Okay. Sleeping on the couch was horrible. His back was sore and his neck was stiff, and it had only been two nights.. How Blossom had lasted any longer than that was beyond him.

Blossom had insisted that he take his bed back, but after experiencing the sofa for himself, he refused to put her through that pain and suffering again. Dramatic? Absolutely not. He was very close to throwing the whole couch to the curb.

For the second morning in a row Blossom woke up in a terrific mood. Even after staying up all night, overthinking the bathing suit situation, she was still able to get a good night's rest and woke up energized. She also decided that she shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about what Brick thought of her.. or her body. She was smart, but it's not like she had all that much experience when it came to the opposite sex, so it wasn't fair to either of them if she made assumptions.

When they got home from the beach the day before, Brick was still acting a little off. He wasn't running from her anymore, but he was sort of distant. She didn't like it. So she made up her mind, she was going to get to the bottom of things and find out why he was acting differently. Lucky for her, Boomer and Butch were out of the house for the afternoon, leaving them with the place to themselves.

The first thing she decided to do was test him.

Brick was lounging on the wooden yard swing they had in their backyard, scrolling through his phone when Blossom walked up and handed him a fresh glass of ice cold lemonade.

He took it happily, having been dying of thirst, but with no motivation to go get something. "Thanks, I owe ya one."

"You know, you say that a lot. If you're not careful, one of these days I'm actually gonna cash in." Blossom sat beside him on the swing, watching his reaction carefully. Aside from a slight shift, there was no change. Okay, noted.

"Depends what kinda favor you want." He teased, with an eyebrow raise.

For some reason, Brick never actually swung when he sat there. He had been sitting completely still when she joined him, but now he started slowly rocking the two of them back and forth. It was relaxing, and the whole point of a swing.

"Oh, your IOUs come with stipulations, huh?" She took a sip of her lemonade, and then bit the tip of her straw with a toothy grin.

Brick had been smirking at her but quickly looked away. Hmm. Were all guys that hard to read? Butch was an open book and she had never had any reason to try and read Boomer so she really had no idea.

"Yeah, if you want help with a dead body.. I'm your guy. But if you want help with taxes-"

"-Then you're not my guy?" She emphasized the last two words, careful to leave a certain connotation behind them.

There's no way she was flirting with him. She sounded kind of flirty, but he could've been imagining things.. He swallowed, and she noticed. "Well, I mean. I'm not terrible at taxes.." He decided to throw a line and see if she would bite. If not, then he would still be safe behind the word play.

Okay now it was her turn to squirm, which she did, physically. She wasn't expecting him to be so bold.. or maybe he didn't mean it the way it sounded? Because it sounded like.. God, she was horrible at this type of thing. For a second she wondered if either of her sisters were better with guys.

As much as she would have loved to continue talking about taxes, she was starting to sweat, literally. She already planned on taking off her jacket, but now she was skipping to it early, since she hadn't expected to be so flustered herself. Nonchalantly, she unzipped the navy jacket that Boomer had given her and slipped it off, before moving her hair over one shoulder.

Brick glanced up from his phone, which he had been using as a distraction, when he saw her removing it from the corner of his eye.

"It's really hot today." She said, when he didn't respond to the change in her attire. She had half expected him to run back to the house, but he didn't react at all. Maybe she had been wrong about the beach incident? "Today probably would've been a better beach day than yesterday."

"Oh, feels about the same to me." He shrugged, taking a drink of his lemonade.

Ugh. She was getting nowhere. "Speaking of the beach, where were you yesterday? I didn't see you much."

Now he looked a little alarmed, caught off guard.

"Not really a water guy." It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth. "I just walked around for a while."

"Ah, I see." Well that was that. She didn't want to seem pushy or like she was interrogating him, so she dropped it.

Blossom seemed kind of.. off that day. He couldn't figure out what was up, but something was different. They sat in silence for a while, and he tried not to stare at her. Kind of hard when she was wearing that tank top.. but at least it was better than her bathing suit. He felt like such an idiot the day before and was determined never to run away like a pussy, ever again. He had never been that way around a girl before..

"So, how was your first time?"

"Huh?" She was startled by his phrasing, having been lost in her own thoughts.

"At the beach.." He reminded her.

Oh. that first time. "It was alright. Maybe I'm not much of a water person either."

A few hours had passed, and the two of them were still home alone. Brick had refused to say anything about his sleeping pains, or he knew Blossom would fight him about taking the couch back.

She hadn't said anything, but she knew that he was hiding it. She noticed the way he was shifting, unable to get comfortable and there was the fact that he kept twisting to crack his back. If he was trying to hide it, he was doing a terrible job. After she spied him digging his palm into the nape of his neck in the kitchen, she knew for sure.

Brick was sitting in the living room, arms resting over his chest, while he watched some racing comedy. She remembered how stiff and uncomfortable she had felt, up until just two days ago, when Brick had given up his bed for her. She didn't want him to feel like that. One, because she really thought she might be starting to like him.. and two, because it was all her fault. He would never be sleeping there in the first place if it wasn't for her being there. Since he wouldn't trade places with her, and she had definitely tried, she thought of another idea.

