Plushies and Pie
The carnival had started a few moments ago, and the two red headed superheroes were walking down an isle of booths. Both could smell the various smells of carnival food, and Blossom had to drag her friend away whenever he stared at a food vendor for too long.
"Hey! Let me go, I just want a snack." Brick commanded as his heels dug into the dirt beneath them.
"No, you'll spoil your appetite for the pie contest later." She said straining slightly in his protest.
"That better be some good pie then." He said, relenting to her whim and standing up.
"I promise it will be." She said, fighting off the small giggle forming from seeing the leader of Rowdyruffs pouting because of her.
"Well, what flavor are we talking about? Chocolate?" He asked resuming his walk down the carnival isle.
"No, and that's the only clue I'm giving it's a surprise remember?" She said signaling to her lead lined bag.
"Have it your way Pinkie." He replied placing his hands behind his head. The two continued walking. Blossom had decided they should look through all the vendors before deciding what games to play, or anything else they may want to spend their money on. The carnival had plenty to do, there were over 20 game stall, 15 food vendors, and 10 or so stalls, helping small businesses or local events. It even had a few small rides, although Brick nor Blossom had any interest in them. Most we're for kids, and fighting crime had taken the thrill away from the few rides for teens and adults.
They had been walking for a few minutes when Brick spotted a restroom. "Hey Pinkie, I'm gonna be right back, gotta take care of some business." She was going to ask what he was talking about but saw his heading to the restroom.
"I guess coffee still has one effect on us." She said with a small laugh. She sat down on a nearby bench and felt the boredom fill her. "I'm glad I convinced him to come, this would have been near unbearable without company if it's this boring right now." She thought to herself. Looking around she saw a small game stand sitting across from her, but one of the prizes sent a smile across her face. She practically skipped over to try and win it.
Brick was busy washing his hands as he looked over himself in the mirror. He was glad Boomer convinced him to dress slightly nicer than usual, but regretted the dark rings around his eyes. He dragged his hands across his face, and had to admit he was having more fun than he thought he was going to have. "Maybe, just maybe this friendship thing with Pinkie will work out." He thought to himself. "But better not be too optimistic, the day is still young." He dried his hands and left looking around for Blossom.
"Took you long enough." He could hear her voice, but looking around he couldn't see her. "Up here."
Following her instructions he looked up to see her floating above him holding her hands behind her back. "Couldn't have been that long." He said crossing his arms over his chest.
"Long enough for me to get you this." She said dropping by him and holding out a small dalmatian stuffed animal with a felt tongue sticking out.
"A dog really?" He said with skepticism but reached out for the toy.
"Yup I thought it'd be appropriate, you know being puppy dog tails and all." She said never dropping her smile.
"I thought we were supposed to see the rest of the carnival before spending money." He said placing the toy under his arm.
"I couldn't resist." She said placing her hands behind her back again.
"Well, isn't the guy supposed to win the girl these things? We are supposed to make this look like a date right?" He asked failing to hide the pink color on his cheeks.
"Well, I guess that's the usual way, but that's a little too droll and boring for me. So how about a small competition?" She asked.
"What do you have in mind?" He asked perking up a bit.
"We win each other prizes, whoever wins the most for the other wins."
"Any stakes?" He asked
"How about the winner gets a kiss on the cheek." She said with a teasing smile and tapping her left cheek with her hand.
"Oh come on that's a little much isn't it?" he said feeling his face blush hot.
"We gotta make it look like a date remember? What are you scared I'll kiss ya into oblivion again?" She said continuing her teasing tone.
"No, it's just a weird stake." He defended.
"Well, then win. That's all I got to tell ya." She said smirking and dragged him to another game. "Since I won one already it's your turn." He looked at her, and looked at the prizes. He saw a stuffed bunny covered in pastel colors that, in his opinion was overly fluffy, but if she was determined to play he was determined to win. Grabbing the rings he look at her and gave a determined smile, "You're on Pinkie."
