When classes ended for the day, Ruby and Yang went back to their dorm. Ruby walked in front, her eyes narrowed and carefully watching her surroundings.

Team JNPR had run off a while ago, the first clue for what was going to be waiting for her. She and Yang made their way through campus, and once they arrived, Ruby took one last look back at her sister.

"What?" Yang asked innocently. Too innocently. No way she was going to catch Ruby by surprise.

"Ha!" Ruby pulled the door open, ready to point out that Yang had failed.

"What is it?" Yang looked in over Ruby's shoulder. Acting as if it was completely normal for Ruby to yell while opening the door.

The main room was empty, nobody lying in wait for her. Ruby turned the lights on and checked to make sure. She went behind the couches and under the tables. Yep, nobody.

Okay, that just meant it would be later, and Yang had just lost the best opportunity to catch her off guard. Ruby said, "It's nothing, I'll be in our room for the next hour or two." She should at least give Yang a fighting chance.

Just when she made it to the bottom of the stairs, Yang spoke up. "Wait Ruby, look, someone left something for you."

Ooh, present! Ruby turned around. "What-

"Surprise!" multiple people shouted. Team JNPR, Clark, and Uncle Qrow were there, but that wasn't all.

The main room was filled with decorations. The words Happy Birthday Ruby! were on the wall in big red letters. Colorful balloons floated up in the ceiling and streamers hung down. The tables that had been plain wood a second ago were covered with pink tablecloths and piled with plates and bowls of food. Drinks were on the side, cans of soda and bottles of juice. Whoa, was that a strawberry cake?

"Wha-wha-how . . ." Ruby gaped and pointed.

Yang took out a scroll and snapped a picture. "Gotcha! Man, the look on your face is priceless."

"B-but how?" Ruby managed to force a few words out. There was music playing in the now. Her favorite song, and at the perfect background volume instead of the ear-blasting Yang liked.

"Come on, sis, you should be able to figure it out. I had a secret weapon this year, this guy." Yang slapped Clark on the back.

"So you did all this?" Ruby asked.

"Not all of it. I put them up, but your sister's the one who arranged everything," Clark said with a wave of his arm, presenting it all. "Happy birthday, Ruby."

"Happy birthday!" Everyone said. There were only eight people in the party, a number Ruby was perfectly happy with. Maybe it would have been nice to have team SSN or Iris here too, but she realized that if they had come, Clark wouldn't have been able to use his super-speed.

Tears gathered in Ruby's eyes. She ran to her sister and wrapped her arms around in a tight hug. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"You're welcome," Yang patted her head. "Now come on, let's party!"

And they did. Yang had prepared a bunch of party games for them, and first was one that she and Ruby had plenty of experience with. Cotton bowls. Each person had two bowls, one filled with cotton balls and an empty one that they held over their head. While they were blindfolded, they had to move as many cotton balls as they could in one minute from the full bowl to the empty one with a spoon.

Yang had set up three stations, and the first competitors were Clark, Ren, and Nora. They sat at the table and were given blindfolds.

"No peeking with X-ray vision, Clark," Yang said.

He brought a hand to his chest. "I'm offended you'd even ask."

"Good. Okay then, everyone ready?" Yang made a few punching moves to make sure they couldn't see. "Then, begin!"

They all clutched their spoons and started to try and bring the cotton up over their head. Soon, the floor was littered with cotton balls, and everyone else began to pile them back into the bowls on the table. Nobody was doing well, but Ren was leading.

"Hold on, Clark, slow down! You're beating everyone by a landslide," Yang said.

"I didn't hear any balls fall into my bowl," Clark said. "Anyone else feel like this game is rigged against them?"

"I dunno what you hear Clark, but something sounds like a sore loser to me!" Nora replied.

Ruby giggled. Even though she was beating Clark, Nora didn't really have much to boast about with only two cotton balls.

Time ran out, and the three of them took off their blindfolds.

"The winner is Ren with five balls!" Yang announced. "And in last place, Clark with zero."

Clark blinked at looked down at the empty bowl in his hands. "Wow, I thought I'd at least get one."

