author's note: Song recommendation: Heavy Eyes by June Marieezy! It's genuinely one of my all time favorites c:

Wednesday, Feb. 17

"Boomer said Butch was sleeping on you?"

"Well hello to you, too, Brick. It is nice out today, thanks for pointing that out. Oh, and I am doing decently enough, thanks for asking," Bubbles snapped.

Sarcasm aside, it was nice out—nice enough for her to be sitting at one of the picnic tables with only a light jacket on. For February, that was an achievement. They might be able to withstand cold better than normal humans, but Bubbles preferred being cozy regardless.

"Very funny," he deadpanned.

The lass rolled her eyes, shifting her weight to get more comfortable in her seat at the picnic table. "I will say, I'm surprised he managed to hold his tongue this long. It's been almost a week since he woke us up."

"So it did happen?" Brick's eyes narrowed.

She hated when he did that. When he narrowed his eyes like she was suspicious, like she was guilty of something. It always made her worry that the next thing from him would be a sneer. It was something that she was trying to stop worrying about, but that didn't mean it was a linear path.

She sighed and finally looked up from the papers she'd been reading over. The head vet requested that she take a look at a few tests to see if she saw anything different than he did concerning the two kittens Butch had saved that night. "What do you want me to say, Brick? What's the real question that I need to answer?"

He finally took a seat at the picnic table across from her like a normal person would have ages ago. "Boomer said it was late when he got the text. Did he do anything? Was he pissed?"

"He woke me up at three in the morning," she deadpanned, "that's all he really did." Her brows furrowed a bit. "But you need to trust your brother more. He woke me up to help him with the kittens. We bathed them in my sink and watched some movies until we passed out on my couch. We both think he just kinda fell over on me when he shifted and just got more comfortable after that, since neither of us remember falling asleep like that. He didn't do anything to me and he only seemed angry that the kittens were dumped in the river."

Those fire red eyes didn't seem to let up as he leveled his gaze so heavily on her. "It's not that I don't trust him. I just know that he's more of an asshole than usual past one- since he's usually only up that late when he can't sleep. He's snappy, bitchy and an absolute ass. It's when he's easiest to set off, and usually when he picks fights for no good reason. I wanted to make sure he didn't upset you- I know he didn't do anything worse."

They stayed there, fire red eyes locked with sky blue eyes.

Finally, not having gotten the lass to break, he exhaled deeply and then offered her a smirk. "And I guess you two aren't dating."

"We're not, no," she replied simply, her face very carefully neutral. Matter of fact and without a trace of emotion to show whether this fact did or did not bother her; factually. She didn't like how his eyes narrowed- even if it was just a little bit. "We're like divorced parents sharing custody of kittens," she joked, laughing lightly. "But we're not dating."

"Alright," Brick said- a verbal sign that he was backing off of it. He obviously didn't believe her- or didn't think she was telling him the whole truth, anyway. It didn't take a genius to see that. Her blue eyes narrowed a little. "Speaking of the cats, how are they?"

"Doing well, all things considered," she answered cheerily, her mood turned almost completely around. "We'll have to get their shots soon, but they're still a little too young to do that now. Coffee's wild and spazzy without Candy there, and Candy apparently causes sneaky trouble without Coffee around."

"Butch mentioned Candy managed to pull all of his underwear out of the drawer and dragged them into the living room while he was at work yesterday," he retold, his red eyes shining in clear amusement.

Bubbles fell into a fit of giggles at the mental image. "She already takes after Butch. Devious."

"He deserves it," the eldest brother scoffed. She could clearly see the soft ghost of a smile threatening to turn his smirk into something much gentler. "I also wanted to say thanks for the Valentine's Day gift- and I did have one other question for you."

She smiled brightly, made very happy that he was willing to be the one to bring it up. That was a good sign! "Let me ask first, are you actually going to use them?"

"The coffee cup was put to use this very morning," he countered with a cocky smirk.

That got bright, happy and joyous laughter out of her. The kind of happy, chiming laughter that drew the attention of even the wildlife around her. "Awesome! I'm so glad! Alright, then, Shoot."

He leaned forward. "You have patrol on Fridays, right?"

"I do, yes," she agreed, tilting her head. "But we all do. Friday's usually the night all three of us patrol."

"And you usually have Wednesday and Thursday off?"

"I do." Her brows furrowed in mild concern. He knew this. She knew that he knew this. The fact that he was asking was not reassuring in the least bit. "What's going on?"

"Could I cover next Friday for you if you take Thursday instead? Not tomorrow, next Thursday." Her brows furrowed in confusion and Brick groaned, obviously not happy that he had to explain his thoughts. "…Blossom doesn't want to put anyone out so she won't ask for the night off. She has a huge test Thursday morning and regardless of how good or bad she does, I think she actually needs a little extra rest after it. We're not at Finals Hell yet, so she needs to get as many breaks in as she can. Sue me for worrying about her."

