The Hands Will Solve A Mystery
Storybrooke was always known, amongst themselves, to be a small town filled with people who, when they knew something of interest, had no choice but to blab to everyone else. Anything secretive between one or more of the tiny town's citizens would fall upon the ears of bored gossipers who often had nothing better to do than huddle with their heads close at Storybrooke's signature diner, Granny's. As a matter of fact, Granny's was starting to become a place of curiosity among the chatter-happy people.
Okay, so here's the story, everyone would first say when explaining the tale. Granny's bed and breakfast was already well known for its apple pancakes and 'over-praised lasagne' (as the town pawnbroker had once remarked bitterly) but what was now becoming the point of interest was the girl that worked there— Ruby Lucas. She was quoted as being 'a reckless, attitude-prone teenager', when really this wasn't the case. For one thing, Ruby was no longer a teenager, despite her style of dress — which often consisted of too-short shorts made of stretchy leather, a pair of inch-high heels, a nearly always belly-high shirt that did justice to her and an affinity for one night stands — but, having only just passed into adulthood, what more could people expect?
Certainly nobody expected the bond the punk-rock girl had with Storybrooke's own flustered and slightly nerdy psychiatrist, Archie Hopper.
The day they'd met had been awkward, just a little. It was a vibrant Saturday, so naturally the café was packed with townsfolk talking over coffee about Mr. Gold's recent tantrum or Mayor Mills framing somebody (again). Ruby, at the time seventeen, was in one of her 'angry moods', the ones that came round whenever she and Granny had had an argument over something silly, like staying out too late or something. This time, it had been about being stuck with the early shift again, on a Saturday. The time had been around nine when Archie Hopper had poked his head into the café nervously.
He hadn't wanted to be there; everyone could see. Hell, they were all surprised to see him there in the first place, knowing how much he hated crowds. He looked jittery and rocked in two different directions, as if having a silent war over whether or not to step in or turn around and run back out. In the end the scent of coffee and fresh bagels convinced him to place both feet into the café, looking slightly more confident. The shrink took a step in—
— and crashed directly into somebody hurrying through the throng, holding a large tray of iced teas. The two of them fell backwards, Archie slamming into the wall behind him, ice and sweet liquid flying everywhere.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Archie practically wailed, internally scolding himself for not running out of here when he had the chance.
An amused half-laugh and a youthful voice said, "It's fine, Granny's iced tea looks good on you."
Archie's head, previously bowed in embarrassment, snapped up in alarm at the slightly flirtatious tone, for who in the whole world would flirt with someone like him? His gaze met a pair of startling green eyes framed with black eyeliner. His mouth fell open a bit, thinking wildly in his mind, Jesus I just collided with Ruby Lucas…
"I'm Ruby," she introduced.
I know. "A-Archie Hopper."
He stiffened when Ruby's frowned a bit (oh no, what did he do?!) before she reached over with two pale alabaster hands and slipped his ovular, mahogany-rimmed glasses from his face.
"You have iced tea on your glasses," she said almost in annoyance, slipping a special cloth out of her pocket and gently wiping away the smudges. "Don't worry, the cloth is made for lenses. Granny always gets hers dirty…"
She looked up at him while handing him back her glasses, only to feel a wave of shock wash over her. His whole face, which had previously been blanched of colour, was now adorably red, his lips pressed together with embarrassment and his eyes wide and more shocked than she was. With a slightly shaking hand he took the newly cleaned pair of glasses, taking extra special care not to accidentally touch her fingers.
Ruby smiled a bit, not knowing where the heavy-duty blush came from. "Y'know, you look good without your glasses."
Archie's blush was already fading, and its process sped up until his face was white again. "R-really?" God, he sounded like a child.
"Yeah," she grinned, one hand on her hip.
The people of Storybrooke prided themselves on being able to 'see signs', and there were definitely obvious 'signs' coming from those two, ever since then. And yet, despite all of their knowledge, their talent at picking out the details and reading between lines, they never truly discovered Archie and Ruby's secret.
After that Archie had ventured back into the café, trying to look idle and normal but instead looking rather spacey and awkward. He saw her again, today clad in a pair of skin-tight blood red jeans and a lacy red overcoat, in which a modest black scarf was tucked.
"Hey Red," whispered Alice, another employee at Granny's working her way through college, "that psychiatrist guy is back. And he's staring at you."
Ruby, who'd been busy refilling the napkin dispensers, snapped her head up. Indeed, a certain orange-topped sweater vest-clad shrink had 'glanced' in her direction. A shy grin played at both of their mouths, and Ruby swept back her highlighted pigtails and flounced over to the counter as he sat onto the most worn out bar stool.
"Welcome back, Mr. Iced Tea," Ruby grinned— he looked abashed, which was unbelievably adorable. "What can I get you?"
"Just a bagel and a regular black coffee," Archie said, his face visibly darkening. "I have a meeting this morning."
"If you don't mind my asking, with who?" Ruby said, frowning as well.
"I don't mind, but doctor-patient confidentiality does," said Archie with a half-smile, watching as Ruby sliced open a regular sesame seed bagel and popped it in the nearby toaster.
"It's gotta be Mr. Gold or somebody like that," she said, pushing his coffee towards him.
Archie looked stunned. "Why do you think that?"
Ruby smirked. "You looked sick to your stomach when you mentioned it."
"I'm supposed to be the psychiatrist," he grumbled, actually looking put out. "It's not Gold, thank God."
Ruby bit her red-painted lip as she racked her brains for another guess, and Archie tried not to shiver when he realised he wanted to bite that lip… "Mayor Mills, then?"
Unfortunately Archie had chosen that moment to take a sip from his coffee and upon hearing her words he started, ending up slopping half of his coffee down his front.
"Beverages aren't clothing, you know," Ruby laughed, handing him a towel. "So then, I was right— you're meeting with the Mayor." She bit her lip again sympathetically and Archie desperately wished she'd stop doing that. "You're right. That is something to look sick over."
"Are you a good people-reader, or am I just transparent?" Archie quipped, trying not to give in to the temptation to hide his face from her.
"Both." Ruby shrugged. "But you know, there's something I've been trying to figure out about you."
He had to set down the cup of coffee lest he dump the whole contents into his lap. "R-really?" He sounded like a child again! Well, he had reason to, his inner voice chided. It was unbelievable that he had occupied her thoughts for more than a millisecond after he'd left.
Ruby's jade gaze swept over his lens-covered eyes, before she reached out again with two hands and gently pulled the glasses from his face a second time. And it happened again. Just like last time, for no particular reason, his stunned expression was tided over with a distinct reddening in his cheeks, so much so that he put one hand to his mouth and looked away.
She smiled a bit. "You… did it again."
"Did… did what?" he mumbled embarrassedly, not looking at her.
Ruby didn't answer him. Ever since she'd taken away his glasses the first time and found that full-blown blush on his face she'd wondered about it. Was it just because she was impulsive, or because he was still embarrassed about having iced tea all over him? Then she'd theorised… he'd only blushed after she'd taken away his glasses. Ruby wasn't sure if she'd ever have the chance to do it again, but she did, and here they were, and there he was, blushing again.
The bagel popping up behind them startled them both out of their reveries, and Ruby almost sadly handed his glasses back to him before turning away. "Anything in particular you want on it?"
Archie cleared his throat, clearly more confident now that his glasses were back on his face. "Just cream cheese." He glanced up at the clock. "Darn. Make that to go, please."
"Don't be late for Mayor Mills, lest she gets the jurisdiction to flog you," quipped Ruby, grinning as she slathered cream cheese on the bagel when Archie chuckled behind her.
"I doubt she has a flogger," Archie reasoned.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Ruby replied, slipping the bagel into a bag and handing it to him. She frowned at the coffee stains now on his sweater vest. "You're not going to meet the Mayor dressed in coffee, are you?"
