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

Chapter Twelve: Growing Agitation

Breakfast was an awkward affair the next morning. Butch and Boomer were sitting to one side, while Brick was sitting on the other. Mojo sat between them and looked between his sons concerned.

"So, how was the game last night?" Mojo asked, trying to make conversation.

"It was good. I whole lot different from watching it on TV." Butch said.

"We also gorged ourselves on hotdogs, chips, and soda the entire night." Boomer said with a smile.

Butch then smiled at Boomer. "It's still amazing how you're able to keep all of that down. But then again, you used to love eating cockroaches."

Boomer then grimaced. "Don't remind me."

"Did your team win?" Mojo asked as he glanced at a silent Brick.

"Yeah, but not by much. If the other team had gotten another touchdown, they'd have been tied." Butch said as he stuffed another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

Mojo nodded his head and turned to look at Brick, who was facing the window and looking anywhere but at his brothers. "Brick?"

"What?" he said, while still not looking at Mojo.

Mojo starred at his eldest with a furrowed brow. "You haven't said anything all morning."

Butch and Boomer shared a look with each other, silently agreeing not the say anything, and then went back to eating.

"It's nothing." Brick said, bringing his attention to his food.

"You've been so moody lately." Mojo commented.

Butch snickered into his cup, as he avoided eye contact with Brick. "I really didn't pay much attention to biology, but I'm sure that he's having PMS."

"Fuck you." Brick said, finally glancing at his brothers.

"Brick!" Mojo reprimanded.

"Do blue balls count as PMS for guys?" Butch continued, not at all affected by Brick.

As Boomer began to laugh Brick turned his attention towards Boomer. "Why don't you ask Boomer? He's the one with the crush on a girl he can't get."

Boomer sent a cold glare to Brick. "Shut up."

"The same girl?" Mojo asked as he turned to look at Boomer.

"Yeah, the very same. But she's already got a boyfriend." Brick taunted.

The color from Boomer's face drained at those words. Part of him figured that Brick was just being a dick, but there was the small part of him that did think Bubbles was already taken.

"I'm sure you've seen them together already." Brick finished as Boomer looked dejectedly away from him. "Tell me did you jack off to her yet?"

Slamming his fists into the table Boomer stood up, ready to throw his plate at Brick's head.

"Boomer!" Mojo called out to him, stopping him from starting a fight.

Sitting back down, Boomer noisily set his plate down and glared at Brick. "You're such an asshole."

"Boomer, calm down. Brick you were out of line just now."

Snorting Brick looked away from everyone. "It's not my fault he's over sensitive about some girl that is probably banging a friend of ours."

"Don't talk about her like that!" Boomer yelled, and threw his plate at Brick. The plate barely finished smashing against the wall before Boomer left the dining room. A few moments later the sound of a door slamming could be heard. Butch turned to glare at Brick.

"Way to go, Brick-head." Butch said. "Why'd you have to go and piss him off?"

"Since when do you care?" Brick asked.

"Since you started being a grade A asshole." Butch said as he took his empty plate to the sink and then headed upstairs himself.

"What is going on with you three?" Mojo yelled.

Brick stood up from the table and made his way to the sink to wash the dishes. "Nothing."

"If I hear you tell me it's nothing, one more time Brick, hell will break loose." Mojo threatened.

Brick rolled his eyes, knowing that Mojo wouldn't be able to see him do it. "I'll tell you when I want to tell you. And right now, I don't want to tell you."

Mojo growled low in his throat and left the kitchen table. "This had better be the last time I get nothing but cheek from the three of you."

"Don't hold your breath." Brick muttered low enough so that Mojo couldn't hear him.

"Also, you three have a physical coming up with the Professor this afternoon." Mojo said grumpily.

Brick turned to look at Mojo and watched as his already slouching father, seemed to hunch over more. It was a sign that the boys picked up, which meant Mojo was depressed or upset about something. The severity of Mojo's hunch defined the level of his depression. Whenever the professor was mentioned Mojo's hunch was at its lowest.

For all the aggravation that Mojo and his brothers were causing him, Brick was concerned for his family's wellbeing. He figured that's what was making him so irritable with his brothers and everyone else for that matter.

