A/N: Inspired by Happier- Marshmello ft. Bastille. NOT a song fic. Also, longest ever oneshot I have ever written.
Enjoy!
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He stared at the dark sky, feeling as if the starless night was mocking him. The moon could not be seen that day, hiding behind dark clouds, and no light was provided to him by nature. There was no light in the sky, just like there was none in his eyes. Not anymore, not after he was done with this.
Following this train of thought, he swiftly turned his gaze from the cloudy sky to the concrete pavement, tinted an odd yellowish colour from the street lamp that he was leaning against. The pavement held nothing of any interest to him, yet he stared, his mind elsewhere. For the umpteenth time, he contemplated on his decision, wondering if he was acting out of cowardice or stupidity.
His mind kept vacillating between his two decisions; to stay, or to leave. Because tonight, he, Brick Jojo was going to leave home, and run away from his problems like a fucking coward.
He was going to leave the place where his family, his brothers and he shared for years. That rundown, old laboratory that had seen better days, where he and his brothers had survived through poverty, hunger and sorrow, was going to be left by him.
He was going to leave his brothers.
They had stayed with him all this time, even through his most imbecile decisions, provided him support and companionship...and he was going to leave them. That was not to say that he didn't care about them. He did. He made sure they had enough money to survive for 2 months, after which he was going to be sending money since that seemed like an adequate time to find a job. He made sure there was enough provisions for the whole week, and had prepared meals for 2 days.
Small things, to show that he still cared, even if he leaves them only with a mere letter and no goodbye. Small and undeniably worthless things to his brothers who were no doubt going to be extremely pissed at him when they found out.
He had finally drained the old monkey's vault , a thing that even they were unaware about. He had kept it a secret this whole, his brothers having no idea this whole time where he was getting his money from. It was not much, not after all these years of spending after the monkey's death , under the nose of the authorities . Which sadly, in Townsville, apparently included a bunch of teenage girls who still go by the childish name of 'Powerpuff Girls'.
Had it not been for these girls, this town would have perished under the rule of these simpletons which included a dumbass mayor who is most likely only mayor due to his secretary's efforts. Brick would have made a better mayor than him, even with all his shit.
Blossom would have made a bloody brilliant mayor...too bad I'm not going to be here to see it.
Blossom...
A tired sigh left his mouth at the thought of her. Blossom Utonium, the reason for all his problems.
Every problem Brick had seemed to start with her. If they didn't have anything good to eat, it was because Blossom and her oh so brilliant sisters had been blabbered to by some simpering moron. If he had a killer migraine, it was because that woman hit him with solid punch to his head, screaming at him to use the god damned brain that he was gifted with and not steal. If he was late to school and was floored with detention, it was because he spent the entire morning trying to get rid of his migraine, that was caused by her. If his brothers moaned about backaches or any other pain, it was because she led her sisters to beat them all up, nice and good. If he had to listen to the teachers drone on and on about something, it was because of her. If Brick's locker wouldn't open , it was because of her. If he had forgotten his swim trunks and was stuck being the teacher's assistant, it was her fault.
Really, every problem he ever had was because of her, even the ones that she couldn't possibly be responsible to. And now, she was the reason he was leaving. She was the reason that Brick had to leave everything he ever knew behind.
But somehow, it always ended up being Brick's fault, in the end. Just like now, where he was running because he couldn't face her, couldn't see her again.
Shaking his head, he glanced up back to the sky, hoping that there was an answer there. Something that could clear this whole bloody mess up. As expected, there wasn't.
He should go. He had to go , he had to fly far, far away from here, away from everyone, before he was seen. Time was running out, in a few mere hours, sunrise would occur and then all his plans would go to waste. Waste! He would probably never get another chance like this!
But Brick couldn't move, no matter how he tried. His feet were not listening to his mind, with all its rationality but to his heart. His stupid, fucking worthless heart that told him to stay. To with stay with his brothers.
To stay with Blossom.
There was still time...still time to turn back, to go home. To not leave... But he knew that he couldn't do that. Not really. Not with all this.
He couldn't stay...it would only cause pain for both of them, to him and Blossom.
Besides, Blossom wasn't his. Not anymore. He had given up that right the moment he broke her heart and made her cry. He was never any good for her. And he never will be.
Because he was a foul, evil villain and she was the pure, innocent angel.
It was just like her sister said. They were never meant to be.
