"Hey kid, pass me some of that conditioner of there," an elderly woman asked politely as she massaged her hands into the thick curly mane of a customer. This old lady was the owner of the shop for hair care, men and women alike. Unlike other salons, this old lady prided herself on knowing that her employees always took care of their patient's hair and took pride in their trade. For example, the short man with the bangs took his job very seriously.
"Sí, señora," the Spanish man, Arturo, nodded as he took the bottle from the rack and handed it to the old woman. The twenty-seven year old man wore a burgundy sweater and black denim jeans. His hair, swept to perfection covered his right eye and his under bite that used to be prominent back in his gang days was now slowly getting mended with the help of some heavy duty braces. The most noticeable feature of the once gangster was his obvious avocado skin that took some getting used to. While it took awhile to get used to an employee with an abnormality, the old woman eventually warmed up to him and made him her personal apprentice.
The shop was in the downtown part of the city, always being visited by customers. There was never a day when the populace did not question the man over his skin ailment. The ex-Gangreen Gang member sighed as he welcomed one of the newer customers to his chair and grabbed his favorite comb from the glass, which held the cleaning fluid. True, he was getting paid some good money here and he was rarely harassed anymore, but he still felt unwanted and scorned. His grip on his 'daughter' tightened as recalled when he was nearly mugged a few weeks before.
"You okay there, bud," the customer asked with slight concern. Of course, there was the slight hostile look in the eyes, but that was enough to kick Arturo out of his anger at Townsville.
"Sí," the Latino muttered softly as he swept his comb through the oily strands of the man. He was careful not to stray off course, lest he alert his employer and ultimately get fired if so much as snipped a lock way to short. "Estoy bien. Just fine, señor."
Fortunately, Arturo was left to his dark thoughts when the man merely nodded and faced the mirror in a blank manner. Same old, same old, Arturo mused lightly. Nothing much is going to happen then, nothing much is going to happen now, he thought.
Minutes passed as the man's hair was cut into smaller strands and parted to create a fashionable look. When the process was completed, the man jumped up from his seat, thanked the kid, and gave him a five-dollar tip. While it wasn't very extravagant, it was more than Arturo could ever hope for and was grateful. As the man left with his new haircut, Arturo swept up the leftover hair off of the floor and made sure his Maria was fine in the cleaning liquid. Satisfied with the ministrations to his beloved, Arturo waited patiently for his next customer to pop in.
It wasn't long before a Puffcame in.
"Hiya there!" She called out, pigtails swinging gently as she walked up to his booth. "You work here?" Her bright blue orbs studied him intently, already knowing that he gave up being a bad guy a long time ago, but fully aware that he could try anything if he wanted to do so.
"Sí, Señorita PowerPuff," Arturo answered snidely. He shoved her into his chair and placed the smock over her body, trying to keep himself from choking her to death. Just for the fun of it, he decided to speak in full-blown Spanish just to get her flustered. "Mi empleo es muy fàcil, Señorita Burbuja!"
"No me digas," Bubbles mused as she adjusted the straps on her neck to a more comfortable position," Que chevere, Señor… Cual es tu nombre?"
In shock that Bubbles had understood and answered him in fluent Spanish was astonishing to Arturo. He was used to people looking at him in confusion and trying to get him to speak in English. Now, he seemed to meet his match in the girl that had beaten up years earlier. He grinned in content as he untied her pigtails and started to comb her hair.
"You forget, Señorita Burbuja? Mi nombre es Arturo de la Guerra," he announced proudly as he sprayed her hair down so that he could comb the tangles away.
Bubbles silently filed that away in her head and translated the name in a manner of seconds.
"Your name is… the Art of War?" She asked curiously. Her nose scrunched up a bit and her eyes met his in the mirror. Her orbs seemed to ask for confirmation, to keep the conversation going, to keep the bot of them occupied.
He nodded silently. Right now, he could not talk, unless he wanted to damage his comb, which lay precariously in his mouth due to the fact that he was pinning back Bubbles' hair. Noticing that some of her hair was stuck behind her ear, he pushed it back to one unbroken lock, his fingers accidentally grazing her neck, causing her to shiver. However, he did not notice, only noting the fact that she probably used high quality products to take care of her gorgeous mane. He hummed in approval as he took in the vanilla scent that wafted from her creamy locks.