"Too bad, now who else would like to go? Jaune, Pyrrha? The birthday girl? Old man Qrow?"

"If you think calling me old is going to make me play, then you're out of luck," Qrow said.

"Uncle Qrow refuses. That's fine, without our dad here, we need a proper boring adult as a supervisor."

Qrow glared at her. "You've just crossed a line, firecracker. Okay, I'll play."

Jaune and Pyrrha played with him. Uncle Qrow didn't do well, but still a lot better than those two. Jaune dropped his spoon onto the ground and had to feel around for it since the rules said he couldn't take off the blindfold. Pyrrha accidentally tipped over her full bowl and had to gather the balls back in.

Uncle Qrow won with only two balls in his bowl. Nobody else played against him, but they went for a few more rounds with other players before moving on to video games on the big screen TV. They started with a dancing game on a console which could track their movements.

While Pyrrha and Yang played, Ruby happily watched while munching on cookies. It also gave her the chance to ask Clark what she'd been dying to know.

"Was it hard set this up so quickly?" she asked.

"Not really, we actually prepped some things beforehand. The balloons were already blown up and hidden in some closets, so I just brought them over. We also already put things on the wall for me to attach the letters to or hang stuff from, so it wasn't thatimpressive."

"I disagree," Ren said. "It truly was a sight, seeing a flash go by a bare wall and leave behind organized decorations."

The game ended, and Yang pumped her fist at her victory. "Yeah! Dance Queen Yang in the house! Who wants to challenge me for the title?"

"I'll challenge you," Ren answered. "Although not for the title of queen."

Yang grinned. "Alright, bring it."

They set the difficulty to extreme, which Yang was having a hard time keeping up with. Ren, though, was doing fine. More than fine, actually, he was getting near perfect scores for each move.

He won, beating Yang by about two hundred points and Nora rushed forward to play next. The whole time she screamed about how she was going to be the queen to Ren's Dance King.

"Go Nora! Make Ren your man!" Yang shouted.

"Oh my God, this is so good." Ruby licked the strawberry frosting off a cupcake. "Where'd you get these?"

"Turns out there's this expensive bakery in the city that everyone says is the bomb. And thanks to a certain famous huntress," Yang pulled in Pyrrha and Clark. "I got a great discount."

"Aww," Ruby squealed in appreciation. "You guys . . ."

"It was my pleasure," Pyrrha said.

"Whoa!" Jaune suddenly said, and when they all turned to look, he was holding a fizzing soda that was spilling out of the can.

"Chug chug chug!" Nora said.

"Wh-what?"

"Come on, chug!"

Jaune quickly brought his lips down to the can. It had stopped fizzing though, and he just sucked up any soda that was left on top.

That started a new, and messy, game. Shake a can of soda and see who could down it the fastest.

"Man, if we had some alcohol instead, this would have been way more fun," Yang said before starting.

Qrow gave her a look.

"Hey, I know, not until everyone is old enough. I was just saying."

"You're all plenty old enough that I'd trust you to share a calm drink with me. That's way different from a bunch of drunk partying teenagers."

"Boooo," Yang said.

"Maybe there's still a way to get some good spurts out of these," Clark said. He reached for a pair of cans, then shook them so quickly that his hands were a blur. "Anyone want to try?"

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Ooh ooh, me!" Nora grabbed one and immediately tried to guzzle it down. Her cheeks started to fill up, but she kept fighting.

She finished it and bent over to cough a few times. She also turned the can over to show that it was empty.

"You're on the right track, but you gotta get creative," Yang reached into her pocket and pulled her hand out, keeping her fingers closed. "By the way, it seems like no one else is gonna take you up on your offer on your last one, so why don't you do it?"

"I don't know . . ."

"What's wrong? Don't want to get yourself dirty?"

"It's not going to be that interesting to watch, but I guess I could." Clark opened the can and brought it to his mouth immediately. Like he said, he downed it with barely a reaction, although he moved a hand to his lips once he finished. "Wow, that was a lot sweeter than I expected."

"Really?" Ruby asked. "Cool Valley's sweet, but not more than any other soda."

