High school boys were frustrating. Or maybe just Citiesville boys were. Being the resident hero since birth meant that Blossom knew nearly everyone her age in Townsville, and they all knew her just as well, likely the reason that she was slightly less sought after with the guys back home. There was just something about being the new girl that really seemed to pique mass interest. Lucky for her, there were two other new girls to help divide the roaming eyes.
Blossom forced a strained smile at the latest guy attempting to 'woo' her, hoping that it didn't look as insincere as it felt. It's not that she wasn't interested in dating, she was quite curious actually.. more so in the last couple months than ever before. Even if she didn't already have her eye on someone else, Brian from Honors English was a no go. As 'nice' a girl as she was created to be, she couldn't take another minute of him drowning on about last year's literary Pulitzer Prize winners. She liked an intelligent conversation as much as the next brainiac, but it certainly wasn't worth cutting into her lunchtime over. Not with the way her growling stomach was reminding her of the secretly discarded liver and onions that was her last meal, courtesy of a certain painfully oblivious (but way too cute to disappoint) Professor, whom she owed her very life to. Besides the subpar conversation, Brian was also leaning a little too far into her personal bubble and had offered her not only an eraser, but a whole pack of gum and a 'spare' ticket to a movie that coming weekend. The fact that she had had little to no interaction with him previously made things a bit awkward, but she had already managed to decline the eraser and opt for a single stick of gum in lieu of the entire box, so what was one more denial?
"Look, about the ticket-"
"Yeah, I have it right here!" With impressive speed the boy yanked the single strap of his backpack off his shoulder and unzipped the front pocket, rifling through the contents, ignoring the small papers and writing utensils falling to the ground at their feet.
Yikes. "Actually, I won't be able to join you, sorry." She spit out, pushing aside the small tinge of guilt that always welled up inside when she knew she was letting someone down.
Brian stopped rummaging almost as quickly as he'd started and looked up at her with a saddened smile. "Oh, do you already have plans or something? I realize it's kind of short notice, but like I said the ticket just kind of fell into my lap and I just thought.."
Another tinge of guilt and Blossom decided it best to tell the truth now and avoid another awkward conversation later on. Honesty was the best policy and he seemed like a nice, straight forward guy. "I hope I'm not being presumptuous, and please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm just… not interested." It sounded almost like she was asking instead of telling him. A side effect of her stupid, kind heart, that had her rolling her eyes at herself, internally. Being as clear as possible was something she planned to work on.
She heard him mutter, "I understand.." at the same time that Brick caught her eye, across the hall. His pace seemed to slow a bit, glancing at her inquisitively as he walked alongside a friend, heading towards the cafeteria.
After chewing on her inner lip anxiously for a moment, Blossom's body acted on its own, looking for a quick escape from an uncomfortable situation. "Brick!" She called out, waiting until he stopped, already all smirk, as he parted ways with the friend that she didn't recognize. She knelt down and began picking up the mess of school supplies before Brian could even register to help, and smiled politely as she placed them carefully back in his still open front pocket. "Hey.." She started and trailed off all at once, trying to decide how to proceed. "I'll see you in English, okay?"
Blossom caught up with Brick, only peeking back at the boy she left standing at her locker once, before she subconsciously began biting her inner cheek again. She couldn't help feeling like she'd been a little harsh, but sometimes the line between being honest and blunt was thin.
Brick was quick to notice her nervous habit, as well as how quiet she was that afternoon. "Using me as a buffer, I see."
"No!" She whipped her head to the side, to meet his eye, but was met with an implicative eyebrow raise. "Well, maybe a little. But it's not like I didn't want to walk with you-" Her cheeks started to heat as she stammered for the right thing to say, "I mean, it's not unusual for us to walk together-"
Brick chuckled amusedly, thriving on her self-inflicted embarrassment, and deciding that he would never get sick of that bright red blush. "Just teasing you, Puff." Watching her visibly relax as she tried to hide her face, he bumped into her, rolling his eyes. "You did the right thing. Better to be upfront in the beginning, then to give someone false hope."
Blossom's red cheeks were quickly forgotten as she studied the expression on his face. She couldn't help but feel like his words were not actually advice about Brian, though they were vague enough to be. She licked her lips, allowing her mind to wonder about the pointed look he was giving her. "Oh, you heard that?"
