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

Chapter Thirty-Four: The More Things Change

Christmas at the volcano tower was a small but special affair. The girls had wanted to spend a little bit of time with the boys, but Christmas was exclusively for Mojo. It became their tradition to start the day by having a full decadent breakfast with pancakes, cinnamon rolls, chocolate banana crepes, bacon, eggnog, and eggs benedict. It was then followed with watching every Christmas themed movie they could get their hands on their favorites being How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Presents were opened between commercial breaks. Mojo was not without a sense of humor as she still got his sons a toy, just for the running joke that his sons were not as old as they appeared. This year he got Boomer an action figure of some retro super hero he had no idea about. Butch got a just as retro video game that he felt was created long before the professor was alive. Brick got set of spinning tops.

"Where in the hell did you find these gifts?" Butch asked. "I knew you were old, but come on."

Mojo laughed as he turned his attention back to the television already prepared for the next gift he would be giving his sons. When the next commercial came on the boys grabbed Mojo's hands and pulled him off the couch.

"Where are we going?"

"To your room." Boomer said, covering Mojo's eyes.

"My room?"

"Yes, we put it up while you were making breakfast." Butch was carefully guiding Mojo through the lair to his room.

"Put what up?"

"You'll see. Just don't throw your back out." Brick teased opening the door to Mojo's room.

Once inside, Boomer removed his hands and the boys flicked the lights on while screaming Merry Christmas. Mojo stood staring in shock at the newly installed tire swing in his room. The tire swing was horizontally hung, looking more like a round hammock.

"It's perfect." Mojo said walking over to it and running his hands over the thick rubber of the tire. "Help me get in it."

The boys laughed as they helped their aging father into the swing. He laid on his back with his head reclined and sighed happily.

"This is amazing." The swing slowly turned in a circle and Mojo turned to look at his sons. "Now how do I get out?"

After helping Mojo out of the tire swing, the boys and Mojo went back into the living room and continue watching their Christmas movies. During the next commercial, Mojo handed the boys each an envelope. They were oddly enough plain white envelopes with nothing but their names written on them. Brick felt around the envelope and paused when his fingers pressed against something hard. It was hard and rectangular.

Brick looked up at Mojo, his eyes going wide. "Are you fucking serious?" he said with a gigantic smile splitting his face.

"Language, Brick. And yes." Mojo smiled as Brick tore the envelope and held the heavy black card with a sixteen digit number, his name in silver and printed on the front.

"Oh fuck yeah!" he yelled standing up. "A credit card?"

Butch and Boomer tore their envelopes open and found similar cards with their names on them. Butch and Boomer jumped up and charged at Mojo, holding him in their arms.

"Debit cards." Mojo corrected. "As in coming from an account that has a limited amount of money already put into them."

"Limited?" Boomer questioned.

"How much is limited?" Butch asked.

Mojo shrugged awkwardly while in the boys' arms. "Not a lot. Just a quarter million each."

"A quarter million. As in two hundred thousand?" Brick asked, feeling some of the feeling leave his legs. He slowly sat back down on the couch, bracing himself against his knees. "Oh man."

"Best Christmas ever!" Butch yelled out, almost dropping Mojo. Boomer wrapped his arms more securely around Mojo, just in case Butch did let go.

"Now just wait a minute." Mojo said moving to be set down, which the boys did. "With this gift—."

"Certain responsibilities. Everyone has seen Spider-man." Butch joked. "This is so fucking awesome."

Mojo shook his head at Butch, before turning to the other boys. "Now with my opening accounts for you, this means no more allowances. You three still have money from previous allowances, I hope, so spend your money wisely."

Brick thought about that and then pursed his lips. "But we can still use the money anyway we want, right?"

Mojo felt the change in Brick and narrowed his eyes. Suspicion filled him. "Yes?"

"Okay, then I want to go away to college." Brick said turning to look at Mojo and his brothers.

"Why?"

Brick took his hat off his head and ran his hand through his hair. "Well, we're not always going to be up here in this tower. We're eventually going to have to leave here and find a place in the world. College is going to help me find mine."