"Huh, I guess it must be because I haven't had soda in a while."

"Hey, P-money," Yang called Pyrrha, who'd been patting Nora on the back as she coughed, and gave her a can. "Why don't you and Jaune chug some more down? Don't worry, Clark didn't shake them."

"Is that true?" Pyrrha looked to Ruby and Jaune.

Yang answered first. "Yep."

"I was watching the cans," Jaune said, a can in his hand. "There's no way he could have."

"Alright, I suppose this shouldn't be too difficult," Pyrrha said, eyeing the napkins on the table.

"Yep, go right ahead." Once they brought the cans up, Yang's hand went behind her back.

The two of them spluttered and coughed, and Yang immediately burst into laughter. "Haha, yes! Look, Pyrrha's even got soda coming out of her nose! Gimme five, Clark."

He clapped her hand and gave them some napkins. "Sorry about that guys, but it was totally worth it."

"Th-there's something in the can," Pyrrha said. She shook the now soda-less can and something tinged against the side.

"Yeah, you're right," Jaune faced her. "Pfft, Pyrrha, yo-your face." He laughed and motioned to the trail of purple under her nostrils.

She turned bright red and instantly took one of Clark's napkins. While facing away, she cleaned herself up.

"Yang, what did you just do?" Ruby asked.

"Hey, everyone knows what happens when you put these in soda," Yang held up a wrapper full of hard white candies. "Sneaking them in just before you took a sip was all Clark."

"We should have known not to let our guard down while he's around," Pyrrha said with a good-natured smile. "However, I'm still rather sticky."

"Yeah, me too," Jaune said.

"I think there are wet wipes in the kitchen," Clark suggested.

The two of them went over, and when they came back, conversation eventually split so that Ren and Nora talked to Ruby while Yang, Clark, Jaune, and Pyrrha were in another group. Uncle Qrow had left, but said he'd be back in time to sing the birthday song.

"Hey, you think Clark would be okay with helping me surprise Yang for her birthday?" Ruby asked.

"I don't see why he wouldn't," Ren said.

"Yeah, but even with Clark, this is gonna be hard to top. She's going to be ready for his super-speed."

"Well aren't there are still eight or so months until her birthday?" Nora said. "That's plenty of time to think of how to wow her even more than she did with you."

"Is it absolutely necessary to surprise her?" Ren asked. "This feels like it could escalate a great deal."

"Of course it's necessary, silly. It's fun. Plus, did you see Ruby's face?"

"Was I that surprised?"

"Totally. Wide-eyed and stunned like a deer in headlights," Nora twiddled her fingers together. "Hey, maybe-

"No asking Clark to surprise me for my birthday," Ren said.

"But Reeeeen."

"No. In fact, doesn't it seem rather rude if we keep asking him to do so much work for us?"

"You're right," Ruby said. She looked over at Clark.

He really was awesome. They'd become good friends, so sometimes she forgot, but he was the Dart. He was the guy who'd saved civilians when Torchwick had gone into the streets with the Paladin. He'd taken down the dragon, beaten Cinder, and killed thousands of Grimm in a single night. He was a guy from another world who'd helped so many people in Vale and was still doing his best to help here in Mistral.

He was a hero.

He smiled at something Yang said, and when she elbowed him, he shook his head as if indulging her. They must have really gotten close after planning the party together.

"Hold on a second, guys, I need to say something to Clark" Ruby ran up behind him, adding some Semblance speed, and gave him the tightest hug she could.

He was so strong that he didn't even budge when she knocked into him. He looked down. "Whoa there, looks like I've been caught by the birthday girl."

"Thanks. For everything," she said. Her eyes shining with joy.

"You're welcome, but be careful. If I hadn't heard you speed up behind me, we could have crashed into Yang."

"Sorry," she said, finally letting go of him. She was unsure what to do with her hands, and she finally settled on smoothing her skirt. "So, um, when's your birthday, Clark?"

"May third," he said. "Why?"

"No reason," Ruby answered instantly.