Archie opened his mouth to say that he had a spare set of clothing in his car, in case he was ever stuck somewhere, but his words got stuck in his throat when she took her scarf and draped in around his neck.
"There," she said, arranging it so that it hid the stains. "It's kind of feminine, but it looks better than a shirt full of coffee."
"Th-thank y-you," he stammered. There was a strawberry-like scent wafting from the scarf, and it was making him slightly buzzed, as though he'd just downed a couple of shots.
"You're welcome," said Ruby. "I'll see you, okay?"
Archie tried not to think of it as an invitation, because all that did was make a twinge of something shoot up his spine. "Yeah." He sounded breathless. With that he turned on his heel and half drifted through the door towards his car, plopping into the driver's seat with a heaving sigh. There was a faint logical part of him telling him that really, he couldn't meet the Mayor in a woman's lacy scarf hiding coffee stains, that he really ought to change… but instead he grasped at the scarf with two hands, lifted it to his face and inhaled deeply. What the hell kind of intoxicating smell was making his head all fuzzy? Strawberries were definitely the ultimate culprits, along with something sugary— whipped cream, maybe, or vanilla? And why did she have such a fascination with taking off his glasses?
Archie tore his hands away and forced them onto the steering wheel, nearly backing into someone's car as he desperately tried to get onto the road. Holy shit he was like one of those perverts you saw on TV! What kind of an 'honest man' was he, anyway, practically breathing in the girl's scarf? She'd only tried to help…
The remembrance of her being a year under age made a jolt of disgust wrench his gut. He really, really, really ought to change into that spare shirt… and he didn't, of course, instead wearing the scarf to the meeting where the lovely scent cascaded his mind, causing him to sink into a pleasurable stupor and making him zone out while Regina was talking about something (he couldn't remember what) only to have her jump up from her seat and shout that he was no help at all when, for the fourth time, all he said was, "And how do you feel about this?" once she'd paused.
That was it, he decided when Regina's meeting ended with a pencil being thrown at his forehead. He'd return her scarf, which he was now absently and unconsciously hugging, and then he'd never see her again.
The next morning he strolled in, trying to seem confident, and handed it back to her over the counter with a dismissive 'thank you, it helped a lot'. He was turning to leave and never return when her hands came out of nowhere and slipped around his glasses, brushing his cheeks accidentally and making him shiver. Archie's face and his glasses parted company, and Ruby actually smiled when he blushed furiously yet again.
"Every time," she said, clearly unaware he had no idea was she meant. "I wonder why."
And from there on they became best friends. He'd come into the diner every morning, whether or not he had an early appointment, and sit in that seat — the worn out one three seats to the last — and on her break times Ruby would either lean over the counter or sit in the seat to his left. He wasn't sure which was worse: having her leaning towards him where he could get a fantastic view down her cleavage or having her hand so close to his, resting on the counter, and knowing that it would be humiliating and selfish and unthinkable to reach out and grab it.
Along the way Archie couldn't help but 'do the psychiatrist thing' and delve into her life, wanting to know everything about her from her favourite music to how she got the circle-shaped burn mark on her wrist. Whenever he asked about the burn, though, she'd clearly deflect to instead joke, "Are you going all psychiatrist on me?" He frowned whenever Ruby did this; not knowing what happened was driving him up the wall, for some reason.
He discovered, with a sort of shocked thrill, that she in all of her punk red glory was an avid classic book reader. She'd once confessed to him during a rainy morning (the rain, of course, being the perfect excuse to stay a little longer) that she often perused the classic section of the still-a-work-in-progress library that her friend Belle, Mr. Gold's girlfriend or 'property' as some put it, was working on. Archie had found himself momentarily overexcited when Ruby had popped the question, "So, Bronte versus Bronte: Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights?" His friend Marco, the local Italian carpenter, seemed to think that was something to bend over his knee laughing for, after Archie had told him during one of their evening Dalmatian walks through the park— Marco with Perdita, Archie with Pongo.
"Ah geez, Arch, you are too funny," Marco had chuckled, wiping his eyes and ignoring Archie's glare. "I wish I could have seen your face." He straightened. "Now then, when are you going to ask your piccolo amore on a date?"
Archie actually choked on his own breath. He coughed for a second, hiding his flaming face in his jacket before fuming, "Are you insane?"
"Not recently, why?" Marco said airily, watching Perdita and Pongo sniff at the swing set.
"Because she's seventeen, and off-limits," Archie said firmly. Both men weren't entirely sure whom Archie was trying to convince: Marco or himself.
It was months into their friendship when Archie discovered Ruby had a boyfriend.
He was walking up to Granny's, hugging his arm to his chest. Inside his chest pocket was a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray, which Ruby had only recently told him she hadn't yet found and was dying to get her hands on. Archie was excitedly remarking how he just couldn't wait to give it to her when he rounded the corner and had to jump back around it immediately.
Ruby was currently in a furious lip lock with some black kid in a leather jacket, being pressed up against the wall by his hips. Archie stood concealed behind the wall, his eyes fixed on the sidewalk without really seeing anything. He clenched his hands and did one of his own calming exercises, before a question hit him: why was he so angry? Why in the world did he want to go over there, yank that ass off of her and throw him to the ground? Never before had Archie Hopper, town honest man, wanted so badly to hurt somebody.
Archie wished very much that he'd stayed at home, that he hadn't succumbed to the desire to see her again, because damn it, he didn't want to see her draped over that. He tore his eyes from the street and hurried back into his car, throwing himself into the driver's seat and locking the doors before he did something awful. The worst thing he did was drive slightly over the speed limit, eager to get home so he could flop down somewhere and not think about anything.
Tossing his keys somewhere with more force than necessary he made a beeline for the couch, sinking into it and exhaling loudly. His entire body was cold and hot at the same time, if that was possible. Some of his patients had talked about this feeling — as though you were sweaty but shivering all at once — but he'd never really been able to relate until now. Slowly, with an expression hard as stone, he reached into his coat pocket and drew out The Picture of Dorian Gray, avoided looking at it and stuffed it onto the coffee table face down. He'd give it to her another time… when she wasn't sticking her tongue into someone else's mouth. What was this god-forsaken feeling of mixed anger and sadness? Ah, yes, jealousy.
It was in that moment that Archie realised he was completely and utterly smitten with her.
She's seventeen; seventeen, you pervert! his conscience shrieked at him, mentally whacking him over the head with an umbrella. Smitten or not, control yourself.
He would control himself, he decided. Still… it wouldn't hurt to keep seeing her, as friends… right?
Until you see that other kid plastered to her face, said his conscience knowingly, and Archie mentally beat his conscience with its umbrella.
He didn't have the confidence or the will power to go back to Granny's that morning; he'd wait until tomorrow. In the meantime Archie tried to think about something other than replacing what's-his-face and being granted the pleasure of feeling soft blood-red lips on his own, or her hips grinding against his, or—
Okay, that was something he needed to work on.
Archie walked into the café the next morning to hear Ruby and Granny in a heated argument in the backroom.
"— disgusting, absolutely no regard for who might be watching you," Granny was fuming.
"Whoever sees Billy and I kissing behind the café is at fault; they didn't have to look," growled Ruby (Ah, he tried to think uninterestedly, his name's Billy). "It's none of their business. Or yours," she added angrily.
There were light footsteps before a second voice was added into the conversation. "Hard not to look when you're practically doing him in public," Alice said airily, and Archie tried not to snort at the dainty blonde's vulgar terminology. "Granny's kind of right. He doesn't look much like a good kisser anyway— looked like he was eating your face."
There was silence for a brief moment. Then, "Okay, he kisses like a fish, but that's not the point."
Alice snorted. "No it's not. The point is he's some mechanic whose only interest is your butt, Rubes."
"And you've got a perfectly nice man wrapped around your finger already, one who doesn't only want to get into your pants," Granny's faraway sounding voice added.
