Chapter Text
The twenty-first of August. Orientation day for college freshmen.
Eighteen year old Ruby Fiera was absolutely not nervous. No sir, absolutely not. Sure, it was her first time away from her two sisters and her parents, and maybe it was a little scary to most people to be going to a college across the state that had been impressed by her performance as an angry secretary in her last high school play and offered to pay for half her tuition which was the entire reason she was able to attend this public school in the first place. And maybe it was a little strange that she hadn’t even been planning on continuing her education beyond senior year of high school, but here she was anyway. And maybe it was slightly terrifying that she would now be rooming with somebody she’d never met beforehand, only knew the name of, and wasn’t sure if she’d even like. But she wasn’t scared, that was absolutely ridiculous. She was a tough girl and she was not afraid to start college.
Or so she told herself.
In reality, she was completely terrified as her bus pulled up to the campus as close to her dorm hall as the driver knew how to get. She put on an act that she was confident, and cool with this, and that she was more excited than nervous. Ruby gave the bus driver a smooth smile as she walked down the steps of the vehicle, two duffel bags and one backpack containing all of her important possessions strung over her shoulders, not looking behind her as the bus drove off and she pulled out the piece of paper in her front pocket to make sure she had the right dorm number. Within moments, she was confused and wishing she had worn her glasses - nearsightedness dictated she walk up to every door to look at the tiny numbers and locate what would be her home for at least the next nine months of her academic life.
Finally, she found it. She tested the door to find out of it was locked and, upon finding that wasn’t the case, entered the room. Standing by one of the beds, spreading a dark blue comforter over it, was a girl who was almost depressingly pretty - roughly the same age as Ruby, maybe a little older, dyed light hair with blue tips tumbling down to her waist, skin darker than Ruby’s but not by much. When she turned, she revealed that her bangs covered her eyes and she had some of the most kissable lips that the freshman had ever seen. Wait, did she seriously just think that.
“Hello,” she spoke, and Ruby immediately determined that she had the voice of an angel as well as the appearance. She honestly hoped that this would wear off quickly, because she wasn’t going to last very long if it didn’t. Rendered speechless, it took her a little while to remember how to talk and compute a reply that didn’t completely give away what she was thinking.
“Hi.” She opted to reply dumbly, walking over to the other bed and dropping her bags on the floor before reaching into one of the duffel bags to pull out her sheets, pillow, and blanket. “Since you’re, uh, in my dorm and everything, I’m going to assume you’re my roommate.” Either that or one of them had stumbled into the wrong place, which probably wasn’t entirely likely. “I’m Ruby Fiera, but you probably already knew that. Um, your name is Sapphire Winters, right?” It had better be, or she probably was making the very worst first impression that was humanly possible.
“Yes.”
The twelfth of March, two years later.
Ruby absolutely did not have a crush on her roommate. No sir, absolutely not. It didn’t matter that she was really really cute, or that her hair looked really really soft, or that she was brilliant and looked like she would be really really nice to hug and kiss and be devoted to for an eternity. Ruby Fiera, the theatre major with a bad temper, had absolutely no chance of having a massive romantic attraction to Sapphire Winters, the business major with the ice cold attitude and the prettiest smile she’d ever seen in her entire life. They’d known each other for years anyway, and they were pretty good friends, so it wasn’t like she could possibly have a crush on her! She was just lonely and looking for someone to love.
Or so she told herself.
The truth was simply that Ruby had it bad. No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she thought that Sapphire was nothing less than a hundred percent girlfriend material. And it absolutely killed her, because the other was so thoroughly out of her league that it wasn’t even funny. Whereas Sapphire had been an only child growing up in a wealthy family, Ruby had been raised with her two sisters in a family that struggled to make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck. Where Sapphire was gentle and patient, Ruby was rough and a bit of a firecracker. And most of all, Sapphire was absolutely and unarguably beautiful, and Ruby was convinced that her own face resembled a foot.
