I do not own the Power Puff Girls or the Rowdy Ruff Boys.

Chapter Nine: Budding Relationships

Bubbles dressed in her black dress and blue belt rode with Mac to a café for some coffee and breakfast pastries. Mac had asked Bubbles for her help in asking his longtime sweetheart to the Homecoming dance, with the hopes that she'd become his girlfriend. She'd then asked him all sorts of questions such as, what did she like, what was her favorites of things, amongst many others.

Mac had been more than willing to answer Bubbles questions, answering with how she liked all colors, particularly rainbows. She liked the Japanese language because of how it felt on her tongue to speak it. She liked making up characters, but disliked that she couldn't draw them so she wrote detailed descriptions about them instead. He even had plenty of pictures of when they were little and playing together.

Looking at the picture of Mac's dream girl, she noticed something familiar about her. As she continued to look at the pictures of the girl, she noticed one thing that seemed to stand out to her. A smile with a gap in between the front two teeth. "Gabriella?"

"She likes to be called Goo." Mac quickly said, as if it were a reflex. "But she'll let you call her Gabby."

Bubbles smiled as she took a sip of her chai tea and then nibbled on her blueberry muffin. "She was really sweet."

"Yeah," Mac said with a loving smile on his face. "I hope she says yes."

"I'm sure she will." Bubbles said while taking out her phone, when she heard it ring. She didn't recognize the number, but decided to answer it anyway. "Hello?"

On the other end of the line, she heard shuffling, before a very nervous, boyishly gruff voice came through. "Hello? Bubbles?"

Furrowing her brow, she looked across the way at Mac. "Yeah, this is Bubbles. Who are you?"

"Uh, it's me." There was a pause. "Boomer. I'm Boomer. It's Boomer." He said quickly after realizing that he was starting to sound like an idiot.

"Boomer?" Mac looked up with an odd smile on his face. "Hi. Umm, why are you calling?"

Boomer was silent on the other end, aside from some shuffling around. "Impulse?" he supplied, not believing it himself.

"Huh." She leaned against the table then started to twist her hair around one of her fingers. "So what are you doing right now?"

"Sitting outside of the school. I got here a little early." He said, sounding just a little bit sheepish.

"You're not with your brothers?" she asked.

Boomer froze at the question and then spoke in a harsh tone. "They're being assholes, right now. Especially Brick."

Bubbles was shocked by what Boomer just said. She'd never heard of them being so out so sync. Anything that they did, they did it together. It made her just a bit worried about what was going on. "Did something happen this morning?"

More shuffling could be heard. "You could say that." He grumbled. "What about you? Are you still at home?" he asked, his voice suddenly lighter. His mood swings must be a thing he adopted from H.I.M, who also had raging mood swings.

"No, I'm at a café with Mac." Bubbles answered while Mac stood up to throw away their trash. He then motioned towards his watch. Meanwhile on the other end, she heard something that sounded like a crash. "What was that?"

"Nothing." Boomer said, his tone dropping again. "Umm, you and Mac are together?"

Not recognizing the strange tone his voice had taken on, she looked up at Mac, who stood waiting for her to follow him to his car. "Yeah, we met up to get some coffee before school."

Boomer's heart sank in his chest at those words. They're on a date. He thought sadly. "Oh, umm. Did I interrupt?" He then remembered that Mac had sent him a picture of him and Bubbles earlier that morning. He looked down to see his hand full of splinters from the table he'd accidently crushed.

"No, not really." She answered. "We were just finishing up and we're on our way to school. Do you want me to bring you something?"

"No, no." Boomer frowned as he heard something coming his way. "Umm, I've got to go. I'll see you when you get here."

Before Bubbles could respond, he hung up the phone, as he watched as his brothers landed before him, trying to intimidate him. However, he wasn't the timid five-year-old that would do whatever his brothers, mostly Brick, told him to do.

"What the hell is your problem?" Brick demanded as soon as his feet touched the ground.

Boomer just sat silently looking at his older brother. Butch stayed a way's behind the two of them, watching and waiting so as to not let a fight break out. The irony wasn't lost to him right now, in how he didn't want a fight to break out.

"Answer me, Boomer!" Brick snapped at his still silent brother. Sighing and taking his cap off his head, he ran a hand through his red hair. "How you acted back there almost got us caught."

