A.N. Yeah, uh, this won't be a parody of It's a Wonderful Life despite the title. I only did the title like that because many good things happen in this story, 'ungloomy' things you might say, to a few characters. I did alter it so that it was plural instead of singular, in case someone else does want to write a parody of the film using characters from Ruby Gloom.
Time had passed so that Ruby was eleven and Skull Boy was twelve. It was Ruby's eleventh birthday, and the party was a real bash. Ruby had received nice to great presents from her friends, but the best was yet to come. Skull Boy was in his artist mode again, so Ruby knew that her present from him was going to be a form of art.
"Ladies and gentleman, it is my pleasure to present this stunning piece of artwork to Miss Ruby Gloom in honor of her birthday." Skull Boy said before opening a curtain to reveal a colored glass sculpture of Ruby.
The sculpture was of Ruby lying down on a chaise with Doom Kitty on her lap, and the Ruby part of the sculpture was twice as large as the real Ruby. Sculpture Ruby was decked out like a lady, with a light blue gown and silver (metal, not just color) tiara, while sculpture Doom had a silver (again metal) collar with emeralds dotting the middle. Everyone applauded and complimented the sculpture, very impressed by the hard work and skill Skull Boy had obviously put into it. Misery made special care to stay in the background so as not to harm the sculpture, until Skull Boy pointed out that he took Misery's bad luck into consideration when making the sculpture. It turns out he had used gems, not glass! Everyone was even more impressed, since it's harder to cut gems, especially diamond, then it is to cut glass.
"Oh Skull Boy it's wonderful!" Ruby gazed at the statue. "Though not as wonderful as you."
"Thanks..." Skull Boy smiled before temporarily freezing. "You really think I'm wonderful?" He asked, looking happy.
Ruby, realizing what she had almost done and not noticing Skull Boy's expression, clasped her hands over her mouth in horror, blushed furiously, and zoomed upstairs. Doom quickly followed her into her bedroom before she could shut the door.
"What was that about?" Poe asked, confused.
"I do not know, but it didn't look as if it was about anything good." Scaredy Bat said fearfully.
"I'll go check on her." Skull Boy said, slowly going up the steps so that Ruby could have some time to calm down.
Meanwhile, Ruby had buried her face into her pillow and was beating the bed with her fist.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She scolded herself. "You almost revealed your feelings, what if he had caught on and turned you down?"
Doom came near to the bed made her violin-like meow.
"Oh, Doom..." Ruby realized, looking at the floor; she knew that Doom knew about her feelings for Skull Boy so she didn't explain herself. "I hope I didn't worry everyone." Ruby said, remembering that everyone saw her looking horrified.
Doom shrugged, indicating that she didn't know, and then looked at her impatiently.
"What?" Ruby asked, confused.
Doom pointed at Ruby, made a heart shape with her paws, and then made a skull shape with her tail and pointed at it.
"Yes I know you know about my feelings for Skull Boy, so?" Ruby shrugged, still confused.
Doom rolled her eyes. She then pointed at Ruby, pointed at her own mouth, and then pointed to the skull shape of her tail.
"Oh, you mean tell Skull Boy about..." Ruby finally got it, but shook her head. "Doom I can't tell him, what if he rejects me? It would break my heart if..."
Doom did a face-paw and glared at Ruby annoyed. She then pointed at the skull shape of her tail, made a heart shape with her paws, and pointed at Ruby. This time Ruby got it right away.
"Your really think Skull Boy has feelings for me?" Ruby asked.
Doom nodded. Even though Skull Boy's feelings for Ruby weren't as obvious as Ruby's feelings for Skull Boy (well, obvious to us anyway) they were still there. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Ruby? Are you okay? Can I come in?" Skull Boy asked through the door.
Ruby opened her mouth to say no, but couldn't think of an excuse. That, combined with Doom's glare, made her say the opposite:
"It's okay, you can come in."
Skull Boy opened the door, walked in, and shut the door behind him. He then approached her bed looking very concerned.
"Are you okay?" Skull Boy asked again. "You looked a little freaked out back there."
"I'm fine I just..." Ruby caught Doom's assuring look and 'go on' type paw movement. "I just almost revealed an important secret that's all."
"What secret?" Skull Boy asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I mean, if you don't want to tell me it's okay but if there's something wrong..."
"There's nothing wrong, I'm just scared about how you'd react to it." Ruby blushed, her heart pounding so hard that she believed that Skull Boy knew about it.
Skull Boy did slightly hear beating, but didn't know that it was Ruby's heart.
"Why? How could my reaction make you this scared?" Skull Boy was even more confused.
"Because..." Ruby stopped, her heart pounding even harder now; this time Skull Boy realized where the beating was coming from.
"I think you'd better calm down before you have a heart attack." Skull Boy said caringly.
Ruby gulped, realizing that if she didn't reveal the secret, her heart might. She then took a deep breath, but it didn't calm her heart so she decided to just get it over with.
"Skull Boy, my secret is that-that...that I'm madly in love with you." She finished, looking at the floor, her heart pounding even harder.
Skull Boy was at first surprised, then looked happily lovesick.
"You have nothing to be scared of." Skull Boy smiled, gently forcing Ruby to look into his eyes. "I'm in love with you."
Ruby's heart stopped and she froze, at first wondering if she was hallucinating. She then saw the truth in Skull Boy's eyes. Her heart beating fast instead of pounding hard, Ruby smiled with happiness and love.
"You are?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, I have been for about a couple of years. I never told you because of why you never told me about your feelings: I was scared of rejection." Skull Boy smiled.
