Chapter Text
From his place perched on Hibiscus’ lap, Ruben couldn’t help but admire the beauty he’d been so lucky to snag. She may have felt the stains to her skin were a sign she’d never match surface beauty, but, oh, Ruben couldn’t imagine her without them.
This version of her, the one timidly holding his hips, was the one he’d been so lucky to meet, so lucky to fall in love with. This version of her, the pretty one with an even prettier soul, was the one that he held as a gold standard of beauty. Not even he could capture that same essence in his art, no matter how hard he tried.
“You’re...staring,” she mumbles, shrinking against his gaze.
He hums, fiddling with a tentacle before allowing his hand to cup her cheek. “You’ll have to forgive me, my rose, you simply capture my heart every time I see you.”
She splutters, face turning as red as her eyes. And in turn he laughs, squeezing her forearms as she holds him ever tighter.
“I mean it, my petal, I adore you more than you the sun.”
“You.. don’t need to say it so…”
“Lovingly?”
“So posh,” she snorts.
“Oh! How you wound me! My rose pricks my heart with her thorns!”
It gets her to laugh, that gorgeous sound he never gets enough of.
“My dear lily,” he begins, “you’d do me a favour, yes?”
Her tentacles have begun to curl around his hands and up his wrists, his hearts beat a little quicker.
“Of course, Rue.”
He tugs one gently, she shudders.
“Bite me.”
Her head jerks up, eyes wide at his request, cheeks flushed a bright ruby. “Wh-What?”
And he laughs, because of course he does, and Hibiscus wants to shove him off, but she wants him closer too. He can be such a prick about these things. She hates it. ...ah, but she’d never want that to change either..
He tips her head with her tentacles, falling into her more. “I want you to bite me, please. I… know you worry but I’m not made of glass. And…” now he’s the one with the flush, “I’d like the message it sends, that I’m yours.”
She wishes those words didn’t jolt down her back the way they did. Wishes this wasn’t something she also wanted.
(she’d told fig, once, and she’d laughed, saying ruben would let her rip him to bits if she asked. she didn’t want that! though... marking someone up was… appealing.)
“If you don’t want to, that’s fine. But, I’m not going to die if you bite me, Hibi.”
“I-It’s just… Inklings are so...soft.” her hands now knead at his sides. Ruben puffs out a purr. “You’re so much...rounder, made so much more for...frivolity than Octolings. I don’t…”
His shades finally come off and she gets to see those bright pinks again. “That’s a fair judgment,” he pats her still kneading hand. “But I’m not as soft as I seem. I’m Fig’s brother, after all, I can handle a tussle or two.”
(he doesn’t want to because he has a reputation to uphold, obviously, he didn’t want to look as scrappy as his step-sister even if he loved her)
“Plus, like I said, I’d really like to feel it, your teeth are… exquisite.”
Ruben would be happy to just be like this too, maybe a few kisses here and there, he doesn’t want to push her, of course. Hibiscus is the love of his life, and if biting is too much for her, then, well, he’ll manage. It’s not like it was some sort of standard to-
He pulls her tentacles tight when Hibi’s teeth sink into his neck. He quivers in her hold, eyes blown and face flushed. (He doesn’t miss the way she groans into his skin when he pulled, he’d need to keep that in mind.)
It’s better than he thought - and he already knew he had quite a thing for being bitten - and he’s quick to try and squeeze her closer. Sure, it stings and he knows she’s bitten a bit too far but that hardly bothers him.
He was right, though. Her teeth are absolutely fantastic.
“R...Rue?”
“Yes, my sunshine?”
“Was...that...okay..?” She hasn’t raised her head from his neck, gently kissing the pink wound, worriedly watching for ink.
“Oh! Yes, that was far more than okay.” It’s his turn to kiss and he’s quick to plant them wherever his lips can reach. ...he decides to not tease her about the way her tentacles reach for their turn.
It’s quiet for a moment and they’ve both relaxed again.
“Hibiscus?” his voice lacks the performative tone he usually has. He’s comfortable, she realises, no, more than comfortable.
“Yes?”
“Thank you, I’m sorry for trying to push that on you.”
“You didn’t push me, it’s okay.”
He hums, a pretty sound, and simply holds her around the shoulders, resting his head on hers. “I’d like if this was a regular thing, though,” he adds. “I like...this sort of stuff, the physical stuff. It makes me feel like...like…” he loses his thought. “Makes me feel like… like we’re real.”
With her hands running under his poncho to feel his skin, Hibiscus understands.
“Grounded?”
“Yes.”
“I like that too,” she squeezes his skin, reveling in its warmth.
For a moment that’s all that is needed. A warm touch. A beating heart. A love conveyed through all means. For a moment, Hibiscus and Ruben fall into each other.
“I love you, ya know?”
Hibiscus laughs, she’s never felt so safe, so… “I know. I love you too, my adored.” She flushes. “A-Actually ignore that one, that was bad!”
Ruben laughs and this time Hibiscus does shove him off. He lays back in their pile of pillows and plushes, laughing with pink cheeks. She’s never seen someone so beautiful.
“A-Actually I don’t think I love you!”
“Noooo,” he whines in his laughter, “I’m your adored you have to!”
Hibiscus has never felt so home.