Old Wounds

by Zed Lotus

"No matter what we are, no matter what we're capable of, we're still just teenagers." A raw anecdote that hopes to humanize kids who've never had the luxury of being mundane. NOTICE: Chapter 8 is back up! I have no idea how it got deleted, apologies for the inconvenience, a big thank you to the readers who pointed it out.

7. When You Hold Me

AU: Just an idea that's been brewing for a while. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Summary: "No matter what we are, no matter what we're capable of, we're still just teenagers." A raw anecdote that hopes to humanize kids who've never had the luxury of being mundane, and show how illusory invincibility can be.

Disclaimer: A few characters are mine. The rest of them are Craig's. I only own these words :)

Rating: R/Fiction M. They're teenagers. Sex, drugs and profanity are not unprecedented.

Pairing: PPG/RRB

Notes: - Inspired by the legendary "More Than Human" by sbj and the urge for representation.

- Strong themes.

---

VII - When You Hold Me - Zed

Butch let out a heavy groan, strangely—at least for him—opening his eyes almost instantly. A lazy but swift scan of his surroundings confirmed he was at home, then his eyes slowly reverted to their lidded state.

Thank fuck for Chemical X, he was sure he'd be feeling like shit if it hadn't watered down the effects of whatever he was on last night. He shifted around his bed for a couple more minutes, then dragged himself up into a sitting position, raising his hand to scratch his hair.

He released a loud yawn before pokily rolling out of bed, he paused when his feet hit his carpet, curving his lip at the weird sensation he felt in his...

He took another step, registering the feeling again, although minimally, before placing a hand on his cheek—no, not the one on his face.

"The fuck." he muttered, reaching his hand into his pants—which he just then realized were the same jeans he'd gone to the party in—to inspect his backside properly. He didn't feel anything strange, so decided to ignore it.

After flinging his jacket and t-shirt to the side—where they met a slowly growing pile of clothes beside his bed—and brushing his teeth, he exited his room, intent on getting some cereal into his grumbling stomach.

He met only Brick in the kitchen, munching on some bacon.

"Did you make some for everyone?" Butch asked, speedily veering towards the pan on the cooker. He only met a few egg crumbs scattered across it's surface.

He turned to issue Brick a mini-glare.

"I'm not your fucking maid." Brick said, forking some more scrambled eggs into his mouth.

Butch mumbled callowly and fetched a box of Froot Loops from one of the top cupboards. "You the only one awake?" he asked, arcing for the fridge.

"Not sure about Bear or Boomer, but mom's already out, you just missed her." Brick answered, flipping through his phone.

"I thought she was the boss at the lab, doesn't she like, not have to go the office?" Butch inquired, shutting the fridge after grabbing a carton of milk.

"She said something about the Monster Defense System needing a few adjustments," Brick answered, finally looking up just as Butch was filling his cereal bowl. "Are those the pants you wore to the party?"

Butch nodded, dropping the cereal and picking up the milk.

"That's fucking gross." Brick said bluntly.

"You know, I can't even remember coming home." Butch replied, ignoring the insult.

"Bear carried you here like sack of potatoes."

"Seriously?" Butch said through a mouthfull, sliding into the chair next to Brick. "What the hell could have taken me out like that?"

"You can't remember?" Brick arched a brow.

Butch shook his head. "I remember getting hot with this girl on the cheerleading squad after we left the bathroom, but after that I can't remember shit."

"You will." Brick said simply, biting into a piece of bacon.

"Yeah? I thought the X doesn't mess with the effects of anything? Just the damage."

"You've already felt the effects, the memory loss counts as brain damage, so you'll get the memory back slowly." Brick explained. "Haven't you ever blacked out before?"

Butch shook his head.

"Seriously?"

"Dude, what do you take me for?" Butch said.

Brick blinked at him perfunctorily, genuinely wondering if that was a trick question, before returning his attention to his food.

"Maybe I'll find out why my ass-hole hurts,"

Brick looked back up almost immediately, eyes wide.

"Yo, it's definitely not that, okay?" Butch assured upon seeing his brother's reaction. "Think I would know if I swung that way. Besides, even if I did, I'd obviously be the top."

"We are done with this conversation." Brick stated, already up from the table as he made his way to the sink.

---

"Your sister's not having breakfast?" John said, gathering his dishes as he finished his coffee.

"Maybe later, said she's not really hungry right now," Bunny answered, dipping one of her biscuits in the gravy bowl.

"How come you have to go in today?" Blossom asked from Bunny's left.

"The Monster Defense System has a few issues, so I have to be present to supervise the readjustments," he said, dropping his dishes in the sink.

"We'll help with those, you should get going." Buttercup offered.

John smiled thankfully. "Alright then, I'll see you girls later." he said, giving them each a kiss on the head.

"Have a nice day!" they echoed singly.

"Literally everyone's posting snaps of the party," Bunny said, smiling at her phone as they heard the front door shut.

"It was nice, I think a few people got quite carried away, but it was nice." Blossom ventured.

"You were inside for like ten seconds," Buttercup said as she munched. "You spent most of the night playing that stupid game on your phone."

"Stacktopus is actually an intricately programmed game that's proven to raise your cognitive prowess, on the contrary." Blossom replied defensively.

"You're absolutely sure you're the same age as the rest of us?" Buttercup said dryly.

"Besides," Blossom continued as though her sister hadn't spoken. "I didn't spend the whole night doing that, I played some pool with Bear."

Bunny looked up from her phone.

"Did you really just imply that that counts as having fun at a party? You're done sister, there's no hope for you whatsoever." Buttercup retorted.

"You and Bear have been hanging out a lot recently," Bunny blurted, Blossom turned to her as she sipped her tea. "That's a sharp 180 from not trusting him a few weeks back." she added, trying to sound a little more casual.

"I know right," Blossom answered with a dinky smile. "I'll admit I was a little too captious about him. He's actually really smart, and a nice person to be around. I can see why you're friends with him." she finished, directing her smile to Bunny, who... took a moment, before smiling as well.

"I don't think I've ever heard you call any boy smart, like ever," Buttercup said as he munched.

"They're hard to come by in high school." Blossom ventured.

"Is Bubbles okay?" Bunny interjected. "If there's one of us who never misses breakfast, it's her."

"Maybe she's sleeping in, though that's also unlike her." Blossom ventured.

Buttercup said nothing as they went back to eating, she only let her eyes roam to the door leading to the stairs.

---

The bell jolted Bubbles, who had unknowingly been staring aimlessly into the argentine blue aesthetic of her locker.

She blinked herself back to Earth and filled her bag with the books she'd need until lunch. She scanned her surroundings, and breathed a little easier when she saw no head of pink hair amongst the students shuffling through the halls to their classes.

The weekend had blurred by, it'd been a strange one for her as she didn't tend to spend much time in her room on the weekends. Her sisters had been mildly worried, but she'd been able to play it off believably enough.

She would talk to them if she needed to, but hopefully, the need wouldn't arise, she thought as she shut her locker and headed for History. Her eyes flickered every which way, brushing over the teeming students vigilantly.

She almost amusingly realized she was acting like an injured rodent in the jungle, but she couldn't be bothered if there was a better way to deal with this or not, she wasn't ready to run into Kim this morning.

Friday night was on a loop in her head, the memory of the night being the only thing she couldn't ignore. At least from the comfort of her bed she'd been able to ignore the calls and tens of texts she'd gotten from Kim.

She just needed something to take her mind of the entire thing, and she wouldn't see Susie till second period, maybe if—

She slowed, nearly colliding with someone who wanted to turn into the hallway to her left, she muttered an apology and continued towards her class.

Her face brightened however, when she looked up. She sauntered up to Boomer, who was occupied with filing out his books.

Weirdly, she hadn't spoken to him since Friday either, she hadn't gotten the chance to see him before she had hero duty, and he'd strangely been offline the whole weekend.

"Hey you," she smiled upon reaching him.

Boomer turned, looking a little surprised to see her, but a second later his face settled into something a little more monotonous.

