She couldn't believe she had gotten pulled out of school for Mojo's stupid shenanigans again. Shouldn't he be bored of setting "killer" robots loose in the city? What did he even hope to accomplish?

Her sisters were shooting off in different directions, each trying to ensure that the damage was contained to only one area of the city. Blossom turned to face the ridiculous pieces of metal in front of her. Mojo hadn't even bothered changing the general design of the hunks of junk. Heck, maybe they were even the original robots. That would make them over a decade old. Easy.

Down one went, then another. They fell like dominoes. So simple. She had taken care of them in a matter of seconds. Smugly, she dusted some invisible dirt off of her skirt and looked around at the silent devices scattered at her feet. In her brief moment of victory, however, she had failed to notice one lone bot just to her left turning its head ever-so-slightly in her direction. It hadn't been quite destroyed, and was still able to recognize its target with ease. It's red eyes began to glow, brighter and brighter, until finally Blossom turned in its direction.

It only took a second. A blast of light hit her square in the face and she fell to her knees in pain. She could practically feel the chemical x rushing to her face to reverse the effects of the laser. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered someone yelling her name, and the grating metallic crunch of metal being crushed nearby.

Slowly, the face subsided and she began to blink as her eyesight came back to her. The chemical X had done its job, as usual. Or...wait...why wasn't...maybe it wasn't quite done. She could see her surroundings, but they were strangely...blurred? Even her sister's faces were distorted and unrecognizable. Surely this was just a brief after effect. She blinked one, twice, thrice more. No change.

She stumbled to her feet and shook her head. "Ugh...is that everything?"

"Think so," Buttercup grumbled to her left. "Dammit, now I won't have time to finish lunch."

Normally Blossom would have corrected Buttercup's crude language, but she was still trying to blink away the strange blurriness that had overcome her vision. Her forehead creased as she tried to make out her surroundings. Strange. Maybe the chemical X was taking a little longer than normal? Perhaps she should go home and ask the Professor.

No. That was nonsense. She still had a solid three hours of school left that she couldn't afford to skip. Her eyes would be fine in just a few minutes.

"Let's get out of here," she suggested and took off in the direction of their school, only slam into a building that she thought had been ten feet away from her.

Blossom was sitting with her head down and her shoulders slumped, biting her lip so hard it felt like she might draw blood. The Professor sat to her right, talking quietly to a middle-aged man wearing a crisp, white coat. With a sigh, Blossom told herself that she probably ought to hear what they were saying and shifted her attention back to the conversation in time to hear the Professor ask, "So, what's the prognosis?"

The doctor paused for a moment and rifled through the papers he had in his hand. "Well," he began, "it seems that the blow to her face she received during her last fight did some damage to her eyes as well. That's why her vision has been blurred these past few days."

"Yes, we figured that. But she's not healing like she normally would. How long would the effects last for an...average person," asked the Professor.

The optometrist shook his head. "That's the issue. It would appear that the injury affected the curvature of the cornea; she has an astigmatism. Normally the damage is permanent. I'm assuming that since she hasn't 'healed' like you thought she would the chances of her regaining her former visual capabilities are slim. She's going to need a vision aid to help her see clearly."

Glasses. Great - Buttercup was right. She was going to have to wear glasses. Stupid Mojo and his stupid robots and their stupid lasers. One of them managed to get one lucky shot that hit her square in the face, and now she couldn't freaking see. Her. Blossom Utonium. She has to wear glasses. It wasn't fair. She didn't understand why her eyes didn't heal like the rest of her. Could it be that she had a weakness? Were her eyes more susceptible injury because they weren't as strong as the rest of her? No. That was nonsense. She's the leader of the freaking Powerpuff Girls! She doesn't have any weaknesses. Her eyes would be back to normal soon.

Right?

Blossom's thoughts followed her out of the office and stood with her as she faced a wall that was covered with empty frames. Someone nearby was telling her to pick out a pair. She reached out and grabbed the pair that was nearest to her. It didn't really matter to her what they looked like. After all, her eyes were going to fix themselves. They had to. She wouldn't need to wear the dang things for very long.

The remainder of the appointment seemed to drag on for hours. Didn't they realize that she just wanted to get home and finish her homework so she could go to bed? She had to be at school early the next morning to make up for the classes she missed because of Mojo's stupid attack.

Eventually, though not soon enough, Blossom found herself sliding into the front seat of the Professor's car. She folded her arms and stared out the window as the blurry world slowly slipped past the vehicle. She had always hated riding in the car; it always took at least twice as long as flying. An annoyed sigh slipped from between her lips as the Professor slowed to a stop at an intersection.