However, Brick still loved Blossom. And he didn't think it would change no matter what happened.
.
Their relationship started because of an English paper.
No, really, that was how it started.
Brick only started school with his brothers because he thought that the stupid Powderpuffs always beat them because of their education. He hated the way Pinky mocked at him using big words like ' imbecile' and ' pathetic ignoramus'. He was going to learn all he could and make Pinky get the beating she deserved.
He did not expect that he would start to love learning. Or that he would actually be top in the class, surpassing Pinky's scores. After seeing the dumbfounded, angry look on her face, Brick decided that the best way to get revenge back at Pinky is to be smarter than her. His brothers could try to beat their own Powderpuffs in their own way.
It was the beginning of a rivalry that lasted years.
And Blossom Utonium was not at all happy when she found out that he had scored more than her by 2 marks. And how does she express it?
By insulting Brick's intelligence, of course, what else? How does she do that when she was the one who got lower marks? She claims that he only got those 2 extra marks because he copied from the internet.
Brick, obviously, did not react well to this idea. They exchanged insults , or rather, threw them at each other. Their classmates wisely left the danger zone, and the teacher rushed off to get the principal, the only person capable of facing these teenagers with superhuman powers without fearing for their life.
The insulting escalated to the point that Blossom was so enraged with his remarks , that she threw a chair- a bloody freaking metal chair- at him. Literally.
Brick's response? Throw an opened jar of glue that appeared out of nowhere in the English room.
It was meant to hit Pinky's head. Brick knew exactly how much Pinky valued her hair, more than he loved his long hair, meaning borderline insane, hence it was perfect. It was a perfect response to her attempt at destroying him with a bloody metal chair.
Unfortunately, Pinky saw this, screamed like a banshee and ducked holding her head , trying to protect her hair. Even more unfortunately, Pinky was in front of the entrance and their principal chose to enter the room at this very moment.
Brick could do nothing but watch in horror as the glue flew through the air and landed right on their principal's head, covering his already white hair and pale face in more sticky white.
Mr. Oldstone covered his eyes to protect them from glue, wiped at them and then set his murderous glare on Pinky and unfortunately, Brick.
He had never thought that he would ever be scared of a mere human. Hell, he never thought he would ever be scared of a sixty something year old man, yet the old man proved him wrong.
Boy, did he prove Brick wrong.
They had gotten a week worth of detention.
You would think that they were let off easily, but oh you were dead wrong. That old man had given them one hell of a tongue lashing, all the while spitting out glue that got into his mouth, and then with evil glee had revealed their punishment.
A whole week of scrubbing floors and touching dirty rags.
Their detention was to be held in the school library, an old part of the building that was a quarter the size of the whole school, that was never cleaned by the janitor simply because it was too huge and she was way too old to deal with poor fool who needed to go there was to brace themselves through a storm of dust and the inevitable sneezing. Hence, students preferred to use the computer room for their research purposes.
The librarian had tried to clean it by herself, but had eventually accepted that it was a lost cause and transferred from her place at the desert wannabe room to outside near the door.
They were to clean this room, this bloody room full of dust and organize all the misplaced books( nobody even bothered to keep a book at its rightful place anymore, too busy sneezing) by the end of Friday.
And they couldn't use any superpowers.
Blossom was cursing him the entire way to the library that afternoon. And Brick was also cursing her, but in his mind because he did not want to start another bloody fight, that would no doubt get them into even more trouble.
Is it strange that Brick, the supposed villain, was acting like a sensible adult while the all mighty heroine was acting like a spiteful child? Brick did not think so. It was what had happened these last few months.
Pinky had taken the extra effort to be annoying, gloating at him when she got higher marks and insulting him pettily when he got more. Yes, Brick did relish in making Pinky lose, but that does not mean he enjoys the petty fights, evn though her insults were all very clever and hit the mark. He might have at one point, a few months ago in fact, but now, surprisingly, Brick had gotten tired of the same old routine.
The moment they entered the room, they started to sneeze. And sneeze. And sneeze. They were literally sneezing nonstop. And Pinky was trying to insult his person at the same time.
Brick was too busy sneezing to care.
Had it been any other girl, Brick would have said that she has a crush on him and was trying in her own ( failing) way to get his attention. But this was Blossom Utonium. She who hated his guts, and would jump at the chance of ensuring Brick's humiliation.
Was he really talking about the nice little pink puff, who could possibly do no wrong? Yes, yes he was. Pinky has a dark side, and only Brick knows it. And that's because she hates him more than anything.
