At the same park as yesterday, Buttercup ran ahead of her friends to search for a good spot to play a game of soccer. As she scanned the park for the perfect spot, she found Boomer, with his legs sprawled out, sitting under a thick oak tree with a large hole burned through it.
Boomer turned to her, "Hey! What took you so long man?"
Buttercup groaned, "C'mon man, are you just looking to get your ass beat?"
"Pfft. Oh please, if that pole wasn't so conveniently placed then I would have put you in the dust."
"You know that I didn't put that pole there...Right?"
"Yeah. Sure. Likely story."
Amid Boomer making petty excuses, Buttercup's friends rolled up to the park behind her, relishing in the new turn of events. Mitch, at the front of the group of snickering boys, called out to Buttercup in a sing-song voice.
"Oooh. Look boys, Buttercup's boyfriend came back for more."
Puckering and kissy noises rang in Buttercup's ear, to the point where you could see her shaking like a tea kettle. With her face completely red, she grabs Boomer by the shirt and flies straight to the farthest part of the city, and dunks him into the street. Before the dust could settle, Buttercup headed back to the park to start the game. Not long after Buttercup turned around, a sharp kick landed square in the middle of her back, leading her to crash straight down into the intersection.
Buttercup was still regaining her color vision when she heard Boomer's obnoxious chuckle fill the air. There was this slight dull ring to it, or maybe that was her concussion, but either way, it made something in Buttercup snap.
Throwing the rubble back at Boomer, Buttercup screamed, "UGH. Just leave me the fuck alone! I just wanted to do one stupid game with my friends before the summer ends, is that so much to ask?"
Boomer tilted his head in confusion— not that Buttercup cared— she soared back to where she left her friends. His eyes followed her neon green trail. He thought, "I thought she liked fighting. Is this not fun?"
Back at Townsville Park, Buttercup's friends were more than halfway into their game when Buttercup slowly descended from the sky huffing and puffing, her whole face red like a cherry tomato. Harry eagerly placed dibs on Buttercup for his team, to Mitch's frustration.
"Jesus dude, at least wait for her to catch her breath."
Not long after that, Buttercup was able to get into the rhythm of the game. That was until she spotted a blonde cowlick hiding behind a tree. When Buttercup had the ball, she took the shot to the side of his head, and with a full swing, she kicked the soccer ball right to the side of his head.
Buttercup cocked her head to the side as she walked up to him, "Oh what, so now you're stalking me?"
Boomer smoothed out his hair, just barely wincing from the ball, "Huh? No, I just wanted to see what was so fun."
Buttercup squinted at that response. Then a small idea popped into her head. "Hmpf. Maybe see for yourself."
Boomer raised his eyebrows, "Wait... Really?"
"Oh yeah," Buttercup smirked, "Then I can show you how I can beat you in more ways than one."
Mitch took Boomer on his team. Mitch and Floyd made sure to keep their distance from Boomer, Mitch even shot occasional glares at Boomer, to which Boomer was blissfully unaware.
On Harry's team, Lloyd was hesitant to ever take the ball away from Boomer, but Buttercup and Harry gave zero shits. Harry was running with the ball until Boomer kicked the ball way too far in the sky for any of his normal teammates to reach, effectively stealing the ball. His teammates called for Boomer to pass the ball but he ignored them. He was going straight for that goal.
A neon green streak zigzagged around Boomer, and then when he was dizzy, Buttercup expertly stole the soccer ball with the ball of her feet.
But Boomer quickly regained focus and tailed Buttercup closely. His strategy was to keep kicking close to her feet until she lost control of the ball. A sharp hit to Buttercup's shin got her to stumble, giving Boomer full control of the ball.
With only one kick and being at least an average baseball field's length away from the goal, the ball not only hit the goal's net but also tore a hole through it. Throwing his hands in the air, he started jumping immediately.
"Holy shit guys, did y'all see that? That was some Messi-level shit, no, way better!" He said, pointing to the goal.
But no one shared Boomer's excitement. He expected Buttercup's team to be a little scared, or in Buttercup's case, to glare at him. Yet not even his team, Mitch rolled his eyes while Floyd looked away from his direction. Not the reaction he was looking for.
When the next game started Boomer took more of a backseat to the game, to study how they all played together. He saw how Buttercup held herself back, just by a bit, for the others to keep up with her. To those who aren't super-powered, they may assume that Buttercup was being too rough on the boys, but Boomer knew exactly when Buttercup was holding back and when she was being gentle.
