fic: silent in-betweens (frankenwolf, once upon a time)
title: silent in-betweens
characters: ruby/victor, once upon a time
rating: t
summary: small musings of quiet moments.
He smells like alcohol and cheap cologne. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy for Ruby to track him. She didn’t have to find him, but she’s still worried about his well-being. So when she finds him back at the waterside, she can’t say she’s surprised.
“Are we really going to go through this again?” She takes a step forward, slowly, and keeps her eyes trained on the distance between his feet and the ledge.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m quite over throwing myself over.” His tone is mocking, yet so playful at the same time.
Whale bends his knees and sits against the cold concrete. His legs dangle over the edge, his hands smoothing his pants. He hasn’t changed out of his wrinkled operating clothes and Ruby is unsure as to why. But she approaches him anyhow, her movements slow and graceful.
She sits next to him - as she had hours prior - her fingers twirling the edges of her scarf. She’s unsure of what to say, so she starts at the beginning.
“Thank you - again - for saving his life.” Ruby’s eyes are glued to the waterside, her eyes catching the tiny ripples and dancing lights reflected.
He laughs, his voice coming out as hardly more than a whisper, “You have yourself to thank for that.”
Ruby cocks her head, a smile barely creeping across her face.
“So, should we start calling you Frankenstein from now on?” She means it as a joke, but part of her is unsure if that’s how Whale - or Frankenstein at this point - will see it that way.
“Victor is fine.” He glances up at the stars, his blinking slow and calculated.
Ruby fights the urge to reach out to him - monster to monster - and tell him that it will be okay. It’s not like they were friends before or after the curse. She had never really liked him, but that evening had shown her a different side of him. Maybe there was something more to Whale - or Victor as she would have to get used to calling him - than the town had originally thought.
Not every monster was purely evil. There had to be a balance; A sort of yin-and-yang was needed to keep the monsters from destroying themselves. Love had driven Victor to tempt fate and mess with the order of the universe. And it had always been out Ruby’s control. She had not chosen to be a wolf, but she had chosen to make it her own.
They sat side by side, their arms barely touching, for seconds that turned into minutes upon minutes. Ruby’s eyes had followed Victor’s to the sky, her mind amazed by the sheer amount of stars staring back. It reminded her of home; It reminded her of the valleys and woods she had to cross in order to find Snow once more.
He slips a hand in his left pocket - the one away from Ruby’s line of sight, but she can smell it before it leaves his pocket - and slips out a flask. It seemed as if Snow could not get him to stop drinking even after the surgery. Victor presses it to his lips, his eyes closing as the alcohol laces his throat and stomach. He winces, but barely.
As his eyes return to the stars, he extends the bottle to Ruby. She almost doesn’t take it, but thoughts of recent events make her choose otherwise. Her lips touch the cold and the liquor runs down her throat as if it were fire. She winces - more so than he did - and she can hear him chuckle as she vocally winces as the alcohol makes its way to her stomach.
“How do you stand that stuff?” She passes the flask back to him, her eyes watching his every movement.
“It’s an acquired taste, I guess you could say.”
Ruby absolutely agrees, as the idea of taking another sip doesn’t even pass through her mind. But it does for Victor, as his hand grasps the flask and he takes sip after sip.
Neither of them move and Ruby can’t complain. For a moment it seemed as if the world was slowing down - cliche, but it didn’t make it any less true - and Ruby could finally breathe. That is, until her phone rang with Snow’s name flashing on the caller ID.
characters: ruby/victor, once upon a time
rating: t
summary: small musings of quiet moments.
He smells like alcohol and cheap cologne. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy for Ruby to track him. She didn’t have to find him, but she’s still worried about his well-being. So when she finds him back at the waterside, she can’t say she’s surprised.
“Are we really going to go through this again?” She takes a step forward, slowly, and keeps her eyes trained on the distance between his feet and the ledge.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m quite over throwing myself over.” His tone is mocking, yet so playful at the same time.
Whale bends his knees and sits against the cold concrete. His legs dangle over the edge, his hands smoothing his pants. He hasn’t changed out of his wrinkled operating clothes and Ruby is unsure as to why. But she approaches him anyhow, her movements slow and graceful.
She sits next to him - as she had hours prior - her fingers twirling the edges of her scarf. She’s unsure of what to say, so she starts at the beginning.
“Thank you - again - for saving his life.” Ruby’s eyes are glued to the waterside, her eyes catching the tiny ripples and dancing lights reflected.
He laughs, his voice coming out as hardly more than a whisper, “You have yourself to thank for that.”
Ruby cocks her head, a smile barely creeping across her face.
“So, should we start calling you Frankenstein from now on?” She means it as a joke, but part of her is unsure if that’s how Whale - or Frankenstein at this point - will see it that way.
“Victor is fine.” He glances up at the stars, his blinking slow and calculated.
Ruby fights the urge to reach out to him - monster to monster - and tell him that it will be okay. It’s not like they were friends before or after the curse. She had never really liked him, but that evening had shown her a different side of him. Maybe there was something more to Whale - or Victor as she would have to get used to calling him - than the town had originally thought.
Not every monster was purely evil. There had to be a balance; A sort of yin-and-yang was needed to keep the monsters from destroying themselves. Love had driven Victor to tempt fate and mess with the order of the universe. And it had always been out Ruby’s control. She had not chosen to be a wolf, but she had chosen to make it her own.
They sat side by side, their arms barely touching, for seconds that turned into minutes upon minutes. Ruby’s eyes had followed Victor’s to the sky, her mind amazed by the sheer amount of stars staring back. It reminded her of home; It reminded her of the valleys and woods she had to cross in order to find Snow once more.
He slips a hand in his left pocket - the one away from Ruby’s line of sight, but she can smell it before it leaves his pocket - and slips out a flask. It seemed as if Snow could not get him to stop drinking even after the surgery. Victor presses it to his lips, his eyes closing as the alcohol laces his throat and stomach. He winces, but barely.
As his eyes return to the stars, he extends the bottle to Ruby. She almost doesn’t take it, but thoughts of recent events make her choose otherwise. Her lips touch the cold and the liquor runs down her throat as if it were fire. She winces - more so than he did - and she can hear him chuckle as she vocally winces as the alcohol makes its way to her stomach.
“How do you stand that stuff?” She passes the flask back to him, her eyes watching his every movement.
“It’s an acquired taste, I guess you could say.”
Ruby absolutely agrees, as the idea of taking another sip doesn’t even pass through her mind. But it does for Victor, as his hand grasps the flask and he takes sip after sip.
Neither of them move and Ruby can’t complain. For a moment it seemed as if the world was slowing down - cliche, but it didn’t make it any less true - and Ruby could finally breathe. That is, until her phone rang with Snow’s name flashing on the caller ID.