xX5buttercup5Xx – That was my intention, glad it came across that way. I figured they were probably the most likely to be friends, due to Bubbles loving BC so much.

Ogrhen – I can't really see it gaining momentum when I hardly have time to write it. Ahaha. Thank you, though!

AllThingsOtaku – Awawwawww thank you so much! I'm trying I promise! Yes, it is an original pairing fic.

BriiAnimefan – Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I did check out your story, wow, intense! (I was out by the sex scene, really. My innocent little mind, I got all red.)

Dragonroses – Ya know, I had kind of put it on the backburner, but I may pick it back up. I'm glad you like it!

YunaNara – I'm so glad that you are enjoying it. Hopefully you continue.

Mimo – Consider me flattered. I'm glad that you liked it, it's a bit different than what people usually picture.

Kyra – We'll see what happens. Mystery!

Anna – Well, hopefully you like other aspects of the story, haha.

EggrollEmpress – God, I know. Lol, I've completely neglected this fic, however it is not forgotten and as you can see, I've updated!

Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, owned the rights to the PPG or any related characters. All of the writing here is a work of fiction, and any character interactions are fabricated. I made this disclaimer all fancy for no particular reason.

QUICK CORRECTION: In the first chapter I made an error with Blossom asking about "Friday's" test, when actually the test is on Monday and I'm too lazy to go back and fix it. Minor detail. The day that this chapter starts out on is Saturday. Thanks!

"Where'd you go today?"

"None of your business."

"Friendly question, Blossom." She looked over at him, resting her pen against the notepad she was writing in.

"I ran some errands, Brick. Do you need more, or can I continue with my writing?"

"Well if you're giving me a choice-"

"I wasn't." Dejected after being so blatantly denied at his attempts to be friendly with his female counterpart, he walked off to his bedroom. Not even realizing that she had upset him, Blossom continued to write the details of what she had learned since coming to Townsville. Buttercup walked up behind her, loosely wrapping her arms around her sister's shoulders.

"When's Robin coming over?" She asked, thinking about their old friend.

Blossom continued writing, obviously very wrapped up in her whatever-it-was. "Not sure." She stole a peek at the writing, elegant curly cursive letters, and saw 'boys have irrefutably good reputation among' and then the writing became less legible. She moved away and flopped onto the couch.

"Whatcha writing?"

"Working on homework." Blossom lied. Buttercup was surprised and slightly impressed that her goody-goody sister was even capable of telling a lie, but because of that she chose not to press it any further, knowing that it would just cause another feud.

"Snore fest. Hey – what's the deal with you and Brick? You weren't as cold when we were younger, and we were enemies then." Blossom squeezed the pen in her hand, and it snapped in half under the pressure, spilling the contents onto the pad and causing her to groan in frustration. Buttercup watched as she sprang up from the couch, being careful not to allow any ink onto the pristine fabric of the couch, or her borrowed clothing. She walked over to the kitchen and tossed the stained pad into the trash bin.

"We don't know they're not still enemies." She spoke simply, vigorously washing her hands in the kitchen sink, black oozing into the drain. Buttercup laughed.

"Have you seen Boomer? You think THAT guy is a villain?" She shut off the water and dried her hands.

"Look, for all we know it could be a façade – some plot to take us down. Brick is about as smart as I am, and we don't know what they're capable of! Besides, we're not kids anymore. We have to treat situations as more than just a game. Something bad could really happen."

Buttercup flicked on the television and her old console, and threw a disc into the drive. Grabbing a controller, she offered her sister only a small amount of advice. "I'm not saying they're suddenly our friends, Red. I'm just saying you oughta give 'em a chance. I mean, we're good guys. It's kind of our job to trust that there's good in everyone." Blossom froze for a moment, sighing and glancing from her sister to the clock. There was never enough time. She walked silently away from her sister and down the hall.

At the quiet knocking on his door, he pulled off his headphones and spoke.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…it's me." Blossom's voice poked through the closed door.

"Who's me?" He asked, just to get on her nerves. He heard her scowl, but she responded nevertheless.

"It's Blossom."

"Come in." She opened the door and looked in his direction, taking care not to look directly at him. "What do you need?"

"Well…I…just thought I should apologize."

"For earlier? It's fine." She shook her head.

"No, not just that."

"For what, then?" She scuffed her shoe on the floor of his bedroom's carpeting.

"For…not wanting to give you a chance." Their eyes nearly met.

"Ah." Nearly.

