NC-17 | It's Like Navigating Quicksand | S3!Ruby/Sam
Title It’s Like Navigating Quicksand
Rating NC-17
Words: ~14,000
Summary: AU S3!Ruby/Sam: They meet in the elevator when a girl helps a guy out. But she won’t dare let him in.
Beta: HUGE thanks to timehasa_way for cheerleading, advice, and beta assistance.
Notes: For scintilla10. This seriously got away from me and is about three-four times longer than I’d ever planned XD
When Sam first saw her, it was as he fumbled with three bankers boxes carelessly stacked in his arms. Dean had shoved them all into place, each one heavier than the one below, angled him to the elevator, shouted, “Hop to it Sammy!” and then smacked him on the rear to punctuate his direction.
Sam and the girl were cramped inside the tiny elevator, and he really only caught the top of her blonde head above the boxes along with her tiny chuckle. They both stepped out on the fourth floor, and it was then that the boxes felt heavier than ever. He shifted to correct his hold, but the top box teetered one to right and he leaned the left to offset it.
As they all slid away from him and he nearly tripped forward to save them, she stepped up to push them back into place. He moved to catch them but she was still right there as they both stumbled through the hallway and she pushed them into place with a hard laugh.
“Bit off more than you can chew, eh?”
He frowned at her mocking tone and coughed, ready to explain it away but when he turned to look, she was gone.
Dean appeared in front of him with a strange look. “You okay there?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sam replied.
“Well, let’s go then. Ain’t got all day and there’s more to bring up.”
Every trip after, Sam made sure to stack his own boxes, no more than two at a time, purposely ignoring Dean’s suggestions on what to carry and how.
Dean snorted each time they passed in the hallway to and from their new apartment, but Sam just rolled his eyes in return.
They took a trip down the elevator together and Dean casually asked, “You get her number?”
“Who?”
“The one with the boxes. C’mon Sam, tell me I taught you something better than letting a girl help you without getting something in return.”
“Dean,” he sighed, mentally willing Dean to be ... less Dean. “It was three boxes. Three.”
“Yeah, and?”
Sam huffed and walked faster to grab the next load.
*
There was plenty of parking for the complex, all contained in a large parking lot a block to the south, but Dean argued that he wouldn’t park his baby that close to other cars and risk her the pain and suffering of errant car doors threatening to ding her. Instead, he constantly parked on the street bumped up against the building’s front entrance where passes were required, passes that were only available on very long wait list.
Time after time, the Impala was tagged with yellow tickets, and each time Dean yanked them from under the windshield wiper and swore while Sam just rolled his eyes.
“I told you,” Sam said with a pointed look.
Dean made a face and mumbled, “Yeah, you really told me,” while pocketing the ticket and ignoring it.
Sam followed into the building, keeping up with Dean as he complained, “You know, you keep ignoring those and something’s gonna happen.”
He turned on him at the elevators with a sharp smile and sarcastic tone. “Yeah, like what?”
Sam licked his lips, almost relishing what he was going to say and anticipating his brother’s freak out. “Like something to the car.”
Dean thrust a finger into Sam’s face. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
He chuckled, delighted by Dean’s reaction and barely caring that there was barely an inch of air keeping him from being stabbed in the eye.
“Oh, hey there,” came a light laugh, and they both slowly turned to face her.
Dean lowered his hand and shifted into a movement Sam knew well, one that was always accompanied by a loose smile and eyebrows up high in interest. Sam immediately felt uncomfortable, which also accompanied these moments.
She licked her upper lip and looked over the both of them. “You two need a room?”
“What? No, we-” Sam started pathetically, only to be cut off.
“No, hey, if the house is a rockin’ …”
Dean rolled his eyes and punched the elevator button again. In the awkward silence, Sam fought for words to ease it away, but Dean stared up at the numbers flickering as the car dropped each floor, and the girl just crossed her arms and looked anywhere but at them.
*
In the lobby, Sam unlocked the mailbox and flipped through a handful of envelopes. When he turned towards the elevators, he nearly ran into her. Just as he gave her a full head-to-toe gaze, wondering if she’d back away from the alcove so he could get by, she gave him one, too.
She paused at his feet then smirked as her eyes slid back up. “Well, howdy, cowboy.”
Sam frowned and looked down to his boots, which were just … boots. Nothing special. It was a little chilly in November, and he was like a good boy scout: always prepared.
He then watched her tack up a pink flier with large, black curly writing. “What’s that?” he asked, barely making out the scribbles.
“Housing Authority meeting.”
“Oh, yeah? For what?”
“Lotsa things, laundry facilities, parking, complex cleanliness.”
The elevator dinged and Dean treaded down the down the hallway as he readjusted a duffel hanging at his shoulder and flipped through a car magazine. “Sammy! Let’s go,” he barked. “I ain’t got all night to wait for you to come.”
“Your boyfriend’s a li’l grouchy, huh?” she asked with a light voice.
“No, he’s not-”
As Dean passed, he smacked Sam on the ass then tossed a wink at the girl and went right out the front door.
“You sure about that?” she asked with a twitch of an eyebrow.
“He’s my brother.”
“Sure. Yeah.”
Sam nearly grumbled but instead turned away to the door.
“Don’t forget!” she called out. “Eight o’clock in the common room.” He looked back at her and took a few moments to think, but she just challenged, “Be there or be square.”
*
“Sammy’s got a girlfriend,” Dean smirked the second he slid into the other side of the booth and pushed a pint of beer over.
“I do not,” Sam replied tiredly. He didn’t bother looking up from his laptop; Dean would say whatever he wanted, whenever, and for whatever reason. Sam had long given up on keeping with his brother’s stories.
“She invite you to a party, huh?” Dean nudged Sam’s hand, forcing him to tap a few errant keys. “A lot of young people in our building. Maybe it’s a key party,” he said a bit excitedly, nudging Sam’s hand again. “You think it’s a key party? If it is I’m coming.”
Sam barely suppressed a groan. “Dude, no. It’s not a key party, and if it were, I wouldn’t bring my brother with me.”
Dean gave him a look, sour-faced and disappointed. “Let’s see the next time I do you any favors.”
“You don’t do me any favors, Dean. It’s kind of the foundation for our relationship.”
The soured look only became more so, and Dean pushed his hands out as he reached for his hamburger. “You don’t have to sound so disgruntled. Not like I boss you around or give you a shitty time about what you do with yourself.”
Sam finally looked up at that, staring tiredly and fighting to not roll his eyes.
Dean paused with the hamburger a second from his lips. “You know what I mean.” Sam finally did roll his eyes and Dean happily bit into his food. Around his chewing, he mumbled, “I could, you know … give you a harder time if you really want.”
“Not what I want.”
“You want that girl, don’t ya?”
“Yes, Dean,” he replied just as annoyed and flat as before. “That’s exactly what I want.”
“Awesome, ‘cause she’s comin’ this way.”
“What? No-” Sam followed Dean’s eyes and saw the girl, tall and slender, stick-straight blonde hair far past her shoulders.
“She’s a cute one. Her friend ain’t so bad either,” Dean said, all but leering at the two girls entering the bar and settling just a few tables away.
Sam and Dean each leaned into the table to watch the girls slide onto bar stools then wiggle across the seats to better sit. Dean smacked Sam’s elbow and when they turned to each other, it was close enough to whisper and still be heard over the bar’s noise and music. “Go over there,” Dean prompted.
“Uh, no.”
Dean smacked his arm again. “Do it. Just grab a couple beers, go over, then leave the other one alone so I can move on in and save her from boredom.”
Sam stared at his brother’s grin and his eyes that were impossibly bright considering there was also a double cheeseburger on the table to be had.
As if Dean could read his brother’s mind, he quickly snatched the burger back up and bit off another large bite. “Huh, yeah,” Dean mumbled around his food.
“What?” Sam asked, mostly going back to his laptop, but not totally ignoring the fact that he wanted to look back at the girls’ table.
Dean narrowed his eyes then started to smirk. “You ever notice boredom has the same letters as bedroom?”
He stared at Dean far longer than before. “No,” Sam replied slowly. “Not ever.”
There was the tiny gruff sound of Dean’s perverse chuckle then mostly silence as he continued to eat, ravaging the rest of his burger and some fries. After some time, Dean crumpled up the wrapper from his meal then gulped the rest of his beer down. “Okay, how about Plan B?”