Her hopeless crush cycled between making her feel furious and sad. Some days, she would be angry with herself for developing such intense feelings for someone so perfect, and others, she would lock herself in the bathroom for hours so she wouldn’t have to look at Sapphire at all and could just laze around feeling sorry for herself. It was a pathetic existence, which she knew very well, but she couldn’t quite shake it, and she knew that something had to be done to stop it.
Which was why she was waiting for her roommate to get back from her last class of the day with flowers in hand and a question being practiced in her head over and over. “Hey, Sapphire, I’ve liked you for ages and I was wondering if maybe you’d like to go see a movie with me.” Wait. No. That probably sounded too desperate. “So there’s this movie I’d like to see, do you want to go with me?” No, no, no, too casual, oh god, she was never going to get this right. Maybe she should just give the flowers to whoever was in charge of the dorms and kiss up a little to see if she could change roommates. Yeah, that was a better idea than whatever the hell she was doing right now. It wasn’t like Sapphire would say yes.
But then, to her horror, the door opened and any opportunity to flee was gone. There was Sapphire, watching her from the doorway, head tilted. Ruby couldn’t see those blue eyes through her bangs, but she was at least fifty percent sure that the look she was receiving was one of disdain. “Date tonight?” She asked simply, glancing between the bouquet of violets and Ruby’s face. She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t do this. Maybe she could. Yeah, she could absolutely ask the girl she was head over heels for out on a date! She just had to pretend that Sapphire was about half as pretty as she actually was and maybe it would be easier. Except it wasn’t, because there was absolutely no escaping the beauty of the business major. Why did crushes have to be so difficult? And why couldn’t she just figure out what to say? She normally never shut up.
Ruby sucked in a deep breath and just blurted out what she’d been trying to say - “Would you like to go on a date to see a movie with me?” Except she was nervous and flustered enough that it came out as “You like date movie me?” Her face turned several shades redder than it previously had been, and Sapphire cracked a smile, and oh shit, she must think that this was the funniest thing in the world and Ruby’s life was over and she should just go lay down until she died of embarrassment.
The response, though, caught her by surprise. Sapphire straightened her blue blouse and walked over to her, leaning forward a little to plant a quick peck on her cheek, and Ruby was convinced that her heart stopped and she might have made a sound like she was dying. “I would love to go on a date with you,” her roommate spoke gently, her smile softer than she previously thought it was. “What time do we leave?” Apparently she noticed how red Ruby was, and almost gained a look of… pity? No, something other than pity, but she couldn’t think of the word right now. “You know, you don’t need to be so nervous about asking me out. I’ve liked you for a long time.”
“You… have?” Ruby squeaked out, in so much shock that she was barely even processing what was happening anymore. The girl she’d had a massive crush on for several months now actually liked her back? And had done so for a while? “I’m… so happy to hear that, you have no idea.” Her blush did not lighten up at all, though - if anything her face got even redder. She was sure she’d overheat and probably crash like a computer pretty soon, and then Sapphire would have to peel her off the ground.
“I have.” She nodded, walking over to her bed on the other side of the room. They were in the smallest hall in the college with the smallest dorms, because Ruby didn’t want to go too far into debt and Sapphire didn’t want to burden her family with costs too high (which Ruby thought was ridiculous because the Winters family was absolutely loaded, but hey, it was none of her business). “And I’m glad you like me, too. I may not be showing it, but I’m absolutely thrilled.”
Ruby hesitated then - she honestly hadn’t thought she would get this far, and it was so unexpected that Sapphire had accepted that she hadn’t put much thought into which one they would go to. The decision was quick, though, as she remembered what happened to be the most popular movie currently out at the moment.
“Is the six o’clock showing of Galaxy Battles good for you?”
“Yes.”
The ninth of June. One year later.