Mojo sat down on the couch across from Brick. "You're a Rowdy Ruff Boy."

Brick sighed and ran his hands over his face. "That's the problem. I've been nothing but a Rowdy Ruff Boy all my life. Both of my lives to be exact."

Butch and Boomer looked at Brick with confusion playing across their features. "What's wrong with being just a Rowdy Ruff Boy?"

"It's who we are, Brick."

Brick looked between his brothers and groaned. "Guys, we're more than just the trio of bad boys that fought with the Power Puff Girls. However, we can't know that because we spent the last twelve almost thirteen years hiding away from everyone." He exhaled a thin cloud of smoke as he stood up began pacing.

Butch watched him pace, wondering where Brick was really going with this. "What are you saying then, Brick? Do you not want to be a Rowdy Ruff Boy?"

"I'm not saying that Butch. I just think we'd do better by getting out from under each other." He groused. "It's always been us as a collective. 'The Rowdy Ruff Boys' or 'Mojo and the Boys'. I just want to be Brick Jojo. Not Brick Leader of the Rowdy Ruff Boys."

Boomer felt hurt hearing this. He just like his brothers have never been without one another. It was hard to think of things being any different. Then a sudden thought occurred to him. "Is that why you chose for us to go to school?"

Brick stopped pacing and stared at Boomer. His blue eyes showing how betrayed he felt while his red ones showed remorse for being selfish. However, he knew he couldn't if he wanted to break from his brothers. "You wouldn't have found your girlfriend if we didn't go to school, Boomer. Are you saying you'd rather be stuck with us than being with her?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm not saying anything." Boomer said. "I just figured we'd always be a team."

"A team against what? We've long since stopped committing crime. We don't fight with the girls anymore so explain to me what we're a team for."

"It may have been a while since we were a team against anything, but we're still brothers, Brickhead. Or did you forget that while you were trying to get away from us?" Butch snapped.

"I wasn't trying to get away from you guys!" Brick shouted. "I just wanted something that wasn't associated with Mojo or you guys being attached to it."

Boomer had fallen silently while his brothers continued to yell back and forth. Mojo sighed and stood up. He moved to stand between his two eldest sons and pushed them away from one another. "Boys, it's Christmas. We shouldn't be fighting."

Brick and Butch sent each other one last glare before turning away from one another. Mojo then tugged on both their ears and made them face each other.

"Apologize. Right now." Mojo demanded. When the boys appeared to not want to apologize, Mojo tugged harder on the boys' ears. "Do not make me repeat myself."

Brick blew out a large puff of smoke and begrudgingly said he was sorry to Butch. Butch sans the cloud of smoke did the same turning his head away from Brick after Mojo let them go.

"It's Christmas. We're a family. You three are brothers." Mojo said as he looked at his three sons. "When I'm gone, you three will only have each other to rely on."

Butch snorted and folded his arms across his chest, a hard, emerald stare being shot in his direction. "Tell that to the one that wants to leave."

Brick growled in frustration at Butch, as did Mojo. "It has nothing to do with leaving, you faux-hawked asshole! It's about living my own fucking life. We just got a gift that will allow me to do that. Before starting school, I never saw it as a possibility to expand beyond this bubble we live in."

"Expand? Don't try to use a different word for what you're doing Brick." Butch snapped. "You're abandoning us."

"I'm not abandoning anyone!" Brick snapped back more smoke coming from his nose.

"Butch, we're dating girls who are sisters." Boomer carefully said, breaking his silence. He glanced in Mojo's direction to see if he caught what he said. When he saw that Mojo was too busy keeping his eyes on the red and green teens, he relaxed. "I'm sure they'll stick close together, so we can too."

"Oh, cut the naïve bullshit out, Boomer. We're closer than they are." He then glared harshly at Brick. "Or we were."

"Go fuck yourself, Butch." Brick growled as he turned to head up to his room.

Butch merely rolled his eyes while Boomer and Mojo flinched at the sound of Brick slamming his door. The tower rattled, but remained standing.

