This one shot takes place when Mac, Goo Goo and Ruby are young adults, and this is one of the ways of how I see Mac and Ruby when they first meet.

Mac P.O.V:

It was the start of summer on a warm June evening, the neighborhood was as quiet as ever tonight, I was alone in my apartment since I moved away from my old house about a few years ago, I used to live with my mom and older brother, but by the time I turned eighteen, I was able to get enough money to move into my own apartment, and it was a good thing too, since I didn't know how long I would stay inside that apartment with my dumb, goof headed, bully of a brother, Terrence.

But, I prefer not to talk about him anymore since I'm now twenty years old, and I'm soon to be a junior in college. Right now, I was engaging myself into watching a few actions movies that I used to watch as a kid, while also eating some plain potato chips for a snack.

The next scene of the movie showed that an ally to the main protagonist betrayed them, and has now joined forces for the main antagonist, mostly because of money.

"Typical movie twists..." I said while not feeling all that enthused, I know I used to love watching these when I was a kid, but I was getting kind of tired of seeing the old cliche where an ally to the main hero turns to the bad guy for reasons such as money or other reasons.

Suddenly, the sound of thunder and a flash of lightning stuck, causing me to jump a bit and almost spill my bowl of chips, suddenly, the lights to the house and the tv screen turned off, when I looked outside, I noticed that there was, what looked to be a thunderstorm, I was honestly a bit surprised, I felt that I was distracted by the tv, that I barely paid attention to what the weather was gonna be today.

I gave a sigh as I looked at the weather. "Great..." I said blankly as I closed the curtains of my window. I honestly felt annoyed that a sudden thunderstorm interrupted my time on watching old movies, but I wasn't completely disappointed.

As it was getting close to 7:30 pm, I was occupying myself by lighting some candles that I had in my closet for whenever a power outage occurred, after that, I was able to make myself a cup of coffee by using a battery operated coffee maker that one of friends got me for my eighteenth birthday, sure it doesn't work as fast as my other coffee maker, but it's still able to make good coffee for me to drink.

I took a sip of my coffee while sitting on the couch and gave a soft sigh. "There's nothing like drinking a cup of coffee during a blackout on a rainy day to calm my nerves." I said while smiling and continuing to drink my coffee.

I then noticed my phone ringing on the right side of the couch, I sat my coffee down at the coffee table to pick up my phone to see who's calling me, the caller's name belonged to that of one of my friends, Goo, who's currently at a sleepover with some of her friends.

I answered the phone and started to talk to her. "Hello?" I asked as I held my phone close to my ear.

"Hey Mac, how's it going?" My friend Goo asked in a happy tone.

"Well, it's a bit dark and quiet here at my apartment, the storm kind of blew up the power." I said to Goo on the phone.

"That's what happened to me too." Goo explained to me on the phone. "Me and my friends were watching a few scary movies, but the power went out, but that's not much of a bother, because we're occupying ourselves with scary stories."

"Oh, that sounds like fun." I said while smiling a bit.

"It sure is, anyways, what's going on with you?" Goo asked on the phone.

"Well, earlier I was watching a movie, but the power sort of interrupted my movie time." I explained on the phone. "Right now I've just been occupying myself by lighting some candles for lighting and drinking a cup of coffee."

"Ooh, I bet that must be so soothing." Goo said with a sweet tone on the phone. "Anyways, it's now my turn to tell a scary story, so I'll see you in the morning, hopefully the power goes back on by then, bye."

Soon after Goo hang up, I took the time to take another sip of my coffee and think for what I should do next. "Wonder what I should do now?" I said to myself. "I could play some video games, though the power ran out so I won't be able to play any, but I do still have a few board games in my closet, so I could just do that."

But before I could get one of the board games out of my closet, I heard the sound of someone knocking on my door, I was kind of surprised, who could be knocking at my door at this time of night in this weather? Could it have been Goo and her friends? Wilt? Eduardo? Coco? Or even my best friend Bloo?

Regardless, I didn't want to be rude to the person who was at my door, so I just opened the door to see who it was. "Hi there, what can I do to help...you?...." When I opened the door to see who it was and ask them what they were doing, I was not expecting to be caught off guard when I see the person at my doorstep.

