Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Are you ready to change jobs yet?” Ruby asked, a smile and a cigarette hanging from her lips. 

Nicole rolled her eyes. 

“Fuck no.” She took a drag of her own cigarette, closing her eyes as she inhaled the smoke. “I honestly don't know how you survive doing this everyday.” 

Ruby moved closer, using her free hand to tuck a loose strand of Nicole's hair behind her ear.

“It helps knowing I have you waiting for me on our breaks,” she teased. Nicole rolled her eyes again, but she couldn't hide her smile. 

She put out her cigarette to pull Ruby closer, holding Ruby's arm with one hand. 

Ruby leaned down and kissed Nicole, her smoke quickly forgotten. She tasted her cigarette on Nicole's tongue and the garlic confit she taught Nicole how to make. She had both arms around Nicole's neck, who was gripping Ruby's waist with one hand and her arm with the other.

Nicole pulled Ruby to her, their bodies as close as humanly possible. She wanted Ruby even closer, she wanted to be skin to skin with her, she wanted to do the impossible and become one with her. 

But they only had 15 minutes and a gross back alley to be at, so this would have to be enough until they could go home. 

When they finally broke apart again, they didn't say anything. They had been doing this long enough that they could stand in comfortable silence, not worried about filling in the gaps. 

Nicole looked up at Ruby's eyes, sure that the passion she saw on them mirrored what Ruby could see on her eyes. She smiled, gently stroking Ruby’s arms. She noticed bumps and marks she never paid attention to before.

Nicole turned her head, taking a closer look at Ruby's arm. Most of it was covered by complicated tattoos, but she could see bumps that looked out of place. 

“You guys are all really covered in burns, aren't you?” Nicole asked, delicately tracing one of the bigger scars with the tip of her finger. 

“Pickles was right in calling them battle scars.” Ruby looked at her own arm, stopping to actually look at her scars for the first time. She had so many it was hard to care or even think about them anymore.

Nicole chuckled. “I don't think I've ever heard the words ‘Pickles was right’ coming out of your mouth before.” 

Ruby smiled, looking at Nicole as Nicole looked at her scars. Nicole moved to the other arm, the burns more visible with no tattoos to hide them. 

There was a particularly big healed burn covering the skin from Ruby's thumb to her wrist. 

“Tell me about this one.” Nicole asked, softly. 

Ruby looked at it, flexing her hand out of habit. 

“I got this one by first week at Bistro Huddy, actually. I was still getting used to this kitchen and I burned myself on the grill.” 

Ruby started at Nicole, waiting for something. Nicole's eyes lit up with recognition and she let out a surprised gasp. 

"Wait, I remember this. I remember I ran to grab you some ice and you told me the way to treat burns is to put it under cool water.”

Ruby smiled. “Yeah, you filled a bowl with water and chatted with me while we timed it out.”

“I think it was the first time we actually talked, wasn’t it? Like, a real conversation.” Nicole smiled at the memory. 

Ruby chuckled. “You call you gossiping about our coworkers while I listened and thought about how hot you were a real conversation?” 

Nicole bit her lips, eyes sparkling at Ruby.  

“You were thinking about how hot I am?” She moved her hand up Ruby's arms, reaching the back of her neck and playing with the short hair there. 

“I thought about that every time I saw you, Nicole.” Ruby rolled her eyes. She moved her hands down, pulling Nicole by her waist. “I still do.” 

She moved down to kiss Nicole's neck. Nicole let out a soft, happy moan.

Nicole pulled back and grabbed Ruby's arm, bringing her hand to her mouth. She softly kissed the scar. In one way, it was the scar that started it all.  

"Show me your scars.” she said, her mouth on Ruby's skin. 

Ruby paused. 

She knew Nicole meant it literally. She wanted to see Ruby's physical scars from years in the kitchen, from wielding knives and hot grills and burning oil. But there was something so intimate about showing someone her scars, and something so sincere in Nicole's voice when she asked it. 