She tilted her head, her low pigtails falling in loose waves behind her with the action. "So you want me to cover for Blossie on Thursday? Why can't you?"

"Trust me, I would. But I have to work."

Bubbles nodded, her brows raising in understanding and acceptance. "That is a valid reason, but that still doesn't change the fact that usually, three of us patrol on Friday."

Brick sighed, shaking his head. "Listen, you do two people patrols the rest of the week, and Buttercup already said she's alright doing patrol with it only being the two of us anyway."

"I'm just confused as to why I'd need to take Friday off," she offered with a shrug.

He raised a brow at her. "Do you just not want two days off next week?"

Then it clicked. He was trying to make sure that she didn't overwork herself either. Considering he'd apparently already talked to her younger sister about it, she figured there wasn't really any reason to keep grilling him. It just seemed like a weird hoop to go through. Still, if he was willing to take over on a Friday... "Alright. I'll text her and let her know I'm covering her on Thursday. But you get to do me a favor in return."

He nodded, not even bothered. She knew that if it were just about anyone else asking, he would be a lot more hesitant. She also liked to think that because she didn't ask for much, it made people more willing to agree to help when she did. "What d'ya need?"

"I'm probably about to upset my sisters next week, but would you be willing to take over my next Friday shift, too?"

His brows furrowed, a sour look on his face. "What? Why would I help you piss your sisters off?"

"Oh, no, I'm gonna piss them off regardless of whether or not you take over," she waved off. "But I'll have more time to talk to them, give them space and hopefully make them less mad if you do take over Friday. I'm looking to minimize potential damage, not increase it."

He didn't seem too happy about it, all the same. "Do I at least get to know what's going on?"

She didn't blame him for being cautious and not very ecstatic about helping her out, but that didn't mean she was going to tell him. "Not at all," she grinned. "Not until it's done. I don't want to be talked out of it."

He sighed but nodded. "I'll cover your patrols this Friday and next- and you just take Bloss' Thursday shift. You are able to make it, right?"

"Yes, yes. I have to help the vet with a surgery in the morning, but that's so early it won't affect anything else. It's done. Let's shake on it- I want the affirmative."

He rolled his eyes but complied nonetheless. "…Just don't make them mad at me, too."

She shrugged. "They won't be. I can promise you that, at least."

Bubbles wanted to bang her head against a wall by the time she finally made it back to her apartment. Sometimes- just sometimes- the catty vet techs just grated against her nerves like a damn cheese grater. She'd ordered them lunch on her own damn penny and the absolute bitches decided that wasn't enough and made the blonde the center of their torment for the day. As though she didn't do them all a favor by ordering lunch.

Do this, do that, time to judge her, do this for us, get judged, do that for us, get judged-

She did their damn jobs for them today and still had to listen about everything wrong with her. Her appearance, her attitude, her personality, how she carried herself, why she needed to have more of a backbone…

Bubbles wanted to scream- or die.

Or both.

Instead of an empty apartment, the woman was greeted by Boomer, sitting on her couch and playing what looked like Hades. He finished killing off the demons hoarding him just as she slipped her tennis shoes off. The blonde dropped her keys in the dish by her door and her phone right in front of that. Then, he paused the game with the settings screen, turned to face her and offered a smile and a wave.

And then that smile fell upon seeing her.

"Didn't have a good day…?"

"I want to cry," she sighed, rubbing both of her hands down her face as she padded towards the kitchen, having barely stripped out of her shoes and jacket in the doorway. "They can be so unnecessarily vicious. Why are people so mean for no reason?"

"Amy and Madison again?" he asked, watching as she slumped through the apartment.

She hummed an agreement. "I'm already done with their shit- I'm already done with my hours! I shouldn't have to keep enduring their bitchiness. But nooooo, I'm stuck here on a damn technicality for another week." Her voice was whinier than usual, though honestly, she couldn't bring herself to care. Boomer wouldn't judge her for it, anyway.

"At least it's just a week and not longer?" He stood from the couch, reaching up towards the ceiling in a deep stretch.

"I, apparently, should think about dying my hair because my natural blonde is too yellow and not gold enough for my skin tone," she seethed. "I also, apparently, should think about going on a diet because—and I quote—'nobody normal likes rolls on their partner' and 'I'm dangerously close to rolls territory'."

"What the actual fuck?" Boomer asked, his face twisting in offended shock. "Wh— have they even seen you? Like, do they have eyes that actually see properly? Why the fuck would that be a bad thing anyway?"

"My point exactly," she whined. "I don't wanna be there any longer than I have to be."