His point was proven as another stream of insults were muttered towards his person.
Yup, no doubt about it. Pinky hated him to hell and back.
And Brick continued sneezing.
The next day, Brick and Blossom arrived as early as they could, seeing as they only had 4 more days left to clean the whole room. As soon as they arrived they put their bags in a clean corner that Blossom had swept the previous day, with, of course, a lot of sneezing in the process. There was not much time left after all.
Neither talked with each other, instead choosing to ignore each other deliberately. It was much better that way. And Blossom seemed to have gained some sense as to not start another fight with him, lest she wanted to drag herself to more detention. Of course, Brick was pretty sure that if such a thing were to happen, 'Miss I will do no evil' will somehow, somehow manage to drag his innocent ass to it as well.
He really did not understand why she was called ' Everything Nice'. Sure, she was hot. Like, super hot. As in, drop dead gorgeous. She had killer legs and a very pretty face. And Brick would definitely hit on her, had it not been for her absolutely insufferable personality.
Of course, this does not mean Brick likes her. Not at all. He is simply another one of those perverted creatures known as teenage boys, although most of Brick's friends think him to be celibate due to his lack in attention to the female species. They do not assume him to be gay either, since Brick shows lack of interest to his own gender as well. Brick was pretty much without any sexual feelings.
However, he had noticed Blossom Utonium and her exceptionally good looks. He would be stupid to notice. He was a straight man - yes Butch, he does have a sexuality- and he likes to look at pretty things. Blossom was a very pretty thing.
It does not matter that he had not noticed any other girl other than her. Not really.
So do not assume Brick has a crush on Pinky. Because he doesn't. Really, he doesn't.
Through the corner of his eyes, Brick could see Pinky staring at him every so often, whenever she thought that he wasn't looking. Does she seriously think that he was up to something? When he was busy with dirtying himself by dusting and scrubbing and sweeping?
What was wrong with that woman?
It's as if she believes that he can do nothing else but evil, which she most probably does. Apparently, she decides to ignore the fact that the Rowdyruff boys have done nothing for the past few years except shoplifting or stealing some food. Maybe a prank here and there. Or , rather, a lot of pranks. A lot. Pranks that people might even consider to be too realistic to be pranks.
And the occasional ragging . They had a reputation to maintain after all.
Other than that, the Rowdyruff boys kept their heads low.
Apparently, Pinky cannot seem to get over this fact of his sudden-not really- goodness. Not even after all these years.
Every time they were in the same room, Brick can literally feel her glaring into the back of his head. It was extremely annoying not to mention stupid.
His stomach rumbled. He ignored it, hoping Blossom hadn't heard it.
5 minutes later, it rumbled again. Once again, he had hope that she hadn't heard it.
He had skipped lunch again, instead spending the entire 20 minutes completing homework that he couldn't complete yesterday because he was knackered, especially since he had to make dinner for his brothers and himself, and fix the shower that had been unfortunate to endure Butch's attempts at Kung fu . Obviously, Miss Teacher's pet did not have that problem. So she was all fine and dandy, since she had eaten lunch and breakfast unlike himself.
Oh yes, he skipped breakfast as well since he had a lot of homework to complete.
Suffice to say, Brick was suffering the consequences of skipping 2 meals. Both the pain and the embarrassment. Especially since his stomach decided that detention with Pinky was the perfect time to demonstrate a whale's calling.
He heard Pinky still. Oh yeah. She definitely heard that. No point in arguing.
Grimacing, he proceeded to ignore her and continue with his work.
Despite their mutual hate for one another, both ended up cleaning nearly half the room by 6, which was a huge success on their part.
The moment he finished, Brick flew home at his top speed, where he proceeded to gulp down the leftovers, ignoring Boomer's remarks of him suddenly having turned into a hungry peasant.
And Brick was a peasant in a way. Dirty and hungry.
The old oven was broken this time. The routine was to be repeated again.
Sigh.
It was Wednesday, his third day of suffering with fellow sufferer and enemy, Blossom Utonium, and his stomach has proceeded to show them both exactly how much liking it has taken to demonstrating whales' callings.
The time was 4:30, they were two hours into their horrible detention, and Blossom Utonium obviously had had enough of the annoying cacophony that his stomach was producing.
