#also sometimes have felt that a maid outfit would help me dedicate time to cleaning lol

[ericsonclan]

Making Some Music

Summary: Aasim and Ruby have a special moment alone with tea and some playful flirting.

Read on A03: 

“Are you ready, my dove?” Aasim asked, closing the music room doors and turning to look at his girlfriend.

“Just about,” Ruby looked up from the tea set she’d placed upon the folding table they’d brought into the room. It wasn’t much of a set, just two cracked mugs and a teapot with half of the spout snapped off, but still it made Aasim feel fancy. He’d also been able to squeeze into a facsimile of a suit jacket made for a production of My Fair Lady performed at Ericson over a decade ago. Ruby had been able to find a maid’s uniform that mostly fit her. The dress went well past her knees and only half closed in the back, but neither of them were focusing on such details.

Sitting down together upon the couch, the two smiled at each other fondly as Ruby poured the echinacea tea for the both of them. Aasim had found the purple flowers a few months ago and brought them back for Ruby. She’d been very excited at the discovery, dedicating a corner of one of the planters to the blossoms. The vernacular for them was purple coneflowers and Ruby they were incredibly helpful for medicine. She and Aasim had soon found that they made a strong tea as well, one the couple usually combined with fresh mint when they had their secret tea parties.

Although there were a few such as Prisha or Omar who might enjoy having tea as well, so far the couple had kept these tea times private, fearing that if the secret was shared even once everyone would soon find out and they would never be able to enjoy such intimate privacy again. When they had tea together, the world outside faded away for just a few minutes and life felt blissfully normal.

“This batch has a particularly strong kick,” Ruby commented. She took a sip from the teacup she held lightly between her hands, the delicate handle long gone.

“Indeed,” Aasim murmured, raising his own cup to his lips. There was a large chip missing from its left side. Rather than avoiding it, Aasim had gotten used to drinking from that region of the cup before the tea spilled upon the floor. They chatted for a time about this and that: how chores had gone today, future projects such as the orchard they were hoping to form with the seeds Louis and Omar had brought back from a recent caravan. As they spoke, Aasim noticed a sort of pink netting poking out from Ruby’s skirt which had tangled and gotten caught up around one knee. “What exactly is that?”

“Oh, this?” Ruby nodded toward the pink material. “I was in the basement a few days ago looking around for some twinkle lights I thought I’d spotted down there when I came across another old costume box. I figure the stuff in it was from a production of The Nutcracker considering how many mouse costumes were in it. But I found this as well and figured it might do a good job poofing up my dress. Do you like it?”

Now that he looked closer, Aasim could see that Ruby’s maid outfit looked fuller than usual. “Quite impressive. If possible, it makes you look even more radiant than you did before,”

“Aww, stop that,” Ruby chuckled, giving her boyfriend a playful push. “You always say the darndest sweet things, especially during teatime,”

“I only speak the truth,” Aasim replied, looking at her with love. In a world so cruel and dark with no sort of future for them outside these walls, why not lavish all his affection upon the girl who had proven to surpass each and every one of his dreams? Ruby pulled him out of the tedium of daily life and into a world of hope where real progress could be made and visions achieved. This beautiful, brave, hard-working girl deserved every compliment Aasim could ever come up with to give her. Being with her, it really felt as though they had been able to turn Ericson into more than a survival outpost. It was home.

Ruby’s eyes glimmered, something more mischievous taking root in them. “Aasim,”she murmured, playing with the hem of her dress. “Are you feeling… frisky?”

The question set Aasim’s heart racing, his throat going dry despite just finishing his cup of tea. He nodded, setting his cup aside for a moment and awkwardly clearing his throat. “Of course,”

“Then let’s get started,” Ruby bounced to her feet, beginning to pour another up of tea. Aasim settled back on the couch, grabbing up the nearest book that lay on one of the arms of the furniture. This was a game they’d played together many times since discovering these costumes. Aasim wasn’t sure exactly what it was about seeing Ruby in a maid outfit that got him so worked up. Perhaps it was from reading Pride and Prejudice and the rest of the stack of Jane Austen books left behind in Miss Martin’s room time and time again. He’d taken to reading them aloud to Ruby at night and sometimes during teatime as well until they’d made their way through the entire set together. Ruby seemed to enjoy them just as much as Aasim did, something about the elegance and refinement of a bygone era entranced them.