Robin was sitting in the living room with Buttercup beside her as they waited on Blossom and Bubbles. Since it was a going into late summer early fall weather the temperature was cooler, so the girls were taking a little extra time to be dressed properly.

Robin deciding that it wasn't nearly as cool as it could be, was wearing a simply white cardigan over a red shirt with blue jean capris. Buttercup simply opted for another of her oversized sweaters. This one was dark green with a hood.

"What's taking them so long?" Robin asked.

Buttercup shrugged as she put her arms behind her head and leaned back against the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. "The fashionistas always take forever to get dressed."

"Do not." Bubbles said as she came down the stairs wearing a denim jumper with a long sleeved white shirt. "I just wanted to look nice."

"You're doing manual labor. What do you need to look nice for?" Buttercup asked.

"She's probably doing it for Boomer." Robin teased, watching the blush go across Bubbles' nose.

Buttercup smirked. "Oh really?"

Bubbles waved her hands frantically trying to dissuade her sister and friends for that idea. "I am not. Besides, what's cute or sexy about a jumper?"

"So you want to look either cute or sexy for Boomer?" Buttercup continued to tease with a wide smile on her face.

"Buttercup!" Bubbles whined.

Blossom, who was putting her hair up as she made her way down the stairs, wearing a pair of red shorts with a black tank top and pink cardigan, looked to see the commotion. "Buttercup stop teasing her."

Buttercup smiled and then stood up from the couch. "All right, all right. Can we get going now?"

"Why are you coming again?" Blossom asked as she lead the group out of the house.

"Because I want to." Buttercup simply said as she made her way to the passenger's seat of Robin's car.

"Sure it's not because you want to see Butch?" Bubbles decided to tease.

Completely unfazed by Bubbles, she proper her feet on the dashboard. "Yeah, right. If anything it's to watch Boomer try to flirt with you, and Brick get on Blossom's nerves."

Robin had hit Buttercup in the legs, coaxing her to put her legs down. "You were raised in a lab, not a barn."

Rolling her eyes, Buttercup set her feet down and crossed her ankles. "Yeah, yeah. Are we going now?"

Starting the engine, Robin pulled off down the street towards their school. As they drove, Robin decided to talk to them about the ballots for the senior homecoming court. "Just so you three know, you're in the top running for queen."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Buttercup groaned. "How did we even get nominated in the first place?"

"You're the Power Puff girls." Robin shrugged.

"Were." Blossom corrected. "We've not fought crime in a while. Things have calmed down."

"Yeah, but you guys are celebrities to most of the people we go to school with." Robin explained.

"I guess." Buttercup mumbled.

"The boys are also in the running for court, no surprise." Robin continued.

Blossom who'd been sitting idly back in her seat, sprang forward between Robin and Buttercup. "You have got to be kidding?"

"What?" Robin asked.

"You know everyone's automatically going to pair us up with one another. What if I have to dance with Brick?"

Robin shrugged, not really seeing the problem. "Then you dance with Brick. I'm sure he doesn't bite."

"That's not the point." Blossom grumbled as she sat back in her seat.

When Blossom didn't elaborate further, the girls changed topic until they got to school. Once there, the girls started helping Robin gather the posters from the previous week, and storing them in the student council room. After that they began getting the paint and posters for Rival's week.

That being said, the girls found more than their fair share of irony at the mention of it being Rival week. Not only were the girls unintentionally paired up with their male counterparts for senior court, the school they would be playing would be their previous school.

As it got closer to the time for the committee to meet up, many had already shown up. The only people who had yet to show were the Rowdy Ruff boys. As they were starting, the boys showed up, none in a very welcoming mood. Boomer was more than agitated and it effected his control on his strength. Doors rattled when he slammed them. Floors shook when he stomped just a little too hard. To be honest it was a shock, that the least angry of the boys was the angriest today.

Butch just seemed hell bent on working everyone's nerves. From setting wet posters on top of one another to accidently on purposely spilling paint on any poster his brothers seemed to be working on. If he wasn't doing that, he would just wander around and ask everyone stupid, I-already-know-the-answer questions.