“Didn’t know we had a Plan A.”
Dean sat forward in the booth and pointed at Sam then the girls’ table. “It had to do with you going over there and separating them, leaving me to move in for the kill.”
“Dude.”
“But I see things are now elevated, so I think you should go over and invite them to join us.”
Sam angrily pointed at his laptop. “You want help with this or not?”
“I’m just sayin’. You know the girl, I don’t. If I go over there, it’ll be too sleazy.”
“There’s not one part of your plan that isn’t sleazy.”
Dean shrugged but finally relaxed and motioned at the computer. “Alright, tell me what you got.”
Sam quickly tapped a few keys then scrolled around the screen, minimizing one window before maximizing another. “City Police say you have ten violations to your name.”
“What? Since when?” Dean asked, pulling the laptop to his side of the table. He frowned when Sam tugged it right back. “How’d you get into the police system anyway?”
“Because I’m that good,” Sam replied with a fair amount of smugness. Not nearly as much as Dean carried around but enough to show that he meant it.
Dean leaned far across the table to try to see the screen from his side of the booth. “What else you see?”
“You had one for speeding back in January. Seven parking tickets. And then two moving violations for running red lights.”
“What? Since when?”
“Since,” Sam dragged out while expanding the list he was currently reading from, “They installed a red light cam at Prospect.”
“Damnit,” Dean growled, pitching backwards in the booth.
“It’s worse,” he continues, lightly as possible without seeming amused. “They have a warning out on you and the car. When you hit ten parking tickets, you get a boot and then you’ve got a fine of $13,775.”
Rolling his eyes and huffing, Dean sat back up. “Where the hell’re we gonna get that kinda money?”
Sam pursed his lips and tipped his head. “I dunno, Dean. Where’re you gonna get it?”
With another roll of his eyes, Dean shot out from the booth and to the bar for another round.
It wasn’t long before he popped back into the seat and, by habit, Sam leaned forward to grab the glass, but his hand was slapped away.
“You always go around stealin’ girls’ drinks?”
Sam looked up and stared as it wasn’t Dean but the girl, some of the long, blonde hair over one shoulder that hitched up to match her playful smile and voice. “You,” he dumbly said.
“I at least expected you to buy me a drink, Sam. Didn’t think you’d sit here all night and totally ignore me.”
Against his better judgment, he looked over to her table, where her friend was being charmed by Dean. Sam rolled his eyes then bit into his lip when he turned back to her. “I was looking up stuff for my brother,” he defended.
She looked to her table, too, and smirked at Sam. “I see he’s got a plan. Yours seems to be failing.”
Sam took in her eyes, crystal blue and obviously intent on his face because he could see them flicker from his eyes, down to his mouth, and back around his cheeks. He’d only had two beers, maybe three, but it’d been a while since he’d talked to a girl with any real intentions, and that hadn’t exactly gone well. Madison went right off the deep end after they tried to make it work.
“I don’t know,” he said with a small tilt to his words and the tiniest of smiles, milking the moment for all it was worth. “Seems to be going pretty well.”
“Sam, are you hitting on me?”
He easily heard the bravado and attitude in her voice and kept right with it, even while biting the inside of his mouth to refrain from smiling too hard. “I wasn’t really trying yet. But I can start whenever you’re ready.”
She pursed her lips in thought then bunched them together. “Ruby,” she offered with a hand out.
Sam shook it and nodded. “Sam.”
“I know.”
“And now so do I.” She stalled in response, only lightly smiling and seeming to judge Sam for the conversation so far. He spun his laptop out of the way and reached for what little beer was left in his glass from earlier. “How did your meeting go?” he asked easily.
“Had nearly forty show up. Everyone seems to be real concerned about the parking situation.”
“That sounds pretty good.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes. “You ever see forty people try to fit in the common room?”
“No.”
“The place seats 20 comfortably, another ten standing.” At Sam’s tiny wince, she bared two bright rows of teeth in a sharp smile. “It doesn’t look any better than it sounds. People packed in, shoulder to shoulder, like they’re all waiting for a ticket to heaven.”
“When all they really want is a parking sticker,” Sam smirked from behind the rim of his glass before finishing off the beer. “Speaking of,” he started lightly.
“Speaking of what?”
“Parking passes. How easy are they to come by?”
“They’re not,” she smirked. “You dying for one?”
“My brother is,” Sam admitted.
Ruby tsked and bit her tongue between her lips. “Sure is a shame to let that car stay out on the street.”
“I’ve been telling him that for a while now. He doesn’t exactly listen.” She nodded and then began eying the few empty pint glasses he and Dean had left behind as well the rest of Dean’s food, which didn’t amount to much more than abandoned fries. “You hungry?” he asked oddly.
It seemed to be all the invitation she needed, because she tugged the plate in front of her then whipped the ketchup squeeze bottle into a vice grip, both hands tight around it, forcing a hard stream straight from the tip down to the plate.
Sam was confused by her fascinated eyes, tight to the puddle of ketchup growing by the second, but something right there turned over in his brain and he had to shift in his seat. When she looked up and gave him a wolfish little smirk, his breath caught. “What?”
“Nothing,” she shrugged, sounding anything but innocent. He looked back to Ruby’s table to find his brother practically on top of her friend with the way he leaned over to talk right at her ear. “He’s busy,” she said in between bites of ketchup-soaked fries. “We should talk.”
”Yeah?” he smiled.
“Mmhmm,” she smiled back, a bit more attitude than before.
“And why’s that?”
“You interest me.”
The answer came so simply that he his eyes narrowed but found himself starting to smile. “Really?” He slid a bit in his seat, settling back, unable to ignore the tiny inkling of her interest warming beneath his skin. “And how?”
“You’re tall,” she said just as frank as before. “I like a tall man.”
Sam blinked, and in that moment, Ruby looked up, eyes steady and mouth set in an awkward smile, like she was fighting it but also unafraid of what she’d said. It was intriguing to say the least.
After the moment drew on too long, she clucked her tongue. “You gonna sit there all night staring or you actually gonna say something?”
He watched her for some time, not entirely drawing it out on purpose. But after a while, he was conscious that he was. “Something,” he said as plainly as her then smiled, harder so when she smirked in return.
By the time Dean returned to the table, obviously past buzzed and on his way to giddy with beer, Sam and Ruby had shared another two rounds. They were in the middle of more low-level flirting that was seemingly unaware, except for the way they kept looking at each other with long, warm looks.
Dean planted his palms to the table and smiled at Ruby. “Your friend’s really something else.”
Sam and Ruby looked beyond Dean to her friend at the table, reapplying lip gloss and looking around the bar like she was just waiting for Dean to return. “Hey, yeah,” Sam said with a push to his voice. “Maybe you should go back over there.”
Dean looked at him then to Ruby before smirking and shaking his head. “You sly dog.”
“Dean,” Sam gritted through his teeth.
He raised his hands and smiled. “Alright, okay, I can see where I’m not welcome.” Dean leaned in closer then and was possibly trying to whisper, but it was obvious Ruby could hear it as well. “I’m not coming back, so … don’t wait up. And, you know, take care of this.” Sam glared in return but Dean just shrugged. “What? I meant the check.”
Even when Dean left, Sam couldn’t help but stew from his brother’s words. And he was more unsettled with Ruby’s dark chuckle. “Your brother’s a smooth operator, huh?”
“He has his moments.” Sam tugged at the collar of his button-up, trying to settle himself from Dean’s interruption before he gave Ruby an awkward smile. “So, you want to …”
“I’m not going home with you,” she said from over the rim of her pint glass.
“No, I-”
“We just met.”
“Well, not quite,” Sam tried to argue with as easy a smile he could manage with the turn in the conversation.
“And you bought me beer that’s on special, so not exactly a high roller.”
“Well, I was gonna offer another.”
Ruby pursed her lips then finished the last few sips of her beer. She put the glass down without a word then looked right at him. “Okay.”
“Yeah?” he asked with a slight smile. The fact that she didn’t change her mind and just smiled told him it was indeed okay and he waved down the waitress for another round.