"What? Whom are you talking about?"
"You know…"
There was faint, indistinguishable muttering before Ruby actually dropped something; judging by the giant sound of crashing china and Ruby's curse it was something big.
"Are you insane?" she hissed. "He is not 'smitten with me', Alice. Where the hell did you even read the word 'smitten'?" I'm not even his type."
"How do you know?" Granny challenged.
"Because he's good. And I'm… not." Ruby sounded despondent.
"You love him!" gasped Alice— Archie stared hard at the napkin dispenser.
"Shut up, no I don't," she growled.
"Yes you do," Granny sighed.
"No, I don't!" Ruby snapped. "Besides, I'm with Billy right now. And you're wrong about him. So stuff it."
She flounced back into the café's front to see Archie sitting at his trademark seat, seemingly looking everywhere but at her. "Hey, you weren't there yesterday."
"Uh, yeah I had… things to do," he said lamely. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth.
Ruby smiled at him, stunning him for a moment. "Cream cheese bagel and black coffee, right?"
He nodded blankly, remembering The Picture of Dorian Gray still on his coffee table. He wished he'd brought it. Archie immediately froze when her hands gently pulled his glasses from his face, and he felt his face flame up again. Pressing a hand to his mouth he mumbled, "Wh-why did you do that?"
"It's a mystery," she replied simply, shrugging her shoulder nonchalantly and handing him back his glasses. He took them back with one shaking hand, only to have them slip from his numb fingers and tumble onto the ground.
"Darn," Archie said darkly, leaning over to pick them up.
"Are they broken?" Ruby asked worriedly, craning her neck to see. He stuffed them back onto his face, only to have one eye obscured by a jagged crack in the right lens. "That's a yes," she frowned, putting her face close to his to examine the lens and trying not to smirk when his cheeks and the tops of his ears reddened a second time. "We should go to the optometrist."
We. "R-right now?"
"Well when else?" she huffed as she untied her apron. "It's not like he's busy right now— you're probably his only customer besides Granny."
Ruby stuffed her apron into a drawer before hollering to Granny that she'd be 'back in twenty' and slipped out from behind the counter. Archie watched as she bounced over to the doors, blankly debating in his mind whether or not to tell her that it was fine, he could handle it and besides, he didn't want her to miss work. Instead she turned around and looked at him expectantly. "You know to examine your glasses, and your eyes, your face has to come too, right?"
Archie chuckled and obediently followed her. They hurried down the street in a comfortable silence, Archie secretly grinning whenever Ruby was greeted by someone or waved ecstatically to Belle, who was walking across the street hand-in-hand with Mr. Gold (who seemed to melt in his love's presence). He wondered if there was anyone she didn't know in this tiny town.
"What are you smiling at?" Ruby asked him suddenly, lowering her hand and smirking at him.
"Was I smiling?" Archie said airily, pretending to be very interested in a cloud in the sky.
"Yes, you were," she said curiously, as she pushed open the doors to the optometrist's. "Why?"
"It's a secret," he said simply, blushing at his own daring before greeting the optometrist, a man with salt-and-pepper grey hair named Kurt.
Ruby bit her red-painted lip and watched Archie explain his situation to Kurt, wondering where his air of mystery had suddenly come from. Had she done something silly to make him smile like that? Maybe it was because of Belle's relationship with the town monster, and that look he got only when around Belle… Mr. Gold always seemed to visibly turn to butter whenever she so much as looked at him. That was probably what Archie was grinning at; after all Mr. Gold was one of his patients.
"All right then, let's take a look," Kurt's voice broke into her reverie, and she watched as the man carefully took Archie's glasses off his face.
He didn't even blink.
Ruby's mouth dropped open in shock— why wasn't he blushing? He always without fail blushed if someone took off his glasses! She narrowed her eyes, thinking maybe it was the lighting, but there wasn't a trace of pink tingeing his cheeks or the tops of his ears… until of course he noticed her gaping at him.
"Wh-what?" he stammered, his whole face flaming up.
"He just… and you didn't…" Ruby wondered aloud, pointing helplessly from him to Kurt and back again. "Never mind," she sighed, when Kurt stopped examining the lens and glanced at her with a frown. "You just look good without your glasses."
Kurt snorted and Archie's face blushed to the point where he practically glowed. She tried not to grin at them and instead let her mind wander back to that morning's conversation as Kurt began asking his prescription, ignoring his red-as-Mars face. It'd shocked her to find out that Granny was so angry about her being seen kissing Billy… he was her boyfriend, after all. She'd had boyfriends before whom she'd been seen with, and only now did Granny get upset about it. And then Alice had to go and say that the least likely person to fall for her in all of Storybrooke was 'smitten' with her. Ruby glanced back over to Archie, whose blush was fading little by little already.
He never seemed 'smitten' with her.
Ruby felt her face fall into a sad expression, but she couldn't help it. The thought of Archie Hopper, town psychiatrist, conscience and overall gentleman, being in love with her, Storybrooke's own flirtatious harlot who looked like a child playing grown-up, was unthinkable. And somehow… knowing it was unlikely hurt like hell.
And then Alice had to go and say that she was in love with him. As if. Yes, he did make bizarre emotions well up inside her whenever she was in his presence— first intrigue, then friendliness, then affection and then this weird desperation that tugged at her whenever he left, and a pooling contentment whenever he arrived.
"Because he's good. And I'm… not."
Her own words came back to her, words she'd uttered not half an hour ago. It seemed like ages had passed since that conversation, and she was even more sure of the truth behind her own phrase now than she was twenty minutes ago. Hell, it was questionable to Ruby and the rest of Storybrooke why Archie even spoke to her at all! She'd once asked Billy that question, and his answer had been, "You're complicated. Don't psychiatrists like complicated people? Maybe he's trying to figure you out."
Ruby didn't even notice Archie had approached her, now sporting a spare pair of nearly identical glasses. "All done."
"Hm?" she hummed blankly, looking up at him. "Sorry, I was lost in thought."
"What were you thinking of?" he asked as they exited the building.
Maybe he's trying to figure you out. The idea was looking more and more likely.
"Well…" she hesitated, staring at the sidewalk as they walked back to the café. Should she tell him? Well he was a psychiatrist, and her best friend. "It was just something Alice and Granny said this morning, just before you came in."
Oh, right, the argument, he thought with a jolt in his stomach. Maybe now he could figure out who that other person who was also 'smitten' with her was. "If you don't mind, what was it?"
She bit her red lip again, making him want to reach up with his hand and pull on her chin so she'd release her lip. "They said… they said that the person in Storybrooke least likely to ever fall in love with me is… well, in love with me."
There was a pause.
"Marco?" Archie guessed, making her double over.
"No, not Marco," Ruby laughed, shaking her magnificent head. "Tell you what. I'll tell you who it is…" she reached over and slipped his glasses from his face again, prompting another flush, "… if you can figure out what mysterious thing you do whenever I take off your glasses."
He stood in embarrassed silence for a second, trying to look like he was racking his brains for something when in reality all the thought about was how silly he must look at the moment. "Erm, I've got nothing."
"Then you'll have to wait," she said lightly, carefully putting his glasses back on his face. She was shocked to see him blush at that too. "Even when I put them on…"
God-her-face-is-too-close-what-do-I-do-damn-it, Archie screamed inside his head; he wished he could grab the back of her head and get rid of the little amount of space there was between their lips. Before his mind could shut down and make him actually do what he was thinking she pulled away, said casually, "Don't break them again," and flounced off into the café. He stood dumbstruck on the sidewalk, before he brought one hand to his forehead and laughed humourlessly. Jesus Christ, what was she doing to him?
