Chapter 5 - Mystery Makes Reality Pale in Comparison
~~~~
"You didn't tell her."
Blossom looked at Brick's accusing stare. "Tell her what?"
Brick looked like he was going to argue, then leaned back and sighed heavily.
"That you don't think she's stupid."
"I never said I thought she was stupid."
"Blossom, you don't have to. It's in every facet of your face, in the way you talk to her, you practically vibrate with this 'I'm smarter than you' vibe, and frankly, it's intimidating."
"Bubbles needs to be protected," Blossom said lamely.
"Protection. Blossom, she's just as powerful as you, or Buttercup, or for that matter, me and Butch and Boomer. She's a Powerpuff Girl, remember?"
"That's not what I mean!"
"What do you know that I don't, Blossom?"
Blossom refused to answer, staring at the wall instead. Her hand clenched tightly in her lap.
"Blossom?"
"What." Her voice was testy.
"What's that in your lap?"
"My hand."
"And what is in your hand?"
"Just...just a ribbon."
Brick knelt on the floor next to her and unfolded her clenched fingers.
"Blue?"
"I...found it..."
"Blossom, is this what you've been staring at in study hall when you're supposed to be working on our biology project?"
"It's a simple 3D model of a DNA sequence, and it's for extra credit!"
Brick hadn't released his grip on her hand. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand.
"Your middle name is Avoidance, you realize that, don't you?"
"And your middle name is Annoyance."
He bit his lip for a minute, then stood up. "I think I'm going to go. You have copies of all my notes, and you can review them later." He looked at her bowed head, her hair shielding her face from his view, before grabbing his books and shoving them in his knapsack. He levitated towards the door, then stopped with his hand on the knob.
"Blossom?" He didn't expect her to answer, and she didn't.
"She did it because she doesn't know how else to help them, and not just to spite you."
He gave her one last long look before shutting the door behind him.
"I know," Blossom whispered into the empty room.
~~~~~~~~
She knows. She knows! SHE KNOWS!
Oh. My. God.
Eavesdroppers will never hear anything good about themselves, the saying goes.
Was that the case? I don't know.
I never should have sat at the top of the stairs waiting to see if Brick would make a move on my sister. I didn't think, after Blossom's discomfort when she left my room, that she'd have suddenly opened her damn eyes and seen what was right in front of her, but I have this sick fascination with the love lives of my sisters. Must be because I don't have one of my own.
I thought I'd lost that stupid ribbon at the library, but come to think of it, I did need to keep my hair out of my eyes. What was the point of not using my powers to break in to the animal lab if I was going to leave such an obvious calling card? Geez, the thing practically had "Bubbles was here" written all over it!
How long had she known? Why hadn't she told the Professor? Why hadn't she said anything to me? She never worried about acting like my mother before.
Brick knew?
I have a headache. I should have stayed in my room with my head under the pillow.
~~~~~~
"Come on, Turk, move it or lose it!"
"You are SUCH a pain in the ass," Buttercup retorted, throwing her eye pencil into the sink and storming out of the bathroom.
Butch was leaning against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, and Buttercup flew at him in a streak of green. The two of them rolled several times before coming to a stop against the wall. Buttercup was on top, and she smirked at him.
"I win."
He scowled at her as the two of them got to their feet. The two had been more open with their relationship, at least around their siblings, and Bubbles sighed heavily at their familiar exchange.
Brick and Boomer had come by with Butch, who was making a habit of "walking" Buttercup to school every morning. Brick eyed the wall, then shot a glance at Butch.
"I think we should have that wall bronzed," he said dryly. Blossom looked at him with a start.
"Hey! This isn't even your house!"
"I accede to your wishes," he said with a wink in Bubbles' direction. Boomer tensed up as Brick put a hand on Blossom's back and gestured toward the door with the other. "Shall we?"
Blossom relaxed her posture, realizing that Brick had only been kidding, and smiled at him. She looked behind her. "You guys coming?"
Bubbles and Boomer shared a look, and Boomer trudged after them. Bubbles picked up her book bag and locked the door behind them. Two green streaks were seen in the sky as she turned to the other three.
"Was she wearing makeup?" Blossom asked.
"You wear makeup," Brick reminded her, placing the tip of his thumb under her glossed lips.
"That's not the same," she said, swallowing heavily. She turned toward Bubbles. "Bubbles, you know what I mean, right?"
Bubbles was tempted to cross her arms and lean against the house in unconscious imitation of Butch's earlier posture, but instead she nodded.
"Yes, but they're guys. They don't get it."
