A/N: I think I might have divulged this to a couple souls in PMs/review replies, but Unit 6 is going to be on the fluff train for a minute or so. So, you know, prepare yourself for that. ;D
"I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything," Ruby says as Sapphire's chair swivels away from the communication station. "But you seem to be taking more breaks these days. Just sayin'. Just making an observation."
"I have been," Sapphire agrees, crossing her legs at the knee and bobbing her ankle in the air. She peers with interest at Ruby's boxing gloves and sweat-stained headband. "What have you been working on?"
"Oh, just this new technique I thought I'd try out on Kunzite or one of the other Supervisors when they—wait a second, don't change the subject on me!" Suddenly her gloves are gone and Ruby is giving her a thoroughly suspicious look. "What are you planning?"
Sapphire laughs and gestures the banality of her intentions. "Answering the Diamonds' questions is much easier now than it used to be, but if I answer them all too fast then it might prod an investigation, or at the very least a heavier workload. I don't want either, so I've been spacing things out."
"Oh yeah, I didn't even think about what your improved visions were doing to your work," Ruby says. She scratches under her headband. "Do you think they'll catch on to what you're doing?"
"It's unlikely. If they keep receiving my replies in the same timely manner they've become accustomed to all these years, what is there to question?"
"Good point," Ruby nods along in agreement. "So how long do you have until you dive back in?"
"An hour before I should send the answer I've already complete for the first question, and then open the next one. Then an hour and a half or so after that to repeat the process."
"Not that you've got it down to a science or anything."
"I have no idea what you're referring to."
Ruby snorts and laughs. Then, casual as can be, she plops herself down on the floor next to the chair and folds her arms over Sapphire's knees. "Okay, so I have a question." She stops when Sapphire stiffens. "Hey, is everything okay? You suddenly just—oh." That's when Ruby gets it. "Um. I'm sorry—does this make you uncomfortable? I can move…"
"No!" Ruby starts at her tone, eyes wide, with arms half-removed from her lap, and Sapphire immediately feels like an abusive moron. "I—I don't mind. Really. I just wasn't expecting it," she says, swallowing and bowing her head so that her bangs can obscure her warm cheeks. She plucks at the hem of her gloves. "That's all. I'm just not used to it yet."
Sapphire can feel Ruby's gaze as her arms slowly relax over Sapphire's lap again. Her eyes are heavy, and the silence that surrounds them makes Sapphire's skin itch. She's messed up, hasn't she?
"I keep forgetting that you've never done this before," Ruby confesses. "You're always so calm; it makes me feel like nothing I do would surprise you. I don't see it as a bad thing—but there again, it's not true. I should probably be a little more forthcoming about this kind of stuff, huh?"
At Ruby's wry, apologetic smile, Sapphire feels something shift within herself. She doesn't quite have the tools to identify what it is, specifically, but she knows that she appreciates this level of openness and honesty.
"It's pretty hard to surprise me, but you're good at it," she says, returning the smile. After a moment of hesitation, she lifts her hand. Then she stops, uncertain. "Can I…?"
Wordlessly, Ruby leans into her half curled fingers. She watches with soft eyes as Sapphire touches her gravity defying curls, traces the curve of her ear, smooths out a crease on her forehead. "Feels nice," she mumbles, turning her head to press a kiss into Sapphire's knuckles.
Sapphire's breath catches in her throat. Her gem thrums in her right palm, and it feels like an ocean has been set into motion within her. A gesture so small shouldn't be enough to move her so powerfully, and yet here they are.
"Asking permission for everything feels so suffocating," she finds herself saying. "Besides, I think I like being surprised. It happens so rarely that the excitement is a nice change of pace."
"Oh yeah?" Ruby grins, flattered and pleased and a little flushed. She holds Sapphire's palm against her cheek and braces her other hand on the arm of the chair as she lifts herself up until her breath is ghosting against Sapphire's lips. She's so close that Sapphire's bangs are no longer a barrier to eye contact, merely an aquamarine screen through which they view each other. It's obvious that Ruby is only teasing, but where Sapphire anyone else, she might have started sweating anyway.
"And what about now?" asks Ruby.
"Nah," Sapphire says, allowing herself to smile through the nervous pulsing of her gem and the heat in the apples of her cheeks. "I saw this coming."
She thought that would be that, but it isn't. The kiss that Ruby draws her into is tender, sweet, and altogether short lived.
So maybe she hadn't been teasing after all.
"Still?" Ruby asks, watching carefully for any traces of negativity.
If it's possible, Sapphire is even more certain than before. A little embarrassed and lacking in her own original ideas, but certain nonetheless. She could use more surprises like this in her life.
She smiles a little bigger. "Still."