push came to shove, there's always the metro, but Ruby likes being able to do this for her girlfriend. Being able to pick Sapphire up and take her places is one of the few things she knows she's good at—and besides, their grocery and laundry excursions are always a fun time.

Sapphire's attractive full lips tilt into a frown. Her eyebrows furrow. "You okay, Ru?"

"I was just thinking about something." Ruby realizes her golden opportunity, and promptly adds, "You."

"I swear, the day you run out of those cheesy lines cannot come soon enough." Sapphire nonetheless grabs her hand and hauls her chortling ass from the studio, only pausing for a) Ruby to stamp into her boots, and b) make sure the two locks on the door are secure.

"Don't fool yourself, Sapph. You love this shit." Lord knows why, when she was raised speaking English and Spanish, started seriously studying Cantonese in high school ("Because I want to be able to have a conversation on every continent, Ruby—don't you?"), and has a degree in international fucking socioeconomics, but it is nonetheless true that Sapphire enjoys wordplay. Ruby will parley with puns all day long if it makes her happy.

"Three in fifteen minutes is a little much, even for me," she replies dryly.

Ruby starts to say something, but then Sapphire releases her hand and gives her a casual slap on the ass, and Ruby startles as her girlfriend descends into the stairwell, casual as can be. This has happened before, admittedly, but now of all times?

Regardless, once she regains her wits and starts down the stairs herself Ruby has to admit, "Well, that's fair, I guess."

Sapphire snorts, and then realizes, "Were we supposed to bring anything?"

"I grabbed a whole bunch of meat for the grill yesterday," Ruby says with a dismissive wave.

"But I didn't."

"Bring extras next time, if you feel so bad," Ruby says. "I really don't think our friends are going to kick you to the curb because you didn't bring a bag of potato chips to the meteor shower."

"What about beer? Booze? Do you think—"

"Sapph, think about where we're going. Rose and Pearl are the most organized and prepared people on the planet." Then, when she still doesn't seem convinced, Ruby says, "Give me ten bucks for what I bought, then, and my contribution will be from you too. Problem solved."

"Okay, great!" Before Ruby can blink, the bills are being shoved into her palm (has Sapphire been planning this?). Still, she accepts the money and shoves it into the bigger pocket on her left side. Arguing with Sapphire about this is a lost cause.

It's currently twilight in the city. A purple haze has been cast over everything, and the streetlamps seem to be performing a perfunctory job at the moment, but hey, it's better than nothing.

Ruby's '94 Honda civic isn't anything fancy, but it isn't a broken down piece of shit either, so it has that going for it. Nevertheless, its lack of electric windows and security means that Ruby has to unlock the passenger side manually in order for Sapphire to clamber in.

"Are we sure the light pollution won't get in the way of seeing the shower?" asks Sapphire as Ruby turns the engine and throws the civic into gear.

"No," Ruby admits, pulling out on to the street. "But even if that doesn't work out, it's still a nice night. We'll all find a way to have a good time."

Actually, it was a night very much like this that Ruby had her first real conversation with Sapphire. She and Amethyst had decided to hold a barbeque on the roof of their apartment building with some friends, and Ruby had invited Sapphire and a few other co-workers from the club—partially to be polite, but mostly to prove to the antagonistic Amethyst that yes, I do have friends besides you and Pearl and Rose, see asshole, here are they all are enjoying beef franks and beer with us on the roof.

It was there, on that same roof, that Sapphire had leaned against the bricked safety guard next to Ruby, and asked point blank, "Tell me if I'm crazy, but has Kevin been hitting on me for the last hour?"

Kevin is a fellow bartender at the club whose shift partially overlaps with Sapphire's. The man is a pretty boy if there ever was one, all perfectly quaffed hair and white teeth and slender limbs. He always smells like cologne and mousse—truthfully, he wears more product than any woman Ruby knows. To Kevin's credit, however, he gets tipped very well for his efforts (and since they all split tips at the end of the night, Ruby likes him for that).

"The last hour? You mean the last four months." Ruby snorted incredulously from where she was with her forearms resting on the safety guard with her beer. It was a microbrew IPA that Pearl insisted she try (Pearl only drinks microbrews), and while it was a little hoppier than she usually liked it was kind of starting to grow on her.

Sapphire sighed and propped the sole of her shoe against the brick so that her thigh was parallel with the concrete rooftop like a long, lean, brown table. Did Ruby mention that Sapphire was wearing short shorts? (Of course, they had been paired with knee-high socks and a baggy knit sweater, as if those provisions might save her from the chill of the cross breeze that swept over the top of the apartment building. Go figure, right?)

"I was really hoping you'd tell me I was crazy, and he's like that with everyone."

Ruby guffawed loudly, and had to stifle more of the same with a hasty draw from the neck of her beer bottle. "You expected me to tell you horror stories about being sexually harassed by Kevin?" she said incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

Sapphire grunted, displeased. "I've never done anything to encourage him," she muttered.

"Kevin doesn't need encouragement, Ortiz. He just needs," Ruby paused, tapping her bottle against her lips. What did Kevin look for? "A female with a beating heart and expressive body language."

Sapphire blinked behind her bright blonde bangs, the typically tidy arrangement of which was being ruined by the evening breezes sweeping over the concrete-and-brick rooftop. Actually, the wind was strong enough to get the whole of her elbow-length hair, unbound for once, shifting and slipping over her shoulder. "What's so expressive about my body language?" she asked.

"Sorry, I misspoke. I meant nice legs and hair that's prettier than his."

For a moment Sapphire didn't say anything, but then she offered a slow spreading grin. "Is that what he told you, or do you know from personal experience?"

Ruby raised her eyebrows. What was that supposed to mean? "He didn't need to tell me. You can just tell," she finally settled for. "I take it he's not your type?"

"What was your first clue?"

Ruby snorted. "Poor Kevin. Dude can't catch a break."

"So he's tried this bullshit on you, too? You keep avoiding the question."

She really wanted to know, didn't she? "No," Ruby said flatly. "Even if I did have the legs he looks for—which I don't—I'm about as straight as a slinky, so I would have made him uncomfortable pretty fucking quick."

Sapphire's expression changed abruptly as she swiped her windblown hair from the piercing blue of her eyes. At the time Ruby hadn't known that the right one was a prosthetic from a childhood accident, and so met them both equally. "That's all it takes?"

Ruby could hear the cogs in the taller woman's head turning from here. What was she leading up to? "Kevin makes a break for it the moment he starts feeling weird," she said, playing it safe. "It's not tough, if you know the right buttons to push."

"And outing yourself is one of them?"

"Yeah," Ruby said slowly, eyeing the other woman with a creeping sense of distaste. If Sapphire was one of those people, then Ruby was definitely not inviting her to any more barbeques. "But it's not exactly good karma to lie about it, you know."

"Who said it would be a lie?" retorted Sapphire, slapping a hand down on her thigh. "I've been trying to keep my behavior workplace appropriate this entire time, but if that's what it takes to get this creep off my back, then fuck it, I'll announce it right now. I'll tell everyone the story about the pool in sixth grade if I have to!"

Ruby had been working with Sapphire for five months at this point, and she had never once picked up on any alleged less-than-heterosexual inclinations in the entirety of that time. Actually, now that she was thinking of it, she hadn't picked up on any inclinations at all. Sapphire flirted with customers to get tips, but that was a textbook bartending technique. Her treatment of her coworkers was decidedly platonic and disinterested, and until today Ruby had never spoken to her outside of the club. Was she just that good at masking it?

"I always knew you were flaming, you know." Ruby was still beside herself, but she smirked for the sake of the punchline. "I mean, just look at the fire in your name."

At first Sapphire said nothing, her expression and demeanor utterly enigmatic. Then understanding flooded her face as the pun registered, and she burst into hysterics. Ruby had never heard the blonde woman laugh so hard. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard," she gasped, still in stitches and clutching at her sides. "Did you just make that up on the spot?"

"Ha, yeah." Ruby tugged at her headband and fought back a blush. Stupid was right. What had she been thinking? Just because she thought the pun was a kind of amusing icebreaker didn't mean she had to subject a coworker to her awkward sense of humor.

"I love it!"

She did a double take, her fingers freezing around her headband. "Huh?"

Sapphire's face was shining with mirth, and she had her forearms crisscrossed over her thigh. It was a casual pose, but the cleavage peeking out from under her baggy knit sweater was anything but (did she even realize?). She scarcely seemed to register the way the wind was pushing her hair around anymore. "I've always thought you were funny, Ruby," she said, grinning.

Ruby was nonplussed, to put it kindly (to her knowledge, Sapphire had never laughed at any of her lame-ass jokes in the past), but one thing was becoming crystal clear: I need to get to know this woman better.

"…So now that we're stopped at this convenient red light, I think I might just flash this jacked up truck full of men next to us," says the Sapphire in the passenger seat of Ruby's '94 civic. "What do you think, good idea?"

"Wha—?" Ruby rips her head to the right, where she can only assume the truck is, but instead it's a burgundy prius with an elderly couple. "What the hell just happened," she mutters to no one in particular, turning her attention back to the stoplight. Conveniently, it has just turned green.

"Well, you zoned out on me again," Sapphire says, and her coolly measured tone raises a series of alarms shouting Mayday, Mayday! in Ruby's mind. "That was the third time I threatened to do something stupid at a red light, not that you've noticed at all."

"Oh." Some damage control is definitely necessary, Ruby decides. Yes, indeed—and the sooner, the better. "Sorry, Sapph," she says lamely.

What a time for words to fail her. Really.

"If there's something on your mind, Ruby, you should just say it. I don't like being cut out of your process like this."

Think of something. Say anything!

