ruby's body ━━ steve harrington

004. 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬, 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬, 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬

Let me see her.

She keeps her breathing still. In the nothingness, Ruby's eyes are narrowed. This place doesn't frighten her; much like the upside down, and the real world, this world will bend to her will. She's Subject X; the world revolves around her, and it will act accordingly.

Let me see Eleven.

Let me see Eleven.

Let me see—

Finally, a figure appears in front of her. Ruby runs towards it, praying to God this has all worked. She reaches it, but as she gets nearer, she realises the figure is taller than her, there's no way it's Eleven. She starts to make out the clothes, and the hair, and the way they're standing...

And she's looking at Harrington.

"Are you kidding?" says Ruby, out-loud.

Why the fuck is this what her mind brought her to? He doesn't even like her anymore, why is she being drawn to him? She ruined all chances of them ever being friends, he doesn't like her, he made that clear last night by calling her Brenner. Why is he the thing her mind thinks she should be seeing?

He's talking out-loud to himself, and it sounds like an apology to Nancy. Ruby rolls her eyes. How pathetic is that? Last year was bad enough, how he only made up with her because Ruby rejected him. And now this? Doing the exact same thing, all because Ruby refuses to date him? That's so pathetic—

"Ruby!"

Ruby jumps. The voice isn't coming from the nothing world, but rather, back in the present. She blinks, and like that, she's back in the bathtub, feeling soggy and pissed-off.

The doorbell goes again. She jumps out of the bath, the smell of lemony mint stuck to her. Normally she'd shower, but in this situation, she doesn't have the time. She peels off the dressing gown and puts a fresh one on, before running down the stairs.

It's Jonathan at the door. Ruby frowns.

"Oh, hey..." she says.

"I just wanted to say thanks for earlier," he tells her. "I know we haven't spoken in a while, but..."

Context: they only really became friends last year. Ruby knew of him, especially since he helped with the photos for the newspaper, but they were never friends. She thought he was weird. But when Will went missing, and the monster showed up right after Barb disappeared, Ruby figured it was the lab's doing. So she started helping Jonathan out, which made her friends think they were fucking in his car... (Which, by the way, considering who her dad is — could you imagine how angry he'd be, catching that? Ruby wouldn't dream of such a thing for that reason alone, let alone with Jonathan.)

If anything, Ruby sees Jonathan as a younger, nerdier brother. A brother who she can't speak to because her friends will rehash the old rumours... Anyway.

"I really didn't do anything," says Ruby, which she believes.

"Well... My mom really appreciated it anyway," says Jonathan, with a shrug. He smiles softly. "You know, those kids think you're the coolest. Like a sci-fi hero in their comics."

Ruby cracks a smile. "What, save the blue skin?"

He laughs, and nods. "How, uh, have you been?"

Part of Ruby thinks to answer him honestly. She knows he won't tell anyone, and that he'll get it. Last year they talked all about this stuff; how she wasn't keen on her friends, but how she needed to keep them. After a while, she told him and Nancy why, too. She doesn't know why she felt so safe, telling him and Nancy stuff... She thinks it's because they've already had to keep such secrets, what's the harm in one more? But the nasty part of her brain thinks, yeah, like anyone would listen to him anyway. She can be such a bitch sometimes, she thinks.

"Uh—"

And then someone coughs from behind Jonathan.

Ruby jumps, and if she wasn't leaning against the door it would've slammed shut. Jonathan steps to the side, revealing Billy, looking at him suspiciously.

"Who are you?" says Billy.

"I gave Ruby a ride home," says Jonathan, but Billy turns to look at the driveway. Ruby's car is clearly there, and she begins to think, shit. She focuses as quickly as possible, imagining the driveway clear, her car gone.

Her nose starts to bleed, so it's worked.

"I see," says Billy.

Jonathan looks back at Ruby, but when he sees her wiping her nose, he realises.

"I'll, uh, see you around," says Jonathan, and walks past Billy.

Ruby crosses her arms, as Billy walks up to her. He frowns at her.

"Who... was that, then?"

"Jonathan," she says. "He works on the newspaper."

"Jonathan?" says Billy, and he sounds as if he recognises the name. Ruby thinks, fuck. Tommy must've told Billy about last year. "As in Byers?"

Shit.

"Yeah," says Ruby. She'll stand her ground on this one. She did nothing wrong. He only came over to thank her for helping his brother. "I found his brother having a panic attack earlier. He wanted to say thanks for helping out."

Billy looks unconvinced. "I heard—"

"You heard wrong," she says, quickly.

"I guess..." says Billy, but she can tell the conversation isn't over. She doesn't like this. Can't she have male friends without him getting weird? Isn't this, like, kind-of unhealthy? "Tommy did say Harrington started the man-hunt against him."

"Steve was protective," says Ruby, quietly.

"I see," says Billy, and he scoffs.

Ruby frowns. "What?"

"Do you not see it?" says Billy. "He's obsessed with you!"

"And you're obsessed with him!" says Ruby, glaring back at him. "Can't you drop this? I don't even talk to him anymore, I don't know why—" She stops talking. There's a reason why he should be jealous. She kissed Harrington last night. And as shitty a person she may be, as dismissive she is of other people's feelings for her gain, she knows it's wrong to make Billy feel wrong. "I'd like it if you'd leave."

Billy gives her a nasty look. "Fine."

He saunters out, like he always does, and she makes her mind close the door. She sinks into the sofa, her head in her hands. What is she doing? She needs to escape all of this. She wishes she could dump Billy. She wishes she could stop caring about popularity. She wishes she could pack her bags, right now, and leave for New York. Because none of this is working for her. She's so sick of this town. She's always fighting something she hates, she's never happy, she's never even content with her surroundings. Everything is shit because she can't let go of something arbitrary, something that'll be worthless come summer anyway...

But she can't. Her mind can't let go. She knows she should, but she's still got a grip on this dream. The dream of Snowflake Queen, of Spring Fling Queen. The dream of being so normal, Hawkins Lab is practically blurred from her mind.

But that'll never happen, will it? She'll always be stuck. She'll always have a tie to the lab. As long as she's a Brenner, as long as she's got the X branding, that's all she'll ever be. Hawkins Lab's perfect human, designed to protect the upside down.

So perfectly imperfect.