Brick grinned at her and Boomer rolled his eyes. Blossom, encouraged by the small show of support, immediately launched into a comparison between cosmetics that were meant to enhance and those that were meant to convey a particular message. They levitated toward the high school as Bubbles and Boomer followed.
Bubbles didn't fail to notice how Boomer's sapphire eyes followed the sway of Blossom's hair the entire way.
~~~~~~
I really wish they would do something about it. Boomer is back to thinking he has a real chance with Blossom, and the longer he keeps thinking that, the worse it's going to be when he realizes that what he thought he saw that night the Butch and Buttercup got together was, in fact, a sign of things to come.
Part of me feels like it's a competition between us, although I don't know why. I hate to flatter myself, but it seems like he's bent on showing that just because I am a fool in love, doesn't mean he is as well. Even if he looks like he hasn't been getting much sleep lately. So which of us is the fool?
I think he feels that we are lumped into the same category, and he resents it.
Brick and Blossom are both smart, and they are both competent leaders.
Butch and Buttercup, oh, excuse me, that would be "Turk" now, are both rebellious and stubborn.
But Boomer and I...
I think we have about as much in common as my sisters and I do.
~~~~~~~
"Turk?" Bubbles asked her sister as they washed dishes that night.
Buttercup grinned at her around her gum, then blew a huge bubble before sucking it back in.
"If that pops and gets into your hair, don't say I didn't warn you," Blossom's voice came from the table she was wiping with a damp cloth.
"Nah, I'm pretty good," Buttercup said, winking at Bubbles. "The only thing that happens now is that sometimes I blow too hard and it flies out of my mouth..." she had moved to stand right behind Blossom as she said this.
Blossom whirled around and put a hand behind her head. "Buttercup!"
"Damn, Blossom, you are so damn conceited with that mane of yours," Buttercup retorted, then picked up the dish that Bubbles had placed in the dish rack. She wiped it as she scowled at her sister.
"I will never, ever trust you two when it comes to my hair ever again," she said, one hand still behind her head and the other holding the cloth in front of her chest.
"Man, you hold a grudge," Buttercup said, slapping her dishtowel at Blossom. "What were we then, five?"
"You, less talking, more drying," Blossom said, pointing at the dish rack where Bubbles had already placed two more plates and several cups.
"Why do I have to dry them anyway?" Buttercup complained. "Won't they drip dry if we just leave them in the rack?"
"They have to be put away, too," Blossom reminded her. Buttercup grumbled, but returned to her task as her sister, carefully keeping her back toward the wall, moved to drape the damp cloth over the handle of the stove.
"I'm going upstairs to do homework," she said.
"A thrill a minute," Buttercup retorted. She made a sudden quick movement towards Blossom, who squealed and jumped back.
"My hair is off limits," Blossom said, her eyes blazing.
Bubbles pulled the drain out of the sink. "I'm done," she said to Buttercup. Blossom took advantage of her sister's momentary distraction to zip up the stairs in a streak of pink.
"She's so...so...plastic!" Buttercup snapped, picking up a cup and drying it. "She bitches about my 'overzealous use of kohl' and how I'm getting caught up in this image thing, but she worships that hair of hers like nobody's business."
"Turk?" Bubbles repeated her question from earlier.
"What? Oh, that," Buttercup said with a shrug, her momentary impatience with Blossom forgotten. "You won't be very impressed."
"So it's not from a movie or a song?"
Buttercup laughed. "Maybe it is, but that's not where Butch got it from."
"So?"
"Sure you want to know? The mystery has gotta be more interesting than the truth."
Bubbles shrugged.
"Ha. Well, you asked. Butch didn't want to keep saying 'Buttercup' because apparently my name is too damn long for his mouth to keep up with it." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "But he didn't want to go with BC, because, and I quote, 'too boring and not very original.' So one day I was tickling him..." she paused there and gave a meaningful look at Bubbles, who blushed. "...and he kept telling me to stop...and he was practically hiccupping when he said my name..." she laughed. "So it came out like this...But-TERC-up..." she trailed off, then shrugged.
"Oh," Bubbles nodded.
"Oh?"
"You're right," Bubbles said with a soft smile. "The fantasy was better." Her cheeks were flaming. She could picture Butch wriggling under Buttercup's fingers, his face flushed...
"If I have to dry these, why am I using a TOWEL?" Buttercup said as she held up another cup. "It would be much faster this way..." and with that, she used her heat vision to evaporate the water that glistened on the drinking cup in her hand.
In response, Bubbles merely pointed to the melted lump of plastic in her sister's hand.
"Do me a favor," Buttercup sighed. "DON'T say anything to Blossom!"