*
He walked her to the parking lot, following to her car like he would even if he wasn’t interested, safety and all that. But she still smirked when they reached the driver’s side door. “And they say chivalry’s dead.”
Sam chuckled, not uneasily but still with a little something there that he couldn’t name.
“It was nice to meet you, Sam.”
He watched her fiddle with her keyring and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. Officially.”
“Yeah, officially,” she repeated, seeming to judge him with a long look.
He felt the instant nagging to say or do more, but he just took a deep breath and nodded. “Have a good night,” he offered with a short wave then turned and walked in the other direction. It wasn’t a far walk, maybe half a mile, he could manage it on foot.
“Hey, Sam.” He looked over his shoulder, and she smiled easily. “Thanks for the beers.”
“Yeah, of course,” he nodded with a small smile and went on his way again. He hadn’t drank a lot, but it was enough, and it wasn’t ten more feet before he closed his eyes and turned on foot, walking back to the car. She barely had the door open when he moved in, hand going to the side of her face and bringing her close so he could kiss her.
Ruby made a surprised noise, but followed it with a gentle press of lips.
It didn’t last very long, but went on for enough time to have his purpose laid out: Sam liked her, was intrigued, wanted to know more. He smirked when she licked her lip, and wondered if she was seeking out more of him.
“Hmm,” she sighed awkwardly. “What was that for?”
He bit into a smile, still unsure how to properly navigate the moment. “Good luck?”
Ruby chuckled and nodded as she looked away. “You’re a class act, Sam.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Really? By who?” she challenged.
“People.”
Another chuckle, but less awkward, just more open, and he wanted to hear it more often.
“This is totally not a line,” Sam started carefully. “But we live in the same building and my brother-”
“Left with my friend, yeah, I know.” Ruby smacked her lips in thought then motioned at the car. “Grab some seat.”
They chatted on the short ride to the apartment building, still playful and barely edging onto true intent. Sam didn’t normally go bold, or at all if you asked Dean. So he mostly kept to himself through the lobby, the elevator ride, and the walk in the hallway of their floor. He had no intention of making a move like his brother did on her friend, but he didn’t exactly want to let it end there.
He kissed her just like he did in the parking lot, soft, easy, careful. Though he couldn’t blame himself for responding to her tiny near-whimpers and insistent lips sucking on his, and he leaned into her, pushing her into her door, and kept on kissing to make it really matter.
Her fingers slipped over the back of his head, threading through his hair, and she held him close as her tongue broke through his lips, seeking him out. He tried to be slow and easy with hands soft at her hips but then he pressed back at her tongue and couldn’t help but be overcome with the sensation, burying a hand in her hair as well, pulling her in tight.
It barely registered that she was taller than most girls he went after, that while being incredibly lean, her body was long and able, especially as it pushed back on his, one hand tight in his hair and another around his neck. But he couldn’t deny the instant want pulsing through his veins to meet the challenge of someone different than typical, someone who pushed buttons with little apology, someone who could go toe to toe. With that in mind, he rested his weight against her, trapping her body between him and the door, and she did little to fight it, but didn’t exactly give in either as she stood tall, chest tight against his.
“We could,” he murmured between kisses, “go inside.”
“Hmm?”
“Make less of a scene,” Sam smiled against her mouth.
At once, Ruby righted herself, closing off and nearly forcing him out of her personal space. They stared for a long moment then her eyes turned dark in a highly unflattering way and she rubbed a hand over her mouth with heavy breathing. “Good night, Sam,” she said in a flat tone.
For all of his failing with the opposite sex, he’d never gotten to this point and gotten that reaction. Once he was this far, he could close a deal, but words failed him as he watched her disappear inside her apartment
“Huh,” he sighed, staring into an empty hallway.
*
Surprisingly, Dean was up and sitting at the kitchen table when Sam rose the next morning, and while looking giddy and satisfied, he wasn’t exactly looking well-rested.
He still clapped his hands above his head and smirked. “Mornin’, Sammy.”
“Yeah, morning,” he grumbled back, reaching for the coffee pot. When he found little more than half a cup left, he rolled his eyes and glared at his brother.
“So how’d your night go with Gem?”
“Ruby.”
“Yeah, her.”
Sam rubbed a hand through his hair and flatly said, “It was fine.”
“Meaning you didn’t get past her door.”
“No,” he admitted, then quickly tagged on, “And I don’t wanna know how yours went so don’t tell me.”
“C’mon, you’re ruining all my fun,” he said before sipping on the last of his coffee. Sam barely grunted in return, and Dean smiled, “She did this thing with her leg-”
“Dean.”
“Okay, alright,” he said with an easy voice. “Just thought maybe you’d loosen up a little, have some fun.”
“I’m not you.”
“Yeah, I know, but.”
Sam turned at that, catching Dean’s careful look. “What?”
Dean shrugged and actually looked concerned. “I don’t know. I just … you okay? It’s been a while, and I know how you are.”
“Alright. Good talk,” Sam said with a tight smile, and went back to his room.
*
Nearly two weeks had passed when he saw Ruby again, at the same pub, leaning against the bar and waiting to order a drink.
“Hey,” Sam said, tight and awkward no matter how hard he tried not to be.
“Hey, Sam, how’s tricks?”
When he looked at her, she was smirking, just like when they were last at the bar, but he felt uneasy with how easy she really was. He chuckled, haughty and strange, unable to put this moment with the last he had with her.
“Don’t tell me your ego’s bruised.” He continued to stare at her, watching how she turned back to the bar and eyed the liquor bottles along the back wall. “Couldn’t compare notes with the big brother so now you’re all pouty, huh?”
“Not quite.”
They didn’t talk further while waiting on their orders, or for much of the night. Though when Dean abandoned him for another conquest, she again slid into the booth and smirked at him. “This seems like a pattern.”
He looked up from his laptop, fighting to not roll his eyes. As much as her quick turn around that last time had bothered him, he at least appreciated she was here again and looking at him the way she was. It took a few moments, but he closed the computer and faced her head on. “Almost.”
“You gonna buy a girl a drink, or make her take care of herself.”
Sam chuckled, tight again, and flicked his tongue under his upper lip. Even while fighting the notion, the playful turn of her mouth hit him just right and he signaled the waitress for another round of beers.
Less than an hour later the bar closed, and even less time than that had her giving him another ride home, which led to another journey in the elevator and walk to her door. Ignoring how the last time went, he moved in and kissed her, unable to fight the moment or the light thrum of alcohol in his system.
As he leaned into her, again keeping her upright to the door, he couldn’t discount how good it felt to have her up against his body, especially as she melted into him and kissed him back, hard.
When she pushed away, he wasn’t exactly surprised, and just took a deep breath as she bit her lower lip and moved into her apartment without a word.
He rolled his eyes as he marched down to his door, twisting the key, and shoving the it open. “Dean, come on,” he whined the second he caught his brother on the couch with the girl he’d picked up at the bar.
Dean jumped up and rushed towards him, thankfully blocking Sam’s view of the girl on the couch. “Oh, hey,” Dean smirked, rubbing a hand over his chest. “Thought you were with, uh …”
“Ruby.”
“Yeah, her.”
“Well, I’m not.”
Dean looked just past Sam and frowned. “Yeah, I see that. What’s up?”
Pushing a knuckle into his eye, Sam sighed. “I’m just gonna … go to bed.”
“Dude, again?” Dean asked, pushing at Sam’s shoulder to keep him from passing.
Sam gave him a sharp look. “Can we not talk about this?”
He raised his hands and took a step back. “Alright, yeah.”
*
“She’s a bitch,” Dean announced as the elevator dropped down to the first floor, dinging and letting them out.
“Yeah, okay,” Sam half-heartedly agreed.
“Seriously. A bitch. I mean, you’re a good catch for girls who’re into the emo, locked-up frustration thing. But yeah, if she’s gonna just rile you up and ditch you on the doorstep-”
They both stopped short at the bulletin board in the lobby when they saw Ruby hanging another sign.
“Morning, boys” she said happily, eyes on her fingers pushing pins through the paper and into the board. Sam and Dean rolled their eyes together as they kept walking, though they stalled when she called out, “If I were you, I’d think about attending the next meeting.”
Sam didn’t turn around, but Dean did and asked with a sharp smile, “Yeah, and why is that?”
“Maybe you can find out a way to save your precious car.”
