After the novelty of breakfast, Buttercup had started to feel unsettled again. Once she had gotten dressed and it had still not subsided, she decided that it must have been the location that was making her feel so unlike herself.

Bum-hick-Ville had a tendency to do that, as she had discovered over the years.

Despite having paid for another three days and two nights at the hotel, Buttercup told Butch that she wanted to move on to the next place, and without a single inkling that he wanted to ask why, he nodded and got out a map to see where could be next.

Now, Buttercup stood waiting in the dusty carpark, perched on the hood of Butch's very beat-up car, a cigarette burning away in her hand,

The car had at one time been a beautiful machine, armoured with matt black plating, but with the desert spray and dirty acid rain, it was now more of a brown colour.

Butch had gone to the local convenience store to pick up some food for the road- he'd taken a few notes of cash, but not his wallet. He'd left that with Buttercup, that way he'd be less inclined to buy booze they didn't need, what with no identification confirming him to be twenty-one years of age, and no credit card filled with 'disposable' income.

That was a trick the two had agreed upon early on their aimless trip: alcohol was expensive, and they didn't need it.

Buttercup pulled the wallet from the pocket of the leather jacket she wore -also belonging to Butch- and flicked it open,

It contained the usual boring crap, a credit card, a couple of dog-eared business cards and his drivers licence in one of the plastic window slots. In the other clear slot however, was a more intriguing item.

Butch claimed definitively that he was not the sentimental type, but whenever questioned about the image he kept in his wallet, he admitted that he was indeed rather fond of it.

It depicted Buttercup and her sisters along with Butch and his brothers on their prom night. Each dressed to the nines and wearing their completely unique, trademark smiles.

Despite a school dance not really being her idea of a good time, Buttercup had to admit that it had been on the best nights of her life,

Of course, she hadn't even planned on going, but it was unsurprisingly down to Blossom that she had.

She looked at that image more closely, the focus dimmed by the warped plastic that covered it,

She looked at how closely Blossom and Brick had stood for the photo.

Back then, the union had come as more than a surprise, but years later when she had explained the events leading up to that point, it all became very clear.

0o0o0

Being as she was, Blossom actually liked to give her time to help various teachers after school,

More often than not, she was assigned to the library, stacking shelves and finding books for other students. It was quiet work and she enjoyed it, for most part at least.

The issue was, that after-school detention was held in the library, in an isolation room tucked away at the back; an isolation room with glass walls the kept out sound, but almost seemed to invite spectators,

Usually it wasn't a problem, but on this particular day, Blossom was finding it very difficult to concentrate whilst being watched so insistently from within the glass box.

Brick was in the final row of desks today, he was straddling a backwards chair, his chin resting against the back rest of it. While he was slumping completely stationary, his eyes kept shifting, trailing Blossom wherever she went- it had been that way for an hour, maybe more.

Every time she passed the isolation room, Blossom couldn't help but catch sight of those crimson, wickedly indecipherable eyes,

It made her uncomfortable and yet she couldn't help but wonder why he was so interested in her- in turn it made her intrigued too.

By ten minutes to five, she had stacked the final returned book and decided to head out of the library before the closing bell, hoping to get a head start out of the building before the students studying, and indeed those in detention left.

Blossom headed down the long, silent corridors, until she came to her locker and quickly twisted the dial on the padlock to open it,

As she picked out a few books and slotted them neatly into her bag, she became aware of heavy footsteps approaching from the direction she had come from moments earlier. The young woman ducked her head, trying to keep from being acknowledged, but the person in question was clearly aiming to talk to her, as they came to a stop on the other side of her locker door.

Blossom looked down to the ground, finding the toes of a pair of boots poking out under the metal sheet of the door,

They were black leather, but covered in grey dust and brown mud, as scuffed as anything, with tears in the top layer of fabric,

She rolled her eyes,

"What is Brick?" Blossom asked, slamming her locker door closed.

The redhead blinked at her, before smiling softly, an annoyingly charming smile, "I just wanted to chat",

"Shouldn't you be in detention still? It's not five o'clock yet" to stress the point she gave a glance to her watch, finding that it indeed had not reached the hour yet,

Brick shrugged and let out a little laugh, "You really think that matters to me?"

She glared at him but didn't answer.

"Oh come on-" he said after a moment had passed and he realised that his own amusement did not appealing to her, "-leaving detention ten minutes early is hardly a crime",

"No, but for example, leaving prison early would be, as you'll no doubt find out one day" Blossom said, turning to lean against the line of lockers, her arms folded tightly against her chest,

"Really?" he replied, copying her stance and stooping to face her head on, "You really think a prison will hold me?" he added with a laugh.

Blossom generally avoided Brick as much as she could, in her opinion he was the worst of the Rowdy-Ruffs, at least in regards to the treatment of her. He teased her mercilessly when they were children, and now it wasn't much better,

Mostly the teasing had faded into insistent following and comment making, but she found that annoying enough.

"Is there something that you wanted?" she asked,

Distantly the library bell rang, signalling five o'clock, and Brick's smirk fell as he turned to look in the direction the sound had come from.

Even from where they were, they could hear to doors to the library opening, and two dozen more people entering the corridors,

"Come here" Brick said, suddenly taking Blossom's arm and pulling her to the closest classroom,

"Hey!" she snapped as he all but dragged her in.

The room was empty of course, and the curtains were drawn making it dark too,

All Blossom cared about was getting out, as soon as she could too.

"Is this really necessary?" she asked, folding her arms again once Brick had let go of her, shielding herself from his gaze,

"I just wanted to ask you something" he said, talking softly,

She quirked an eyebrow at him, shocked by his gentle tone, "Okay",

"Okay?" Brick replied, just as surprised.