"So, how is the rest of the Gangreen Gang doing," the petite blonde asked in curiosity. It had been years since the crime fighters of Townsville heard or saw of the minor villains. It was the perfect opportunity to get some inside information.
The brunette shrugged.
"Nada. Nobody's in the business anymore," Arturo replied cautiously with a touch of sadness. "I see them sometimes, but they're doing nothing special." Steadying his hands for a moment, his eyes glazed over as series of memories popped up into his brain; images of them fooling around with the citizens of Townsville, spraying graffiti, and stealing from old ladies. He let out a heavy breath that he didn't realize he had been holding. Realizing that he was probably acting non-villain like, he was back in business mode, now fully aware of his surroundings once again.
"How are your hermanas doing?" He asked curiously. Sure there were tabloids about the PowerPuff Girls about doing the most normal of things, but he really wanted to know the inside scoop. Plus, if he got something worthwhile, it could fetch a pretty penny if something were to spill from his mouth. Sneering slightly at the fact of some type of popularity that he would gain from spilling the PowerPuff's most guarded secrets, secrets that most news reporters would kill each other for.
Unfortunately for the Spanish speaker, the superhero knew what he was up to. Years of getting hounded by journalists honed her ability to foreshadow a future with complications with those who believed the lies that were typed in the stories. Putting on a fake flabbergasted look, she narrowed her eyes at the mirror so that Arturo would look at her.
"Buenas suerte, trying to get that classified information from me," she laughed. "Don't try and act innocent on me, I'm tougher and smarter than I look," she exclaimed.
Arturo nodded his assent as he playfully batted her on the head with his utensil.
"Prettier too," he agreed. "Smart, not so much. You're in my territory now, you have to answer to me or your pelo bonita is gonna get it."
Bubbles visibly flushed, her cheeks taking on a merry red tint as he tenderly touched a strand of hair in between his fingers, looking as if he would crumble it into dust if he had the strength.
At her horrified complexion, Arturo began to relax and chuckle good-naturedly.
"No te preocupes, Señorita Burbuja! Your hair is going to be fine in my green hands!" Bubbles brightened at his statement and leaned back in the chair. "But you're going to have to pay the ransom fee of a few more dollars," he added mischievously.
"My hair, or keeping all my money to myself," Bubbles asked sarcastically, pretending to ponder over both options. "I don't know, I can be quite the Ebenezer Scrooge if I put my heart into it."
Arturo rolled his eyes as he again held a lock of hair so that the blonde could see it in the mirror.
"Necesito dinero, pero…" His brown eyes flashed wickedly as his scissors flashed wickedly in the light. "El pelo—"
"Alright, alright," Bubbles shrieked with laughter, her eyes filling with tears. "I'll give you a nice tip, just leave my hair out of this!"
"Excellente," Arturo complimented at Bubbles' choice. "But since you refused my offer the first time, you're going to have to pay with something else…" He let his voice trail off in what he thought was something heinous. He gave himself a pat on the back when he caught Bubbles' distressed look in the reflecting glass. Now, here was the entertaining part, was the eighteen year old going to explode from the belt up energy underneath her exterior, or was she going to pale and wither like a flower? Either way, as he admired the world he had done with her head, this was going to epic.
"W-what do you mean?" Although she believed him when he said that the Gangreen Gang had disbanded—and therefore had completely let her guard down—she felt her defenses reacting again. "You're not going to make me steal stuff are you?"
"No," he whispered as he pulled another strand from her face—funny, didn't he pin that one back? "But a date would suffice."
Her features whitened instantly, like she was training herself to rid herself of color within a matter of seconds, Arturo marveled. Bubbles trembled slightly; troubled at the fact that she somehow got herself into this situation. Buttercup and especially Blossom would not be pleased if she told them. Suddenly, she felt a pat on her head, feeling oddly comforting and not really heavy on her head.
"You frighten easily," he began, ignoring the look he got from her," but think nothing of it. I have nothing to do later and I think you need to take your mind off of things, sí?" He often noticed that during the conversation, the happy go lucky girl would look a little dejected at times, feeling a little down that such a gorgeous chica was melancholic.