She gave a long sigh, slammed the heavy books she had been lifting, sneezed several times due to the dust caused by the books, roughly pushed past him to her bag, took a muffin out of it, stomped her way to him, and told him to eat it.
...
Wait...what?
Pinky stared at him with a weird look, lifting one (bloody perfect) eyebrow at him and asked him whether he could not understand simple English.
He responded as eloquent as ever.
" What...?"
Pinky rolled her eyes.
" Eat."
When he continued to stare at her, jaw dropped, with a dumb look on his face, she grabbed his hand and shoved the muffin into it.
" Eat," she demanded once more before going back to her cleaning.
Brick stared at her for literally 5 minutes straight, before looking at the muffin, then at Blossom, then at the muffin again.
Thank god it was wrapped in tissue, otherwise his dirty hands would have spoilt it.
He looked up again when he felt something and saw Blossom looking at him. She pointedly looked at the muffin before looking away from him.
Should he...should he eat it? After all, it was a muffin, and though small, it was food. But it was given by Pinky, his nemesis. How could he know that she hadn't poisoned it? Or put slugs in it, as revenge for him putting snails in her back in 5th grade. How was he to know whether she hadn't cursed it, using her hidden black magic voodoo shit powers? How was he-
That's it. He was not going to eat. Brick Jojo was not stupid enough to eat something given to him by his arch enemy, who he knew was an evil sorceress in hiding. He was not even going to think about it. He can bear hunger. He will strive through this suffering!
...
Rumble.
...
...
...
...
Okay. You know what? Fuck it. Fuck it all. Brick was going to eat the bloody muffin.
That night and the next morning he spent the entire time tossing and turning in his bed, unable to sleep, wondering just what the hell made Pinky give him that bloody muffin.
And since he hadn't died a horrible, painful death or started screaming in agony yet, he had no choice but to accept the fact that her intentions had been honourable .
But why would she do that?
Brick had seen her eat her lunch- no, he was not staring at Pinky, Boomer, he was observing- and knew that she had finished it. So that could only mean that she had brought an extra muffin for him.
Why?
Sure, she was Everything Nice, and the resident heroine; but she hated Brick. She had no reason to give him a muffin, whether she felt pity to him or not.
Perhaps his rumbling stomach the previous day had been so irritating to her that she brought a muffin for him, just in case.
Yes, that was, most likely the case.
With that in mind, he slept. For 2 hours.
He went to school like a zombie, he had skipped breakfast and lunch and did homework again- why were these teachers giving so much homework?!- and by the time he went to the library, he was officially feeling like the walking dead.
He obviously looked the part too, since Pinky let out an involuntary gasp at the sight of him.
Brick ignored that and began to dust some books, and organize them.
A few minutes passed, and then hef felt something poke him in the back. It was Pinky's finger and Pinky was holding out a lunch box to him.
Again, he stared.
" What the hell is this Pinky?"
" It's food, obviously, idiot. It's for you. "
Brick did not like the words' It's for you'. It made him feel as if he was a homeless beggar that does not get a proper meal for a week.
And Brick did not like that.
" What the fuck are you playing at? Yesterday you give me a bloody muffin and today you bring a whole bloody lunchbox?! You think you'll win this game by playing nice to me and making me lose my guard?! Well guess what, you bitch, that ain't going to work. I'm not falling for any of your dirty, cheap tricks!"
Blossom looked murderous.
" Fine! See if I do something nice for you again you idiot! I was stupid enough to think that maybe I should give you something, since you seem to skip meals these days, but I'll never do it again!"
With that she stomped off to put the lunchbox back in her bag.
Brick seethed at her back stubborn. He then started to slam books onto the floor for more organizing.
A few minutes later, his stomach rumbled. By this time, he was calm enough to think about what Blossom said, and was regretting his words. He was really hungry now. And the lack of sleep was making him even more lethargic.
He should apologize. He knew that. Even if she doesn't accept it, he had to say that he was sorry.
Yeah...Brick did have a good conscious after all, apparently.
" Pinky…," he began, hesitant.
Blossom swished her head and glared at him menacingly.
Say sorry Brick. Come on. Say you're sorry.
But he couldn't.
However, Blossom had seen something in his eyes that made her own soften. She went to grab the lunch box and held it out to him, with both hands. This time, Brick accepted it. But he had a feeling tha it was because of the soft smile that was plastered on her face, rather than his hunger.
Brick decided that maybe, just maybe Pinky was not that bad after all. Especially with that pretty smile that made him feel the weirdest things in his heart.