Ruby absolutely felt guilty. Yeah, she wasn’t even going to deny this one as she helplessly rubbed Sapphire’s back as she cried her gorgeous blue eyes out. This was her fault, everything that had gone wrong today was definitely all her fault. Her fault for being with her in the first place. Her fault that Sapph had brought her home to meet her hoity-toity family only to have to run off with Ruby in hand because the Winters family couldn’t deal with their precious Sapphire dating a woman. As if being gay was the most awful, terrifying, condemning thing in this big blue earth that ever existed.
She couldn’t stand to make herself blame how closed-minded they’d been, couldn’t stand to blame society. The blame was on her, she was sure of it. If she had never asked Sapphire to go see a movie, and if she’d never asked to be girlfriends after that then, then this horrible disaster of a night would never have happened. Sapphire wouldn’t have just disowned her entire family. So many negative thoughts were running through her head right now - what if they broke up, if things didn’t work out? Sapphire wouldn’t have anywhere to go, and she’d end up homeless, and there was no way she could pay for the rest of her business degree now, and wow, had Ruby ever fucked up.
“Sapph, I’m so, so sorry-”
“No, no, don’t be.” The other woman responded, sucking in a deep breath. She straightened up a little and sent a watery smile her girlfriend’s way, though Ruby didn’t need to be psychic to know that it was forced, and she was really just trying to hide all broken up she was on the inside because hiding emotion was just what Sapphire did.
“It’s just- now you’re stuck on the outside forever-”
“Well, what about you?”
That froze her in her tracks, and she looked to the other with wide eyes. “What about me…?”
“Well, you’re here too.” She reached over to carefully lay her hand against Ruby’s larger one. “We’re here together.” Sapphire shifted forward to gently press their lips together, and Ruby’s heart stopped. Muscular arms carefully wrapped around the skinnier of the two, holding her close as they shared a kiss in the back seat of her beaten up hand-me-down car under a thousand shining stars. If the circumstances behind it weren’t so melancholy, Ruby would have sworn that it was the most fairy tale thing ever to happen to her.
“Sapphire…” She spoke slowly as she pulled away, carefully parting blue-tipped bangs from her girlfriend’s eyes. She loved her, she loved her so much that it physically hurt her every time she looked at her, and she absolutely hated seeing her upset like this. But at the same time, she knew it wasn’t healthy to restrain so much, and she knew that her girlfriend would be much happier in the long run if she let it out now. “You don’t have to hide your emotions from me, you know. I’m… I want to help you. It’s not… it’s not good to hold it all in like this.”
Blue eyes blinked once before Sapphire buried her face into the crook of Ruby’s neck, wrapping her arms around the other so tightly that she thought she might suffocate. Still, she didn’t complain, carefully holding her girlfriend as if she might break. The tears were soon to follow, the petite girl that was usually so stoic bursting into sobs that wracked her entire frame and made her tighten her grip and got a lot of tears and snot on Ruby’s neck but she really didn’t care. All she did, all she really could do, was try and hum what she hoped was a comforting tune and rock the crying woman back and forth.
When the water works finally stopped, Sapphire’s hold on her tightened, and Ruby gently squeezed her. She sighed heavily, tilting her head upwards to look at the galaxy unfolded above them as the smaller of the two rested against her. One hand absentmindedly pet the fluffy hair sprouting from her girlfriend’s hair, and the two of them were silent for a time, the only sound belonging to the crickets distantly chirping into the empty night sky and the breathing passing between them.
“Ruby?” A slightly hoarse voice asked, and when Sapphire looked up, the more muscular of the two could tell that she was feeling better now that she’d gotten a good cry out. Maybe not completely better, but it was a start. She didn’t even give her lover a chance to respond before she unleashed the most loaded question that Ruby had ever received in her life. “Do you think that was worth it? Do you think that we’ll last forever? This relationship, I mean. Will we love each other forever?”