"Kind of hard not to eavesdrop, with super hearing, but you wouldn't know anything about that, normie."
Brick had a way of making her problems melt into the background, a short walk down the hallway and she was already smiling again, joking with her old nemesis like it was completely normal. Nowadays, it kind of was. It was also far from the first time that he'd helped her out. In the few short weeks that she'd attended CVH, he had weirdly been there for her and the seemingly small things like advice, vigilante "justice", or helping her not lose a game were really starting to stack up.
Brick was… much different than she ever expected.
"So, you finally gonna have lunch with me today?" Brick asked, half joking since he knew her response would be the same as always.
"If I had lunch with you then who would have lunch with Daisy?" She asked with a coquettish smile.
"Yeah, yeah. Heard that one before." He and Blossom both heard some guys whisper her name at the same time and Brick's jaw twitched ever so slightly at the inconvenience that was every other guy in school, apparently.
"Irritated about something?" She raised a teasing eyebrow, voice heavy with her clear hint.
His jaw eased and he shook his head, feigning ignorance, with that usual smug look on his face. "No clue what you're talking about, Bloss. But maybe if you had, idunno, a fake boyfriend or something.. then these thirsty fucks might get a clue and leave you alone." He said it so casually, so nonchalantly that Blossom was almost perplexed. She narrowed her eyes a sliver while he continued. "Some of us are better than others at keeping unwanted guys away, you know?"
She swallowed as she thought about what he'd said, her heart admittedly beginning to pound in her chest. "As chivalrous as the offer sounds… Maybe I'm not looking for a fake boyfriend." A beat of silence later and the two of them had reached the entrance of the cafeteria, where they usually parted ways on the days that they took the route together.
Maybe I'm not looking for a fake boyfriend.
His confusion left him with no response, a true rarity. Something in her tone was messing with his head, making him question, but he wasn't about to risk sounding even more like a tool than he already did.
Maybe i'm not looking for a fake boyfriend.
"Brick?" She moved to stop in front of him, her soft fingertips grazing his bicep and snapping him from his thoughts. She lingered even after she was sure she had his attention. "Let's have lunch soon."
"Yeah?" He asked, somewhat taken aback. Hadn't he literally just asked her? She nodded, slowly pulling her hand away from his alarmingly tempting arm muscle. "You sure Daisy won't mind?" He teased, obviously skeptical.
"Hmm.." Blossom took a half step backwards while Brick watched. "Good point. Better make it this weekend then."
She left him with a lip biting grin, before turning and heading to her usual lunch spot.
"Seriously, we're almost out of time to work on this and I'm not about to let my grade drop just because you're either too lazy or too stubborn to help." Bubbles had spent the last few days stressed and irritated over an assignment that was turning out to be far more complicated than it ever needed to be. Their initial meetup, the very day that the assignment had been given, had gotten them basically nowhere. For the next two school days he had avoided her completely, stuffing his earbuds in if she even dared to look his way and the day after that when she'd finally crossed her arms and tapped her foot in front of his desk until he couldn't stand it anymore, he finally agreed to another after school meetup.. only to sleep the whole time while she huffed and puffed in frustration.
She had no clue why the waste of space blue Rowdyruff had even bothered showing up when she'd nagged him about it again earlier that day, especially since he was still just sitting there as useless as ever.
"If you don't want a shit grade then do the damn work yourself and stop pestering me." Boomer was having fun making her life hell, but kept his smirk hidden behind a cold, blank stare, to avoid anything that might be mistaken as a smile.
"Umm, excuse me! Did you forget about the part where it's your assignment too? Why should I have to do all the work?"
Boomer just chuckled, in a deeply sinister way that sent a chill down her spine, even though she was far from afraid of him. "Probably because you're the only one who cares, and let's not forget who earned the marks last time."
"You asshole!" Bubbles jumped to her feet with clenched fists, looming over the cushiony chair that Boomer was kicking back in. "How dare you. I bet you've never attempted to "earn" anything in your miserable life."