Blossom walked into the room while Brick wasn't paying attention and fighting her own nerves, she silently placed her hands on his shoulders.

He jumped slightly at the unexpected contract and his first instinct was to move, but she pulled him back into place, stopping him.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously. His heart was already beginning to pound, only relaxing when she began tenderly kneading into his sore flesh. Her touch felt so ridiculously good, he nearly melted into her hands. It felt intimate, there was a certain closeness there that they hadn't felt with each other before, but neither of them pulled away.

She didn't answer him with words, she let her skilled hands do the talking. Brick was pretty closed off, at least to most people, she thought it would be best to keep quiet. She didn't want to remind him of the couch or sleep, and have him tense up again at the thought. If she mentioned herself taking the sofa again then he would definitely shut this whole thing down, and probably lie about his aching body. She knew him well enough to know that silence was the best option here.

Her fingertips felt the smooth contour of his muscles, beneath his collarbones. With a gentle firmness, she rolled her hands over his shoulders, drawing his muscles upwards with a consistent pressure. She went slow, allowing him to completely relax and enjoy the massage. After a few minutes of working her magic near his neck, she adjusted her hands and began massaging another spot. Once she reached closer to his arms, she gradually made her way back to his neck. She traced her hands along his shoulder blades, relieving more tension with every careful movement.

Brick was in heaven. Actual heaven. He couldn't remember a time when he felt so.. good. The fact that it was Blossom making him feel that way was an added bonus. She obviously cared that he was in pain and he thought it was really sweet that she was helping him through it. Sweet? Had he ever used that word to describe someone before? Well, it was in her DNA to be nice.

Neither of them knew how much time had passed, Brick was lost to the world and Blossom was enjoying herself a lot more than she initially thought. It was a simple act, but she had never touched him so much. Her hands running over his muscles was kind of sensual.. and she too had ended up distracted by thoughts.

Thoughts that she was ripped from, when Butch and Boomer bursted through the front door, causing Brick and Blossom to pull away from each other like they had been caught doing something they shouldn't have. Which clearly wasn't the case, but you know, teenagers.

"Ooh I love this movie!" Boomer said, hopping over the back of the couch, to sit next to Brick. Blossom and Butch took the empty sofa to finish the rest of the movie. But the movie was the last thing on her mind.

Blossom had actually fallen asleep on the couch, although Brick did think she was faking it at first. Boomer and Butch went to their rooms so they wouldn't wake her, but Brick had other plans. Instead of trying to wake her up, he simply scooped her up and carried her into his bedroom. When he placed her on the bed, her eyes fluttered open. It was dark in the room, with no lights on, but she could see him clear as day with her night vision.

"Brick?" Her voice was soft and she was still delirious from sleep.

Brick smiled, she was funny when she was tired, and more than a little cute. He pulled the blanket over her, enveloping her in a cozy warmth. "Sorry didn't mean to wake you."

When she finally realized she was in his bedroom and not on the couch, where she had purposely fallen asleep, she pouted. "I was sleeping in the living room on purpose."

"I knew it!" He rolled his eyes. "Well it's not gonna happen. So goodnight."

He made it all the way out the door, before Blossom climbed out of bed, wrapping herself in his red comforter and went out to join him.

He furrowed his brows, watching as she laid on the extra couch. "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping out here."

"Nope. There's a perfectly good bed for you to use in there." He gestured to his room.

She yawned. "Yeah and it's your turn to sleep in it."

As amusing as he found this whole situation, he wasn't having it. He picked her back up, not releasing her when she struggled, and dropped her back on the bed with a smug smile.

"I'm just gonna go back out there again." She sat up, matching his smug look with one of her own.

"Why are you being so stubborn about this?" He huffed, pushing her back down when she tried to get up.

"Why are you?" She fired back.

He rolled his eyes, "Because I don't want you to have the world's worst sleep."

"I don't want you to either, you idiot." She laughed.

"I guess we're at a standstill then." He raised an eyebrow.

"I guess we are."

When he playfully tried to stop her from getting off the bed the next time, she grabbed his arm and pulled him down with her.

She was a little out of breath, but that's not why her heart was beating so rapidly.

Brick was beside her on the bed, blushing in the dark, thankful that she wouldn't be able to notice even with her powers.

"I've heard that these types of Powerpuff, Rowdyruff disputes can take ages." She smirked. "And we're never gonna agree on who should take the couch.."

"You're right about that."

Neither of them had moved and they were both fully aware of how close they were.

"Okay then." Her voice got softer and she yawned, suddenly very tired with her head against the mattress. "Besides your bed is plenty big enough for two people.."

Brick found himself yawning too, contemplating what he should do and before either of them realized it they had fallen asleep.

End Day 9

Nothing happens in this chapter lol