“What about my car?” Dean asked slowly, and Sam turned to face her, also critical to her tone.
“Just seen an awful lot of yellow decorating it lately.”
“Yeah, and?”
Ruby shrugged but kept on smirking. “Would hate to see what could happen if you don’t lock her up right.”
Dean took a few steps, finger in the air. “You so much as touch-”
Sam instantly pulled on his arm. “Hey, Dean. Not worth it.”
“Aww, Sam,” she cooed playfully. “You sure come in handy, saving the damsel in distress.”
He gave a shitty smile and nod as he continued to nudge his brother away. “C’mon, Dean. We’ve got things to do.”
“I bet you do,” she smirked.
“You know-” Sam started, not even sure where he wanted to go with his thoughts or how haughty he’d be when saying them.
“No, I don’t, Sammy,” Ruby returned with a hand on her hip and her head tipped to the side. “Why don’t you clue me in?”
His eyes narrowed with his own head tipped like hers. “It’s Sam.”
She clucked her tongue and continued staring, as if daring him to speak.
“You’re just all …” Sam started, yet, again, he couldn’t string the right words together. When Dean was suddenly at his side like they were going to war or something, Sam shook his head and yanked Dean with him to the exit.
Once they were outside and walking to the car, Dean huffed. “If you’re gonna fight with a girl, Sam, you gotta do more than stutter.”
Sam didn’t respond right away, instead yanking the passenger side door open and throwing himself into the front seat. Dean stayed outside the car but leaned into the open driver’s side, eyebrow raised and mouth quirked.
“Get in the car,” Sam grumbled.
“I mean, yeah, you’re kinda rough around the edges when it comes to girls, but they usually dig guys being nice to them. You’ve got that market all cornered.”
“Get in the car, Dean,” Sam all but shouted as he glared at his brother.
Dean’s eyebrows flicked up in surprise, and he casually opened his door and slid into the driver’s seat. “Man, she’s really got you twisted up,” he said while turning the ignition over.
“We’re not talking about this.”
“Hey, you want to get yours, that’s fine and well. But you should really watch where you’re dipping your wick.”
Sam rubbed his hands over his face and sighed, “Seriously, we’re not doing this.”
“Well, you’re not, no. Maybe you should just lay it all out there. Give the Sammy-Pup face and hypnotize her.”
He slid low in the seat, staring out the window while trying to steady his breathing from being too huffy. “No more talking.”
Dean made a tight humming noise but remained mostly quiet. That was until he flipped the radio on and up, blaring the local rock station.
*
Just a few days later and Sam walked through the back entrance of the apartment building after taking the garbage out. He passed the common room and was surprised then annoyed to see Ruby in there, straightening out seats and wiping down tables before throwing left-behind wrappers and cups away.
Ruby tugged on a heavy wooden table that’d been pushed against the wall but apparently didn’t really belong there, and for all her heaving, it barely moved.
He was ready to walk away and leave her to the task, smirking a bit at the idea of abandoning her, but she straightened and threw him a tight smile when she saw him in the doorway.
“Hey, Sam,” she said fairly easily.
Sam leaned against the door frame and lamely waved. “Hey.” And because he was raised to be a nice person, a gentleman, he gave a meager smile then entered the room. “Need help with that?”
Ruby straightened, pressing a hip into the side of the table and acting like she hadn’t just been trying to haul it across the room. “Nah, it’s okay.”
The part of him that Dean had gotten to shrugged and took a step back, but really, Sam’s manners ruled out and he moved forward again. He grabbed the edge of the table and nodded towards the other. “We’ll just slide it over real quick.” She didn’t move, just took in his helpful nod, so he added, “I’m not gonna hold this table all night.”
She rolled her eyes but also smiled a little as she obviously fought saying anything.
“I won’t even tell anyone I helped.”
At that, she bit into a smile then slid around the other side so they could move it together. It still went slowly because it really was a monster piece of furniture, but it went fast enough that Sam didn’t feel like he was putting himself out for some major task.
When she was satisfied with its placement, she mindlessly tapped the top of the table. “Thanks. You didn’t have to.”
Sam shrugged and looked around the room, taking in how little mess was left and wondering if she’d taken care of it all by herself. “I’d never live it down if I didn’t. My mom was kind of tough that way.”
Ruby’s eyes went from head to toe as she chuckled. “Really? You’re scared of your mom?”
“Not scared, no,” he quickly answered. “Just, taught us better than that.”
She crossed her arms and eyed him. “Your brother, too?”
Sam chuckled, digging a fingernail into a sliver missing in the table top. “Well, technically. Yeah. He just takes advantage of having fun, too.”
Ruby pulled herself up to sit on the table and smirked at him. “So you got the smarts and he got the … other package.”
He rubbed a finger at his eyebrow and awkwardly chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. But, uh, I’d rather not discuss that about Dean.” She looked down to her knees with a nod, swinging her legs out from the table. Surprisingly, he didn’t care to leave, because even with her mocking, she seemed more relaxed or open or something else he couldn’t label. “How was your meeting?” he asked.
She eyed him for a few moments. “You really care?”
“I don’t not care.”
With a chuckle, Ruby tucked her hands around the edge of the table and took a deep breath. “It was fine. Everyone’s complaining about the parking stickers and not being able to park where they want while others park wherever they want. They’re insufferable”
“Why do you do it?”
“Because I can.”
Sam watched her, catching how easy she’d said the words and how relaxed she was right then. “Why’re you the one to do it?”
“I have connections,” she offered lightly.
“Like what?” he smirked back at her. “Tow trucks and police cars?”
Ruby chuckled and shook her head but didn’t answer. After a small silence, she broke, “You know your brother gets brought up a lot?”
“For what?”
“For his hasty parking jobs. A lot of people want the spots he keeps using.”
“Yeah, well, he’s pretty tied to them,” Sam said, at a loss for other words. He turned against the table to rest against it, crossing his arms and feet while staring across the room. “I’ve been telling him to stop, but he does what he wants.”
“Well of course.” He looked at her, confused, and she went on, “You guys don’t seem that close. I doubt he’d listen to you.”
He quickly turned towards her. “What?”
Ruby twisted her lips and shrugged, shoulders staying high up. “You two just don’t seem that alike, or as if you even like each other.”
“I like him just fine,” he defended, not even sure where it was coming from. He and Dean weren’t always the best at getting along or living in harmony, but it was his brother.
“You just seem different. From him,” she tacked on with a small frown.
Sam shrugged oddly, rolling his shoulders and trying like hell to not cross his arms again. “We’re close.” She stayed quiet, and he did, too, until he sighed, feeling tension fill the air. Despite his first instinct, he said, “Dean is … He’s Dean. But we’re all we’ve got. I’m not gonna abandon him.”
Ruby stared at him, eyes soft and eyebrows drawn. It surprised him that she looked at him like that and had strayed from any sarcastic comments. She quietly asked, “Long story?”
“Yeah. Real long.” Sam quickly begged for a subject change. “What about you? Your family?”
“Just me and my dad still around,” she said airily, as if it didn’t matter much what she had going on. “He’s with the PD. That’s why I help with the meetings.”
“That’s … nice?” he chuckled, unsure if he could really describe her that way.
“I don’t know that I care that much, but it’s something. And no one else is gonna do it,” she replied with a bit of complaint. “They’ve bugged me for years to step up and help, just because of Daddy. Don’t really care for it, but it gets them all off my back.”
Sam nodded and watched her for a bit. “So we’re both stuck with family because it’s the only thing we’ve got going.”
Ruby snorted, but her smile was soft as she looked away. “Something like that.”
When she didn’t push further or attempt at more in the ways of conversation, he pushed off the table, tapping the edge with a knuckle. “Alright,” he said gently, unsure what there really was to say in the moment, and then walked towards the door.
“Thanks, Sam,” she said loudly from her end of the room. Sam stalled and by the time he spun to face her, she was right in front of him, up on tip toes, and meeting his mouth for a quick, soft kiss. “You’re a peach,” she smiled as she slid back to flat feet.
“I …” He took a deep breath, and then admitted, “I’m so confused.”
Ruby pressed a hand into her stomach and smirked. “Uh, girl here. Part of the job description.”