"Caught? Is that to imply that we're doing something that we shouldn't?" Boomer smartly snapped at Brick. "Because if I recall, this was your brilliant idea to begin with."

Brick's face paled a touch, before burning red. Slapping his cap back on his head angrily, he advanced toward Boomer, who sat unflinching. Butch mirrored Brick's movements, prepared for intervention. "You're going to cut this out now, Boomer."

"Why?" he challenged, as stormy blue countered fiery red.

"Because if you slip up and get caught, Mojo is going to yank us all out of school." Brick said, hoping to drive the point home.

Boomer remained silent for a beat, then his eyes widened. Then narrowing his eyes, he stood up from where he was sitting on and stared Brick in his eyes. "You're so fucking selfish Brick." He then knocked his shoulder against Brick's as he walked past him and Butch.

"And you're not?" Brick countered. "You're trying to be with a girl, you know you can't be with. It's going to fail either way."

Boomer stopped walking and turned to face Brick. "I spent the better part of growing up with you and Butch getting on my ass about something."

"Now, wait a minute Boomer—" Butch started at the mention of his name.

"No!" he said while looking between his two brothers. "I've listened and been bullied by the two of you for long enough. Now for the last time, get off my ass."

Brick not wanting to let Boomer have the last word, folded his arms across his chest. "And you said, I was being selfish."

For the second time that day, Boomer gave Brick the middle finger. Brick scowled at his back and shook his head. "I seriously cannot believe him."

Butch who'd been quiet for the time being, looked towards Brick with an incredulous look on his face. "Are you shitting me right now?"

"What?" Brick said with a raised brow, confused.

Butch rolled his eyes as he turned to his elder brother. "In case you hadn't noticed, Brick head, Boomer is right."

"About what?"

"About you being a selfish prick." Butch snapped. "It was your idea to go to school. It was also your idea that we do things like normal kids, such as getting a girlfriend."

Breathing out a puff of steam from his nose, Brick then advanced onto Butch. "Are you saying you agree with him going out with a Power Puff?"

"No, I don't. But I'm not going to go back on what I said, just because things aren't going my fucking way." Butch growled at him, not the least bit intimidated by Brick blowing steam.

Looking away from each other, both boys noticed that the school had gotten more populated and a few people were standing and staring. Brick already on the brink of blowing his stack, shot everyone who was watching a glare, before screaming "Fuck off."

Everyone who was staring scattered in fear. Only a few people hesitated to scatter, and it was because they were caught up in staring at the Rowdy Ruff boys. Blossom, Buttercup, and Robin stared in disbelief at the display they were witnessing.

Blossom wearing a simple black on black shirt and skirt with black shoes, wearing a red choker, stared shocked, but not surprised that Brick was as close as he was to breathing fire. Upon first meeting them, he'd had a volatile temper. For the first time, since school started was she reminded very vividly of the person Brick was. She happened to make eye contact with Brick just then and shook her head when he glared at her.

"Come on." Blossom said while she walked with her satchel over her shoulder and her red fringe just barely covering her eyes.

Robin, wearing a black and white striped shirt underneath a black blazer with black skinny jeans followed Blossom, wanting to ask her if things were going to get worse from then on. Buttercup however stared at Butch, in amazement that he'd keep his composure, by his standards anyway. When they made eye contact, Buttercup quickly looked away, while Butch stared in startled disbelief.

While he was no stranger to Buttercup wearing black, or a skirt, he was a stranger to her wearing a dress. And it wasn't just any old dress. It was a loose dress that had billowing sleeves, but when the wind hit her just right, he could see a perfect outline of her body. Her breasts, her firm stomach, and her hips were on display for him and he couldn't stop staring. He also absently noticed that she was wearing all black. Where was her splash of color?

Buttercup was standing in the hallway, and was starting to feel unnerved. Many were staring at her, and she knew it had to do with the dress that she was wearing. It was one that Bubbles and Blossom had convinced her to wear and she wasn't sure that it looked good on her. Her suspicions seemed to be confirmed as every guy that walked past her stared at her blatantly.

When she broke off from her friends to find Mitch, she ran into the last person she'd expected this morning. Standing with his back against the wall and his hands in his pockets, Butch looked the epitome of badass, especially with him wearing all black with his suspenders hanging low.