He gave her a knowing smile. Okay, obviously he figured it out, but there were six months until she'd be able to pay him back for today. He'd forget about it by then, right?

A little while later, Uncle Qrow came back and Yang made an announcement. "Alright guys, I think it's time we sit down and finally take apart that birthday cake. Everybody to the table."

They all sat down, with Ruby at the head of the table. Yang took the see-through plastic dome off the cake and brought it right in front her. Next, unlit candles floated through the air, everyone making 'ooh' and 'ah' sounds. Ruby looked on in wonder, then noticed that there were thin metal bands on them.

Pyrrha. Her hand was under the table, but Ruby could tell that she was twirling her fingers. The candles circled around Ruby, then settled down into the cake. Yang turned the lights off, and after a brief moment of darkness, the candles lit up all at once.

"Wow," Ruby said, and the others around the table clapped. All their faces were bathed in the warm orange glow, and she spotted a faint flicker of red from Clark's eyes before they went back to their natural color.

Then, they all started singing

"Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Ruby

Happy birthday to you."

She closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew out the candles. The sounds of clapping and congratulations filled her ears.

"Alright, time for some cake. The first, big slice goes to the birthday girl of course," Yang winked and cut into the cake. She gave Ruby a piece with the 'Ru' of her name.

Ruby gathered cake, icing, chocolate, and strawberry all onto her fork and took a bite. It was amazing. The cake was so soft that she could almost chew just by pressing against it with her tongue. The vanilla icing was creamy and smooth, and the sweet chocolate had to be the best she'd ever had. And to stop it from being too sweet, the slight bitterness from the strawberry came to the rescue.

Soon, everyone had their piece and seemed to enjoy it just as much as Ruby.

"Pyrrha, have we ever told you how awesome it is to be your friend?" Yang asked.

She laughed. "I'm certain you've mentioned it."

"Well we're telling you again. Pyrrha, you're awesome."

"Yeah, thanks Pyrrha," Ruby said. Followed by everyone else at the table.

Her shoulders hunched from all the attention. "Really, there's no need."

A little while later, with the cake sadly disappearing chunk by chunk, Ruby walked over to Clark. "What is it? You don't like the cake?" she asked, he'd hardly eaten any of it.

"It's a bit too sweet for me," Clark said. "It's better if I scrape off the frosting and eat it with the strawberries, but it still doesn't fit my taste."

"Sorry," Ruby said, a little glum.

"Hey, it's fine. Besides, if I was going to complain, I'd tell it to your sister."

"Also, if Clark's not eating it, that just means more for the rest of us," Jaune said.

Still, Clark hadn't seemed to like any of the food here. Not the cookies, the cupcakes, the snacks, Ruby hadn't seen him take any of them. He'd been having fun at least, that was good.

After a while, when the balloons started drifting down, Nora snatched one with glee and poked the end to inhale the air rushing out of the hole. Her voice became squeaky. "Wheee, I'm a chipmunk! Haha! Ren, you try it."

"Isn't inhaling helium somewhat dangerous?" Ren said. "I think it can displace-

"Boooring." The balloon in her hand had shrunk by half. She pushed it to him. "Come on!"

"Well, I suppose it's probably safe to try it a little." Ren took it and sucked in the rest. "Are you satisfied?"

"Yeah!" Nora laughed. "Oh man, mine ran out. You guys should try it too."

Yang shrugged and was the next to take one down. "Looks like fun, plus it'll make clean-up easier." She sucked in and looked around with wide eyes. "Is it just me, or does this just make me sound like a certain sixteen-year old huntress?"

"Hey!" Ruby said, but she still laughed at how ridiculous her sister sounded.

"Hello there," Pyrrha covered her mouth and giggled. She went almost as red as the balloon in her hand.

Jaune was next. "The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

"Wow, that line's just as good with this voice as it is normally," Yang said.

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. "Can't really deny that."

"Bleep blorp," Clark's voice was usually deep, so even though the helium changed his voice a lot, it wasn't as high as everyone else's. "Greetings humans, I am an alien from the planet Krypton. I command you to take me to your leader."

"Oh no, are you going to probe us?" Nora asked.