As Sam stared down on her, she pressed a tongue into her cheek and smiled. Then she left the room without another word.
Two
Rating NC-17
Words: ~14,000
Summary: AU S3!Ruby/Sam: They meet in the elevator when a girl helps a guy out. But she won’t dare let him in.
Beta: HUGE thanks to timehasa_way for cheerleading, advice, and beta assistance.
Notes: For scintilla10. This seriously got away from me and is about three-four times longer than I’d ever planned XD
When Sam first saw her, it was as he fumbled with three bankers boxes carelessly stacked in his arms. Dean had shoved them all into place, each one heavier than the one below, angled him to the elevator, shouted, “Hop to it Sammy!” and then smacked him on the rear to punctuate his direction.
Sam and the girl were cramped inside the tiny elevator, and he really only caught the top of her blonde head above the boxes along with her tiny chuckle. They both stepped out on the fourth floor, and it was then that the boxes felt heavier than ever. He shifted to correct his hold, but the top box teetered one to right and he leaned the left to offset it.
As they all slid away from him and he nearly tripped forward to save them, she stepped up to push them back into place. He moved to catch them but she was still right there as they both stumbled through the hallway and she pushed them into place with a hard laugh.
“Bit off more than you can chew, eh?”
He frowned at her mocking tone and coughed, ready to explain it away but when he turned to look, she was gone.
Dean appeared in front of him with a strange look. “You okay there?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sam replied.
“Well, let’s go then. Ain’t got all day and there’s more to bring up.”
Every trip after, Sam made sure to stack his own boxes, no more than two at a time, purposely ignoring Dean’s suggestions on what to carry and how.
Dean snorted each time they passed in the hallway to and from their new apartment, but Sam just rolled his eyes in return.
They took a trip down the elevator together and Dean casually asked, “You get her number?”
“Who?”
“The one with the boxes. C’mon Sam, tell me I taught you something better than letting a girl help you without getting something in return.”
“Dean,” he sighed, mentally willing Dean to be ... less Dean. “It was three boxes. Three.”
“Yeah, and?”
Sam huffed and walked faster to grab the next load.
*
There was plenty of parking for the complex, all contained in a large parking lot a block to the south, but Dean argued that he wouldn’t park his baby that close to other cars and risk her the pain and suffering of errant car doors threatening to ding her. Instead, he constantly parked on the street bumped up against the building’s front entrance where passes were required, passes that were only available on very long wait list.
Time after time, the Impala was tagged with yellow tickets, and each time Dean yanked them from under the windshield wiper and swore while Sam just rolled his eyes.
“I told you,” Sam said with a pointed look.
Dean made a face and mumbled, “Yeah, you really told me,” while pocketing the ticket and ignoring it.
Sam followed into the building, keeping up with Dean as he complained, “You know, you keep ignoring those and something’s gonna happen.”
He turned on him at the elevators with a sharp smile and sarcastic tone. “Yeah, like what?”
Sam licked his lips, almost relishing what he was going to say and anticipating his brother’s freak out. “Like something to the car.”
Dean thrust a finger into Sam’s face. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
He chuckled, delighted by Dean’s reaction and barely caring that there was barely an inch of air keeping him from being stabbed in the eye.
“Oh, hey there,” came a light laugh, and they both slowly turned to face her.
Dean lowered his hand and shifted into a movement Sam knew well, one that was always accompanied by a loose smile and eyebrows up high in interest. Sam immediately felt uncomfortable, which also accompanied these moments.
She licked her upper lip and looked over the both of them. “You two need a room?”
“What? No, we-” Sam started pathetically, only to be cut off.
“No, hey, if the house is a rockin’ …”
Dean rolled his eyes and punched the elevator button again. In the awkward silence, Sam fought for words to ease it away, but Dean stared up at the numbers flickering as the car dropped each floor, and the girl just crossed her arms and looked anywhere but at them.
*
In the lobby, Sam unlocked the mailbox and flipped through a handful of envelopes. When he turned towards the elevators, he nearly ran into her. Just as he gave her a full head-to-toe gaze, wondering if she’d back away from the alcove so he could get by, she gave him one, too.
She paused at his feet then smirked as her eyes slid back up. “Well, howdy, cowboy.”
Sam frowned and looked down to his boots, which were just … boots. Nothing special. It was a little chilly in November, and he was like a good boy scout: always prepared.
He then watched her tack up a pink flier with large, black curly writing. “What’s that?” he asked, barely making out the scribbles.
“Housing Authority meeting.”
“Oh, yeah? For what?”
“Lotsa things, laundry facilities, parking, complex cleanliness.”
The elevator dinged and Dean treaded down the down the hallway as he readjusted a duffel hanging at his shoulder and flipped through a car magazine. “Sammy! Let’s go,” he barked. “I ain’t got all night to wait for you to come.”
“Your boyfriend’s a li’l grouchy, huh?” she asked with a light voice.
“No, he’s not-”
As Dean passed, he smacked Sam on the ass then tossed a wink at the girl and went right out the front door.
“You sure about that?” she asked with a twitch of an eyebrow.
“He’s my brother.”
“Sure. Yeah.”
Sam nearly grumbled but instead turned away to the door.
“Don’t forget!” she called out. “Eight o’clock in the common room.” He looked back at her and took a few moments to think, but she just challenged, “Be there or be square.”
*
“Sammy’s got a girlfriend,” Dean smirked the second he slid into the other side of the booth and pushed a pint of beer over.
“I do not,” Sam replied tiredly. He didn’t bother looking up from his laptop; Dean would say whatever he wanted, whenever, and for whatever reason. Sam had long given up on keeping with his brother’s stories.
“She invite you to a party, huh?” Dean nudged Sam’s hand, forcing him to tap a few errant keys. “A lot of young people in our building. Maybe it’s a key party,” he said a bit excitedly, nudging Sam’s hand again. “You think it’s a key party? If it is I’m coming.”
Sam barely suppressed a groan. “Dude, no. It’s not a key party, and if it were, I wouldn’t bring my brother with me.”
Dean gave him a look, sour-faced and disappointed. “Let’s see the next time I do you any favors.”
“You don’t do me any favors, Dean. It’s kind of the foundation for our relationship.”
The soured look only became more so, and Dean pushed his hands out as he reached for his hamburger. “You don’t have to sound so disgruntled. Not like I boss you around or give you a shitty time about what you do with yourself.”
Sam finally looked up at that, staring tiredly and fighting to not roll his eyes.
Dean paused with the hamburger a second from his lips. “You know what I mean.” Sam finally did roll his eyes and Dean happily bit into his food. Around his chewing, he mumbled, “I could, you know … give you a harder time if you really want.”
“Not what I want.”
“You want that girl, don’t ya?”
“Yes, Dean,” he replied just as annoyed and flat as before. “That’s exactly what I want.”
“Awesome, ‘cause she’s comin’ this way.”
“What? No-” Sam followed Dean’s eyes and saw the girl, tall and slender, stick-straight blonde hair far past her shoulders.
“She’s a cute one. Her friend ain’t so bad either,” Dean said, all but leering at the two girls entering the bar and settling just a few tables away.
Sam and Dean each leaned into the table to watch the girls slide onto bar stools then wiggle across the seats to better sit. Dean smacked Sam’s elbow and when they turned to each other, it was close enough to whisper and still be heard over the bar’s noise and music. “Go over there,” Dean prompted.
“Uh, no.”
Dean smacked his arm again. “Do it. Just grab a couple beers, go over, then leave the other one alone so I can move on in and save her from boredom.”
Sam stared at his brother’s grin and his eyes that were impossibly bright considering there was also a double cheeseburger on the table to be had.
As if Dean could read his brother’s mind, he quickly snatched the burger back up and bit off another large bite. “Huh, yeah,” Dean mumbled around his food.
“What?” Sam asked, mostly going back to his laptop, but not totally ignoring the fact that he wanted to look back at the girls’ table.
Dean narrowed his eyes then started to smirk. “You ever notice boredom has the same letters as bedroom?”
He stared at Dean far longer than before. “No,” Sam replied slowly. “Not ever.”
There was the tiny gruff sound of Dean’s perverse chuckle then mostly silence as he continued to eat, ravaging the rest of his burger and some fries. After some time, Dean crumpled up the wrapper from his meal then gulped the rest of his beer down. “Okay, how about Plan B?”