A little over an hour later they were walking down an isle of the carnival, a wagon filled with stuffed animals and prizes in tow. They would have cleared out every game stall sooner, but halfway through they ran out of hands to carry the prizes and Brick flew off to a nearby super store and bought the wagon carrying the trophies. Brick was pulling the wagon with one hand and drinking lemonade in the other. His stuffed dalmatian was tucked safely under same arm he held his drink with.
Blossom popped up next to him with a notebook in hand, "So I counted it looks like you beat me by 3 stuffed animals." She said a slight look of frustration on her face.
"These are con games babe, I'm a former convict. I know how they work is all." He said smiling through his straw. "I'll give you this though, This sissy drink doesn't taste half bad."
"I thought you might like it." She said smiling. She cupped his face and pulled his cheek to her lips. She gave an exaggerated smacking noise popping off his face and said, "And I bet that wasn't half bad either."
Outside he remained calm and collected, but inside he could feel his heart skip a very painful beat when her soft lips connected with him. Quickly calming himself down he looked at her, "Well I didn't die, so it could be worse."
"Or grow to some ridiculous size either." She said smirking.
"Yeah, I already told you that was taken away."
"So making you feel insecure about your masculinity won't make you shrink either?" She asked giggling at his annoyed eye roll.
"No, and what do I have to be insecure about, I got the leader of the Powerpuffs on a date with me. Looks, brains and able to fight? Babe, you're the whole package." He said looking at her. Holding back laughter in his throat as her face turned red enough to match the bow on her head.
"W-w-well at least you have good taste," She said fighting off the weird feeling of embarrassment in her chest. "You're not too bad on the eyes yourself."
"Well duh, I'm a goddamn miracle of creation, it would be disappointing if I didn't look like the god that I am."
"Oh boy I'm on a date with Narcissus." She said with apathy.
Chuckling at her words he spoke, "Nah, I mean yeah I'm confidant but not starve-myself-looking-at-my-reflection confident."
"Well that's good." She wanted to say more but the loudspeakers interrupted her,
"To all contestants of the pie contest please make their way to the center stage, we will begin the cooking phase in 15 minutes. Thank you." the voice sounded bored, but Blossom's face lit up.
"It's time, we better hurry." She said grabbing his arm and practically dragging him to the location with enthusiasm.
"Hey. Hey! Hey!" He yelled in protest, "We got time! quit yanking me!" He said failing to pull his arm from the death grip his date had on him. She didn't seem to be listening and he just made sure the stuffed dog under his arm was safe as he quickened his pace to match hers. "If anything falls from the wagon I guess some kid will get it." He thought to himself as they hurried to center stage.
10 minutes later Brick was sitting in a chair watching the pink puff gather the ingredients in her designated spot. The officiant had explained the rules, The first round would be cooking the pie, and the second round would be seeing who'd eat it the fastest. He didn't pay much attention to the scoring of the first round, he just ran a hand across his gut. His partner made him practically starve since they arrived, and he was hoping this pie she was so determined to keep a secret was worth it. A few minutes later an old man walked on the stage.
"Hello Townseville Independence Day carnival!" He yelled into the mic. The voice had to belong to the old man who used to be the mayor, "As you know it has been a joy of mine to host this contest since my leave of office, and this year is no different. So..." He said pulling out a small stack of cards, "Today's contestants will be baking pies for their partners, and as always our own Townseville Appliance World, has donated ovens, fridges and any other appliance our wonderful participants will require. The rules are simple, the bakers are given an hour and a half, or when all bakers hit the finished bell, to make a pie. It will be judged on presentation, time, ingredients used and creativity. Then we move to the eating contest and like any other fair the first one to eat it wins that round. The winners, get blue ribbon and their recipe in the yearly townseville cookbook." He explained and pulled out a remote from the podium he stood behind, "And begin." He said as he hit a button lighting up a display counting down from 90 minutes.
