Can You Keep Up: a Battle For Dream Island fan-fiction

"Surprise!" Book said, untying the blindfold around Ruby's eyes (it was her idea), revealing a long, sturdy, one-story building near the edge of Yoyle City.

"Omigosh you didn't!!!" Ruby said, eyes twinkling at the sight of the faded decals on its doors. "The Yoyle Children's Museum!! I've always wanted to go!!"

Ruby dashed up the wheelchair ramp, Book following close behind.

"Look! There's a smaller door for kids!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Aw, that's so cute," Book said before opening the larger, adult door for Ruby. "Gemstones first---"

Ruby didn't notice the gesture, as she was, instead, crouched down, trying her best to fit through the kids' door.

Book smiled to herself and walked through the adult door to inside, then turned to take Ruby's hands and help pull her through.

"Maybe if you turn more on your side..." Book said.

Ruby did so, and with Book's help, popped through the door without a scratch.

"Yay!" Ruby exclaimed.

The admission prices on the front desk were a little high, but luckily, living in an abandoned city had its perks, so that was not their problem. Instead, Book reached behind the counter to grab a map of the museum.

"Hmm. Hey, Ruby---" Book glanced over to see that Ruby had immediately discovered the lobby gift shop's large trough full of souvenir gemstones, and had dived in.

Book shrugged and hopped in too. It was surprisingly comfortable, the weight of the rocks keeping her secure, but smooth and small enough that she could move freely.

"These gems are all so pretty!" Ruby said, picking out one particularly round piece of jasper and examining it.

"Not as pretty as the prettiest gem I know," Book said, shifting closer to Ruby.

"Awwwww!" Ruby pulled Book into one of her trademark energetic hugs.

Book smiled. "So," Book pulled her map out of the pool of rocks. "Do you want to visit the castle or the foam pit first?"

"Hmmmmmm...castle!"

And so, Book and Ruby visited the right side of the building, where there was a room with higher ceilings than all the rest, dedicated to replicating a medieval castle---complete with a stable filled with toy horse heads on sticks, a courtyard with seating for grownups, and, up a stone spiral staircase, a tower and crawlspace. Book and Ruby took turns donning musketeer hats and tiaras from the costume tub, Ruby defending Book against a fearsome dragon, the two engaging in elaborate swordfights that they never managed to make as graceful as in the movies. It was when Ruby got a little overexcited, and a rubber turkey leg ended up in a light fixture, that they decided it was time to move on.

Back on the left side of the building, there was a foam-floored room with large building blocks for stacking, climbing on, and falling from, where Ruby and Book had a friendly competition to see who could build the tallest structure, which quickly turned into a competition to see who could stay off the ground the longest, which quickly turned into competition to see who could push the other off their structure. No one kept track of the points. On the other side of the room, there was another type of building block: a table covered in off-brand Legos. While Ruby worked on building the magical cottage of her dreams, Book completed an abandoned recreation of the Yoyle Needy that someone had started before the museum closed. There were no minifigures available, so Ruby put together blocky little objects approximated in brick to populate her fairy garden, while Book placed tiny one-stud dots on her observation deck. Then, in the next room, there was the pirate ship, another opportunity for non-photogenic swordfights, and a surprisingly roomy brig, perfect for sitting and resting.

"Aw, darn! I forgot my camera!" Ruby exclaimed suddenly.

"Oh, did you want to record a vlog?" Book turned away from examining the wall, trying to determine what type of wood it was.

"No, to take pictures! We could've gotten a really good one of us locked in the brig!" Ruby put on a pleading face and mimed holding onto bars. "Oh noooo! Please let us out! LET US OUUUUTTTTT!!!"

Book cracked a smile before putting on an ultra-serious face. "We were jailed for the crime of love!"

"Exactly!"

Book jumped to her feet. "WE DEMAND FAIR TREATMENT!"

"WAAAAAAAEEEEHHH!!" Ruby shook the bars of the brig with vigor.

The two's protests quickly devolved into giggles.

Book sat back down. "Ahh. That would've been a great photo."

As Book and Ruby continued on their journey, they unfortunately had to face down what the map described as the "water room," but had, in its disrepair, turned into what was, according to Ruby, better described as the "gross room." Luckily, the nose-holding and gag-resisting was just a small blip on the way to a room with marbled linoleum floors and toy shopping carts nested together near the wall.

"Okay," Book said, hands shaking with excitement. "Can I be honest? I was looking through myself, a Yoyle City tourism guide, for places to go, and I saw this place"---Book gestured to the ceiling, to indicate this whole building---"and there was a picture of this room, and this room"---Book here pointed down at the floor and tapped her feet excitedly---"is what made me really, really wanna go. I knew you'd love all of it, but this..."

Book looked at the shelves, the fridges, the checkout counters. "...it's...it's even better than I thought it would be!! Eee!!"

Book gasped, running towards the shelves. "These are real cereal boxes! They just covered them in clear packing tape!"

Book grabbed a cart and started putting items in it. She could only assume this is what Ruby felt like on a sugar high. Packaged meats in the deli case! Boxes of microwave lasagna! A real produce scale!!!

"You look like you're having fun," Ruby said, standing awkwardly near the entrance. "But I don't really...get it?"