"I just…it's a little difficult for me to adapt to the new situation, and I don't really know how to imagine you boys as anything more than how you were when we were kids. I know that people change and-" He had gotten out of his bed while she talked, and now leaned with one arm against the door, slipping it shut. She was only inches from his face, and the fact that she could feel his breath on hers drew a blush across her cheeks.

"Maybe we haven't changed." He spoke softly, making her look him in the eyes for the first time. They were set, unfaltering.

"But…" He placed a cold hand to across her mouth.

"But maybe we have. How about you stop focusing on the past, and what you used to know, and start trying to get to know us from what you see in front of you right now." Buttercup's words dawned on her, and she realized that the current fault was lying with her. She nodded, and he moved his hand from her mouth to wrap his arm around her waist, hoisting her over his shoulder and tossing her onto the bed. She, being who she was, blushed as the soft mattress cushioned her body and he sat on the bed not looking at her; her body naturally curled around his position somewhat, and his back rested against her stomach.

"B-Brick…"

"Let's just talk. Like normal people, trying to get to know each other." His voice seemed earnest, and she relaxed a little.

"…okay." He thought about what to say to her, and in truth he hadn't really expected to get as far as he did.

"So…what's your favorite color?"

She couldn't help but laugh. It seemed a ridiculous thing to discuss, of favorite colors and the like. They had faced tremendous feats as only children, nearly killed each other in multiple struggles of good and evil. The nonchalance overcame her. He could feel her on his back as she laughed, the shaky inhaling and exhaling, and he smiled quietly.

"It's…pink. Obviously." He laughed.

"I thought that was just part of the costume."

"Maybe."

Their small talk continued for some time, and without either of them noticing, they began to get into the deeper meaning conversation.

"Come on, you've got to admit that Shakespeare was something of an idiot. I mean, just look at Romeo and Juliet. He set up a historically inappropriate relationship to fail from the very beginning, which resulted in a young adult and a barely teenage girl both committing suicide! The whole thing was a train-wreck."

"Sure, but Brick, what about the romance of it all? Those kids really loved each other, and isn't that the important part?"

Brick scoffed.

"Hopeless romantic."

"Obstinate cynic." She returned, rolling her eyes. He turned to look at her, small laughs resonating from her body onto his. He placed a hand on her cheek, taking in all the features of her face. Her eyes widened.

"Brick?"

"I'm sorry." He spoke softly, and without another word, without even giving her the opportunity to respond, he placed his lips onto hers. Her eyes momentarily widened further, and then fell dreamily shut as the two relaxed into the kiss. It was as soft as the cotton sheets and the most tender touch that either of them had had in a decent while. Neither of them fought it, the only thing that interrupted was by a chime of the doorbell. They pulled away slowly, staring one another in the eye, searching for something that they couldn't quite pin. Brick groaned.

"Raincheck?" He asked quietly. She just stared, flustered.

"We'll…talk about this later." He nodded with a grin.

"Raincheck." He said again, helping her off the bed as she dreamily walked toward the door, nearly bumping into a wall on her way out. He chuckled after her, wondering what she was going to do next.

"Robin!" The blonde sister bounded down the stairwell, jumping onto the girls' childhood friend with just under the amount of gusto it would have taken to knock her over. She let out a politely soft "umph" at the impact, but her smile was unfaltering. Bubbles cuddled Robin, clinging and floating a bit above the ground with her legs folded upward. Less hyperactively, Buttercup walked up and embraced Robin in the most whole-hearted hug she'd given in quite some time.

"How've you been, kid?"

"Buttercup, we're the same age." Robin giggled, making Buttercup redden at her innocent laugh.

"I've been okay. Things are pretty busy around here what with all the tourism, and I have to work a lot."

"Tourism?" Blossom asked, lazily entering the room, her usual demeanor shaking from the events prior. Robin threw her a smile, but she wasn't the one to speak.

"Oh yeah, things really picked up around here in the past couple of years. Something about some triplets ridding the town of evil or something…the leader, I think his name is…Butch? Hear he's a real handsome guy too…" Butch asserted, entering the room with a false pondering.

"Stop, I might swoon." Buttercup spoke, feigning a gag.

"But really, Robin, haven't seen you since—"

"Butch!" Bubbles near-shouted, drawing everyone's eyes to her.

"This is a best friend's reunion. Girls only. Unless you're the pizza delivery guy, NO BOYS ALLOWED."