The person was not that of any Goo, Wilt, Eduardo, Coco or even Bloo, but that of someone I completely didn't know of, it was a short woman that looked to be about the same age as me, she had long wavy red hair, had dollish like features, such as big round eyes, really pale skin, a few freckles on her cheeks, her outfit consisted of a white rose hair clip, a white long sleeved shirt with salmon colored roses with green leaves and black buttons, a black skirt and black flats.

I wasn't the type of person to judge someone by their looks, but she was just straight up gorgeous, mostly for her red hair and her round eyes. When I saw her outside, she looked to be pretty soaked and may have been outside for a while, I could tell because she was completely soaked in water and she looked to be shivering and hugging herself in order to keep herself warm.

"U-Um, g-good evening, I-I'm from the apartment next door and I-I was wondering if I could b-borrow a blanket that you may have t-to keep me warm... my other jackets and blankets are wet, and my a-apartment is really cold..." The short red haired girl said while shivering. "If not, th-that's okay, I-I could just ask some of the other neighbors if-if they have any..."

The sound of thunder struck, causing her to whimper a bit, possibly because of her being scared by the sound of thunder, when me and her looked outside, it was heavily raining and it looks to be thundering frequently.

"I-It's really pouring down out there, i-isn't it?" The short red haired girl said while shivering and looked to be a bit scared. "A-Anyways, I-I understand if y-you don't really have a blanket I could use, I don't want to be much of a bother and I-I don't want to feel like I-I'm stealing your blankets, I-I'l just ask some of the neighbors..."

When the woman left to check on some of the other neighbors if they had any blankets to help keep her warm, I honestly felt concerned for her, mostly by drenched and cold she was, I felt it wasn't right to let her stay out being completely soaked and drenched.

So I decided to help her. "Uh, wait." I said, causing the girl to stop and turn her attention to me. "I uh, I have a few blankets you could borrow, but I figured maybe since you're soaked and looked to be freezing, maybe it could be easier if you stay in my apartment room to keep yourself warm?"

"Y-You would do that for m-me? You-You wouldn't mind if I stayed?" The girl asked while feeling surprised, I responded by giving her a nod, in return, she gave me a warm smile. "Th-Thank you, that is such a relief, thank you..."

Instantly, when I saw her smile, I felt myself becoming nervous, I know I've talked to girls before, but I didn't think I would meet a girl such as this one that caused me to become nervous by her appearance alone.

As I opened the door for her to come inside, she went in and I closed the door so that the warm air couldn't be left out of the apartment. "Thank you again for inviting me, your room is a bit warmer than mine..." The red haired girl said as she smiled a bit and looked around. "It might be because of the candles you have, I wanted to try and warm myself by using candles too, but I couldn't find the lighter, plus I was a bit nervous that I might burn myself."

"I can understand that, getting your hand burned can really hurt." I said to the girl. "You can sit on the couch to make yourself comfy."

"Th-thank you." The girl said as she then sat on the couch.

"So, I don't think I've seen you around before." I said to the girl. "Did you just move in?"

"Yeah, about a week ago I did, my name is Ruby Gloom." The girl, now known as Ruby said to me with a smile.

"Ruby, like the color of your hair?" I asked, I immediately regretted on asking that, it was almost as if I was flirting with her and I didn't want to make her uncomfortable, why did I ever ask that?

"I-I guess you could say that...thanks." Ruby said to me while smiling. "What's your name?"

"My name?" I asked as I looked away while trying to not sound nervous. "It's...uh...Mac."

"Oh, that's a nice name." Ruby complimented to me while smiling.

It was a few seconds of silence for the two of us, it felt a bit awkward so I decided to get off the couch. "Anyways, I'm gonna go find a blanket for you to use." I said while turning to Ruby. "You can just wait on the couch if you want."

"Okay, thank you." Ruby said to me with a smile.

I then left the living room of my apartment and went into one of the closets of my apartment to find some blankets that she could use, I noticed a thick purple and pink blanket that Eduardo gave me during Christmas, so that I could stay warm during cold winters.

Before I could get the blanket, I remembered how soaked Ruby was and thought maybe I could let her borrow some dry clothes for her to wear, so I went into some of my drawers and managed to find an outfit that Ruby could wear, it consisted of a gray turtle neck sweater, a pair of dark jeans and some white socks.

So after I got the blanket and the pair of dry clothes, I went back to the living room to find Ruby shivering a bit while hugging herself to keep herself warm.

"Okay, this blanket should be thick enough to keep you warm, and I also got you some dry clothes to change in so wouldn't catch a cold from wearing wet ones." I explained while setting the blanket and dry clothes onto a recliner.

