Double-Edged Sword - $UICIDEBOY$

Phantoms Hide in Walls, but Also in Hearts.

Author's Note: I was going to publish this wayyyy earlier, but I was seriously unhappy with the first draft and rewrote the whole thing. It's still huge as fuck though, so enjoy. Hopefully it was worth the wait- I really did NOT want to publish shitty work. Also hell yeah added another instrumental :) aesthetic whore!!!!

    A flick from Ruby's right side occurred by instinct. The gleaming edges were true to their color of gunmetal. The metallic edges blended into an artificially black material. It swept into a soft handle coated in dark stain. Ruby's fingers wrapped around that handle without any hesitation. The look on his face indicated nothing but willingness. He stood as someone familiar to a world which they did not wish to know. His face represented that of a god who had discovered disaster. He regretted how steady his grasp was.

    He dreaded having an inescapable barrel hovering between your face, and the face of someone unknown behind you.

    But the motion in his muscles lacked all resistance.

    "If ya wanna die, stay jus' like that.", his voice was thick with drawl, but so level and calm that even you became terrified.
    His face reflected a solemn nostalgia, revealing that he must have been faced with issues like this before.

    You watched the gun sway through the air and form subtle figure-8's. The blade on your throat trembled harder and harder. Finally you could understand the rough words behind you.
    "Ya ain't gonna do shit-"
    "Ya really wanna think that?", Ruby cocked the gun. The brief dread in his gaze was noticeable, but only to you. You had spotted the singular instance of nauseous inundation.
    "Ya won't do fuck shit."

    Finally, your heartbeat erupted. Your mind rebooted and spilled. Each muscle in your body was rock solid with fear, aching to move. Your vision filled with color so vivid that it hurt to keep your eyes open. Your palms were clammy instantly. The bright flashing and the sensation of your pulse in your tongue caused confused panic to sink in.
Should you do something?
    You stood like a deer being held victoriously by a hunter. You stood like you were powerless. But, that wasn't true, right?
    Your legs tensed up. Ruby's fingers squeezed grip of the gun, adjusting slowly over and over again.
    "Ya just gonna put a price on a human? And then ya think I won't blow your fuckin' head off?", Ruby bared his teeth.
    The weight of your life rested on your shoulders as such a heavy burden. The lack of progress and the lack of a purpose for that matter made the weight twice as much. You didn't want to sit around and wait. You'd been waiting for a purpose, for chances to do things... Right there, right then, your pulse bubbled up. You wanted to act out instead of standing so quietly.
    "Do it, then no one wins.", his knife curled up the front of your throat so gently that it felt sexually twisted, like teeth grazing your throat instead.
    Ruby's eyes darted to you, and he saw the tension in your body. He sensed that you were ready to act out.
    Like a two-body mechanism, linked, your head pulled away while Ruby pointed the gun to the sky and let a shot go. Had the shot not happened, the knife may have followed through to your neck when you began to run. But, the stark contrast of the bullet ripping open the quiet night as both a segment of thunder and a flash of scattered sparks startled the man behind you so much that he froze- he must have thought he was dead. Your feet tore across the sidewalk- you were running. The crack of the gun was still echoing by the time you were in a full sprint.
    And there you were... feeling like the boy who had run past you so long ago only to end up in the lake. Now, you were the one afraid of something that was unexplainable in the moment. Your legs strained to great lengths and carried you over bounds of space without so much as your toes skimming the cement. The hood flew back off of your head, and the rubber on your shoes' soles seemingly melted. You dared not look back- not hear anything- until your body crashed into the home's front door. You crumpled into it and slid down to the shoddy welcome mat. Only then did your head swing back and look into the night to scan the bleak horizon.
    Ruby was in a hustled jog towards the house. The gun still swung in his hand flashing in and out of the moonlight. You choked on your own spit and sputtered into soft cries on the door step. That could have been it for one of your lives- a stupid holdup for money.
    Ruby skidded into a kneel, letting his knees scrape onto the concrete, so that he could throw his arms around you and drop the gun. He formed a total layer of armor over you and pushed your face into his chest. You could hear the door open and Scrim roughly yelling. Ruby shouted back almost incoherently to silence everyone. You continued to gasp for air and sputter while being carried off through the house. Max's blue eyes were entire oceans upon you. You could feel him watching, and you could feel how worried he was.
    Ruby slammed his bedroom door using his back and shoved you under blankets. You wiped your face and engulfed yourself in them. Immediately, his body wrapped around yours again. He spoke in soft hushes- "Shhh..",..., "No- no hush..."
    His hands cupped your face, "It's alright now.", he was speaking clearly again, "Nothing can hurt you now, okay? I got you; I got you. I was worried you'd eventually deal with.... with that side of the 7th Ward."
    You inhaled shakily again and again until you could force words out.
    "Ruby- Ruby ruby, why does it ma-matter?"
    "What?", he leaned in closer and kissed your cheek, not wincing at the taste of brackish tears streaking it.
    "You s-said, it mattered, that what I did mattered cause you... you something-ng?"
    He laid his cheek against yours so that he could speak directly into your ear while his body covered you, "Y/N, like I tried to say before that whole thing, it matters cause of how much I fucking care about you. I give a damn about you. I want to be there for you. Of course... it matters, cause you matter now."
    You pulled away and wiped your face, "I..."
    His thumb rubbed your lower lip, "Nuh uh, don't make it even more sappy. Shit, I needa breathe."
    You smiled weakly and let out a giggle. He kissed both of your cheeks and your forehead, "Look, I won't be mad because tonight was a lot to handle, and technically you've been right. We haven't figured out your place in our lives yet. But, I care 'bout you. I'm sure Scrim does too. I can't help that I get a bit worried. That's all I was. Worried.", his voice was melting back into its familiar drawl.
    You picked up his face with your fingers and rubbed the scruff on his cheeks, "This is the part where you comfort me by touching me."
    He laughed- a brilliant little sound- and kissed you. In this way, his kiss meant more. The way he leaned into it and followed through for intoxicating minutes revealed actual passion. Before, he had let each movement have hints of rigidity. A fear had held him back. Now, his mouth was a limitless shape merging with yours.
    "I'm so fuckin' glad we met- that you stayed- that you're okay-", his mouth plunged down over where the knife had been.
    Your hands sunk onto his sides and held on desperately, "What the fuck happened after I bolted?"
Ruby's hands cradled your hips, "Pistol-whipped his shit, he's gonna have a swollen face for days..."
    Someone dared to knock.
    Ruby lifted his head and shouted at the door, "FUCK OFF FOR ONCE!?"
    They left.