Chapter Text
The first time that Ruby visited her in the hospital, it had been so startling that Danna almost made a complete fool of herself. That seemed to happen a lot whenever Ruby was around.
Danna had been sitting cross-legged on the hospital bed, reading the latest copy of the Gazette for the fifth time— well, not really reading . She’d started to fold the pages, wondering if she could get away with tearing them up to make origami. Was this public property? Or could she just keep it? She wasn’t sure, but she was honestly so bored that she might be willing to resort to vandalism. She was starting to regret that she had turned down her mom’s offer to bring her reading material. Well. She’d mostly just needed her mom to leave before she drove Danna insane. Everything with her parents had become more complicated and a thousand times more stressful for Danna lately. Though that was maybe just her. She had a tendency to be a little intense.
Danna frowned, leaning back onto the bed. Everything in the news was horribly depressing— even more so than usual. It was right as she dragged her hand down her face in irritation that she heard a knock. Danna glanced up, and then immediately jumped up in surprise, accidently sending the newspaper skittering to the floor.
Ruby stood at the foot of her bed, her grin a little sheepish. She lowered her fist from the metal framing holding the privacy curtains, crouching down to retrieve the fallen newspaper. “Hi,” Ruby said softly, standing up once again. “I thought I would visit and see how you were doing.” She paused, glancing at the newspaper. “You’re reading about… the annual fishing festival at Hasegawa Bay? Sounds fascinating.” Danna felt an instant relief from the sound of Ruby’s voice.
Danna laughed, taking the newspaper back from Ruby. Her laughter paused and turned to nerves as their hands brushed. Danna shrugged, trying not to think about that accidental brush. “I ran out of other things to read,” she said. “Also, don’t you know that fishing is one of my secret passions?”
Ruby giggled, and something about her laugh made Danna grin like an idiot. She turned her face away, still smiling, trying not to let Ruby see just how much she was grinning— or the blush that had started to spread across her cheeks.
“You looked very startled when I knocked,” Ruby said teasingly. “Did you not expect me to visit you?”
Danna turned back to face Ruby, whose hazel eyes sparkled. Ridiculous , she thought to herself. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was calling ridiculous. Ruby’s eyes were always difficult not to notice. “I—” She wasn’t really sure what the answer to that question was. “I don’t know,” she said. The truth was, she had hoped that Ruby would visit her. The other day, after she’d finished reading through the newspaper for the first time, she’d hoped for someone to visit her— someone other than her parents. Adrian had visited her yesterday, and Oscar had assured her that he would be stopping by soon, but… for some reason, Ruby was always the first to come to her mind. She’d fantasized about Ruby coming to visit her and— well, she wasn’t really sure what. There wasn’t really any reason for Ruby to do anything but say hi, and even just the simple idea of Ruby visiting her in the first place had seemed so far away and impossible. Not impossible , her mind reminded her. Clearly .
“Of course I’m visiting you!” Ruby said cheerfully, sitting at the foot of the bed. “How could I not visit my best friend while she’s in the hospital recovering from a tragic injury?”
Danna smiled. “Best friend?”
“Are we not best friends?” Ruby asked. “Oh no, does the great Danna Bell not consider me her best friend?” She smiled back at Danna teasingly. “Of course we’re best friends! Unless you have a complaint about that, which I don’t think you do. We spend more time with each other than we do with anyone else, even outside of Renegades stuff.”
“Okay, we’re best friends,” Danna admitted, her spirit rising. She’d never really been sure where she and Ruby stood on friendship. She wasn’t usually too good at keeping friends. But the title of best friend made her feel like she was floating, better than any other award she could’ve won. She could fail every single mission assigned to her, and she could have everyone else in the world hate her, but she would be content with anything as long as she was still Ruby Tucker’s best friend. Even if she maybe wanted something a little different from that.
Ruby’s smile grew even wider, and she flung her arms around Danna, careful not to touch her burns. Danna laughed, hugging her back. Ruby smelled like gardenias, a fact that Danna thought was ridiculous that she knew. Who even knew what gardenias smelled like, let alone recognized the scent in their best friend? “I missed you,” Danna said quietly. That was also ridiculous. It had only been a couple days since she’d last seen Ruby. But she found herself missing Ruby no matter how long ago Danna had last seen her.
Ruby pulled back, digging through her bag. “Well, it’s a good thing that you’ll be seeing a whole lot of me from now on!” She pulled out a deck of Uno cards. “Feel like playing a game?”
“This is so unfair,” Danna complained.
“Uno,” Ruby said cheerfully. Danna glared at her.
“I hate you,” Danna said.
“No you don’t!” Ruby said. “Are you going to take your turn?”
Danna glowered, resorting to the draw pile. She gave Ruby an even more intense death glare as she went on without drawing any cards that fit. Seven cards, and then finally she had a red card. She set it down, then frowned as Ruby smiled.
Ruby slammed down another red card, cheering. Danna wanted to throttle her.
“Don’t be a sore loser,” Ruby said teasingly. “Just because I’m better at Uno than you doesn’t mean you have to be rude .”
“I’ll be as rude as I want,” Danna replied, taking the pile of cards and throwing them at her. “I’m going to kill you.”
