Somewhere Only We Know - Rus x Reader
Art used with permission by @sansmania, Rus belongs to @bonelyheartsclub, and reader is gender-neutral! I hope you enjoy, it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything :’)
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Yet again had you watched Rus shortcut away in the middle of a family tussle without a word, and yet again had you found reason to doubt his trust in you. He always told you that you could come to him for anything, and you told him he could likewise always come to you; however, no matter what you did to try and show that you just wanted to be there for him, he turned in on himself, shutting everyone else out to handle it on his own. You were beginning to think, while Red and Blue continued their boisterous argument, that it had been your own fault. Perhaps you had pushed too much too fast for him.
An unsettling, familiar feeling took root in you.
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
Rus watched you from where he sat in the dining room as you paced the family’s living room. You hadn’t said a word to anyone other than Poplar, who had asked if you’d stay for dinner. That had been about an hour or two ago, and you’ve been fidgety since. Rus wondered if something had happened in the last few days, because he was noticing you did this more and more often whenever he saw you. You were more to yourself, quieter… had he done something wrong? Just as he had the thought to ask, Ash and Nox called everyone for dinner. As he watched you quickly scamper off to help grab things from the kitchen, he wracked his skull for anything he could have done recently to cause you to be so… off.
An unsettling, familiar feeling took root in him.
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
Nox was starting to get pretty sick and tired of all this… whatever this was going on between you and his brother. The tension between the two of you could be cut with one of Undyne’s scalpels, it was ridiculous - and stars knows the solution was obvious to him and anyone who bothered to look close enough to both of you. Your souls were yearning for something your minds apparently couldn’t grasp, and he was tired of it. He enjoyed a good drama, sure, but not at the expense of his brother’s wellbeing.
Rus was closed off because of their time back… home. But Nox already knew that - it was so painfully obvious to him, a reminder of what they’d had to endure down there; however, as he walked alongside you one evening in the park, he came to realize that you had no way of knowing that on your own. Rus and him were two secluded peas in a metaphorical pod, of course you didn’t know…
Guess it was time for a little soul-to-heart with you.
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
By the time you and Nox had returned to your home, you were reduced to tears. Broken sobs left you as you sank down onto your couch, hand over your mouth in attempt to quiet yourself while the shorter skeleton went to get you a glass of water. If he hadn’t known his brother and you as well as he did, he might’ve entertained the idea of asking whether Rus knew of your anxiety.
Two hours go by before you’re finally calm, glass of water only shaking ever so slightly in your hands. Nox does a quick CHECK of your soul, to gauge if you’d truly be alright on your own for the night. He just barely stops himself from giving a chuckle at what he finds there on your flavor text.
An unsettling, familiar feeling is rooted in them.
He was confident it wouldn’t be there much longer.
And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know
After that night, that long talk you had with Nox, you knew you needed to reach out to Rus. How had you not realized it sooner? Rus was like you, needing space away from prying eyes while attempting to handle the turmoil within that your anxiety likes to dump on you. The ping from your phone pulls you from your thoughts, and when you look at what it says, you give a small smile. With a deep, bracing breath, you swallow your anxiety and head out of your home, going across the street and heading straight in.
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
He had just settled onto his bed when he hears three knocks at his door, causing him to groan softly as he rolls over and pretends he hadn’t heard it. His “cousins” could bother him some other time; right now he needed to focus on shutting out the world around him, to quiet his ever-present, whispering thoughts. The knocks come again a bit louder now, more insistent. Rus sighs heavily and drags himself over to the door, opening it since he knew the door would be busted down anyway by Blue or Nox if he didn’t-
His sockets open a bit wider as he looks down at you, one hand now on the doorframe as the other still held the door.
“uh… hey sweetheart, what can i do for y-”
“I’m sorry.”
Well… that had certainly not been what he was expecting, his teeth clicking shut quietly as he blinks at you bewilderedly. Before he can ask what you’re sorry for, he feels you hug yourself to him, warm arms encircling his torso while you buried your face in the chest of his sweater, jacket having been discarded on the floor somewhere behind him.
“Nox told me about why you’re anxious… and why you don’t go to anyone for help with it. I thought it had been something with me, and so I was anxious, and stayed away and- and I let it get worse without coming to you, out of… f-fear? I dunno, really, I just-”
Once you had started, you couldn’t seem to stop yourself. Soon Rus could faintly feel you tremble against him, so he let his arms slowly, gently return your embrace. He was only barely making out what you were saying to him after the first few things you said, his mind stuck on your confession about your own anxious habits lately. Suddenly it hit him like a truck: you were afraid you had done something wrong, and it caused your mind to turn on you. And… oh stars, you were still rambling, shaking now as he had remained silent this whole time.
“And I’m really sorry I didn’t-”
You felt his arms tighten around you, skull slightly nuzzling into your neck as he leaned down, shushing you softly.
And if you have a minute, why don't we go
“m’sorry, sweetheart… i promise it wasn’t you. i’m just a bit of a mess, nyeheh…”
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go? So why don't we go?
You frowned slightly and held onto him a bit tighter as you muttered, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He seemed to think about it for a bit before sighing, “wasn’t sure how to tell you… i have a hard enough time trying to talk about it with my brother, and i didn’t wanna scare you away.”
You felt a lump in your throat and swallowed it before speaking again, “Rus…”
You stepped back from him and cupped his face gently, looking into his eye sockets.
“Rus, you could never scare me away. I love you, and that means I want to be with you through the best moments… and the worst.”
He watched you in shock, unable to look away from those gorgeous eyes he loved so much, and certainly unable to bring himself to say anything to counter what you were telling him.
“I understand if you don’t wanna handle these things in front of others, I’m the same way sometimes. But, in that case…” you paused, smiling warmly at him as you brought his face closer to yours, just an inch or two apart. You lowered your voice to a whisper, rubbing your thumbs gently against bone as you continued to hold his face.
“We can go somewhere only we know.”
Oh, this could be the end of everything
So why don't we go somewhere only we know?
It’s hard to say who had closed the gap between your mouths first, or who had closed the door before you both laid down in bed to cuddle one another. All the two of you knew was that unsettling, familiar feeling from before was slowly shifting into something warmer, more comfortable.
The new rule was to seek one another out when trepidation inevitably struck again, to seek the comfort you both needed; to find yourselves in each other’s arms to face the anxiety together… to find the place only you two knew.
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know
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