Brick watched as Blossom went to work preparing whatever she had in mind. In his eyes it seemed an hour and a half was too long to wait for something he might not even like. He looked over and saw the former mayor snacking on a deep fried pickle and his gut growled demanding something to tide him over.
Blossom was opening her bag and looking through her ingredients, looking up she saw Brick seemingly talk to his stomach and walk off. She smiled to herself as she pulled everything out. She would have no trouble keeping it a surprise now.
Brick didn't take long finding himself a snack maybe 15 minutes, and he was walking back to his seat. When he got back he noticed Blossom using her ice breath to cool whatever it was down, she poured the contents of the pot into a pie crust laid out a top crust and pushed it into the oven. She saw he had returned and noticed he had gotten himself something sweet and deep fried. She gave him a teasingly disappointed look and he shrugged in response.
With her pie in the oven to warm up she went about cleaning off her cooking space, she was only the second person to get her dessert in the oven, and 4 more contestants sill remained. She didn't care about winning, although it would be sweet if they did, she was using this as a way of keeping him close to her. She picked out the recipe online, and Keane had helped her perfect it last night.
Her sisters devoured the treat with vigor, while Buttercup complained claiming Brick didn't deserve anything half as good as it. There wasn't a doubt in her mind he would like it, and hopefully make him drop whatever he has planned. Thoughts ran through her head as she cleaned up. She couldn't deny it felt nice being flattered by Brick, everyone noticed her brains or her looks, but something about how he complimented her made her think he saw more than just that in her. She hoped this plan worked, but if it didn't she wasn't one to give up either.
Brick sat in his chair and allowed himself to admire her as she worked lost in thought. He tried to smell what she was cooking but it was blocked out by the various other pies being made. "I guess I'll find out soon enough." He thought as he bit into the fried spongecake he bought.
She finished cleaning first, having super powers made it a trivial task only taking as long as it did for her sake more than convenience. She heard the timer go off and collected her dish. Brick could see red in the cuts in the top crust, but still couldn't figure out what she put in it.
The final contestants finished their pies with 20 minutes left on the timer. The three judges looked over each pie, and tallied up a score, but they made no announcements as they moved on to the next portion of the contest. Brick made his way to the lengthy table and sat down. He didn't like the fact they had bibs to wear, but he figured he'd hate getting his new shirt dirty even more as he tied it on. In what felt like an eternity Blossom and the other bakers made their way to the table. She sat the pie down in front of him and smiled as she took the seat he had been sitting in earlier.
He was about to poke the pie when the old Mayor came back on stage. "And now the fun part, anything goes as long as the entire pie and crust goes in your gut. First to finish their pie gets half the score of first place for their team. So without further ado, get to eating!" He yelled and the other contestants started shoveling their pies down.
Brick grabbed the fork and jabbed the buttery golden crust. When he pulled the fork out he saw a glazed strawberry attached to his fork. "Strawberry? That was the big surprise." He thought with a chuckle. He placed the warm piece of dessert in his mouth and noticed a slight crunch to the strawberry. It didn't take long for him to notice pomegranate seeds spread through the pies filling as he looked down with eyes wide with hungry lust.
Blossom was looking for his reaction as he took his first bite. She smiled as he looked down at the dessert she prepared, but her heart sank when he dropped the fork. "I hope I didn't make it too sweet." She thought, and her fear grew as he ripped the bib off.
Brick grabbed the sides of the pie, the pie tin probably burning anyone else who would have touched it and dove head first into the pie. Brick started eating it like an animal who had been starved for days. Blossom felt relief watching the display and let out a fit of laughter seeing his face covered in the glaze when he came up for air. He made quick work of the dessert, stopping only to grab the fork and shovel the flaky crust in the bottom to his mouth. He took a breath after getting the last of the crust down and looked over to see the rest of the contestants had followed him and buried their faces in their pies. He gave a small laugh and scraped the glaze off his face enjoying the bittersweet taste. "Well, I think I finished first." Brick thought as he grabbed a napkin wiping off the remains of his pie.