Ruby smiled at her, placing her hands under her chin. “Why kill me? That’s no fun.” She leaned back on the bed, still smiling. “There are other people who deserve killing way more than I do. Like… Ace Anarchy?”
Danna frowned. “Ace Anarchy is already dead,” she said, leaning over Ruby so that Ruby could see that Danna was still glaring at her. “Besides, I’ve never played Uno with him.”
Ruby laughed, and Danna was realizing what a bad idea leaning over Ruby was. Now she could see Ruby’s freckles and the dimple that appeared when she was smiling widely, which she was now. “Okay, well, the Sentinel, then. I know you’d love to stab him.”
“Stabbing is bad,” Danna said, determined not to let Ruby win. In all honesty, she wasn’t all too opposed to the idea of stabbing the Sentinel.
Ruby pouted. “You’re no fun.” Ruby grabbed Danna’s hand, pulling her down onto the bed so that they were both lying next to each other. Ruby rolled over so that she was facing Danna. Danna almost had a heart attack from how close their faces were. “ Stabbing people is fun.”
Danna rolled her eyes, turning away from Ruby so she was staring up at the ceiling. It was awfully hard to think when Ruby was that close to her. “Maybe,” she admitted. “But I think setting him on fire would be more satisfying. Poetic justice, and all that.”
Ruby laughed. If she were the more romantic and poetic type, Danna might compare her laughter to a bell or the feeling of seeing sunlight come through a window or… something. Danna wasn’t a poet by any means. She thought Ruby was quite a bit like the sun, actually— she was beautiful, and Danna didn’t think she would be able to live without Ruby. That being said, Ruby was very hard to look at. Maybe if she stared at Ruby for too long, Danna would get eye damage. Or brain damage. She thought she maybe already had brain damage from her feelings for Ruby.
“Still,” Ruby said. “I don’t think you should kill me. There are much better things to do.”
“Maybe I’ll just maim you a little,” Danna said. “That way I can have you wounded terribly and then I can play another Uno game with you and beat you.”
“You wouldn’t be able to beat me in Uno even if I was on my deathbed,” Ruby argued. Then she sighed. “You shouldn’t kill me, or even maim me. Killing is boring. There are much more interesting things to do that start with the letter k.”
Danna thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest. “Like what?” she managed to say. “Kicking?”
Ruby laughed. That laugh again. “Maybe,” she said. “I don’t think you should kick me, either.” They were both silent for a moment, Danna too afraid to hope for what she wanted, and Ruby perfectly fine. Danna didn’t like feeling like this. It was all way too out of her control, and she didn’t like it when she wasn’t in control of anything . While Danna was always inwardly freaking out, Ruby always seemed to be unaffected. “I think you should get me a kitten,” Ruby said at last.
“A kitten?” Danna asked. She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved. Relieved, she decided. She was definitely relieved. There was nothing to be disappointed about.
“Yeah,” Ruby said. “A calico. Or maybe a bengal.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for your birthday,” Danna said. “Would your parents be happy about that?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ruby said. “ I’d be happy about that. And my brothers.”
Danna laughed. “Okay.”
After a while, Ruby tapped her shoulder. Danna turned over to face Ruby again. “I should go,” Ruby said reluctantly.
“Okay,” Danna whispered. She didn’t want Ruby to go. That was ridiculous. It wasn’t as if she had any choice in the matter, and it was the logical path. Ruby would leave, because Ruby had a life outside of Danna. “I’ll beat you in Uno next time you visit.” Danna held her breath, hoping that Ruby would agree. She didn’t even know if there would be a next time, but she wanted there to be. Many next times, in fact.
Ruby smiled as she pulled away. Danna watched her go. “No way,” Ruby said. “I’ll beat you next time, and the time after that, and every single time I come to visit you.”
Danna sat up, relieved. “I will beat you,” she said.
Ruby shook her head, grabbing her bag and placing the Uno cards in it. “Oh,” she said. “Also, I brought you something.” She dug in her bag, pulling out a plastic bag filled with cookies. “I baked them with my brothers, so they might not be the best, but we did our best.”
Danna took the bag of cookies, feeling oddly touched. “Thank you,” she said.
Ruby grinned, stepping through the privacy curtain. “My brothers have a big thing tomorrow that I have to go to, but I’ll be back on Wednesday.”
“See you!” Danna called.
“Oh, before I go— is there anything specific you want me to bring next time?” Ruby asked. “I’ll bring Uno again, but is there another game? Or reading material, so you don’t have to keep reading the Gazette ?”
Danna smiled. “Reading material would be great,” she said. “And you should bring any games you want, because I’ll beat you in all of them.”
Ruby stuck her tongue out at Danna. “We’ve established that I’m going to win already.”
Danna watched her go fondly, feeling a lot less alone than she had before Ruby’s arrival.
After Ruby left, there wasn’t much for Danna to do except replay it all in her mind. After Ruby left . Maybe Ruby wasn’t there physically, but she was always there in Danna’s mind. Danna took a bite of one of the cookies. It was a little chewier than she thought it was meant to be, but Danna couldn’t bring herself to care about that . They were the best food she’d eaten in days, and they had been made by Ruby . Sitting there, tasting butter on her tongue, sugar on her lips, she could almost imagine that Ruby wanted her the way she desperately wanted Ruby.