Brick sat at his desk brooding in silence, before he took his phone out and decided to call Blossom. He had her number dialed and was about to press the call button, but then cleared his screen. Standing up, he grabbed a light jacket and left his room.

Mojo, Butch, and Boomer saw Brick coming down the stairs as he was putting on his jacket. "Where are you going?" Boomer asked.

"Out." Was Brick's short answer.

"Brick, it's Christmas." Boomer turned around on the couch.

Brick hesitated by the door for a second, before opening the door and walking out. Boomer deflated and turned back to sitting forward. He was now sulking and fidgeting his fingers nervously.

"Boomer, stop it." Mojo murmured.

Boomer moved his hands to under his arms, but then his knee started bouncing nervously. Butch groaned and put his hand on Boomer's leg. "Cut it out."

Boomer turned to look at Butch and sighed. "It's just Brick—."

"Brick is just being selfish." Butch grumbled. "A selfish asshole."

Mojo turned to Butch and shook his head. "It's not entirely selfish."

"Not entirely, but still selfish." Butch retorted.

"He does have a point, and I feel this is my fault."

"Dad, it's not…" Boomer started, only to be cut off when Mojo raised his hand.

"I've kept you three here for an extended period of time without anyone else to really talk to. To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't branch out sooner."

Boomer and Butch shared a look, glad to know that Mojo still knew nothing of their night time excursions to City's Ville.

"Either way, since you three are only twelve about to be thirteen—."

"Fuck the technical age bullshit right now." Butch snapped. "This has been Brick's plan from the get go, when he first made the call for us to go to school."

Mojo turned to look at Butch and sighed heavily. "It was my decision to allow you three to go to school. You were the one that asked for Brick to make the decision."

Butch growled low under his breath. "I know, but still. Everything he's done has been for himself."

"That's not true." Boomer started. "And you know it. He wouldn't have been with Princess if he weren't looking out for us. He's always looked out for us."

"Until now." Butch said.

"Do you have to be such a jerk?" Boomer asked, beginning to grow irritated with Butch. "You always get like this when you don't agree with whatever Brick is doing."

Butch scoffed and turned to Boomer. "What about you? You either sulk like the baby that you are, or you're throwing temper tantrums."

"Enough!" Mojo yelled while sitting in between his sons. "I'm tired of this between the three of you."

Butch and Boomer looked away from one another. Mojo ran his hand over his face and stood up. He made his way over to the kitchen to get himself another glass of eggnog, though he knew he was going to be sick to his stomach tomorrow. That was also part of his tradition.

Brick found himself at the Utonium house. He was floating outside of Blossom's window wondering if he should go in or not. After a moment's hesitation, he gently eased the window open and fit himself through the window. The minute he touched down on the carpet, Blossom came into her room and flicked the lights on. She let out a startled shriek and then sent an ice blast toward Brick.

Brick in his own surprise let his fire powers flare and melted the ice that Blossom sent his way. The room was filled with steam and left them both sweltering now. When Brick's vision adjusted, he noticed Blossom standing with her hands covering her mouth.

"Brick!" she hissed. She quickly closed the door and then approached him. "What in the hell are you doing here? I thought you said Christmas was exclusive for Mojo."

"Yeah, well, the guys were getting on my nerves." Brick said as he took off his jacket and sat on Blossom's bed. "Is it a bad time?"

"No." Blossom said as she sat on her bed next to Brick. "What happened?"

Brick glanced at Blossom and then sighed. "Have you ever thought about what you're going to do next?"

"What do you mean?"

"After high school. What are your plans?" Brick asked.

Blossom chuckled and ran her hand through her hair. "Well, I plan on going to college. Shocker, I know." She laughed. "I want to study History and English Literature, maybe become teacher."

"A teacher." Brick chuckled. "Out of everything, you want to be a teacher?"

Blossom blushed. "Yeah, I know being a teacher isn't all that glamorous, but I like learning and teaching others helps you learn."

"It's noble. Feeding the minds of tomorrow." Brick mused. "At least you have an idea of what you want to do."

Blossom looked at Brick curiously. "You don't?"