Then there was Brick who kept picking up his phone to text someone. Eventually he just walked out, because whoever he was texting had called him and practically demanded his attention. On top of which, he hardly did any work that day. Brick kept getting distracted, and for some reason he kept looking at Blossom whenever he received a text.

After Butch had spilled paint on Boomer's fifth attempt at a poster, Boomer violently threw down his paint brush and started to stand up. Butch braced himself wicked smile on his face.

"Blossom!" Robin called out to her super powered friend. "They're about to fight. Please stop them."

Looking up from what she was doing, she sighed and called her sister over. "Bubbles, you take Boomer. Buttercup, Butch. I'll go hunt down Brick."

The girls broke and went to go get their respective counterparts. Bubbles quickly sped to cut in front of Boomer and then drag him away from Butch with a hand pulling on his arm. He resisted Bubbles' tugging on his arm, but stopped when she sharply tugged on his ear.

"Ow, ow, ow." He said as she dragged him away by his ear.

"Don't be such a baby." She said as she led him a hallway away from everyone.

Butch was just beginning to laugh when he was suddenly pulled into a headlock and dragged in the opposite direction. Before he could give into his natural inclination to throw whoever was holding him, the grip on his neck was made tighter.

"You throw me, and I'll do more than rearrange your face." Buttercup threatened.

"I'd like to see you try, Cupcake." Butch teased her, unable to resist. He felt her tense and figured she was probably going to try to knee him in the face, but then she paused. "What? Didn't want me to see your panties again?"

"I am wearing shorts underneath this."

"Pity." Butch groused, before her grip tightened again. Butch then decided to keep his mouth shut as he was pressed very comfortably into Buttercup's bosom.

As they found a relatively deserted area of the hallway, Buttercup released Butch and folded her arms across her chest. Butch straightened up and rubbed his neck.

"So what are you doing here?" Butch asked her. "You're not on the committee."

Buttercup shrugged. "I got bored."

"Didn't want to hang out with your boyfriend?" Butch said as he folded his arms across his own chest, copying Buttercup.

When Buttercup didn't respond, but only rose an eyebrow in confusion. Butch sighed. "Mitch?" he supplied.

"Ew. I only like Mitch as a friend." Buttercup said while scrunching her nose in disgust. "I'd never date him."

Butch couldn't help the relief he felt with her statement. But of course he would never admit that aloud. Another thing he wouldn't admit out loud, was that he was beginning to understand what Boomer said about his counterpart. When Buttercup had been holding him, he felt tingles. A tingle that made him want to touch her. But rather than let her know that, he simply decided to tease her, hoping that she would hit him, thus giving him a reason to fight back.

"Still, you do hang out with him a lot." Butch continued.

"What's it to you, who I hang out with?" Buttercup smartly asked. "I though part of the truce was to mind each other's own business?"

Butch frowned as he thought about that. "If I remember correctly, you dumped milkshake onto my lap. Cold milkshake I might add."

"Did a few things recoil in fear? Did you shrink again?" Buttercup asked, purposely goading Butch.

While she thought she was prepared for him, she was mistaken when he charged her and pressed her up against the lockers. His hard body pressed into her soft one and a certain part of his anatomy dug into her abdomen.

"You tell me." He said as he ground his pelvis into her.

Unfamiliar feelings rushed through the both of them, but it affected Buttercup a whole lot more than she was anticipating. To her embarrassment, she pressed her legs tightly together and looked away from him, while biting her lower lip. Butch was enjoying her squirming, and ground his pelvis into her again.

This time Buttercup glared up at Butch and ever so slowly raised her knee to between his legs. With her knee pressed against his groin, her intentions were very clear to him.

"If you decide to get hard, I'll do more than just tell you."

Butch wisely pulled himself away from her and it irritatingly left her feeling cold. She involuntarily put her arms up to try to warm herself. Butch however was feeling extremely warm and felt the need for a cold shower. He'd wanted to be close to her. Enjoyed the feeling of her pressed so close against him. Even with the bulky shapeless sweater, her curves seemed to fit his sharp angles just right.