Feeling that someone was staring at him, Butch turned and was surprised to see Buttercup standing there. He didn't notice it before, but she was wearing tall knee length combat boots with straps and buckles on the side. The boots hugged her legs in a very enticing way, and he couldn't help but stare.

Buttercup found herself wanting to blush for some reason. Resisting the urge, she started to walk past him, keeping her eyes forward, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

"Hey Buttercup." Butch called out to her as she was right in front of him.

Stopping in front of the Rowdy Ruff boy, Buttercup turned to look at him. "What?" she said, while trying to save face by being tough.

"You look like a girl for once. Maybe even hot." He said with a smirk, that he knew would drive her mad. "But I also see you flying on a broomstick."

"If that's a compliment, I'd hate to hear an insult." Buttercup spat back at him, with a scowl marring her face.

Butch shrugged, as though he didn't have a care in the world. "I'm just stating a fact."

"Well, I've got a fact I want to share with you. You're an asshole." Buttercup stated as she put her hand on her hip, unintentionally drawing Butch's eyes to her waist.

Bringing his eyes up, before she could notice him staring, he smirked at her. "I'll attest to that, Cupcake."

"Cupcake?" she gasped. "Where in the hell did that come from?"

"Buttercup," he said while holding out one hand. "Cupcake." He said holding out his other hand. "Two cups for the A-cup."

Buttercup frowned in confusion, before a sudden realization came over her. "I'm not an A-cup."

Butch then made a show of staring at her breast and pursed his lips. "I'd say you're…a 34-B cup. Not too much, not too little. Just right to fit the palm of any lucky guy's hand."

Taking all the strength she had, she resisted the urge to cover her breast with her hands. "Lucky guess."

"No." Butch said as stood up from the wall and started walking in the other direction. "I just used my x-ray vision to see the tag."

This time Buttercup couldn't help her blush, or her arms coming up to cover her chest area.

"Also, I never pegged you for a lacy panty kind of girl." Butch smirked as he speedily made his way away from her, knowing that if he didn't he'd be risking bodily harm. "Is orange your splash of color?

Still, he wasn't quick enough to avoid the laser beam she shot at the back of his head. It was times like these that Butch thanked his lucky stars for being superhuman. The blow burned as he expected it to, but it didn't singe off his hair in the back, for which he was very grateful. Still, he felt smug about using his x-ray vison on Buttercup.

Brick was seething. Blood just about to boil over. He didn't know what to do. His brothers were practically staging a mutiny against him and he had no clue as to what to do. But the thing is, he'd expected as much from Butch, who'd fought or at least protested anything he didn't like. Boomer on the other hand, was someone he'd always expected to just follow his orders without question.

But it seemed like that as soon as he met the Power Puff girls, all common sense that Boomer was supposed to have, left the building. He was all about Bubbles, and doing everything that he could to get her attention. He just seemed to naturally gravitate toward her and he found that to be something to be wary of.

Then to top it off, Butch was slowly starting to follow Buttercup's every move, especially when she was in the company of a brace faced freckled punk. It really was starting to irritate him.

"Brick." He heard his name being called out.

Pausing, he stood with his back ramrod straight as he thought about ignoring the voice that called him. Deciding that he was going to do just that, he started to walk again, until he felt a cool hand touch his skin, leaving an icy hot chill to run down his back.

"Hey, I want to talk to you." Blossom said while turning him towards her. She inhaled and caught a whiff of Brick's natural spicy scent, and caught a sneeze with her free hand.

Brick snatched his arm away from Blossom and took a step back. "And I want to not be sneezed on again."

"It's not my fault. Your cologne—" she started only to be cut off by Brick.

"I don't wear cologne. Not with Mojo's sensitive sense of smell. Or mine for that matter." He said, while grabbing the strap of his backpack and sticking one hand in his pocket. "So, what do you want?"

"This morning, between you and your brothers, was that anything to be concerned about?" she started.

Brick narrowed his eyes at her, wondering where she was going with this. "What do you mean?"

Wetting her lips with her tongue, and catching Brick's attention much to his growing irritation, she continued. "Should it be something we should be concerned about?"

Catching her drift, Brick took a calming breath which was released in the form of smoke from his nostrils. "What goes on with my brothers and me is our business, Cherry."

