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*CRASH* *BOOM* Lightning struck right outside of a large window, illuminating the inside of the dark manor. It strikes again, once more illuminating an intricately decorated dining room, and revealing a figure happily cleaning off the table.Ruby Gloom hummed cheerfully as she worked, picking up the dirty dishes and juggling them, almost comically, to the kitchen to wash up. Wiping her hands off on her black dress, she looked proudly at her work. “Um, Ruby, excuse me.” A small voice squeaked behind her. Ruby jumped a bit, but smiled as she turned around to see Scaredy Bat nervously fiddling with his wings. “Yes, Scaredy? Is everything okay?” She started to wash her hands as she waited for a response, making sure not to get any water on the cold stone countertops. “Ah, yes I was just wondering if you wouldn’t mind grabbing a glass for me?” His voice shook a bit. “The cabinet is so high up, and it made me…*hmph*” Scaredy covered his mouth and began to look quite nauseous, but suddenly shook his head. Ruby laughed lightly. “Of course! I know how you are with heights.” She reached up to the top shelf, using her platform mary janes to get some extra height. Grabbing a glass, she handed it down to Scaredy. “Here ya go! Anything else you need?”Scaredy took the glass and shook his head. “Nope that was it!” The small bat turned to go back to his room, but as he did, a tall skeleton walked into the room. “Oh my! Skull boy! You scared me there!” The teen smiled down at Scaredy. “Oh hey there! Sorry about that, just came in to get a late night snackaroo!”“Pff”Skullboy looked up and raised an eyebrow(?) “You gotta issue ‘snackaroo’ Ruby?” Ruby laughed again. “No! It’s great. Actually I could do with a snack as well!” She reached into the cupboard again and grabbed some chips. “Care to join us, Scaredy?” “No thank you! I just needed a cup for some water, I’ll be off now!” Scaredy scurried off, leaving Skull Boy and Ruby on their own in the softly lit kitchen. “Sooo, excited to be turning sixteen?” Skull boy smoothly slid over to Ruby and grabbed a chip from the bag. “That’s a pretty big birthday!” Ruby smiled. “Mhm! I am pretty excited!” She looked down and kicked her feet nervously. “You’re coming to the party, right?” Skull Boy smiled and shifted slightly closer to her. “Of course I am!!! I wouldn’t miss it for the world…actually I sort of have an early birthday present for you.” He grinned and held out a small box with a letter. “Go ahead, open it!” “Oh!!! Skull Boy, you didn’t have to!” Ruby reached out and took the gifts, and slowly opened the letter to read it. “Dear Ruby…happy birthday…and I’ve been meaning to tell you…Oh!” She felt her face turn red and she looked up at Skull Boy in amazement. “Haha yeah….I’ve liked you for a while, I’ve been meaning to tell you but hadn’t found the right time. Better late than never, am I right?” He grinned even wider, his bone white face almost turning pink as well. “So um…how do you feel?”Ruby jumped up and hugged Skull Boy. “Oh I've had a crush on you for so long, skullboy! I’ve been wanting to tell you for forever, but I never thought you would like me back!” She looked up at him and smiled. “This is so wonderful!”Skull boy hugged her back and spun her around. “Haha! Yay! I can’t believe you didn’t realize I had feelings for you! I thought I was super obvious!” He smiled and brushed Ruby’s hair behind her ear. “Oh, and you should open that box!” Ruby stepped back and took the box to open it. It was small, red, and in the shape of a heart, with delicate black lace around the edges. She lifted the lid and revealed a beautiful silver heart necklace, with a bright red ruby in the center. She gasped and looked up at Skull Boy again, grinning. “Oh it’s so beautiful! Thank you so much Skull boy! Could you help me put it on?” Nodding, Skull boy gently reached over and did the clasp for her, the bright scarlet gem contrasting on her pale skin. Lightning struck outside, suddenly illuminating the room completely, and causing the necklace to almost glow. Skullboy smiled, his eyes catching the light of the necklace. “Wow Ruby, you really are beautiful!” He leaned in, gently cupping her cheek, and kissed her softly. *rustle* Both of them jumped at the sound, and looked around startled. “What was that?!” Ruby raised an eyebrow, confused, and surveyed the kitchen. Nothing seemed exactly out of place so she shrugged and pulled away from Skullboy, though still holding his boney hand. “Wanna head up to my room to hang out?” The skeleton smiled and nodded softly. “Y-yeah! That would be awesome…actually, I can show you my newest art piece! I think I may be related to a long line of portrait artists!” Ruby laughed and pulled him closer as they left the kitchen. “Oh Skullboy, never change.” As their voices faded away there was a quiet rustling from a pile of washcloths in the corner of the kitchen, and a morbid figure rose, a single towel still stuck to her head. Her white eyes were filled with seemingly more tears than usual as she slowly got up and tried to run out of the kitchen, before tripping over a pot and landing smack dab on her face. “Ow.”
