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unma · 3 months ago

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Illuminating Flame

A Y/N x Ruby fic. Because of course. Featuring @nugget-gender's Ruby and a large sprinkling of my own tastes. Because my writing is nothing if not self-indulgent.

Content Warnings: Attempted SA, Ruby gets very very touchy in this. There is also a lot of touching in general, due to the nature of the premise. Also, weaponized phobias. And Claustrophobia. That should be all.

You're not exactly sure how you got here.

It was dark, quiet, and much too cramped in here. Your breathing was ragged and uneven, and the makings of a headache knocked at the door, as if warning you'd gone far too long without any sleep.

You wondered briefly if you'd have to ask for a break from fights for a while. Having the clock turned back tended to leave you with no lasting consequences, but it seemed prolonged identity use and being overly relied on had left some lingering mental exhaustion that didn't gel well with your habit of staring at the wall into the late nights and early mornings. You needed sleep, and you needed it badly.

With a sigh of resignation, you decided to regain your bearings and finally head back to your room.

You tried to move your left arm.

You found tons of resistance. Your elbow shifted against something hard. Metal, it seemed like? Moving it the other way—pushing it out instead of pulling—you found a different form of resistance. It was much softer and felt...

(Your mind spent a second catching up, trying to connect the feeling to its usual associated object.)

...like clothing. Yeah. Not just clothing, but a clothed person. Their lower torso more specifically, it seemed. Your mind ran through all the possible people it could be that you'd managed to drag into this mess before a soft, sultry voice answered that question for you.

"Didn't know you were into that."

Ah. It's her.

You were never sure how to feel about Ruby. When she wasn't being overtly flirtatious with each and every person who spent more than five minutes around her, she just seemed... normal. Friendly, somewhat, but it was sometimes hard to draw the line between that and her flirty.

At first, most people on the bus hadn't thought much of it and left it at that. And that was still the case for some of them. But the longer the journey had gone, the more most of you had begun to realize that there was more to each sinner than was immediately apparent. The same was true of you, obviously, but it was true of Ruby too. Sometimes, you couldn't help but wonder what was up with her.

That, and it was bound to feel uncomfortable for most to be flirted with constantly against their wishes, so you were a tad wary of her. Which led you to the question: How did you manage to get stuck in here with her of all people?

Your tired mind refused the answer and the budding headache reminded you of its presence when you insisted upon one. Fine, you'd find your way out of here first.

"Uh, sorry," you finally responded after what was probably a few seconds of silence. "Not quite sure how I managed to get us into this situation."

She giggled. "And here I thought you'd finally stopped trying to ignore me."

You mumbled out some sort of "Sorry" as your mind raced, trying to think up some way out of this. You were slowly but surely becoming more and more conscious—more aware of your bodies pressing up tightly against each other. You were keenly aware that some people might enjoy being in a situation like this and maybe even find it sexy, precisely because of the person you were trapped with. You hoped she didn't think that; you weren't enjoying this in the slightest.

It was dark, quiet, cramped, and becoming very sweaty in here.

As you shifted around, still unsure of what to do, something hard shifted in your pocket. Your mind briefly spent a moment trying to remember what you'd put in there: a sleek little lighter you'd picked up a short while ago. It was unused, picked out of the blood and guts of some unfortunate fools whose faces you could no longer remember, but had no doubt fallen by your hand.

You found yourself glad you'd kept this little thing around for no real reason.

With some minor difficulty, you managed to pull out the lighter, much to the curiosity of your partner-in-cramp.

"What are you up to over there anyway? You're shifting quite a lot and not saying anythi—"

With a nice, audible click, the lighter came to life. A small flame, just enough to let you see the situation you'd gotten yourself into. A small thing, really, but quite the marvelous sight; 'twas amazing how much a little flame could do, you thought to yourself.

Your eyes scanned the small space you found yourself trapped in. You still couldn't see that much, but you could now see parts of yourself and Ruby. Her face was most prominent in your vision: black, long hair, a tuft of which fell down her face and reached her lips, a bandage that laid flat on her nose, covering no apparent wound, and most importantly, eyes a deep ruby color.

Sometimes, you couldn't help but wonder if she was named for her eyes.

On that note, she'd suddenly stopped speaking, hadn't she? Eh, it probably wasn't much to be worried about.

You reached around with your free hand for some sort of handle, ignoring how it constantly brushed uncomfortably against both your body and Ruby's. There had to have been some sort of way in here after all, so surely there was some way out, especially if Ruby didn't seem much too concerned about this situation either.

Ruby let out a sharp exhale as you shifted once more, the flame inching closer to her as you readjusted yourself.

You decided to be thorough, fully examining the wall to your left. It took a bit and was just as uncomfortable as the rest of your time trapped in here, but at least by the end of it, you knew not to bother with that side of the space anymore.