Blossom then stepped closer to Brick, and with her hands on her hips, looked him in the eyes. "If you three suddenly cause any trouble, it becomes our business."

Pink clashed with red right then, causing the tension between the two of them to rise. It was only broken by the combination of the bell ringing and someone calling out to Blossom. Both red heads turned to see a younger male coming in their direction, but his eyes were on Blossom

Dexter, dressed as he always was with a white button up and dark pants came up to them and made a show of standing between Brick and Blossom. "Good morning Blossom."

"Dexter," she greeted, but then looked over the boy's head at Brick. "I'm sorry, but we were in the middle of—"

"We're done." Brick said while turning to walk down the hallway, while Blossom stared incredulously at his back.

"He's a bit of a jerk, isn't he?" Dexter commented, thinking that saying what he hoped she was thinking would make her notice him.

Blossom on the other hand, balled her fists at her side and started to make her way to her own class, leaving Dexter to stand in the hallway by himself.

"Blossom?" he called out. He then looked in the direction that Brick had left down and scowled.

Robin was walking down the hall with Tabitha and Sam, when she noticed Boomer peeking around a corner. Tabitha, having a good idea what he was staring at, suddenly called out to him.

"Hey Boomer!" she shouted, causing not only Boomer, but Mac and Bubbles and a few others students, to jump up startled.

Boomer in his startled state, tried to hide behind the wall, he was peeking around. However, Bubbles and Mac had already seen him and were walking to get to him. He stood awkwardly against the wall, hoping that Bubbles wouldn't think he was spying on them. And Bubbles didn't.

Mac, however, knew that Boomer was spying on them, and had an idea. "Hey Boomer, you want to talk campaign for being homecoming king?"

"What?" two sets of blue eyes landing on him. "Homecoming king?"

"Yeah, didn't Robin tell you that Boomer and the guys are part of homecoming court?" he asked, while giving Robin a look that pleaded for her to play along.

"It must have slipped my mind." Robin mumbled.

"Then you almost must have forgot to tell her that she's in the running for queen?" Mac said with a pointed look at Boomer.

"Robin!" Bubbles said while stomping her foot, in a way that would be cute, if Boomer didn't notice the cracks in the floor where she did it. "Anything else you didn't tell me?"

"That your sisters are also in the running." Mac supplied. Robin then turned to shake her head and glare at Mac.

Bubbles groaned in her throat, with her face turned red with frustration. "I've got to get to class." She said, before pushing between them to escape.

Boomer stood watching after her for a while, and then he too made an escape. That left Robin, Tabitha, Sam, and Mac facing each other. Tabitha had already caught onto Mac's scheme and thought to herself that she was going to help him in whatever he was doing. Robin on the other hand was seething.

"What was that about Mac?" Robin snapped at him.

"Just a little pushing." He said innocently.

"Pushing?" Robin questioned, her brow furrowing in confusion. She then shook her head and took a step closer to Mac. "What are you talking about?"

Tabitha placed a hand on Robin's shoulder and had her take a step back. "I'll take it from here, Robin. Leave Mac Daddy to me."

"Mac Daddy?" Sam giggled.

Rolling her eyes, Robin left with Sam, leaving her more brazen friend with the overall wearing boy. Once Sam and Robin had turned the corner, Tabitha turned to Mac. "So playing matchmaker are we?"

Mac gave an innocent shrug. "Maybe. What about you?"

"I've been planting the seed of suggestion, here and there." She supplied.

"Good, so have I. As you can see, I'm trying to get Boomer to become jealous enough to ask Bubbles out to the dance."

"Hmmm, smart, but careful he doesn't snap you in half first." Tabitha smirked at him.

Mac in turn rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Hopefully, it won't come to that." He then cleared his throat. "Besides, I think all he needs is the right push."

"And what kind of push would that be?" Tabitha asked.

Mac folded his arms across his chest. "He'll finally just out right ask her out, but at the expense of looking like an idiot." He smirked before rubbing his cheek thoughtfully. "And possibly a few of my teeth."

"Hopefully, Bubbles says yes to him, before that." Tabitha said, laughing at Mac's worried expression. "So do you have a plan for Butch and Buttercup?"

"Not yet, but I'm more concerned with Blossom and Brick. They're the most stubborn out of them all."

