Work Text:
The head of hospitality turns off the PA system after the final announcement of the day, tone ringing in her ears. Muscles tense with the weight of the day, she can feel Ruth's presence behind her.
"God, I need a drink." Melanie says, mostly to herself, sighing into her hands, fingers rubbing at her tired eyes.
"Well why don't we, then?" She overhears Ruth's voice, and Mel removes her hands from her face to see the blonde leaning in the doorway of the hospitality office. "I'll pick up a bottle of whiskey from the nightcar. I'm sure they won't even notice."
"Your place or mine?" Melanie smirks playfully. As if they'd actually had a choice. She crossed her arms over her chest, spinning side to side in one of the chairs.
"Mine, of course… wouldn't be very hospitable of me to force my guest to be the host, now would it?" Ruth hums, straightening up. "Don't you worry about a thing. Go get changed and I'll meet you back at my quarters, yeah?"
"Yeah. Thank you." Melanie replies softly, watching as Ruth shuts the door to the hospitality car, heading off downtrain to the nightcar. After a stressful day and a rollercoaster of both track and emotions, this was exactly what she needed.
-
Once Melanie hastily shoves on her grey MIT hoodie, letting her hair fall from its usual loose bun and pulling on a pair of light wash jeans, she heads downtrain to Ruth's quarters. She lets herself in and is met with the sight of Ruth setting down two glasses on her small table.
"It's not often I get to see you dress down like this," Melanie teases.
"Consider yourself lucky." Ruth quips, glancing at Melanie. Ruth is wearing a flowy, floral shirt and a pair of jeans - even when she's in her civvies, she still tries her best to look at least a little professional.
She pulls out a chair for the raven haired woman, hearing her chuckle. Ruth pours them both a glass of whiskey before sitting down herself.
"Cheers. We're still alive." Melanie smiles softly, lifting up her glass and tipping it to Ruth's, hearing a clink and taking a sip.
"Unfortunately." Ruth mumbles, playfully, eliciting a chuckle out of Melanie. Once Ruth takes a sip, she grimaces - it's been a while since she'd tasted whiskey this strong; hopefully it wasn't about to hit her too hard anytime soon. "This is the hard stuff, alright. Don't know how Wilford drinks this so often." Ruth continues.
Melanie cocks an eyebrow, taking another quick sip. "Hold on a minute. Care to unpack what you just said?" Melanie's voice is filled to the brim with amusement.
Ruth ponders for a moment, surpressing a smile, mouth full of alcohol. "Well, you know. I love serving with you, I love working with you… all of that. But don't you ever wonder how peaceful things would be if we… stopped forever? We could go out together. All of us."
"Come on, Ruth…" Melanie trails off, looking at her in disbelief, emptying her first glass of whiskey, head tipped back.
Ruth's eyes are shamelessly fixed on Melanie, watching as the woman threw her head back. Christ, am I feeling this bloody whiskey already? She thought, face turning a little warm. Moments after this thought, she refills both their glasses.
"What? Alright, maybe I'm joking a little - but at least if I was dead, or in suspension, I'd be able to imagine that I'm a first class passenger, and then the Folgers, Eugenia, could be refilling my drinks and I'd be ordering them around. Can you imagine that?" Ruth brings her glass up to her lips once more. Will she regret this tomorrow? Maybe. Will she remember this exchange, even? Hopefully not.
Melanie purses her lips, shaking her head softly. "I don't know if you can daydream when you're dead. Not sure if that's how it works." Melanie says cunningly, sipping on her drink. She's starting to feel it, too - mind slightly fuzzy, body relaxing into the chair.
"So you're telling me you've never thought of this before? If the roles were reversed, firsties who have always given us a hard time, busting their arses off to take care of us." Ruth swishes around her nearly empty glass, chin resting in the palm of her hand.
"Us?" Melanie inquires. "Am I in this little dream of yours, Ruthie?" Melanie teases, tilting her head to one side.
Ruth can feel the blood rushing to her head, instinctively going to take a sip of her drink. "Well," Ruth mutters, swallowing her alcohol before continuing, "We've been through the worst of it, you and I. Don't you think we'd deserve a vacation of sorts? In whatever kind of afterlife we get, it'd be alright to spend it with you."
Melanie nods her head, finishing off her second glass. "Touché." If she was sober, she would definitely be thinking through Ruth's words more critically - but she's not, so she won't.
"Picture this," Ruth slurs, leaning into the table. "We'd just finished playing our last game of poker, organized by Lilah and Robert Folger," she can hear Melanie laugh, raising both eyebrows in disbelief. "They really, really, want us to leave, but we don't - and we order ourselves a few more drinks, and I lean into you, and say," Ruth continues to muse, further pressing herself into the table. She notices that Melanie's leaning in, too.
"Nuh-uh," Melanie corrects her, shaking her head slightly. "You don't say a word." She's looking at Ruth intently.
"Pardon me, Ms. Cavill. Last time I checked, this was my dream," Ruth says sassily, pointing a finger at the woman across from her, who was now a foot away from her face. Ruth's eyes drift to Melanie's slightly parted lips, before realizing that Mel was watching her, quickly moving them back up to meet her boss's green eyes.
"Instead, you kiss me." Melanie's voice is low, taunting, daring Ruth to do just that. Looking at the blonde through her lashes. She's surprising herself, being so flirty - whiskey in particular had this effect on her.
"Oh… Like this?" Ruth places a hand on the back of Melanie's head, now leaning over the table to press her lips against the other woman. Ruth can feel her cheeks grow warmer and warmer, and can feel herself melting against Melanie's lips.
They kiss for a moment, slow, tender, wanting. Melanie places her hand on Ruth's forearm, her breathing irregular and hot in Ruth's mouth.
They pull back after a minute, the two of them looking frazzled, a little disheveled.
"I can understand the appeal - I see you're saying now." Melanie admits, a smile creeping over her lips.
Ruth chuckles. "I'm glad. And all the convincing you needed was a kiss?" The blonde jibes flirtatiously.
"Actually, on that thought, I think I might need a teeny bit more convincing." Melanie hums, and her smile turns into a teethy grin, one that made Ruth's heart leap in her ribcage.
"Hmmm." Ruth smirks, tapping her finger on her whiskey glass. "D'you want to stay the night? It's not first class, but I think it could do just fine…"