* GOT ME SINGING

      chuck’s signature smile falls at the nickname and it feels like her heart is in her throat. god, when was the last time he heard that nickname slip from his lips? across a pillow when they were a tangle of limbs and she was waiting for him to fall asleep so she could run. she remembers that night, taking in every part of ruby so she wouldn’t forget anything, tracing his features with her fingers, that last press of her lips on his forehead before she climbed into her van and hit the road. she cried for the first eighty miles but forced herself to clean her face and pulled over at the next bar she saw. she misses the entire interaction between ruby and lucy, lost in her own thoughts. she snaps herself out of it by shaking her head and forcing her smile back on. if there’s one thing chuck is good at- it’s pretending she’s good. “well, that’s what you get for trustinga bleach blonde.” she shrugs, brushing some hair off her shoulder before. “dear leo paid for gas for three months, was a good thieving investment.” though she does feel guilt for that, she knew how much ruby loved that poster. but maybe she did it so ruby was more likely to hate her and it’d make everything easier. yet here they are, mere few feet apart and no yelling is directed her way. it’s bizarre and torturous. if ruby hated her this wouldn’t feel so goddamn- fuck, she doesn’t even know how to word it. it’s like pulling up to a familiar place but you’re stuck on the other side of the road and can’t cross it… you can’t go home. “i’m going to get red lipstick on your spoon.” she shoots wink though does take the tortellini in her mouth, baby blues avoiding ruby’s gaze as she does so. a low moan escapes her when her teeth break that pasta and let the hidden filling out. “that’s fucking good. and maybe i do listen, maybe i don’t.” she does, tunes in every time on her car radio while she’s painting in the back of her van. catching lucy come back with the blankets, chuck rolls her shoulders back and puts on her babysitter hat. “i’m thinking we use some of the chair to keep it up, maybe steal the washing line from next door to add more structure and then fill it with every cushion in the house. you down, firefly?” chuck picks lucy up, placing the girl on her hip and holds out a hand for a high-five which she gets along with confirmation for the blanket fort plans. “hell yeah, we’re going to make the best blanket fort in the world!”

“earth to space cadet chuck,” he waves his hands in front of her face as she seemingly zones out. ruby doesn’t know it’s from the fact he called her by a nickname that had last left the lips of a man in love. he just assumes that she’s spaced out for a bit. “you still there?” he asks, shaking her shoulders softly. when she brings up trusting a bleach blonde, he can’t help but smile. “look, i trust a lot of people. it’s my heroic character flaw,” he states dramatically, holding his chest like he’s in the process of swearing a grand oath. “leo also once bought me a two-hundred dollar bottle of champagne at a club in los angeles,” he flexes his past with a smirk, “but i’m glad he’s also helping my favorite woman in the world out with her van. that thing is probably a good investment for you too,” ruby rarely holds a grudge, he’s had to learn to go with the flow of life and its changes. he grew up in a tumultuous process of going back and forth between his parents, learning to adapt like a chameleon to ever situation that was thrown his way. chuck was just another opportunity to follow change wherever it took him. “your lipstick goes everywhere, charlotte. i don’t think think that there’s a problem with it getting on our wooden spoon.” he remembers the way chuck would leave behind stains of herself on ruby’s skin. his lips, his cheeks, his neck, his chest all covered in red from her sweet kisses. he watches as she takes the bite, anxiously chewing on the inside of his cheek to see what she thinks. “i’m glad it’s good, but you should just wait to see what my farfalle tastes like.” he eyes her suspiciously when she talks about listening. there’s a part of him that hopes she does. lucy is obviously down for the plans for the fort, and ruby is helping to drape some blankets over the couch as a base. “be careful with the neighbor’s washing line. they hang up some gross old underwear sometimes,” he scrunches up his nose. “you could be an architect with these plans, chuck.”

