Protection (Ruby X Reader)
"Okay, people! Hurry in! We need to start going over this play!” shouted the English teacher, Mr. Miller in the community theater after school.
The core four and Jasmine sat down next to each other with other students in their grade along with freshmen in a circle of chairs with Mr. Miller in front to see the whole class.
"Everyone, everybody you see in this circle is part of Freeridge's first annual play, "Hamilton"!" said Mr. Miller and everybody clapped.
"This will be a little musical so some parts were based off of people who's in choir with Ms. Grande. Now, do we have our lead actress, “Eliza” here?" Mr. Miller asked.
Students start to turn and start to chatter between each other to figure it out.
The doors that enter you into the theater busted open, causing everybody to turn to them
You came in jogging tiredly with sweat coming down your face, your script in your hand, and your backpack on your back. You just came from your house because you have to buy groceries from the store instead of getting on the bus to here.
"I'm-I'm here! I'm here! I'm-"
You screamed and found yourself on the ground hurt because you tripped over your foot. Some freshmen laughed at your fall.
"Y/N!" shouted Ruby and he quickly got up from his seat and jogs up to you. You slowly get up from the ground until Ruby grabs your right hand and helps you the rest of the way up.
"Thanks, Ruby. I appreciate it." you said. looking at him with a small smile.
"No problem, Eliza." said Ruby with a grin, making you giggle a bit as you grab your script from his hand.
"Now, that both of our main leads are here, let's start reading our script, shall we?" said Mr. Miller and you and Ruby walked on the stage and sat next to each other.
"Y/N!" shouted Ruby and quickly out of your thoughts that were flowing through your mind.
"Huh?" you said with wide eyes as you looked at everyone. You just realized you were still here about an hour later.
"It's your line." said Ruby and your eyes widened again and you quickly flipped through your script to where everybody was.
"Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?." you said while acting sadly.
"Good job, everyone! That includes practice today. We will be back here on Thursday to start setting up the scenes for the play. Everyone is free to go now." said Mr. Miller and everyone started to get up and started leaving.
You close your script hard because you were so glad you were glad for the day. You quickly got up and left out of the theater.
You took out your skateboard you have in your backpack and put it on the ground. You got on and started to roll down the sidewalk to get home until you heard your name.
You stop rolling and turn around. Your heart skipped a beat to see Ruby coming up to you with a smile with his backpack on his back.
"Let me take you home." said Ruby as he walks up to you.
"Awe, you don't have to. My house is literally around the corner." you lied, hoping Ruby would leave. You don't want Ruby to find out where you live.
"But I want to. I like you, Y/N. You're going to ignore what’s going on between us? I'm not going to act like I don't." said Ruby looking into your eyes confessing. He starts to get even closer to you but you backed away from him.
"I like you too but I'm just not in the right mindset to date right now. Too many things are going around in my life. I gotta go, bye!" you said and you quickly swipe your right foot a couple of times as you start to roll faster and away from him.
You look back to see Ruby with a puzzled face, making your heart ache and feeling regret. As much you want him to take you home, you can't because Latrelle is your cousin and currently living with you temporarily.
You hate that he was your cousin. “He’s hiding," he says. He always brings girls over for his pleasure, smoking all over the place, and leaving trash all over the house.
He is nothing worse than your father. An alcoholic with no job. Who's just let Latrelle with no questions about why he's hiding.
How are you still living in your house? All you. You are always working, cleaning, paying bills, while all going to high school.
You are still trying to figure out how you manage to do this while having average grades. You were glad makeup exists because you always have to put on makeup everyday to hide your dark circles from the late nights you work.
Sooner or later, you have to tell him but you haven't because Ruby is just turning back into himself. This play was a big step for him to become himself again because he loves planning and wants to make everything perfect.
You saw how Ruby got back to himself through your eyes by doing all of these pain-relief medicines, therapy, and doing fun activities with you and the rest of the gang like regular teenagers.
You're so happy to see him grow from his experience and you don't want him to relive his memory because of you. You just can't.