"Oh, hey, what's up?" he replied, in very non-Boomer like fashion, and Bubbles noticed immediately.

"I'm good, are you okay?" she asked, her smile falling slightly.

Boomer nodded. "Yeah, just didn't get enough sleep last night." he answered in a tone that mirrored his facial expression.

"Oh, maybe you could take a nap during lunch." Bubbles offered helpfully, her smile having fallen completely now.

"I guess. How was your weekend?" he said, zipping up his bag as he closed his locker shut.

"Didn't do much," she answered, running her thumbs softly against the straps of her bag, looking up at him, and one look in his eyes told Bubbles something was definitely wrong.

The brightness she usually saw in those cobalt blue orbs had dimmed.

"Boomer, you—" she trailed off when Boomer abruptly looked up, over and behind her. She turned to follow his gaze, and locked eyes with a tentatively approaching Kim.

There was an immediate tug of panic in her chest. She turned back to Boomer, "Want to go—"

"I've got Algebra actually, I'll see you at practice." Boomer interjected, pivoting into the passing crowd into the opposite hallway.

Bubbles' lips were still parted in confusion as she watched Boomer mix in with the departing crowd. She hadn't fully recovered when Kim finally came into view.

She blinked, then quickly resumed her walk to class right as Kim opened her mouth to speak. She didn't walk too fast however, not wanting to draw too much attention from the people around her, as she knew Kim would be following her.

Her assumption was confirmed not even three seconds later.

"Bubbles," Kim said having caught up to her. "We should talk about Friday night."

Bubbles pulled her lips in, avoiding eye contact and not slowing down.

"You can't do this, okay? You can't kiss me then ignore me like it never happened."

"Technically you're the one who kissed me," Bubbles mumbled back.

"I didn't make you kiss back."

"I was drunk."

"Meaning that whole thing was just 'cause of the alcohol? Then why are you treating this like a big deal?"

"I'm not treating it like a big deal."

"Really? I'd be surprised if I see any other name on your call log right now. I've been calling and texting all weekend and I—"

"I didn't ask you to—"

"Are you kidding Bubbles? Seriously? Do you think I'm lying about—"

"I can't talk about this!" Bubbles raised and halted, which was enough to make Kim halt herself.

"Look I just... I just can't. Not right now. We'll—we'll talk later." Bubbles said, in a voice that sounded like it was close to being swallowed up.

There was a brief silence where they stared into each other's eyes, oblivious to the people walking around them while throwing them glances that were everything from interested to peeved.

The sound of the second bell ringing brought an end to the perceived quietness, and with an immense amount of effort, Bubbles pulled her eyes away and continued towards her class, not allowing herself a glance back.

Kim could only tighten her hand around her bag strap, and watch in silent dejection as that waterfall of blonde curls disappeared around the corner.

---

Brick jerked to as his room door flew open. He directed an annoyed glare towards it, arching his brow as Bear came into view before he pushed the door closed.

"I expect one of the boneheads to have the lack of self-preservation to barge into my room, not you," Brick said, spinning away from his laptop on his revolving chair to face his brother. "So this better be good."

"Come help take promo pictures for the band." Bear said bluntly, leaning against the wall.

Brick now looked more confused than annoyed. His eyes flicked to Bear's guitar hung over his back, indicating that he was about to head for practice. The important thing though, was that was none of Brick's concern.

"And why would I allocate any of my time to do that?" Brick said in a jaded tone.

Bear's lips curved up in a guileful grin. "'Cause I call proxy, so you owe me a favor."

Brick paused for a couple seconds, then his disposition visibly disrupted.

Proxy in actuality was just an unpopular synonym for substitute, but to him and brothers it signified something... a little bit more.

"This is stupid." a fourteen year old Brick said from his position cross-legged in a circle of four.

He and his brothers were sat facing each other on the wide rug just at the foot of the steps. It was one of the extremely rare nights where their mom was out on a date, which was weird enough, now he was here after being literally dragged down from his room by Boomer.

"You want Butch to keep piling up debt 'till we have to kidnap his wife in the future or something?" Boomer ventured from beside Brick.

"Dude gross, no way in hell I'm getting married. Marriage equals less titties I can touch, no advantage at all." Butch retorted.

"Can I leave?" Bear inquired

"We have to do this," Boomer proffered. "We've got to make a deal about what to do when one of us owes another one of us money."

"I say the depter gets punched in the nuts." Butch proposed with a grin.

"One, it's debtor. Two, you'll be impotent within three months." Bear said.

"This is so, so stupid."

"I got it!" Boomer exclaimed, ignoring Brick's comment. "What about a favor? Like, if the person who owes you doesn't pay up, you can substitute the money for a favor."

"I don't like the sound of that." Butch said with a lick of worry.

"Sounds great, can I leave now?" Bear added.

"We need a name for it," Boomer prattled on, snapping his fingers repeatedly. "Like a... like another word for substitute." he said, rolling his hand around as if to say Help Me Out Here.

"Oh, you mean like, sub?" Butch offered, three pairs of eyes blinked at him. "What?" he said, confused.

"Brick, you've got to know some other word for substitute. Something lame that no-one uses in real life."

Brick turned to Boomer, unsure whether to take that as a compliment or not. "What about... proxy?"

Now it was he all eyes were on.

"What?" he arched a brow at them.

"Proxy?" Butch made a face.

"Even I didn't know that was a synonym for substitute." Bear said.

"Then it's settled!" Boomer beamed, lifting his fisted hand up. "Let's seal it."

"Some fucking nerd you are man." Butch grimaced. Boomer wiggled his fist at his brothers, undeterred.

Bear bumped his fist, followed by Butch, before Brick begrudgingly added his fist, sealing the agreement.

Brick had never been in a position where he'd been on the wrong end of the pact, and he never thought they'd actually use it.

Until today.

"You cannot be fucking serious?" Brick said, flabbergasted. "We were fourteen years old."

"I don't remember us saying it's no longer in effect when we get to a certain age." Bear replied.

"You know you can't actually hold me to this, it's dumb, I could just decide not to."

"Maybe if I was Butch or Boom."

"When the hell did you even borrow me cash?"

"How'd you get your new flash drive?" Bear retorted, grin prevalent.

Brick briefly turned back to his laptop, where said flash drive was connected, and it took about two seconds for everything to come flashing back from last week, where he'd needed a flash drive to upload the photo essay he'd made to present to Infinity Weekly.

Bear had borrowed him some cash, and he had never paid him back, had he?

"Hurry up dude, I want to leave in five." Bear said, snapping him out of his reverie. Brick looked up to last victorious grin from Bear before the latter turned to leave.

Brick was left in an ambience of a tickling clock, and wisps of the growingly chilly wind that soared into his room through his half-open window.

He let a few seconds pass, before heaving a groan, and dropping his face to his hand in a slow facepalm. "Worst brothers ever."

---

Bear sniffled as he descended the stairs, perplexed at the smell of smoke. He sped up just in case it was what he suspected.

It was, but thankfully it looked like his mom had it under control.

"Ten minutes honey, I specifically said ten minutes." Olivia sighed, sliding her hand in an oven mitt before removing the pan of burnt cookies from the oven.

Bear's eyes shifted to the other side of the kitchen counter to see a guilty looking Boomer.

"I whipped up some more eggs just in-case," he said, hoping to redeem himself.

Bear walked up to him and looked into the bowl of whisked eggs in his brother's hands, before carefully picking a small piece of the shell out of it.

Boomer quickly looked to his mom, grabbed the shred from Bear's hand, and flicked it onto the ground before Olivia turned around.

Bear snorted at the innocent smile Boomer put up as Olivia took the bowl from him.

"You're off to practice?" Olivia said, taking off the mitt.

Bear nodded as he pivoted to the fridge to get a bottle of water. "Waiting for Brick."

"Brick? Why's he following you to practice?" Boomer asked, reaching for the cookie dough before Olivia slapped his hand away.

"To help us take some promo photos."

"How did you convince him to do that?" Olivia inquired, rummaging through some cupboards for the brown sugar.