She dreamed of being wrapped in a tight embrace with somebody warm, somebody firm and comfortable, and they were twirling around a snow-white marble dance floor. She was dressed in a blood red gown that ended in frills at her knees — a little more modest than what she usually chose — but Ruby knew that was because she wasn't dressed up for everybody, only him. Over his shoulder she saw Belle and Mr. Gold together, pressed against each other like she was with her own date, practically radiating their utter devotion for each other.
Her attention on the happy couple was stolen by her man whispering, "Ruby, my beautiful love…" She smiled and looked up at him, expecting to see Billy. Instead she saw a mess of ginger hair and a pair of mahogany-rimmed glasses.
Archie Hopper was leaning down to kiss her.
Ruby woke with a start to the sound of pitter-patter against her window. Her heart was thumping a rhythm against her ribcage. She tossed the covers off of her legs and dragged herself over to the mirror. Jesus, she looked terrible— her hair was a haystack and her makeup, which she'd forgotten to take off last night, was smudged across her face like a clown. Ruby made her way into the bathroom, wetting a facecloth before setting to work taking off the messed-up eyeliner and lipstick.
And then it hit her: she'd just dreamed about… and he had… and she was…
Fuck. She threw down the facecloth and bolted out of the basement, suddenly aware of a burning feeling in her throat and eyes. Granny was already dressed and up, hauling a bag of potatoes from the cupboard. Her eyes widened behind her tiny spectacles at the sight of her granddaughter panting heavily, looking as though she were about to cry.
"Granny, you were right!" she wailed, hurling herself into Granny's arms and starting to sob. "You were right, I'm in love with Archie!"
Granny's face relaxed in realisation and she hushed her sobbing granddaughter with gentle whispers. "Shh, why are you crying?"
"B-because he'll n-n-never…" Ruby managed to choke out before sobs wracked her body again.
Granny sighed and rubbed her back, wishing the psychiatrist and her granddaughter weren't both such idiots so that they'd hurry up and realise the other loved them back.
Ruby stood in the rain, underneath the arch of a slanted roof that was far too small to cover her. She shivered, soaked to the bone, her hand still wrapped around her cell phone. It was only ten minutes ago that she'd called him, determined to do the right thing and tell him the truth. It wasn't fair to him, Ruby realised after stopping her rather embarrassing episode on Granny. It wasn't fair for their charade to continue while Ruby felt like this.
Billy pulled up, sitting atop his sleek black Harley Davidson motorcycle, parking it next to the curb where she stood. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and a pair of knuckle-showing gloves, which reached up and pulled off his helmet. Billy gazed at her quizzically.
"Hey, why are you standing in the rain?" he asked concernedly, swinging his leg over the motorcycle and approaching her. "You're soaked. I got your call, by the way. What's the matter? You sounded upset, and it isn't like you to call so early in the morning."
Ruby sighed, resisting the urge to say 'it was nothing'. She wouldn't keep leading Billy on like this, now that Ruby realised she was in love with someone she couldn't have… and especially since that someone wasn't Billy.
She took a deep breath to fortify herself. "Billy, you are a fantastic guy. You really are…"
Her voice trailed off, and Billy's previously concerned face slackened as he realised where exactly this was going. "I sense a 'but' coming on here."
She nodded. "But… I'm sorry. I have to end… this. Us. It isn't fair to you."
"Isn't fair?" he repeated, backing away two steps from her. He looked furious. "No, what isn't fair is that you're actually breaking up with me and you haven't even told me why!" Billy's jaw stuck out into 'the pouty face' as Ruby had once called it, which he always sported when irritated or angry. "We've been together for, what? Six months, nearly? What happened, did somebody chastise you about seeing me again?"
"No, it isn't like that—" Ruby said, her voice coming out as a plea.
"Then what, did you cheat on me?"
"No!"
Billy's 'pouty face' seemed to harden tenfold, and he turned away from her. "It's that psychiatrist guy, Archie Hopper, isn't it?"
Her blood seemed to freeze in her body. "Wh-what?"
Billy laughed without humour. "I was right— everyone else was right. You love him."
Ruby bit her lip, wanting to cry again as he stomped over to his motorcycle and yanked on his helmet again. With a more forceful than necessary crank Billy's motorcycle roared back to life, and in a wave of water he sped off down the street. The tears she'd told herself not to allow to consume her erupted over her already rain-splattered face, streaking paths through the already running leftover eyeliner.
She wasn't entirely sure how long she'd been standing there shivering in the rain, lost in thought, but the fact that drops of water were no longer pounding ruthlessly on her skin tugged her out of her reverie. She blinked confusedly, unshed tears now making their way down her cheeks along with raindrops, and looked up to see a dark blue umbrella shielding her from the rain.
"If you stay out here like this, you're going to get sick," Archie said gently, placing one hand on her shoulder. A pleased shudder rippled through her— his hand was warm and comforting against her icy skin.
Archie was having a similar dilemma as he led her into the warm and thankfully dry café. The fact that he was finally touching her even in the slightest amount wasn't lost to him; neither was the realisation that even with red-rimmed eyes and makeup streaked across her face she was still beautiful. She was so soaked that he couldn't distinguish her tears from the rain. He shrugged off his warm brown jacket and draped it over her shoulders, frowning at the way Ruby was visibly shivering, and sat her down at the nearest booth.
"Now," he said in his softest psychiatrist voice, "tell me what happened."
The side of her mouth quirked up a little, and he half expected her to ask, "Are you going all psychiatrist on me?" like she always did. Instead she hugged his jacket to her almost lovingly… no, not lovingly, stop fantasising you dolt!
"I broke up with Billy, is all," Ruby said in a quiet voice he'd never heard her use before. "And he kind of did what all motorcycle guys do and rode away, as usual. He'll be back, though, in an hour or two."
She was avoiding telling him everything, he could tell. Trying not to sigh with frustration, he asked calmly, "Why?"
Ruby's face hardened. "Because I'm in love with someone… who isn't Billy."
Archie wasn't sure what made him feel worse: knowing she was simply dating Billy, or having her break up with him because she was full-out in love with somebody else. He wondered whom, and yet at the same time he didn't want to know.
"Ruby!"
Belle burst through the café doors, panting heavily and almost as wet as Ruby. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were rimmed red as well. Archie wondered where everybody's tears were coming from, or if it was just the mood the rain had brought on.
"Oh God, you've heard, haven't you?" Belle whispered, clutching her hands to her chest. Two more tears leaked out from her eyes.
Ruby blinked rather tiredly. "Heard what?"
"Oh. Oh you haven't…" The girl breathed in deeply and then squeezed her eyes shut as though in pain. "It's Billy. He's… he's gone."
"Gone?" Ruby echoed dully. "Yeah, I know, he's on one of his angry motorcycle drives. He'll be back in an hour, Belle, he's just mad at me."
Archie's stomach lurched. Somehow, from the look on Belle's face, he could tell that there was something Ruby wasn't getting…
"N-no, Ruby, you don't understand." Ruby's eyes widened as Belle continued, her voice choked. "There was an accident a couple of blocks from here. Billy… he got hit. He's… gone."
Gone. Holy shit. Archie chanced a glance at Ruby, whose entire visage had blanched pasty white. Her hands clenched on the jacket's lapels, making her already pale knuckles whiten all the more. She jumped up from the booth and sprinted out of the café, back into the torrential rain. Archie hurried after her, shouting her name, which she didn't seem to hear or was ignoring. The sounds of sirens were audible and starting to get louder.
"RUBY!" Archie shouted. Damn it, he didn't want her seeing whatever scene was less than half a block away…
Ruby skidded to a halt on the slippery sidewalk. There were two separate ambulances, both of which were open. Mary Margaret Blanchard, the schoolteacher, had her husband David pressing a cool washcloth to her bloody forehead in one of the ambulances, their daughter Emma doing her duty as the town sheriff by recording everything in sight, a mangled-looking Alice sitting next to her. And in the centre of the chaos was a white sheet under which had to be—
"Oh no…"
It came out of her mouth on a terrified whimper. Billy was under that sheet, and he was dead. He was dead. Her knees gave way and she collapsed into Archie, silent sobs wracking her body. Billy was dead, and he'd died angry with her, and he'd had every right to be. He died minutes after she'd broken his heart. It was her fault.