"I can see that." Tabitha said while hearing the final bell ring. "Shit, I'm late. Tell me more about this plan of yours later."

Buttercup's seething had devolved into a sulk that caught the attention of Mitch. He'd tried everything to get her to respond to him, but she'd only ignored him as he prattled on about whatever came to mind. It also didn't escape his notice that every time they passed Butch in the hallway, he'd smirk at her or she'd scowl at him.

Halfway through the way, when it happened again, Mitch voiced his suspicions. "What's going on between you and Butch?"

"Nothing, other than him being a pig." Buttercup answered.

Mitch stood nearly pouting when Buttercup hardly glanced his way to answer. "You know, that the first thing you've said to me all day?"

"No, it hasn't." she said, while folding her arms over her chest. "I said good morning."

Mitch rolled his eyes and groaned low in his throat. "I've been having a one-sided conversation with you all day. This is the first you've said to me all day."

Buttercup looked away from Butch's retreating figure and turned to look at Mitch's sullen one. "Don't get your panties in a twist. I've just been distracted today."

"By Butch?" Mitch asked.

"Don't be stupid." Buttercup snapped at him. "I'm just keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."

"Uh huh." Mitch muttered. "Listen, there's a football game tonight. You want to go."

"I don't know Mitch." Buttercup began.

"Come on. It's the first game of the season." Mitch probed. "Hey, and you won't have to wear that sack of a dress if you don't want to."

Buttercup stared at Mitch for a second, before the bell for class rang. "I've got to go Mitch." She then began to walk off, but not without Mitch yelling from behind.

"I'll see you at the game tonight." He called out.

Buttercup halfheartedly waved over her shoulder. "Asshole."

"Me or the other guy?" she heard a deep voice saying suddenly behind her and very much close to her ear.

Startled, she did the first thing her instincts called for her to do, which in turned wound up being a kick to the head. Unfortunately, the owner of the deep voice was a tad faster than her, and caught her ankle.

"Butch." She grumbled.

"Buttercup." He responded, before looking down. "You know you probably shouldn't throw such a high kick when you wear such revealing panties."

Blushing bright red, Buttercup pulled her leg out from Butch's grasp and placed her foot on the floor. She'd completely forgotten that she was wearing such a loose dress and such lacy underwear. "Then you shouldn't sneak up on me."

"I wasn't sneaking. I just so happened to hear my name brought up and decided to listen in." Butch said.

"So eavesdropping." Buttercup surmised. "In other words, you were still sneaking."

Butch shrugged as he began to walk around Buttercup. "Call it what you want, Toots."

Buttercup delicately growled and started to walk after Butch. "I told you about calling me Toots."

"Toots. Cupcake. What's it going to take for you to be happy?" Butch said.

When Buttercup didn't say anything, Butch decided to change the subject. "So are you going to the game tonight?"

Scowling, Buttercup turned to glare at Butch. "Are you making fun of me? Because if you are, then I'll really kick you in the head, and I won't care that I'll flash anyone who wants to watch."

Butch stared at Buttercup, seeing that she still had a faint tinge of red across her cheeks and nose. He noticed that it brought out the freckles she had going across her nose. Her eyes also were a deeper green than he'd seen them. A more emerald green than the light jade. Her brow was also furrowed in a new way. Unlike whenever she was irritated or furious, her brow was turn more upward than down.

Buttercup noticing Butch's intense stare moved back a bit and then getting worried decided to switch gears to not show how he was getting to her. "You'd better not be using your x-ray vision again." She said while covering up her chest.

Butch frowned and then did something, he knew he was going to regret. He gently reached up and put his hand under her chin, which she surprisingly let happen. "You have skulls stitched into your lace panties."

And just as he knew was to happen, he felt Buttercup bring her knee up to connect square on with his groin. The pain didn't hit until a second later, and when it did, it took everything in him to not crumble before her. Still, Butch couldn't hold back the groan of agony that would always accompany the pain of being hit in one's balls.

"You prick." She snapped before stomping away from him.

Once Buttercup was out of sight, Butch braced himself against the wall to hold himself upright. Breathing through his nose, he waiting for feeling to come back to his nether regions. As he slowly began to feel himself again he sighed in relief, but also thought about Buttercup's expression.

For the first time it seemed as though she was self-conscious about something.