"That-that is a- Clark took in more helium-"a very strange thing to ask. We don't probe people. We prefer farmlands where we can kidnap cows and make crop circles."

"Really, Mr. Alien?" Yang's eyes went up and down. "You don't look half bad, maybe some Remnant women wouldn't mind being probed by you."

"I'm starting to reconsider the wisdom in conversing with humans." Clark faced Ruby. "Come fellow alien, we'll leave this planet and talk to sane sentient beings."

"Wait, why am I an alien too?"

"Your voice of course. Clearly, you must also be an alien."

Ruby grumbled. "It wasn't funny when Yang did it."

Clark grinned, way too happy with himself. "Okay, since it's your birthday, we'll go easy on you."

Ruby crossed her arms. Yang was a bad influence on him, he was starting to pick up her teasing.

They played around with the balloons for a little more, but the party finally started to wind down. Most of the balloons had already been taken down and thrown out.

"You guys sure you don't want my help cleaning up?" Clark asked.

"Hey, you decorated the room alone, so it's only fair that we clean," Yang said. "If you want to be useful though, you can carry Ruby's presents up to her room."

"Alright." Clark stacked up the boxes. Then, with no visible effort, he lifted them all up. "Ready, Ruby?"

"Hold on a sec. Hey everyone." Ruby waited until all their eyes were on her. "Thank you. Seriously, it was the best birthday ever. Good night."

She went back to Clark and grabbed a box from the top of the stack. It was wrapped in green and had yellow ribbons. As they went up the stairs, she smiled at the tag with Yang's message.

"So, do you already know what everyone got me?"

"No, I didn't ask. Although I think we managed to get you different things so there wouldn't be any awkwardness."

"You didn't look with X-ray vision?" She turned back in surprise. Clark's head was barely peeking over the boxes.

"Why would I?"

"That's what I'd do."

"If the presents were for me, I might. I've had an impatient Christmas or two where I peeked, but I'm not going to look at someone else's."

Ruby opened the door and led him in. "You can set it down here. Thanks." He nodded back, and just before he was about to go, she added. "Want me to tell you what's in them?"

"I guess. After all, I wouldn't want to give you the something next year that you already have."

"Okay then, tomorrow. Good night, Clark." She said, giving him a little wave.

"Good night." He closed the door, and she immediately went to work on the presents. Dad would have been mad at how she ripped apart the wrapping paper and threw it pretty much anywhere, but it was more fun this way.

First was Yang's. Ruby tore open the box and marveled at the new clothing she'd received. She might not look it, but she had grown since the beginning of Beacon. She wasn't going to be the cute baby sister forever, and Yang's gift reflected that.

A corset though? The colors were similar to her current outfit, but it was kinda revealing.

Ruby looked down at the clothes she had on now. Maybe being more revealing wouldn'tbe too bad, and it wasn't like she had to go as far as Yang. Besides, even if Ruby only looked half as good in a corset as Pyrrha, that still meant she'd look awesome.

Next up, dad. According to Yang, it had arrived a few days ago. A new weapon maintenance kit with lubricant, wipes, screwdrivers, nuts, bolts, pretty much everything she needed to keep Crescent Rose happy and healthy for months.

Ruby explored the rest of the presents. Pyrrha had gotten her a gift card for that bakery, which she was definitely gonnato take advantage of. From Ren was an Eastern Mistralian style portrait of her. Jaune, Uncle Qrow, and Nora had given her nice, useful stuff too.

Last up was Clark's. Ruby's fingers tapped against the sides in anticipation before opening it. When she saw it, she slapped her forehead and laughed.

He'd given her a ruby rose. A literal ruby carved into the shape of a rose, and under it was a nametag sticker with the words Hi, my name is

Ruby held up the rose with a smile. Even if it came with a bad joke, it was still beautiful and fit just right into the palm of her hand. The ruby was amazingly clear, and the sides were so smooth that she had to wonder at how much it had cost. No way it had been cheap to get it cut and polished into intricate, curved petals.

She'd have to ask later. For now, she set it down on her desk, where she'd see it every day.