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The sky was dark and cloudy, as was normal for Gloomsville, and Ruby was making the most of the lovely day. With a new pair of black rain boots, and an old rusty shovel, she was working diligently in the garden to plant some new rose bushes. *boing….boing….boing*The ground shook slightly and Ruby smiled slightly as she continued to work. “Hello Iris!” She didn’t even need to look up to know the culprit of the sound was the hyper energetic cyclops. “Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! What’s up?” Iris grinned and bounced into the hair, her sharply cut hair soaring around her. “You apparently!” Ruby laughed and looked up, wiping the dirt and sweat off her brow. “Nothing much besides working on the garden, I want it to be ready for the party.” She stood up, and the necklace Skullboy had given her fell against her chest, shimmering even when the sun was hidden behind the clouds. “What about you? Besides bouncing around of course.” “Nice, nice! Actually Ruby, I have a question.” Iris hopped down right next to Ruby and grinned at her. “I heard that you and Skullboy…you know, started dating. Is it true? C’mon Ruby you can tell me!” Ruby sighed and shook her head, though still smiling. “Oh Iris…yes we are together, but it’s not that big of a deal! I mean I’m pretty sure you all knew this would happen at some point.” She took off her big gardening gloves and tossed them in a bucket full of tools she had dragged over to the part of the garden she worked on. “AHHH OMG RUBY AND SKULLBOY ARE DATING!!!” Iris jumped up and down excitedly, causing the ground to shake again. “What? Skullboy and Ruby are dating?” Frank stuck his head out of the garage, and was quickly followed by Len. “Huh? What? Skullboy and Ruby are dying?! What?” Len took off his sleep mask and looked around confused. “But they are so young!” Frank sighed and rolled their eyes. “No Len, DATING, not dying. Jeez.” “Ohhhhh, that makes a lot more sense. Congrats Ruby!” Len waved to Ruby, then immediately put his sleep mask back on and passed out. “Yeahhh Ruby! Congrats!” Frank pushed Len’s head off of his shoulder and grimaced. “Lenn stop drooling!” And with that the conjoined twins disappeared back into their room.Ruby laughed as the two closed the door. “Well, guess the word is out! Again, it wasn’t really a secret in the first place!” She smiled and gently touched her necklace, lost in thought for a moment, before iris giggling snapped her back to reality. “Anyways, I have a lot of work to get done before the party!”Iris stopped jumping for a moment. “Are you sure you wanna do all of the work yourself, Ruby? I mean it is your own birthday!” “Aw, don’t worry Iris! I love planning parties! But if you don’t mind, I could use some help putting up streamers!” Ruby smiled and tossed some streamers up to Iris, who snatched them excitedly.“Oooh! Yes, yes! These streamers are gonna look awesome! See ya Ruby!” Iris happily hopped away, leaving Ruby on her own to finish up the garden.
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After Iris left, Ruby went back to her gardening work. She did like planning, but she was beginning to get exhausted. At least with Iris’s help with the streamers, she wouldn’t have to get out the ladder, she, or someone else, always ended up getting hurt on that thing! As she continued gardening, she couldn’t help but see a sullen figure out of the corner of her eye. Grinning, Ruby continued to dig.“Heya, Misery!”“AGH” The figure behind Ruby toppled over in surprise, not realizing she had been spotted. Misery, wearing her usual heavy purple dress, awkwardly walked over to Ruby, obviously embarrassed. “Oh um…hi Ruby…I definitely wasn’t…watching you.” Her white, almost gray, eyes darted back and forth nervously.Ruby smirked. Misery was one of her best friends, but she never could quite understand her, but that was okay! Sometimes the best friends are the ones most unlike you.She turned to face her worried friend. “What are you up to then? If you weren’t watching me that is!” She smiled and put her hands on her hips, lightly teasing Misery.“Oh! Um…I was out, enjoying the nice weather?” As soon as she said this, Misery’s entire face began to swell up! “…ow.”“Oh no! Misery!” Ruby immediately tore off her gloves and ran over to her friend. “We need to get you inside immediately!”Misery tried to shuffle away from Ruby, unsuccessfully doing so, and somehow managed to stumble right into a tree branch, poking her eye, and increasing the swelling even more. “OW-I mean-it’s just allergies! I’ll be fine! See?” She smiled shakily, while very quickly getting covered in hives.Ruby shook her head and sighed. “Misery, you know how bad your allergies can get! Let’s go inside and get you some medicine and an ice pack, okay?” She gently wrapped her arm around Misery, who tensed up immediately, but reluctantly let Ruby lead her back to the house.Back in the house, Ruby was gently icing the giant swells on Misery’s light gray skin, a worried look on her face.“You know Misery, you really ought to be more careful! You get hurt so easily, it really worries me sometimes!”Misery was shameful kicking her feet on the cold stone floor, not meeting Ruby’s eyes. “I know, I just wanted to help out with the party. I was thinking that I could make party favors, or…I don’t know, something.” Her voice trailed off, looking more embarrassed than anything. “Sorry, I know I’d probably just mess that up too.”Ruby leaned back, brow furrowing. “Oh Misery, just you being there is enough for me! You are my best friend, you wouldn’t mess up anything, you’d just make it more you, and I think that would be a wonderful thing!” She took a couple steps back and smiled. “See, you are absolutely perfect Misery, just-”“Just the way I am, I know.” Misery sighed and stood up, a slightly crooked smile, the swelling and hives almost completely gone now. “Thanks Ruby, you are a really good friend, you know?”Ruby smiled wide, “Aw, so are you!” She jumped forward, embracing Misery, who turned bright red. After a second, she stepped back, eyes sparkling. ‘Okay, I gotta go finish decorating outside, I’m so excited to see you at the party, best friend!” She happily skipped out of the room, leaving Misery to stare after her, tears welling in her big black eyes.“...Wish we were more than friends.”