A few minutes later the bakers joined the eaters on stage while they waited for the winner to be announced. Blossom stood behind Brick, "So was it good?"
"Best damn thing I've ever eaten." He said with a smile. Standing up he spoke, "I think you won that round." And with that a placed a somewhat sticky kiss on her cheek. "Worth the wait." He said not even realizing what he had done.
"Your a mess." She said with a small giggle and helped him wipe the last of the glaze off his face.
"Been a while since I've been called that." He said with a small chuckle. After Blossom had gotten off all the sticky residue from both their faces the Mayor shuffled back on stage.
"So we have the winner, but this year they would have actually come into 2nd place if it wasn't for a technicality, but since Brick and Blossom both used some form of super human power, Ice breath and invulnerability, the judges have decided to retract their win. So the winners are Mr. And Mrs. Smith." The Mayor declared as the couple at the end of the table, an overly tan lady with peroxide blond hair and a bald man with glasses, celebrated.
Brick rolled his eyes, "A technicality...Tch." He said wrapping his arm around Blossom absentmindedly. "At least they admitted it should have been our victory."
"I wasn't in it to win it anyways." Blossom said placing her hand over Bricks as it hung from her shoulder. "I just thought it'd be fun." With that the pair moved away as the winners got their picture taken for the newspaper.
The pair separated as they approached their belongings. "Well what do you want to do now?" Brick asked tucking the stuffed dog back under his arm as he collected the wagon of prizes.
"I don't know, it's still early." She said, "Have you thought a name for the dog yet?" She said noticing how it hasn't been out of his sight since getting it.
"I don't know." He said looking down at the toy. "You got any suggestions?" He asked.
"Well spot is the obvious choice." She said.
"Too boring, What about you? Any names for the various toys I got you?" Brick asked looking back to the wagon.
"Well, for the bright colorful bunny I'm thinking Tuzi." She said running her hand across the soft fluff.
"What's that mean?" Brick asked.
"Oh it's just Bunny in Chinese is all."
"You speak Chinese?" Brick asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well sorta, I haven't practiced in a long time." She said, "I really do need to brush back up on it."
"Huh, well I gotta give this guy a tough name." He said holding the toy up, "I think I'll go with Cú Chulainn."
"Okay I'll bite what does that mean?" Blossom asked.
"It's the name of an Irish mythological hero, he could turn into a fierce beast and could take on armies single handedly." Brick said returning the dog to his under arm.
"You really like mythology don't you?" Blossom said admiring the subtle look of excitement on his face as he explained the name.
"Well, as I said it's hard to say it's just mythology, in some universe somewhere he was a real flesh and blood person granted extraordinary Divine abilities, but yeah. I like the various mythologies we have on this world." He said with a small smile.
"It's a shame we couldn't be friends sooner." She said with a solemn smile. "It would be more fun having someone like you around in class."
"Well, I served my time in class, I aint going back." He said with a shrug.
"What about college?"
"Not interested, I don't need a useless degree, I won't take a handout or scholarship and student loans are way too expensive." Brick said with certainty in his voice.
"But what are you going to do when you're older?" Blossom asked.
"I don't know anymore. This whole special investigation thing is cool, maybe something like this?" He said.
"Oh like a private Investigator?" She said.
"That has crossed my mind yeah," He said looking up, but then looked over at her. "But today I just wanna enjoy this day."
"Well we still gotta see some fireworks, and maybe find a way to do some barbecue." She said with a smile. As the pair walked on she linked their arms together and went out to find something to do together.
Brick and Blossom hadn't walked long before the sounds of someone screaming cut through the air. The pair rushed to the sound, but instead of people in peril, the found a group of people laughing. They walked in on a mechanical Bull ride within the carnival. "I don't think I've ever actually seen one of those." Brick said resting his arm on the divider.