        chuck finds the entire bribery situation but shushes him at the use of her nickname for lucy. “hey, get your own nickname, slugger.” she hands the twizzlers to ruby and rolls her eyes affectionately at him before turning to lucy. “next time, kiddo, if he’s desperate enough to pay five for three, you can swindle a lot more out of him. it’s called bargaining, you have what he wants, make him work for it.” she shoots the kid a wink before turning to ruby. “as for you, bribing a six year old with five buck-” she tuts shaking her head but her smile betrays her. the entire thing is adorable so she can’t even act slightly annoyed. catching the other staring she can feel a blush rushing to her cheeks and decides to up her cockiness to counteract. “you liking the view?” she raises a brow, arms crossing and popping her hip out a little. chuck is use to be checked out, but it doesn’t usually happen as often in her current attire. it also doesn’t help that it’s ruby looking at her. “farfelle sucks and i’m going to get it printed on a shirt for you. yep.” a giggle slips free at the poke to her side, always so ticklish. “hey! how dare you hypothetically rat me out to bruce willis! i’m wounded, i may never recover from this.” her hand goes to her heart as if she has been shot which causes lucy to laugh at her babysitter’s antics. a laugh escapes chuck as lucy speeds away to grab blankets. “hmmhmm, nothing beats a blanket fort, not even five dollars.” she gives a playful glare. “now what’re you doing home, huh? thal said you were working.”

“slugger? maybe you should start coming up with better nicknames, gorgeous,” the word slips out unintentionally. how long has it been since he’s called her that? to her face, at least. he tries to pretend it didn’t happen and brush it off by looking down at lucy and handing her the bill for their little bargain. “here, luce-luce-my-little-goose, don’t spend it all in one place,” the little girl instantly sticks the bill in her pocket. “i’m sorry that my skills at being an uncle are just too good for you,” he laughs, still giving chuck the up-and-down look. “i’m loving the view. it reminds me of this girl i used to date. she took a bunch of my stuff, though, so that kinda put a damper on things,” ruby is all smiles and all laughs and all loving chuck. “get it printed on a shirt and i’ll never wear it,” he counters, winking at her. this time he goes in for more of a tickle, wanting to hear just one more note of her laughter. “not even my leonardo dicaprio signed poster?” he starts heading back to the pots to check in on the pasta. “thalia said that?” ruby raises his eyebrows, arms going up to cross over his chest. “i never work sundays. if you listened to the show you’d know that,” he grabs a wooden spoon and gets out one piece of tortellini, blowing on it. “give this a try, let me know if it’s al dente yet,” he holds the spoon out for her to take the piece of pasta. his non-answer to her question about why he’s here is followed up with, “i could have spent my night off going out, but i decided i’d like to spend the night at home.” lucy comes running back in with a bundle of blankets in tow, laying them on the couch in the gould’s living room. “let’s go help her out, make sure nothing burns down.”

       “did- did you just insult jolene? man, you just gone and lost food privileges.” teddy swipes a mozzarella stick and takes a bite. “damn, i cooked these pretty damn well.” he throws back the rest of the stick before a shit eating grin plays on his lips. “the original is bomb and so is becky g’s version. what kinda person shits on dolly parton? i bet you’ve got beef with abba too, huh?”

“lost food privileges? what the hell, teddy, i’m paying you for this, not the other way around. i could just walk outta here without paying since the fry cook ate off of my plate,” he grunts, reaching far enough to grab a mozzerella stick for himself. “i’ll give you a b-plus,” he bluffs, the food was great. “abba is outplayed and overhyped. only song i can still get down to? SOS. look, dolly parton has done great things for music and this country, but ever heard of a little someone named whitney houston? she did ‘i will always love you’ better than dolly to the point people forget it wasn’t a whitney houston original in the first place.”

“word to the wise…while the themed drink ‘the dick sucker’ might sound appealing…it’s fucking nasty. i can taste the rainbow and it’s not…great.” despite himself he, took another sip, making a face before handing it to the other, “here. wanna try?” he plucked a straw and placed it in the drink. june was easily his favorite month of year. pride was his favorite. the only time he seemed to really let loose. 

@wellcliffstarters​

“the dick sucker, huh,” ruby held his tongue to his cheek, questioning the drink’s name and what flavor it might have. “i think i’ll pass, i usually stay away from drinks that have any name related to a sexual act. sex on the beach? suck, bang, and blow? bend over shirley? all avoidable,” he holds up his own drink, a simple whiskey sour.” ruby, leaned forward on the bar, “why’d you choose that drink? sounds like you’re just setting yourself up for trouble with that one.”