"Watch it, babe." Babe? He growled it out so instinctively, he didn't even realize what he was saying. Inwardly chastising his slip up, he paid almost no mind to her stance, as he continued to recline in leisure. He wasn't about to let her speak to him like that, but he also wasn't one to cause a scene, even in a momentarily empty library.
Bubbles just blinked, not acknowledging the sudden pet name. Her fists unclenched as she exhaled a fuming breath. "Why did you even agree to do this with me in the first place?"
His shrug was callous, but she expected nothing less. "It's somewhat entertaining to irritate you. Plus I saved some other fucker from having to be paired with you. Maybe I'm the real hero here."
Her fists clenched again, harder, allowing her nails to push angrily into her palms. It wasn't quite enough to draw blood. You're a good person. As much as you want to thrash him, you can't stoop to his level. She decided that if she was a better person, she would kill him with kindness. But no matter what the Professor said, she was not 'perfect', nor an 'angel' and there was simply no nice way to deal with a guy like him. "I've had it." She stalked off towards the door. "I can't work with you and I'm going to tell Mr. Kent right now."
Bubbles collected her things as quickly as humanly possible and made her way back to history, where she knew her teacher was still grading that day's tests.
It was possibly the worst day she'd had since moving to the hell hole that was Citiesville. Even her award winning 'glass half full' outlook was beginning to fail her. Earlier that week, Zion had suddenly started ghosting her, putting a swift end to the carefree makeout sessions that she'd been using as therapy. Without hot guy distraction, she was missing home more than ever and about to reach her boiling point with Boomer, who she now realized was following her to the classroom.
"Do you mind?" She didn't bother turning to face him. The rest of the school was practically empty and she knew he would hear her with no problem, even with the distance he was keeping between them.
"I gotta see this."
"Mr. Kent, I know you're busy grading, but I need to speak with you about my partnership with Boomer."
The burly middle aged man sighed and rubbed his temples, indicating that he was not ready for this conversation, especially with said boy standing at the door with folded arms and a cocky expression. He was seriously rethinking his choice of moving to the dumpy commuter city. No bonus was worth this torture. "Ms. Utonium, whatever it is, I'm sure you can work it out amongst yourselves."
It would be rude to comment about this kind of situation literally being his job as a teacher. So instead, she smiled as brightly as she could manage, and ignored his suggestion. "He's impossible to work with and I think you know that." She raised an insinuating eyebrow.
"Pairings have already been decided, now if you'll excuse me."
Maybe she would have given up and walked away, had she not heard Boomer fake a yawn in the background, that only added to her frustration. He was outright challenging her as a Powerpuff Girl, pride was on the forefront of her mind, instead of the rules or The Professor. "No, I will not. Not until I've said what I came here to say."
The history teacher looked about as bored as Boomer sounded, and Bubbles was having a hard time keeping her growing rage in check. She was surrounded by insufferable people.
"Since there seems to be some kind of fucked up hierarchy in this school where everyone, including staff, bows down to the supers.." Bubbles leaned slightly over the threshold of his cluttered desk. "I'll let you know, in case you didn't already, that I am one."
The chemical in her usually soft blue eyes sparked to life as she spoke, glowing an erie warning at the man in front of her. It was enough to make him sweat. His mouth opened and closed a few times, making him look like a fish out of water, but then his eyes darted back to Boomer and his demeanor changed back just as fast.
"Ms. Utonium, I do not appreciate your tone." He reached for the standard issued classroom phone that was sitting on the far left of his desk and Boomer chuckled behind her. "I suppose I'll just have to call your father and see what he has to sa-"
Before he could even lift the receiver, she yanked the entire phone out of reach, ripping the cords from the electrical outlet behind him with such ferocity that the wall around it cracked. He looked truly frightened as he gasped in shock, but as bad as Bubbles felt, there was no turning back now. Barely using even an ounce of her power, she disintegrated the landline into nothing more than a pile of broken plastic and wiring that sprinkled onto the floor. "I don't really think that's such a good idea. You see, the Professor is a very busy man."
At least the Rowdyruff wore a typical scowl when he was being threatening, but the smile that Bubbles kept during her intimidation was truly unnerving. Mr. Kent nodded his head frantically, purposely avoiding eye contact with the boy in the back, since he was between a rock and a hard place at this point.