You entered your house with your skateboard underneath your right arm and you saw your dad knocked out on the couch with a whole bottle of alcohol in his right hand.
You rolled your eyes and you went into your room. You screamed to see Latrelle and his girlfriend of the week making out on your bed. Disgusting.
"Latrelle! What the h*ll?!" you shouted with a disgusted face. They quickly stopped and looked at you.
"This is the fifth time this happened, Latrelle! You got your own room, do you know that?!" you shouted angrily.
"Your room is the closest. We just in the moment." said Latrelle with a smirk and leaned over to his girl. He kissed her slowly as she started to go down his body about to reach his pants. You have to stop this now!
"Hey hyna! Get the h*ll out of my room now!" you shouted furiously and the girl looked at you with a stink eye.
"Little girl, I don't think you know who you are talking to." she said as she walked over to you with a glare and her arms crossed against her chest.
"You think I'm scared of you? Ha, listen. You ain't the first girl that he invited into my house and slept over so don't think you're special, Becky. With those low-quality "extensions" y'all say when it's actually a weave." you said and the girl's jaw dropped in shock.
"Actually, my name is Maria. This is not a weave, it's my real hair. The leader's daughter of the Prophet$, the winner of the Freeridge beauty pageant, the queen of-"
"Nobody f*cking cares! Now get your bad-looking blonde weave looking a*s outta here, Becky or I'll bust a hole through your head!" you shouted angrily.
You were mad now and you were willing to do anything illegal because of what Latrelle and your dad did today.
Maria grabs her purse from your floor and leaves the house angrily. You walked over to your bed and grabbed a shirt that wasn't yours.
"This hyna walked out in her bra." you said while looking at her shirt in her hand. You dropped it to the floor in disgust.
"Where do you think you're going, Latrelle?" you asked seriously. You turn around to see Latrelle trying to sneak out of your room.
"What Y/N? I need to go." said Latrelle.
"Oh no! You're going to stay here and clean up this house! I have gotten food, made dinner, working multiple jobs just to keep us underneath a roof! You have done absolutely nothing but bring girls and smoke ever since you moved in here! If you're going to stay, you should do something that would help in this household!" you yelled at him.
You have enough dealing with this every single day with him and your father. It makes you feel lonely and angry because they don't do anything. You felt like a grown woman when you should be enjoying your last years of a teenager.
"No! Let me be! You're just here to give us anything we want! We own this place! You can't do anything about it because you're just a puta!" yelled Latrelle at you furiously.
You looked at him with wide eyes as you were breathing heavily. You don't see your cousin anymore in him. You see a monster. A horrible monster ready to hurt you at any moment. Along with your father.
You felt tears coming through your eyes. You were trying not to break but it's not working at all, it was making it worse.
Latrelle grunts and walks out of the door of the house. A few moments later, you screamed furiously and tears started to flow down your tears heavily.
You fall down to the floor of your bedroom and just cry as you feel your eyes turning red. You couldn't take this no more. You try so hard to be strong but it's so hard without your mom here without you.
An hour later, you opened your eyes and you found yourself on the floor. You slowly sit up and grab your phone that was a few feet from you.
You look at the time and you see a few missed calls from Ruby. You slowly smile. It seems like Ruby is the only person right now that would call you this late at night.
A thought came into your mind and you slowly got up from the floor. You wipe your nose with a tissue and eyes as you look in your full mirror.
You see your red eyes almost returning to normal with your mascara running down your cheek. You wipe off your face and start doing small and natural makeup on your face.
You stopped to see your scars and bruises you got from your dad on your arms that are slowly healing and you felt your heart breaking again. You quickly grab your purse with your phone and leave the house.
A few minutes later, you found yourself in front of Ruby's house. You don't know why.
You slowly walked up to his door and hesitated until you rang his doorbell.
A few moments later, the door opened and my heart skipped a beat to see Ruby.
"Y/N?!" said Ruby, shocked that you were here at this hour.
"Hi Ruby." you said shyly and you look down to the ground.
"Hurry, come in," said Ruby, opening up the door wider and entering his house. He locked the door.
