A Curse Upon Thee 5

Chapter 5: Red-y or Not

An hour later, the deal was done.

Finn had shaken the devil’s hand…

Well, he’d avoided shaking it, which was pretty much the whole point of doing his best to avoid triggering any sort of Binding Vow, but yeah, he’d settled on an agreement.

Now, though, he found himself walking right into Granny’s Diner, the smell of grease and stale coffee a welcoming anchor after an evening that had gone completely off the rails. With a sigh, the redhead slid right into a booth as red vinyl cracked against his back.

All this Cursed Energy and… Blue eyes stared out the window at the dead-end street, the dark of night keeping him from seeing all that far.  No Curses? 

Not even a single Flyhead buzzing around, which was especially weird considering those were literally all over the world. There was only so much weirdness a single Sorcerer could handle before he realized he had to face the facts. 

He wasn’t in Kansas anymore. 

It was the only thing that could explain it.

Cursed Energy with no Curses, a Grade One strutting around in high heels and a designer pantsuit with no idea what ‘jujutsu’ was and weirdest of all, it wasn’t 2018 here. 

That last fact was definitely up there in the list of weird things, because time travel as a Cursed Technique was just bullshit. Blue eyes narrowed as they stared down on the diner table, another question in his mind. Does that mean the regular me in this world is like eleven…? That is, if there even was a regular him here. 

Finn sighed, shaking his head to push that thought out. Alright, get your head in the game, Dorothy. Focus on the here and now.

Like, the shop…

Gold’s little emporium of cursed crap… the memory of it made the CE tingle up and down under his skin. So many Cursed Tools and Objects in the hands of that dragon pretending to be a snake. 

And Finn had just agreed to go into the cave and polish his scales. Smart.

"Find everything you were looking for, Red?"

The voice (that same sultry gravel) snapped him right out of it. Ruby stood there, a notepad in one hand and one hip cocked out as she smirked down at him. She was wearing a pair of red shorts that were probably illegal in several states and a white shirt tied off right beneath her chest, all the buttons undone just enough to make his brain short-circuit for a second.

Is that Granny's dress code or…

As good as she looked, though, Finn couldn't ignore how the air around her was still a blind spot to his Jujutsu senses. A patch of staticky wild energy that he couldn't get a read on, couldn't pin down. It was infuriating.

And… interesting.

Doing his best to keep his eyes off her chest, he glanced around the eatery instead, hoping to find something to distract himself. Unfortunately, the diner was mostly empty, just a couple of short old guys at the counter; neither of them paying them attention to anything but their plates of various meats.

"Just a whole new world of trouble," he leaned back in the booth, trying to match her casual energy, that easy confidence she wore. "I'll take a burger. And whatever you got that isn't brewed by a sad old man in a basement."

She laughed. A low throaty sound that made something in his chest do a weird flip. "One Dead-End Job Special, coming right up. And our coffee is brewed by a sad old woman in the kitchen, so you're in luck." She scribbled on her pad, then (instead of leaving like a normal waitress) she slid into the opposite side of the booth and propped her elbows on the sticky tabletop.

"I’d ask what’s cooking, good looking, but I think that’s more your line, right?"

Finn coughed a little, a half-laugh leaving his lips. “I didn’t know mind-reading was something waitresses could do.”

“We like to keep it a little secret but it comes in hany.” Ruby's smile widened, head tilting to the side. "Soooo… you gonna tell me what you were doing in Gold's little house of horrors?"

"Just looking for a job," the redhead shrugged, doing his very best to pretende like he didn't hear the 'good lookin' part. "Gotta earn my keep, right?"

"A job with him?" She leaned forward, her voice dropping down low. "Bad idea, Red. That guy… he's not right. He's like… a spider. Almost everybody in this town owes him something."

Yeah, I'm getting that vibe. "I can handle myself." As much as he was unsure about things, that wasn’t anything close to a lie.

"I bet you can.” Those eyes of hers did another one of those slow scans, working down from his face even though the table stopped her before she could go any lower. "Ain’t always about toughing it out, Red. With Gold, it's always about the fine print."