"Great. So here's how things are going to go." Bubbles scooted the waste bin closer to clean up the mess she'd made. She certainly wasn't about to leave it. "All I want is to work on the project alone, and to be graded fairly for my efforts, like everyone else."
"Oh- okay." He agreed, though he looked confused by her demands, which were much different than he was used to from supers.
"Wonderful, well.. sorry about your phone, Mr. Kent." She looked at the floor, awkwardly running the toe of her shoe through the leftover debris and then turned and practically ran out the door.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Bubbles wasn't typically one to lose her cool, but.. drastic times, right? It's not like she meant to threaten her History teacher.
She just needed a minute or two to herself, to calm down. She was trying not to panic about her rash decision, as she slipped into the closest vacant classroom. A quick deep breathing exercise and she'd be as good as new, then she just had to figure out how to tell Blossom that she'd slipped up.. Although, maybe it was best to avoid that for now. She'd handled it and she was pretty sure Mr. Kent wouldn't go around blabbing about it, that only left Boomer. Fucking Boomer.
She could feel a mixture of energy and adrenaline pumping through her veins, itching for a release that she hadn't realized she needed before. Buttercup was the only one who had ever experienced the urge to rip into something, from a buildup of super fueled pressure before and even she seemed to be handling things just fine, with no monsters to thrash.
The Professor had explained to the girls before moving that they would need to be extra careful with their powers, not only because using them was against the law here, but because a seemingly simple slip up after such a long stint of abstinence could result in a serious loss of control.
Bubbles' own capabilities were directly linked to her emotions, and with how high they were currently running, thanks to the blue imbecile, paired with finally releasing some of her stored energy… Not good.
Calm down and try to breathe. You got this.
Not thirty measly seconds to herself and in waltzed the reason for all her current problems. Just the sight of him made her power surge. Her eyes were trapped in a state of glow, and her power was visible beneath her skin's surface, giving her a faint blue tint. Nothing that had ever happened to her before.
"That was quite a show you put on back there, Puff." Boomer floated closer into the dark room and she fought not to react. He smirked as he circled her, slow and calculated, like a wild animal. "And here I was starting to think you had no bite to you at all."
Her fist sparked unconsciously at her side and she tried to steady her breath, but it hitched when his hand grazed her cheek. Something she would have noticed if she hadn't been trying so hard to concentrate on keeping herself under control.
"You're turning blue." He chuckled ominously, way too close to her ear.
"Don't." Her hand was around his throat in an instant and she had him halfway across the room and slammed against the wall before she even had time to think about her actions.
Boomer let out a breath as his back hit the wall, not hard enough to cause damage. Bubbles tightened her grip significantly before loosening it, but still held her hand in place at his neck as she glared at him. He didn't react like she assumed he would. Instead, he blew a bubble with the gum she hadn't noticed him chewing, staring her in the eyes with a look she couldn't quite read. He sucked the bubble back in and snapped it, before giving her a smug, toothy grin. "Don't what?"
Bubbles narrowed her eyes, perplexed, but felt her adrenaline dying out. For the first time she realized just how close she was to him. Way too close. Her eyes shifted to the smile that didn't look like it should belong to him. Smugness aside, it was perfectly white and straight, if not slightly feral due to his sharp canines. "Don't touch me." She finally said, letting go of his neck once she realized he wasn't going to try anything.
"Pity." Was all she heard before quickly scooping her bag from the floor and leaving him on his own.
It was the first time she'd ever been in his room, or his house for that matter. But it was bound to happen sooner or later, given how much they'd been hanging out. Butch had just finished practice for the day and as was the new usual, Buttercup had stayed to watch. Wasn't like she had anything better to do, and it made Butch feel special to have his own personal "cheerleader" (as he liked to call it). Not true, of course, but who else was she going to root for besides her own counterpart? Even without X, he was still easily the best on the team and she was an obvious sports fan.
In typical green nature, she walked straight into his room like she owned the place and plopped down on his unmade bed, completely unaware of his thick swallow as he tried his best not to think too hard about it. She had her mind on other things, hardly even registering how weirdly clean his room was.
Without regular fights to help keep Buttercup's impressive figure, it had only taken a few weeks for the Powerpuff's toughest fighter to worry that she was losing her edge. Not to mention some of her tone.