Blossom could feel the Professor's concerned gaze burning into the side of her face as they waited for the light to turn green. She refused to acknowledge it. Yes, it was silly and irrational, but she couldn't help being a little bit irritated with him for not being able to fix what had happened. Sure, she knew that he had tried everything he could think of - he had even straight up given her an injection of Chemical X when everything else seemed to fail - but he was supposed to know how to fix everything!

"Blossom," the Professor began as the car started to move once more. "I know you're not happy about this, but look on the bright side! At least you're not blind."

Her head snapped towards him, an expression that screamed "you're not helping" filling her face. The Professor gave her a halfhearted smile and set his eyes firmly back on the road. Blossom shook her head and turned back towards the window.

"I don't see why I need these," Blossom finally spoke. "My eyesight might be a little off, but it's really not that bad."

As they approached yet another red light - another thing Blossom hated about driving; at least with flying she didn't have to stop every few minutes - the Professor turned back towards her. "Last time you tried to fly, you ended up crashing into a building - twice! I'm not going to allow it. At least not until you get used to your glasses."

Blossom mumbled a retort under her breath. The Professor frowned slightly and turned his attention back to the road. The two of them remained in silence for the rest of the ride home. Before Blossom could get out of the car, however, the Professor stopped her.

"Um, perhaps you should go ahead and put your new glasses on. Then your sisters can see what they look like when you go in!"

Grudgingly, Blossom slapped her hand onto the case that housed her new - and unwanted - accessory. She flipped down the passenger-side sun visor and opened the mirror so she could see her face as she slid the glasses up her nose. Then she froze in horror.

Perhaps she should have paid more attention when she was picking out the frame. Perhaps they should have made her try them on and look in the mirror first. That was what they were supposed to do, wasn't it? To stop her from picking out the stupidest set? Oh, gosh, she looked ridiculous. No, worse than that. She had been hoping that she would have the same effect as when Wonder Woman wore glasses as part of her 'disguise' - you know, where they're obviously on her face but they actually look pretty good and aren't distracting at all? Nope. That wasn't what she looked like at all.

They were - in her opinion - the worst glasses she could have possibly gotten. She looked like Ariel from that meme, and not in a good way. Ugh, she was never going to hear the end of this from her sisters. Buttercup already called her a nerd. Now she actually looked the part. Briefly she considered taking the glasses off and acting as though she didn't have them, or even 'accidentally' breaking them, but she knew they would have to see them sometime. Might as well get the worst of it over with now.

Blossom slowly made her way into the house, dragging her feet slightly the whole time. Bubbles and Buttercup were lounging on the couch in the living room, and both sat up and turned to look at her as she and the Professor came in. Almost immediately, Buttercup began to snicker at the sight of her sister. Bubbles hit the brunette lightly on the shoulder, but all that did was make her press her lips together and muffle the sound. Blossom sighed. She knew this would happen.

"Wow, Blossom" Bubbles began to say. "You look, um-"

"She looks like a dweeb," Buttercup said, still trying unsuccessfully to hold back her laughter.

"No she does not! Don't listen to her, Blossom. You look great in those," Bubbles told her with an encouraging smile. Blossom's lips started to turn up slightly in a smile at her sister's optimism, but it fell almost immediately as Buttercup let out a snort of laughter and loudly declared, "Oh, my gosh, she looks like Dexter!"

"Buttercup!"

"No, really, look at her! She's got the red hair and the glasses. Now all she needs is a lab coat and some rubber gloves. They could be twins."

Bubbles looked at Blossom's bespectacled face and, before she could stop herself, let out a small giggle. Blossom's eyes flashed with annoyance.

"Thanks guys. It's good to know that you'll always make me feel good about myself," Blossom said, her voice dripping with bitter sarcasm. She quickly made her way up the stairs and to her room, ignoring her sisters' calls for her to come back.

Finally alone, Blossom threw herself down face first on her bed. She grumbled uncomfortably as the glasses poked into her face. Angrily, she swiped them off of her nose and threw them onto her bedside table. Then she just sat there, picking her head up and dropping it heavily onto her pillow over and over again until she was finally able reconcile the fact that, at least for the moment, she was stuck with the darn things. She slammed her fist into her mattress and sat up - this was stupid. She was better than this. She shouldn't be moping around like a little kid. It was beneath her. No, she would just learn to deal with it and move on. After all, she was supposed to be the responsible Powerpuff, and that's what a responsible, reasonable person would do.