You tried to shift the lighter to your other hand but fumbled with it, coming ever so close to dropping it. It was far too heartwrenching for something of such low stakes; if you dropped the lighter now you'd have to wait until someone came looking for you two, or keep searching for a way out in the dark. Getting burned was bad too, but you were starting to care a little less about pain each day you were on this bus, so you didn't care about that at this point.

Ruby's breath quickened and grew ragged, though you were far too focused on searching the right wall to notice. It was a long, silent search, one that yielded no results whatsoever. At this point, you were struggling to imagine what exactly you two were trapped in.

Then it hit you. Ruby had mentioned you pulling her in here. Why didn't you just ask her if she knew where the handle was?

Your gaze finally returned to the fellow sinner you'd found yourself trapped with. She looked... off? You weren't sure what, but something was odd about her.

You thought about asking what was up for just a moment before deciding against it. In a room much too intimate like this, it'd be very uncomfortable. For as much as you found yourself thinking about her in your free time, you weren't curious enough to want to pry. Learning more would mean getting yourself more involved, and you still couldn't help but avert your eyes whenever she looked at you a certain way—something she did much too often.

Instead, you take the easy way out. "Uh, say, do you happen to know how to get out of here?"

You got no response.

There was a shared moment of silence between you two before you finally took the plunge and looked. You finally paid attention. You finally noticed her ragged, sharp breaths. How she sometimes tried to settle herself with deep breaths, before her eyes would inevitably land upon something that reset all progress towards any sort of calm. How she seemed to keep shifting, ever so slightly, clearly uncomfortable about something. She was sweating, unnaturally so, especially compared to you.

And her heart, oh, how it beat ever so fast. It was impossible to miss it—now that you weren't trying to ignore it—and it felt like it was pounding its way out of her chest and into yours.

"...Ruby?" you asked cautiously.

This time, your voice reached her. Her ruby eyes, shaking ever so slightly, darted from your hand to your eyes. You locked eyes with her; her fearful expression was so striking and utterly captivating in this cramped space.

"Are you o��?"

"I'm fine," she interjected, a second layer of fear finding its way onto her expression. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm... I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Sure." You had half the mind to pry further. You had the opportunity to push. But you decided against it. "I was wondering, do you happen to know how to get out of here?"

"W... What?" She clearly wasn't fully focused on you right now. You couldn't help but wonder what was causing such a reaction from her.

"I, well, don't exactly remember what I was doing when I brought us here." You found yourself unsure of if that was even what happened, so it came out sounding like a question. "I was sorta out of it, so I don't really remember much right now. So I was wondering if you knew how to, like, open the door or something."

"...Yeah," she answered with a bit of delay, as if her mind was having trouble keeping up with everything. There was a pause, that for some reason you found yourself unable to discern the meaning of, before her usual smile returned.

Her usual expression. You knew exactly what was about to happen.

Without skipping a bit, her hand was flat on your chest. Her face was much closer to yours now—much too close at that—as if the lack of distance between you two hadn't been enough already.

You knew what she wanted. It was plain as day to you, especially after you'd refused so many times.

"But does it really matter?" You felt her arm softly trailing down your chest. "We're all alone now and no one will bother us for a while. Surely it'd be fine if we spent some more time together."

You were beginning to curse your past self for allowing yourself to end up in such an uncomfortable situation.

"Can you not?"

Her hand continued its path lower and lower, a clear sign that she was not going to listen to you this time. Usually, you could just walk away, but this time she was taking advantage of the fact that you couldn't do precisely that. It felt gross. Absolutely awful.

You grabbed her arm, wrenching it away from yourself. "Stop that," you warned sternly.

No sooner had you spoken than her free hand had returned to the path, getting ever close to your crotch. Without a second thought, you tried to grab her hand with your free hand and—

There was a scream of sorts, short and harsh and so unexpected you struggled to believe it was real. But Ruby's expression said it all; she stared at the flame with abject fear, nursing the bit of her arm the flame had nipped at. She'd fully retreated inwards, her eyes trained completely on the flame you held so carelessly.

"Ruby?" you called cautiously.

She didn't respond.

You tried to get her attention by touching her arm. She drew away immediately, as far as the tight space allowed.

You weren't imagining things, right?

Without giving it much of a second thought—which you should have done—you moved the lighter closer to her. She tried to draw away and when unsuccessful, simply let out a whimper.

That was the end, or where it should have ended, anyway. But for a moment, just a moment, it felt... good. It felt good to push back, to finally see something on her face other than happiness. To finally see...

...fear. She was scared. She was scared of such a small little flame.

Your little high faded away rather quickly, leaving a complicated mix of feelings. She did push you, so you didn't have too much pity for her but... maybe you had just a little. A little bit of understanding, a little bit of pity and perhaps a little bit of happiness; you've learned a little more about her now. Though, perhaps that was inappropriate to feel at the moment.

Her eyes, so far completely focused on the flame, shifted to your face for a short while. She saw it all. She saw the way your expression softened, and how it coincided with you pulling the lighter back. She saw it all and she grimaced.

She avoided your gaze, trying not to see your eyes. She ignored the hand that tried to comfort her and refused to acknowledge anything you did or said

You got the message loud and clear, but you weren't sure you would ever forget about this.