"Oh, some dry clothes? Y-you don't have to do that for me, that's too kind of you." Ruby said as she looked away while tapping her fingers together, which kind of looked cute.

"No, it's alright, I wouldn't mind someone borrowing my clothes." I said to reassure Ruby. "I have plenty and you can use it to make yourself warmer."

"U-uh okay, thank you." Ruby said to me while smiling, she then got off the couch, took the dry clothes I picked out for her and went to the bathroom to change.

Soon after a while, Ruby came out of the bathroom, wearing the clothes I gave to her and then got onto the couch to wrap herself up in the blanket that I found in the closet.

"This blanket is really soft and comfy, did you make this?" Ruby asked me while turned towards me.

"Actually, it was a Christmas present that I got from my friend, Eduardo." I explained while sitting on the recliner. "He's a really sweet person."

Suddenly, the sound of thunder stroke again, causing me to jump a bit, when I turned to Ruby, I saw that she wrapped the blanket close to her and was still shaking, even though she's in clean warm clothes and was wrapped around a thick blanket.

"S-Sorry about that, I-I'm not much of a fan of when it's storming outside." Ruby explained while looking away. "I mean I don't mind the rain, it's just the thunder and the lightning that makes me shake."

"Well, that's understandable, considering how loud thunder is." I said to Ruby. "And you never know when it's going to strike."

Ruby nodded in agreement, and soon, another awkward silence stroke the room, none of us had that much to talk about, so it was pretty awkward having the living room being all quiet.

After much time, I turned my head over to Ruby. "So, is there anything else I could do for you?" I asked as Ruby turned towards me. "Like do you need something to drink or eat?"

"Well, I am a little thirsty." Ruby said. "And maybe also a little hungry."

"Well, I could make you a cup of coffee if that's okay." I offered.

"Wait, you can make coffee? But the power is out, how would you make it?" Ruby asked while feeling a bit confused.

"I have a battery operated coffee maker in the kitchen I use, it's not as fast as my electronic coffee maker but it still makes good coffee." I explained.

"Oh, okay, do you have the ingredients to make latte coffee? It's one of my favorites and it usually helps me calm down during a storm, but if not, then a regular coffee is okay." Ruby asked.

"Oh, sure, I can make you some latte coffee." I said as I have a warm smile to Ruby. "I have the ingredients to make it, it's just gonna take me while, okay?"

"Okay." Ruby said while smiling. "Thanks."

So I went to the kitchen to make Ruby a warm cup of latte coffee, it took a bit longer since I normally use my electronic coffee maker to make latte coffee, but I still managed to get it done with my battery operated coffee maker.

After I finished making the latte, I went back to the living room to give Ruby the cup of coffee, she took a sip of the coffee and smiled. "Mm, so warm and delicious..." Ruby said while holding the mug of coffee with a sweet smile.

"Glad to see you like it." I said while smiling. "I'm gonna head back to the kitchen to see what I could find for you to eat, okay?"

"Okay, thank you." Ruby said with a smile as I then went back to the kitchen to find something for Ruby to eat.

As I looked into the pantry, I searched through a few foods that might be eligible enough for her to eat, I first thought of chips, but I wasn't sure if chips and coffee were that good together, eggs? Nah, the power was out, so I wouldn't be able to make anything with eggs.

I then noticed a container of sugar free blueberry muffins that were on the middle shelf of the pantry, muffins usually go well with coffee, so I thought maybe a muffin would be good for Ruby to have.

"A muffin should be good enough to have with coffee." I said to myself as I took a muffin out of the container.

But before I could do that, the sound of thunder stroke again, this time it was a little louder, it almost caused me to drop the muffin on the floor. I suddenly heard the sound of a mug cracking and a sudden yelp, and got worried that something might've happened to Ruby.

When I rushed into the living room, I saw that Ruby was on her knees on the floor, the mug of latte I made for her was shattered onto the floor, and the sweater she wore had a few stains of coffee on it, what really concerned me was that she had her hands on her head, and she looked to have been really scared of the thunder.

Ruby noticed me and started to become scared. "Ah! I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to break your mug and make a mess!! Just please don't yell at me! Please don't get mad at me! Please!!" Ruby begged as she got on her knees and shielded herself with her arms, while letting out a few whimpers and sobs.