“Tell me the fake blood was at least something sweet and not tomato juice,” CJ asks and makes a face for emphasis. She leans up on the chair to reach into the back pocket of her jeans, pulling out cash to pay and place some in the tip jar. “Claire James,” she introduces herself, “But I don’t look like a Claire, so everyone calls me CJ.”

“Yep, new in Wellcliff,” she explains. “I’m from Venice beach, out in Cali. My friend’s got a bnb I’m looking at for.” Not really a lie, but saying she’s trying to crawl out of a career hole sounds way pitiful. “You originally from here?”

“definitely not tomato juice, but also nothing sweet. it’s a bunch of chemicals and coloring, not corn syrup like they used to use in old horror,” he laughs, raising his newly delivered shot in salute to her. “i agree, cj fits you better than just claire. i assume you’re a fan of the show since the whole blood comment. what’s your favorite episode?” the truth is, ruby loved to talk about the show, it was like his one crowning achievement in life. if someone asked, he’d be happy to answer all their questions. “ah, well, welcome newbie and hope you’ve been enjoying our quaint little town. you’d probably be surprised to find out i haven’t been in hollywood my whole life, i actually spent my years growing up in wellcliff.” he gestures around as if he could gesture to the whole town. “venice beach is nice, i used to spend some days out there when i lived in l.a.”

Kari frowned when she heard Ruby’s words. “Christmas is a feeling, Mister,” she said seriously, though her brain couldn’t think straight because of the alcohol she’s consumed. “Do you still receive gifts on Christmas? Since I started working my ass off, I haven’t received anything. Always the giver, never the receiver.”

“i’m still hung up on those studies you talked about, can we rewind back to that for a second,” he laughs, leaning forward on the bar. this whole conversation seemed absurd. “of course i receive gifts on christmas, it sucks if you don’t. my sister and my niece give me something, my father usually sends a gift card, and my mom shows up with some kind of random gift every year. i also give my family gifts back.”

( @wellcliffstarters· ) finally recovered from a bad cold, tessa enjoyed the sun beaming down on her skin as the sound of waves lulled her to a state of bliss. she had chosen a relatively isolated spot on the beach, but that had been a couple of hours ago. she could hear the beach crowding up a bit, and well– she knew there were more people because a volleyball hit her smack on the face. “ow! oh my god–” she cried out.

he was hitting around an old volleyball he’d found with his niece, lucy, just lying on the beach. it probably wasn’t sanitary to just start using a random ball, but it made for some fun between the pair. ruby wanted to show off with an awesome spike, telling his niece to, “watch this because it’s gonna blow your mind.” instead, he blew someone else’s mind (or at least bruised it) when the spike went out of control and flew towards a girl sitting on the beach. lucy started screaming and ruby ran up to retrieve the ball. “uh, i’m so, so sorry about that. my hand just slipped and... well, are you okay?”

open starter → location; the beach, 11 pm | @wellcliffstarters

noah was no stranger to running on the beach at night. he saw it as a perk of living so close to the coast, so far removed from being inland and feeling trapped. what doesn’t always come easy on no sleep is running on sand, the slippery surface moving more than he could account for. he hit the ground with a soft thud, rolling so he was on his back and looking back up at the stars. and, as luck would have it, another person. “it’s all good, i am no stranger to busting ass.” he laughed, shaking the sand out of his hair as he sat up. 

        “well you can’t have half, these are all firefly’s so keep those peepers pointing elsewhere.” chuck hides the twizzlers behind her back and sticks her tongue out at ruby in all her mature glory. maybe her baby blue eyes settle on ruby a little longer than they should but she’ll deny it. tearing her gaze away she pulls some bottles of soda out of her bag and setting them down, rummaging in there for more things. catching the nervous laughter, chuck’s smirk softens a moment. “just admit it, farfelle sucks and i have guided you down the far better path of tortellini.” she pulls out popcorn next, some barbie cups she spotted at the store, plus random bags of sugary confections that she may or may not live off of. chuck is pretty sure she’s mostly sugar at this point. “he kind of looks like a thumb from spykids now.” chuck can’t help it, she’s on her tiptoes and brushing a hand over ruby’s shaved head with a hum. “you pull it off way better than bruce, but don’t tell him i said that. i’m not sure his ego could take it.” watching the other lift lucy brings a smile to the blonde’s face. she momentarily slips away to grab a bowl for the popcorn and may or may not spy inside on of the pots cooking the food before returning. “do we have time before food to whip up a blanket fort?”