She arranged her face into a determined, serious expression and reached over the edge of her bed for her backpack. If she was going to just sit around, she might as well try to be productive and work on her homework. She slid out one of her notebooks, flipped it open, and began to study.

Or, at least, she tried to. The words were so blurred she couldn't make anything out. With yet another disappointed sigh, she leaned over and grabbed the glasses from off of her bedside table and shoved them onto her face. There was an immediate difference. As much as she hated to admit it, she really did need them.

After about half an hour had passed, there was a soft knock on her door. Blossom could tell that it was her sisters, and unenthusiastically called out for them to come in. The door swung open and Bubbles skipped inside, followed closely by Buttercup.

"Look Bloss, we're sorry. It's just...it was a little more...we didn't think...sorry, but you kinda look like a nerd and we couldn't help it," Buttercup said. She didn't look sorry at all.

"She doesn't mean it," Bubbles said as she turned and sent her green-eyed sister a glare. Buttercup rolled her eyes and plopped herself down next to Blossom.

"Oh, fine, Bubbles is right. It's not the glasses that make you look like a nerd. You already looked like one before," Buttercup said with smile. Blossom rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the notes in her hand.

"They're really not that bad. It's just a little...different, that's all," Bubbles told her. "I don't think they'll hurt your chances in couples' season, anyways. You're still one of the prettiest girls in school."

"Bubbles, it's not that, I...wait, what? What do you mean my glasses won't 'hurt my chances?'" Blossom asked.

"Well, I don't think they'll ruin your couples' season."

Blossom shot a confused glanced at Buttercup, who rolled her eyes theatrically and told her, "You weren't here when she was explaining it earlier. She has this theory that fall and winter are the "couples' season" where everybody gets together and starts dating. Supposedly summer is the 'break up' season."

"Wh-wait, why would you think that I would care about that?" Blossom questioned, turning back to face Bubbles. The blonde shrugged slightly.

"Well, you know, I just figured you haven't done the couples' season before, so this was probably your year," Bubbles said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry, we can work with the glasses. I know a few guys who probably won't care."

"Yeah, like Dexter," Buttercup put in with a smirk.

Blossom shook her head, ignoring Buttercup's comment and instead turning her full attention towards Bubbles. "Seriously? You think I care about that? First of all, there's no such thing as a "couple's season", it's just an assertion you made based on some pretty limited observations. Secondly, no. Just...no."

"Whatever," Bubbles said. "Just wait, you'll see what I mean. And don't worry; glasses or no glasses, we'll get you a guy."

"I don't want one!" Blossom exclaimed.

"That's the same thing Buttercup said, but I already know the perfect person for her. And I have a few ideas for you, too. Just give me a couple of weeks. It'll all work out."

"Nononono, where did this even come from," Blossom asked. "I really don't care about dating. I have too much stuff to do with school and crimefighting and everything else. You can try to hook Buttercup up with somebody, but leave me out of this."

"Hey, I don't wanna have a guy forced on me either," Buttercup yelled. Bubbles gave them a "you'll see" look and moved to leave the room. "Whatever you say, guys," said the blonde as she began to walk out. "You'll see, I'll work everything out."

She shut the door behind her, leaving Blossom alone with Buttercup. The two sisters looked at each other and started to laugh.

"Is she actually being serious?" Blossom asked.

"I think she is," Buttercup said. "Just give her a few days, though. She'll forget all about it." Buttercup picked herself up off the bed. "But she's right about the glasses. They don't look that bad. I was just...having a little fun. You look fine." Blossom mumbled a quick "thanks" in return.

Buttercup looked down at Blossom's notes, her eyes widening. "Crap, that Biology test is tomorrow, isn't it?"

Blossom sighed and asked, "Do you need to borrow my notes again?"

With a sheepish smile, the brunette said, "I think I might." Blossom sighed and gently tossed her notebook to her sister. "You know," the ginger said, "if you would just stay awake and take notes in class like you're supposed to, you wouldn't need to borrow mine the night before."

Her green-eyed sister grinned at her. "But then we wouldn't have this great sister bonding time where you explain everything to me."

"That's going to take forever."

"Yep. Like I said - bonding."

Blossom rubbed at her eyes and blinked against the disgustingly bright morning sunlight. Buttercup was snoring softly next to her; the two of them had stayed up late trying to get her ready for their Biology exam that day and eventually fell asleep in the same spots they had been sitting in for hours. So much for the good night's sleep Blossom had wanted to get. She dragged her notebook out from underneath her sleeping sister's arm and threw it down near her backpack before getting up and walking to the mirror on her vanity.