"What are you doing here at this hour? You know what happens after eleven?" asked Ruby, looking at you concerned and scared because he didn't want anything happening to you.
He looked into your eyes and you saw you were upset, making his eyes soften.
"Y/N...what's wrong? Did something happen? Is there someone I have to beat up?" asked Ruby and you chuckled underneath your breath.
"Ruby, you can't beat up anybody." you said as you looked at him.
"I'll become The Rock if anybody is messing with you." said Ruby and you chuckled again at his silliness. He always knows how to cheer you up without trying.
"But seriously, what's wrong. You came here this late at night. You should stay here for the night since you're here for your safety." said Ruby and he quickly went into another room in his house.
"Ruby, that's not necessary! I'm fine! I'm going to call-"
Your heart melted as Ruby came back into the living room with pillows, covers, pj's, slippers, and soft socks.
"Awe, Ruby. Wait, why are you here alone? I don't think you're completely better." you said being concerned to Ruby to ignore your situation right now.
"I'm not alone. Abuela's here but she fell asleep. My family is at a graduation ceremony for the twins for passing kindergarten up in Brentwood." said Ruby as he sat up a comfortable place for you on the main couch in the living room.
"Oh, okay. That's good. I'm proud of you. You're becoming better." you said and Ruby looks at you happily.
"Thanks Y/N. I'm glad you were here by my side all that time. I would've done the same for you." said Ruby and you felt a blush gaining on your cheeks. You look down so Ruby doesn't see them.
"There we go. Let me take that for you. Here, sit down." said Ruby and you look backed up and walk over to the couch to sit down. Ruby took your purse out of your hand.
"I'm going to inform your dad that you're here, okay?" asked Ruby, taking your phone from your purse and going to your messages.
"No!" you shouted with a scare to your voice, causing Ruby to look at you shocked.
"Please don't tell him. I, um..." you said and you felt tears coming down your face again. Not again.
"Y/N.'' said Ruby, concerned and quickly putting your purse and phone on the coffee table in front of the couch. He sits next to you and looks at you concerned.
"Come down princesa. What's going on? Please. You're scaring me." said Ruby and tears started to fall down slowly.
You couldn't hold it in any more. Everything that has been going on for you for the last few months you held up in your mind was just all coming out in tears tonight.
You have to tell him now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. There's no way to escape. You were going to lose Ruby tonight.
"Ru-ru-Ruby?" you stuttered as Ruby was wiping your tears and the light mascara on your face that was running on your face off with his mom's makeup wipes.
You look into his eyes deeply for the first time. Your heart skipped to see his eyes soft and full of concern.
You felt such a connection. Ruby was feeling it too and you have no idea. Your heart aches that you won't be able to see into his eyes again once you tell him.
"I-I-I ha-have to tell you something. Something I've been ke-keeping for m-m-months." you stuttered and Ruby's eyes slightly widened at your statement.
Ruby slowly nodded and you did a deep breath. Here we go.
You told him everything. From the jobs, Latrelle being your cousin, your alcoholic father, both of them abusing you. Every moment.
You see Ruby's face become less and less full of expression and it just breaks your heart inside into a million pieces.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I said all of that. I'm okay now." you said and you turn away from Ruby and face your body the other way to avoid looking at him.
Ruby didn't say anything. He was trying to process anything. He has so many emotions that he doesn't know what to express first.
He looks at you faced away and tries to figure out what to say but couldn't think of anything.
"I understand if you don't like me no more. Don't worry. I'm going to quit the play and you don't have to see me again." you said and you felt movement from Ruby.
You felt a hand connecting to your left hand and you looked down at it. You follow where that hand connects and it leads to Ruby.
Without saying a word, Ruby slowly pulls on your hand, making your body facing him. Ruby continues on pulling on your hand and puts his hand on your waist.
You look up at him again and Ruby wraps you with his arms.
Holding you was the only thing Ruby could come up with in response to what you just told him. He was furious, upset, disappointed, disgusted and many more emotions.
He hates that all of this happened to you and nobody didn't notice it. Not even him, making him disappointed in himself.