"Little agreement I've got him bounded to." Bear answered as he uncapped the bottle.

"Proxy?" Boomer grinned.

Bear nodded a confirmation, smiling with a mouth full of water as Boomer laughed.

"I never want to hear anyone call me the most diabolical again." came Brick's voice as he stepped into the kitchen doorway, his camera hanging around his neck. "Can we get this over with?" he turned to Bear with a frown.

"Come get your goodbye kisses you two." Olivia ventured, ushering Bear and Brick over.

Brick sighed and fell into step after Bear, waiting for the former to receive his cheek kiss before he bent down for his.

"Dude send me the pictures on IG so the quality doesn't get fucked." Boomer chuckled.

Brick snapped his fingers towards Boomer as he exited the kitchen, sending a tuft of flames his way, that landed directly on his sleeve.

"Fuck!" Boomer exclaimed as he frantically patted his sleeve before zipping to the sink. "This is my favorite vintage shirt asshole!" he yelled in Brick's direction, but was only met with the sound of the garage door closing.

Olivia snickered to herself and she scooped some butter into the mix.

---

"Honestly, I think I'd snap something just trying to move my waist like that." Mike said as the group exited the dance studio, lead by Boomer and Billy.

"I would just like to not look like an earthworm being salt-sprayed when I shake it." Billy sighed, and no later than a second after, Boomer spat out some soda.

The group caught the infection and were now all cackling, although the disjointed sound that escaped Bubbles' cervix didn't blend in quite as smoothly with her friends'.

Her eyes were lined towards the back of Boomer's silky nest of blonde hair as they all strolled towards Billy's car.

The past few days had been weird in ways she couldn't articulate. He wasn't ignoring her, they still sat together at lunch with the others whenever they could, and talked like they normally would.

But there was just... something. Something about the way his laughs were shorter around her, the way he didn't meet her eyes when they talked, the way he'd let go of her hand and pull back the instant Julian would call for them to stop during a session...

"You guys are so good, honestly." Robin said from her position by my Mike's side, arm linked in his.

"Got any nerves about the big event? There's gonna be hundreds of stuck-up rich people there judging you guys the whole time." Billy said.

"I think going to school with Princess until freshman year was enough training for that." Bubbles answered with a smile.

"I did not need to be reminded of that girl." Susie ventured, here eyes slimming in visible contempt.

"She goes to Liberty now right? She came back from France?" Mike inquired.

"Yeah, so I heard. Her dad's been in the city a lot more lately, so I guess it would make sense." Robin replied.

"Who's Princess?"

All eyes shifted to Boomer, who was looking back inquisitively at the rest of the group.

"Princess Morbucks." Billy said in a duh tone.

Boomer blinked at him.

"You've never heard that name before?" Mike asked, Boomer shook his head.

"Ever?" Susie pushed, he shook his head again. "Seriously? She unironically even had a 'villain' phase back in kindergarten, when you and your brothers were still around."

"Say what?" Boomer rose a brow.

"It wasn't serious, she just hated Bubbles and her sisters." Robin explained.

"She was jealous of Bubbles and her sisters you mean." Susie corrected.

"Plus, she's the daughter of 'Townsville's multi-millionaire', Jean Morbucks." Bubbles textured, a little surprised herself that Boomer didn't know who she was.

Boomer's eyes settled into space, digging through his memory.

"Jean Morbucks sounds a little more familiar, I think," he said. "Guess I didn't really, um, care, who he was, when I still used to live here. So what, his daughter's a bitch?" Boomer asked with an amused smile.

Susie released a dramatic groan. Bubbles giggled beside her.

"She's alright. She just had a bit of growing up to do." Robin answered.

"She threw the best parties in freshman year." Mike added.

"I remember it being really weird when she joined choir. Guess people were expecting her to be a bit more of a cliché once we got to high school." Billy said.

"She's probably going to be at the event." Bubbles theorized, Boomer nodded, before shifting his eyes from her back to Billy.

Bubbles' smiling lips thinned ever so slightly.

"Help me smudge her foundation will you? Pretty sure she'd throw a fit." Susie frowned, the rest of them chuckled again.

And yet again Bubbles' laugh was the missing piece. Her lips stayed sealed, her eyes still settled on Boomer as brought his phone up to show something to Billy.

---

"Have you made any friends since we moved here?" Bear asked, swerving right into another street.

Brick minimally raised his cap so his eyes would be visible, before flicking them to Bear. "You know the answer to that."

"Not one? Have you at least tried to?" Bear continued.

"You know the answer to that too." Brick answered.

A few seconds of silence passed, where both their eyes peered straight ahead at the looming road.

"Why—"

"Do we really need to do this?" Brick interjected. "I don't have to like it here just because you guys do."

"Why do you hate Townsville?" Bear finished, ignoring the interjection.

Brick paused, seeming to contemplate answering.

They drove for a few more seconds, then he did.

"Haven't I made that clear already?" he started. "I don't think there's anything strange about disliking a place where I was malignantly vilified by the citizens. Constantly, through most of my childhood."

"But didn't you guys used to be villains? Vandalized property, ravaged the city during your fights with the girls, put lots of citizens' lives in danger. Et cetera?"

Brick's lip curved into a frown. "You know it was those pathetic excuses for 'fathers' that made us do that."

"But you did it."

Another beat of silence, right after a car horned behind them, before Bear horned back. He let the guy overtake him though, not willing to engage in road rage stupidity on a Tuesday afternoon.

"So you're saying all the abuse we got was our own fault?" Brick rose a brow, shifting up on his seat now, glaring at Bear.

"I think calling it abuse is pretty dramatic," Bear said without looking at him.

"For someone who wants a favor from me, you're not bring very careful with your words right now."

"You guys were a bane in their society. A threat to their safety, and their lives by extension. I mean, do you even know how badly injured some citizens could have been during your fights with the girls? Or worse?"

Brick's glare faltered slightly.

"Maybe they would've with other villains, but if I had to guess, I don't think they'd have always had the luxury of thinking about collateral when they fought boys who were every bit as powerful as they were." Bear continued, slowing down to swerve left.

Brick's frown remained on his face, but the intensity of his glare had softened, significantly.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your problem is just hyper projection."

"What do you mean?" Brick asked after a pause.

"I mean this city unlocks some unwanted memories for you. Reminds you of a time where your autonomy wasn't respected, where the only thing that surrounded your life was hate, at least fundamentally."

"You're letting your past define your experience in the present. I know if anyone hates being controlled, it's you, but that's exactly what you're letting your memories of this city do to you. You've got to face them genuinely and... take some responsibility, man."

The soft sound of the tires rolling against the concrete filled their senses as they entered yet another bout of silence.

Control? Brick thought. He wasn't letting anything control him, it was just hard to forget everything they'd done to him.

'What about what you've done to them?' An annoying voice in his head echoed. He sat with the thought, thinking that he probably classified it as annoying because he didn't have a sufficient counter-argument to that.

He let Bear's words resonate with him. Ever since he got here, he'd been in a default shit mood, 'cause everyone, everything here fucking triggered something. It wasn't as though... he wasn't letting that define him he just...

"Nothing controls me." he heard himself say. "There isn't a single thing, or person, that has any fucking control over me." he said with a soft growl while he fisted his hands on his laps.

"Then prove it."

Bear's voice pulled Brick out of his head, and lifted his eyes up to him, Bear held his gaze for a second that felt like a thousand, before switching the car off.

"Try starting here. You got a reason to hate anyone in that garage?" Bear said, then exited the car.

Brick blinked and turned to his right, realizing they had gotten to Harry's house. He could see Bunny and... some other people, cease their chattering from inside the garage when they saw Bear's car pull up.

"Come on." Bear said, fetching his guitar from the backseat,

Brick sat a stretch longer, his eyes staring yonderly at Bunny and co, before he grunted and pushed open the passenger door.

He turned his cap backwards as he fell into step behind Bear, noting the slew of shocked expressions on the faces on the band members as they saw him.

All of them save for—strangely—Bunny, who was... smiling at him.

"Hey Hey." she beamed as they approached.