Brick shook his head. "I didn't really think much about it until recently. I know I want to go to college, but I don't know what I want to study."

Blossom settled herself onto her bed, and gestured for Brick to do the same. He kicked his shoes off and moved so he was sitting side by side with Blossom. "Well, what has always interested you?"

Brick sat and then shrugged. "Everything, I guess. But things that have to do with numbers always had my attention."

"What kind of numbers? Scientific? Mathematic?"

"Architectural." Brick said, smiling a little. "The height of buildings, the number of windows and doors. The arch of hallways."

"So architecture?" Blossom said. "Why don't you study for that? You sound like you would like that?"

"Yeah, but then what would I do after that?"

"Build buildings. Remodel homes." Blossom gave him a few suggestions. "It's not like you wouldn't have the strength to do it."

Brick contemplated that and sighed. "It's a lot to think about. The future I mean. Staying cooped up in the volcano tower with Mojo and my brothers gave my tunnel vision. It was either them or nothing." He then chuckled humorlessly in his throat. "It makes me feel a little guilty about being selfish. Butch and Boomer, hell even Mojo, aren't sure what to do without the entire gang together."

"It's not selfish if you want to expand your world, Brick. It's only selfish if you don't include your family into your expanding world."

"What?"

"What I mean, is don't shut them out, because you feel shut in. You're only going to feel lonelier that way."

Brick leaned his head against Blossom's taking in the coolness that her body radiated. It was soothing against his always hot skin. "I don't feel lonely now."

Blossom chuckled under her breath at Brick. "I would hope not."

Brick snuggled closer into Blossom's side and wrapped his arm around her. Blossom pressed herself against Brick and sighed contentedly. "I could fall asleep right here."

"You already have before." Blossom reminded him. "You told me that I was cool."

"You told me I was warm." Brick remembered.

Blossom chuckled as she thought about how Brick could be perceived if someone tried to describe him. With her cheek pressed against Brick's chest, she didn't know that he'd feel when she smiled.

"What?"

"Just thinking of how someone would describe you." Blossom told him. "Red hair. Warm. You sound like a peach."

"A peach?" Brick scoffed. "Really?"

Blossom pulled back to look at Brick. "You call me Cherry all the time."

Brick smiled and then leaned forward to kiss Blossom. "Because you're sweet like one."

"Cute." Blossom smiled as she kissed Brick back. "Well, you're fuzzy like a peach and kind of sweet like one too."

"Yeah, right." Brick wrapped his arms around Blossom, pulling her closer against him. His body acted of its own accord as his hands moved over her ass and between her legs, pulling her so she was straddling him. His temperature rose and the room began to heat, making Blossom use her ice powers to try to cool the room down.

However, the longer Brick continued to kiss Blossom and feel her grind her pelvis against his, the hotter he became. "Brick."

"Hmmm?" he hummed as he slipped his hand under her shirt, reaching for her bra.

"You're hot."

Chuckling, Brick unsnapped her bra and brought his other hand up to raise her shirt over her head.

"No, you're making me sweat." Blossom said once her head was free from both her shirt and bra. She brought her arms up to cover herself.

"Then maybe we should take all our clothes off." Brick suggested, as he reached for the hem of his own shirt.

Blossom's face heated as Brick took off his shirt and his almost bare chest was exposed to her. "You have chest hair."

Brick nodded as he pulled Blossom to him, their naked chest pressed against one another's. "Does it bother you?"

Blossom shook her head. "Not really, other than it makes you really look like a peach."

Brick rolled his eyes as he kissed Blossom. One of his hands reached forward and cupped her breast, while the other moved down her back to her skirt's zipper. He was about to pull it down, when there was a heavy knock on the door.

"Blossom?" The doorknob turned and before she practically kicked Brick off her bed, along with her bra and tugged her shirt over her head and pulled it down. Just as she was running her fingers through her hair, the professor came into the room. "Hey, I just—it's really warm in here."

Blossom gradually used her ice powers to cool the room. "Really?" her voice was an octave too high.