Due to the chemical x in her body, as well as her genetic makeup and high metabolism, she would never have to worry too much, but still. She prided herself on her physical prowess and had spent years keeping a careful muscular balance. Working on her arms, legs and abs, without going what she considered overboard for her body.
A short stay in Citiesville had put a quick stop to her workout regimen. She couldn't help but feel a little envious as she watched Butch lift his shirt over his six-pack, using it as a makeshift towel to wipe his forehead sweat before pulling it off and tossing it into a laundry basket.
"I don't know what's more impressive, your abs or the fact that you actually keep your room clean." She laughed, standing up and walking over to the full length mirror that hung from the back of his closet door.
He wiggled his eyebrow at her reflection. "So you like my abs, huh?"
"I like abs in general." She shot him a pointed look over her shoulder. "What girl doesn't?"
"Idunno, a lot probably. Aren't dad bods in right now?"
Buttercup directed her attention back to the mirror and lifted her own shirt slightly. "Got me there." She had a six-pack of her own, still plenty defined but less than normal, and definitely less than she liked.
Butch swallowed the saliva that was beginning to pool, trying and failing not to stare. Aside from when she occasionally wore a cropped top, he hadn't gotten a good look at Buttercup's stomach since the football game that they'd played the day they met and ultimately became friendly. Knowing how much harder it was for girls to gain muscle than it was for guys only made the definition in her abdomen that much more impressive. And fuck if her dedication wasn't sexy as hell. Sure, she was a superhero and that didn't hurt, but he was pretty certain that Blossom and Bubbles weren't packing that same kind of heat. He grabbed a shirt from his drawer at random, keeping his eyes trained on Buttercup as she tightened her stomach and ran her fingers over the muscular grooves. With a long drawn out sigh, she let her shirt fall and he frowned at the loss.
"What do you do to stay in shape?" She asked, turning to face him just as he began pulling on his clean t-shirt. "I know it can't all be from playing footba-" Her face scrunched up and in a flash of law breaking green she was in front of him, pawing at his shirt.
Butch was still trying to fit his big head into the neck hole, when he felt a familiar breeze, followed by hands on his chest. Pulling down his shirt? "Um, I'm not gonna complain. But what's up with the sudden help?" He chuckled, getting his head through. His face went hot immediately as he looked down and realized what shirt he had accidentally chosen, luckily he was too tan for Buttercup to notice the pink cheeks he was now sporting.
"You dumbass." She laughed. "What is this?"
The green ruff groaned through his rare embarrassment. "Damn, I thought I told Boomer to throw this thing away.."
Well, she definitely wasn't expecting Butch Jojo of all people to be hiding a Powerpuff Girls t-shirt in his dresser, but then again.. she had never expected to become friends with the guy either, so…
"I didn't know you were such a fanboy." She said, cocking her head at the caricature of her and her sisters flying through the sky, obviously on the way to kick some villain ass if her fierce expression had anything to say about it. "Should I sign it for you?"
"What's up? I heard my name."
Both of them whipped around to see Boomer standing in the doorway. He nearly fell on the ground dying when he saw Butch's shirt. "Bro, no way! I forgot that I snuck that back in there ages ago. This is straight gold." He pulled his phone out with the unrivaled quickness of a blue and snapped a photo right before Butch could pummel him.
"Delete that. Now." Butch warned with almost no conviction, a trace of a smile still on his face.
Boomer shoved his phone in his pocket before he could grab it.
"It looks good on you." Buttercup said, in a tone that could only be taken as flirty.
Butch forgot about his brother almost instantly and turned back to Buttercup. "Really?"
"Thaaat's gonna be my new home screen." She grinned stupidly, snapping her own photo of Butch rocking the Powerpuff merch.
"Can't believe you fell for that, dude." Boomer shook his head in disbelief. "Nice one, BC."
Buttercup gave a half-assed bow and Boomer disappeared back down the hall, shouting. "I'm sending this to Red."
"So, yeah… I'm gonna need an explanation."
Sorry for the wait! Next update might be a little different.
Hmm.. What is up with Boomer lately?
Comments greatly appreciated!