"How did you get Kevin off of your back, anyway?" is what tumbles out. If memory serves, after that rooftop conversation he hadn't been making passes at Sapphire for much longer, but Ruby never heard why. To be fair, though, she's pretty terrible about asking follow up questions.

She had also been sort of preoccupied with talking to Sapphire herself at that point, and having Kevin out of the picture had felt like a thumbs up of divine encouragement. Questioning her good fortune, Ruby figured, would have been in bad taste.

Of course, the Sapphire in the here and now undoubtedly thought this Kevin question was completely out of left field. In fact, it might have made more sense if Ruby had actually started a conversation about baseball.

Impressively enough, Sapphire scarcely skips a beat. "I gushed to him about how unequivocally I loved watching your ass from the bar one night, and he pretty much left me alone after that. He'll say he's not to be PC, but I sense some homophobia from that one."

Ruby just about chokes on her own spit. Sapphire had done what now? "That's, uh," she says. "A solid tactic."

"I've lost count of how many times I've gratuitously swatted you on the ass these last six months—including but not limited to ten minutes ago—and you think it's just a tactic?"

Sapphire has a way of pointing things out so dryly it's almost insulting. It's a talent, really.

"You could have mentioned you were objectifying me from the other side of the club," she grumbles into her steering wheel. Her cheeks are warm, but she's telling herself not to think about it too much.

"Why would I admit to something so doing unprofessional in my workplace?"

"I don't think you have the right to use that excuse anymore, because one: you've been committing the ultimate workplace taboo for the last half year, and two: you really didn't seem to give a rip about breaking it in the first place."

Sapphire doesn't speak at first, and Ruby thinks smugly that it's because she is well and truly stumped.

"That's true, I didn't," Sapphire says.

Ruby has to fight back a triumphant fist pump. Ha—take that, trilingual girlfriend with a college degree!

"But that's only because I liked you too much to care."

Oh, come on! How the hell is she supposed to rub in the fact that she's finally won a debate now?

"Damn it, Sapphire!" Ruby smacks a hand against the steering wheel. "Even when I'm actually right, you still find a way to win! How is that a thing?"

Sapphire's from-the-gut laughter is a pretty good consolation prize. Ruby guesses.

"What got you thinking about this, anyway?" asks Sapphire when her laughter bubbles away. "Is that what you've been distracted by all day?"

"Sort of?"

"Sorry, babe, I'm not following."

"It's nothing to worry about, Sapph. I'm just being an airhead."

Sapphire's doubtful silence is almost a compliment. However, the fact that she doesn't seem willing to just let it go already is also pretty irking, too. First world problems at their finest.

"Whoa—hey, watch it, ya jackoff!" Ruby brakes hard as a Cadillac roars in out of nowhere and cuts her off. She lays on the horn and flips them off through the windshield for good measure. "Just 'cause you gotta luxury car don't make you infallible, shithead, it just makes you the guy with the most expensive hunka junk in the car wreck! Cadillac is made by General fucking Motors, anyway—you're not near as hot as you think you are!"

It isn't until her road rage has cooled down some that she notices Sapphire cackling. She's trying not to, if the hand over her mouth is indicative of anything, but she's doing a perfectly shit job at it.

"Hey, that was not my fault!" says Ruby indignantly. "I am a fucking safe driver, okay. That asshole came out of thin air!"

"I know, Ruby," says Sapphire, still chortling. "It's just—when you're mad, how is it that you can butcher basic grammar and use words like infallible in the same sentence?"

"Man, I don't know," Ruby grumbles, sinking sullenly into her seat. "Just felt like the right word to say, is all. I must've read it somewhere."

Sapphire snorts, and then reaches over and starts kneading the back of her neck. Ruby grumbles some more, incoherently, but Sapphire knows what she's doing, and the tension leaves Ruby's shoulders as she slowly lets the Cadillac incident go. No one got hurt, after all.

"You're not trying to protect me from anything, right?" says Sapphire, still massaging. Her gaze is directed stolidly forward, through the windshield, and her voice is carefully neutral. Never a good sign.

Ruby lets out a hard breath. "No."

The taller woman's hand leaves her neck and falls into her own lap. "Well, at least there's that."

Ruby glances at her, and she wants to say something meaningful, but all that comes out is, "You know, I've been feeling off today, but you have a way of turning me on."

Sapphire groans and smiles despite herself. "You just can't stop yourself, can you?"

Ruby begins to reply, but she is inadvertently interrupted by the arrival of a text message. So instead she says "I bet that's Pearl wondering why we're not fifteen minutes early" as she digs her phone out of her right side pocket and hands it over.

Sapphire takes the device and hums. "Right source, wrong message. Pearl hopes you're the one who has the telescope, otherwise Amethyst has lost it."

"What? I told Amethyst yesterday that I had it," says Ruby, scratching under her headband.

"Wasn't she stoned at the time?"

"You can tell the difference from when she's sober?" Then, at Sapphire's baffling nod, she says, "Well, whatever. Just let Pearl know there's nothing to worry about and we're almost there."

Sapphire waits for the text message that confirms Pearl's placated state of mind before thoughtfully slipping Ruby's phone back into the pocket it came from. The last five minutes of the drive pass in amiable silence. Sapphire sings along softly with the radio, as she is wont to do, and Ruby is perfectly contented to listen. Sapphire's singing voice is practically magic.

Rose and Pearl have been living together for the last several years in an apartment building on the outskirts of the city. There, the light pollution isn't half as bad as it is at Ruby and Amethyst's building. Their rent is a lot cheaper, too, but the commute they make into the city for their jobs—social work and dance instructor, respectively—makes up for it. Still, parking in this neighborhood is laughably simple for someone who is used to parallel parking with two inches to spare on either bumper, and three other cars waiting like impatient vultures for you to give up. Really, it's no wonder Pearl insists on carpooling everywhere she goes.

Sapphire looks to the sky as Ruby hauls the telescope from the trunk. It's fully dark now, so the street lights are actually doing something to help them see where they're going. "You can even see Cassiopeia from this end of town," she says, impressed.

Ruby casts her a flat look, the telescope balanced on her shoulder. "Okay, you're just making shit up now."

"No I'm not, that's the name of a constellation. Look." Sapphire moves in so they're standing shoulder to shoulder (naturally, she picks the shoulder that doesn't have the telescope) and points to the faint smattering of stars above their heads. "It's five stars that make a giant W. Do you see it?"

"Uh." Ruby's brows furrow as she searches, and she is just about to give up when she finally spots it. "Hey, yeah, it does! And that's Casios-piss-me-off?"

"Cassiopeia, yes," Sapphire says, lightly whapping her side. "She's a part of Greek mythology. If you squint, the W looks like a reclining woman. That's how the constellation got its name."

"I guess so," says Ruby, though she's pretty skeptical. What had those constellation naming guys been thinking? "Sort of looks like a giant bird to me—you know, like the way the little kids draw them?"

"Hey, yeah, I can see it too," Sapphire realizes. She tilts her head to the side. "In fact, I think I like that better."

"I feel like I should be insulted on the reclining woman's behalf."

"Why? The only woman I want to see reclining is you."

Ruby supposes she had that one coming, but it feels different when you're on the other side of the pickup line. Coming from someone she loves to impress, it's unexpectedly sweet. Nevertheless, she is compelled to grin and quip, "I knew I'd convert you eventually."

Sapphire rolls her eyes, but ultimately doesn't reply as she punches Pearl's code into the front door of the building and they traipse inside.

"Oh, come on. You're trying to tell me you didn't see that coming?"

They banter as the elevator slowly rises to the top floor of the apartment building, and then tromp up the stairs to the roof. When they push through the unlocked roof access, the first thing Ruby smells is the charcoal of a grill, and the first thing she hears is Amethyst's, "Hey, sorry about the telescope thing. I didn't remember you told me about it 'til after P texted you."

"No sweat. Weren't you stoned when I told you, anyway?"

"Like, out of my mind."

Huh, go figure.

Sapphire nudges Ruby with her elbow. Told you so.

"Which will not be happening tonight," says Pearl pointedly. Amethyst rolls her eyes and flashes Ruby the multicolored glass of her pipe from her pocket. She's not an all-day-every-day marijuana user, but she does like to use it as generic life spice. Because apparently working in a 24-hour tattoo parlor is simply not exciting enough.

Her words, not Ruby's.

"Oh, and bring that telescope over here, would you Ruby? Rose and I have already set up the perfect space for it."

The east-facing corner of the rooftop Pearl has reserved for the telescope really doesn't look much different than the other three, but this isn't Ruby's area of expertise, either, so what does she know?

As soon as she sets the telescope down, Rose is hugging her with strong, soft arms. Being overly affectionate is kind of Rose's thing, and normally Ruby would be pretty uncomfortable with it, but something about Rose makes it okay for her to be the exception.

"I'm excited, aren't you? I haven't seen a meteor shower in years," says Rose by way of greeting. As usual, she's dressed in flowing white fabric that drapes over her curves in all the most flattering ways. Ruby has never heard of a Hawaiian woman having such bombastically curly hair, but damn if Rose can't pull it off. The wide curlicues shift about gaily in the evening breezes, and Rose's round face is shining with positivity. She is so engaging and beautiful that it's almost unnatural, like she's not even human at all.

Maybe this is what the Grecian's Cassiopeia was like.

Only years of desensitization keeps Ruby from being overwhelmed by Rose's ethereal presence, so that when she says "Yeah, me neither. I've barely seen stars at all, much less shooting ones" she's mostly casual, and just the tiniest bit starstruck.