After pouring the tea, Ruby began to dust the furniture with a scrap of an old shirt she kept tucked in the pocket of her maid uniform, humming to herself as she worked. As she wiped off different things and picked up trash off the floor, Aasim pretended to be absorbed in his reading. In truth he’d read the same sentence about five times now, his eyes constantly wandering over to his girlfriend, watching as she bent over or took particular care shining some knickknack atop the mantle. After a few minutes she turned to him with a smile. “Room’s all finished, sir,”

Aasim looked up from his book slowly, his eyes coldly examining the room. “I think not. Look at this place. It’s still filthy,”

A false pout took over Ruby’s lips as she looked at him, hands on her hips. “Well sir, perhaps if you didn’t treat it like such a pigsty it would look better,”

“What was that?” Aasim set aside his book, rising from the couch. “I’ll have you know that I keep my house up to the highest of standards as befitting a gentleman such as myself. I thought that you felt the same when it came to cleanliness, but perhaps that’s not the case,”

Ruby gasped in mock indignation. “I’ll have you know I’m one of the best-known maids in this entire county! Now if you ain’t happy with how the room was done, I’ll just start right on over again and prove you wrong!” She returned to her work with an added fervor, bustling about and rearranging this and that as she went.

Aasim couldn’t help but smile to himself. Even when she was trying to pretend to be someone entirely different, Ruby couldn’t help her Southern accent slipping through all the stronger when she got into character. He loved that about her. Slowly he began to follow her round the room, picking up each and every object that she cleaned and judging it silently. Ruby’s eyes met his, a playful smile crossing her face as Aasim began to draw closer and closer to her. Eventually they’d made a full rotation of the room, standing before the piano as Ruby began to dust off the keys. Aasim reached out, his hand brushing a stray curl away from her cheek.

Ruby pulled back with a dramatic gasp. “Why sir! What kind of an action was that? Are you making a move on me while I’m busy dustin’ and cleanin’ your parlor?”

“Don’t act coy with me. I’ve seen the looks you’ve given me as we’ve played our little game of cat and mouse right round this very room,” Aasim’s hand slipped round Ruby’s waist, pulling her closer as the other played with the zipper on the back of her outfit. “You, my dear, are a naughty, naughty maid,”

Suddenly a voice came from out in the hallway. “I’ll be there, later, Clem! There're a few things I want to do first!” Louis. He wasn’t supposed to be back from hunting yet. What on earth had led him to return so early? The footsteps were almost upon them, Louis talking to himself as he fiddled with the music room doors. “Ah, finally! Just me and the good old pia-” His words froze in his mouth as his eyes came upon the sight before him: Aasim and Ruby in full costume, wrapped in each other’s’ arms, Ruby pressed against the piano as Aasim’s hand was in the middle of unzipping her dress. “-No…” Louis murmured to himself, his sentence awkwardly finishing as he closed the door he had just opened.

There was a moment of tense silence, Ruby and Aasim sharing a look of fear as they wondered what Louis would do next.

Then the dreadlocked boy’s voice rang through the hallway once more. “Clem! You won’t believe what I just saw!”

“Shit,” Aasim swore, wildly wriggling out of his jacket before running toward the door. He couldn’t let Louis blab about this to everyone else at the school. “Louis, stop! It’s not what you think!” He sprinted out into the hallway in an attempt to cut his friend off at the pass. Ruby could hear their continued arguing as she awkwardly tried to zip her dress back up.

“It’s not what I think?” Louis retorted, the glee clear in his voice. “Oh ho ho, dear Aasim, looks like you’ve corrupted our sweet Ruby in your time with her,”

“No, it’s not like that at all! We were- having tea!”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Suddenly Louis’ tone shifted, turning to one of dread. “Wait. Oh god. My piano. You guys haven’t…?”

"What? No! We were just standing by it, I swear!”

“What’s all this about the piano?” Clementine’s voice came through the hall.

“Nothing!”

“Clem, I just saw the wildest thing when I opened the music room doors!”

“Louis, I swear to God…”

Ruby sighed. So much for their special teatimes. There was no keeping them a secret now. Still, perhaps it was for the best. Instead of hiding away from the rest of the school like they were hiding some big secret, perhaps now they could simply be honest and upfront when they needed some alone time. Considering how often Louis and Clementine and Violet and Prisha snuck off to be alone, Ruby was sure they’d extend her and Aasim the same courtesy and discretion they’d shown them. For now though, it was best to go out there and settle this fight. Taking one last sip of tea, Ruby squared her shoulders and stepped out into the hallway to set the record straight.