And now, she realised with an audible sob, she was wrapped in the comforting embrace of the person she'd broken up with Billy for, the one person who'd never love her. But in this moment of utter devastation she let herself pretend, just for a moment, that the only reason Archie was pressing her closer and stroking her hair was not because he was her friend, but because he loved her.
As if.
One month, one torturous, excruciating month went by.
All of Storybrooke, except for a certain few, seemed to grieve over Billy's death for a mere day before springing back to happy normality. It was almost inappropriate, how over ninety percent of the town had gotten back to their daily lives without a second thought of 'that teenage mechanic kid' who'd died.
They had had a very small, private funeral that had lasted all of twenty minutes; it disgusted Archie how little people had showed up. Mary Margaret and David had come, along with Belle, a disgruntled-looking Mr. Gold (who was clearly only there because of Belle), Alice, Marco, Granny… and Ruby. She stared blankly at the ground and didn't cry at all during the funeral— Archie half-wished she had so he could have an excuse to hold her again. It wasn't supposed to be like this! He hated himself for actually wishing she'd cry just so he could comfort her. Archie wanted to hold her, but not like that, not again; he wanted her to be happy, not crying in his arms!
For the first week Archie stubbornly continued to go to Granny's, but gave up quickly whenever Ruby wasn't there. When he perused Granny for information about her well being, Granny smiled sympathetically at him, patted his arm and said, "She's grieving. It's best if you wait it out." It was as though she knew just how much it was utterly killing him, like some slow-acting, torturous poison that ate him from the inside out. But how could she know?
But today, Archie realised upon waking up, the atmosphere was different. There was no longer a kind of inappropriate contentment in everyone else while a large, oppressive black cloud hovered over his head. He tossed off the covers and looked outside, as though hoping to see the reason for his relief written in the sky. No message, but the sky was cloudless, an endless expanse of blue. Taking this as a good sign, Archie dressed quickly and, after feeding Pongo, flung himself into his car and took off towards Granny's.
Belle waved happily and beamed at him when he passed her, prompting a glare from Mr. Gold. Another good sign. The happy feeling in the air was infectious; he couldn't help but grin excitedly as Granny's pulled into view. Almost forgetting to lock the doors, Archie practically ran into the café.
And there she was, in all of her red lipstick, tight pants-ed glory, shouting to Alice to get a 'number three special' (whatever that was). Her face was flushed and the peaceful cheerfulness she always used to have were back. Ruby's eyes found his, and upon literally beaming at him she hurried out from behind the counter and threw her arms around his waist. Archie let himself be stunned for the briefest moment before his own arms wrapped around her and pressed her close, breathing in her strawberries-and-cream scent.
Well, there's the happy hug you wanted, his subconscious airily remarked.
"I missed you," Ruby sighed into his chest, and he refused to believe she was nuzzling into him.
"So did I," he whispered. More than you know.
A week later Archie learned something that both terrified and thrilled him.
He sat at his usual seat, munching happily on his customary bagel and listening with amusement to Ruby, who was telling him about the time she once gotten her finger stuck in a car's cigarette lighter when she was five.
"I still have the scar on my finger," she said lightly, showing him a shiny burn scar blanketed around the tip of her index finger.
"That must have hurt," he noted, resisting the urge to grab her hand and kiss the scar.
"I can't remember, but it must have, because I remember Granny panicking and me screaming," Ruby laughed— the image of what she'd just described made him want to do anything but laugh.
He grimaced for a moment, before his glasses were swept off his face and his cheeks burned red. Ruby grinned at his blush and remarked, "You haven't figured out what you keep doing whenever I take off your glasses, have you?"
Archie shook his head shyly, gladly accepting his glasses again and stuffing them back onto his face. He'd taken off his glasses in the mirror, only to feel completely and utterly stupid when he just blinked at his own reflection.
"Believe me, I've thought about it," he said dryly, sipping his plain black coffee.
"You probably have," smirked Ruby, making him flush a bit.
Just then Alice bounced into the café, cheeks flushed with excitement. Ruby excused herself for a moment to circle around the counter and regard Alice with a grin. "… Did it happen?"
Alice pressed her lips together, squeezed her eyes shut and nodded wordlessly. Archie watched, amused, as the little blond flung herself into Ruby's arms, squealing with delight all the while tears streamed from her closed eyes. "Ruby-I-love-you-you're-the-best-thank-you-so-much!"
Ruby giggled, patting back Alice's hair, which was now sticking up a bit. "I told you." At Archie's questioning look she mouthed behind Alice's back, "Jefferson."
Archie gaped a bit at this. Jefferson Madden was the town lunatic that lived in a lavish mansion on the outskirts of town far from prying eyes, where he resided in strict solitude with his daughter Grace. The only time he ever came out of his home was to drop Grace off at school; everybody usually avoided him then, as he seemed to shuffle from foot to foot where he stood and grinned manically at his daughter.
"Oh, and happy eighteenth," Alice grinned, with a teary-eyed sideways glance in Archie's direction before she bounced into the back room.
Ruby bit her lip (he wanted to do that damn it) still beaming as she circled the counter again. "I set her up with Jefferson last night… she's had a bad-ass crush on him for like two months, and I was fed up with them making puppy eyes at each other while the other wasn't looking."
"I'm fed up with that too," Granny called out, poking her head out of the back room to glare first at Ruby, then at Archie.
He personally had no idea what she was talking about, but Ruby's cheeks flushed a bit and she bit out, "It's all in your imagination." Before he could ask what they meant she turned back to him and grinned again, stunning him. "So anyway, I watched Gracie while Jefferson and Alice went to that cute little fabric shop downtown— because they both like to sew, right? I guess it worked." She looked triumphant.
"You know Jefferson Madden?" Archie was shocked.
"Yeah, we've been friends for years, ever since I was fifteen," Ruby said, smiling a bit. A pang of jealousy shot through his stomach. 'Friends', huh? "He's silly. Calls me 'little wolf'."
"Why?" Archie asked.
Her face faltered a bit before she plastered the smile back onto her face. "I'll tell you at my birthday party."
It didn't register at first, but then he remembered Alice's words. "W-wait, you're eighteen?"
"In a few days, yeah," Ruby shrugged. She didn't look happy about it. "That means you're invited, by the way," she added, her real smile returning.
He flushed red. Eighteen… oh dear… Somehow knowing she was close to no longer being a child… it made him hope… made him dream… maybe one day they could—
Also, he interrupted his own thoughts firmly, he already had a birthday present for her. He'd had it for months. The Picture of Dorian Gray.
"Thank you," he said happily.
Archie had never been invited to a birthday party before— except Marco's, but his idea of a 'party' was gulping down a piece of cake with his son August and then going to watch Italian soccer and construction shows. What had Marco wanted for his birthday anyway? Ah yes, varnish. Lovely.
"It's this Friday, can you come?" Ruby sincerely hoped he could…
"Of course." He smiled, and she returned it with a beam.
Friday couldn't come sooner.
And boy, did it take a while to arrive.
It had been Sunday the day he'd found out she was about to turn into a legal adult. That fact alone bothered him in terrible and yet fantastic ways… the secondary discovery of her knowing the town madcap and being affectionate with him was what made him genuinely sick to his stomach, even though Ruby and Alice had pretty much proved that Jefferson Madden (also known as the 'Mad Hatter' as Mr. Gold had once wittily quipped) was smitten with a certain girl with the whole blond-hair blue eyes deal.