"That's right, you grew up here! The light pollution is way too intense at the heart of the city to see much of anything," realizes Rose. She was raised in a rural part of Washington State, of all places (being Hawaiian doesn't necessarily mean you're from Hawaii, Ruby has to remind herself). Having spent most of her childhood in a quintessentially fairytale forest, Rose sometimes forgets that others don't have as much experience with natural beauty as herself. Ruby, whose relationship with nature is both shaped and defined by meticulously trimmed park trees and Rose's voraciously productive plot in the community garden (not to mention the veritable army of happy potted plants in her and Pearl's apartment), just can't follow her nature talk half the time.

"Once I get the telescope set up, we'll show you Venus," Pearl promises as she fiddles with the clips and dials on the tripod. She hums as she works. Pearl has always enjoyed tinkering, and her grasp of machines and computer hardware is downright genius. Her and Rose's apartment is peppered with nifty inventions she's cobbled together over the years. She would be an incredible mechanic, if she didn't have such a deep seated fear of being covered in engine grease. As such, she still takes on small scale kitchen appliance and computer repair jobs whenever she wants to make a little extra money.

"Yeah, okay," Ruby says, because it doesn't feel like she's got much of a choice in the matter.

"Hey!" calls Amethyst. "Does this charcoal look ready? 'Cause I'm ready for it to be ready, already."

Since it's Ruby's grill, that was probably directed at her. "I'd say go for it," she says when she trudges over. There are no light fixtures up here on the roof, and they're a couple of stories above the street lamps, so they're using Rose's camping lantern to cook by. It clanks hollowly as Ruby places it back on the bricked safety guard next to the grill, and angles it so that the coals are still brightly illuminated. "Hey, Ame, have you ever seen Venus before?"

"No, but I've seen Uranus plenty of times!" Amethyst replies as she carelessly tosses some of her impressively long, wildly-layered-and-streaked hair over her shoulder and plunks the grate over the charcoal. Vidalia, her friend—girlfriend? It's kind of ambiguous between those two, especially since Vidalia makes some fairly decent money off of the paintings she makes of Amethyst's copiously tattooed form, but they both seem happy—likes to brag that Amethyst has the sort of lips people fantasize about, soft and plentiful (just like the rest of her, though Amethyst would probably attack anyone who said that to her face). As her roommate smirks at her now, Ruby thinks she can understand how people would. Hell, her teenaged self probably would have agreed. She wouldn't now, though. Maybe she's a little biased, but Ruby's self in the here and now personally believes that Sapphire's are better.

Okay, yeah. She's really fucking biased.

Still, Ruby laughs at the pun as she stoops down and opens the cooler with all of the meat—and, apparently, vegetarian kebabs. "Oh, hey, this looks like stuff from Rose's garden!"

"They are," says Sapphire, who is now suddenly standing on Ruby's left. Only months of experience keeps Ruby from jumping about a foot in the air at her girlfriend's sudden appearance. "She was telling me about it earlier. We should cook those first."

"Yeah, probably," Amethyst admits. With this lighting and the cut of her blouse, the bold tattoo of her namesake seems to glitter from the center of her breastbone. "If everyone's full up on tri-tip, no one's gonna have room to eat their vegetables."

"Oh, aren't they beautiful?" sighs Rose as her veggie kebabs are placed on the grill. "I harvested them this morning—you can't get any fresher than that!"

"Speaking of fresh, how are your cooking classes going?" asks Sapphire. She accepts an opened bottle of IGA microbrew from Ruby, who is now squatted down and rummaging nosily through the second cooler. The only other alcoholic option seems to be canned Rolling Rock, which is as good as pisswater in Sapphire's bartending eyes.

("Psst, hey," says Amethyst from her post at the grill. She kicks lightly at Ruby's calf. "Grab me one, would you?"

After Ruby passes Amethyst a can of Rolling Rock, she secures one for herself and stands. Pearl's made her try the IGA before, and she isn't a fan.)

And for the record, Rose isn't taking cooking classes because she's terrible at it—she's actually a damn good cook. Ruby knows this from personal experience (she and Amethyst and Rose have also held giant recipe exchanges). That being said, Rose likes growing food so much that a few weeks ago she signed up for gourmet cooking classes at the local college to give her homegrown vegetables "the treatment they deserve."

"I'm learning a lot!" However, Rose's characteristic enthusiasm fades as she continues. "…But I think I care more about agriculture than I do about how attractively I present the dishes I prepare. If it tastes fresh and delicious, what should it matter what it looks like?"

"That's what she said," Amethyst says.

Ruby cackles along with her, and she knocks against Amethyst's LUCK-tattooed knuckles at Rose's temporary look of confusion (it becomes one of tolerant amusement once she figures it out, though).

"There is one real upside to the classes, though," Rose divulges with sudden flourish. "There's this musician who plays outside the kitchen before and after every class period, without fail. He's very talented—and very cute."

"Oh yeah?" says Sapphire, raising her eyebrows and casually resting her elbow on Ruby's shorter, broader shoulder. From this proximity Ruby can feel that she's trying very hard to hide her amusement. "Have you talked to him at all?"

"Well, of course! I mean, not for very long, but—"

"Ruby, I found Venus!" calls Pearl. "Come here and take a look!"

Ruby takes this opportunity to very maturely pinch the ticklish spot on her girlfriend's side to cause the elbow on her shoulder to fall off. She then ducks away from the retaliation and snatches up one of Pearl's microbrew bottles on her way back to the telescope.

As Pearl sips at the luxury IGA that's been delivered to her, Ruby cooperatively sets her Rolling Rock down and squats to peek through the precisely angled scope. Best get this over with.

"Whoa, check out that texture!" she exclaims, surprising herself. "And that color! How far away is this thing?"

"Hold on, I have an app for this." There is a pause as Ruby gawks through the telescope and Pearl searches her phone. "It says Venus is 162 million miles away from Earth."

Okay, so if the United States is roughly 3,000 miles from coast to coast, that would mean… absolutely fucking nothing in the face of 162 million miles. The distance is so massive that none of Ruby's mental scales can even begin to give her a proper grasp of it.

"Holy shit," she breathes.

"Move it, I wanna see!" Suddenly Amethyst is shoving her away from the instrument and dropping down to see for herself. Pearl laughs at their antics, but you can hear that she's pleased to have found something others are so interested in.

Harrumphing indignantly, Ruby grabs her beer and marches over to the abandoned kebabs on the grill. She'll just go back after Amethyst gets bored and wanders off.

Except Amethyst doesn't. Apparently she and Pearl, who usually bicker like cats and dogs, get along beautifully when it comes to space exploration. With Pearl's phone app to guide them, they reorient the telescope on several different sights while Ruby stands moodily in the circle of lantern light and paces, and grills. And grills. And grills some more.

The kebabs turn out beautifully and everybody loves them. No thanks to Amethyst.

"Would you like me to take over?" offers Sapphire at length, as Ruby flips the tri-tip perhaps a little harder than she should have. The grate is still ringing from the impact.

"No," she bites out. "I'm fine. I love grilling. This is great."

Typically, this is true. It was certainly true on the fourth of July this year, where she grilled for six straight hours in gorgeous blazing summer sunshine (without getting sunburned, thank you very much; being brown does have its advantages). Ruby wasn't being denied amazing goddamn glimpses of the universe this last Independence Day, though.

"Okay, if you say so." Sapphire makes as if to walk away, but it's suspiciously easy to snatch her wrist and pull her back.

"Hang out with me?"

She smiles. "All you had to do was ask."

Ruby feels less grumpy when Sapphire kisses her, and she even manages to crack a smile when Sapphire slings an arm around her waist. "Guess I don't need some dumb telescope," she mutters as she pokes at the slab of tri-tip with the metal tongs.

"Huh? I didn't catch that."

Ruby repeats herself, adding with a raunchy grin, "I've got the prettiest star in the night sky right here."

This time Sapphire genuinely seems torn between laughter and exasperation. "The least you can do is come up with something original."

"Hey, that line was completely spontaneous! You don't get more original than that. Besides." Ruby catches Sapphire in one arm (she's still holding the tongs in the other) and sweeps her in a brief semicircle, inspiring a medley of surprised giggles. She grins wolfishly when the obnoxiously wet kiss she leaves on Sapphire's neck causes the laughter to erupt fresh. "Is it my fault you light up my world?"

"Damn it, Ruby!" Sapphire slaps her palm down just above Ruby's heart, but there's no real power behind it so Ruby feels safe in assuming that her irritation is mostly cosmetic. She's still helplessly giggling, too—it's actually stupid-easy to get Sapphire blushing and laughing like this, once you know the right buttons to push.

Does Ruby take pride in this?

Yes. Yes, she does.

"Yes, Laughy Sapphy?" asks Ruby innocently, her arm still draped around the taller woman's torso.

"You're embarrassing me in front of our friends!" she hisses, leaning back into Ruby's arm and hitting her on the chest again. Ruby can feel the heat radiating from her cheeks from here. It's fucking adorable.

Ruby glances up and around, but their friends are well and truly ignoring them right now. Pearl is reading mind boggling facts about the cosmos off of her app, and Rose and Amethyst are listening with rapt attention. If anyone notices what they're doing, then they really do not care. "They're not even paying attention."

Sapphire ignores this and points to the grill. "Look, the meat is burning! Do something about it!"

"No it's not." Ruby just flipped the tri-tip, and it's three inches thick. She has another handful of jokes before she needs to pay attention to the grill again.

For all of her bluster, Sapphire nonetheless returns the kiss that Ruby initiates. She lets out a sigh as she's tugged closer by the arm that's still around her and lightly rakes her nails through the dense tangle of curls at the nape of Ruby's neck. Ruby shivers, and they stay like that for a long, comfortable moment.