"Really? Wanna give it a try?" Blossom asked as she watched the next person climb on the mechanical ride.
"I will if you do?" He asked.
"Probably would, though I know I would stay on longer than you." She said with a slight smirk.
"Oh would you?" He said mirroring her smile. "Wanna bet on it?"
"What are the stakes." She said turning to face him. "Thanks to the job neither of us need money."
"Well what would you suggest?"
"How about the loser does one thing the winner wants them to later today." She replied as she returned her attention to the current rider as he was thrown over the horns.
"Deal, and it goes without saying but no powers either." Brick added, while she agreed with a smile. The pair moved to pay for their tickets and waited in line. The wait wasn't long as no one lasted longer than 20 seconds. "Ladies first?" Brick asked as they removed their shoes before their turn came up.
"I appreciate the chivalry, but you can go first." She said smiling. Brick just shrugged and made his way to the contraption.
He threw his leg over and latched onto the provided rope. The bull started slowly and Brick raided a brow at how easy it seemed. After 10 seconds the ride seemed to wake up and only seconds later threw Brick off over the right side.
Brick stood up and dusted himself off. "That is not what I expected to happen." He mumbled as he picked up his hat. He saw the clock timing him frozen at 16 seconds. Walking to the exit he saw Blossom smiling at him. Only this time there seemed to be a hint of deviousness behind her grin.
He watched her take her place and grip the rope with her left hand while raising her right hand in the air. "If I lasted only seconds with two hands, no way is she going to beat me." He said to himself. As if she could hear his thoughts she looked at him and winked just as the machine started. She looked back the bull and seemed focused.
Not only did she last longer than Brick but the bull was throwing itself trying to throw her off by the minute mark. She lasted another 20 seconds and seem to get thrown off only she moved much more gracefully through the air and landed on her feet. The audience watching gave applause as she took a small gloating bow in front of the powering down machine. Brick was one of the many clapping while thinking, "I feel like I should be mad, but I'm honestly impressed."
She looked over at him clapping for her, and walked with a bounce in her step to him. "So I wasn't paying attention to my time, but I'm certain I beat you."
"Completely," He said, "How did you learn to ride something like that?"
"I've been fighting monsters and things bigger than me since I was literally days old, I learned a few tricks along the way." She said noticing the warm feeling in her chest from his admiration.
"Makes sense, I'll have to get some tips and tricks from you." He said watching her put her shoes back on.
"First tip, dig your heels in and use your dominate hand in the air to maintain balance. It's not a test of strength but balance." She said tapping her foot in her shoe.
"So whats the thing I'm gonna have to do for losing?" he asked as they left the stall.
"I don't know yet, I'll let you know though." She said locking her arm with his again.
Brick was about to let out a sigh, but the faint sound of music caught his attention. "They got a live concert here or something?"
"Usually," she said grinning, "and I want to check it out." She said pulling him to the source. They arrived at a small outdoor stage with a big group of people sitting and enjoying the current band doing song covers. Brick and Blossom took a spot on the makeshift bleachers and listened to the music.
"Kinda weird hearing songs from people other than the original artists." Brick said as the current band played some old classic rock song.
"True, but it's cool seeing a live performance." Blossom retorted, "And I can appreciate the talent just to play in a crowd like this."
"Can you play anything?" Brick asked.
"The electric guitar. I could probably play acoustic, but I never tried."
"No lie?" He asked with skepticism. She in turn rolled her eyes and pulled out a phone from her bag. "That looks new." He remarked looking at the phone in a pink case.
"It is new, the professor bought the whole family new phones. The hot line isn't the best for personal calls after all." She explained while swiping through the screen. "And here look at this. Although it kind of old." She said handing him the device. There was a video playing that looked like the girls when they were little on stage. Blossom was holding a red flying v guitar, but he couldn't hear anything from the live concert and fished out his headphones.
He plugged them in an his ears were flooded by Blossom power sliding into a guitar solo, and he had to admit she could really play. "How do you do that without fingers?"