Much like last Saturday night, Brick was stumped for words. Watching quietly as Bunny wrapped Bear in a hug before turning to him.

"Thanks for helping us out Brick,"

"Sure, no problem." Brick managed, looking down at her smiling face.

He'd gathered that Bunny was a cool person from Bear, but it still felt weird to talk to her, considering...

Actually, if he thought about it, it made sense why she didn't bear any ill-will against him. The one and only time they'd seen each other before a little over two months ago was that faithful day the girls had defeated them, much thanks to her.

They didn't know each other at all. She hadn't seen him the way her sisters had, even if they'd exchanged blows. There was no hostility, or distrust.

It was certainly a nice change of pace.

"What are you helping us out with?" he heard someone ask, he followed the voice and traced it to Kim, who was looking at him as she tweaked her Bass.

"Bear said you guys needed promo pictures." he answered, placing his hand on his camera for emphasis.

"Promo pics?" Harry arched a brow.

Bunny nodded, smiling ear to ear. "Bear came up with an idea for the band, we talked about it and honestly, I don't know why we we've never thought about it."

"What is it we haven't been thinking about?" Mitch ventured, eager for Bunny to get to the point.

"Making a demo." Bear answered.

Now they were all confused.

"Think about it guys!" Bunny exclaimed. "We've been playing together for almost a year now. And we're pretty good, if I say so myself,"

"Better now that I'm here." Bear added.

"This guy." Harry said, rolling his eyes in unison with Kim while Mitch chuckled.

"Anyways—" Bunny stepped back in, Bear released a chuckle of his own.

"—I know we're pretty popular in school, and we've performed at a few parties and stuff, but I think we should take the next step! I think we're ready." she finished.

"But, you know, making a demo that's... that would mean we're thinking about going pro." Kim outlined.

"Facts, demos attract label managers and shit, I mean if they make the right kinda noise." Harry assented.

Bunny saw their point, and remained undeterred. "I know." she said, and they all looked up to her.

"I know it's kind of sudden but—" she continued, opening her hands towards them. "—wouldn't you guys want that? Going pro I mean."

The silence that followed was much shorter than she expected.

"Fuck yes." Mitch articulated, causing Harry and Kim to face him. "Are you guys seriously even thinking about it? Didn't you think we would get here eventually?"

"Plus, I know nobody here's really a fan of school," Bear pitched in. "Best case scenario we eventually get noticed by some big shot, worse case scenario the demo bombs and our press kit sucks, then you guys start worrying about being stuck in nine-to-fives for the rest of your lives."

"You guys?" Bunny raised a brow at him.

"Yup, I'm obviously still going to make it big if I go solo, y'all be safe though."

The rest of them broke into laughter, including even Brick, who couldn't keep himself from chuckling.

"Okay, seriously though, what are we saying?" Bunny said once they'd calmed down.

"I say let's do it!" Mitch proclaimed.

"I say let's fucking do it!" Harry assented.

And so did Kim. "Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to try, I'm game." she proffered with a smile.

"Alright!" Bunny cheered victoriously.

"Looks like I'm just in time." came Pablo's voice as he walked through the garage door, bearing a plate of cookies.

"Huh, how about that." Bear said, noting the coincidence, before willing a cookie towards him from the tray.

Bunny grabbed it out of the air about the same time the others finished raiding Pablo. Bear deadpanned at her as she bit a huge chunk into it.

Brick, meanwhile, now had his eyes fixed in the direction where the cookie-rush had taken place.

"Uncivilized, is the only word I have for you people." Pablo said, shaking his head at the now empty plate.

Brick was too slow, by the time Pablo had dropped the plate to the side and looked up, he looked up right into Brick's eyes.

"Oh my," Pablo grinned, leaning a hand on the top of the couch behind the set. "Is it Christmas already? How'd I manage to score two superpowered hotties on a Tuesday afternoon."

"When are we going to put this guy on a leash?" Harry said through a mouthfull of cookie.

"That vampire costume was so passé, did you no justice whatsoever." Pablo gleamed, his eyes passing over Brick from head to toe.

"Brick's here to help us take some pics for our press kit, so please don't scare him off." Bunny chided once she was done with Bear's cookie, before turning to Brick herself.

"Come on guys, introductions," she said, motioning towards him.

"Mitch."

"Kim."

"Harry, but you can call me H-OG."

"Nobody is ever going to call you that bro." Bear said.

Harry didn't have time to present a defense when Pablo spoke.

"You can call me anything you want." he said with a bawdy grin.

"His name's Pablo." Bunny cleared up.

It was just then that Brick pulled his eyes away from the dark orbs behind Pablo's swirl of curls.

"Right," he raised. "Um, nice to meet you guys." he said to all of them.

"Okay, we won't keep you long, we just—"

"It's fine, I'm not busy today." Brick interjected.

"—Oh? Great! So what kind of shots do you have in mind?" Bunny beamed.

Bear rose a dubious brow at his brother.

Brick swept his eyes over the room, passing over the set, over the loosely torn posters of Radiohead above a small wooden table, beside an extended wall cupboard littered with tools, the bicycles leaning on the wall by the side...

Brick turned back to Bunny. "What do you want the pictures to reflect?"

Bunny pursed her lips in thought. "I mean, sounds kind of cliché, but, our vibe. You know, they should capture our musical energy, if you believe in that kind of thing," she paused for a chuckle. Brick nodded, listening intently. "Just, as long as they enunciate the kind of music we make, I guess." she finished.

"That's perfect, just as long as they look professional." Kim added.

"They will." Brick toned. "Alright, that's fine, you guys just do your thing."

"Alright!" Bunny beamed, punctuating with a clap before turning back to her band mates. "Let's get to it."

"Where's BC at?" Harry asked, noting her absence.

"Swim practice." Mitch answered, drying his palms on his jeans before picking up his drumsticks.

They began to shuffle into position to run through some songs, Brick positioned himself adjacent to them, where the camera would hit the lighting best.

Brick noticed Bear was still yet to get into position, he flicked his eyes to him to see a dinky grin being thrown his way.

Brick arched a brow at him that said What?

Bear simply chuckled and tore his eyes away, taking his place beside Bunny.

"Make sure you get my good side." Pablo requested, which routed Brick's gaze on him.

"Just ignore him." Kim said as Bunny snapped her fingers, drawing all of them to focus.

Brick blinked at Pablo, before facing his camera and raising it to his eyes as the band launched into a song.

---

A sweaty brunette braced himself as the basketball zipped into his palms, he shifted his weight to his left and immediately started driving down the court, breezing past coach Andrews who was watching intently from the coaching box, arms folded.

The boy looked up, seeing both his teammates and opponents darting in the same direction he was. He drove further into the opposition half before looking up again.

A husky, dark skinned opponent was closing in on him, about three players were speedily nearing the rim, the closest one being...

He slowed down and crossover stepped, wrong-footing his marker, who fruitlessly tried to block him before he threw a perfectly weighted alley-oop towards the basket.

All eyes present in the school gym watched in what felt like slow motion as the ball soared through the air. From the boy who made the pass, to coach Andrews, to the members of the girls' basketball team who were seated in the stands.

Rodney leaped after the ball, raising a hand to block the person who'd leaped after him from getting it, but it was in vain. Butch—who'd leaped higher—rose above him and latched onto the ball, before slamming an emphatic dunk into the basket.

A slew of howls and lauding emanated from his teammates on the court, as well a string of cheers from the girls.

Butch landed behind the hoop with a loud cackle, turning to face a mildly frustrated looking Rodney. He bared his tongue between his teeth and arrogantly flexed his biceps at him, eliciting laughter from different angles of the gym.

Coach Andrew's whistle drew their collective attention. "Alright boys, huddle up." he instructed, and the boys on the court swarmed towards him in obedience. Butch gave Rodney a sly nudge in his back, laughing as the latter biffed him in the shoulder.

Once gathered around him, coach Andrews delved into his characteristic team talk, hyping them up about the game next week. He finished with a rambunctious howl that the team echoed, before he dismissed them, ushering the girls over as the guys made their way to their locker room.