"You're so incredible, Sapphire," she murmurs, giving her girlfriend's warm cheek a quick peck before drawing away completely. "Thank you."

"Ruby…"

Suddenly awkward, Ruby arbitrarily tugs at the tri-tip with the tongs. She hadn't meant to make things serious again when they were having such a good time. She's made a bad habit of doing that today.

She keeps her gaze down as Sapphire wanders away, disappointed in herself. The evening breeze ruffles her tightly curled hair as she taste tests the beef and deems it done. When she hollers, everyone is right there with their kebab plates, ready for round two. It would have been pretty funny, if she wasn't feeling like such a clod.

It's only as she's divvying what's left of the tri-tip between Sapphire and herself that Ruby feels something soft bump into her elbow. It's the largest sweater that Sapphire owns, the one advertising her old college.

"Put it on, you've got goosebumps."

Ruby glances down. Oh yeah. Now that she's not next to the grill anymore, the night does seem a tad chilly. "Thanks," she mumbles before she pulls the soft fabric over her head; the sweater is a little tight around the shoulders, but it's workable. Normally she would protest or crack a joke about being hot enough to last all night, baby, but the look that's on Sapphire's face as she discreetly squeezes a few eye drops over her glass eye very clearly states how little she wants to hear it right now.

Pearl and Rose brought up blankets for them all to lay on, come time for the meteor shower. They all sit on them now to eat, plunking Rose's camping lantern on the concrete close by so they can actually see what they're doing. Everyone's features are cast into an odd sort of relief, like they've all got flashlights poised under their chins for ghost stories.

As usual, Amethyst is sprawled out with an ankle resting on someone's leg (Ruby's, this time) and Pearl is sitting close enough to Rose that their knees are touching. It's sort of funny, having two individuals of drastically different proportions in juxtaposition like this. Pearl could literally hide in Rose's glorious, massive shadow, if she wanted to.

"How much longer?" asks Rose.

Pearl checks the app on her phone. The cold blue light teases out the gold thread woven throughout her shawl. "Fifteen minutes."

"I've never seen a shooting star," Amethyst admits. Her foot, bare and displaying an inked likeness of Lil' Butler, bobs merrily atop Ruby's thigh as she leans back on her free hand (the hand not holding her plate, that is) and gazes up at the cloudless sky. "This is gonna be so sweet!"

"Does everyone have their wish?" asks Rose.

"I know I've got mine," says Pearl, but her tone isn't as boastful as you might think. She's looking at Rose, but Rose doesn't seem to feel it.

"Wish?" Ruby must have missed a memo.

"Wishing on a shooting star," says Sapphire. "You've never heard of it?"

"But there's gonna be a million of them! Do I need a wish for each one, or am I supposed to pick my favorite, or—"

"Oh, Ruby, you're too cute!" Rose inadvertently interrupt's Ruby's anxious rant with her laughter. Rose has the best laugh: from the gut and deep, almost a bass. It makes everyone else around her start chortling, too, and that's exactly what happens now. It's not a humiliating kind of laughter, it's more like her friends are lightheartedly agreeing that yeah, Ruby, you're being pretty endearing right now. "You don't have to wish at all, if you don't want to."

"I never said that," Ruby mutters under her breath, uncomfortable with being the only one who apparently didn't know about this wishing thing. She reaches up and fiddles with her ribbon. "Just confused about the specifics, is all."

She's a little surprised when she feels a hand on the leg that isn't under Amethyst's foot, but she nonetheless offers a smile and covers Sapphire's smaller fingers with her own. She can't have screwed up that badly if they can still act like this, right?

Amethyst has just finished inhaling the food Pearl decided she didn't want after all (which is pretty much par for the course for the two of them) when Rose gasps and points. "Oh, look! It's started!"

Sapphire, the closest to the lantern, quickly leans over and switches it off. By the time she's leaned back, nearly all of the blanket space has been filled by elbows and knees as everyone quickly lies back to watch. She only hesitates for a moment before resting her head on Ruby's sternum.

Ruby folds an arm behind her own head as she gazes up. She can't help slipping the other hand under Sapphire to come around and rest on her hip. She is rewarded when Sapphire's fingers find the spaces between hers.

Ruby doesn't catch the first couple meteors until they are already streaking away, but then she gets good at spotting them. There's no way this is all of them, with the light pollution, but even this is good enough. It's more than enough.

Who knew the night sky could be so incredible?

"So these are shooting stars," she breathes, gazing in awe at the chunks of space junk that are whizzing past them. "I think I get why people wish on them now."

"Have you done it already?" asks Amethyst in a stage whisper.

"You don't have to be quiet, you know," says Pearl. "It's not like the shower is going to stop if the meteors hear us talking."

"I know that! I'm respecting the atmosphere, okay Pearl? Geez."

"I probably would have whispered, too," Rose admits.

"I wouldn't have," Sapphire says at a normal volume.

"Well, you can't. Nobody would be able to hear you from all the way over there."

"I'm less than five feet away, Amethyst."

Amethyst's response comes in rapid-fire Spanish. She, like Sapphire, was raised bilingual, and sometimes one or both of them drops into it without meaning to, particularly when they have frustrated each other. While Amethyst talks too quickly for Ruby to pick out any words she knows, she hears her roommate's indignation loud and clear.

Sapphire doesn't seem to mind the language switch, and replies in Spanish as well. Since Sapphire isn't the frustrated one, she speaks slower, and while that admittedly helps Ruby recognize more nouns and adjectives she ultimately cannot follow the conversation.

It's just as well, because that's when Rose gasps and points above them. "Did you just see that one? It was so close!"

"A little too close, almost," Pearl says.

Rose laughs. "Almost."

"Hey, wouldn't it be crazy if it crashed through someone's roof?" Amethyst is back to speaking English again like nothing's changed. "Isn't that a thing that happens sometimes?"

Ruby imagines walking into her apartment, only to find a smoldering meteorite embedded in the floorboards. The sheer absurdity of it is what gets her to laugh.

The meteor shower lasts an hour, and they chatter throughout all but the densest fifteen minutes of it. It was, Ruby concludes as she loads up her '94 Honda civic with the telescope and coolers (the grill is going to stay at Rose and Pearl's tonight, since she's driving both Amethyst and Sapphire back), time well spent. Maybe she needs to take the time to look up more often—or get out of town to see what a clear night sky is really supposed to be like every once in a while. Yeah, that might be cool. Would Sapphire be interested?

Ruby glances at her girlfriend as she drives deeper into the city. Judging by the tilt of her lips in the light of the dash, now is maybe not the time to bring that up.

"Are you two fighting?" Of course Amethyst is just going to ask outright. She wouldn't be Amethyst if she had any tact.

"What makes you say that?" asks Sapphire.

"Um, because I'm choking on tension back here?"

"Wasn't aware it was a fight," Ruby mutters to the steering wheel. She flexes her fingers to keep them from clenching. Too hard.

"What's that, Ruben?" asks Amethyst. Suddenly Ruby's roommate has shoved her face up front with them. She smells of Rolling Rock and ganja and obnoxious nosiness. "You know how I hate the mumbling."

"Get back there," Ruby growls, shoving her back with one arm. She's only half-joking about it.

"Hey, I respect a couples' right to space as much as the next guy, but don't you think you're going a little far?"

"To answer your question," Sapphire says before Ruby can come up with a retort (it would have been a good one, too!). "No, we aren't fighting."

"Could've fooled me," Amethyst says frankly. "Because, like it or not, Sapphire, I'm still choking on the tension in this car." She doesn't gag to illustrate her point (though she might as well have), but she does punctuate her sentiments with an apparently irritating statement in Spanish, because Sapphire has to let out a long, slow breath through her nose afterwards.

Ruby gnashes her teeth and drums her fingers against the steering wheel. She wishes she had something good to say, something that will make everyone laugh and feel comfortable again, but she doesn't. She turns up the radio instead, and that is apparently enough to shut Amethyst up.

Sapphire helps haul everything up to Ruby and Amethyst's apartment on the third floor, and when Ruby offers to drive her home with her hand on the doorknob and her foot already halfway out into the hall, Sapphire surprises her with a shake of her blonde head.

"I'd rather spend the night here, if that's okay with you."

"O-of course," says Ruby, locking up the apartment lamely. She shoves her fists into her pockets and rolls her ankle. "I always like it when you stay."

"Ugh," Amethyst punctuates this with a masterful groan of exasperation. "I'm going to bed. 'Night." She shuts her bedroom door sharply behind her. Ruby thinks she can smell the smoke from her pipe creeping out from under it already.

"Ruby," Sapphire starts.

"I, uh, think I'm gonna brush my teeth." And indeed she does, but the retreat into the bathroom isn't a permanent solution. It reminds her of how awkwardly she danced around the topic of asking Sapphire on their first date, actually (technically, she never did, because Sapphire effectively asked herself out by instructing Ruby when and where to meet her for dinner instead). Still, if that experience has taught Ruby anything, it's that she has to go back sooner rather than later. She can't just let all these unspoken statements hang in the air indefinitely. Amethyst isn't the only one choking on the tension.

"Just don't fuck it up, okay?" Ruby says to her wiry-haired reflection as she leaves.

In her room, Sapphire has already removed her jewelry and stripped down to her undershirt and panties: her de facto pajamas. Her silk blouse and skinny jeans are draped neatly over the back of the room's single chair (Ruby doesn't have a desk or anything like that, but having a chair in her room had felt necessary, somehow). Her hair is down, too. It's awkwardly kinked from being in a bun all night, but Ruby likes it anyway. Sapphire looks so much softer with her waist-length hair in waves around her face.

She's not lying down like she's ready to go to sleep, though. Rather, she's just sitting with one leg folded at the edge of the bed. Waiting.