Ruby just holds you. Tight. On the couch in his living room. Both of you didn't talk at all.
Eventually, you fall asleep and Ruby looks at you deeply and starts to stare at your face features.
He caresses your face softly as you sleep on his chest like it was a pillow. He slowly gives you a kiss on your forehead, causing you to gain a small smile during your sleep.
"I'm going to make this right, hermosa. You’ll see next morning." said Ruby as he caressed your hair with his fingers.
A few hours later, you woke up and you looked around to see you were in a whole different room. You sat up quickly but calmed down once you realized you were in Ruby's room.
You turned to the other side of the room to see Ruby was not there. You grab your phone that was next to you on the bed table and saw a post-it note on it.
"My mom called you off of school today. Got some news for you outside this room. Put on the outfit hanging on the hook of the door. Take your time, maravillosa. -Ruby"
You looked at the door and your eyes widened to see there was an actual outfit hanging on the door. You get up and you start getting ready.
You did a final layer of lip gloss and you stepped back from your outfit. You were wearing a rainbow tie-dye t-shirt with jean shorts, golden checkered vans with your hair in a high ponytail and silver jewelry.
You opened the door to exit the bedroom with your phone. You jumped to see Ruby sitting on the floor in the hallway looking at you with a grin.
"Hola hermosa." said Ruby, making you smile.
"Hi Ruby. Um...what's the good news?" you asked remembering the post-it note on your phone earlier.
Ruby gets up and grabs your hand. He pulls it making you follow him. A moment later, you saw the rest of the core four and Jasmine along with Ruby's family and Monse's dad sitting in the living room.
They all turned to you and Ruby entering with happy faces.
"What is going on?" you asked with a shy smile as you and Ruby sit next to each other on another available couch in the living room.
Jamal turns on the TV and turns it to the news. Everybody turns their attention to the TV.
After the news came off a few minutes later, you stood up surprised.
"So, my father and Latrelle are arrested?" you asked calmly and everybody in the room quickly nodded.
"You're free, Y/N." said Ruby standing up and looking at you.
"Wait, really?" you asked and everybody started to cheer and celebrate. You started to cry again.
"Princesa, there's no need to cry." said Ruby as he caressed your face to wipe the small tears away.
"These are happy tears. I just feel revived." you said happily as you looked at Ruby. You felt happy in your life right now and it was honestly scaring you a bit because life can turn this left real quick in a few seconds.
"Wait, then where am I going to live? I can't live in a house by myself. I'm sixteen." you said.
"You will be moving into my house. Monse told me what was going on and I immediately said yes because Monse needs a girl friend to talk to." said Monse's dad.
"Thank you so much." you said happily and you quickly went over and hugged Monse and her dad.
"How did all this happen?" you asked curiously and everybody turns over to Ruby with weird grins on their faces.
"Y'all snitches." said Ruby and everybody laughed.
"Ruby..." you said softly as you went back over to him.
"Did you really do this for me?" you asked and Ruby hesitated to your question and nodded. It was true.
"I don't know how to repay you. You're been the sweetest and supportive guy I've ever had in my life and making sure I'm okay." you said. You met every word.
"Oh course, Y/N. I handle things for you. I don't want you to go through anything like that again." said Ruby and you hugged him tight. Ruby hugged you back quickly.
"Let's go celebrate!" said Abuela and everybody cheered as they started walking out of the door leaving you and Ruby, the last two people in the house.
"Wait." you said stopping him from walking out of the door.
"What is it, Y/N?" asked Ruby, looking at you deeply. Your heart skips a beat by what you are about to say.
"I know I keep on rejecting you multiple times for multiple reasons and I'm so sorry for that. Now that my life is better now, I was wondering if we can-"
Ruby kisses you passionately and you quickly kiss him back. You were dreaming for this moment and it was finally happening. You couldn't believe it.
Both of you ended the kiss and looked at each other with soft eyes.
"Y/N, we're together. And nobody is going to break us." said Ruby and your heart melted in happiness.
You and Ruby did a quick kiss and walked out of his house. You stayed with your knight in shiny armor forever.