A collaborative giggle ensued while the ruff rolled his green eyes. The girls bounded happily up the stairwell and into their childhood bedroom. The Professor called it a "guest room" now, but he wouldn't have dared to change a place that had been so fundamental to their childhood. Everything was the same, down to the bed, and the little landline phone that had long-since been disconnected. Blossom felt a wave of discomfort at being in the room again, after all, she had been the one who suggested they all get their own rooms when they were still young. Bubbles had cried for two days. Buttercup had acted happy to finally get her own space, but if she had spoken honestly, she would have told her sister how lonely it would be to sleep by herself after all the time they had spent together. Blossom, as much as she refused to admit it, had always been the one that questioned her own role. In town, in the Professor's life, as "brave leader of the Powerpuff Girls" and whether that was all that defined her as an individual. For a long time, she'd been questioning.

Robin plopped herself onto the large bed and exhaled deeply.

"Gosh, I missed this place. We haven't been all here together in a while, huh?"

Buttercup ran her finger along the white rails of the bedpost, fondly recalling times that they had spent there. Then, remembering herself, she tore her fingers away and shoved both hands into her pockets, leaning onto the same post she had familiarized herself with a moment ago. Bubbles jumped face-first onto the comforter. Blossom opened her mouth to protest, going to tell her sister that she would be surrounded by dust and lint, and then thought about her father's relentless tidying habit, and his own fondness of his daughters' bedroom, and shut it again. As she thought, there was no dust to invade their breathing space. Blossom walked over and carefully placed herself on the edge of the bed, hands folded into her lap.

"Yeah, it's been a loooong time." Buttercup said, grinning.

"But you've been here without us?" Blossom asked.

All three of the other girls turned in her direction with wide-eyes at the blunt nature of the question. A soft blush danced across Robin's cheeks, even though she knew the question had been building in Blossom's mind since Butch had spoken before. She twiddled her thumbs before taking a breath and responding.

"Yeah, I used to come by a bit."

"It can't be for Pop's great jokes or Ma's endless moral lessons…" Buttercup joked.

"No, actually…I made friends with Brick." Robin returned, grinning.

"Oh…my…goodness! Did you and Brick date?" Bubbles nearly shouted in disbelief.

To this, Robin turned scarlet.

"W-w-what? No, of course not! That's not…no."

"Someone's defensive." Buttercup cooed.

"Well…the truth is…I definitely had a crush on him."

If Blossom were a dog, you could have seen her ears perk up at this. She listened intently to Robin's words, making sure that nothing was misheard or misinterpreted. Internally, she scowled a bit, wondering why she cared so much about a Ruff's personal dating history.

"Woah! That's huge! And…really surprising actually." Bubbles said.

"B-but, as soon as I told him things got really weird between us, and he said that he appreciated my company but could never be with me like that. Or anyone, probably. And…well…I don't know, I just couldn't bring myself to come over here after that. And that was…a couple of years ago, maybe. Anyway it's not really a big deal so I didn't figure it was important enough to warrant a call."

"Oh Robin!" Bubbles cried, wrapping her arms around her friend emphatically.

"Well that bites. Serves you right for crushin' on a Rowdyruff, though." Buttercup winked.

Robin chuckled, then cast a glance at Blossom, who was still listening, but had not said a word yet.

"Blossom?"

"Ah, hm? Oh, yes. Wow."

"'Wow'? That's it? I thought you haaated the boys?" Buttercup mocked.

"Please, Buttercup. I don't hate anyone, don't be ridiculous. I'm just digesting this new information." Blossom spoke, rolling her eyes.

The memory of Brick's lips on hers kept flashing into her mind, and no matter what she tried to think of, she couldn't shake it off. She thought about the chiseled features of his face, and the feeling of the soft skin of his fingertips on her face. Without realizing it, she had raised her own hand to her face and began running it along the place where his had been. Before she could stop it, she found herself missing the touch, and thought about what he might be doing now –

"Well, anyway, that was the last time I really came over." Robin said.

"Okay, enough about boys because, well, who cares. What's new in Townsville?" Buttercup asked.

They talked about what had changed since they left, both in the buildings of the town and its residents. Princess had become a hippie eco-warrior as a rebellion against her father, and seemed to really like it, Sara Bellum had taken over as Mayor of Townsville, and that Buttercup's favorite pizza place had closed. In the four years that they'd been gone, the city had become a very different place, despite the fact that things had stayed, relatively, the same. And at least for the night, they forgot about what was to come, and the fact that all of them knew that nothing could ever be the same.

Hey guys, it's Kiri!

Well, it's been...several years. I graduate college!

I don't know if anyone is still interested in this fic but my writing is a little rusty and I could use something to exercise with. So here's a short chapter!

So, feel free to read and review.

Thanks!