This could probably be going smoother. Ruby should have known better than to think she could avoid this.

"Ruby," she says. "I want you to talk to me."

Not for the first time, it hits Ruby that Sapphire is one of the only people she knows who will fight for something like this. She can recall many occasions of wanting to talk to someone while growing up—especially when she's angry; Ruby tends to rant—but instead muttering furiously to herself as she threw chairs against walls or ran until she found something or someone to fight. Sometimes that would go in her favor, and sometimes it wouldn't, but even when she limped back to the place she was living, no one would bother to ask how or why the injuries happened. Sometimes, the foster parents that tried to care but were overwhelmed by too many wards and too little time and funds would toss a box of band-aids her way, but that was the extent of it. If asked by a state representative, someone always wrote it off as sports injuries (admittedly, Ruby played a lot of rough 'n' tumble sports as a child, but there's a pretty big fucking difference between road burn and a black eye, okay?).

All truth told, Sapphire's attention to detail had initially been alarming. She picks up on every little scrape and bruise, and even when she doesn't ask for the story behind it (some are pretty obviously bouncing-related) she still makes sure that Ruby's used triple antibiotic on abrasions and the like. She becomes concerned if Ruby smashes her toe on a table leg and has a limp later. The tight-around-the-shoulders sweater that Ruby's still wearing is case in point. Sapphire cares, and she makes it impossible to deny.

This isn't exactly a topic that you can just slap a band-aid on, though. This is…

Ruby doesn't say anything as she shucks her cargo shorts without emptying any of the pockets and tugs on a pair of boxers over her underwear. She pulls the sweater off too, because it's gotten a little stuffy now that she's not outside, and drops it over the rest of Sapphire's clothing on the chair. Adjusting her headband, she begins to speak, and then thinks better of it. Instead she just pulls the red ribbon further down her forehead.

"You can't avoid this forever, Ruby," Sapphire says. She hasn't moved from the position Ruby found her in. She may not look it, but Sapphire has a stubborn streak a mile wide, and it is very tough to beat.

All the same, her statement pisses Ruby off a little bit. What does Sapphire know, anyway? Her hand drops from her headband as she bites out, "Wanna bet?"

"Don't pick a fight with me. I just want to know what has you acting so off. I'm worried, Ruby."

Well, what is Ruby supposed to say to that, 'so what'?

"You didn't do anything," she mumbles, shifting her weight. She wants to pace, but that will just tip Sapphire off even more that something isn't right.

"Fine, I didn't do anything. Tell me about it anyway."

Ruby can't help it; she's officially started pacing. "I really don't see why you're so—"

"Because I love you, Ruby, and I want you to be happy."

Ruby stops. Everything stops—her pacing, her breath, her heart. It takes her an absurdly long time to pull herself together enough to stammer, "You w-what?"

At first Sapphire is openly incredulous, but upon further study of Ruby's expression she melts. "Oh, Ruby. I thought it was so obvious, but you had no idea, did you?"

"I—I…" She doesn't know why the fuck she's crying. Roughly, she wipes the tears with the back of her hand while the other clenches tightly at her side. "Jesus, I'm so stupid."

"No, Ruby, you're not. I should have told you straight out. It was unfair of me not to."

Ruby doesn't move away when Sapphire stands and puts her arms around her, but as such she only barely has the presence of mind to return the embrace. She's just—this is all so…

Sapphire startles when Ruby laughs—probably because it's such a small, rough thing.

"I can't believe this!" says Ruby, still laughing. "God, it's so ridiculous."

Sapphire pulls back enough to see her face. "Ruby, what—"

"Don't you get it? I was stressing out because I've been thinking about it more and more, and I really want to take this to the next level, except I'm a fuck up why would you want to even go there with someone like that—but all this time, you… you…" Ruby slumps, pressing her forehead into the bared crook of the taller woman's shoulder. At this point she honestly doesn't know whether she is laughing or sobbing. She doesn't know if she's embarrassed or relieved or too touched by Sapphire's confession to think properly. This isn't her first relationship, but it is the first time anyone's ever said the word love and meant it, and it's also the first time Ruby hasn't been the one to initiate it. "God, see what I mean? It's fucking ridiculous."

Out of all the things she's said, exactly one sticks with Sapphire. Her voice is carefully toneless as she asks, "What do you mean by taking this to the next level?"

"I don't know. Grown up shit," she mumbles into Sapphire's warm brown skin. Since Sapphire doesn't seem to mind, Ruby tightens her grip around the other woman's slender waist. She feels hot all over with awkwardness and embarrassment, but what can she do? "Like talking about still being together years from now, or-or living together. Or something."

Sapphire's laugh, soft and sweet, reverberates through her like a rhythm Ruby can't quite define. She pulls back and kisses the tears still wobbling at the corners of Ruby's eyes with a smile that immediately soothes her ragged nerves like cool water over a burn. "I made a wish," she says.

Her blue eyes are so tender right now, even the prosthetic. Bottomless, but the endless fall isn't something to be afraid of. "I didn't think you would," she says anyway, because—well, it's true. Sapphire's just too practical.

"But it's already come true."

Ruby stills. "Huh?" is all that tumbles out of her mouth.

"I was afraid of being the only one who wanted something more," Sapphire says with an ironic smile. "From you. From this relationship. I didn't know how to bring it up, so I made the stupid wish instead. It felt better than doing nothing."

At this point Ruby has two options. She goes for the more lighthearted one, and says with a raised eyebrow, "Did that… help at all?"

"The magic inherent in meteor showers is the only reason we're having this conversation right now," Sapphire deadpans. "Obviously."

Ruby snorts and giggles, but she should have known better than to think a topic this heavy could be buoyed by laughter for long. They both become solemn again as their eyes meet. When Ruby touches her cheek, Sapphire's holds onto her wrist and leans into her palm.

"I really want this to work," Ruby says softly.

They've said this to each other before. The first time was the end of their third date, when Sapphire dragged Ruby into her studio after being walked to her door. Nothing had gone the way either of them planned, and Sapphire had said it during the aftermath.

Upon hearing that now, Sapphire's eyes widen a fraction. Ruby's reference to that first utterance, and all of the events and emotions leading up to it, is clearly not lost on her.

"You sound like you don't think it will," she says, and while her tone is perfectly even the way her slender fingers tighten around Ruby's wrist suggests she's not near as calm as she's acting.

"I want it to, but Sapph, I—" she stops, wondering if saying it at all is really the right thing to do. She swallows. "I know I can be pretty selfish, and the way I feel about you—I've been saying all of these things, but if we did take the next step, if we started talking about and doing grown up shit, I just… don't know if I'd be able to let you go." She grimaces, and Sapphire's fingers tighten a little more around her wrist. Both working and prosthetic eye are trained on her, expression utterly neutral. Withholding judgement.

"That came out wrong. I don't want to hold you back—but I feel like I am anyway, just by being me! I'm not doing anything cool with my life like everybody else. Rose has her social work, Pearl has her dance students and her tinkering, you're going to do something badass and international with your degree—even Amethyst has her tattoos and her tag-team art career with Vidalia. I don't know what I want to do, and even if I did, with my record it'd probably be impossible to pull it off."

Ruby lets out a hard breath and tries to pull away, frankly a little disgusted with her own self-deprecation, but Sapphire's fingers just clamp down harder on her wrist. She doesn't say anything, but her sentiments are clear: you're not going anywhere.

Ruby wrenches back anyway, scowling at those damned eyes.

"What? What else do you want me to say? You know I'm a fuck up. You know where I've been—I can't ever be the kind of person that your mom or all of those ultra-supportive teachers would approve of. Shit, I agree! You can do better, you can do way better! I don't even know what—"

"Ruby, you're pulling at your hair."

"Yeah, well you'd be pulling your hair too if you—"

"It looks like it hurts."

That one composed statement is all it takes for Ruby to stall. She registers the fingers that are tangled in her curls and the tension at her scalp belatedly. It does hurt a little bit, she acknowledges distantly. "I've had worse," she mumbles.

"Let me see if I understand this." Oh no, Ruby thinks as her hands fall to her sides. She may be upset, but Sapphire's imperturbable tone has Bad News written all over it. "The person I've been drawn to from day one, the woman I have been blessed to not only be accepted by, but genuinely liked and cared for these last six months, is now telling me that she believes she isn't good enough for me and, in fact, never was. Oh, but that was okay as long as we were only casually dating!" Sapphire gives her a hard look. "Ruby, since when has this ever actually been casual? How much do you remember of the first night you slept over?"

Ruby remembers it in stark detail, actually. Finding out that your new girlfriend, despite having known she was gay for over a decade, had continued pursuing relationships with men in a desperate effort to one day become person her family inadvertently pressured her to be isn't exactly something you forget. Neither is holding a woman like Sapphire as she sobs for the person she was never meant to become. The incident had forced them to talk about things most couples don't have to worry about their first night together, and to each confront insecurities that the other would have preferred to reveal further down the road. Nevertheless, the night had ended on a good note, albeit a far deeper one than either of them intended, and it was that foundation that Sapphire and Ruby had been building the rest of their relationship upon.

So, in a way, Sapphire is right to say that this has never been casual. But it's not like they've ever sat down and talked about the future, either, which is precisely Ruby's point. Taking this one day at a time and having fun while doing it is one thing, but grown up shit is something else entirely.

Ruby's fists clench at her sides as Sapphire stares her down. She sets her jaw. "You don't know what you're asking for, Sapphire," she bites out, and while she tries to clamp down on it her voice wavers anyway. "You just don't have the experience to see it."