Book stopped in her tracks. "Ruby, there's real cereal boxes! And a real produce scale!" Book plopped a box onto the scale for emphasis.

"I knoooow, but if we wanted to mess with a produce scale, couldn't we just go to the real Yoyle Mart near the Needy?"

Book sputtered. "It's...! It's about the attention to detail, Ruby! Look at this! The thought of being a little kid in here, and...and there's so much! Detail!"

Book took a deep breath and considered how best to explain it. "...it's like an art exhibit, Ruby."

"An art exhibit?" Ruby raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! It's about admiring the handiwork! Sure, we could go pretend shopping in a real grocery store, but it's just not the same! They packed so much realism into such a tiny room! And...I mean, you've been in an abandoned grocery store, right?"

"Yeah, they're creepy."

"Exactly! But this place..." Now that Book had stopped to consider, she couldn't help but picture long-lost objects on ladders, painting the walls the perfect shade of beige, taping the cereal boxes to make them withstand the elements, carefully replicating the platonic ideal of a grocery store, scaled down to fit in little hands. And those little hands, their joy echoed throughout this place, the delight of getting to pretend to be big grown-ups, what would be routine drudgery later, but now was the most novel thing in the world, as they raced around on carts filled to the brim with plastic vegetables.

"It's alive," Book said.

"Hmm," Ruby said. Ruby still didn't fully see what Book saw, but what she could see was Book's radiant smile as she poured over the nutritional facts on empty ice cream tubs. The way the sun hit Book's eyes from the door near the registers made Ruby want to be part of bringing that beautiful smile to Book's face, and she knew that the best way to understand was to try it out for herself.

Ruby grabbed an apron off the hooks and dashed to the cash register.

"Open on line 2!"

"Hooray!" Book jumped up and hurried to finish her shopping.

"Boop! Boop! Boop!" Ruby pretended to scan things on the checkout counter.

Book sighed. "They used to have a real scanner here, but it doesn't work anymore because of the electricity being out...hey, maybe next time we come here we can hook up a generator!"

As disappointed Ruby would be to not get to say "boop" over and over next time, she knew how excited Book would be to use a real scanner. "Sounds fun!"

After Book finished checking out and carefully returning all of the toy food to its original position, she and Ruby took seats at the attached pretend café's faded barstools. Book had more to say about the things she loved about this room, and Ruby just sat, one arm leaning on the bar, lost in her Bookworm's happiness.

"I'm so happy you're happy," Ruby said, uncharacteristically calm.

"Uh...thanks. Sorry, the way you said that freaked me out, a-heh. Are you getting tired?"

"Nope! I just like you." Ruby leaned over and kissed Book's cheek. "Mwah!"

Book lifted a hand up to where Ruby had kissed her and smiled a smile that could melt gold. She took Ruby's hand.

"Anyway," Book said, leaning back onto the bar without letting go of Ruby's hand. "What was your favorite room?"

"All of the ones where you were there!"

"Even the water room?"

"Ew no, not the water room!"

They both laughed.

"Hey, I saw on the map there was a backyard with a giant whale?" Ruby said, hopping down and heading towards the door to the outside.

Book followed, and together they climbed a ladder up the whale's blowhole and leaned back on top of the whale's head, watching as clouds dispersed the sunset, hands entwined.

"Thanks for letting me take you here," Book said, breaking their silence. "We don't get a lot of time to ourselves, and I wanted to do something really special."

"You're always special," Ruby said.

Book smiled and took Ruby's hand. "So are you."

The two giggled, then realized they had ended up inches from each other's face, at which point the giggles were replaced with copious amounts of blushing as they neither moved farther away nor closed the gap.

"Um," Book said. "Sorry, do you...uh...can I k---"

Ruby answered by quickly, briefly, closing the gap between them, before scooting away with astonishing speed, sitting on her hands innocently.

Book responded in turn by inching over and pulling Ruby into a much slower, softer kiss.

When the kiss ended, Ruby sighed. "You're the best girlfriend EVER!" She hugged Book.

Book hugged her back before looking up at the sky. "It's getting dark. We should head back."

"Ooh, we could have a sleepover! Girlfriends sleepover!"

"Ruby, I love you, but your sleepovers are so loud. Everyone will hear and get jealous they weren't invited."

"Nonono I can be quiet! We can just sit and cuddle and talk about stuff! Quietly!"

Book chuckled to herself and shook her head, hopping down from the whale's back. She then caught Ruby in her arms as she jumped down, Ruby's limbs dangling down like some sort of particularly defenseless cat. Book rubbed the top of Ruby's smooth, shiny head with affection.

"C'mon, let's go," Book said, marching towards the nearest exit, not setting Ruby down.

"Wait! Can we go to the gift shop again before we leave? I saw a rock in there that looked just like my sister!"

"Was it that one that looked like poo?"

"Yeah, my sister Poo! You remembered!"

Notes and credits

A gift for my friend, Mod E of PolarisIsBestStar! She asked for a fluffy RuBook fic, and I obliged by writing the longest thing I have finished since age 10. Thanks to my mom for beta reading, as well as to my dad and the [location redacted] writing club for their support.

Titled after a song of the same name by Blue Kid.

Also shared on Archive of Our Own, on April 17, 2026. If you liked it, feel free to leave kudos and/or a comment over there (You don't need an account to do either)!