"What do you mean, take my mind off of things?" Her normally friendly blue eyes took on an icy hue. Due to his status as a lackey, a follower, he would have backed down from a woman's wrath. Plus, he had gotten the rise out of her that would have satisfied his younger self-years prior—Bubbles didn't need to know that.
"I just noticed that you seem to overreacting at some things and then go aburrida at some other stuff," at the mistrustful stare that was thrown his way, he continued in a hesitant manner," Not that I think you're boring, but still." He shook his head at that fact and sighed. "I really don't care, but a chica like you should not cry."
After that last tidbit of conversation, he finally snipped the last unnecessary lock from Bubbles' golden head and tidied her hair. He also expertly guided her hair into her customary pigtails. Pleased with the ending results, he stepped back from her chair and pulled the smock from her figure.
"No, you do. You just don't want to admit it, but you do."
Arturo looked back at her in confusion. In reality, he had expected some other comment, other than that. He would have expected getting pummeled right about now. Or getting slapped. Getting a face full of comments that would have made a sailor blush, or something. In order to save face, he just pointed at the cash register at the front of the shop and told her to pay up front.
"Dios," he muttered," what was I thinking? I'm just getting soft, that's all."
"I don't know what you're thinking about either, but I would like to go somewhere nice and have a conversation!" That overly bright comment made Arturo wince in fear that he would go deaf. Nevertheless, he led her to the front, put the necessary money in the register, and clocked out.
"A dònde vamos, Señorita Burbuja," Arturo asked as they walked aimlessly down the street.
He had his hands in his pockets and his customary red sweater protected him from the cold. Meanwhile, Bubbles huddled in her light blue sweater and white skirt that stopped at her knees. Granted, it wasn't that cold, but Arturo placed an arm around her shoulders for comfort. Almost immediately, the heroine shied away from his touch and a pained expression appeared on her face.
The Latino instinctively knew that something was up and it wasn't him.
"I think there's a café somewhere that's really cheap up on West Street," Bubbles supplied, as she gave no valid reason as to avoid contact. "I heard that it's really good, having some of the best cuisine in the world! They have some of the best-known dishes from both Romance and Oriental countries! I don't think we need to change or anything, people don't go there often, so we won't be seen—"
And that's where Arturo finally drew the line.
"Like I said, Señorita PowerPuff, no te preocupes," he hushed her in a stern manner. "Besides, I really don't want to have a full restaurant review, save it for the haircut that I gave you. Anyway, how are you today?"
They had stopped at an intersection, the light had recently turned green for the cars to travel and the pedestrians had to stop. If they were going to have a calm, comfortable evening, Arturo reasoned, they might as well get the elephant out of the room right now. The elephant in the room that had caused him to do this stupid move, he meant.
"I'm fine, saving the day," Bubbles passed it off with an airy flourish of her hands. Arturo noticed that he she didn't quite meet his eyes. "The works."
"Every try saving yourself?"
Her impossibly big blue eyes welled with barely reined in emotion as tears began to swell. Arturo tried to look away—to save her some embarrassment, you know—but he couldn't help but wipe away her tears first. He was, after all, only a gentleman treating a lady to a snack and relieving her burdens for the day.
"You really shouldn't care, besides," she whimpered," the whole fiasco was my fault."
At Arturo's careful urging, Bubbles continued. The two ignored the green light that signaled that they could now cross and opted to lean against the wall of some building.
"You see, I was in a relationship with…" She hiccupped on tears for a few seconds before regaining control of her tears. "Boomer. The RowdyRuff Boy. We were a great team, a great couple that everyone adored and envied." She glanced down at her flats in shame as she recalled what happened recently. "Over the past few months, we had gotten into a few spats that involved the nature of what we were involved, me being good and him being bad. I honestly thought he could see the light and you know, stop with the crime and everything." She laughed bitterly, at the events that would lead to her sadness at life. "I don't blame the next thing he did; he stayed with his brothers. He chose them over me. I would have done the same thing, but I would have refrained from doing something so…so vile!"