“Didn’t know we had a Plan A.”
Dean sat forward in the booth and pointed at Sam then the girls’ table. “It had to do with you going over there and separating them, leaving me to move in for the kill.”
“Dude.”
“But I see things are now elevated, so I think you should go over and invite them to join us.”
Sam angrily pointed at his laptop. “You want help with this or not?”
“I’m just sayin’. You know the girl, I don’t. If I go over there, it’ll be too sleazy.”
“There’s not one part of your plan that isn’t sleazy.”
Dean shrugged but finally relaxed and motioned at the computer. “Alright, tell me what you got.”
Sam quickly tapped a few keys then scrolled around the screen, minimizing one window before maximizing another. “City Police say you have ten violations to your name.”
“What? Since when?” Dean asked, pulling the laptop to his side of the table. He frowned when Sam tugged it right back. “How’d you get into the police system anyway?”
“Because I’m that good,” Sam replied with a fair amount of smugness. Not nearly as much as Dean carried around but enough to show that he meant it.
Dean leaned far across the table to try to see the screen from his side of the booth. “What else you see?”
“You had one for speeding back in January. Seven parking tickets. And then two moving violations for running red lights.”
“What? Since when?”
“Since,” Sam dragged out while expanding the list he was currently reading from, “They installed a red light cam at Prospect.”
“Damnit,” Dean growled, pitching backwards in the booth.
“It’s worse,” he continues, lightly as possible without seeming amused. “They have a warning out on you and the car. When you hit ten parking tickets, you get a boot and then you’ve got a fine of $13,775.”
Rolling his eyes and huffing, Dean sat back up. “Where the hell’re we gonna get that kinda money?”
Sam pursed his lips and tipped his head. “I dunno, Dean. Where’re you gonna get it?”
With another roll of his eyes, Dean shot out from the booth and to the bar for another round.
It wasn’t long before he popped back into the seat and, by habit, Sam leaned forward to grab the glass, but his hand was slapped away.
“You always go around stealin’ girls’ drinks?”
Sam looked up and stared as it wasn’t Dean but the girl, some of the long, blonde hair over one shoulder that hitched up to match her playful smile and voice. “You,” he dumbly said.
“I at least expected you to buy me a drink, Sam. Didn’t think you’d sit here all night and totally ignore me.”
Against his better judgment, he looked over to her table, where her friend was being charmed by Dean. Sam rolled his eyes then bit into his lip when he turned back to her. “I was looking up stuff for my brother,” he defended.
She looked to her table, too, and smirked at Sam. “I see he’s got a plan. Yours seems to be failing.”
Sam took in her eyes, crystal blue and obviously intent on his face because he could see them flicker from his eyes, down to his mouth, and back around his cheeks. He’d only had two beers, maybe three, but it’d been a while since he’d talked to a girl with any real intentions, and that hadn’t exactly gone well. Madison went right off the deep end after they tried to make it work.
“I don’t know,” he said with a small tilt to his words and the tiniest of smiles, milking the moment for all it was worth. “Seems to be going pretty well.”
“Sam, are you hitting on me?”
He easily heard the bravado and attitude in her voice and kept right with it, even while biting the inside of his mouth to refrain from smiling too hard. “I wasn’t really trying yet. But I can start whenever you’re ready.”
She pursed her lips in thought then bunched them together. “Ruby,” she offered with a hand out.
Sam shook it and nodded. “Sam.”
“I know.”
“And now so do I.” She stalled in response, only lightly smiling and seeming to judge Sam for the conversation so far. He spun his laptop out of the way and reached for what little beer was left in his glass from earlier. “How did your meeting go?” he asked easily.
“Had nearly forty show up. Everyone seems to be real concerned about the parking situation.”
“That sounds pretty good.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes. “You ever see forty people try to fit in the common room?”
“No.”
“The place seats 20 comfortably, another ten standing.” At Sam’s tiny wince, she bared two bright rows of teeth in a sharp smile. “It doesn’t look any better than it sounds. People packed in, shoulder to shoulder, like they’re all waiting for a ticket to heaven.”
“When all they really want is a parking sticker,” Sam smirked from behind the rim of his glass before finishing off the beer. “Speaking of,” he started lightly.
“Speaking of what?”
“Parking passes. How easy are they to come by?”
“They’re not,” she smirked. “You dying for one?”
“My brother is,” Sam admitted.
Ruby tsked and bit her tongue between her lips. “Sure is a shame to let that car stay out on the street.”
“I’ve been telling him that for a while now. He doesn’t exactly listen.” She nodded and then began eying the few empty pint glasses he and Dean had left behind as well the rest of Dean’s food, which didn’t amount to much more than abandoned fries. “You hungry?” he asked oddly.
It seemed to be all the invitation she needed, because she tugged the plate in front of her then whipped the ketchup squeeze bottle into a vice grip, both hands tight around it, forcing a hard stream straight from the tip down to the plate.
Sam was confused by her fascinated eyes, tight to the puddle of ketchup growing by the second, but something right there turned over in his brain and he had to shift in his seat. When she looked up and gave him a wolfish little smirk, his breath caught. “What?”
“Nothing,” she shrugged, sounding anything but innocent. He looked back to Ruby’s table to find his brother practically on top of her friend with the way he leaned over to talk right at her ear. “He’s busy,” she said in between bites of ketchup-soaked fries. “We should talk.”
”Yeah?” he smiled.
“Mmhmm,” she smiled back, a bit more attitude than before.
“And why’s that?”
“You interest me.”
The answer came so simply that he his eyes narrowed but found himself starting to smile. “Really?” He slid a bit in his seat, settling back, unable to ignore the tiny inkling of her interest warming beneath his skin. “And how?”
“You’re tall,” she said just as frank as before. “I like a tall man.”
Sam blinked, and in that moment, Ruby looked up, eyes steady and mouth set in an awkward smile, like she was fighting it but also unafraid of what she’d said. It was intriguing to say the least.
After the moment drew on too long, she clucked her tongue. “You gonna sit there all night staring or you actually gonna say something?”
He watched her for some time, not entirely drawing it out on purpose. But after a while, he was conscious that he was. “Something,” he said as plainly as her then smiled, harder so when she smirked in return.
By the time Dean returned to the table, obviously past buzzed and on his way to giddy with beer, Sam and Ruby had shared another two rounds. They were in the middle of more low-level flirting that was seemingly unaware, except for the way they kept looking at each other with long, warm looks.
Dean planted his palms to the table and smiled at Ruby. “Your friend’s really something else.”
Sam and Ruby looked beyond Dean to her friend at the table, reapplying lip gloss and looking around the bar like she was just waiting for Dean to return. “Hey, yeah,” Sam said with a push to his voice. “Maybe you should go back over there.”
Dean looked at him then to Ruby before smirking and shaking his head. “You sly dog.”
“Dean,” Sam gritted through his teeth.
He raised his hands and smiled. “Alright, okay, I can see where I’m not welcome.” Dean leaned in closer then and was possibly trying to whisper, but it was obvious Ruby could hear it as well. “I’m not coming back, so … don’t wait up. And, you know, take care of this.” Sam glared in return but Dean just shrugged. “What? I meant the check.”
Even when Dean left, Sam couldn’t help but stew from his brother’s words. And he was more unsettled with Ruby’s dark chuckle. “Your brother’s a smooth operator, huh?”
“He has his moments.” Sam tugged at the collar of his button-up, trying to settle himself from Dean’s interruption before he gave Ruby an awkward smile. “So, you want to …”
“I’m not going home with you,” she said from over the rim of her pint glass.
“No, I-”
“We just met.”
“Well, not quite,” Sam tried to argue with as easy a smile he could manage with the turn in the conversation.
“And you bought me beer that’s on special, so not exactly a high roller.”
“Well, I was gonna offer another.”
Ruby pursed her lips then finished the last few sips of her beer. She put the glass down without a word then looked right at him. “Okay.”
“Yeah?” he asked with a slight smile. The fact that she didn’t change her mind and just smiled told him it was indeed okay and he waved down the waitress for another round.
*
He walked her to the parking lot, following to her car like he would even if he wasn’t interested, safety and all that. But she still smirked when they reached the driver’s side door. “And they say chivalry’s dead.”