Butch was sucking on a water bottle, lagging behind most of his teammates when the gym doors were pushed open. He took a gulp and flicked his eyes in that direction, seeing girls he recognized from the cheer squad file in, including Bubbles, who was lost in conversation with Robin.

He felt himself slowing down as he sighted Ashley amongst them, his mind slowly fleeting back to this morning.

He couldn't exactly call it a nightmare, as it had been too... three-dimensional, too real. Taking what Brick had told him about Chemical X's influence on his memories into consideration, he knew what he had seen in his sleep was a memory.

As if sensing his gaze, Ashley looked up from her phone, smirking once she caught his eyes. Butch mirrored her expression, putting his bottle to his lips as he began to walk towards her.

He could see her murmur something to another girl as he neared them, catching the girl's eyes flick in his direction before she murmured something back to Ashley, eliciting a giggle from her.

Butch heard Ashley reply with a faint "Shut up" before shooing the other girl away as he reached her.

"Hey baby boy," Ashley purred.

"Hey you hot bitch." Butch replied with a smirk, getting a playful thwack on his abs for the comment.

"I like you sweaty," she said, pulling her lower lip in.

"You can see me like this more often if you want." he replied in a sleek, lowered voice.

"Is that a promise?"

"It's an invitation."

"I'm guessing you've used that one on lots of other girls," she preened.

"Only cheerleaders to be honest."

Ashley giggled, mindlessly twisting his jersey between her fingers. "Well, I already know you're a whore, what can you tell me that I don't know?"

"How about my number?" Butch grinned, snickering at Ashley's coltish eye roll.

She passed him her phone and he imputed his number in before passing it back.

"Ashley!" Clara called from across the court, both she and Butch turned to see the cheer captain ushering her over.

"Coming! Okay, I'll text you," she said to Butch, making to turn.

"Hold up," he blatted, putting a hand out, Ashley did stop, raising a brow at him.

"What?"

"So uh, Saturday, just how nutty did we get?"

"Interesting word choice" she answered with a chuckle and slightly widened eyes.

Butch chuckled himself. "For real, like... did we... get a third?"

Ashley cocked her head to the side while still looking at him. "I doubt it," she smirked. "I can't remember much after we did the Xanax."

What?

"What?" Butch verbalized.

"The Xanax, you know... the pills?" she said in a low voice, her eyes flickering around them dramatically, even if she was obviously aware of their distance from everyone else in the gym.

Butch's eyes marginally widened.

"You can't remember shit? I think you did say it was your first time trying it tho—"

"When did we do that?"

"Like, after we were done, I think," she answered with a bawdy smile.

Either she was completely oblivious to the slow greying of Butch's face, or he was doing a really good job at hiding his disquietude.

He remained quiet for a beat, then opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted by yet another—

"Ashley!"

"Coming! Jesus," she answered, muttering the last part before throwing Butch another smirk.

Butch watched her wave him bye as she made her way towards the squad, his body permeating with yet another feeling that left him helplessly confused.

One feeling that was easily decipherable to him in that moment though, was the weird, and sudden inclination to throw up.

---

Brick watched with impressed eyes as Bunny held a pitch, that was supported by Bear speedily stringing out some notes on his guitar, Mitch and Kim texturing the background with the rage-friendly acoustics of their instruments, before Harry slided in a euphonious mini-solo at the end, bringing the song to a close right as Bunny dropped the pitch.

"That was sick!" Mitch guffawed.

"I don't know how it's possible, but I swear you've gotten better." Kim said to Bunny.

Bunny laughed bashfully at the compliment, looking up to see Pablo holding his phone in position for a video.

"This is going on my snap," he gleamed.

"You post everything on snap anyway." Mitch said, springing up from his seat and stretching, before making for the mini-fridge behind the sofa.

"As I should," Pablo replied. "Just reminding people my friends are more talented than theirs."

"Pass me one." Bear said to Mitch, who grabbed an extra bottle of water and threw it to him.

Bunny intercepted it, opening it and putting the bottle to her lips.

"Seriously?" Bear deadpanned at her again. Bunny chuckled and turned to Brick.

"Did you get all the photos you wanted to?"

Brick nodded. "Yeah I took about fifty, so I can help you filter them out if you want."

"Really?" Bunny grinned, he nodded again. "Perfect, okay, we've still got a lot to do guys, but—"

Brick settled back as Bunny relayed her plans to the rest of the group, with Bear—who she'd made said plans with—offering some input here and there.

They were... alright. He didn't see himself particularly gelling with any of them—nor did he honestly even have any intention to—but, they were treating him like... well, he guessed like a person.

So yeah, he thought they were alright.

His eyes restlessly began to roam as they tended to do, he surveyed the garage one more time, taking a wild guess that neither of Harry's parents were down here very often. Pablo cleared his throat, and instantly he was the focus of Brick's gaze.

Brick watched as he threw some water back from a bottle, clearing his throat again for good measure, before flicking some drops off his burgundy painted nails.

"I think we can schedule those for later," Kim's voice pulled him back to the discussing band members.

Bunny nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll give you guys the rest of the deets on the group chat."

With that, they said their byes, making arrangements with each other to head home.

Pablo sprung up from the sofa, spinning his keys in his fingers as Kim fell into step behind him.

The latino's lips curved into one of his signature grins he neared Brick. "Hope to see you around." he said before he walked past him.

Kim let out a noncommittal chuckle. "Bye." she offered, moving past Brick herself.

"Bye." Brick replied, eyes following them as they made for Pablo's car.

"You guys want to go watch BC practice?" Mitch said, stuffing his sticks into his bag. "She should still be there for another thirty, forty minutes or something."

"Mom's got me on babysitting duty." Harry sighed desolately.

"Yeah sure, I'm down," Bunny assented, turning to Bear. "Give us a ride?"

"Sure," he obliged. "Going home?" he asked Brick.

"Yeah," he replied, turning to Bunny. "The pictures—"

"Right! Let me get your number." she said, pulling out her phone as she walked up to him.

"Yeah, right," Brick said, strangely stumped. He put his number in when Bunny passed the phone to him.

She took it back when he was done and he felt a buzz in his pocket a few seconds later.

He drew out his own phone and turned the screen to face her. She nodded a confirmation that that was her number.

"Okay, I guess we'll keep in touch."

"Definitely." Bunny simpered, and it was so contagious that it made Brick actually twitch his lips in a smile of his own.

"See you later man." Bear said, throwing him a Shaka sign without turning.

"Later." Brick replied, watching as Bear, Bunny and Mitch made their way towards the former's car.

"Thanks bro." he heard Harry say. He turned and gave a curt nod as he made his way out of the garage himself.

"No problem." he replied, stepping into the cool air. This winter was going to be a cold one, well, at least for the humans.

He lingered on that thought a bit. It was almost something he forgot at times, that he wasn't human.

He watched Bear's car pull away down the street, then swiveled to the opposite direction where Pablo's car had gone in.

There was something... unfamiliar about how he'd just spent his evening. He suddenly felt another buzz in his pocket, he pulled out his phone and stared at the screen wordlessly.

Didn't they get the idea by now? He thought as he read the name in his screen. They'd been calling intermittently for weeks. He didn't... now was not the time, especially now that he had met...

He hit the reject icon and switched off his phone. Gritting his teeth as he stared at the now blank, black screen.

He lifted his feet into the air and arced into the sky in a streak of red. His room was where he needed to be right now, yeah, a little... normalcy.

---

"Tell dad I'll be a little late for dinner?" Buttercup pleaded as she exited the Fitness Center onto the sidewalk, tailing Bear and Bunny, with Mitch beside her.

"Sure, where are you going?" Bunny rose a brow.

"I'll wing it, just need some time in the air." Buttercup answered.

"A'ight. You're gonna kill it by the way, you're literally a dolphin." Bear said.

"You look at Buttercup and think 'dolphin'?" Mitch said incredulously.

Bear chewed on the thought for a bit, facing Buttercup, who arched a brow as if daring him to make a snide comment.