She thought about it for several beats of silence, trying to figure out a way that she could answer without looking like an asshole or saying something she might regret if, God forbid, they actually did break up at some point. “Well, I can’t see into the future, Sapphire. You’re a little bit better at predicting things than I am. But I can tell you that right now, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody else, and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to stop anytime soon. I can’t tell you if it was worth it, either, but I can tell you that your family was being totally unreasonable and it was wrong of them to go off on you like that just for not being straight. It was almost ridiculous, being honest.”
The other woman murmured a soft ‘okay,’ and silence enveloped them once more. Ruby laid back, and luckily they were both short enough that they could rest comfortably against the leather of the back seats. Life was slowing down, and she could tell that the events of the day were catching up to them both, and sleep would claim the pair soon. She closed her oddly-colored eyes and rested her head back, gently cuddling her girlfriend as if she were a teddy bear. Chaotic emotions settled until they were dulled and almost undetectable, and a gentle peace settled over the two tired women as the stars twinkled gently above the car against the inky darkness of the night sky. There was a bit of a chill in the air, but despite how awful the day had been, both of them could feel a certain warmth settle in their chests as they lay together drifting into unconsciousness.
“Sapphire?” Ruby forced herself to slur out sleepily, not even bothering to open her eyes. There was one question she needed to ask, and it wouldn’t let her be until it was out in the open and, hopefully, answered. She needed to know that her lover would recover and go back to being her Laughy Sapphy eventually, whether that be tomorrow or a month from now or even a year.
“Hm?”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes.”
The eleventh of June. Two days later.
Ruby was absolutely not close to tears. No sir, absolutely not. So what if she’d stormed out after getting into her first ever argument with the love of her life? So what if Sapphire had acted so cold and unaffected by their heated discussion that Ruby wasn’t even sure if she cared they’d fought in the first place and were potentially losing everything they had? So what if the best relationship she’d ever held for a year and almost two months was going down the drain? WHO CARED?
… Ruby cared.
They had driven to a motel in Keystone the morning after they slept in the car and pooled together what money they had to get ahold of a room for seven days. Then they’d gotten into a fight about whether to go back to Sapphire’s family and pretend that she’d ditched Ruby - it was Ruby’s idea and Sapphire completely loathed it because she was above that. Then the argument had evolved into how they would get money to pay for the hotel rooms and college, and Ruby had been so infuriated by Sapphire’s calm anger and acting like she was a child that she stormed out of the room and was now pacing angrily and desperately by the pool.
She was trying to convince herself that she didn’t want to go back and apologize, that Sapphire wasn’t right this time even though she usually was, and that eventually her girlfriend would have to come out and apologize to her if she ever wanted to see her again. Ruby was being, perhaps, a bit too stubborn for her own good at the moment, but she couldn’t stop. When she was younger, her mother had always called her an eternal flame baby, and she told herself that she would keep that reputation or die trying.
Ruby stormed over to the storage closet of the pool and nabbed a towel angrily. It was getting a bit chilly despite the warmth of the summer, and if she was going to sleep outside tonight she really needed something that would keep her warm. She spread herself out over the hard wooden bench and shivered, trying not to think of the previous night spent sleeping with Sapphire laying on top of her and the stars twinkling overhead. Ruby wrapped the towel around herself like a blanket and shifted to her back so she could see the night sky - it wasn’t as bright as it had been, but the Milky Way was still visible up there, winking at her. It made her feel small, but not quite as alone.
She woke up the next morning with a sore neck and the intent to apologize. One night was enough; she couldn’t stand she and Sapphire being mad at each other much longer than that. It had been ten hours since their fight at eleven o’clock in the morning, and that was plenty long, and she just wanted to apologize and make Sapphire feel better and make them both not angry anymore.
She ran into her girlfriend on the way there.
“I’m sorry.” They said at the same time, and then they rushed towards each other in a tight embrace that would last well into the following conversation.
“I’ll get a job. Maybe two.”
“I will too. We need to collaborate and make money together.”
“Can we make this work?”
“Yes.”