Sam chuckled, not uneasily but still with a little something there that he couldn’t name.
“It was nice to meet you, Sam.”
He watched her fiddle with her keyring and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. Officially.”
“Yeah, officially,” she repeated, seeming to judge him with a long look.
He felt the instant nagging to say or do more, but he just took a deep breath and nodded. “Have a good night,” he offered with a short wave then turned and walked in the other direction. It wasn’t a far walk, maybe half a mile, he could manage it on foot.
“Hey, Sam.” He looked over his shoulder, and she smiled easily. “Thanks for the beers.”
“Yeah, of course,” he nodded with a small smile and went on his way again. He hadn’t drank a lot, but it was enough, and it wasn’t ten more feet before he closed his eyes and turned on foot, walking back to the car. She barely had the door open when he moved in, hand going to the side of her face and bringing her close so he could kiss her.
Ruby made a surprised noise, but followed it with a gentle press of lips.
It didn’t last very long, but went on for enough time to have his purpose laid out: Sam liked her, was intrigued, wanted to know more. He smirked when she licked her lip, and wondered if she was seeking out more of him.
“Hmm,” she sighed awkwardly. “What was that for?”
He bit into a smile, still unsure how to properly navigate the moment. “Good luck?”
Ruby chuckled and nodded as she looked away. “You’re a class act, Sam.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Really? By who?” she challenged.
“People.”
Another chuckle, but less awkward, just more open, and he wanted to hear it more often.
“This is totally not a line,” Sam started carefully. “But we live in the same building and my brother-”
“Left with my friend, yeah, I know.” Ruby smacked her lips in thought then motioned at the car. “Grab some seat.”
They chatted on the short ride to the apartment building, still playful and barely edging onto true intent. Sam didn’t normally go bold, or at all if you asked Dean. So he mostly kept to himself through the lobby, the elevator ride, and the walk in the hallway of their floor. He had no intention of making a move like his brother did on her friend, but he didn’t exactly want to let it end there.
He kissed her just like he did in the parking lot, soft, easy, careful. Though he couldn’t blame himself for responding to her tiny near-whimpers and insistent lips sucking on his, and he leaned into her, pushing her into her door, and kept on kissing to make it really matter.
Her fingers slipped over the back of his head, threading through his hair, and she held him close as her tongue broke through his lips, seeking him out. He tried to be slow and easy with hands soft at her hips but then he pressed back at her tongue and couldn’t help but be overcome with the sensation, burying a hand in her hair as well, pulling her in tight.
It barely registered that she was taller than most girls he went after, that while being incredibly lean, her body was long and able, especially as it pushed back on his, one hand tight in his hair and another around his neck. But he couldn’t deny the instant want pulsing through his veins to meet the challenge of someone different than typical, someone who pushed buttons with little apology, someone who could go toe to toe. With that in mind, he rested his weight against her, trapping her body between him and the door, and she did little to fight it, but didn’t exactly give in either as she stood tall, chest tight against his.
“We could,” he murmured between kisses, “go inside.”
“Hmm?”
“Make less of a scene,” Sam smiled against her mouth.
At once, Ruby righted herself, closing off and nearly forcing him out of her personal space. They stared for a long moment then her eyes turned dark in a highly unflattering way and she rubbed a hand over her mouth with heavy breathing. “Good night, Sam,” she said in a flat tone.
For all of his failing with the opposite sex, he’d never gotten to this point and gotten that reaction. Once he was this far, he could close a deal, but words failed him as he watched her disappear inside her apartment
“Huh,” he sighed, staring into an empty hallway.
*
Surprisingly, Dean was up and sitting at the kitchen table when Sam rose the next morning, and while looking giddy and satisfied, he wasn’t exactly looking well-rested.
He still clapped his hands above his head and smirked. “Mornin’, Sammy.”
“Yeah, morning,” he grumbled back, reaching for the coffee pot. When he found little more than half a cup left, he rolled his eyes and glared at his brother.
“So how’d your night go with Gem?”
“Ruby.”
“Yeah, her.”
Sam rubbed a hand through his hair and flatly said, “It was fine.”
“Meaning you didn’t get past her door.”
“No,” he admitted, then quickly tagged on, “And I don’t wanna know how yours went so don’t tell me.”
“C’mon, you’re ruining all my fun,” he said before sipping on the last of his coffee. Sam barely grunted in return, and Dean smiled, “She did this thing with her leg-”
“Dean.”
“Okay, alright,” he said with an easy voice. “Just thought maybe you’d loosen up a little, have some fun.”
“I’m not you.”
“Yeah, I know, but.”
Sam turned at that, catching Dean’s careful look. “What?”
Dean shrugged and actually looked concerned. “I don’t know. I just … you okay? It’s been a while, and I know how you are.”
“Alright. Good talk,” Sam said with a tight smile, and went back to his room.
*
Nearly two weeks had passed when he saw Ruby again, at the same pub, leaning against the bar and waiting to order a drink.
“Hey,” Sam said, tight and awkward no matter how hard he tried not to be.
“Hey, Sam, how’s tricks?”
When he looked at her, she was smirking, just like when they were last at the bar, but he felt uneasy with how easy she really was. He chuckled, haughty and strange, unable to put this moment with the last he had with her.
“Don’t tell me your ego’s bruised.” He continued to stare at her, watching how she turned back to the bar and eyed the liquor bottles along the back wall. “Couldn’t compare notes with the big brother so now you’re all pouty, huh?”
“Not quite.”
They didn’t talk further while waiting on their orders, or for much of the night. Though when Dean abandoned him for another conquest, she again slid into the booth and smirked at him. “This seems like a pattern.”
He looked up from his laptop, fighting to not roll his eyes. As much as her quick turn around that last time had bothered him, he at least appreciated she was here again and looking at him the way she was. It took a few moments, but he closed the computer and faced her head on. “Almost.”
“You gonna buy a girl a drink, or make her take care of herself.”
Sam chuckled, tight again, and flicked his tongue under his upper lip. Even while fighting the notion, the playful turn of her mouth hit him just right and he signaled the waitress for another round of beers.
Less than an hour later the bar closed, and even less time than that had her giving him another ride home, which led to another journey in the elevator and walk to her door. Ignoring how the last time went, he moved in and kissed her, unable to fight the moment or the light thrum of alcohol in his system.
As he leaned into her, again keeping her upright to the door, he couldn’t discount how good it felt to have her up against his body, especially as she melted into him and kissed him back, hard.
When she pushed away, he wasn’t exactly surprised, and just took a deep breath as she bit her lower lip and moved into her apartment without a word.
He rolled his eyes as he marched down to his door, twisting the key, and shoving the it open. “Dean, come on,” he whined the second he caught his brother on the couch with the girl he’d picked up at the bar.
Dean jumped up and rushed towards him, thankfully blocking Sam’s view of the girl on the couch. “Oh, hey,” Dean smirked, rubbing a hand over his chest. “Thought you were with, uh …”
“Ruby.”
“Yeah, her.”
“Well, I’m not.”
Dean looked just past Sam and frowned. “Yeah, I see that. What’s up?”
Pushing a knuckle into his eye, Sam sighed. “I’m just gonna … go to bed.”
“Dude, again?” Dean asked, pushing at Sam’s shoulder to keep him from passing.
Sam gave him a sharp look. “Can we not talk about this?”
He raised his hands and took a step back. “Alright, yeah.”
*
“She’s a bitch,” Dean announced as the elevator dropped down to the first floor, dinging and letting them out.
“Yeah, okay,” Sam half-heartedly agreed.
“Seriously. A bitch. I mean, you’re a good catch for girls who’re into the emo, locked-up frustration thing. But yeah, if she’s gonna just rile you up and ditch you on the doorstep-”
They both stopped short at the bulletin board in the lobby when they saw Ruby hanging another sign.
“Morning, boys” she said happily, eyes on her fingers pushing pins through the paper and into the board. Sam and Dean rolled their eyes together as they kept walking, though they stalled when she called out, “If I were you, I’d think about attending the next meeting.”
Sam didn’t turn around, but Dean did and asked with a sharp smile, “Yeah, and why is that?”
“Maybe you can find out a way to save your precious car.”