"Maybe a dolphin with rabies."

He was quick to duck under a straight jab to the head from Buttercup, then shuffled to avoid a kick to knee equally as quickly.

"Very funny, asshat." she groused.

Bunny shook her head with a snicker. "See you at home, bye Mitch!"

Mitch waved back as Bunny rounded Bear's car. The owner of said car also bid him farewell, replying Buttercup's middle finger with one of his own.

They watched Bear's Mustang disappear down the mildly busy street before resuming their walk in the opposite direction.

"So, why are you really not going home now?" Mitch smirked at her.

"Got any green?" she asked, coming to a stop.

Mitch halted himself, opening his arms in a Its Me You're Talking To approximation. Buttercup snickered, before she slowly began to float into the air.

"Alright, let's go."

"Go whe—" Mitch trailed off with a yelp as Buttercup yanked him off the ground.

"I've told you to at least give me a warning for fuck's sake!" Mitch bleated.

Buttercup ignored him as she soared further upwards into the air, Mitch hanging by his shirt below her.

She surveyed the building tops once she'd risen above them all. Her eyes locked onto one, and she instantly remembered that she'd been on that one before.

The day Butch apologized to her.

Her expression settled into something unreadable as she stared at the top of the building.

"Dude come on I'm starting to get sick up here." Mitch groaned, staring down at the bustling street. The people looked more like lego pieces from up here, while the cars passing by looked liked miniature toy versions of themselves. He wondered how high they were... then snickered at the double meaning.

Buttercup took a second, then drifted towards the building.

She lowered Mitch down, equally descending when his feet hit the roof.

"How about allowing me some dignity every once in a while." Mitch groused, adjusting his shirt neck.

Buttercup landed in-front of him. "Like you have any of that left after your burrito bomb in sixth grade." she snickered.

"Low blow Utonium, low blow." he retorted before sitting down, she followed.

Buttercup's swiveled her head, taking a deep breath as her eyes absorbed the greying night, only mildly acknowledging the cooling weather and soft breeze. The sun was already gone, giving way to the bright-hued clouds.

Her eyes fell down to Mitch, vestured in a slightly patchy denim jacket that was worn over a dark hoodie. She remembered that the weather probably felt "mild" only to her, she and her sisters weren't really affected by extreme temperatures, if at all. While normal people would have to ditch their jackets and sweaters in favor of tank tops come the summer, she could literally swim through a seething lake of lava with ease—and she had done so, in-fact.

Mitch sparked up the lighter's flame and lit the joint he'd fetched from his pocket. Buttercup watched the exhaled smoke dissipate into the air around his face.

He took a couple more hits before passing the joint to her.

"Your hair's getting long." she said as she took it.

Mitch mindlessly combed his fingers through his brown locks, that now swept the back of his neck. "Yeah, gonna cut it all off soon."

"Buzz cut?" Buttercup asked as she toked on the joint.

Mitch nodded. "Gets in my face too much, plus I got the teddies out so they'll make up for the lack of hair." he said, coltishly scratching at the tuft of hair that had started to gather on his chin.

"You'll look like an ex-con." Buttercup snickered, taking one more hit before passing him back the joint.

"Now I'm definitely going to fucking do it." he retorted, she snickered again.

She took a deep inhale, feeling the weed beginning to work its magic already. She could hear the cacophony of the chattering people below them. The symphony of the chirping birds above them—who were likely migrating from somewhere they'd been disturbed. The soft music emanating from a bar a few blocks away. The revving cars that rolled along the concrete.

She could hear it all.

Of-course she could do that regularly, but the sensation was slightly elevated when she was high.

"Yo."

Mitch's voice pulled her from her musings, she blinked at his outstretched hand, bearing the blunt. A beat passed before she plucked it from his fingers.

"You good?" Mitch asked, watching her take a hit.

"I'm fine," she answered as she exhaled smoke. "Just kinda tense about the meet."

"She said, like she didn't sweep first place in three races last year." Mitch said derisively.

"The competition's gonna be better this year," Buttercup replied with a tiny smirk.

"So will you."

"I know, I just hate losing, you know that."

"You're basically an alien dude, why are you worried at all?"

"Not like I can compete with the X active." she reminded him, taking one more hit and passing the joint to him.

"Buttercup, ever since you started swimming competitively for school you've won... seven? Medals. No bronze, just two silver right? And even that was back in sophomore year,"

Buttercup stared at him silently.

"When water's involved, you are that bitch, stop bugging." he finished.

She didn't say anything when he was done, only looking at him as he toked on the joint. His own eyes fell to hers when he flicked off some of the ash on the blunt.

A smile crept up to her face, before she swung her left boot at his knee.

"Shit!" he shrieked, the joint falling from his mouth. Buttercup leaned forward, caught it before it hit the ground, and put it to her lips all before Mitch even grabbed his knee.

He frowned up at her, she smirked back with the joint held between her lips, and Mitch hated the way that made him chuckle.

"You're welcome." he said, muttering a "sheesh" as he tendered to his knee.

"It's eight by the way," Buttercup said before blowing smoke towards the now pinkish shy, deafened by her own exhale as she watched it billow into nothingness, almost taking a shape similar to the clouds miles above it.

The clouds were starting to look a little like cotton candy, either that or now the weed was really working.

Mitch's cough brought her eyes down again, and she chuckled at him hacking rather unceremoniously.

Sometimes—and those times were very, very intermittent—she wondered... she wondered how different things might have been, if maybe she hadn't been so dismissive of...

"You want to eat something? Please say yes." Mitch inquired hopefully, his stomach released a soft growl in assent.

Buttercup exhaled and stretched her arms out, clearing her thoughts. "Yeah sure... let's get some cotton candy."

---

Blossom groaned, squeezing up a paper and flinging it behind her, where it landed in the bin that was nearly filled with similarly compressed bundles of paper.

She'd been in the balcony for a couple of hours, racking her brain in prudence of the event, that was now just a few days away.

There was no doubt about what she was going to paint, she'd already decided, but as of now she still only had a rough idea of how she was going to execute it, which was frustratingly uncharacteristic for her.

She adjusted her earphones and smoothed out a fresh page on her drawing pad, she put pencil to paper once again, and she'd barely drawn a line when her phone buzzed, interrupting her music. She flashed a look at her phone, seeing two notifications from an unknown number.

That was strange, she thought, and she considered ignoring the messages, but thought against it after some seconds. She opened them, and frowned instantly.

[It's Brick. We've got just over a month to turn in the project.]

[And I'm not going to fail over some callow silent treatment. We need to get started.]

Blossom bristled. "This jacka—" she stopped herself, grunting out another groan, before clicking her phone off and shifting it to the side.

She turned up the volume on her earphones and took a deep breath, then another one.

How could one person be so incredibly infuriating! She thought angrily, and paused when her pencil snapped in her hand.

"Mmph!" she blurted with a closed mouth, dropping the pencil on the table and pinching the bridge of her nose. With her eyes closed and body steady, she only really gave herself a chance to listen to the music now. And she relished it, allowing the melody of Mahalia's 'Simmer' course through her body.

It was around the hook when Blossom heard something she couldn't remember being in the chorus, she heard it one more time and lifted her eyes open, finding her dad looking down at her with a smile.

She pulled out her earphones and managed a smile back up at him. "Hey dad."

"Hey sweetie." he replied, placing a tender hand on her back. "Any luck?"

Blossom pointed thataway, and John followed her hand to the half-full waste bin.

"I see," he said, turning back to her. "I thought you already knew what you wanted to paint?"

"I do, I have the concept down, it's about to forging that concept into a coherent picture now, that's what's got me stuck." she answered.

"That's a surprise, why's that?" John asked.

"I don't know, I suppose it's the pressure, maybe. Ms Bellum says the event is going to be propagated across multiple countries."

"You've never been one who's been affected by being the center of attention," John ventured, rubbing circles on her back.

"I'm not concerned about the people there watching me, it's the people who won't be there."

John's silence indicated her to elaborate, which she did.