That day, Brick realized, had been a turning point in their relationship. It was like something happened between them, something new , something that changed their relationship. It may seem too fast, and all of a sudden, and they weren't even friends yet, but Brick could tell that something had changed.
The next day, they talked. Nothing much, not really. Just some pleasantries, a small talk about homework, and another about teachers. They managed to complete the majority of the cleaning that day, and only had to sweep the floor and mop it the next day. They had not used their superpowers, but both managed to complete the work in record time that day. They were finished at 5:30 instead of 6, and went off relishing the extra 30 minutes they had .
They could have used the extra 30 minutes left to finally finish the work but neither did. It's almost as if they were using detention as an excuse to see each other.
On Friday, the last day of their detention, they had finished the work. All of it. They had cleaned the whole bloody library. And boy, if Brick wasn't fucking ecstatic about that.
" Freedom!" he shouted while looking up at the ceiling as if he was saying to the heavens. Behind him, he could hear Blossom let a small laugh. He turned to look at her and gave a small grin of his own.
" I feel like I've spent 20 years in prison and suddenly gained release," he said to her. She made a small humming sound in answer.
Then an awkward silence followed. What were they going to do now? They weren't friends, but you can't really call them enemies now either. Despite how familiar their old routine had been, Brick didn't really want to go through it again. Not when he knew now that Blossom wasn't always an uppity bitch.
He guessed she had the same feelings , because she looked to be hesitant as well.
" So...," he began, " what- er...what now?"
" Do you want to go with me to get a coffee?," Blossom asked out of the blue .
Brick stared at her with a stupid look.
" What?"
" A coffee? Do you want to go get one with me? There's a small café in town, and they have brilliant cheesecakes. "
Well, Brick loved cheesecakes. And he loved coffee. And he wouldn't entirely mind spending time with Blossom. But...
" What about your sisters? What will they think? I really don't think they're going to be all happy and sparkling sunshine when they find out you're having a nice little chat with big mean Rowdyruff boy in a café ."
" They think I'm at detention. So really, we have nothing to worry about ."
Brick smirked.
" Ooh, Miss Everything Nice going to lie about getting touchy touchy with a mean old bad guy?," Brick teased.
Blossom gave an answering smirk of his own.
' It looks good on her' , he thinks.
" Who says I'm going to say anything? So, are you coming?"
Brick figured, why not?
" Sure," he shrugged.
They headed to a café that Brick had often seen in passing, but never really felt like going. Blossom ordered a vanilla latte and a piece of chocolate cheesecake- turns out the girl has a huge sweet tooth. Brick ordered a black coffee, and a slice of strawberry cheesecake. He took a bite out of it and thought about the taste.
It was not bad really and tasted good, but Brick knew that he could make it better.
" By the way," Blossom began, " I know what I'm going to- or well, not going to- say to my sisters, but what are you going to say to Butch and Boomer?"
" Who says I'm going to say anything?," he repeated her own words with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Blossom gave him a small smile.
Thank god he has a habit of making lunch in the morning, since he doubted either Butch or Boomer would leave him alone even if he had detention. He also thanked god that neither of them had after school practices on Friday, otherwise he doubted that with his luck that he would be able to escape school without being seen by either of them.
He listened to Blossom go on about something that Buttercup did, and he told the story of how the shower has to constantly suffer through Butch's failing KungFu attempts. She laughed , and Brick thought that it was very pretty, just like her.
They decided to meet up every few days, whenever they could. Blossom never told her sisters anything, often letting her sisters assume that she was at the library, while Brick just said that he wants to get away from their incessant squabbling that happened everyday and write his book in peace.
Brick was writing a book, so he wasn't exactly lying. Sometimes he even showed Blossom some parts, he wasn't really shy or ashamed of his work.
After a few days, phone numbers were exchanged. Then 2 weeks later Brick sent Blossom a text, asking if she would like to meet up at the park. Then they started to secretly call each other. His brothers were getting a bit suspicious, but they didn't really figure it out.
Sometimes, she got a crime alert on her phone and had to leave, and he was a bit upset about it but he could do nothing. She was a heroine, and it was going to cause an uproar if she missed even one bad guy.
One of those days, Brick happened to pass by the exact place Blossom was fighting an overgrown, scaly monster. She was isolated from her sisters, who were fighting two other monsters. It seems as if it was day that the monsters planned a group attack. Streaks of bubblegum pink, lime green and baby blue can be seen across the sky at 3 different point of the town.