You put out the lighter and spoke. "Can you... at least let us out?"

She finally looked your way. You were tired, sad and so done with all of this, but even then you couldn't bring yourself not to look at her somewhat differently.

"No." She said, with more conviction than anything else she'd said so far. Her hands were suddenly on you again, with much more strength behind them this time. She drew closer immediately, muttering something you couldn't catch to herself before she started speaking to you.

"Forget about that, won't you?" She said with a hint of force uncharacteristic of her. "We can enjoy ourselves here if you just let me. There's no reason to refuse, is there?"

You thrust the lighter into sight and flicked it on with no hesitation.

A mix of fear, betrayal and anger appeared on her face when you did so. You couldn't care less at that point, however, given she'd almost crossed the line twice.

"Stop it."

You sighed with relief that this seemed to work. Perhaps it'd be worthwhile to keep the lighter on hand.

Or so you thought, before a sharp pain erupted through your arms. You almost dropped the lighter from the shock but tightening your grip on it kept it firmly within your hand. The source of the pain was simple: Ruby was now digging into your arms with her nails.

You pushed back, bringing the lighter as close as possible to her face as you possibly could without burning her. "Stop that," you said with growing annoyance. It wasn't the worst thing in the world—you cared little about the pain, maybe too little in fact—but she was starting to piss you off.

She reacted about as well as you expected. Her nails dug deeper and trailed down your arm, drawing blood. You winced, but didn't draw back in the slightest; on the contrary, you forced the lighter closer to her cheek.

A tense silence filled the space as the both of you stared each other down.

"Open. The. Door." You spoke slowly and carefully, staring down at her as one would stare at a filthy rat. "And perhaps then I'll put out this flame."

She glared at you, as if contemplating how she'd explain herself if she ripped your face off right this instant with her bare teeth, before letting out a huff in reluctant defeat. You felt her hands slowly release your arms, leaving aching pains all over. She'd truly done a number on you.

The telltale click of a door dragged your attention away from your arms just in time to feel yourself lose any and all support behind your back. You fell back—or would have, if not for you caching yourself on the door's side jamb.

You didn't stay saved for long, though, as a knee softly landed in your stomach. You collapsed clumsily upon the floor, the lighter clattering lifelessly out of your hand.

'Softly,' you thought to yourself with a groan; you could tell there was force behind it. It likely would have been much more painful if she'd had space for a full kick.

She looked down upon you as one would view an object of abject loathing, but you only caught it for a moment before she was back to a soft smile.

She made no move to grab the lighter, or rather, she couldn't, as you quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into your pocket. She made no reaction regardless, as if the last few minutes didn't happen.

You decided not to press your luck and said nothing about it. You dusted yourself off and got up, trying to regain your bearings. Your head ached a little more than it did at the start of all of this, and you could feel sharp aching pains reminding you of the number she did on your arm. The latter was all too easy to ignore, but you weren't sure you'd feel like explaining how it happened to the rest of the bus.

Ruby—the cause of all your problems in the previous fifteen minutes—was all too content to saunter past you and to the other side of the dark room you now found yourself in. There was another click as she opened the door.

She looked back at you.

She saw something on your face. Something that made her face scrunch up in anger, hatred, malice, and... and worry? Not fear, not concern, but... she was worried?

She wanted to say something. Her eyes darted to your pocket for just a moment, and she hesitated. She sighed and glared at you. You replied with an unamused stare, and that seemed to be the answer she wanted, as she finally averted her gaze.

"Maybe next time you'll be more willing to give me a chance," she said teasingly.

Back to the act, was she? You weren't sure why she acted this way, or if it even was an act, but it just felt so artificial now when you knew for certain that she absolutely despised you.

"Yeah. Whatever," you replied, despite yourself. You simply could not bring yourself to get any angrier at her. You were exhausted. "Go fuck yourself," you managed to calmly spit out in the end.

She smiled. "Only if you're watching.~"

Your face scrunched up. You forced yourself not to let your mind wander and create that image. Luckily, you were saved by a voice calling out for you. A fellow sinner. At last, it was time to return to the bus.

Evidently, Ruby saw that as her cue to return too. "See you later," she said and she was gone the next moment.

You were left to grapple with what the fuck had just happened. Alone. The most annoying sinner on the bus has an aversion to fire. Said sinner had now gained a burning hatred for you. Yet that didn't stop her from flirting with you. If anything, she only seems to be coming on stronger.

It sounded like you'd gotten yourself into quite the pickle, you concluded as you stepped out of the room. You were almost certainly not going to like dealing with Ruby from now on.

#unma writes #ruby tag #this is officially the first y/n fic I've written #I wrote this before trash disposal #so that counts as the second one #also this one is definitely more self insert-y for me than the second one #not fully me though #also ruby is lesbian according to nugget so yes y/n is a woman/nb #but other than that and being a little bit of a sadist y/n is whatever you want them to be

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