Ruby, overjoyed, hugged Skull Boy and he hugged her back. They then gazed at each other...and kissed. It was an automatic kiss, one they didn't think about but that was instead triggered by their love for each other. They kissed so powerfully and were drowning in so much love for each other that Skull Boy fell back onto the bed, Ruby halfway on top of him. They stayed like that, not moving at all, for a few minutes until they got used enough to their love for each other to stop drowning in it. They then broke the kiss, but didn't get up. Instead Ruby and Skull Boy gazed at each other lovingly, forgetting everything else except for each other and their beating hearts...Skull Boy suddenly dropped his smile.
"Wait a minute." He said, confused.
Startled, Ruby sat up. Skull Boy sat up too and put a hand over where his heart would be if he wasn't just a skeleton.
"Ruby...you know that skeleton's don't have physical hearts right?" He asked, sounding shocked.
"Of course, why?" Ruby asked, confused but no longer startled.
"Because...I actually feel beating in my chest!" Skull Boy gasped.
Stunned, Ruby placed her hand over Skull Boy's hand and felt beating too, beating from a heart!
"How-how can this be?" Ruby stared.
"I don't know...unless I'm feeling so much love for and from you that it gave me a physical heart." Skull Boy guessed. "Wait..."
Skull Boy lifted his shirt, and there was a glowing heart beating inside his rib cage! Both he and Ruby stared at the sight, speechless. Doom, who Ruby had temporarily forgotten about, stared too. Ruby then automatically placed a hand on Skull Boy's ribcage over his glowing heart, which skipped a beat and glowed a little brighter. Ruby froze as if her hand was stuck, for the heart inside Skull Boy was indeed an emotional heart, one that didn't pump blood but instead reflected the love Skull Boy was feeling. Ruby, lovestruck, smiled and gazed and Skull Boy again, who was gazing at her.
"That-that's a lot of love I'm feeling from you." Ruby murmured.
"And most of it is for you." Skull Boy smiled back.
They kissed again, and Ruby released her hand so that she could wrap it and her other hand over Skull Boy's shoulders. This time Skull Boy's heart glowed so much that you could see it through Skull Boy's shirt despite the shirt being black colored. They kissed for a couple minutes, and would've kissed longer if Doom hadn't meowed.
"Oh, Doom." Ruby remembered. "What is it?"
Doom pointed toward the door. Ruby and Skull Boy, remembering their friends, got what Doom was hinting and got off the bed. Hand-in-hand, they then walked to the door. But when Ruby opened it, everyone else came tumbling onto the ground! Even Boo Boo, which was weird since he was floating in midair at the time.
"*Ow*." Misery said in her usual way.
"Uh, high guys..." Iris chuckled awkwardly.
"Oh dear." Scaredy Bat said, worried that they were in trouble for eavesdropping.
Ruby smirked, amused, at everyone, but Skull Boy looked confused.
"That's weird." He said.
"What's weird?" Ruby asked.
"I was suddenly reminded of the Marx Bros for some reason." Skull Boy chuckled.
Ruby giggled. Everyone else, realizing that Skull Boy was just making a joking reference to A Night at the Opera, which meant that he wasn't mad, chuckled as they got up.
"No need to apologize." Ruby smiled to her eavesdropping friends. "I understand, you were just worried about me."
"Yeah, of course after unintentionally overhearing everything we kinda understand why you freaked out earlier." Frank smiled.
True, Frank and Len already knew about Ruby's feelings, but for the sake of her privacy they pretended to have just found out like everyone else did.
"It's great that you two are together." Len added, also smiling.
Everyone else agreed. Skull Boy and Ruby, glad that their friends approved of their relationship, led everyone back into the main downstairs room. The party continued on. During the rest of the party, Skele T and the Skeletones finally showed up. Skele T explained that they were doing a gig earlier and lost track of the time. Skull Boy was especially glad that Skele T made it, because he had a question to ask him. He led Skele T into the kitchen where they could talk in private.
"What's up SB?" Skele T asked.
"I'm wondering, is it possible for a skeleton to get a heart?" Skull Boy asked.
"Yes, in various ways like putting a cloth one under your ribcage." Skele T replied, not sure where Skull Boy was going with this.
"What about...a glowing beating heart that appears out of nowhere?" Skull Boy rubbed the back of his neck.
Skele T froze and stared at Skull Boy.
"Are you pulling my leg bone?" Skele T looked suspiciously at Skull Boy.
"Does this look like I am?" Skull Boy smiled as he lifted his shirt.
Skele T dropped his mouth open as he saw Skull Boy's heart.
"No way...SB you are one lucky skeleton." Skele T smiled.
"What do you mean?" Skull Boy lowered his shirt.
"This can only happen to a skeleton when that skeleton has found his or her true love."
This time Skull Boy dropped his mouth open.
"True love? You mean the 'can-wake-you-up-from-an-evil-sleep-or-save-you-from-a-poison-apple-then-live-the-rest-of-your-life-together' true love?" Skull Boy was stunned.
"Do you know any other kind of true love?" Skele T chuckled. "So who's the lucky girl? Cool Socks?"
"Ruby? Yeah, we just admitted our feelings around an hour ago."
"She's one lucky girl."
"And like you said earlier, I'm one lucky skeleton."
They then rejoined the party. When everyone went to bed, Skull Boy took Ruby aside and told her what Skele T told him about the glowing heart. Ruby was ecstatic.
"You mean, we'll live the rest of our lives together?" Ruby gazed lovingly at him.
"Well, that's what true loves do, and since our love for each other gave me my heart-" Skull Boy had to stop because Ruby just kissed him.
"I had always dreamed of you and I ending up together forever." She smiled.
Skull Boy smiled and kissed her back. They then went to bed (their own beds, they didn't share one).