~~~~~~~~
~~~~
"You didn't tell her."
Blossom looked at Brick's accusing stare. "Tell her what?"
Brick looked like he was going to argue, then leaned back and sighed heavily.
"That you don't think she's stupid."
"I never said I thought she was stupid."
"Blossom, you don't have to. It's in every facet of your face, in the way you talk to her, you practically vibrate with this 'I'm smarter than you' vibe, and frankly, it's intimidating."
"Bubbles needs to be protected," Blossom said lamely.
"Protection. Blossom, she's just as powerful as you, or Buttercup, or for that matter, me and Butch and Boomer. She's a Powerpuff Girl, remember?"
"That's not what I mean!"
"What do you know that I don't, Blossom?"
Blossom refused to answer, staring at the wall instead. Her hand clenched tightly in her lap.
"Blossom?"
"What." Her voice was testy.
"What's that in your lap?"
"My hand."
"And what is in your hand?"
"Just...just a ribbon."
Brick knelt on the floor next to her and unfolded her clenched fingers.
"Blue?"
"I...found it..."
"Blossom, is this what you've been staring at in study hall when you're supposed to be working on our biology project?"
"It's a simple 3D model of a DNA sequence, and it's for extra credit!"
Brick hadn't released his grip on her hand. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand.
"Your middle name is Avoidance, you realize that, don't you?"
"And your middle name is Annoyance."
He bit his lip for a minute, then stood up. "I think I'm going to go. You have copies of all my notes, and you can review them later." He looked at her bowed head, her hair shielding her face from his view, before grabbing his books and shoving them in his knapsack. He levitated towards the door, then stopped with his hand on the knob.
"Blossom?" He didn't expect her to answer, and she didn't.
"She did it because she doesn't know how else to help them, and not just to spite you."
He gave her one last long look before shutting the door behind him.
"I know," Blossom whispered into the empty room.
~~~~~~~~
She knows. She knows! SHE KNOWS!
Oh. My. God.
Eavesdroppers will never hear anything good about themselves, the saying goes.
Was that the case? I don't know.
I never should have sat at the top of the stairs waiting to see if Brick would make a move on my sister. I didn't think, after Blossom's discomfort when she left my room, that she'd have suddenly opened her damn eyes and seen what was right in front of her, but I have this sick fascination with the love lives of my sisters. Must be because I don't have one of my own.
I thought I'd lost that stupid ribbon at the library, but come to think of it, I did need to keep my hair out of my eyes. What was the point of not using my powers to break in to the animal lab if I was going to leave such an obvious calling card? Geez, the thing practically had "Bubbles was here" written all over it!
How long had she known? Why hadn't she told the Professor? Why hadn't she said anything to me? She never worried about acting like my mother before.
Brick knew?
I have a headache. I should have stayed in my room with my head under the pillow.
~~~~~~
"Come on, Turk, move it or lose it!"
"You are SUCH a pain in the ass," Buttercup retorted, throwing her eye pencil into the sink and storming out of the bathroom.
Butch was leaning against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, and Buttercup flew at him in a streak of green. The two of them rolled several times before coming to a stop against the wall. Buttercup was on top, and she smirked at him.
"I win."
He scowled at her as the two of them got to their feet. The two had been more open with their relationship, at least around their siblings, and Bubbles sighed heavily at their familiar exchange.
Brick and Boomer had come by with Butch, who was making a habit of "walking" Buttercup to school every morning. Brick eyed the wall, then shot a glance at Butch.
"I think we should have that wall bronzed," he said dryly. Blossom looked at him with a start.
"Hey! This isn't even your house!"
"I accede to your wishes," he said with a wink in Bubbles' direction. Boomer tensed up as Brick put a hand on Blossom's back and gestured toward the door with the other. "Shall we?"
Blossom relaxed her posture, realizing that Brick had only been kidding, and smiled at him. She looked behind her. "You guys coming?"
Bubbles and Boomer shared a look, and Boomer trudged after them. Bubbles picked up her book bag and locked the door behind them. Two green streaks were seen in the sky as she turned to the other three.
"Was she wearing makeup?" Blossom asked.
"You wear makeup," Brick reminded her, placing the tip of his thumb under her glossed lips.
"That's not the same," she said, swallowing heavily. She turned toward Bubbles. "Bubbles, you know what I mean, right?"
Bubbles was tempted to cross her arms and lean against the house in unconscious imitation of Butch's earlier posture, but instead she nodded.
"Yes, but they're guys. They don't get it."
