One-shot with evil, toxic, manipulative Brick! Because why not.
One-shot: "Destabilisation"
"Professor Utonium? Professor Utonium?" The voice was but a distant, faint calling.
The scientist tried to open his eyes, feeling the flesh around his eyes stretch oddly, leaving him in excruciating pain. Despite his scalding throat, and his last recollections of a fire, the man shook violently, his body temperature decreasing dangerously fast.
"Steve! It's Professor Utonium, he's alive, he's undergoing hypothermia. Grab a blanket, cover him, let's take him to the ambulance."
Still unable to fully open his eyelids, Professor felt his body be lifted, laid down, and carried away into an ambulance. The man fought his conscience as best as he could, trying to figure out what had happened to him. Flashes of his previous actions came to his mind: the lab, his latest work, a new chemical, fire, and now, hypothermia.
He groggily heard the voice of his very first biology teacher, a grim, eccentric old man: "The body may go into a state of hypothermia if the skin is peeled, or burned out."
The next time the man opened his eyes, he was still incapable of moving and saw nothing but white. It took the scientist a while to realize he wasn't dead, which happened when he tried to speak: not only he couldn't speak, but he was in excruciating pain which indicated he was alive. The only sound he emitted was a desperate, muffled groan, heard by the only two people in the large, white hospital room with him.
"Professor!" He heard a familiar voice of one of his girls, he spotted an orange blur at the side of his eyes. Groggily, he tried to gaze over to the side and tried smiling as soon as he laid eyes on his daughter. However, such instinct immediately vanished when he noticed the figure next to her seat, laying against the wall.
"Good to see you, Mr. Utonium..." Brick smiled nonchalantly, hands shoved in his jeans pockets. Blossom was still frozen on her seat, overwhelmed with emotion, but the loud beeping of the machines connected to the scientist broke her out of her trance.
"Oh God, his pressure..." Blossom muttered, running over to the man. "Professor, it's ok. It's ok..." She muttered, carefully cupping his bandaged face, "I'm here, Bubbles and Buttercup are okay, they are in the waiting room. Don't worry, everything's fine..."
Her words were assuring, yes, but it still didn't explain his presence.
"Mr. Utonium," a hurried nurse straddled into the room with that devil's son guiding her. "Give him space, please, ma'am." The woman motioned for Blossom to stand back, in a borderline rude way, which elicited a growl from Brick. His glare made the woman pale, "I, I'm sorry, sir..." she gulped, slightly looking down before redirecting her attention back to the patient.
Blossom walked up to Brick's side with a disapproving scowl, "Brick!" She whispered, placing a hand on his broad shoulder, "She's just doing her job!" He just pulled her by the waist, emotionless red eyes fixed on the struggling scientist. Brick felt Blossom relax under his touch as Professor's vital signs returned to normal
Thankfully, the drug administered on Professor was strong enough to control his blood pressure and heart rate, albeit artificially.
"Babe, don't you think we should tell your sisters?" Brick whispered over her ear, "That he's awake."
His girlfriend frowned, "Do you think the doctors will let so many people come in? I mean, look at his state, just by seeing the two of us..."
That was a given, but the RowdyRuff needed that one-on-one moment with the scientist. "Sure, yes. But you know how they can be, they don't have you around, they must be as scared as you are. You should go tell them."
Blossom exhaled, watching the nurse walk out of the room without saying much.
"You're right... Can you stay with him?" She asked.
All Brick fucking needed.
"Sure, babe," he agreed, giving her a peck on the lips.
"Thank you so much," She whispered to him, before walking up to the scientist, "Professor? I'll go and tell Bubbles and Buttercup you're awake. They're so worried, you have no idea. I'll be right back! Brick's going to make sure you're all right."
The man's brown eyes merely took sight of the redhead's evil smirk behind Blossom's back, before she disappeared out of the door.
Brick watched her walk down the corridor a few feet down, before turning to the man, with a wider smirk, "Well, well, well. Finally alone, am I right, Professor?" Professor Utonium looked into Brick's imperial red eyes, clenching his jaw. His instinct was to yell, but his throat stiffened out of pain, making him groan. Brick shook his head, clicking his tongue, "Tsk, tsk, tsk... Professor, Professor... You shouldn't make so much effort. Especially considering how worried for your wellbeing my Blossom was..."
The scientist watched as the tall figure paced towards his bed. Brick's evil smirk fixed on his lips as he looked down at the man.
"But it was indeed, quite the accident... Right?" His soft voice had a hint of cruelty.
Accident? So that was it? The man still had very little recollection of what had happened to him.
"I mean, who would know that just a couple of days after you had the guts to tell me what to do... Boom..." Brick stretched his palms up, "Such a horrible catastrophe. And what did it take?" Brick summoned a tiny sparkle at the palm of his hand, "A slight change of temperature."