Her glasses were still settled awkwardly on her face - she must have forgotten to take them off before falling asleep. She adjusted their position slightly and took in her appearance. In all honesty, she looked terrible. Her eyes were somewhat puffy from the little sleep she had gotten, her bow was tangled into her hair, and she was still wearing her wrinkled clothes from the night before. She leaned against her vanity and put her face in her hands. Really, she just didn't feel like trying today.

She walked into her closet and changed into a pink hoodie that was just a little to large for her and a basic black pair of leggings. There. Comfortable. That's all she really cared about at the moment.

Once she had gotten dressed, she walked back to her vanity mirror and sat down in front of it. Surely there was something she could do for her hair. Slowly, painfully, she dragged a comb through the tangles until she finally managed to remove the ribbon she had worn the day before. Within a few more strokes of the comb, her hair was lying mostly flat. Blossom pulled it back into her usual ponytail and retied the ribbon around it. Briefly she attempted to mess with her bangs to get them to fit around the frame of her glasses, then admitted defeat and let them do what they felt like doing.

Should she bother with makeup that day? There really didn't seem to be a point. Blossom walked to the bathroom and washed her face before returning to her bedroom and roughly shaking Buttercup's shoulder until she woke up. The two of them walked downstairs together, Buttercup grumbling the whole time, and joined their other sister at the breakfast table. Once the three of them had eaten, they finished getting ready for school and left the house.

It was the first time Blossom had flown in days, and it was glorious. She hadn't realized how much she loved to feel of the wind whipping her hair around her head. She felt exhilarated...until the glasses began to slip down her nose and she had to clumsily force them back in place.

The sisters arrived at school within the next few minutes and split apart, each one going to a different activity before school started. Blossom made up a math test that she had missed a few days before, then went off to sit in her homeroom until class started.

Most of her morning was rather uneventful, other than one particularly annoying moment when Princess and her little band of followers spent a solid half hour pointing out the fact the Blossom was wearing glasses and attempting to make fun of her for it. Her cheeks tinged somewhat pink with embarrassment and she felt a strong urge to send a well-aimed energy beam at her, but she was able to ignore the compulsion until the end of class.

A few hours later into the school day, Blossom and Buttercup were sitting next to each other in the science lab, the latter bouncing her leg nervously and shooting anxious glances at the other. Their teacher walked around and placed their exams in front of them.

Blossom had finished about half of the test when a loud ringing broke out in the classroom. An emergency. Great. Just what she wanted to be doing right now - flying off into town to take care of who-knows-what in the middle of the day. She and Buttercup looked up at their teacher, who lazily waved them out of the classroom without even looking at them. It wasn't the first time the hotline had interrupted them in class.

The two of them ran out into the hallway, Blossom answering her phone while Buttercup shot off the find Bubbles. After two minutes of trying to make out what the Mayor was trying to tell her, Miss Bellum finally took over the phone and said, "It's the Rowdyruff's. They're at Townsville Credit Union." Blossom groaned and relayed the information to her sisters and soon the three of them were flying towards the bank, with Blossom holding up the rear because her glasses kept trying to fly off.

They found themselves landing on the road outside the credit union, folding their arms and taking up their usual defensive stances. The Rowdyruff Boys appeared in front of them carrying backpacks stuffed full of what Blossom could only assume was stolen money.

"Well, well, well," Brick began with a smirk. "What a surprise, it's-" He broke off and slammed his hand against his mouth in disbelief as his shoulders began to shake with laughter. "What the hell is on your face, Pinky?"

Blossom could feel her face redden and shifted uncomfortably. "That's none of your concern. Now if you would please -"

"They're glasses," Brick screeched, genuine laughter now spilling from him. Blossom gripped her elbows, trying to hold in the anger she felt as she stared down the hat-clad idiot that stood across from her.

"We should call her four-eyes," Boomer interjected, his own laughter filling the air. Brick's smile fell immediately and he smacked his brother across the back of his head.

"What the hell have I told you about trying to make up stupid insults like that," the auburn-haired brother asked. Boomer looked down and mumbled, "you said that they make me look like a dumb pansy little girl."

"Well, you are," Butch cut in.

"Enough!" Brick yelled.

"He's right, this is pointless," Buttercup called out. "You know you're gonna lose, so just drop the stuff and get out of here."