Ruby stepped back and removed her coat, baring her arms. She extended them to Nicole. 

“There are so many. Which one do you wanna know about?” Ruby asked. 

Nicole took one of the arms in her hands, exploring the soft skin with her fingers. She examined it, looking over every scar and bruise and burn. Her finger traced a healed cut on Ruby's middle finger. 

"What about this one?” 

Ruby looked over it, remembering exactly how she got it. “I got this one in culinary school. We were learning knife techniques and I underestimated just how sharp the knife was. It was stupid,” she sighed. “It was the first time I had to get stitches.” 

Nicole seemed lost in thought, tracing the scar over and over. She took Ruby's hand and placed her lips on the scar, kissing it over. 

Nicole didn't see the way Ruby's eyes went wide, or the way her breath hitched and her heart beat faster. 

She found a different scar on Ruby's forearm. “Tell me about this one,” she asked. 

And Ruby did. 

She told Nicole about the scar on her forearm, the one near her elbow, the many burns on her hands and fingers. Nicole asked about each one, Ruby talked about the ones she remembered getting, and Nicole kissed every one while Ruby talked. 

They were standing on a dirty alley on borrowed time, a few feet away from their coworkers. But they ignored the clock ticking and shared tales about scars. It felt more intimate than anything they had done before, more intimate than spending all night wrapped around one another, all fingers and mouth and tongues.

Nicole brushed her fingers against Ruby's neck, under her ear. 

“How did you get this bruise?” She asked, her finger on a purple bruise on Ruby's neck, so hidden she would never know about it if she wasn't the one who left it there. 

Ruby chuckled. 

“Oh, that one? The new line cook gave it to me on our break yesterday.” 

“How scandalous.” Nicole teased, leaning to kiss over the bruise. She felt Ruby's fingers digging into her waist as Nicole kissed her way to Ruby's mouth, thinking she would never get tired of kissing Ruby. 

Ruby kissed her back eagerly, walking her backwards until Nicole's back hit the wall. She moved her mouth to Nicole's neck, wanting to give her a matching hickey. She grabbed the collar of Nicole's coat. 

“You looked so hot today when you told Aaron to get the fuck out of the kitchen,” Ruby whispered against Nicole's ear. “It took everything in me not to kiss you senseless right there.” 

Nicole could only moan in response. 

“The kitchen is hot enough without you there. How can I focus on my job with you wearing my spare coat and looking all sweaty and bothered? It's a good thing it's only for today. I'd get fired if you were there everyday.”

Nicole half chuckled half moaned, pulling Ruby in by her coat.

“Maybe you can give me private lessons at home. Show me how to handle a knife, show me how to look all hot mixing stuff in a bowl. I don't have a chef's coat but I have an old apron, somewhere. Should be enough, right?” 

“I can. But only if you wear the apron and just the apron.” Ruby said, getting a laugh out of Nicole.

“Deal.” Nicole pulled Ruby for a kiss, all tongue and no decorum. Ruby's hand was slipping under Nicole's shirt when they heard the door bang open next to them. 

“I've been looking everywhere for ya two,” Joey yelled. “We have tickets pilling up, I need all hands. Stop making out and get the fuck back into the kitchen.” 

He slammed the door behind him, not staying around to see if they would follow him.

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I think we should head inside." Ruby said. They reluctantly broke apart, smoothing down their hairs and clothes. Ruby put her coat back on, buttoning it up. 

Ruby leaned down and stole one final, brief kiss. 

"We'll finish this later, yeah?" she said against Nicole's lips, not really a question. 

"Yes, chef." Nicole said, and bit Ruby's lip. Ruby used the last of her brainpower to pull back, otherwise she would never make it back into the kitchen. 

"You'll be the death of me." She said, and grabbed Nicole's hand to walk back inside, counting down the minutes to when they'd be alone again.