The young woman nodded, shrugging a little, "Well I'd have preferred it if you hadn't accosted me and brought me in here, but okay" she repeated, "What do you want to ask me?"

His cheeks suddenly stained a bright red colour, practically matching his hair, eyes and clothes, "Well- eh-" he faltered, raising his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

Blossom's own cheeks began to heat up at the sight of him flustered, she had never seen him like that before- unfortunately, she had to admit that he was almost cute when he was nervous,

"Would you maybe go to prom with me?"

She blinked, quite sure she'd misheard him, "What?",

"Prom" he repeated, "Do you want to go?" he winced, "With me?"

"No, I got that" the girl nodded, "I'm just not sure I understand",

Brick frowned, but stayed silent. He looked as though he didn't quite know what to do with himself, how to stand, what to do with his hands, even what to say,

"Why would you want to go to prom with me?" Blossom asked,

Clearly deciding that he was being failed by words, the young man took a long stride forward, one hand raised. His palm met with her cheek, his fingers resting on the top of her neck, just behind her ear. Brick then tilted her jaw up slightly, meeting her eyes with his own, and without hesitation he reached forward, pressing his lips to hers.

She was entirely taken aback by the contact, and while she found that she didn't actually want to pull away from it, Blossom couldn't help but stumble back with the surprise, the top of her thighs meeting with a desk,

"Mmm" she hummed, moaning into Brick's mouth, her own hands coming to rest on his shoulders, so she had more purchase in the sweet kiss.

Brick took hold of her hips and guided her to sit on the desk, her legs spreading so he could slot in between them and stay close,

When they finally pulled away, they were both short of breath, grasping onto each other,

"So? Prom?" he asked, his hands coming to a stop a little over half way up her thigh, just under the hem of her skirt.

Blossom wasn't listening to him though, her head felt hot and unclear. She let out a groan and craned her head to press a kiss to his neck, her teeth nipping at the flesh gently. She so wanted for him to keep moving, to reach higher than just her thigh,

"Shit" he hissed, squeezing her legs, and breathing deep the scent of her perfume,

"Give me some air" she then said quickly however, sliding her hands down to his chest and pushing him away,

"Sorry" he replied, stepping back immediately, coming to sit with a rather shell-shocked look on the opposite table.

Blossom sat for a long time, regaining her breath and staring down at her feet that dangled just above the ground,

Brick was silent too, watching her cautiously,

She couldn't process any of it, it just didn't make sense. It was Brick, Brick. He had kissed her, made her hot under the collar, even stirred up her insides, making her want to part her legs even further…

She swallowed thickly at that thought and stood very suddenly from the desk, shooting out from the room, her mind now turning to the one-track aim of getting home as quickly as she could.

Naturally, she was being pursed, and it wasn't long before the young man caught up with her, taking hold of her arm once more, albeit softly,

"I'm sorry" Brick said again when she had finally stopped trying to move onward, "That was- that was weird",

"'Weird'" she repeated softly, "You kissed me"

He rose his shoulders into a gentle shrug, "You kissed me back"

Blossom bit her lip and looked up at him.

There was still a dark flush spread across his cheeks, and his own lips were still tinted pink,

Her gaze softened involuntarily, and she rounded up to give him another kiss before she really thought about what she was doing,

The contact was brief but sweet, and when they separated once more, Brick's eyes remained closed as if he was trying to capture the moment.

"I can't go to prom" Blossom said quietly after a moment, "Bubbles, Buttercup and I said we wouldn't go if we didn't all have dates" she concluded,

The young man before her looked completely devastated, but he shook his head after a few seconds had passed, and an idea began to dawn on him, "I'll get the boys to go with them" he insisted,

"'The boys'?" she asked, her brow furrowing,

"Butch and Boomer, they'll go with them" he nodded, now reaching out to take her hand, "I just-" he paused, shrugging, "I want to go with you. I've been thinking about it, a lot, and I want to go with you",

The girl had never been so flattered in all her life, this was all so improbable, and yet happening anyway, happening to her, "I don't know" she replied, doubting the plan,

"We'll just see what they say, would that be so difficult?" Brick asked, just starting to think that he wasn't above begging.

Blossom continued to stare at her shoes, her fingers were still entwined with his however-

"Okay" she whispered, nodding.

"Okay?" he replied, his lips parting in surprise and pre-emptive joy,

She looked up at him and nodded, a very shy smile forming on her face,

Brick grinned back, "Could I kiss you again?"

Blossom blushed and shrugged, "I suppose" she said with a nod, pitching up onto her tip toes and uniting their lips once more.

0o0o0

It had taken an awful lot of poking and prodding to get that information out of Blossom of course, mostly from Bubbles who was desperate to know. Buttercup would hardly say that she wanted to know, especially not the gooey details, let alone the more intimate ones, but she was at the very least interested. The event to Blossom liking Brick was monumental, and no one could've predicted it.

She sighed and snapped the wallet shut, slipping it back into the inside pocket from where it came,

Her cigarette had burnt down into a useless stub by now and frowning she flicked it away into the dirt.

"Ready to go?" Butch then asked, now approaching the car with a large paper bag in hand,

Buttercup nodded silently and pulled off the jacket, folding it across her arm,

The young man came to a stop in front of her, smiling widely, "You look so cute in my jacket"

She cocked her head at him and gave him an unamused sort of look, "Gross" she said softly,

"You're gross" he replied, stooping and moving his face right towards her own,

"Well you're a loser" Buttercup countered, now unable to stop the gently smile upturning her lips,

"I'm your loser" Butch chuckled, before reaching forward and pecking her lips softly.