"There's going to be a lot of distinguished people there, and while I know they're not a monolith, people of that stature tend not to… do enough for society." she started. "Paintings have a way of wordlessly appealing to people's empathy, at least I think so."

"And... there's so many people who need help, not just in Townsville, but all over the world, and unfortunately, even having powers doesn't directly change a lot of things—" she paused, eyes riveting to her open palms. "—but it's my job. I'm not being condescending, but I think if I do something, especially in spaces where I can't be ignored. Then I think I could really change a lot..."

She stopped, then looked up at John, who was looking at her solemnly, listening intently.

"I need some help, and I just want the people to know someone's on their side." she finally finished.

John smiled softly. "Then why don't you draw inspiration from that?"

Blossom arched a questioning brow.

"You want to paint something that speaks to the people, so focus on appealing to them. You said yourself this event will get some coverage, so maximize the opportunity to speak to the people watching, not to the ones wearing ostentatious waist coasts in the crowd you'll be performing in-front of." John advised, and a small laugh escaped Blossom's lips.

He lifted his hand to the top of her head, and bent down to plant a kiss inches from where his hand was. "You'll do great sweetie."

"Thank you dad." she said, smiling up at him.

"I'm going to make some Enchiladas," John said, making to go back inside the house. "Want some?"

Blossom responded with a vigorous nod, to which John chuckled before sliding the door open and heading towards the kitchen.

Blossom looked back to the table, littered with sheets with sketches and broken pencils. She picked one of them up, along with a sharpener. She was in the process of sharpening the pencil when her phone buzzed again.

She was already frowning when she flicked her eyes towards it, but her face softened when she saw the notification boxes headed with "Bear". She took a second before dropping both the pencil and sharpener with a smile.

A giggle escaped her lips the instant she opened the messages, she leaned back into her chair, eyes and fingers on her screen as she immediately typed out a reply.

---

"You're really serious about the music aren't you?" Pablo said, swiping a tiny brush against Bunny's big toe.

"I've always been," Bunny answered from her position laid back on his bed, making squishy faces at the stuffed penguin she held above her face, which likely belonged to Pablo's little sister.

"Did you think it would happen this fast though? Getting everyone on board already?" he ventured, dipping the brush in an equally tiny jar for more polish.

"Not really, to be honest. I always thought 'give it till we're close to graduation, then ask everyone then' " Bunny replied.

"Te dije que sacaras la basura Pablo!" came Pablo's dad's voice from the kitchen.

"Caleb tiene piernas no?!" Pablo retorted.

It always equal parts intrigued and amused Bunny the way everyone in Pablo's household communicated when they weren't in the same room.

"Lo hice ayer, solo levanta tu trasero," that came from Caleb, Pablo's older brother. Confirmed a second later when he swung Pablo's door open.

It really was like Pablo's mom had given birth to the same person three years apart, Bunny thought as she shifted her eyes to the door. Caleb was just a couple inches taller than Pablo, with longer hair, and that was about it.

"I promise you won't chip a nail if you just throw out the fucking trash," he said, softly glaring at Pablo, before smiling Bunny's way. "What's up."

"I'm good." Bunny smiled back.

"Just go do it you're already standing," Pablo moaned.

"Don't worry, I'll be lying down in a couple seconds." Caleb said as he exited the room.

"Asshole!"

"Not even going make a joke about that, too easy." Caleb retorted, and the sound of his room door closing followed.

"Hey keep your mouths clean boys! Your sister's down here!" Pablo's dad scolded.

Bunny giggled as Pablo grumbled, before hoping off the bed to go tend to trash duty.

She dropped the penguin to the side and picked up her phone, first raising her right leg to take a picture of her toes, before sliding from her camera into Instagram.

Multiple stories loaded at the top of her page, the most recent one being Kim's. She clicked on it and was greeted with Kim's face as she treated herself to some ice-cream, with the background showing that she was in the mall.

"Still got it on your hair?" Kim said as the camera flipped to show Bear and Harry pacing in-front of her, with the former—literally—flicking some ice-cream off the edges of his locks.

"What the hell?" Bunny muttered, chuckling as Harry turned to throw random gang signs at the camera.

The camera flipped back to an equally chuckling Kim, before shifting to reveal Buttercup and Mitch walking beside her. The former ignored the camera while Mitch offered a random gang sign of his own, before the video came to an end.

Bunny was left smiling as the next video came up, which featured Bear slightly bent over by a wishing fountain, rinsing his tips clean of the ice-cream while the rest laughed at his situation. Bunny smiled wider as he looked straight into the camera with a grin, vigorously whipping his hair to pelt Kim with some water.

She exited the app and clicked into her messages, then into her chats, a chat.

[Gonna be at the mall with some of the gang.]

[Till whenever I guess.]

Were the last texts he'd sent to her, about two hours ago.

Bunny's fingers floated above her screen, she bit her lip lightly, staring at said screen for a few seconds, before settling on...

[Vanilla dye looks good on your hair tbh.]

She stared at it, backspaced the last five words, retyped them, stared a little longer, then hit send before she could stop herself. At about the exact time Pablo pushed his door open.

He hopped back onto his bed with a petty frown. "Can your dad adopt me?"

"I think he's a girl dad," Bunny answered, putting down her phone.

"I'm too fabulous to be considered a boy anyway."

"I'll relay your offer to him." Bunny smirked playfully.

"Who were you texting?" Pablo asked, placing her left leg on his lap to complete his work.

Bunny paused, reaching for the penguin again. "Bear, he's with the rest." she answered, seeing no point in lying. And then wondering why she even considered lying in the first place.

The grin that creeped up to Pablo's face was different from his usual ones. It was one that Bunny recognized as his 'spill the tea' face.

"What?" Bunny chuckled at him.

"Bitch don't give me that," he said, dipping the brush into the polish. "What's going on between you and that beautiful Venus brother?"

"Wait you mean... what? It's not like that." Bunny said in defense.

Pablo's face clearly indicated he didn't buy it.

"It's not," Bunny laughed. "For real, he's just, you know, really cool."

Pablo smirked. "So you look into those starry indigo eyes and your coochie doesn't tell you anything?"

"You're so fucking silly." Bunny guffawed, placing the penguin over her face. "Oh my God."

"I'm just saying babe, I totally ship it, the man's a snack. Just like that brother of his," Pablo swooned.

"Brick's an asshole from what I gather from Blossom."

"You know how the toxic ones are in bed." Pablo replied with a bawdy grin, Bunny snickered. "Anyways, you and Bear should definitely date, or fuck at least."

"I think he would have to meet my dad first," Bunny smiled, humoring him.

Her phone dinged then, drawing both she and Pablo's attention. The latter turned to her with an even wider grin.

"Shut up and finish my nails, please?" Bunny said, swiping her phone off the bed as Pablo released another teasing chuckle.

She opened the message to find out it was in-fact Bear who'd texted her back.

[You're fucked the next time you sleep around me.]

She tittered lightly, before finding herself biting her lip again.

---

Blue, there was lots of blue in her hair. Her face was indiscernible, blurred in his vision.

"What... what are you doing?"

She shushed him, her lips inches from his ear, her hand running along his back.

When had he turned over? Where were his jeans?

"What's going on?" he slurred, trying and failing to drag himself off the bed.

"Relax..."

"Hey, what the fu—mph!" he muffled when he felt it, in his...

Were those her... fingers?

"You like that?" he heard another whisper.

His arms felt like spaghetti, how many pills had he taken? What had he taken?

"Wa... wait... fuuuck... stop, stop."

"That's what you say, not what you mean."

Move, he just wanted to fucking move, he thought with clenched teeth as she flicked his... his...

"FUCK!" Butch shrieked as he sat up on his bed, he was off it not even a second later, standing near his window with his blanket thrown to the side.

"Butch?! Is everything alright honey?!" he heard his mom yell from downstairs.

Or he managed to, his breath was louder than everything else in that moment, not made any better by his repetitive heaves.

"Butch?!"

"I'm fine! I'm fine, just playing video games." he replied quickly, not wanting her to come upstairs.