However, he knew that this was just lust. A byproduct of him being a teenaged boy, she being an attractive teenaged girl, and his hormones urging him to get his dick wet. While he could understand why Boomer couldn't seem to get Bubbles out of his head, he also knew that any kind of relationship with the Power Puffs would only end in violence.

Still picking, teasing, and frustrating her to no end would serve its purpose. She'd get angry and fight with him. In doing so, she would touch him and he'd get the chance to touch her. And as an added bonus, he'd relieve some of his pent up tension.

"So why did you drag me out into the hallway." Butch asked as a distraction from his thoughts.

Buttercup looked up at Butch and sighed. "You and Boomer were about to fight. It wasn't like anyone but us could've stopped you."

That reminded Butch of how Bubbles tugged Boomer away. "Shit. I need to find Boomer."

"No." Standing up from the lockers, she moved to block his path. "Bubbles can handle him."

"I'm not worried about that." He said easily walking around Buttercup. "It's just his brain to mouth filter has never really worked all that great."

Buttercup once again cut Butch off, this time holding her hands out. "So he makes an ass of himself. What's new?"

Starting to grow just a bit agitated with her, Butch grabbed her hand and held it in his. The tingle that ran through them both had blood and heat rushing to Buttercup's face. Butch rose an eyebrow and then leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Now imagine if we actually liked each other, with this kind of reaction."

Buttercup blushed and pulled her hand away from Butch. "Bubbles can handle herself." She said almost breathlessly.

"Just like you're handling yourself with me, Cupcake." Butch said while walking around her.

Buttercup didn't have a comeback for that. She was only able to stand stock still while Butch went around her. When she was alone, she turned to see where he'd went and growled low in her throat. Not only had Butch called her Cupcake, but he'd flustered her. It was frustrating to no end.

Bubbles had tugged on Boomer's ear and dragged him into the hallway that was deserted. The only thing that could be heard was Boomer's complaints of pain.

"Bubbles, my ear is attached to me head. You're going to tear it off." Boomer complained.

Ignoring him, Bubbles continued to walk down the hallway, until she was sure no one would bother them. Once she figured that they were far enough away from anyone, Bubbles released Boomer and turned and folded her arms across her chest.

"What is your problem?" she snapped at him.

Feeling the blood come rushing through his ear, he stared at Bubbles as he held his ear. "I don't have a problem."

"Then why have you been so…pissy?" she said. "Is it because of what I said last night?"

Looking away from her, Boomer grimaced. "It has nothing to do with last night."

"Then what?" she pried.

Boomer rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I'm fighting with my brothers. Well, mostly Brick." He explained before getting irritated. "Don't you and your sisters fight, or are you Power Puffs too perfect for that?"

Bubbles' temper flared at the insult. "Why are you being such a jerk?" Bubbles snapped at him.

"Why are you pretending to be so much better than me?" Boomer snapped back. "You can't hang out with me, because I'm a Rowdy Ruff boy."

"I never said I was better than you." Bubbles quipped, just barely holding her anger in check.

"It was more than implied." Boomer spat at her. "It's why you've been going out with Mac, isn't it?"

"Mac?" her confusion was lost on Boomer, as he was looking away from her while holding his ear.

"Yes, Mac. A friend of mine, or he used to be." Boomer grumbled. "What's so great about him anyway? I mean, sure he's smarter than me, and more comfortable at school than I am, but he isn't—why are you laughing at me?"

Boomer had turned back to look at Bubbles, to see her trying to cover her giggles with her hand. Any anger or irritation she had for Boomer vanished as soon as he mentioned her going out with Mac. At that moment, Boomer couldn't look any more adorable to her with his head cocked to the side and staring confused at her.

"You're an idiot."

"What?"

Bubbles then walked up to Boomer and placed her hand on his cheek gently, allowing for both of them to feel the tingles running through them. "You're cute, but an idiot." She then pinched his cheek as hard as she could, before walking away from him.

Now holding his cheek, he watched as Bubbles sauntered away from him. Now, not only was he annoyed, but he was confused as well.

Brick was pacing out in front of the restrooms, listening to Princess complain about him not answering her texts in a timely fashion. When he told her he was busy, she'd only responded with how she was more important.

"Look Princess, I'm a little busy at the moment. I'm part of the homecoming committee as punishment for a stunt my brothers pulled. I have to—Hey!"