"I 'don't have the experience' because, until you, I had never met anyone I wanted to be with so badly that I'd be willing to break my own rules to make it happen." It's amazing how cold and cutting words like that can sound, it really is. "I have never been more comfortable in my own skin than I have these last few months—and whose fault do you think that is?" Sapphire takes a step closer to her, and Ruby sees from her narrowed blue eyes to the tension in her shoulders that she is well and truly provoked now. "I don't understand how the hell you can be so bad for me when all you've ever done is make me happy. Is there something you're not telling me about yourself?"

Ruby is so taken aback that she even forgets to be confrontational. "What? No!"

"Then what?" Sapphire's words slice through the air like blades made of ice. Ruby can almost feel their cool wind. "Explain to me what I'm supposed to be so afraid of, Ruby."

"Isn't what you do know more than enough?" she says, throwing out her arms.

"Everything I've learned about you has only ever made loving you easier," Sapphire says point-blank. "You don't think you're good enough because you never went to college, and you think that means you aren't doing anything productive with your life—or was that because you helped me comes to terms with the person I've always been so I could have a fulfilling relationship with someone I actually wanted?" Ruby opens her mouth—it's not that simple, no matter how much I want it to be—but Sapphire, usually so good at listening, is having none of it. "If you want to go to college, Ruby, then I will gladly help in whatever way I can, but if you're worried that not having that level of education invalidates your personhood then you need to stop. A fancy sheet of paper doesn't make you any better than anyone else, trust me."

"But your mom—"

Sapphire grasps Ruby's face in her hands and looks sternly into her. "If my mother or my old teachers can't accept that my happiness won't come in the form of a nuclear family in the suburbs, that isn't your fault. It's their fault for assuming that that was best for me, and it's my fault for thinking that pretending to have the life they dreamed for me would benefit anyone, when all it's ever done is make it harder to finally tell the truth. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for catching you in the crossfire. After all you've been through, facing off with my xenophobic friends and family is the last thing you need."

"Sapph, I…" Ruby blinks hard, swallows down the straining lump in her throat. She touches Sapphire's elbows and holds on somewhat numbly.

"I know that hearing this is hard for you," she says softly, tracing her thumb around the angle of Ruby's chin. "I know you don't see how it's possible for you to be the good guy, when you've always been told the opposite." The white of her good left eye is pink and glassy now, and when she blinks water squeezes out.

"Sapphire…" Ruby's heart clenches in her chest as she finds herself reaching up and rubbing the tears away before they can get too far.

Sapphire, with a small smile, pulls her towards the bed. She gently presses Ruby's shoulders into the mattress as she crawls over her, and Ruby is too numb to protest. It isn't until Sapphire has her hands braced on either side of her head and her long blonde hair is swinging around them like a curtain that she murmurs, "I know you're scared that if this goes any deeper neither of us will be able to dig ourselves out of it again, but I don't see myself ever wanting to, Ruby. I don't want an exit strategy. All I've ever wanted is you."

The kiss that follows is soft but sure, and it lasts until Ruby believes it. Sapphire waits until Ruby has completely melted, until fingers are slipping up the slopes of her sides and weaving through her dyed blonde hair, to draw away just far enough to look her in the eye and speak.

"I know what I'm asking for," she says, her voice quiet but no less firm for the volume. Her gaze is serious. Certain. There is no room in those eyes for negotiation or compromise. "That's why I want it. Ruby, I want to see what happens in this life when the two of us take everything on together."

"I do, too," whispers Ruby—god, and she means those three words with every fiber of her being. She means them so hard that a part of her fractures from the pressure.

This can't be the right thing to do, can it? Good things like this don't happen to people who've never done anything productive with their lives. This is too good for the likes of her—what sort of karmic hell will accepting and encouraging this put her through?

But Sapphire is smiling, and it reaches her eyes, and she's so fucking beautiful from this angle, hovering overhead, framed on all sides by a curtain of long hair. "I'm glad," she says, and she ducks down.

When Sapphire's nose nuzzles against her cheek, and the fullness of her lips grazes the side of her mouth, Ruby has to close her eyes and swallow. She's practically holding her breath as she clings to the woman leaning over her, her nerves buzzing and her brain stuttering. They've been on this precipice before—they've done this so many times—so why does this feel different?

"Hey." Lips press into her brow bone and fingers trickle nonsensical patterns down her cheek. Sapphire finds Ruby's hand and intertwines it with hers, presses their interconnected selves into the mattress as her eyes hold the rest of her in place. "Are you okay? We don't have to do this tonight."

"I want to be your partner. I want to do grown up shit together," Ruby says, and despite how stupid and childish the words are her voice is thick anyway. "I-I want everything."

Something akin to understanding crosses Sapphire's face. Her expression, gentle to begin with, becomes infinitely softer as her thumb grazes over Ruby's cheekbone. "Me too—everything, and all of the things we haven't even found yet."

Sapphire doesn't mind when Ruby surges up and kisses her hard. Her lips are warm and smiling, and she kisses back with openmouthed vigor as her fingers tighten their hold and press Ruby's knuckles deeper into the mattress. When Ruby's free hand starts pushing her tank top up her torso and sliding along the curve of her spine, Sapphire shivers. The tip of her nose is warm as she nudges her way down to kiss under Ruby's jaw.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asks as she rests her free hand on Ruby's stomach, just above the elastic waistline of her boxer shorts. "We can just go to sleep, you know."

Ruby nods and squeezes Sapphire's hand. When the blonde woman lifts her head and meets her gaze—clearly wanting eye contact for this confirmation—Ruby smiles. "I want to," she promises. "Besides, I think I need it right now."

Sapphire snorts despite the mood. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a euphemism."

Ruby raises her eyebrows and grins. The expression feels odd on her face after a conversation so serious, but it's a good odd. Their sex is always lighthearted, and right now she knows she isn't the only one who could use that. "Do you know better?"

Sapphire presses her forehead into Ruby's cheek as she laughs. "Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough, won't I?" she mutters, playing flirtatiously underneath the waist of the boxers.

"I hope so," Ruby hums as the ribbed fabric of the top she's wearing is yanked down and a wet kiss is left on the skin just above her breast. She untwines their fingers so that she can rub both palms up the smooth brown sides of the body above her, not caring one wit about the way she scrunches up the tank top that's in her way.

Of course, she can't complain when Sapphire sits up and whips the top off, either. That would be in poor taste.

Fingers tug lightly at the ends of Ruby's curls as she's kissed again, short and heated. Sapphire makes a small noise like a sigh in the back of her throat when Ruby's hands take advantage of all that newly exposed skin along her torso. She ends the kiss with an uncoordinated but nonetheless sincere peck before hooking her hair behind her ears and licking her way down Ruby's neck and to her cleavage. There isn't much, but Sapphire finds it anyway. Ruby grunts at the small nip of teeth at the side of her breast.

Sapphire's breath catches when a hand slips behind the elastic of her underwear, movements glacially slow but deliberate. The muscles in her legs, still braced on either side of Ruby's torso, tense when she's touched, and she scrapes her teeth over Ruby's skin a little harder than usual. She's already somewhat damp, but she doesn't get wet until Ruby starts rubbing her labia and brushing against her clitoris. A small moan escapes her as slick noises begin to fill the space between them, and she buries her face in Ruby's chest. "Damn it, Ruby, stop teasing me."

Ruby chuckles, but nonetheless obliges with a single prodding finger. The small grunt that this receives clearly indicates that she wanted two, at least. Sapphire has no patience for these kinds of things.

Ruby doesn't believe in traditional bras with underwires and padded cups (at least, not for herself—they look very nice on other women, though), so it's easy for Sapphire to pull the plain black fabric to the side and expose a nipple. The noise Ruby makes when she gives it a fat lick before sealing her full lips around her areola and raking her teeth over the soft skin—not to mention the entirely conspicuous jerk of the hand in her panties—only inspires a vixen-like smirk.

"You're such a shit," Ruby says, albeit affectionately. Sapphire knows how sensitive her nipples are.

The smirk only grows. Sapphire rolls the pad of her thumb around the aforementioned body part and enjoys the expression doing so inspires. "This is what you get for teasing me."

"I could make you finish right now, if I wanted." Ruby flicks her thumb over the hard little nub of her girlfriend's clitoris, and watches the full body shudder that such a small movement initiates with satisfaction.

"I'd love it if you did."

This isn't simply Sapphire calling her bluff, either. Her body orgasms often and easily, and she has very much come into her own about it. She says that after five or six discrete instances it just becomes one giant rolling climax, and she loves being brought to that point (Ruby can't blame her—if her body worked like that, she'd have Sapphire do it to her as often as possible too).

Sapphire is panting slightly; her brown cheeks are pleasantly flushed with attraction, and the pupil of her good left eye is fat with lust. Her hips keep twitching in subconscious tandem with Ruby's movements. The walls that Ruby's finger rubs against are swollen and sleek enough for far more invasion than this. The increasingly uncoordinated way she touches and kisses Ruby's chest is damning evidence that she's already close enough that making her finish would be a simple matter.

It always amazes Ruby how easy it is to make Sapphire this way. For someone who is usually so outwardly composed and unflappable, how responsive and insatiable she can be in the bedroom is downright mesmerizing.

Unfortunately, Ruby is also a total sucker for sexual requests. If Sapphire wants to come right now, then Ruby will make it so. She can't help how erotic having that kind of power is, and Sapphire is very aware.

Ruby wraps an arm around the blonde woman's hips and ducks her head down to capture those full, gorgeous lips in a messy kiss, ignoring the slight smirk they're currently displaying for getting her way. She holds Sapphire in place as she rubs just the right spot with two fingers and rotates the pad of her thumb around her clitoris. The effect is almost instantaneous: Sapphire's hips jerk and she lets out a keening moan into Ruby's tongue as the orgasm hits. Even though she knew this would happen—she is, after all, the one who asked for it—she bites at Ruby's bottom lip like she's surprised by the reaction of her own body anyway. She doesn't break skin, but it is a little sharper than Ruby was expecting.