Ruby announced to him on Monday morning, after their daily morning break, that the party would start well into the night— ten pm. She also wasn't sure where it would be— Jefferson's house (as it could accommodate large amounts of guests and had a lovely garden) or the park. It appeared, she told him, that Jefferson was nervous as hell about allowing so many people into his normally silent abode, despite her reassurance that he could stay with Grace at Ruby's since he hated crowds. Upon leaving Archie noticed a slightly downcast look as she spoke of her party. But what kind of teenager would be upset about turning into adult? He dismissed it.
On Wednesday Archie walked into the diner to see Jefferson Madden being suffocated in a hug by his Ruby— no, not his, just Ruby, he reminded himself firmly. The man's face was wide-eyed, enhancing his slightly off appearance, and his daughter Grace sat a booth near them eating cherry pie.
"Thank you, thank you Jefferson!" Ruby was squealing, making him giggle nervously. "You're the best!"
"Heh… down now, little wolf." He licked his lips and craned his neck over Ruby's head to look into the back room. "Will… A-Alice… be at the festivities?"
"Yes, Jefferson," Ruby beamed. "Go see her, right now!"
Jefferson looked more than happy to oblige; he practically bounced around the corner as if walking on trampolines. Ruby finally spotted Archie standing by the door scowling after Jefferson, and she hurried over to him, saying all the while, "Jefferson's allowed me to use his mansion for the party!"
"Lovely," he managed to croak out. Except it wasn't. Not at all.
Archie spent the whole Friday wrapping and re-wrapping The Picture of Dorian Gray— he wasn't sure which one she'd like more, the bright red that matched her lips or the green that reminded him of her eyes. Eventually he decided he was being stupid and settled for plain old white, the colour of her skin. Archie's hands trembled a bit as he taped it up and tucked it safely into his jacket pocket before setting off.
He was forced to park a good block away from Jefferson's, as the street was lined with cars. Archie both loved and hated how popular she was. He approached the house, which was eerily silent up until somebody opened the front door. Immediately blaring rock music met his ears. It looked like Jefferson's walls were soundproof… that was kind of creepy, he decided.
"Hey, Archie!" Marco exclaimed in a way only an Italian could, the moment he walked in the door.
Marco stood in a group with David Nolan and Mary Margaret, Emma and her son Henry and lastly August, who seemed to be glued in conversation with Emma— Archie almost snorted at how August was fawning over the blonde (and Lord he hoped he didn't look like that when he was with Ruby). Archie could see Belle standing very close with Mr. Gold who once again looked like he wished he wasn't there, and probably only was because of Belle. He couldn't see Ruby, though, which frustrated him.
"What did you get her?" Marco asked immediately before Archie could even open his mouth to greet him.
"A book," said Archie firmly, and Marco actually looked disappointed. "What about you?"
"A homemade clock." When Archie gave him a look of confusion, the Italian carpenter shrugged. "She asked for one. By the way, your piccolo amore is over there," Marco added, pointing in between a laughing Ashley Boyd and Katherine Nolan where she stood talking to Granny.
Archie felt himself turn red and gape, but he really couldn't help it, not now that she was looking so utterly radiant. Ruby donned a scarlet dress that hugged her form with delight like a second skin; it came up to an inch above her knees and, though the neckline was very modest for her, did the swell of her breasts justice. She had very little makeup on, which didn't make sense— didn't women put on makeup to make themselves look better? Yet here she was, looking more gorgeous than she ever had wearing heavy makeup, and now all she had on was a dab of mascara and her signature red lipstick. Her chocolate brown locks were missing their red streaks, and were twisted into an elegant bun on top of her head.
He was barely aware Granny had noticed him, snorted and elbowed her granddaughter until Ruby looked up and caught him staring. He didn't have time to blush, because her face split into the biggest beam Archie had ever seen and she hurried over to him fast as her inch-high heels would allow and flung her arms around his neck.
"I'm so glad you came," Ruby whispered, and he could tell she meant it. He just didn't know how much.
"Of course I'd come," Archie said, his voice coming out low and husky as he hugged her tightly to him. He hadn't noticed everyone was averting their eyes and sharing secret smiles, he was too caught up in her warmth, and her scent… god it was like her scarf all over again… "You look… so amazing…" came out of his mouth on a sigh before he could stop it.
Ruby pulled away from him a bit, but not completely, just so that her cheek rested on his. It heated up at his words and she stammered, "R-really?"
They both laughed at how much she sounded like Archie. "Yeah," he replied, emulating her. "Oh, wait, here…"
He pulled back from her (barely) to slip his hand into his jacket and pulled out the wrapped book, handing it to her. She stared at it a bit wide-eyed, as if she hadn't expected him to get her a present, and slowly peeled off the paper.
"The Picture… of Dorian Gray…" she practically whispered. "B-but that was months ago that I told you about this..."
"I've had it for a while," he confessed, feeling nervous. She looked like she was going to burst into tears. Was this a bad idea?
Ruby breathed in deep. And then beamed at him. He actually fell back a step, it was that bright. "Thank you."
It was as though he'd just saved her life.
"Little wolf," said a voice behind them before he could say 'you're welcome', and Ruby turned, half-hugging her book, to see a jittery-looking Jefferson standing behind her.
"You came," she gawked, still clutching the book as if he would take it away. "Wait for me," Ruby told Jefferson, turning back to Archie as Jefferson slipped out onto the front porch. With one arm (the other preoccupied with gripping the book) she pulled him into one last, tight, meaningful hug. "You're the best."
"Not really," he said embarrassedly. Fuck he wanted to kiss her.
"Yes really," she murmured, before pulling away reluctantly. "Meet me on the porch in five minutes. I promised to tell you things, right?" Ruby smiled at him almost sadly before she slipped between Granny and Marco (who were now making googly eyes at each other) and joining Jefferson on the porch.
"My quiet little home… reduced to Escape the Fate," Jefferson said bitterly.
"Thank you," Ruby said, smiling at him.
"You're in love with him," Jefferson suddenly blurted out, almost conversationally.
Ruby bit her lip, before blushing and dropping her eyes to the ground. "Is it that obvious?"
"Yes," he said bluntly. There was silence. "Did you notice, little wolf?"
"Notice what?"
Jefferson pressed his lips into a grim line, before nodding his head wordlessly at the sky. Ruby glanced up, before visibly flinching. The moon was full. "Yeah. I noticed."
Swiftly Jefferson kissed the top of Ruby's head before worming his way into the crowd, thinking of pulling Alice out of here and into solitude. She didn't know how long she simply stood there, stiff as a board, staring at the giant white orb in the sky and hugging The Picture of Dorian Gray for comfort before Archie approached her as promised.
"Creepy, isn't it?" Ruby said quietly.
Archie frowned at her slightly trembling tone and glanced up at the full moon too. "What, the moon?"
"Yeah. Looks like it's going to swallow the sky."
He didn't know how to reply to that, so he didn't. They simply sat in silence for a bit, both watching the moon as if expecting it to jump out at them.
"How are you friends with Jefferson?" he whispered, wanting to break the silence.
She bit her lip, and Archie flinched. It was as though the question visibly pained her. Then, "You're my best friend. Nobody knows about this except Jefferson. Not even Granny. But I'm telling you because I trust you, and not in a psychiatrist way, okay?"
He nodded, feeling both touched and terrified. What could be so bad that it would affect Ruby so? And why did Jefferson know about it?!
"When I was fifteen, there was this guy, Gaston," she started, and Archie already knew just with that where this was going. "He seemed sweet enough at first, even though Belle kept telling me to stay away from him. She'd had bad experiences with him, but I thought she was just being paranoid." She laughed humourlessly. "Then I spent the next month being his punching bag. He'd hit me, throw things at me; once when he was drunk he butted out his cigarette on me." Ah, the burn on her wrist. He thought if he knew its origin he'd be happy, but he was far from happy. "Granny found out and tried to protect me. One night after work, though, he kidnapped me."