ruby rolls his eyes at chuck, turning his attention to lucy. “firefly,” he uses the nickname that chuck has been calling the little girl by, “would you please share some twizzlers with your hungry uncle ruby? i’ll give you five bucks for just three twizzlers, so you’d make a hefty profit.” he watches as lucy weighs her options, her face lighting up with a smile. “five dollars?” she repeats, ruby nods pulling out his wallet to show her. “yeah! uncle ruby gets three!” she agrees, still bouncing like the tot she is. “that settles that, chuck. looks like i don’t get half, but i do get something,” he pats lucy’s head again, giving chuck a smug grin. he looks at the other stuff coming from her bag; he has a sweet-tooth, but even just looking at this amount of sugary food is making his stomach ache. “i’ll never admit that farfalle sucks, but i’m starting to come around to tortellini. i can see why you like it so much,” he bites his lip, still admiring chuck’s look. it’s rare to see her like this, so casual, but ruby also thinks it’s cute. he probably would even tell her that aloud if she asked why he was staring. “oh, i was supposed to meet bruce willis at an awards ceremony two years ago. if you had talked that kinda trash back then, i can’t say i wouldn’t have ratted you out,” he teases, poking chuck’s side as she runs her hand over his head. he doesn’t move from her touch, though. “luce, what do you say? blanket fort before pasta?” he asks, the little girl claps in delight. she’s already speeding off to grab all of the blankets about the loft. “i take that as a yes,” he says, pointing at the way lucy had run off.

“—huh? What do you mean it’s not yet Christmas?” Kari asked as she held her 6th bottle of beer. “Everyday is Christmas. Christmas lives in us. There have been studies about Christmas being everyday. You can’t contradict that. And no, I’m not drunk.” @wellcliffstarters·

ruby was drunk off his ass at sparky’s and he’d lost track of his conversation with kari. “what?” he squinted, taking another drink from his pint of beer. “what the hell kinda studies say christmas is everyday? christmas isn’t a feeling, it’s just a holiday. it can only be the twenty-fifth of december. if it was everyday then we’d all be broke as shit and giving gifts to everyone, all the time.”

      teddy hovers the food just out of reach of ruby and smirks. maybe it’s because it’s a slow day and he’s bored out of his mind but he decides to have a little fun with the other. teddy has always enjoyed pushing buttons, though he prefers doing it to authority figures. though ruby will do for now. “you can have this burger as long as you play jolene on your show, and not dolly parton, becky g’s version.” @rubygoulds·

ruby licked his lips at the sight of his mozzerella sticks and marinara sauce, the side to the big, juicy sparky’s burger. as soon as it’s pulled away, ruby makes a little grunt. his eyes flick angrily up towards teddy. “you come between a man and his food and i think you’ll have to worry about more than some pop song getting played on the radio,” he sucks his teeth. “why do you want jolene played anyways? that’s a whack song.”

HOLLYWOOD LOOKS !

      “you really gunna steal candy from a baby?” she holds the packet of twizzlers in her hand further away from ruby with a smirk. at seeing lucy, chuck’s smile grows. “hey firefly, you ready for our movie marathon? i got half the snack aisle for us to chow down on.” at the mention of tortellini, chuck glances up from lucy to ruby and narrows her eyes playfully. her brain is already clicking things together and she shakes her head somewhat fondly. “nah, it’s turtle-leaning now. and you know what, firefly? that just so happens to be my favourite pasta. what a coinkydink.” making her way inside she pauses by ruby. “you ain’t slick, rubes.” though there’s no harshness at her words and she’s soon turning to follow lucy. “oh, well die hard is about bruce willis and his battle to keep his hair and wife safe. blade runner- just robots, robots everywhere. but those movies are boring, we’ve got better ones to watch.” she pulls the barbie box set out of her back to give to lucy and laughs at the squeal of excitement she gets in response. “i vote for princess and the pauper! you got any requests, uncle ruby?”