"What did he do?" Disgust and awkwardness radiated off of him in visible waves. Just what did that little punk do to something so pure and innocent?
"He tried to… He wanted to," she sobbed harder, finally falling to the ground and leaning against the wall as if it was her savior. "If Blossom wasn't there he might have gone the whole way…"
"How long ago was that?" He had already guessed what happened, or more specifically, what could have happened had Blossom been not there. Anger, ceaseless, bountiful fury swarmed into his being, encasing his vision in red. Girls, especially those with kind hearts were not allowed to be subjected to that kind of treatment, even he wasn't that evil when he was in the gang.
"A few months ago." Burying her head into her arms, she looked reminiscent of a five year old who was being bullied. Arturo winced as memories of their first meeting in that alley resulted in his gang's concussion the following day.
"Have you told people about this?"
"Just my sisters."
"So you didn't arrest him?" So the Ruff got away, huh? He mused darkly on that statement. Why would the girls hesitate on an issue that happened to many women every day? Why couldn't they have locked up the criminal right away?
"No, I love him too much to do that." Of course, he thought. Love and fear was what held her tongue from reporting her 'boyfriend' to the police. Probably threatened her not to tell while he was at it.
Despite the weightiness of the situation at hand, he only looked at her in a pitying manner, doing his best to appear as a shoulder to cry on—if the need arose—but staying still so that she could collect her thoughts. When he was in service to Ace, his mood swings were usually unavoidable, but with experience, he learned to comfort the wounded—Ace, and now Bubbles. Breathing softly, he sat down next to her and patted her head. He barely interacted with females that often—the green skin was a major turn off—and he usually wasn't very affectionate.
"Love is blind, Señorita Burbuja," he started slowly. "I think that you should move on, bring that topic to the policia or something." He blew a wayward strand of hair away from his uncovered eye and continued. "I'm surprised your leader didn't tell you to do that earlier."
The young woman pressed her knees into her chest, sitting silently like a statue. Waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the joy and the laughter of the Puffs finally spoke up.
"It's hard letting something go," she murmured. "Like my toy Octi, he was always there fore me, like Boomer was."
"It's harder keeping it," Arturo muttered. "Let it go before you become a slave to that," he paused nastily," boy."
"But what if nobody believes me about what happened? What if the RowdyRuffs decide to do some more harmful stuff to us? And why now? Isn't it a little bit too late for—" Bubbles finally hushed at Arturo's hand keeping her still. She felt the way he passed his comb into her hair, easing her into a blissful silence. She felt loved and cared for, the first time in a long time by someone other than her family.
"Ever heard of the term, que sera sera? I think you should just take the plunge," Arturo commented easily. "Sweet chicas like you are hard to come by. It would be hard to look in you face after this and know that I did nothing to help."
Standing gracefully on his feet, he held out a hand to Bubbles, winking as he did so.
"Besides, you worry too much."
The blonde seemed stunned at the turn of events, but she eagerly grasped his wrist. She seemed to sigh as she looked up at his tall frame and smiled gratefully.
"No te preocupes, right?"
"Sí, now let's get a burger."
People of the PowerPuff Girls Fandom, I come in peace. Bearing a gift that will most definitely surprise. I present a Gangreen Member with a PowerPuff Girl! But not just any pairing, Arubbles! Or Burto… Or something. Has anyone thought of this paring yet? Anyways, please tell me if I made them OOC or the Spanish in here is not… Spanish. I confess, this is my first time writing for this fandom, please be kind that I did not do the Blues, Reds, or Greens.
Translations:
Estoy bien. / I'm fine.
Mi empleo es muy fàcil, Señorita Burbuja! / My job is very easy, Miss Bubbles!
No me digas. / You don't say.
Que chevere, Señor… / How awesome, Mister…
Cual es tu nombre? / What is your name?
Mi nombre es Arturo de la Guerra. / My name is Arturo de la Guerra. (Arturo, referring to as Art/de la Guerra meaning of the war)
pelo bonita / pretty hair
No te preocupes! / Don't worry!
Necesito dinero, pero… / I need money, but…
A dònde vamos? / To where are we going?
Que sera sera. / Whatever will be, will be.