Buttercup ended up winning that round, but the boys were not as mad with her as they were with Boomer. It confused Boomer to no end.
At this point, the teams were tied and whichever team broke the tie would win the game. Harry ran with the ball first, but Mitch quickly dashed across Harry, only to be cornered by Harry and Buttercup. There was no way out for Mitch, his only choice was to pass the ball to another teammate.
While Mitch didn't want to pass the ball to Boomer, he knew that passing it to Boomer was their only chance of winning. So, after a short groan, Mitch sends the ball flying towards Boomer. Licking his lips in anticipation, Boomer quickly braced for the ball to reach the ground, but it never hit the ground. Buttercup hit the ball mid-air with her right calf and ran with the ball to her team's goal. She sensed Boomer right behind her and she was ready to kick him right back this time.
A chill went straight down her spine when Boomer's leg lightly brushed the inner side of Buttercup's leg. His toe touched the top of the ball and drew the ball back to him. Buttercup tried to get the ball from him, but Boomer was fast, like his movements were mere blurs to Buttercup. She got so frustrated that she nudged him constantly to get him off balance.
Even while he was essentially being manhandled by Buttercup, he spotted Mitch and Floyd close to the goal.
"Hey, Rocks!" Mitch paid no mind.
"I'm talking to you, Freckles!" Mitch perked up. "Catch!"
As soon as Boomer kicks the ball, Buttercup races to cover Mitch. She waited for some loud impact, but the ball was already on the ground— in front of Floyd. With a small push towards the goal, Mitch's team wins. Despite their win, Boomer chewed his cheek, that last kick was so lame. His criticism was cut short when Mitch ruffled Boomer's hair and Floyd gave him an affirming side hug.
"You know what, maybe you're not that bad blondie," Mitch said with a wink.
Their cheering was met with Boomer pretending to be humble, but the flushed cheeks were real. He looked back to find Buttercup taking a deep breath, and reluctantly extended her hand to Boomer. Her eyes, however, avoided contact with his. "Good game," quickly escaped her lips.
Boomer took her hand and lowered his head to force Buttercup to look him in the eye. Then with a slight smirk, Boomer remarked, "Beat me in more ways than one, huh?" Buttercup immediately swatted his hand away and sucked her teeth.
In the heat of the moment, Mitch eagerly invited him to eat with them after the game, to which Buttercup quickly turned her head to him. The betrayal stung. And Boomer wasn't the type to decline free food.
Stab, stab, stab. Never breaking her focused glare at Boomer, Buttercup stabbed her barely touched drumstick with her cutting knife at a menacing yet consistent pace. Boomer didn't mind, he was listening to Mitch talk about every embarrassing thing Buttercup has ever done. Pulling at the meat with his teeth, Mitch doesn't even wait to swallow it first before speaking.
He pointed at Boomer, drumstick in hand, "You know what blondie, you kinda reminds me of Buttercup when I first met her. She was new, I think just born yesterday actually," he spat a little on Boomer, "and we tried to teach her tag. You know about tag, right Boomer?"
Boomer nodded, of course, he knew, he and his brothers used to play tag all the time.
"Well. The minute the girls got tagged? It was game over. Before I could fucking blink, half of the city was destroyed. My grandma couldn't go to the doctor's because the whole street was a fucking pothole."
Boomer just slurped the meat of the chicken wing. He thought That's the only fun way to play tag, though. Without looking at Mitch, he snickered, "Oh? And y'all still play with her?"
Buttercup's eye twitched.
Mitch hunched his shoulders, " I mean…Yeah? Shit's a lot more fun with a super."
Boomer looked at Buttercup. That wasn't what he meant. He meant why would a super want to have fun with a normie, why limit yourself when you clearly could be having more fun? Buttercup could sort of guess what he was thinking and felt compelled to answer.
"Listen. I love my sisters, but at some point, you gotta hang out with people other than your own family," she shrugged.
"Oh Amen! I swear to God, if I have to listen to Brick pat himself on the back for doing something I already fuckin' did, I am going to lose it." Boomer rolled his eyes.
The group giggled at the dig at Brick, including Buttercup. No, especially Buttercup. She was surprised that he was shit-talking Brick of all people, but she was totally for it. In fact, she kinda related to it.
Boomer eagerly looked around the room to see all the positive reception; he continued, "Oh, and don't get me started on Butch. He just can't help but ride Brick's fucking dick." The group couldn't help but burst into laughter and Buttercup was especially thrilled at this info. Maybe Mitch was right: maybe Boomer wasn't that bad.
