[u](Collaboration Post Featuring YoshiSkittlez's Ruby and Major Ursa's Knox Kowalski)[/u]

There wasn't a spot of shade left in the parking lot, for him to park his old Camaro. The lunch hour seemed particularly busy, and no doubt the darker tones of the car would cause it to heat up greatly in the sun. Still, it was a matter of personal importance, with no better alternatives possible. Ruby seemed to have his breakfast, early or the rare late, memorised...Knox would catch her off guard at lunch.
 
Stepping into the diner, most of the regulars of this time were generally confused, but it was busy and they got over the novelty of his presence. Scanning the scene, with the memory of what was usually a near empty diner at surface memory; Knox automatically spotted his usual spot. Such luck, it was unoccupied. Sitting in the near back, but the window, watching the world outside but ignoring the one he was in…so very [i]fucking[/i] like him. In his contemplation of the scene, a few people came in and filled up the booth, but he paid no mind.
 
Flicking his gaze to the tables closer to the front, the one unoccupied table was still being cleared and cleaned…such luck, by the one person he was looking for. Making his way to the table, almost knocking over an occupied chair in his tired stupor, Knox was not yet noticed by the girl as her back was to him; Ruby was leaning over the table to (badly) clean the table as she does. Stopped another waitress to fetch a black coffee for him, the security guard unceremoniously took a seat closest to Ruby, though she didn’t seem to realise who he was yet, not likely to think he'd even come at lunch as it was rare. Not saying a word, Knox let out his usual sigh as he rubbed his tired eyes—the most exhaustion felt in years, the deepest circles under his eyes—and waited for Ruby to finally notice his presence.
 
The other waitress came over and set the coffee mug in front of him, but Knox could only look up and nod acknowledging at the woman, not even thinking about touching the mug. It…reminded him of a particularly disturbing dream, but he’d rather not dwell on it. Blinking, it seems Ruby was still having trouble with cleaning this particular table, 
 
“Walk around to the other side; you can't efficiently clean up the ketchup spill by leaning on the table in such a way.” His mouth was set in a firm line, but the security guard waited patiently for her response.
 
Ruby stopped the pointless scrubbing on the table and looked over her shoulder, an orchestra ensemble of varying emotions playing into her eyes as they landed on the dishevelled Knox; confusion, anger, resentment, pity, surprise. She huffed and looked back to the stubborn stain on the table, scraping away at it with new vigour as the 'noon sleepies' escaped her. She'd have to remind Tony to cancel her order of coffee once he was done unwrapping the cheese slices.
 
"Shouldn't you be with your [i]wife[/i]?" Ruby asked, the last word leaving her lips as though it were a bitter poison and finally succumbed to walking around to the other side of the table to attack the stain, though she refused to look back up at him.
 
Staring down at his mug of coffee dully, the mention of his wife made Knox feel numb, 
 
"Maybe I should be." Picking up the mug, Knox downed it in one go, and continued to stare down at the empty mug almost angrily from there. Slowly, almost expectantly, he turned the mug around...and let out a strangely relieved sigh.
 
Ruby chose not to respond, instead, she attacked the stain with more anger than what was probably deemed appropriate for such a small stain; it had been wiped up long ago anyway. Once she started to wear into the wood, and realizing it, Ruby let up and blew a stream of air into her face that caught the stray strand of hair that had been bugging her and blew it out of her face.
 
"Granny! I'm taking my break!" She called out to the older woman.
 
"No you're not! You still got ten minutes!" The elderly woman called from inside the kitchens.
 
"Granny!" Ruby called out again, in a sort of tone that might have been code for something. That was only confirmed when Granny stuck her head through the kitchen window where the orders came out of to see Knox sitting next to Ruby. The older woman's eyes squinted, perhaps even glared at Knox before looking to her granddaughter.
 
Knox noticed the look Ruby's grandmother gave him, and it made his insides twists unpleasantly. It felt familiar, though he couldn't recount the last time he really gotten such a look. Flicking his eyes back to Ruby...
 
"Tony! Ruby's taking her twenty! Ease up on those cheese slices!"
 