Brick lying on his back, tried to bring in his temperature that he suddenly felt throughout the room. If the professor found him, he was sure to get maced.

"Uh-huh." He said with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, I just came to tell you that we're about to cut the cake if you wanted a slice."

"Okay, I'll be down in a second." Blossom nodded and held her breath as the professor left her room. She let out her breath and ran her hand over her face. "I can't believe that just happened."

Brick let out the breath he'd been holding then reached for his cap. A cap that wasn't on his head. "Where's my cap?" He sat up and looked around on the bed.

Blossom turned to see Brick's cap sitting on top of her pillows, which she had stacked against the headboard. She groaned and closed her eyes in frustration.

At that moment, the door to her room opened, making Brick duck back down. Blossom startled when she heard the professor clearing his throat. "Brick, I know you're in here, son."

Brick stiffened, but didn't sit up from where he was.

The professor clicked his tongue and continued. "It's Christmas, so I'll let it slide. Next time I catch you or your brothers in my daughters' rooms, I'm getting my power suit and kicking your asses."

Brick sighed and closed his eyes. "Damn it." He whispered.

The professor turned to look at Blossom. "Have him out by nine, Blossom." He turned his paternal gaze to the edge of Blossom's bed. "Brick, use the front door next time and don't sneak in again." He left the room leaving the door open. "Door stays open; clothes stay on."

Blossom's face flooded all red as she reached for her bra and put it on under her shirt. "I think I'm going to die of embarrassment."

Brick put his shirt back on and reached for his cap. "You? I've had a nervous hard on for about five minutes. A hard on that won't be getting any action with an open door."

Blossom scoffed. "You wouldn't have with the door closed."

Brick smirked at her and shook his head. "It mightn't have gotten to actual sex with your family in the house, but some serious…" Brick held up his hands and made a curling motion with two of his fingers. "…might've happened."

Blossom's already red face, appeared to turn an even darker shade of red, closely resembling the nickname that Brick had given her. She cleared her throat and used her ice powers to cool her face of the burning blush.

Brick moved to sit on her bed, and brushed her bangs from her face. He then placed a delicate kiss on her cheek.

"Aww, how cute." Bubbles cooed playfully from Blossom's doorway.

The red headed teens turned to look in Bubbles' direction and saw that Buttercup was there with folded arms. "Cute? Why does she get to see her boyfriend on Christmas and we don't?"

Brick and Blossom looked back at each other and laughed.

When school started, it came as a mild surprise to see that the Power Puff Girls and the Rowdy Ruff Boys were finally all paired up. Though everyone was surprised by how long it took for it to happen. Bubbles and Boomer were no surprise. Their attraction was immediate and while Bubbles resisted for a brief time, she and Boomer were now inseparable. Butch and Buttercup were a surprise, but only because they got together before Blossom and Brick. The green super teens were both known to be stubborn, so to see them getting along, let alone going out sooner rather than later was a shock. When it came to Blossom and Brick it was just a matter of time, since whenever Brick conflicted with anything he'd unconsciously lean on Blossom for help. Blossom was Brick's rock.

While there were many of their peers happy for them, two students in particular were not. Dexter was upset and filled with jealousy at seeing Blossom and Brick so close together. Deedee told him over the break that they were now w couple, but Dexter didn't believe it until he saw them in the hallway kissing.

The rage fueled jealousy made him bold and that's how he found himself charging up to Brick and pushing him away from Blossom. "Tell me why she chose you!" he shouted.

Brick felt Dexter pushing against him, and moved only so the Blossom was not caught in the crossfire—no matter how miniscule it was. "What are you talking about?"

"Why did Blossom choose you over me? I liked her first!" Dexter continued as he kept pushing against Brick, growing more frustrated when Brick hardly moved under his actions.

"Dexter, we've talked about this already." Blossom told him gently, while putting a hand on his shoulder.

Dexter roughly shook Blossom's hand off. "Is it because you can have sex with her?"

Brick's eyebrows rose in shock. When the shock wore off he started to laugh. "Wow, was not expecting that."

"Well, I could have sex with her too." He said. "I'm old enough, I turned fifteen last week."