Brick watched Blossom fight the gargantuan beast and was amazed at her skill. Her fighting was admirable, especially when that fist wasn't aimed in his direction( although they haven't fought physically since they were 13; 3 years ago). He watched her graceful flying and thought she was going to win this easily.
Then the tables turned. The monster was obviously enraged that it was losing this fight and it's rage made it more ferocious. It caught Blossom in mid-air with it's tail and slammed her to the ground. Repeatedly. And it wasn't stopping. Blossom tried to free herself from the monster's grip but was horribly failing.
He thought about interfering but felt that she wouldn't really appreciate him coming and saving her like she was a damsel in distress.
'She can do it. Come on Blossom, beat that overgrown lizard until it's mush. Come on!,' he thought.
But then the monster threw her at a glass building. A small scream escaped Blossom's mouth as she crashed through the glass.
Brick felt something inside him snap .
He didn't know what happened but the next thing he knew was that the monster was dead and Blossom was staring at him with her mouth open like a fish's.
He thought that she was going to be angry, asking him if he thought that she was some weak, little girl that needed to be saved. But she didn't do that. Instead, she did what he never would have thought she would do.
She kissed him. On the lips. A small peck, tiny , unnoticeable, but it felt amazing.
He stared at her for a moment, and under his gaze, she blushed, and mumbled a meek apology. She was going to go help her sister, when Brick suddenly grabbed her wrists and pulled her to him, one hand on the small of her back.
She looked at him with her pretty pink eyes, glimmering, and Brick pressed his lips to hers. She melted in his arms.
And Brick realized at that moment that he loved her.
What felt like moments later, but was probably only a few minutes, they parted from each other to catch their breath.
" So...wanna go on a date? "
" As a couple, this time? ", she asked him, teasing.
Brick gave a small smil and nodded.
" Sure," and then he was pulled into another mind blowing kiss.
.
But that was 3 years ago. Now everything had changed. Her family had found out, as had his. Suffice to say, they weren't exactly happy.
His brothers constantly argued with him, told him to leave that 'pink bitch' and 'find another fucking woman to fuck'. At the latter comment, made by Butch, Brick got pissed off and gave a solid punch to his jaw, making it snap. It healed with their powers, but the rough wound that it inflicted on their relationship wasn't. Boomer completely ignored him after that, and sneered at Brick whenever he saw him.
You could cut the tension of the Jojo household with a knife.
For some reason, Brick felt that her family's reaction to their relationship was much worse. He didn't know what they said to her, she absolutely refused to tell him, but Brick figured it must be bad.
Whenever they saw him, they expressed their hate towards him and their dislike for their relationship. He told them all to get a life, that Blossom was much smarter than them and could choose between right and wrong. But they obviously did not accept that.
Buttercup believed that he misleading her sister, using her for fun, just playing around. No matter what he said about him never showing an interest to any girl before Blossom, she would not believe him. The professor was adamant in his belief that Brick, being poor, was using Blossom for her money, and was an ill-bred cretin that should rot in hell.
Bubbles did not say anything like her sister or creator did. In fact, she was somewhat pleasant to him, giving him a smile here and there. He didn't know if she was faking it or not but what she said hit the mark.
" I don't care if you changed for the better or not Brick, I don't care if Blossom believes you've changed. But what I do care about is Blossom's feelings. Her life, her hopes, her future. And I do know that you are a very smart person, Blossom's equal, but you do not deserve her Brick. You don't deserve her love. She needs someone better than you, someone who actually cares for her. And I don't believe you're that person."
Bubbles's eyes were a bit sympathetic, as if she did not really want to say this, and her voice was soft, as if she was explaining to a child. She had a weak smile on her face, one that did not reach her eyes.
" Let go of her Brick. Let her have the happiness she deserves..."
Her words kept ringing inside her head for weeks. Every time he saw Blossom, every single time she smiled at him, Brick wondered if she really would be happy with him.
Sure, she is happy now, but what about in the future. His brothers might come around, eventually. Even if they didn't, Brick would learn to live with it, thought it would hurt him a lot. But what about her? If she was going to stay with him, she would have to give up her family. Her sisters despised him, they would never accept their relationship. She might stay with him for the first day, and maybe the second, thinking that she's happy, that all she needed was him, but what about after? She was definitely going to miss her family, he knew.