This honestly made me feel concerned and shocked, from how scared she was, she might've thought that I was gonna get mad at her for breaking one of my mugs on accident and spilling the latte I made for her.

"It-It's okay, there's no need to feel scared or upset." I reassured Ruby while trying to get her to calm down. "It was just an accident, it's nothing to feel scared about."

"B-But I broke your mug and I spilled the latte you made for me! I even got your sweater ruined! How are you not upset by that!?" Ruby asked while she began to sob and let some of her tears flow.

Another sound of thunder stroke, causing Ruby to let out a scream of fear, and cover herself in the blanket, all while letting out some soft whimpers and sobs while shaking.

I was now really worried for her, from the looks of it, Ruby might've suffered a past experience involving a thunderstorm that caused her to become frightened and scared, I took a sigh as I knew that I had to let her know I wasn't mad at her, otherwise she might not be able to trust me anymore.

So I got on my knees, crawled a little closer to Ruby, and gently placed by hand on Ruby's shoulder, she then turned towards me while still having tears in her eyes.

"Ruby, it's okay, there's no need for you to cry or feel scared of me, I promise that I am not mad at you, and I promise that I will not yell or do anything to hurt you." I reassured Ruby in the softest voice I could. "For now, I just want you to take some deep breaths and let me assure you that everything's alright."

So, Ruby stopped sobbing and started taking a few deep breaths to help herself calm down and stop shaking, I helped her through a few breaths because the storm sort of made it hard for her.

After a while, Ruby started to feel less scared, but still looked at me while frowning. "I'm really sorry you had to see me like that." Ruby apologized while looking away. "I was once at a friend's house during a rainy day like this one, I accidentally spilled some coffee on her and broke the mug because of the storm, and that's when she got really mad at me and yelled. So after I accidentally broke your mug and spilled some of the coffee, I just panicked, I thought I might make you mad just like I did to my friend...I'm sorry..."

Ruby was about to cry again, but held her hands with one of mine and used the other hand to gently wipe away her tears. "It's okay Ruby, there's no need to apologize." I reassured Ruby in a gentle tone. "It was just an accident and you were just scared, it's okay, you have nothing to be ashamed of, I promise that it's alright."

After I wiped away a few tears, Ruby stopped crying and gave me a warm smile. "Th-thank you, thank you so, so much..." Ruby said to me while smiling and wiping a few tears. "You're one of the nicest neighbors I've ever came across, and no one had ever comforted me like this..."

Seeing her smile made me feel a bit better, so in return, I smiled too. "Do you uh, want me to hug you?" I asked Ruby, to which I instantly became flustered, why did I ever ask that question, I was such an idiot. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to ask that, I just—"

In an instant, Ruby came to hug me and rubbed her head against my chest, which caused me to feel a bit nervous, it was a little hard, but I managed to return the hug to Ruby.

"This feels nice, do you think we could Um...stay like this for a while?...." Ruby asked me while looking away and smiled a bit.

I felt my heart racing like crazy, this was the first time I ever had to hold someone this close to me, and I only just met her today, I didn't really want to hurt her or let her be scared again, so with all my courage, I gave my answer.

"I guess we could." I explained. "But maybe we should check to see if you're injured or not, I was worried that since that coffee was still hot, it might've caused you to get hurt."

"Oh, s-sure." Ruby said as me and Ruby let go of the hug and me and Ruby left to go check and see if Ruby didn't have as bad as an injury from the coffee, luckily, she didn't gain much of an injury, but I still gave her an ice pack for her to use for her wound on her chest.

During the rest of the night, I sat on the couch close to Ruby, holding her close to me as the thick blanket I got for her earlier was wrapped around us like a burrito, it was still pretty dark and it was still storming pretty hard outside, but me and Ruby managed to make ourselves relax in the storm, after a while, me and Ruby began to feel sleepy and without me noticing, me and Ruby slept on the couch together while the rain continued to pour down.

It was completely unexpected for me to become close with a neighbor I just met and comfort her during a storm, though strangely enough, it felt so calming and sweet at the same time, when she came over to my doorstep, it was as if I wanted to keep her close to me...and tell her that she doesn't have to be afraid of the storm when I'm around her...

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends belongs to Cartoon Network

Ruby Gloom belongs to YTV

(Phew, this chapter took a lot longer than I expected, and I apologize if it's too long, hope you like this one shot, and you're free to request on ideas you want for this book of one shots. Bye 😊