"Do ya really think it'll be that easy, toots?" Brick responded. "Well, guess you've got another thing coming for ya."

With that, the three Rowdyruffs shot forward, knocking the girls down and taking off into the sky above them. "After them, girls," Blossom yelled as she picked herself up, and the three sisters shot up into the air. They caught up to the boys quickly, and a fight broke out in midair above the city.

For once, Blossom wasn't fighting with an exact plan in mind; really, all she was doing was going after whoever was nearest to her at the time and praying it wasn't one of her sisters. She saw Bubbles getting shoved back towards the ground by Brick, and stopped to go after her. Just as she tensed to shoot herself downwards, something heavy slammed into her side. The force of it threw her into the top story of a nearby building. She was winded, and before she could recover something landed on her stomach.

Looking up, she saw Butch's foot planted firmly on her diaphragm. He was sneering down at her, his hands twitching with the excitement of the situation. In a quick and unexpected movement, one of his hands shot down and hooked onto her glasses, ripping them off of her face. The world blurred instantly.

"Hehe, where did these come from," he asked, laughter coloring his voice. "Don't tell me you actually need these."

"Give them back!" Blossom launched herself towards Butch, but the blurred edged of his form made her misjudge exactly where he stood and she found herself slamming into a wall instead of a person. Butch's excited laughter filled the space around them as he grabbed her hair and spun her around to face him once more. She could see the outline of his hand begin to raise up and tensed herself to spring forward with a counterattack.

To her surprise, however, she found that he slid her glasses back onto her face. "That's just too easy," he said with a sneer. "Where's the fun in fighting a weak little dork like you?" Blossom growled angrily and launched herself forward, bringing the both of them to the ground.

"Oooh, feisty. I take it back, this might be fun after all," Butch said with a sadistic grin. Blossom lifted her fist and brought it down towards him, but he caught it and shoved her away. He stood and bent his legs as though he intended spring, but stopped and relaxed as he heard Brick calling for him.

"Well, damn, this was just starting to get exciting. Maybe some other time, then," Butch told her as he turned to leave.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you get away that easily," Blossom snarled, running forward once more to attack. Butch's leg swung out and caught her in the shin, which stopped her advance and nearly caused her to lose her balance. He grinned at her and patted her on the head. "That was cute," he said, "but you're gonna hafta do better than that next time." Butch then flew off, leaving her scrambling angrily to make her way after him.

She made her way outside fully intending to follow him, but stopped when she saw Buttercup's familiar green streak arcing towards the ground. Blossom looked back at the retreating figures of Butch and his brothers, then shook her head and went to join her sisters.

Blossom followed Buttercup's speeding green streak all the way to the ground, where she found Bubbles lying on a sidewalk and trying to catch her breath. Buttercup was already kneeling down next to the blonde by the time Blossom finally landed.

"I'm fine, guys, really. Brick just caught me in the stomach when I wasn't expecting it," Bubbles panted. Blossom scowled at the thought and knelt to examine her sister. Buttercup cracked her knuckles and asked, "Can we kill them now?"

"You know we can't do that, even if we wanted to. We're too evenly matched," Blossom told her. Buttercup stood and kicked a piece of rubble that had fallen from a nearby building - most likely as a result of the fight that had taken place a few minutes ago.

Bubbles recovered herself, and stood to brush the dirt off of her back. Blossom took one more good look at her before deciding that nothing too bad had happened. With a sigh and a reluctant look around at the destruction they had, in part, created, then suggested that the three of them return to school.

I think I'll leave it there for today.

Hi guys! It's been quite a while. I wasn't sure if I would be able to write much this semester, but when I got the idea for this I just couldn't leave it alone. This was inspired by a few people who sit near me in my Public Speaking class. They were talking about how fall seems to be the "couples' season" (couples' having the s' because it is both plural and possessive - correct me if I'm wrong, though) where everybody gets in a relationship, and summer is the season where everybody breaks up. That got my mind to turning, and I thought I might give it a go as a story.

This is a yellows story (BlossomxButch), simply because I couldn't help myself. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I'm pretty sure I'll continue on with the story soon. I just really wanted to get this written while it was still fresh in my mind.

If anyone is waiting for the update to Ice and Fire, I'll get to that soon. I'm just a little lost as to how exactly I want to end it.

**UPDATE: I have changed the summary and title of the story as well as edited some of the first chapter since its original publication. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

As always, feedback and suggestions are super duper appreciated. See you guys soon!

-ICantThinkofanOriginalName-