Brick watched the man's terrified brown eyes, wondering whether he would watch the man pale, had his skin not been melted off by the chemical fire. It was such a shame the redhead was deprived of such sight... But, on the other hand...
Brick laid the tip of his finger upon a random spot on the man's arms. Brick merely touched it, but his smile went from ear to ear as the man squirmed in pain and grunted, unable to scream or move out of pain.
"Fine..." The superpowered male sighed, raising his finger. As soon as he did, the man laid back, nearly choking as he gasped for air. Brick still watched Professor struggle for breath before looking into his eyes and taunted, "Have some mercy." Brick mocked a nice tone of voice, "In consideration for Blossom... Again, my Blossom."
Professor felt his muscles tighten at the young male's raspy voice using the possessive pronoun. He had watched him play the lover act, fooling his eldest daughter as well as Bubbles and Buttercup, but the scientist did not fall for it. He knew Brick was ruthless, dangerous, and possessive. He tried to respect her personal life the best he could, but it felt like watching her walk into a cage to which only the redheaded male had the key, as the rest of the world cheered on.
After deciding he couldn't watch anymore, and having run out of advice, Professor acted behind her back and told Brick to stay away. Surely, he couldn't forbid Blossom from dating whoever she felt like, but he felt in his power to tell the male she was not to be taken as a possession, nor treated as such, and that he wouldn't have any of it. At the time, Brick simply narrowed his eyes at the scientist, and asked in a low, almost sweet voice, if he wanted to take any of that back.
Professor stood his ground and his answer came a couple of days after. Its sender standing in front of him.
"It's a shame, really..." Brick sighed, before turning around, "The waste. All of this is such a waste." The male said, leaning his back against the wall opposite to the bed, with arms crossed, "Third-degree burns all over your body. Lungs and throat, permanently compromised. The doctors are not even sure if you ever will be able to move or talk again..." Red eyes pierced Professor's brown ones, "You really should've been more careful with the chemicals you keep in your lab."
Professor clenched his jaw again but was wise enough to not let himself try to yell, already knowing it was futile and would only cause him more pain.
"Mr. Utonium?" A doctor walked in. Professor looked over the man with wide eyes, desperate to send a message. Destroy him. Kill him. Kill all three of them. Instead, the man gave Professor a kind smile, "My name's Dr. Ferguson. Must I say, I'm a great admirer of your work... In fact, I was just speaking to one of your daughters, and I can assure you'll receive the best of treatments here."
Brick politely smiled at the doctor, "I suppose I'm not needed here anymore, Dr. Ferguson?"
The doctor looked over the redhead and smiled, "That's more than enough, Mister..."
"Just Brick. Brick Jojo. I'm his future son-in-law," Brick stated with a friendly wink.
The sentence almost made Professor squirm, gritting his teeth, but went unnoticed by the doctor, who chuckled, "Oh, I see! Good to know that all of you are in good hands!" The man warmly smiled at Professor before turning to Brick, who just nodded, ever so politely, before leaving.
He found Blossom a few yards down the hallway, laying against a wall.
"Babe?" he reached for her shoulder, feigning a worrisome expression.
Blossom looked up and said nothing before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. Her tears formed a small puddle on his shirt before she started sobbing.
She just couldn't hold it in anymore, not after looking into Brick's worried, sweet gaze aimed at her. It looked so sincere. Sure it did. Spending so many years amongst people in school came in handy at those times. It was like nothing for Brick, mirroring others, making them believe that's how he truly felt, but it did put Blossom right where he wanted her.
In the palm of his hand.
"I should've seen the accident coming," the redhead whispered into his shoulder amidst her sobs, "I was always walking into his lab, asking questions, because I was curious, but I never..."
"Babe..." He hugged her tighter, "You couldn't have possibly known."
The words served as superficial comfort but did not ease her guilt. It was not in Brick's interest to make Blossom feel any less guilty. Much the opposite, the guiltier she felt, the more malleable for further manipulation she would become. Brick needed her as guilty as they come.
"Ok?" Brick gently cupped her face, wiping a tear away before laying a kiss on her lips, which she had no choice but to return.
Kissing her boyfriend was not on Blossom's priority list at that moment, but he was comforting her, and he had turned into such a nice guy. Just for her. Even Bubbles and Buttercup agreed. And he did so much for her, kissing him back was the very least she could do.
Playing nice. It had been working so well for him so far, so why change? Now that Professor was on his way to becoming a sentient vegetable, Bubbles and Buttercup would rely on Blossom more than ever, and she would always have him to rely on.
Soon enough, any little thing that popped at the top of Brick's head, would be "the very least" she could do.
Blossom looked up at him with a smile, "I'm so lucky to have you."
Brick just smiled back, "No, I'm lucky to have you."
And have her he did.