Brick should have known that their relationship could never last anyway.
.
The rain started to pour. The cold drops of water hit his face and he woke from his stupor. He checked the time by his watch and saw that it was now past 1 in the morning. Sunrise would occur soon; he had to leave before that.
He was going to leave Blossom. He had left her a letter, explaining his departure. She probably wouldn't see it until she woke up .
Last evening, he broke up with her. He didn't give any reason, no matter how many times she asked. He left her while she was crying, while she was begging him to stay with her. He left her with her heart broken.
His heart nearly broke at the sight of her in tears, but he did not budge from his decision, though he was nearly wavered.
'It's better this way.'
That was what he thought then.
He knew that she was going to hate him for that, even more for leaving like a coward. For not giving her an explanation to her face but by a bloody letter. If she burned it before even reading it, he would not be surprised.
She would eventually forget him, find someone new. Someone better. Someone who actually deserves her.
Someone that was not Brick.
She was going to be happy and it was not with him. She deserves to be happy, she deserves to not live her life in misery.
But he couldn't bear to see that. He knew that it was selfish, but he wanted her to be with him and only him. Yet he can't have her.
He was going to leave now, leave far from Townsville, far away from her. He was going to start a new life, one that does not include her, and he was going to try to forget her. He would never accomplish that, he knew that. But he was going to try. He had to try. Otherwise, his heart would forever be in pain.
With that thought, Brick closed his eyes and sighed. He inhaled the fresh air of Townsville , savouring it.
He willed his legs to walk. He was not going to fly, or rather, he can't fly, not at the moment. He was going to go as slow as possible, going to try and take in all of Townsville, just before he left.
He was delaying his departure.
With the rain pouring down on him, Brick started to walk.
He stopped.
He turned around and looked for the last time at his home in the distance.
And then he turned, and was face to face with someone he never expected.
Blossom.
He dropped his bag in surprise. She was hovering over the pavement, her hair drenched, dressed in a loose black shirt and a pair of trousers, with droplets of rain streaming down her cheeks. Or was it tears?
She had a duffel bag in her hand. Looking at him in the eye, she slowly landed on the ground and dropped her bag.
" You're a bloody idiot, Brick Jojo. "
She took a tiny step towards him, her face barely inches from his, looking up at him.
" You're a fucking idiot. An absolute idiot!"
She was cursing him. Blossom never said a foul word, she had always believed them to be improper and butchering of language. But she was cursing now.
She started to beat his chest with her fists, and Brick stared at her, watching her face twisted in anger, betrayal and most of all, sorrow. He watched her squeeze her eyes and let a few more tears drop.
" Blossom...," he whispered, as she continued to cry and beat feebly at his chest.
She was crying again, because of him.
He really was terrible for her. She will only be happy if she was without him.
" How can you even think of bloody leaving me like that? Breaking up with me only to leave the next day and leaving only one single bloody letter saying that! You didn't even give a proper explanation you fucking coward! "
He had hurt her. He had hurt her a lot.
" You can't leave me like that..."
A whisper.
A broken whisper. And it pierced through his heart like a shard of ice.
But she had to realize it. She has to know that he would be no good for her. She must surely know that her family was never going to accept them and that she was going to be dwelling in misery if she continued to stay with him.
" Blossom..."
She stopped beating at his chest and put a finger to his lips.
" No, you're going to listen to me , Brick Jojo. I love you. I love you and- and I know you love me too."
Brick gave her no confirmation.
The rain continued to fall heavily, cold drops of water feeling like cubes of ice hitting them. They were both drenched. They didn't care. They only held attention for each other, looking at one another's eyes.
A minute passed. Then two. Brick still hasn't given an answer. But she must have seen something in his eyes, something that made her belief be confirmed.
She continued in a strong voice after that, though it was broken several time by her heart wrenching sobs.
" You love me and...and - you can't leave me Brick! You can't- you can't!"
She paused and continued to let out those tiny, little sobs. Brick waited a moment to see if she would continue , but when she didn't, he began to speak.
" I have to leave Blossom. No matter how much I want to stay, I have to. You deserve happiness, you deserve to be happy. "
Blossom forcefully rubbed the tears off her eyes and glared at him.
" Are you a bloody idiot?! Did you not hear a single word I said just now? Why can't you see that I'm only happy when I'm with you? Why can't you see that by doing this you're taking away my happiness? Why are being such a fucking selfish bastard?!"