“What about my car?” Dean asked slowly, and Sam turned to face her, also critical to her tone.
“Just seen an awful lot of yellow decorating it lately.”
“Yeah, and?”
Ruby shrugged but kept on smirking. “Would hate to see what could happen if you don’t lock her up right.”
Dean took a few steps, finger in the air. “You so much as touch-”
Sam instantly pulled on his arm. “Hey, Dean. Not worth it.”
“Aww, Sam,” she cooed playfully. “You sure come in handy, saving the damsel in distress.”
He gave a shitty smile and nod as he continued to nudge his brother away. “C’mon, Dean. We’ve got things to do.”
“I bet you do,” she smirked.
“You know-” Sam started, not even sure where he wanted to go with his thoughts or how haughty he’d be when saying them.
“No, I don’t, Sammy,” Ruby returned with a hand on her hip and her head tipped to the side. “Why don’t you clue me in?”
His eyes narrowed with his own head tipped like hers. “It’s Sam.”
She clucked her tongue and continued staring, as if daring him to speak.
“You’re just all …” Sam started, yet, again, he couldn’t string the right words together. When Dean was suddenly at his side like they were going to war or something, Sam shook his head and yanked Dean with him to the exit.
Once they were outside and walking to the car, Dean huffed. “If you’re gonna fight with a girl, Sam, you gotta do more than stutter.”
Sam didn’t respond right away, instead yanking the passenger side door open and throwing himself into the front seat. Dean stayed outside the car but leaned into the open driver’s side, eyebrow raised and mouth quirked.
“Get in the car,” Sam grumbled.
“I mean, yeah, you’re kinda rough around the edges when it comes to girls, but they usually dig guys being nice to them. You’ve got that market all cornered.”
“Get in the car, Dean,” Sam all but shouted as he glared at his brother.
Dean’s eyebrows flicked up in surprise, and he casually opened his door and slid into the driver’s seat. “Man, she’s really got you twisted up,” he said while turning the ignition over.
“We’re not talking about this.”
“Hey, you want to get yours, that’s fine and well. But you should really watch where you’re dipping your wick.”
Sam rubbed his hands over his face and sighed, “Seriously, we’re not doing this.”
“Well, you’re not, no. Maybe you should just lay it all out there. Give the Sammy-Pup face and hypnotize her.”
He slid low in the seat, staring out the window while trying to steady his breathing from being too huffy. “No more talking.”
Dean made a tight humming noise but remained mostly quiet. That was until he flipped the radio on and up, blaring the local rock station.
*
Just a few days later and Sam walked through the back entrance of the apartment building after taking the garbage out. He passed the common room and was surprised then annoyed to see Ruby in there, straightening out seats and wiping down tables before throwing left-behind wrappers and cups away.
Ruby tugged on a heavy wooden table that’d been pushed against the wall but apparently didn’t really belong there, and for all her heaving, it barely moved.
He was ready to walk away and leave her to the task, smirking a bit at the idea of abandoning her, but she straightened and threw him a tight smile when she saw him in the doorway.
“Hey, Sam,” she said fairly easily.
Sam leaned against the door frame and lamely waved. “Hey.” And because he was raised to be a nice person, a gentleman, he gave a meager smile then entered the room. “Need help with that?”
Ruby straightened, pressing a hip into the side of the table and acting like she hadn’t just been trying to haul it across the room. “Nah, it’s okay.”
The part of him that Dean had gotten to shrugged and took a step back, but really, Sam’s manners ruled out and he moved forward again. He grabbed the edge of the table and nodded towards the other. “We’ll just slide it over real quick.” She didn’t move, just took in his helpful nod, so he added, “I’m not gonna hold this table all night.”
She rolled her eyes but also smiled a little as she obviously fought saying anything.
“I won’t even tell anyone I helped.”
At that, she bit into a smile then slid around the other side so they could move it together. It still went slowly because it really was a monster piece of furniture, but it went fast enough that Sam didn’t feel like he was putting himself out for some major task.
When she was satisfied with its placement, she mindlessly tapped the top of the table. “Thanks. You didn’t have to.”
Sam shrugged and looked around the room, taking in how little mess was left and wondering if she’d taken care of it all by herself. “I’d never live it down if I didn’t. My mom was kind of tough that way.”
Ruby’s eyes went from head to toe as she chuckled. “Really? You’re scared of your mom?”
“Not scared, no,” he quickly answered. “Just, taught us better than that.”
She crossed her arms and eyed him. “Your brother, too?”
Sam chuckled, digging a fingernail into a sliver missing in the table top. “Well, technically. Yeah. He just takes advantage of having fun, too.”
Ruby pulled herself up to sit on the table and smirked at him. “So you got the smarts and he got the … other package.”
He rubbed a finger at his eyebrow and awkwardly chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. But, uh, I’d rather not discuss that about Dean.” She looked down to her knees with a nod, swinging her legs out from the table. Surprisingly, he didn’t care to leave, because even with her mocking, she seemed more relaxed or open or something else he couldn’t label. “How was your meeting?” he asked.
She eyed him for a few moments. “You really care?”
“I don’t not care.”
With a chuckle, Ruby tucked her hands around the edge of the table and took a deep breath. “It was fine. Everyone’s complaining about the parking stickers and not being able to park where they want while others park wherever they want. They’re insufferable”
“Why do you do it?”
“Because I can.”
Sam watched her, catching how easy she’d said the words and how relaxed she was right then. “Why’re you the one to do it?”
“I have connections,” she offered lightly.
“Like what?” he smirked back at her. “Tow trucks and police cars?”
Ruby chuckled and shook her head but didn’t answer. After a small silence, she broke, “You know your brother gets brought up a lot?”
“For what?”
“For his hasty parking jobs. A lot of people want the spots he keeps using.”
“Yeah, well, he’s pretty tied to them,” Sam said, at a loss for other words. He turned against the table to rest against it, crossing his arms and feet while staring across the room. “I’ve been telling him to stop, but he does what he wants.”
“Well of course.” He looked at her, confused, and she went on, “You guys don’t seem that close. I doubt he’d listen to you.”
He quickly turned towards her. “What?”
Ruby twisted her lips and shrugged, shoulders staying high up. “You two just don’t seem that alike, or as if you even like each other.”
“I like him just fine,” he defended, not even sure where it was coming from. He and Dean weren’t always the best at getting along or living in harmony, but it was his brother.
“You just seem different. From him,” she tacked on with a small frown.
Sam shrugged oddly, rolling his shoulders and trying like hell to not cross his arms again. “We’re close.” She stayed quiet, and he did, too, until he sighed, feeling tension fill the air. Despite his first instinct, he said, “Dean is … He’s Dean. But we’re all we’ve got. I’m not gonna abandon him.”
Ruby stared at him, eyes soft and eyebrows drawn. It surprised him that she looked at him like that and had strayed from any sarcastic comments. She quietly asked, “Long story?”
“Yeah. Real long.” Sam quickly begged for a subject change. “What about you? Your family?”
“Just me and my dad still around,” she said airily, as if it didn’t matter much what she had going on. “He’s with the PD. That’s why I help with the meetings.”
“That’s … nice?” he chuckled, unsure if he could really describe her that way.
“I don’t know that I care that much, but it’s something. And no one else is gonna do it,” she replied with a bit of complaint. “They’ve bugged me for years to step up and help, just because of Daddy. Don’t really care for it, but it gets them all off my back.”
Sam nodded and watched her for a bit. “So we’re both stuck with family because it’s the only thing we’ve got going.”
Ruby snorted, but her smile was soft as she looked away. “Something like that.”
When she didn’t push further or attempt at more in the ways of conversation, he pushed off the table, tapping the edge with a knuckle. “Alright,” he said gently, unsure what there really was to say in the moment, and then walked towards the door.
“Thanks, Sam,” she said loudly from her end of the room. Sam stalled and by the time he spun to face her, she was right in front of him, up on tip toes, and meeting his mouth for a quick, soft kiss. “You’re a peach,” she smiled as she slid back to flat feet.
“I …” He took a deep breath, and then admitted, “I’m so confused.”
Ruby pressed a hand into her stomach and smirked. “Uh, girl here. Part of the job description.”
As Sam stared down on her, she pressed a tongue into her cheek and smiled. Then she left the room without another word.
Two