Brick's phone was plucked from his hand and held to the ear of none other than Blossom. "He'll call you back later." She then hung up and put the phone on silent.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Brick growled at her.

Not the least bit intimidated by him, Blossom slipped the phone into her jacket pocket. "You need to get a handle of your brothers."

"Handle of? Just who do you think you are telling me to 'get a handle of my brothers'?" Brick's aggravation was steadily growing without the help of Blossom.

"I'm just saying that you three have been acting weird all day, and you've done nothing to try to reign it in." Blossom spoke, slipping into her Power Puff girl mood. She arms were now folded across her chest.

Brick blew out a puff of smoke from his nostrils. "Why don't you mind your goddamn business, Pinky?"

Ice suddenly started to sprout from the spot where Blossom was standing and she took a deep breath to bring it back in. She refused to allow Brick to infuriate her to the point of making ice sculptures.

"And give me my phone back." Brick then tried to reach for the phone in Blossom's pocket.

Blossom then quickly took the phone out of her pocket and held it as far away from Brick as she could. "You try to charge at me, and I will crush this phone."

"You wouldn't dare." Brick said while taking a step towards Blossom.

Blossom tightened her grip, applying enough pressure only to hear the plastic crack. Brick stopped his advance and grit his teeth. "Try me."

"What do you want?" Brick shouted at her.

"I want you to hold yourself to the truce we made. It's only been two weeks, and already your younger brother has gotten himself in trouble, and it's slowly setting off the rest of you." Blossom stated.

"Truce? Wasn't a large part of the truce, to mind one's own business?" Brick snapped at her. "If anyone is violation of the truce, then it's you. The Power Puff Smart Ass."

Stepping up to Brick, Blossom held her finger in his face. "Listen here, Brick. As a leader, I keep an eye on everything. Therefore, if I see something that your brothers are doing is wrong, I'll do something about it." Dropping her hand, she sighed and looked away from him. "I thought that if I informed you, you would be enough of a leader to keep them in line." Shaking her head, she looked up at Brick and let out a short humorless laugh. "But you are no such leader."

Blossom's words brought out a dangerous reaction from Brick. He'd grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and then pushed her up against the wall roughly. Blossom gasped at the sudden shift in movement and was about to say something, when Brick slammed his fist into the wall beside her head, going through the cinderblock and startling her.

"What the fuck do you know about my being a leader?!" he shouted. "Huh? You don't know anything of what I have to deal with, when it comes to my brothers or me."

Trying to be defiant, Blossom raised her chin to Brick. "You're just lashing out at me, because you can't handle it."

"You do not want to really see me lashing out." Brick whispered lowly. The threat that was in the air hung heavily between them as red and pink clashed. "It's a lot uglier than this."

"You don't scare me, Brick. Not then, and most certainly not now." Blossom spoke unwaveringly, despite Brick breathing smoke into her face and holding her by the front collar of her shirt.

Brick released Blossom, but gave her one last push into the wall. He then began to pace in front of her while tugging at his hair. Blossom watched him, prepared for anything that he suddenly might do. Such as turn his fiery eyes onto her. "I didn't ask to be leader."

"Neither did I, Brick. It just came with being the eldest." Blossom said with a fold of her arms. "It's our responsibility."

"Do not give me that bullshit right now." Brick dangerously growled as he glared at Blossom. "Because this right here, is all your fucking fault."

"What do you mean my fault?" Blossom's voice rose an octave. "I didn't do anything."

"No. You've done everything, just be existing." Brick seethed at her. "Three lab accidents made by a lonely old man who couldn't get a date and have kids the normal way."

A resounding slap echoed in the hallway, and seemed to ring in the silence that followed after. Brick's head was turned to the right as his left cheek burned. Blossom's right hand hung in the air, the palm stinging slightly from the sharp slap. As they both relaxed their stances and turned to one another, glaring.

Blossom was the first to break the silence with a tone colder than the ice she wields. "Don't you ever talk about me and my sisters like that again."

Brick looked about to say something when Blossom stood as tall as she could.

"And if you ever insult my father like that again, you'll get more than just frostbite from me."