Nonononononononon not Ruby not Ruby please not Ruby… He felt nauseous…
"He drove me out in his truck to the woods, near Jefferson's house," Ruby continued, sounding monotone. "I tried to fight him off but Gaston never took 'no' for an answer." He was screaming inside. "I don't really remember much about what happened when he was—" she paused. "… I just remember Jefferson coming out of nowhere and knocking Gaston off of me. I remember I was on my back, and I was half conscious, you know? And all I could see was the moon." She laughed again, holding onto that damned book as if it were her guardian angel. "It kept getting bigger, like it was rushing towards me. I was terrified; thought it was going to swallow me. That's why Jefferson calls me 'little wolf'. Because of the whole 'werewolves fear the moon' thing."
She was raped. His bouncy, happy, smiling, beautiful Ruby. He wanted to drop to his knees and weep, he wanted to gather her up in his arms, he wanted to run after the fucker that did that to her and break every fucking part of his body starting with the dick he so obviously couldn't keep in his pants—
"He's in prison now, though," Ruby added, looking slightly happier at the knowledge. "And he's never getting out." Then she gasped loudly, making him jump. "Oh my God," she practically wailed, tearing off his glasses and using her thumb to brush away the tears he hadn't known were present.
"Not you," came out of his mouth, barely audible. "No, no, not you…" Now that he'd realised he'd been crying the grief increased tenfold, despite the heat on his cheeks that wasn't coming from his tears. Wait… He paused for a moment, staring down at her. "I blush."
"Wh-what?" she stammered, still holding his slightly wet glasses, still holding his face, still clinging onto The Picture of Dorian Gray for dear life.
"When you take off my glasses," he said. He sounded choked. "That's what I do."
Ruby smiled, and he half-hated it— she'd only a minute ago confessed to being raped, for God's sake! She should be crying, not smiling! And yet he was the one crying.
"It's you," she said quietly, her face reddening. "You're who Granny and Alice said is… and isn't…"
"They said… they said that the person in Storybrooke least likely to ever fall in love with me is… well, in love with me."
"Tell you what. I'll tell you who it is… if you can figure out what mysterious thing you do whenever I take off your glasses."
"You're wrong," Archie said darkly.
Ruby's head snapped up. "Wh—?"
His lips crashed onto hers with the force of a nuclear bomb. Fuckfuckfuckfuck he was kissing her. Finally. Every pore on both of their bodies seemed to sing as their mouths moved against each other sloppily, too desperate to be graceful. The Picture of Dorian Gray and his glassesdropped from her hands and clattered onto the wooden porch as Ruby's arms flung around his neck and pressed him closer as though he were her lifeline, and she licked the seam of his lip with her kitten tongue, prompting him to open them and gladly invite her in. Fuck. She tasted a thousand times more delicious than he'd imagined— and that was saying something, considering the imagination he had when it came to Ruby. He couldn't help himself; he groaned with fervour, plunging his tongue into her mouth to better taste her. Suddenly he was pinning her to the side of Jefferson's house with his hips, hand desperately tugging her hair out of its neat bun so he could run his fingers through it. The clattering of bobby pins told them they'd joined the book and his glasses. It wasn't until Ruby whimpered against his mouth that he realised fully what he was doing, and he had to pull back, because the only reason she was kissing him was because she was hyped up on hormones and—
He stumbled a step back from her, both of them breathing heavily. Ruby could see smudges of her lipstick faintly present on his lips, and that thrilled her beyond belief. Why did he stop? Wasn't it obvious how much she wanted him?
"I had to, I had to…" she heard him mutter, almost soft enough for her to miss. "Would never get another chance…"
"Archie," Ruby interrupted darkly, sending pleased shivers up his spine. "What did you mean by 'you're wrong'?"
"Fuck, Ruby, isn't it obvious?" he cursed, wanting to throw himself at her again. His glaring eyes were locked on his shoes. "I am, I am in love with you, so much that it fucking hurts."
Ruby's breath hitched in her throat, and she dug her nail into her palm to prove she wasn't dreaming, to prove her drink hadn't been spiked with something and she was just having a bad trip. She felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Archie Hopper, town honest gentleman loved her, Ruby Lucas, resident flashy and scantily clad teenager.
"I—" she tried to say.
He cut her off abruptly. "No, don't… don't say anything. I'm just going to leave."
Archie started to do just that — not caring about the fact that his glasses were still on the ground — but Ruby wouldn't hear of it; she hurried forward, seized his wrist and pulled him back towards her. He went rigid when she hurled her trembling arms back around him.
"Don't go," she breathed into his neck. "I lo— I love you."
She felt him go rigid beneath her hold, almost like he was debating whether or not to bolt. But he didn't run— instead his hands flew up and gripped her cheeks tightly, forcing her to look at him. He looked wild and almost terrified, hair sticking up in places and eyes wide as saucers.
"R-really?" he stammered, demanded.
Ruby gave a watery chuckle. "Yeah." She pressed herself flush against him, heard his ever so soft gasp. "Since forever."
"Me too."
Their lips hovered over each other, occasionally brushing but never truly meeting, both of them daring the other to break the teasing practice. The tips of their noses touched, making both of them laugh.
"Aaarchieee…" Ruby breathed out his name, on one long, tantalising note, her breath tickling his lips.
He groaned and then flushed, embarrassed to have made such a noise, but Ruby beamed at it, and he used her smile as an excuse to stop the teasing and plunge his tongue back into her mouth. Exactly like in all of his dreams she kissed back with just as much enthusiasm, except this he knew was real, which was just as much of a mind fuck as the fact that her hand was slipping in between them and trailing downwards was. He bit down on her bottom lip to stop himself from letting out yet another embarrassing groan when her no doubt talented fingers pressed right there.
"Damn it, Ruby," Archie hissed when she hummed appreciatively.
"Your place. Right now," she purred.
Archie had, by default, never been one of those men who constantly lusted for sex— hell, for a while back in his childhood he'd wondered if he was asexual, since he never really felt the need for it like all of his friends apparently had. It only took one fumbling try at sex with a girl back when they were mid-teens to put him off it for a while, but Ruby added fuel to a fire he thought had been extinguished long ago. So, with her flaming touch and words of encouragement, he both enthusiastically and disappointedly pulled away, took her hand and began tugging her into the night. She stopped him with a squeeze of her fingers, and he turned, looking at her questioningly only to spot her bending down and retrieving The Picture of Dorian Gray and his glasses.
At his look of confusion she frowned, hugging the book to her chest. "It's my second-best present. I'm not leaving it behind."
"Second-best?" Archie echoed. "What's your first?"
Ruby grinned cheekily, winked and, as though replying, slipped his glasses onto her face. She looked so adorably nerdy, and it stirred something undeniably possessive to see his glasses on her nose. He stared for a moment, taking that second to convince himself she was his now, before pulling her by the hand into the darkness towards the promise of the future.
How he managed to drive them both home with Ruby in the seat behind him, running her hands up and down his torso while she nibbled on his neck and whispered just what she'd always dreamt of doing to him, was completely beyond him. All he knew was that the second he pulled his car into his driveway, he had no say over his actions anymore— which anybody could see, really, since regular, mellow Archie Hopper wouldn't have kicked open the door, dragged Ruby out of the car and savagely attacked her lips. But there was nothing 'regular' about this, so Archie did each and every one of those things and then some.
They spent a good ten minutes fighting for dominance with their tongues until Ruby finally had the clearness of mind to tug him through his front door by his tie. Pongo barked once in greeting and ran towards them, tail wagging, but when they simply continued to kiss and touch and groan the dog seemed to get the memo and trotted off into the other room.