Blossom held her face in her hands as she let out a cross between a scream and a groan. "Dexter, not that it's any of your business, but we haven't had sex."

"Yet." Brick added, but only to pick at Dexter, who glared harshly at him, while Blossom shook her head.

"My liking Brick has nothing to do with sex. We can talk about things—."

"I can talk about things with you." Dexter said.

"Adult things?" Brick asked, raising an eyebrow. Blossom turned her eyes to Brick, knowing he was about to say something to completely stump Dexter, but would be highly inappropriate.

"Brick." Her tone held a warning edge. Brick avidly ignored her.

"Yes."

"Okay, then let me ask you this." He paused for effect. "Do you know how a girl comes?"

"Brick!" Blossom almost yelled.

"What? He said he could talk about them." Brick said, watching with immense joy at how Dexter's brow furrowed and his mouth opened and closed as he thought about the answer.

"How she comes?" Dexter asked. "Comes to where?"

Brick rose a brow at Blossom and smirked in triumph. "I rest my case."

"I cannot believe you." She said as she walked down the hall away from Brick and Dexter.

Brick chuckled and was about to walk away when Dexter called to him. "You didn't finish the question."

"Oh, I did finish." He said, then laughing again continued with, "Well, I finish after she comes."

Dexter's brow furrowed behind his tinted glasses. "What do you mean she comes? Comes where?"

Brick got another wicked idea, and then smirked. "How about you ask your sister, or better yet your mother about when she comes?" With that, he left laughing to himself about the ticket to world of trouble he just handed to Dexter.

"Your boyfriend is an idiot, Blossom." Deedee said the following day as she came up to Blossom who was on one of the school's computers.

Brick pulled a book from the other side of the shelf and smiled at Deedee. "Good morning to you too."

Deedee turned to glare at Brick. "You're an idiot."

Brick walked around the book shelf to stand beside Blossom, who was typing away at the keyboard. "So, I've gathered. What are you doing?" Blossom had yet to acknowledge either of them so lost in her task.

"Brick, my brother is still a kid, despite all his genius. So could you please censor what you say to him?" Deedee demanded sternly, while Brick irritably rolled his eyes.

"I will not." Brick told her while folding his arms. "If the runt wants to act like a big boy, he should be prepared for when they say big boy things."

Deedee continued to glare at Brick. "That is not okay. He doesn't always understand when someone is toying with him, so leave him alone."

"Are you serious? Leave him alone?" Brick asked incredulously. "Aside from our first meeting, that punk has twice already instigated a conflict with me. So maybe you should tell your kid brother, to fuck off." He snapped. "And if you have a problem, you can fuck off too."

"Brick!" Blossom hissed when she finally turned away from the computer. She shook her head at him and turned her attention back to the computer.

Deedee scowled at Brick before she left the library. Brick scowled back and looked down at the screen Blossom was staring at. "What are you doing?"

"I'm filling out an application. You should get started on looking at schools and filling out applications. Especially of you want to be there next year." Blossom told him.

Brick stared at the screen, looking at the lines that Blossom had filled out. Her name, address, high school, what she planned to study, when she planned to attend were all filled in. She even already had her transcripts attached to her application.

Brick furrowed his brow and thought about how colleges would look at him with only a year of public school under his belt. Sure the year would be impressive with him maintaining a four point grade point average, but would that be enough?

As school was letting out that afternoon, Brick knocked on the door of Mr. Hercle's classroom. Mr. Hercle looked up, surprised to see him.

"Brick. What's up?" Mr. Hercle said as he was packing his satchel to leave.

Brick ran his hand through his hair. "Can I talk to you about something?"

Mr. Hercle stopped packing his bag and turned to look at Brick. "Okay." Mr. Hercle gestured for Brick to come in. "So, what's on your mind?"

Brick sat on one of the desks and clasped his hands together in front of him. "I want to go to college."

Mr. Hercle smiled. "Good."

"For architecture." Brick continued.

"What's the problem then?"

Brick took a deep breath and looked away from Mr. Hercle. "I'm not sure I'll be able to get in."

