#thread ft. ruby

tagging: ben & @rubyzizes​ when: december 31st where: the zizes’ residence + lima country club

The holidays were always a special time of the year, but for the Lynn family, it was one of the only times of the year in which the entire family got along. Sure, they were a smaller family, but with a fiery personality like Kitty Wilde-Lynn roaming around? It was easy for a tense moment to spark. Because of their holiday closeness, it closed off Benji’s social life, which was fine! Christmas was about family! Loved ones! Spending time watching holiday classics and drinking hot chocolate! Every other year, Benji was solid with how his holiday season measured up... but it wasn’t every year that Benji was in the middle of a romantic whirlwind like he was this year. It had been almost a week since the fateful night at the basketball courts with Ruby, and yet, Benji had hardly any time to see her. They had been texting a lot and Facetiming, but other than that? They really hadn’t seen each other more than a handful of minutes.

But that was changing tonight. 

Benji glanced up at the Zizes’ residence as he smoothed out the front of his tuxedo with a heavy sigh. He was nervous. It had been a while since he had been on a true date with someone, and even longer since it had been such a high stakes moment. They both knew what this night was going to mean to them and their progression, and while he was excited, he had a lot of ground to cover. His behavior over the last couple of months was pretty unacceptable. It had taken him getting called out for him to realize, and now that he had pinpointed his nearly torturous teasing ways? He was headstrong on correcting them.

With flowers in one hand, Benji knocked on the front door with the other. The next couple seconds were nearly agonizing... but then, the door opened and Ruby freakin’ Zizes was standing in front of him. She was fucking beautiful. “Wow,” Benji said with a dreamy look in his eyes as he swallowed hard, trying to focus on what he was here for. “You look... wow, I’m the luckiest son of a bitch tonight, huh?” Benji smiled wide enough that his eyes appeared to be squinting in her direction before he held out the flowers for her. “I uh- I got you these.” C’mon Benjamin, this is your fuckin’ moment. Don’t fuck it up. “Ready to go?”

tagging: benji + @rubyzizes​ when: sunday, february 14th where: candyland

Even though Benji Lynn was a very sociable person, on the night of Candyland, all he found himself wanting to do was spend time at the side of his girlfriend. It had been just over a month since their relationship had fully blossomed into something beautiful, and he was having the time of his life. Currently, he was posted up in one of the booths, eyes trained on Ruby as she worked the party. God, she was practically a work of art at this point to him. There was nothing that Benji could fault her for, and while he was certain that was the workings of them still being very much in the comfortable and fun ‘honeymoon phase’ of their relationship, something about them still just felt so right. “Sorry, be right back,” Benji said off handedly to whatever sophomore JV Cheerio that had just slid their way into the booth for some sort of conversation. However, he didn’t have any intention on returning for some half hearted talk with a random wannabe master cheerleader - it was time he stole Ruby away. “Wanna dance?” Benji asked as he approached Ruby from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist before he was walking them backwards towards the dance floor. A slower song had changed over the sound system, which was better for Benji and his... dangerously out of rhythm dance moves. Once they were nestled underneath the lights and the atmosphere was taking over both of them, Benji pulled back from slow dancing with her before he was smiling. “I know we said no gifts, but I couldn’t help myself,” he began, reaching into his pocket before he was bringing out a small velvet box. Benji was famously known for being quite possibly the worst gift giver, but he had an inkling that the silver plated necklace with a ‘B’ pendant was going to be quite the hit. “You know,” a pause. “It’s like a ‘B’ for Benji.”

tagging: benji + @rubyzizes​ where: wmhs library  when: after school, muck release time

It was strange to think that Benji’s one hour tutoring session used to be something he dreaded on a daily basis, however, ever since he learned that Ruby Zizes was his tutor, things were different. Suddenly, Benji was the most academically excited person in all of WMHS. He looked forward to the free hour that he had Ruby all to himself, and after the events of the party on Saturday? It was like a newfound electricity was weaving back and forth between the two of them. Sure, studying and tutoring was still happening, but the flirtatious words and looks only elevated things to a much more enjoyable setting for him. “Wanna cut this short and just talk?” Benji tried yet again, knowing he was about to be shut down in the most polite ways as possible from Ruby. She was very serious, and it worked. He had already seen an improvement with his grades. Things were going so good between the two of them.

