Title: In Style
Rating: Teen/PG-13
Pairings: Anna/Ruby
Word Count: 2231
Genre: Femslash, Gift Exchange, AU - Fashions & Models, Angst, Fluff, No Sexual Content

Summary: Anna is about to unveil her newest designs, but at the last minute a few of the models can't make it, and she's forced to work with someone she'd really rather not.

Notes/Warnings: This was a gift for someone who dropped out of the gift exchange. They asked for fashion-related AUs, fluffy, Anna/Ruby.

It had been a long day, and all Anna could think about was getting home, pulling her clothes off, and slipping into a warm bath. She'd been on her feet for nearly fourteen hours, hadn't eaten three in the afternoon, and it was going on one in the morning.

She took the time to hang her jacket up, then put all her clothes in the hamper, making sure her new platform ankle strap shoes were in their proper place. They were a gift from a new designer named Lilith, a little gesture of peace in the hopes there wouldn't be animosity between clothing designers. Anna didn't really care, but the shoes were gorgeous, so she took them just the same.

Anna put her hair up into a messy bun and started the water, dropping a few bath beads in. She walked out to the kitchen, not concerned about her nudity because all her blinds were closed, and pulled a bottle of beer from her fridge before heading back to her bathroom.

She slowly lowered herself into the tub, groaning as the slightly too-warm water made her body relax. She reached over her head and grabbed the bottle opener from the cubby to her right, then popped the top off of her beer.

Anna took a long pull from the bottle, then set it down on the edge of the tub, next to the top and bottle opener. She grinned, still amused after all these years that everyone in the fashion industry thought she was crude and uncouth for preferring beer to wine. Anna didn't care. She did what she liked and anybody who didn't like it could grind their teeth as she came out with yet another money-making design.

Her phone chirped, and Anna let out a put-upon sigh. "What now?" she asked as she climbed halfway out of the tub to grab her phone from the counter top.

She sighed as she saw Meg's name on the caller ID. "This better be good. I'm in my bathtub, bubbles up to my chin, and only half of my beer is gone."

Meg chuckled. "I knew I should've waited just ten more minutes. You're too grouchy until you finish your first beer of the night," she teased.

"Oh, no," Anna groaned. "You're being adorable. This is really bad."

Meg laughed. "No! No, it's not really bad. Not bad at all."

"Yes, it is," Anna said, leaning back against the tiles. "Now you're trying too hard to convince me otherwise. Just spit it out."

"I'll bring you those white chocolate squares you like so much," Meg said. "I'll bring you those and a case of your favorite beer every time she pisses you off."

"No," Anna said, shaking her head. "No. I already know what you're going to say. No."

Meg whined. "Oh, c'mon! Please?!"

"No," Anna said, frowning.

"Okay, but you know that contract we have with Ray?" Meg said, and Anna could just hear the delicacy Meg was forcing into her words.

"Ray," Anna deadpanned. "The same Ray who's loaned me fifteen models and his exclusive downtown loft for my next show?"

"That's the one," Meg said. "He lost three of his girls to the flu. They're down and won't be even close to better in time for the show day after tomorrow."

"And I suppose he's already found replacements," Anna said, rubbing her forehead, a headache already starting.

"The good news is you get Jessica Moore," Meg said. "You work really well with her."

"Because she has a crush on me and does whatever I say without questioning me," Anna said.

"And you also get Bela," Meg said.

"Ray knows how much I like both Jess and Bela," Anna said. "He's trying to soften me up."

"Did it work?" Meg asked.

Anna sighed. "You'll be there. The whole time. Any time she even begins to get any ideas in her little head, you'll not only distract her, but you'll do your best to make sure I don't even know about it."

"I promise," Meg said.

"Okay, tell Ray I'll do it," Anna said.

Meg hesitated just a moment. "Okay, I'll take care of it."

"You already told him," Anna said, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I know you did it, so don't even try to act like you were waiting for my answer. We know each other too well."

"That's why you and I were best friends in high school," Meg said, obviously proud of herself, "why we stayed friends, and why you decided to hire me as your assistant after firing twenty-three assistants in less than eight months."

Anna chuckled. "Yeah, you're adorable. Now I'm going to hang up on you and finish my beer."

"Goodnight," Meg said.

"Yeah, yeah," Anna said, smiling as she ended the call and set her phone on the floor just outside the tub. "Not Ruby," she whimpered to no one in particular. "Anybody but Ruby," she said as she slipped beneath the water and let out a frustrated scream, not caring at all that her hair got wet.

"What did you do?" Anna asked, eyes wide as she gaped at Ruby.

Ruby looked at her, feigning innocence. "What do you mean?"

"You dyed your hair!" Anna said, pointing at Ruby's head. "Why would you do that when there's a show tomorrow?!"

Ruby ran her fingers through her hair. "Oh, this. Yeah, I was tired of being blond, so I stopped bleaching. You would've noticed had you kept up with my work," she said, batting her eyelashes.

Anna sputtered for a moment, the star ornament for the stage cracking under the pressure in her hand.

"It's okay," Meg said, "we'll just work around it."

"You did this on purpose," Anna hissed.

Ruby chuckled. "You think this grew out overnight? I wouldn't do something like this just to sabotage you. It would hurt my career too. You're being paranoid, angel."

"I've told you not to call me that," Anna said, an ache in her chest that she really wished wasn't there. "Okay, just get into the first dress and I'll work on the others."

Ruby smiled and nodded. "Okay," she said, then turned on her heel and headed for the dressing rooms.

"It'll be okay," Meg said softly, already directing Anna back to the racks of clothing.

"She did it on purpose," Anna said.