Brick grinned at her and Boomer rolled his eyes. Blossom, encouraged by the small show of support, immediately launched into a comparison between cosmetics that were meant to enhance and those that were meant to convey a particular message. They levitated toward the high school as Bubbles and Boomer followed.
Bubbles didn't fail to notice how Boomer's sapphire eyes followed the sway of Blossom's hair the entire way.
~~~~~~
I really wish they would do something about it. Boomer is back to thinking he has a real chance with Blossom, and the longer he keeps thinking that, the worse it's going to be when he realizes that what he thought he saw that night the Butch and Buttercup got together was, in fact, a sign of things to come.
Part of me feels like it's a competition between us, although I don't know why. I hate to flatter myself, but it seems like he's bent on showing that just because I am a fool in love, doesn't mean he is as well. Even if he looks like he hasn't been getting much sleep lately. So which of us is the fool?
I think he feels that we are lumped into the same category, and he resents it.
Brick and Blossom are both smart, and they are both competent leaders.
Butch and Buttercup, oh, excuse me, that would be "Turk" now, are both rebellious and stubborn.
But Boomer and I...
I think we have about as much in common as my sisters and I do.
~~~~~~~
"Turk?" Bubbles asked her sister as they washed dishes that night.
Buttercup grinned at her around her gum, then blew a huge bubble before sucking it back in.
"If that pops and gets into your hair, don't say I didn't warn you," Blossom's voice came from the table she was wiping with a damp cloth.
"Nah, I'm pretty good," Buttercup said, winking at Bubbles. "The only thing that happens now is that sometimes I blow too hard and it flies out of my mouth..." she had moved to stand right behind Blossom as she said this.
Blossom whirled around and put a hand behind her head. "Buttercup!"
"Damn, Blossom, you are so damn conceited with that mane of yours," Buttercup retorted, then picked up the dish that Bubbles had placed in the dish rack. She wiped it as she scowled at her sister.
"I will never, ever trust you two when it comes to my hair ever again," she said, one hand still behind her head and the other holding the cloth in front of her chest.
"Man, you hold a grudge," Buttercup said, slapping her dishtowel at Blossom. "What were we then, five?"
"You, less talking, more drying," Blossom said, pointing at the dish rack where Bubbles had already placed two more plates and several cups.
"Why do I have to dry them anyway?" Buttercup complained. "Won't they drip dry if we just leave them in the rack?"
"They have to be put away, too," Blossom reminded her. Buttercup grumbled, but returned to her task as her sister, carefully keeping her back toward the wall, moved to drape the damp cloth over the handle of the stove.
"I'm going upstairs to do homework," she said.
"A thrill a minute," Buttercup retorted. She made a sudden quick movement towards Blossom, who squealed and jumped back.
"My hair is off limits," Blossom said, her eyes blazing.
Bubbles pulled the drain out of the sink. "I'm done," she said to Buttercup. Blossom took advantage of her sister's momentary distraction to zip up the stairs in a streak of pink.
"She's so...so...plastic!" Buttercup snapped, picking up a cup and drying it. "She bitches about my 'overzealous use of kohl' and how I'm getting caught up in this image thing, but she worships that hair of hers like nobody's business."
"Turk?" Bubbles repeated her question from earlier.
"What? Oh, that," Buttercup said with a shrug, her momentary impatience with Blossom forgotten. "You won't be very impressed."
"So it's not from a movie or a song?"
Buttercup laughed. "Maybe it is, but that's not where Butch got it from."
"So?"
"Sure you want to know? The mystery has gotta be more interesting than the truth."
Bubbles shrugged.
"Ha. Well, you asked. Butch didn't want to keep saying 'Buttercup' because apparently my name is too damn long for his mouth to keep up with it." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "But he didn't want to go with BC, because, and I quote, 'too boring and not very original.' So one day I was tickling him..." she paused there and gave a meaningful look at Bubbles, who blushed. "...and he kept telling me to stop...and he was practically hiccupping when he said my name..." she laughed. "So it came out like this...But-TERC-up..." she trailed off, then shrugged.
"Oh," Bubbles nodded.
"Oh?"
"You're right," Bubbles said with a soft smile. "The fantasy was better." Her cheeks were flaming. She could picture Butch wriggling under Buttercup's fingers, his face flushed...
"If I have to dry these, why am I using a TOWEL?" Buttercup said as she held up another cup. "It would be much faster this way..." and with that, she used her heat vision to evaporate the water that glistened on the drinking cup in her hand.
In response, Bubbles merely pointed to the melted lump of plastic in her sister's hand.
"Do me a favor," Buttercup sighed. "DON'T say anything to Blossom!"
~~~~~~~~