"Why not?"

"I've been home schooled for the better part of my education." Brick sighed. "Pretty well in fact, but I don't think that's going to matter much to colleges when I apply."

Mr. Hercle folded his arms over his chest and regarded Brick intensely. "Well, to be honest all colleges are really concerned about is getting paid."

"I can pay for it myself. I have enough." Brick told him. "I'm not worried about how much it's going to cost. I'm worried that I won't get in." Brick looked away from Mr. Hercle. He began twiddling his thumbs agitatedly.

"Is that all?" Mr. Hercle asked, sensing that something else was bothering Brick. When Brick didn't answer him, Mr. Hercle moved from his desk to stand beside Brick. "You can talk to me."

Brick looked at Mr. Hercle and sighed heavily. "I'm also worried about my brothers and my dad. The four of us have always had each other. I don't know what they're going to do without me there."

Mr. Hercle shrugged. "It'll be an adjustment, but I'm sure they'll understand."

"That's the thing. I'm not sure they can understand. We only had each other."

"Until this year. You three have been interacting with other students and people. You've made friends, rebuilt relationships with enemies, and now you're reevaluating relationships that have long been established." Mr. Hercle explained. "These are going to be the most difficult."

"Yeah." Brick said already thinking about how Butch was taking it.

Unbeknown to the two speaking in the room, Butch was standing outside the classroom listening in on the conversation. Clenching his fists, he turned and walked down the hallway.

At the cabin, Butch was holding onto Buttercup's naked body, while his head laid against her sweaty breasts. Buttercup was stroking her hands through Butch's sweat drenched hair soothingly. His eyes were closed and when he turned his head, he pressed his nose against her skin and inhaling the salty smell of her sweat and the sweet smell of her jasmine body wash.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Buttercup asked.

"No." Butch said as he rubbed his body against hers. Instead he reached for his wallet and pulled out another condom. He was about to open it, when Buttercup took his hands in her own.

"What's bothering you?" Buttercup asked.

Butch put the condom away, and then slowly kissed down Buttercup's stomach.

"Butch." She started exasperatedly. Her stomach flexed and twitched under Butch's ministrations.

"I want to try something, but you have to hold still and don't kick me." He quickly told her, cutting off whatever else she might've said.

Buttercup whose eyes were closed opened in confusion. "What? Why would I—ahhh!"

Butch's head was now between Buttercup's legs and he was firmly, but slowly licking her where he'd previously had his cock. He'd wanted to do this for a while, but wasn't sure when to try it. At the moment, he was regretting not doing it sooner. Buttercup tasted sweet and tangy at the same time with the smell of her natural scent overpowering her usual jasmine one. It was musky and spicy at the same time. He delved deeper with his tongue, wanting to taste more of her.

"Butch!" Buttercup moaned.

Butch smiled against Buttercup as he wiggled his tongue inside Buttercup's core. It was pleasurably strange to feel her body contracting around his tongue. It was erotic to see her body contract and the muscles flex when he pulled away for brief moments to breathe. When he noticed her clit straining for attention, he gently blew on it, before softly stroking it with his tongue. Buttercup's moans got louder as Butch licked her clit and inserted two of his fingers inside her.

Buttercup reached for Butch's hair and held him there, before he took her hand and entwined their fingers. "Butch, please."

Butch chuckled against Buttercup, gently pumping his fingers inside her. "Please what?" He then slowly dragged his tongue across her. "What do you want Buttercup?"

It took Buttercup a few moments to try to catch her breath enough for her to answer, but when she did she still sounded breathless. "I…want…to…come."

And come she did, when Butch tugged gently on Buttercup's clit while his fingers rubbed inside her. She practically screamed as she rode out her orgasm, while Butch continued to gently lick and stroke her. When she relaxed, Butch moved to lie next to her, a large smug grin along with Buttercup's essence covering part of his face.

Buttercup's skin was flushed and her breathing was shallow. "Wow."

"You're welcome." If smug could have a physical image, it would be Butch.