"Well, then show her it didn't bother you," Meg said, giving Anna a little shove toward the racks.

Anna scowled at her. "Did you just...?"

"Challenge you?" Meg asked, smirking. "Yup."

"You suck," Anna said, already looking through the clothing on the hangers.

"That's why you love me," Meg said, then gave Anna a pat on the ass.

"I'm going to have to ditch this one," Anna said, ignoring the teasing as she pulled out a dress that would never work with dark hair.

"Put it on Tessa," Meg said, grabbing the dress before it could fall to the floor.

"Oh, I forgot I've got Tessa," Anna said, frowning as she took a step back, looking the clothes over again. "Tessa's the same height as Ruby, but she's a little bigger up top."

"There's lacing on the back of this that we can easily let out," Meg said, waving the dress back and forth as if enticing Anna to take it.

"Everything will be fine," Meg said.

"Hey, Anna?" Ruby said from the doorway to the changing room.

Anna turned. "Yeah?"

"I hope it's okay I took the bow off the back of this dress," Ruby said, holding the white bow up for Anna and Meg to see. "It felt completely ridiculous hanging off my ass."

Meg quickly put the dress back on the rack and hurried after Anna, who was charging for Ruby. "Wait!" she cried, stumbling over a discarded scarf.

Anna pushed Ruby back into the changing room and closed the door behind them, ignoring Meg pounding on the door.

"Why would you do that?" Anna asked, so angry that her chest felt tight and her hands itched to yank on Ruby's stupidly beautiful hair.

"Because the bow looked ridiculous," Ruby said, tossing it onto a chair.

"But it was my design," Anna said, sounding a lot more wounded than she had wanted to.

"You'll thank me later," Ruby said as she started to unzip the dress.

Anna grabbed her by the arm, holding a little tighter than necessary. "Do you really hate me that much?" she asked.

"I never said I hated you," Ruby said softly, then pulled away. "Since you haven't been following my career, then you might be interested in the show I did two months ago in Paris."

"Why would I care about that?" Anna asked, taken aback by the way Ruby was talking to her. She wasn't angry, wasn't teasing or being sarcastic. And even though Anna didn't want to admit it to herself, Ruby hadn't been until the end, when everything went sideways between them.

"Just do it," Ruby said. "Look at the reviews and articles for yourself. I wouldn't want you to think I'm trying to ruin your career with gossip, so just do that for me. Okay?"

Anna turned and opened the door, Meg still waiting with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. "Just don't make any more changes," Anna said as she walked out of the dressing room.

The after party turned out to be just a bunch of exhausted people sitting around the changing rooms, sprawled out on couches and chairs with drinks in their hands and bags under their eyes.

Anna found Ruby in the mess of people, her legs curled up under her as she sat on the couch. Anna sat down next to her and sighed. "I don't know how to thank you."

"No need," Ruby said.

Anna pulled her legs up onto the couch, crossing them and turning so she was facing Ruby. "That designer. The one you worked with. His career is over because of that show."

"I know," Ruby said, then took a sip of champagne.

"It was just a stupid bow," Anna said, bewildered. "A bow that everyone tore to shreds in the magazines ended his career."

"I know," Ruby repeated, giving Anna a small smile.

"Why would you...?" Anna started, but didn't really know how to finish the question. She'd been hurting for years after their breakup, and now that Ruby was sitting here, having saved her career, Anna didn't know what to do.

"Because deep down you're a good person," Ruby said softly. "You're hard to get along with, a pain in the ass, and you nitpick everything, but you're an amazing designer, and I'm so proud of you I could burst."

"You're not easy to get along with either," Anna grumbled.

Ruby chuckled. "It would be easier to get along with me if you weren't so uptight."

"I'm not uptight," Anna said, frowning. "I just don't like cleaning up after you all the time or wondering where you are when you don't come home until four in the morning and your photo shoot ended at midnight."

Ruby leaned closer and pushed Anna's hair back behind her ear, then rested her hand on Anna's neck. "You were always so worried, but there was nothing to ever worry about in the first place. If you just would've actually listened, you would've seen that all I could think about was you."

Anna snorted. "Yeah, that's why you stayed out all night."

Ruby shook her head. "No, I stayed out all night because I need more space than you do. You're an intense person, and I need room to breathe, but angel, I never cheated on you. Never. I never even looked twice at anyone when we were together. You were my world."

Anna felt herself blush. She had thought Ruby was cheating on her. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Ruby said. "I think it was just the wrong place, wrong time for both of us. You'd had a bad breakup and I'd never been in love with someone before. Add that to our sparkling personalities, and we just didn't mesh then."

"You think I've mellowed?" Anna asked, smirking.

Ruby chuckled. "Hell, no. But we're different people than we were just five years ago."

"No, I'm pretty much still the same," Anna said.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "No, you're not. You wouldn't have listened to me about the bow five years ago."

"Oh," Anna said, wincing. "You're right."

"You also wouldn't have said yes if I had been the one to ask you out to coffee tomorrow," Ruby said, a little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Anna shook her head, smiling. "I haven't changed that much."

"Yeah, you have," Ruby said, then leaned in and kissed her. It was a chaste kiss. She didn't linger. It was just a reminder. Something to look forward to. A request.

Anna turned and stretched out on the couch, leaning against Ruby's side. "Are you buying?"

Ruby shook her head. "Nope. You owe me. You know, for saving your career and all."

Anna winced. "I can't ever repay you for that."

Ruby grinned. "Throw in one of those delicious éclairs they serve at that place around the corner and we're even."

Anna smiled. "Deal."

Ruby's smile made Anna's chest ache all over again, but this time she didn't mind so much.

End.