The age old story of two best friends falling in love...
... Only, one's a lab experiment with an entire Upside Down hunting her down, and the other won't leave her side, no matter how hard she tries.
steve harrington x fem oc / season 2 o...
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chapter twenty-three ruby, baby
🖤
RUBY CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT the voice inside of her head. She keeps on thinking about her mom, and wishes she could've had a couple extra minutes with her. But as Steve gets dressed in the bathroom, needing to head out to work soon, Ruby rubs her eyes, exhausted. This is so strange. She knows her mom didn't have powers, that's why it was such a miracle when Ruby had them. The tests to make Ruby perfect hurt her mom's body, her grandpa wouldn't have lied, especially if it meant his daughter was less amazing than she actually was.
"Ruby... he lied to you," the voice says.
"But not about that," she says.
"I can show you the truth," he tells her.
She grumbles. "I know the truth—!"
Steve opens her bedroom door, wearing his clothes from the night before. She jumps to her feet, like a child caught doing something wrong. Steve's brows furrow, knowing something's wrong. But thankfully, now that Steve's here, the voice is gone. Ruby feels comforted.
"Are you OK, Rubes?"
Ruby nods, scratching her arm. Her fingers brush across the light scarring from last year, when the demodog clawed her. It all seems like a lifetime ago, the memory of her on the top of the old school bus, recklessly throwing herself in the face of danger to help those kids. Kids that she's since remained friends with, as weird as it looks to others. She'd say hi whenever they crossed paths outside of the high and middle schools, and the other teenagers would raise their eyebrows, wondering why the hell Ruby Brenner was friendly with middle schoolers. Even Eddie Munson thought it was weird.
"Yeah, I'm fine... How long is your shift today?"
"Nine 'til close," he says, and he makes a gun with his fingers, gesturing shooting himself. "Kill me now, right? What, uh, are you gonna do today?"
Figure out what this voice wants, she thinks.
"I don't know... Maybe I can come and see you?"
She waits for the voice to speak to her, to claim that Steve finds her annoying, but there's silence. Ruby finds that interesting. The voice is nothing but alive, and the second Steve's in the same room as her, it shuts up? Maybe Ruby needs to attach herself to him. In a not-weird-way, she'd happily do that anyway, but now, it isn't her being infatuated with her boyfriend, it's because his presence is the only thing keeping the voice quiet.
"Please do," he tells her. She's sitting on the bed still, and he leans down, giving her a kiss. Ruby feels like she's melting, she loves him so much. "Do you wanna come in with me now? Or do you wanna wait until that, uh, jazz... ercise class opens, and come then? And then you can go over to Scoops afterwards, and you can just sit with us all afternoon." This is why she loves him. He has no clue what's going on with her — she doesn't either, in all fairness — but he knows she needs help, and he's ready. Still, he looks worried, as if he's gotten too ahead of himself. "If that's what you want. Our boss is never in, so you won't get into trouble or anything."