Buttercup closed her eyes and ran a hand over her face. "Oh man. Was that your plan? To distract me?"

Butch sighed and moved so he was lying on top of Buttercup again. "Apparently, I wasn't trying hard enough if you figured it out."

"Butch, something is bothering you." Buttercup said as she put her hand to his face. "Talk to me. You said you felt safe with me."

Guilt filled Butch, but he wasn't sure he wanted to talk to Buttercup about what was bothering him. He was torn by the idea that she either might truly understand or not at all—and he wasn't sure which was worst.

"I know, but I…don't want to talk about it now." Butch told her as he rolled, pulling her with him so she was lying on top of him.

Buttercup sighed against Butch's chest and thumped him once. "All right, but just so you know…" she sat up to mock glare at him. "…you revert back to just using my body as a stress reliever, I'm going to kick your ass."

Butch chuckled when Buttercup smiled at him and leaned up to kiss her. "Whatever you say Cupcake."

Bubbles and Boomer decided to spend the evening together by going to The Joint, seeing as Boomer hadn't been there in a while. Joey was happy to see him, and made even happier to see that Boomer was back with a girlfriend. In small celebration, Joey gave them a plate of fries on the house. While they ordered vanilla milkshakes.

Bubbles wanted to tease Boomer about how she didn't order pickles with her fries this time, but opted to dip them in her milkshake instead, however he seemed quiet and lost in thought. In fact, he seemed to get lost in thought more and more as the days passed.

"Boomer, is something wrong?" Bubbled asked while putting a hand over his.

Boomer looked down at their joined hands and then gave Bubbles a wane smile. "Yes and no. It's just Brick is talking about going to college."

"Okay?" Bubbles spoke slowly, not sure as to where the problem lie.

"But we've never really been apart." Boomer explained. "There's going to be this huge void without him there."

"You three are apart now." Bubbles pointed out.

Boomer chuckled without humor. "Yeah, but I know I'm going to see my brother in a few hours. If he goes away to college, who knows how long it might be before I see him again."

"You're going to miss your brother. There's nothing wrong with that." Bubbles told him gently. "I'm going to miss home when I leave for college."

Shock filled Boomer as he took in what Bubbles said. "You're going to college?"

"Yeah, going to study to be a veterinarian. I love animals and I can also speak with them, so why not help them get better." She said, while Boomer's grip on her hand tightened.

"Have you been accepted anywhere?" Boomer asked.

"I've applied to a few places, but it's going to be a few months before I get a real answer." Bubbles spoke, not catching the inner turmoil that Boomer was going through.

Boomer let go of Bubbles' hand and leaned back against the cushioned wall of the booth they were sitting at. He ran a hand a bit roughly through his hair. "When did you decide that?"

"Decide what?" Bubbles asked.

"This." Stress made Boomer's voice higher than it usually was. "College."

Bubbles was starting to see how this was making Boomer upset and sighed herself. "Boomer this was in place before school started this year. You weren't in the picture and—."

"But I'm in the picture now. I'm your boyfriend, or were you just going to break up with me at the end of the year?"

"No one said anything about breaking up." Bubbles said, her voice raising just ever so slightly. She then took a deep breath to calm herself. "Boomer, I love you."

"I love you too, Bubbles. But you're going away." Boomer said feeling his heart pound heavily.

"I'm not going away. I'm just going to college. Hopefully, I'll be going to Townsville University which is on the far side of the city." Bubbles told him, hoping to make him feel better. "You'll still be able to see me while I'm staying near campus."

Boomer raised his stormy blue eyes to Bubbles' sky blue ones and reached across the table to grab her hand tightly in his. Bubbles held his hand tightly and stroked her thumb across his knuckles. This—much like everything else that has happened that year—has been new to Boomer. Living isolated as he and his brothers were, they truly didn't understand how big the world was.

Now, that they were in it, they didn't know where they belonged or how to fit in. Boomer and his brothers were lost, yet gradually finding their way. It was hopeful to think that they would be all right.

It was expected to know that something would happen to throw them all off guard as well. But whether that were good or bad, was another thing entirely.