She screamed at the end, shaking him by his shoulders. Brick grabbed her wrists, and held them tightly, even though she struggled.
The sky rumbled with thunder and lightning shot at earth, but neither of them took no notice of it.
" Your family will never accept me, Blossom," he continued on calmly, even though he was breaking inside. " They will never accept us. "
She started to shake her head. " I don't care! I don't care about that at all! "
" You do Blossom. Even if you don't now, you will in the future. You're going to miss them. You're going to regret ever staying with me. You're going to hate me..."
Brick's voice softened to a whisper at the last part, one of his greatest fear being finally revealed.
" I won't. I promise you, Brick, I won't hate you. I can never hate you," Blossom insisted.
Brick stared at her, taking all of her in, before he let go of her wrists and instead, wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back. They remained like that, their arms wrapped around each other, Brick's chin resting on her head. Silence enveloped around them, neither saying a word.
The rain continued to fall. From the corner of his eyes, Brick saw a bolt of lightning hit a nearby tree, very much close to where they were. But they didn't even flinch. They weren't even afraid of death at this moment.
They didn't care if the whole world fell apart.
Brick tightened his arms around her, and Blossom gave an answering squeeze back. Then a question hit him.
" You told me I left a letter for you. How did you know that?"
" I was awake when you came into my room."
Brick's eyes widened a bit. " So you mean, you weren't really asleep? You were just pretending?"
Blossom made a small humming noise, and once he heard it, Brick let out a small laugh.
" God, you're such a sly little fox aren't you?"
Blossom made another small humming noise and then Brick asked another question that just struck him.
" How did you know when I would be leaving?"
" I didn't, but I figured that you were on your way. I followed you. Using my supersight and all. "
" Oh."
Then silence. Until-
" Don't do this Brick. Please"
Brick wanted to say that he won't, that he'll stay, but he knew that he had already made up his mind.
" You know I can't Blossom..."
Blossom's arms tightened around him.
" Please..."
Brick closed his eyes.
" I'm sorry..."
...
...
...
...
" Take me with you."
Brick's eyes flew open.
" What?"
" Take me with you," she said as she disentangled herself from him and looked at his eyes.
" Take me with you Brick. Take me to wherever you're going. Take to the other end of the world, I don't care. Just take me with you."
But...but what about your family.
" It doesn't matter. They'll come around eventually, I know that, just like yours would. I only want to be with you. "
Brick thought about it for a moment. They were going to be living together. They will be away from this wretched city, away from their unaccepting families...together.
Together.
" Are you- are you sure?, " he asked hesitantly.
" Yes."
Brick grabbed her into a kiss. It was all tongue and teeth but it was possibly the best ever kiss they had ever had. The ran was falling down on them, the wind was howling, but they didn't give a damn. Blossom's fingers tangled in his long, wet hair, giving slight tugs that felt brilliant. His hands stoked her waist, slipping under her wet shirt and touching smooth, cold skin.
It was incredibly cold, yet it was getting hotter.
Then suddenly they broke apart, panting for air. Several drops of water streaked down his face and entered his gasping mouth.
" Clothes," he said , still gasping slightly. " Clothes- you need clothes Blossom. And we need more money. And-"
" I brought my clothes," she pointed to the duffel bag behind her, " I brought them just in case you wouldn't agree to stay, and I also brought my bank book and ATM card. There's plenty of money in my account- enough for us to find a place. That's why it took me a while to get here. When I was done packing all these things and writing a quick note to my sisters, I had to hurry and search for you in the whole town. Supersight only works for about 2 km, you know that. And then it started to rain. That's why it took me a while to get here. "
She was smiling at him. That pretty, gorgeous smile. The very smile that he fell in love with.
If it was possible, Brick thought he felt his love for her grow even more.
He dragged her in for another smouldering kiss in the rain.
Once they broke apart, Brick grabbed his bag and handed her hers.
" Come on, Pinky. Surely those legs of yours are good for more than looking good?," he teased .
She gave him a light punch on the shoulder.
" Let's go, Cap boy."
She slipped her hand into Brick's and squeezed. They took one last look behind them .
And then they left.
Together.
.
The longest ever oneshot that I have ever written. Ever. This is the 2nd draft of the story, so that's probably why it's better than most. Also, still new to kiss scenes. Also, I am an amateur to writing.
Reviews are diamonds to me :)
-Triple V.