"Are you threatening me?" Brick couldn't help but taunt.

Blossom slowly shook her head. "I'm making you a promise. You say I don't know anything. Well, neither do you."

Pink and red continued to clash against each other in powerful silent test of wills. Fire and ice battling against one another. Where Brick was burning up fueling his anger, Blossom was freezing over to protect herself.

A sudden throat clearing had the two breaking her glaring contest to see Robin standing at the far end of the hallway. "Umm, Butch and Boomer are back and we're putting up the posters now. Everything's about finished for today."

Blossom nodded her head. "I'll be right there." She turned to give Brick one final glare and started to walk away, when Brick grabbed her arm violently.

"My phone." He snapped.

Yanking her arm away from Brick she pulled out the phone and was in the process of handing it to him when she saw a name flash across the screen. Pulling it closer for better inspection, her eyes narrowed and then widened as she registered Princess' name on screen.

"Why is Princess calling you?" she asked.

Snatching his phone from Blossom, Brick hit the ignore button and stuffed his phone into his back pocket. "None of your damn business." He then walked passed Blossom, but not before roughly knocking his shoulder against her shoulder.

The hit didn't hurt. In fact, Blossom hardly registered that Brick had hit her. Her mind was locked on the thought of Princess being in phone contact with Brick. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about that. Part of her wanted to be angry, because she knew Princess was only doing this to get under her skin. While another part of her wanted to be suspicious wandering what Princess might be up to. Then finally the last part of her hoped that Brick got a nice bite in the ass from karma for being such a jerk to her.

Brick was walking back to the gym wear everyone was packing everything up. His brothers were helping where they could under a watchful Robin's eye. She had her arms folded and when she turned to see Brick, she rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

Brick did just the same and looked to his phone. Princess was calling him again. Blowing out a breath to steel his nerves, he pressed the answer button and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Brick!" was the first thing he heard, as Princess half shouted half whined through the phone. His super hearing made his ears a lot more sensitive than the average human, so her sudden screeching badly hurt his ear. "You are to never ignore me again. And was that Blossom I heard earlier?"

"Yeah. Look, what did you want?" Brick asked, his last bit of patience having run out a while ago.

He was met with silence on the other end of the phone. He could easily imagine her pouting at not getting her way. "We have a date today. I want to go out to lunch and then some shopping."

Shopping. Any guy's worse nightmare. "All right. Just so you know I have a doctor's appointment today. I can't miss it."

An exasperated sigh came from the other end of the phone. "Fine. But you better meet me at my house right after."

"Yeah, whatever. Bye." He then hung up the phone and went to stand with his brothers.

"Who was that?" Boomer asked.

"Nobody." Brick said. "Are we done?"

"Yeah. And let me guess. It was your new girlfriend." Butch said with a smirk.

"Girlfriend?" Boomer questioned looking at his eldest brother.

"She's not my girlfriend." Brick snapped. "Look we have a doctor's appointment back at home. We need to get back now."

Nodding their agreement, the boys started their way out of the school. However, Robin headed them off and stood with her hands on her hips.

"This will be the last time you three act like that here." Robin said. "No more picking fights." She said pointing at Butch, who only smirked. "No more tantrums." She said pointed to Boomer.

"I don't have tantrums." An indignant Boomer complained.

"And you." She said looking at Brick. "No more phone calls, unless it's absolutely important."

"This one was important." Brick grunted.

Before Robin could say anything, Blossom had walked up and put her hand on Robin's shoulder. "I doubt Princess was anything important. Come on, Robin."

She sent one last glare at Brick, before turning to leave. Butch and Boomer both stared at Brick, before looking towards Blossom.

"Whoa." Butch shivered as he wrapped his arms around himself. "That's a cold shoulder."

"That's the best you could come up with? Cold shoulder?" Boomer asked with a raised eyebrow.

Butch looked incredulously at Boomer. "Are you telling me you didn't feel that?"

Boomer shrugged his shoulders, completely oblivious. Butch rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "Despite wanting to be Casanova, you have a lot to learn about girls." Butch then walked ahead of his brothers. Boomer and Brick soon followed.

"What do you mean by that?"