That is, until there was a mass dinging occurring around them.

Benji sighed as he grabbed his phone, knowing that JBI Jr. was up to his usual bullshit yet again. It was annoying. It was childish. It was weirdly addictive. A smile blessed Benji’s face as he loaded the typical Muckracker link, but as soon as he saw the cover story of this issue, Benji’s jaw dropped. In all of her glory, Ruby Zizes’ in rather revealing images was littering his phone screen. “Oh my God,” Benji began as he thought about one thing and one thing only - she was sitting right in front of him. “Ru,” he started, locking his phone and sliding it into his backpack as he looked up to see her checking her own phone, the color draining from her face. He felt like fucking shit. It didn’t matter if he hadn’t had a hand in the leaking of her nudes, he was seeing the direct reaction of what it was like for her. “Hey, hey,” he tried again, grabbing the phone from her hands and locking it before forcing eye contact on her. “If I start walking out of this library right now, you gonna follow me?” His tone of voice was soft and easy as he studied her face, trying to image what she was thinking. What if this had happened to his sister? An instant wave of anger washed over his body as he let out a shaky exhale. What the fuck was wrong with people? Benji attended weekly anger management courses, but nothing he had learned from those courses about maintaining his anger towards the general population of WMHS was working. “Come on,” he mumbled, making quick work of grabbing both of their heaps of notebooks, textbooks, and writing utensils before he was grabbing Ruby’s hand and pulling her towards the door of the library. He had seen plenty of movies about escape missions... sure, they were all basically surrounded with war themes and overall violence, but Benji was certain he was being just as heroic in the moment. 

All that mattered was getting Ruby to a safe place as soon as possible.

Regardless, there was a wicked party tonight and he was going to be damned if he didn’t at least try to score some brownie points with Ruby at Football Chad’s house.

Benji’s arrival to the party might have been a little earlier than he typically liked to show up, but his parents thought that he was spending the night at Jett’s house (he was but just... after a little party action occurred). This was a free night away from his mom’s super watchful eye - it was perfect. However, it wasn’t perfect how much he had been drinking whenever he noticed Ruby Zizes across the room, talking with some of her friends. It was nice learning so much about her recently and knowing exactly who her go to close friends were. It was nice knowing anything about Ruby at this point. “Ruuuuu,” Benji sighed out as he approached the girl from behind, wrapping his arms slightly sloppily but also gently around her shoulders, and resting his chin on her shoulder. “It’s about time you got here, I’ve been lookin’ for you. You need a refill or anything?” Damn. It had been a while since he felt this way about a girl. Benji’s eyes cast forward to toss a greeting smile in the direction of her friends. After his experience with Finn’s friends? It was probably best that he start laying the groundwork with being overly friendly towards Ruby’s people. @rubyzizes​

tagging: benji + @rubyzizes​ when: oct. 31 where: st. james house

Benji should have known that starting the night with Austin was probably the worst idea in the history of the world. The pair had always been a dynamic duo, but that intensified the second there was alcohol involved. Their competitive natures came out, and before Benji knew it, he had a very strong tipsy going on (he was absolutely drunk, but he would never admit that so early into the party). Once they had both respectfully tapped out of drinking each other into the ground, Benji was making his rounds through the house. It felt like the year had progressed far enough away from the ‘shock factor’ of him having to retake his senior year, so Benji was more confident as he started greeting anyone who he recognized before him. However, the moment he saw Ruby Zizes, it was like his mind had laser focused in on her. Before he knew it, he was approaching her with a wide, goofy grin.

“‘Sup teach?” Benji said as he leaned in close to talk with her. To be fair, he was almost in the realm of idolizing Ruby. While tutoring wasn’t something he was desperate for, she had already helped his grade tremendously. It was something he was forever grateful for, but in his current state of mind? He could only articulate as being minorly obsessed with her. “You look fuckin’ incredible,” he admitted with a smile as he leaned back to take in her costume for all it was worth. He hadn’t a single idea what the fuck she was supposed to be, but that didn’t matter. She still looked good. “Is it against the tutoring law for us to dance together? I can stand a respectable two feet away.”