"I just do." She said with a proud smirk. He looked down and saw some creepy clown join them on stage, he was about to ask about it until the three girls brutalized him.
"Jeeze Pinky what did the clown do?" He asked as the video ended with the clown contorted and broken on stage.
"He was an evil mime, he was literally taking the color and sound of the world, until I blasted him with the guitar solo." She explained.
"But he didn't seem antagonistic on stage," He wanted to keep talking about how messed up it was, until he felt like it would hypocritical with what he did to Mojo. "It's whatever, but yeah you can play." He said returning the device to her.
"Well thank you." She replied sticking the phone back in her bag. "But I guess in retrospective, we didn't need to break the clown."
"Well all that is in the past, no point regretting it, only to learn from it." Brick said as the band on stage got setup for the next song.
"That's deep, you think that up all by yourself?" She asked.
"I wish, that's just what Langston would say to me in the early days of therapy." Brick explained, "After I started talking that is."
"You didn't talk before?"
"No, for a while I would remain silent, and he would just play some CD he kept in his office until I was ready to talk, I spent more than a few visits just listening to his music instead of talking about my problems." He said.
"What kind of songs would he play?" She asked.
"A lot of love songs, actually." He replied as the band started a new song, one he recognized from the very CD Langston would play, "Like this one."
Blossom turned her attention to the stage, and while at first the song sounded creepy, until the singer started singing the lyrics. She listened to the story of someone realizing and being afraid of their feeling for someone, but her focus was broken as she heard Brick besides her humming the song before the first chorus came in. "Oh I think I'm cashing that bet in now." She said smiling and pulling him up.
"What do you mean?" He asked with worry apparent in his voice.
"I want you to dance with me." She said pulling him to the clearing.
"I can't dance!" He said in protest.
"I don't care you made the bet." She said killing his resistance. "Now just dance with me."
Brick let his shoulder sag in defeat and tried to dance without making himself feel stupid. Blossom could see he was struggling with simple movements, and wanted him to relax. "Just focus on the song while we dance. You're not going to honor your bet this way." She said awkwardly trying to dance next to the stiff ruff.
He took a breath and relaxed, closing his eyes he locked his hands with hers, and followed her movements while singing the song softly to himself. She was glad his eyes were closed as they danced since she could feel the warmth flooding her cheeks. The song lasted a few minutes, but Bricks movements became more fluid as it went on. The song ended too soon for Blossom, but as it did she and Brick looked to the stage and clapped the performance. Unknown to the duo two sets of eyes were on them.
The first set of eyes was furrowed down into a lime green glare. Buttercup looked down at her sister dancing with the monster in a red cap, and rage as hot as lava filled her. She had just gotten off her shift and was flying over when red and pink caught her eye. She trusted her sister, but something about how she acted around him made her nervous. She felt sick to her stomach watching the pair, and with a scoff raced she off to the city. She had a friend in a gas station she was determined to see.
The second pair of eyes sat watching them through an inter-dimensional screen in his pink fluffy room. The demonic lobster HIM had been watching his sons for years, checking up on them and monitoring their progress. The boys may have been getting too close to the girls for his initial liking, but found enjoyment watching there bonds grow.
He gave up trying to stop the boys bonding with the girls when his light trick on Boomer failed and only drew him closer to Bubbles. Watching his red clad son dance with the pink one brought gales of laughter from his demonic throat. "Yes, my son. You better keep me entertained until I make my grand appearance." He said closing the screen and walking across his living room.
Much like how he watched the girls he had been operating behind the scenes, and was growing excited as his pawns raced to the climax of his story. "I better freshen up," He said with his high pitched glee, "Who knows when It'll be time for me to end this miserable realities excuse for heroes." His demonic growl finishing his sentence. Resuming his gleeful tone, "Have fun girls, have fun." He roared as he entered his bathroom to prepare for his finale.
A.N. Read and review would you kindly