"Bedroom," Ruby breathed against his mouth, and with haste Archie slipped his hands underneath her bottom and hoisted her up. She laughed with shock and delight, wrapping her legs around his waist as he carried her through the apartment, sidestepped one of Pongo's dog toys and made a beeline for his bed. The bed wasn't made, and there was a pair of pants and a sock in the corner. Archie wished he'd had time to clean up but quite frankly the desire wasn't that prominent, not with Ruby now sliding her legs off of him and onto his bed. Ruby was in his bed. His effing rumpled, unmade bed. She was in it. Holy shit.
Archie didn't realise he'd been staring until Ruby pouted impatiently, reached up and pulled him down to her level by the lapels of his shirt. Once he was finally properly on top of her, her hands left his collar and began undoing the buttons. His own hands slipped his glasses off of her face and set them down on the bedside table, before retracting to allow Ruby to slide his shirt off of him. She leaned forward and kissed his sternum, trailing her nose through the smattering of feather-soft hair there.
"I love you," she murmured against his chest; he hummed in reply and she felt the vibrations against her lips.
His arms circled around her and found the zipper at the back of her dress, zipping it down with agonising slowness until the dress, which previously hugged her, loosened around her. She shimmied out of it, tossing it across the room where it landed on the pair of pants and the sock. They both chuckled at that before Ruby's hands went to the hem of his jeans and his breath hitched in his throat as she undid the buttons. Even though she was the one lying on his bed wearing nothing but her bra and panties, he felt like he was the one the most exposed when his erection straining against his briefs became visible to her.
"I love you," Ruby repeated, as though sensing his discomfort and trying to reassure him.
"I love you too," he whispered, and the discomfort was gone.
He kissed her roughly while his hands travelled to her back, trailing over the smooth bareness of her skin before reaching the back of her bra and flicking it undone. He left her mouth and instead took one plump breast in his mouth, shuddering every time she moaned. Archie had no idea when he'd become a breast man, but sucking on one of Ruby's while his hand played with the other solidified the fetish. She arched her back, pressing her breasts into him while her thumbs hooked into the waistbands of his briefs and pulled them down along with his jeans. He kicked them off along with his socks, still sucking fervently on her nipple, his very prominent erection now pressed against her thigh. She hummed with appreciation again and reached down with her hand, wrapping her fingers around his cock. He growled against her breast, hips bucking to meet her hand, and his own hand left her breast to slip into her folds.
"That's right," Ruby murmured, when he groaned loudly at what he found there. "Feel how wet I am for you."
"Fuck," he swore, before abandoning her breast and returning to her mouth while he slipped two fingers inside of her.
This time his kiss was slow and sensual as he allowed Ruby to guide him where his fingers were. Any thoughts he may have had about stopping there, taking things slowly as a gentleman ought to, had packed their briefcases and left. He pulled out his fingers as his length finally lined up with her entrance. Holding her gaze, he leaned forward, resting his weight on his elbows before he pushed slowly into her, filling her inch-by-inch until he was buried in her up to the hilt. Her eyelids fluttered half-closed and her hands tightened around his upper arms as he stayed still, his mouth hovering over hers.
She whispered against his lips, "You have no idea how much I've wanted this."
"You mean this?" Archie asked softly, pulling out of her before pushing back in again.
"Yes," Ruby breathed. "This."
"God, Ruby," Archie groaned. "You're going to be the death of me."
He began to move again, taking her with slow, deep thrusts. It'd been a very long time since he'd done this, longer than he'd ever admit, and despite the urge to pick up the pace like an overexcited teenager he kept it sweet and leisurely, making love instead of fucking. Eventually it wasn't enough for Ruby; she wrapped her legs around him and with a sudden movement she flipped them around, chuckling slightly as she saw the shocked expression on his face at the change of position. She ground herself on him and he moaned loud, the loudest he'd been yet.
"I love it when you make that face," Ruby said, her voice husky and low as she rocked her hips forward, taking him all in. "Do it again." When he didn't comply quick enough she rotated her hips in a circle, and his head fell back on the pillow and his mouth opened on a silent moan. "Ah, there it is again. One more time."
Even if he wanted to defy her wish, he wouldn't have been able to do it. The feeling of her engulfing him tightly melted away any resistance he might have had in him. He had absolutely no control over his facial expressions or the noises he made anymore— everything got swept away by the sensations that rolled through him as she rode him hard and fast and his hips rose to meet hers, picking up her rhythm. Their bodies slammed against each other, their breaths quickening as their movements became more and more erratic. He could feel her walls beginning to tighten around him and he grabbed her hips, driving her down onto him hard. She jerked on top of him violently, eyes rolling back into her head. His own climax impending, he flipped her over so he was on top once again and pounded into her, once, twice. The third time he buried himself deep in her, he exploded, a loud groan ripping through his throat as her walls gripped him hard, her body arching into his as she joined him, and together they tumbled over the edge.
Archie collapsed beside her, thoroughly spent and panting raggedly. Almost completely by instinct he slipped one arm underneath her and pulled her possessively into his embrace, as though somebody were threatening to take her from him.
"That," Ruby gasped against his chest, a grin starting on her mouth, "was the best freaking sex I've ever had."
Archie couldn't help but laugh, feeling giddy and high off hormones. She loved him. She wanted him. She fucked him. And was he really her best? His male pride preened over the prospect.
"You know, you look better without your glasses," she remarked, smirking up at him cheekily.
"Really?" he smirked back, kissing her again just because he knew he could.
"Yeah."
They sat in comfortable silence for a good ten minutes. He could feel Ruby nodding off already, but the high he'd gotten from a timeline of kissing Ruby, her telling him she loved him, and mind-blowing sex with said woman was ebbing away, and the remembrance of what she'd told him was hitting him like a handful of bricks.
"You were raped."
He said it on a horrified whisper; he hadn't meant to say it at all, really, but it'd escaped his lips.
She didn't stiffen like he'd expected her to— instead she hugged him tighter, unsure of whom she was trying to console. "Yeah, I was."
More silence, which was no longer comfortable. Then he said, sounding terrified, "D-did I—?"
"Absolutely not," Ruby said abruptly, looking up at him pointedly. "Last time I checked, I was on top of you," she added with a smirk, one that he didn't reciprocate. She reached up with one hand and slid it onto his cheek. "Hey now. Nothing that happened that night was your fault, and you are most certainly nothing like Gaston. And you know, now I have a great memory to associate with the moon instead of… instead of that one."
"Really?" God, what was with him and saying 'really' all the time?
"Yeah," Ruby grinned, biting her lip. "Now I whenever I see a full moon I can think of my eighteenth birthday when Archie yelled at me that he loved me—" he flushed furiously, "— then we made out furiously and then fucked in his apartment. Oh, and I saw his orgasm face."
"Stop," he groaned, flushing a furious red, one hand covering his eyes.
"What, we just had sex — awesome sex, yeah — and you're embarrassed because I'm talking about your orgasm face?"
"Stop," Archie whined, though he grinned when Ruby doubled over laughing.
The people of Storybrooke, though master gossipers, would never know what happened that night between Archie and Ruby. They could never know, for instance, that it was a horrid happening in Ruby's past that would open Archie's heart, nor could they know that every time Ruby and Ruby alone took off his glasses, he blushed. They'd never know that Archie secretly slipped his glasses on every morning, just to give her an excuse to take them off whenever she woke up next to him, in his bed, most likely naked.
But they could speculate.
"Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain." - Carl Gustav Jung
A/N: Sooo... yeah. I'm a major Red Cricket fan :) (though not as much as a Captain Swan fan... ESPECIALLY SINCE THAT FREAKING AWESOME KISS AND THE ECHO CAVES AAH!) Okay, back to this fic. I kinda mushed things up a bit: Kurt is the town optometrist instead of just a stranger in Storybrooke, there's an Alice (I always wonder about that) and unfortunately I had to make Gaston into a complete tyrant... There aren't nearly enough Red Cricket smuts out there so I figured I ought to write one myself ^_^ Hope you enjoyed!