Ruby bit her bottom lip for a second as her smirk softened a little almost, something like concern on her face. "Just… be careful. Okay?"

Huh.

Finn’s eyes went wide. Flirting he could handle well enough.

Sweet? Not so much.

"How many jobs do you have, Ruby?” He shook his head, trying to fight the red creeping up his ears. “On the town welcoming committee and you’re also the warning system? Busy busy."

"Someone's gotta be," that smirk of hers returned full force, all teeth and challenge. "Granny might be into it, but I’m no big fan of ol’ boring and sleepy Storybrooke." She bit her lip again as she kept her eyes on his. "You're not boring, Finn McHale."

The red on his ears didn’t just stop there, that same heat spreading across his face. Smooth, McHale. Get flustered by a compliment. You’ve really got the juice, man. "I… I try."

The moment was broken just like that, snapped clean in half as the diner bell jingled. A familiar face walked in, her red leather jacket making it obvious who it was if her blonde hair didn’t. Green eyes went a little wide as she saw them in the booth, Emma Swan’s footsteps speeding up on the linoleum on her way towards them.

"Burger'll be right up." Ruby slid out of the booth, notepad still in one hand as she gave Emma a little wave as they passed each other. 

The older woman stopped at the edge of the booth, hands shoved in her pockets. "So," her voice and tone was as dry as ever, flat as the road outside. "See you’ve made a little friend."

Finn sighed, red strands catching on his fingers as he ran his hand through his hair. "Could we… not?"

Embarrassing him was apparently not all she wanted to do as she took a step closer with a smirk on her face and a quiet, "Alright." 

With that said, Emma slid into the seat Ruby just left, the vinyl sighing under her weight like it was just as tired as she looked. And she did look it.

No offense, but the woman looked deeper than tired, honestly.

Relatable.

"How you doing, kid? No more mysterious fainting spells?"

"Myster-" Finn blinked at her, eyes wide. “You hit me with your car.”

“You said you were fine, though,” Emma stared back at him, seemingly just as confused as he was.

For a few seconds, the eighteen-year-old just stared back, watching Emma’s face until he saw the crack in her expression as her lips quivered.

“...you’re messing with me.”

The blonde woman finally gave it up as a smile spread across her face. “You caught me. But seriously, how are you?”

Finn sighed, shoulders going up and down in a shrug. "Just been walking around. Seeing the sights."

Emma raised a skeptical eyebrow at that, one corner of her mouth twitching again. "What sights? The old clock tower? The playgrounds? The spot on the road where I almost turned you into a hood ornament?"

"Well… fair."

She just stared at him for a long moment, that weird focused gaze of hers making him feel like he was being x-rayed. "You get to meet any of the townspeople?"

"Yeah, actually." He nodded, blue eyes flicking back to hers. "Met one in particular and now I’m working for him. A Mr. Gold."

If he'd told her he'd joined a death cult, she couldn't have looked more unhappy about it. Her face went tight, jaw setting hard as her eyes narrowed. "Gold? What the hell for?"

"He needed some boxes moved. Delicate stuff for the mayor, y'know. Took care of that real quick a few minutes ago." Another half-truth to add to the pile. Honestly, he’d pretty much run them over and ding-dong-ditched the stuff at her door. "It's just a temp gig."

"Alright, if you say so." Her voice dropped down low, serious in a way that made him straighten a little in his seat. "Just be careful all right? From what I hear, the guy's bad news."

Third person to say that today. "Yeah," he said, looking past her shoulder, out the window at the quiet waiting street. "I'm starting to get that."

She seemed to accept it, for now at least. Pushed herself out of the booth with a groan, the motion stiff and weary. "Just… stay out of trouble."

And with that, she was gone. The bell chiming her exit as the door swung shut, leaving him alone in the booth again.

A minute later, Ruby returned with his burger. Set it down in front of him with a wink that made his ears go hot again before she went back to polishing glasses behind the counter, hips swaying.

Finn stared down at the plate. The burger looked fine, probably. Probably tasted fine too. But his appetite was just… gone.

He threw his head back against the cracked vinyl, staring up at the ceiling tiles.

"…I gotta go to work tomorrow."