"Ow." Ruby pulls back and frowns, half-serious. Her hands are on Sapphire's hips now, pushing her back a little. "Is that any way to thank the woman who makes you come on command?"

"Sorry, I got carried away." Sapphire is sheepish, but not as apologetic as she perhaps should be. She captures Ruby's offended lip in a quick kiss before planting a couple more on her chin and jaw. "Here, I'll make it up to you."

Well, Ruby thinks, both of them being stripped naked is some kind of consolation. She also doesn't have many qualms with the greedy fistfuls that Sapphire takes of her ass as she pulls Ruby on top of her. One of her legs curls around Ruby's knee, drawing her in, and she presses the other up between Ruby's thighs, rubbing firmly against her neglected sex.

A little moan leaks from Ruby's lips as her hips start to roll downwards of their own accord. Oh, who is she kidding? She was never really all that miffed to begin with. She just wanted to see what Sapphire would do about it.

"Better?" asks Sapphire, though the teasingly smug look on her face clearly says she already knows. In case Ruby's moving hips weren't indication enough, the wetness that's being smeared on her thigh probably does the trick.

"Getting there," Ruby grunts. She moves Sapphire's leg out of the way and aligns herself so that she will be rewarded with a rich moan when she grinds their sexes together. "Ah, yes, that's much better. Thanks for the idea."

"You say that like I have some-something to complain about," Sapphire quips breathily as she arches her neck and closes her eyes. Her breasts, larger and rounder than Ruby's, wobble fascinatingly as she uses the grip she still has on Ruby's backside to pull her in closer. "I think this is a fan-tastic…" she trails off when Ruby moans, eyes opening and observing her expression with interest. That's when she gets an idea. She takes one of Ruby's hands and draws two fingers into her mouth. Whether she meant for them to be the two fingers that are still sticky with her own orgasm is a bit of a tossup, but she doesn't react as she swirls her tongue around them so Ruby can only assume that that was the intent. It was certainly her idea to make it look so fucking erotic, Ruby knows that. She hiccups a moan as Sapphire looks her straight in the eye and slowly draws her fingers from her mouth.

Her heart skips a beat when Sapphire leaves a soft kiss on the thick scar in the center of her palm. Ruby is left handed, but several years ago—back when she should have been sitting in a high school classroom—she brought her fists to a knife fight. Her intention had been to prevent a girl about her age from getting mugged or raped or whatever those thugs had been thinking, vigilante style. However, the confrontation ended with Ruby catching a butterfly knife in the center of her left hand and the girl she had been trying to defend calling in an ambulance (the men had run off, though, so her plan had worked, after a fashion). Being right handed has never felt natural, but Ruby has since forced herself to become ambidextrous due to her left hand's lack of fine dexterity. She can and does basic tasks with it still, but it is prone to abrupt muscle spasms and days where she can't feel the tips of her fingers, and that can make careful handiwork a pain in the ass. It still does alright for sex, though—the random spasms can actually be an asset while fingering—so she supposes not all is lost.

Sapphire knows all of this, of course, which is why she likes kissing this scar. This isn't the first time, though it is inexplicably and indisputably potent right now. Her kiss still burning in Ruby's palm, she holds her hand against her cheek and kisses the inside of her wrist, just because she can.

Ruby groans. She's burning, her entire body is burning. "If you don't tone it back, I'm done for," she warns.

Sapphire smiles. She's panting like she's run a mile, but that doesn't take away from the sentiment of her expression. "Isn't that the point?"

It's a combination between that smile and the slender brown fingers that sneak between them that puts Ruby over the edge. She usually lasts longer than this, but she's also not typically this emotional, either; that might have something to do with it. She has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from being too loud; they're still in her apartment, with Amethyst right next door, and the walls are not the thickest here.

Sapphire doesn't let her roll over in the aftermath. Instead, she wraps her arms around Ruby's neck and waist and hauls her in for the sort of passionate kiss that you typically find at the beginnings of intercourse instead of midway through. Energy zings between them like a game of hormonal pinball. Just the familiar scent of her makes Ruby's heart thud and her extremities tingle.

"God, you're so gorgeous," Sapphire growls between kisses, each hungrier than the last. "I love making you come in my arms." It doesn't sound like she knows what she's saying, too lost in the moment to notice what is tumbling from her kiss-bruised lips, but she doesn't ever give Ruby a time for a rebuttal before she's being pulled under again. In the end, it feels like Ruby is being made to swallow the words, to accept them, internalize them, believe them. Sapphire is openmouthed and wanton, but she is also accepting and affectionate. Ruby has the sinking notion that she knows exactly what she's doing, and that's precisely why this is happening.

It isn't until Ruby stops physically protesting—that is to say, acting as if she is going to argue—that Sapphire allows her zeal to fade into something less furious. She draws away, touching Ruby's jaw and planting a slow kiss on her upper lip. "My partner in life," she murmurs softly.

Ruby melts into the touch like putty. A tension she hadn't even known she was feeling is now conspicuously absent, leaving room for the warmth of Sapphire's gaze to rush in an expand in ever greater radii, filling her from toes to forehead. She lets out a breath and brushes bright strands of blonde away from Sapphire's cheek. "I love the sound of that," she confesses bashfully.

"Me too." Sapphire offers a quirky sort of grin. "Glad we're on the same page."

Ruby rolls her eyes, but she's smiling too. She laughs when Sapphire hooks her leg and draws her knee in between her own. She moves slowly, like she thinks she's being sneaky, but Ruby knows the look she's getting only too well.

"Can I help you?" she asks dryly.

"As a matter of fact, yes," is Sapphire's prim reply.

Truthfully, Ruby cannot remember precisely when she became so obedient and accommodating. Sapphire hasn't even articulated what she wants, but Ruby is already moving to give it to her. Maybe that's less a sign that she's completely whipped and more that she just knows Sapphire so well?

Maybe it's best not to think too much about it.

Nevertheless, Ruby can't deny her own excitement in this matter. Sapphire is always very cooperative after she sets Ruby on missions like this (and really, why wouldn't she be?), but her pliability itself is an erotic and creativity-piquing delight that Ruby can't get enough of. She already has an idea of what to do this time.

"Put your head on this," she instructs, sitting up and handing Sapphire one of the pillows. Then she props Sapphire on her side and spoons up behind her.

Sapphire, for her part, doesn't really react until one of her legs is hoisted into the air. "I can tell you right now that I am going to get tire—oh." Ruby has just hooked Sapphire's leg around her own. "Nevermind."

Scoffing playfully, Ruby slips her right arm under Sapphire's ribs and reaches up to tweak a dusky nipple. "You act like I've never done this before."

There is a bodily twitch from the blonde little spoon. "Well, excuse me, madam."

Ruby snorts a little bit, but that's before she puts her lips by the shell of her girlfriend's ear and murmurs, "I know you're just saying that because you're impatient."

Sapphire's eyes flick to her, and her expression is decidedly expectant. She doesn't speak to tell Ruby she's right, but she doesn't have to. Her flushed cheeks and pupil size say it all for her.

Ruby, damn her own eagerness, doesn't wait much longer than that. With her left hand she reaches over and around Sapphire and slowly spreads the lips of her vulva apart. She's much wetter now than the last time Ruby touched her—downright slippery, if Ruby is being honest—and if the sharp breath of air she's just sucked in is indicative of anything then it has made her more sensitive than usual.

Ruby smirks to herself as she pinches a nipple with her right hand, earning a small grunt of encouragement. Oh, this is going to be wonderful.

"Honestly, though," she says, lightly rubbing at the slicked labia and taking acute note of the strangled noise that rises from her girlfriend's throat. "How close are you?"

Sapphire lets out a genuine, if somewhat desperate, laugh. "You have to ask?"

That is answer enough, she supposes.

Sapphire's arm that had, up until this point, rested innocuously along the length of her torso, snaps into motion and curls around Ruby's neck when a scarred palm grinds against her clitoris and a middle and index finger push past her labia. The leg that is layered over Ruby's tenses and relaxes, tenses and relaxes as Sapphire battles to keep herself in place. She cries out at the sudden attention—biting the sound back at the last second in a half-hearted attempt to be mindful about Amethyst—but actually doesn't finish until Ruby's left hand experiences one of its random spasms. It's only when Ruby's fingers accidentally jerk to an angle they don't habitually go that she feels the walls of her partner's vagina pulse around them.

And now that they've passed this threshold, Ruby figures as she continues without pause, the thick sounds of fingering weaving in and around Sapphire's loud panting and Ruby's own excited huffs, there is really no reason to avoid being aggressive about seeking out the other three or four orgasms Sapphire's got in her.

Her fingers, rough and thorough, find two more from this position, but that's around the time her hand starts getting tired. Sapphire's just about yanking hair from the back of her head, anyway.

"Oh, god, please," the taller woman gasps when her shoulders are pushed into the mattress and Ruby props a pillow under her hips. "Please, yes."

Ruby grins as she settles between Sapphire's quivering thighs. This feels even more wanton than usual, but she's not complaining.

There is a keening whine muffled by the sharp slap of a palm over full lips when Ruby starts, boldly and unapologetically, to thrust her tongue into her partner's vagina. Ruby is already pressing Sapphire's hips down to keep them from popping up—since giving head is probably one of Ruby's favorite things to do, and Sapphire is just as enthused about receiving it, this is a bit of a closing ritual for them. At this point Ruby knows what to expect, and vice versa.