“i never said i’d steal any from luce. for all you know i was going to take the package and split it evenly between me and the kid,” he shrugs, trying to hide the way his dimples are starting to show up. lucy does some hyper nodding and jumping when chuck mentions candy and movies. it’s hard for any four year old to resist. “it’s the biggest ‘coinkydink’ ever!” he nods, letting out a nervous laugh. “the store, you know, it’s all they had... i didn’t have the chance to get my usual farfalle,” he spins around to follow lucy and chuck further into the apartment, shutting the door behind him. “i don’t think bruce willis has any hair to battle to keep,” he touches his own cleanly shaved head. “uncle ruby has hair, he just shaves it off sometimes.” he lifts lucy up by her hands, swinging her about. he lets his niece down to grab the box set of dvds from chuck. “i said they were my favorites, but to be honest i don’t know what movies there are. what do you say, lucy?”

      chuck loves babysitting, she has as much energy as a kid and imagination. she has spent the entire day figuring out what movies to watch, finding lucy’s favourite snacks, and even brought her nail polish over for makeovers. she’s dressed far more casual than her usual tight revealing clothing, an oversized space jam shirt and some old gym shorts, though her signature red lip has been added to the casual look. she does know a certain someone also lives here too- and maybe she was hoping to see him. though will she admit that? never. chuck does the secret knock her and lucy came up with before stepping back. “come on, firefly! i’ve got twizzlers!” though it’s ruby who answers the door and chuck is momentarily in shock before she brushes it off. “keep saying stuff like that and you’ll go all pinocchio on us.” chuck raises a brow at him. “well, just letting you know now, if you’re here you’re being dragged into marathoning all the barbie movies. there’s no out. now, you gunna invite me in or am i babysitting from the doorway?”

he looks her up and down, admiring her space jam shirt and more casual look. ruby is sure that he has one that could match hers in his closet. “i’ll take those twizzlers,” his most charming smile graces his lips as lucy comes running up behind him holding onto his leg. “uncle ruby is makin’ turtle-leaning pasta, chuckie!” the little girl calls from below. “lu, it’s tortellini,” he corrects, trying to make it sound more italian. looking back at chuck while patting his niece on the head. “pinocchio? is that the one who turned into a real boy because he kept telling the truth?” he butchers the fairy tale on purpose, moving out of the doorway to let chuck in. “barbie movies? how did you know those are my favorite? you’re absolutely welcome to marathon those. or, we could show lu some classics like die hard and blade runner,” he chuckles, lucy excitedly asking what those films are about.

After her morning at the studio, Ruby was getting ready to head out and go about her day. It was mid afternoon by now, her radio show having just gone off the air about thirty minutes ago, and she’d taken her time saying goodbye to her coworkers before walking out the door. She loved her job more than anything in the world, getting to co-host a show on her favorite station, the one she’d listened to since she moved to Wellcliff as a teenager. It always seemed to good to be true, but that was her life and she was thankful for it. 

As she walked down the sidewalk with her bag slung over her shoulder, Ruby hummed along to the music playing from her headphones, going in the direction of Bean There, Done That to get herself a coffee. Her attention wasn’t fully on her surroundings, though, because she was focused on her music - until she ran directly into someone. “Shit,” She said softly, stumbling back a couple of steps before pulling her headphones off her ears and putting them around her neck. “Sorry about that. Are you alright?”

@wellcliffstarters·

“ruby twos-day, i’m absolutely fine. how are you?” he smirks, stumbling back from their little bump into each other. when ruby was on her way out of the station, robert was on his way in. he had started calling her by nicknames that had to do with being the sequel to him - ruby two: electric boogaloo, two ruby two furious, and (his personal favorite) ruby-two said similar to scooby-doo. “what are you listening to? anything i should put on air this evening?” he asks, pointing to her headphones.

Isaac snorted outright. “Who the fuck is Cher?” He could swear that he’d never heard of ‘Cher’ in his life, and from the way Ruby talked, it sounded like it was way before his time. Sonny and Cher rang no bells to him, anyway.

“you... you’re telling me you don’t know who cher is?” ruby sucks in a deep breath. “dude, she’s one of the greatest artists of our generation... you ever heard of mamma mia: here we go again? she’s the grandmother in that.”  he extended the record to isaac with a frown, “please, you need this more than me. go and educate yourself, man.”