The woman peeked into the fridge, wondering if Boomer had brought any drinks along with him. For once, she was hoping he'd brought alcohol along. Sure enough, right up front was a new jug of orange juice, but nothing to go with it. It made her brows shoot skyward—there was only one time that he ever brought orange juice.

"...okay, where'd you stash the vodka?"

"Top shelf of the freezer, behind your vanilla bean ice cream. Are you already going to crack into it?"

"Yup. I mean, why not?" She pulled the jug of orange juice from the fridge, opened the freezer and grabbed the large bottle of vodka. "Why'd you bring it over tonight, anyway?"

Her counterpart came to the kitchen not long after that. "It's Wednesday? You're off tonight and tomorrow?" He came to stand next to her and leaned against her counter. "Sounds like you've got too much on your mind if you're asking why instead of just going for it."

She didn't even deny it and just nodded her agreement. "You want a screwdriver now? Or later?"

"If you're doing this so early in the evening, we're both going down. Hook me up, Bubs."

She reached up and grabbed the baby blue glass with white octopi printed on it that Boomer had gotten her last year for her birthday, the matching shot glass, and a second (equally baby blue, though plain) glass for him. The vodka bottle had barely been cracked open when her phone started to ring.

She groaned loudly.

Boomer patted her shoulder. "I'll go see who it is."

"I don't even care, I'll take a swig directly from this bottle if someone tries to get me to do anything right now," she threatened. "I'll chug half this bottle where I stand, I swear."

He chuckled softly as he ran back to her doorway to grab her ringing phone. Then, he furrowed his brows upon seeing his brother's name. But, he answered for her nonetheless. "What do you need, Butch?"

"DAMMIT, I forgot to pick up Coffee," she exclaimed from the kitchen, folding in on herself and bracing against the counter dramatically. A softer, sadder whine left her at the thought of having to get back out for anything at the moment.

The caller was silent for a minute. "...Sweetcheeks just ain't having a good day, huh?"

"Not really, no," Boomer agreed, looking back at his counterpart. She was slumped over the counter and he could already tell she was mentally kicking herself for it. "You have Coffee over there? At home or at the shop?"

"I'll bring him over, don't let her stress out too much over it. I've got an hour before my next appointment, so I got plenty of time."

"Thanks, man," Boomer laughed. "It's so bad that she's already making screwdrivers."

"It's barely even five!"

The blond laughed more, watching his counterpart measure out two shots of vodka for each glass. "You're just upset that we can drink already and you can't," he said simply.

"A little," the mechanic laughed back. "I'll be there in ten minutes, tops. Spare me a sip."

"That doesn't sound very responsible of me," Boomer teased.

Bubbles snorted, pouring the orange juice on top of the vodka in the glasses. "As if you've ever been called outright responsible."

"Ow," he pouted. He came back to stand next to her. He pulled her phone from his ear to put it on speakerphone and grabbed the screwdriver she'd made for him. "You're mean today."

She elbowed him.

"Ow! Abuse! Butch, she's beating me!"

"I'll show you a beating, alright," she grumbled. The lass rolled her eyes at him and took an unreasonably large drink from the glass, not even blinking as the alcohol burned a path down her esophagus. Instead, she just sat the glass back down on the counter and started walking out of the kitchen altogether. "Set up my controller, I'm going to go take my bra off- I don't want to hear shit about it, either."

"Don't piss her off enough to make her kick your ass again, Boom. I might not get there in time to hold her back."

Boomer pulled her into a quick hug- one she tightly returned. "She's gonna get a few drinks in, we're gonna play some games and she won't even have to wake up for class until, like, her afternoon classes tomorrow. I'll make sure she'll be fine."

That caught her attention. "Oh yeah?"

"Professor Ivy's students are out for the next two weeks. She finally went into labor. The new dude is gonna be here around the first of March."

The sound of tearful joy that left her made the Ruffs both laugh. "Miracles really do exist."

Butch laughed harder from his end. "Alright, Boom, you get to make sure Sweetcheeks relaxes tonight, I'll get Coffee and get him back home."

"I'll take my job and duty very seriously."

Bubbles rolled her eyes and finally took off towards her bedroom to change. "Make Butch a half glass. If he wants to linger for a half hour or so, and if he flies and isn't driving his motorcycle, I think he'd be fine with a half glass."

Boomer laughed and waited for her to be in her room before he spoke again. "You heard her, you'll have a drink when you get here."

"Did a Puff just suggest that you act irresponsibly? Did she just suggest that I act irresponsibly?"

"You never did get too close with her, did you," he mumbled under his breath, hoping that it was quiet enough that she wouldn't hear. "Anyway, I guess you'll finally be seeing that more and more. With the cats, you two are bound to get closer. That ain't something she would kick your ass for. Bloss or BC maybe."

"What, no warning speech?"

"You're the last person I would ever have to worry about. She'd kick your ass before you could blink wrong in her direction and we both know it."