Ruby gave her grandmother and appreciative smile and headed to leave, probably to hide in one of the back rooms until Knox was gone as she usually did.
 
Standing up and catching the waitress's wrist, not roughly but carefully. Though the circles of Knox's tired eyes were deep...his gaze was intense, but his voice was quiet, "I'm sorry, I can't apologise enough for what's happened. There is no two ways about this issue; everything that's happened is my fault, with my wife and with you-"
 
"Knox..." Ruby said in a warning tone, indicating to him that she didn't want to talk about this. Not now, not ever...
 
"-yell at me, hit me, I would deserve it all...but, damn it, Ruby!" Squeezing her hand in his, he let it go and stepped away, the man didn't say anything for several moments, "Do you want me to forget about you? Tell me what you want, is leaving you alone really what you want me to do?!"
 
Ruby pulled her hand back and let her arms cross over her chest. Her jaw remained set firmly, but her eyes gave away that this probably just as painful to hear as it was for him to say.
 
"I'm not mad at you!" She barked harshly, wincing as she realized maybe a bit too loudly as some of the customers turned to watch the scene. "And I'm certainly not going to hit you...even [i]if[/i] it might make me feel better..." She added with a lower tone so that only he could hear but then shook her head no. She knew hitting him would only be a temporary resolve anyway.
 
"What I want Knox...what I want I can't have, and it's not your fault or mine. I can't...I can't even look at you let alone talk to you, it's too painful; a painful reminder that I opened up too soon-"
 
"And what?" Knox interject, swallowing down the pain bitterly, he couldn't hold back some of the anger and hurt in his tone, "You think it's easy for me to come in here every morning to see if you're in, to see you like this...? No, not even see you, and know the one you don't want to see is me? You think this is better, that running away is better? And after all this, I have to return to my wife, who barely remembers me?" 
 
"-I should have known better, I should have had better instincts or at least followed the crappy ones I had. The saddest part about all of this is that I might have actually even loved you. So yes, yes Knox stay away from me, ignore me on the streets or wherever it is that we pass each other by and I promise to do the same, it [i]is[/i] better that way, at least that way I can at least pretend to be happy about it. Mary Margaret will remember you in time, just like you remembered her, and then the two of you can live happily ever after." Ruby choked on her last words, her eyes wettening but she remained strong through her final word.
 
"Don't...don't you DARE presume to understand how I should feel about any of this, and don't make promises that things will get better when I've only ever seen them get worse. To assume anything-" Knox practically roared out loud that first bit, the diner fell silent at the usually quiet man's outburst, though the rest of what he said seemed to trail off to a cold tone, "-when Red, [i]you hardly know me![/i]"
 
For a moment, Knox peered down at her dully, before finally noticing the actual wetness of her near teary eyes. Anger built up in his chest, not at her, but in himself. Once again, he could only manage to hurt Ruby further, he should have just shut his damn mouth and left.
 
Not even thinking, Knox grabbed the nearest object and hurled it at the closest wall. As it shattered and the man came to his senses, he turned pale staring at the bone white fragments scattered by the wall. The attending waitress passing close to the wall had jumped back right before the mug made impact, and looked down at the fragments in horror, but Knox had an even greater look of horror on his face...for what reason, it wasn't apparent.
 
Suddenly becoming meek, practically shrinking in on himself, Knox spoke up to Ruby again, "We're perfect strangers from here on out. Nothing will ever change it, because this is what you want." Walking up to the front counter slowly as if unsure of his feet, he pulled out his wallet and pulled out all of his paper money to place on the surface, before hurrying out of the place.
 
Ruby listened and watched with a quiet expression, her face ungiving to any sort of emotion or surprise by both his words and actions. It wasn't until he had left the diner completely did she feel as if she could move again. She made eye contact with Ashley, the other waitress, as she cleaned up the broken bits of mug and Ashley nodded her assurance as if to say 'I got this.' Feeling every single pair of eyes in the diner on her, Ruby hurried back behind the counter to disappear into the kitchens to finally let it all out.