The tongue thrusts, being rather difficult to maintain, quickly devolve into fat swipes of the tongue, suckling of the clitoris, and the occasional prodding fingers. It only takes one more discrete orgasm before Ruby finds the rolling climax she's been looking for. Even then, she keeps licking—the more stimulation this kind of orgasm receives, the longer it lasts. She doesn't stop until Sapphire pushes at her shoulders, and misses. That's when Ruby knows she's done her job, and her insatiable partner is, for the moment, done.

As Ruby draws back and leaves wet kisses on the insides of her thighs, Sapphire tries valiantly to catch her breath. Her expression is flushed and bleary, and she's panting so hard that, if Ruby didn't know any better, she'd think it was sobbing. Ruby crawls up with intent to sprawl out with her on the mattress, but then notices something and stands up instead.

"Let me get you some water."

"Huh?" Sapphire pants, entirely befuddled.

Ruby, throwing on an oversized t-shirt that she keeps around for more or less this reason, points to her own eyes.

Sapphire's good eye widens as she registers that her prosthetic is, indeed, stuck at a ridiculous angle. This happens sometimes, when her tear ducts aren't supplying optimal amounts of fluids because most of the moisture in her body is… going elsewhere. Apparently, glass eyes are infamous for taking even the smallest opportunities to stick.

"Shit, again?" Sapphire is more exasperated than anything.

"'Fraid so." Ruby stoops down to scoop up her girlfriend's tote bag and hand it over. Her eye drops are in there somewhere. "I'm a little dehydrated myself, so I probably would have done this anyway. Be right back."

The living room and kitchen of the two-bedroom apartment are dark and still. There is a light on in Amethyst's room, and the slight scent of dope in front of her door, but that's it. By the time Ruby returns with two full pints of water Sapphire has both eyes facing forward again and is checking her prosthetic's reactivity with the reflective screen of her smartphone.

"Thank you," she says as she puts the phone away and accepts both glasses while Ruby chucks the oversized shirt back onto the floor. There was once a time where Sapphire would be embarrassed and Ruby wouldn't know what to say about this, but that time has long since passed.

"That's the third time this week," says Ruby with a little teasing smirk as she is passed her glass again. "I'm starting to think I should just have a water bottle waiting by the bed."

Sapphire frowns over the top of her own water. "Oh, and whose fault do you think that is?"

Ruby laughs, and she catches Sapphire smiling too as she throws her head back and drains her cup. Ruby does the same, but by the time her glass joins Sapphire's on the shelf of the bookcase next to her bed Sapphire has already shimmied under the blankets and gathered a pillow up under her head. She looks spent (that, Ruby thinks a little smugly, I will gladly take responsibility for), but contented.

As Ruby settles in next to her, Sapphire bumps her foot into her shin under the blankets. Ruby responds to this by hooking Sapphire's ankle with her own and drawing it in until it's resting comfortably between her calves. They share a companionable and only mildly flirtatious smile, and about a minute or so passes in comfortable silence. Then Ruby says, "Hey Sapphy?"

Sapphire hums and curls her arm on top of the pillow so she can rest her cheek on it. Her toes nudge against Ruby's calf. "Yeah, baby?"

"Do you know if there are any planetariums in the city?"

Sapphire blinks, a little bemused by the sudden subject change. Then she smiles, and says teasingly, "You want to look for more reclining woman constellations?"

Ruby rolls her eyes. "More than that, but don't hurt yourself thinking too much about it." Sapphire snorts, but the two women reach for each other in tandem all the same. It isn't until Ruby has her cheek pillowed on her partner's chest and Sapphire has one hand resting over the curve of her behind while the other strokes idly through her messy curls that she feels safe enough to admit, "Seeing Venus and all of those meteors was fascinating. I don't think I've ever realized just how little I know about the sky."

"I know the university has an astrophysics major," says Sapphire. "They've got to have access to a planetarium or observatory within driving distance of the city, otherwise there would be no point in having the program. Are you thinking of taking classes?"

"No. I just want to look." Ruby passes her palm over Sapphire's hip contemplatively. "Planetarium shows do shit like that, right?"

"That's what I hear. I've never been to one, though."

"Well, if we don't have one nearby we can always download an app like Pearl's and drive out of the light pollution." Ruby doesn't know why suggesting this feels like a big deal—maybe because this fledgling interest feels like it could be crushed as quickly as it sprung up. "Just lie on the hood of my car and just try to find everything. Maybe even bring the telescope."

The fingers in her hair don't stop moving, and Ruby feels Sapphire's hum deep in her chest, pleasant and thrumming. "We could have hot cocoa and fireball whisky."

Ruby snorts a little—because of course the first thing Sapphire's bartending mind would think of is the proper drink for the situation—but she still lifts her head up to get a good look at her partner's expression. "You'd really want to go?"

Sapphire's hand pauses in Ruby's hair. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" She doesn't wait for Ruby to figure out a response before kissing her. It's the kind of kiss that promises long years and many nights under the stars, trying to sort them all out together. "For what it's worth, I like the idea of striking out on our own way better than the planetarium idea," she murmurs, tugging lightly on the end of one curl. "Feels more romantic."

Ruby, fully heartened, grins. "Oh yeah?"

Sapphire hums the affirmative, though she still says, "If you were so interested in what was going on with the telescope tonight, you should have delegated grilling to someone else. Why didn't you?"

"Because Rose and Amethyst are the only ones I would have trusted with it, and they were already over there."

"You could have asked me to help." There is a pause, and then they both giggle. "Okay, maybe not," Sapphire acknowledges somewhat sheepishly. She can make a mean spicy black bean soup, but little else; anything on the grill and under her supervision would have been doomed. "But if they had known you wanted to be over there too, I'm sure you could have worked out some kind of rotation." For no particular reason, the hand on Ruby's bottom squeezes. "You'll have to tell them next time."

"There's going to be another meteor shower soon?"

"Not that I've heard of, but I'm sure we'll use that telescope again. Why else would Amethyst have bought it off of craigslist?"

"Honestly, I think Vidalia made her do it, but don't quote me on that."

"Either way," Sapphire says. "It's more than likely that there will be a next time, and you can get in on the action then."

Ruby snickers at the phrase in juxtaposition with their current state of post-coital entanglement, and Sapphire tugs on her hair in mock-disapproval, but the bouncing of her shoulders under Ruby's cheek says that she's holding back laughter, too.

"I don't know if I'd want everyone there," Ruby muses. "I'm kind of serious about this. I don't know how I spent twenty-four years not even thinking about what else was out there. How small minded does that make me?"

"Well, let's be fair," says Sapphire. "How can you get it in your head to think about what's up there if you never see it?"

That's true, she supposes. Still, she can't really shake the way she feels about it. "I want to change that, Sapph. I don't want to be the city kid who never thinks about the stuff she can't see or touch anymore."

"Okay," Sapphire says.

That's it? Just 'okay'? Ruby knows it's not an intimidating or self-destructive ambition, but no reaction?

When Ruby brings it up, Sapphire says simply, "I think it's wonderful that you want to learn more about astronomy, and if you want I'd be happy to help however I can. But you know that already, so what's the point in being redundant about it? I would have just grunted in acknowledgement, but you probably would have assumed I had fallen asleep."

Ruby presses her face into Sapphire's collarbone. Truth be told, she doesn't know whether to be amused or exasperated. Of all times for Sapphire's unique talent of pointing things out so dryly it's insulting to resurface, really. "God damnit," she mutters. Then she gets an idea. Lifting her head, she looks Sapphire right in the eye and says, "Well, you're a fruit—and you know what kind of fruit you are?"

It takes a second for recognition to dawn on Sapphire's face. "Rub—"

"A fineapple."

"God damnit," Sapphire mutters as her head falls back onto the pillow. Her smooth brown shoulders are shaking with poorly suppressed laughter. "That's the lamest one you've ever come out with."

Ruby grins. "I've been saving it for a special occasion."

"I'm sure," Sapphire mutters.

"It was either that or the one about you being a thirsty vampire."

This earns her a miniature explosion of laughter. "Say no more," Sapphire gasps, covering her mouth in a vain attempt to stifle her own traitorous giggles. "I've heard enough."

Ruby can't resist. She sits up and leans over the blonde woman until they are practically nose to nose. "You love pickup lines. Just admit it."

"Oh, god, I'd never live it down if I did."

Ruby pauses, considering. "I'm sure I'd get sick of bringing it up eventually."

She's not terribly surprised when she's yanked down that last little bit, or when soft lips capture her own. It's more an effort to get her to shut up than a gesture of affection, but Ruby smiles into it anyway.

Ruby honestly doesn't care too much about Cassiopeia as a concept. Sure, she wants to learn more about the sky, but that's because she doesn't want to feel ignorant and isolated anymore, not because of some W of a reclining woman. Cassiopeia doesn't mean anything to her, except maybe to represent everything she is has yet to learn. Even that isn't as intimidating as it should be, though, because Ruby is not alone. She is part of a team, half of a whole—she has a partner, in more than just the politically correct meaning of the term, and when she's with Sapphire Ruby gets the sense that they can accomplish just about anything.

Facing off with something as formidable as that, Ruby figures, even Cassiopeia herself has to step aside eventually.

---

Some Fun Facts: I grew up in Hawaii, where the constellations are looked upon differently than in traditional western culture, and they're called by different names. When Ruby and Sapphire talk about how Cassiopeia looks more like a bird, this is actually a nod to the way ancient Hawaiians viewed the constellation. They called it 'Iwakeli'i, which is a frigate bird :)

Additionally, this is the thirsty-vampire line that Ruby was talking about: "Are you a vampire? Because you seemed a little thirsty when you looked at me."