"Okay baby," she answered in a more relaxed tone, but Butch himself was anything but relaxed.

He continued to heave—albeit softer now—as he peered yonderly into the slightly dark nothingness of his room.

That was no dream, he told himself. He knew it wasn't, he knew that for a fact.

He ran his hand through his hair, using his other one to slide open his window.

The graying skies he was met with made him guess it was early evening. It was cold, or at least what normal people would consider cold. He could make out tiny flakes of snow, sinking slowly to to the ground.

His eyes stayed fixated on the view, watching the lights that were lit up across the blocks in-front of him gain more prominence, as the day transitioned into night.

He pokily reached his hand behind him, right above his... hole.

Did this mean that... that he'd been—

His phone buzzed, interjecting his thoughts. He ignored it the first four rings, eyes still out his window, hand still placed on his rear.

Eventually, he turned to retrieve his phone bed, picking the call likely on the last ring.

It was Mitch.

"What's up?" he said monotonously.

"Bitch boy," Mitch's contrastingly boisterous voice came up on the other side of the line. "You ready?

"Ready for what?"

"The Cager genius, at the skate park." Mitch answered.

Butch remembered then, there was some sort of "skater community only" party happening at the skate park tonight. Mitch and Harry told him about it sometime last week. He'd completely forgotten.

"You don't want to come anymore?"

"No—I mean yeah, I uh... I'll pull up. Who's gonna be there?"

"Mostly seniors and people from our year, heard a few students from M.U and T.C.C are gonna be there too." Mitch replied with an exhale at the end, meaning he was probably smoking a joint right now. "Plus Harry and Buttercup obviously, not sure if Kim's coming yet."

"Oh, um, alright. You heading there now?" Butch replied, making to sit on his bed, before pausing, hovering above it, and opted to keep standing.

"Once I'm done with this blunt. Are you okay man? You sound kinda weird."

"I'm all good, see you later." he said and ended the call, almost just then realizing that his hand was still on his rear.

His other hand fisted by his side, before he freed it, then fisted it again. He repeated that motion three times before leaving it in a free state.

His room had gotten much darker now, as the night grew older. The only light seeping in came from the edges of the door to his closet.

And now his hand was fisted again.

---

Boomer blinked at the bar mirror, mindlessly brushing his hand along the lapel of his suit jacket.

He was in a simple tuxedo, with a customary blue flower in his pocket—what could he say, he was a sucker for the flowers. Most of his hair was slicked back, as per his mom's insistence, making him look more snobby than he knew he even could.

Which was weirdly satisfying.

He chuckled a bit to himself at the thought, raising his fingers to inspect his newly painted gold nails, looking every bit like he'd squeezed off the color onto them directly from his hair.

A grunt made him turn to face the kitchen door, where his mom was adjusting Brick's tie right in-front it. He chuckled again and made his way towards them.

"You boys look so dapper!" Olivia squealed, gleaming as she smoothed the shoulders of Brick's equally dark suit, only differing from Boomer's with the accentuation of his red tie, in comparison to Boomer's blue one.

"I'll take dapper." Boomer preened.

"Good luck." Bear wished his brothers as he descended the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Brick asked, eyes flicking to the clicking sound coming from his mom's direction, where he found her aggressively taking pictures of him.

"Beserkverse." Bear answered, drawing out his keys as he reached the garage door.

"Alone?" Boomer asked with a suggestive smirk.

"None of your business." came Bear's reply as the door shut, Boomer snickered.

After Olivia finally freed them, Brick and Boomer exited the house via Brick's car.

Boomer exhaled, zipping up his duffel bag after inspecting its contents one last time, making sure he didn't forget any piece of his attire for the performance.

"You nervous?" Brick asked as they reversed into the road.

"A little." Boomer answered, adjusting his seat belt before pulling his seat mirror down. "I'll just try not to focus on the crowd, you know the way?"

Brick shifted into drive, and the car obeyed his controls as he accelerated forward lightly. He only offered a frown in response to Boomer's question.

The blonde shook his head with an amused "Dude," before inputing the girls' house address on his maps and starting the trip. Brick's frown only deepened.

"Did something happen between you and Blossom?"

Brick turned to him with a raised brow.

"I mean when we were kids," Boomer specified.

"Why would you just randomly ask that?"

"She's the reason you've basically got all the joy sucked out of you right?"

"What makes you think that?" Brick said in a jaded tone as he made a left.

"The past few Tuesdays have been a pretty good indicator." Boomer answered, his mind flashing back to two Tuesdays ago, when he was fiercely engaged in the latest manga release of One Punch Man, before being jolted by Brick's slamming door, followed up by a loud exclamation. ("Stupid bitch!")

"Tuesday's when you've got Art with her right?" Boomer followed up as Brick made another turn.

"So what if she is? Is it strange for some people to dislike each other?" Brick said, exhausted that he was being pulled into a conversation concerning Blossom. "Besides, she isn't the only puff who's more than a little irritating."

"Don't think it's strange, I've just never seen you fixated on something like this." Boomer said, Brick flicked his eyes to him.

"I mean you're always pissy—" Brick frowned, "—but not about one thing. Like, I'm not sure I actually remember the last time I saw you smile, and I'm not even trying to be funny."

Brick was quiet, realizing he didn't have a response. It was the second time now, that one of his brothers were pointing this out to him, and he still hadn't really stopped to think about it.

This... was it this obvious? Had it always been this obvious?

"You're not yourself man, that's all I'm saying." Boomer said, shifting his gaze to look outside his window.

Not himself… not himself.

'Not myself' Brick thought, blinking at the car lights ahead of him, before slowing to a stop behind said car, joining the mild traffic before the traffic lights about ten cars over.

He felt his hands furling around the steering wheel, he quickly loosened them, not wanting to subconsciously damage anything.

"Boom."

Boomer looked up at him, in the process of tuning up the Bluetooth so he could play some music. "Yeah?"

"Are you evil?"

Boomer blinked, his face twisting in shock, then confusion. "What?"

"Are you evil?" Brick repeated, and the deathly serious tone he used made Boomer sit up.

"I... why the hell would you ask me that?" he asked, completely stumped by the question.

"Just answer," Brick said, hands tight around the wheel again. "...please." he added after a few seconds.

Now Boomer was really confused, looking at his brother perturbingly. But Brick's demeanor right now, it instantly had him worried.

His eyes roamed over to the street. "Um... dude." he said, pointing.

Brick faced his front and realized the traffic light was now showing green and the car that'd been in-front of him was already almost past it.

A few horns started blaring behind him. He shifted his gear into drive after a moment.

"Please just answer Boom." he said when they started moving again.

"Yeah, sure." Boomer replied instantly, hoping to put him at ease. Once it seemed he'd relaxed, Boomer went on. "No, I'm not." he said simply.

Brick let a few beats pass before responding. "How—how can you be sure?" he asked.

Boomer leaned back into his seat a little, eyes peering ahead as he thought. "I've just... always known."

"Always?"

"Yeah, I guess at first, you know, the first time we were created, it was fun, smashing shit, stealing whatever we wanted, and even fighting the girls," he started, Brick's shoulders straightened. "But when we came back, when... Him brought us back, it got, it got too much."

"The things he made us see, the things he made us do, the things he used to teach us, and obviously, on a personal level, what he... what he did to me," Boomer continued, his voice falling a little at that last part. Brick's jaw only tightened, the memory vivid in his mind.

Boomer was never as... rough around the edges, as Brick and Butch—almost naturally—were. He was softer, and Him never liked that, and he did a few things to try and force that softness out of Boomer. One of them in particular was admittedly... almost sadistic, and Brick had no doubt that was what Boomer was referring to.

"Sometimes... I can still hear those screams..." Boomer breathed out, his hand rubbing the linen coating his arm. "Anyway, I never felt like myself doing any of that, being in that environment. I used to put on an act, pretty convincingly now that I think about it, but, I just did that to survive... so he would leave me alone." Boomer said, eyes now downcast as his hand continued to rub his sleeve.

"So... everything they taught us, you just... none of that stuck with you?" Brick asked tentatively.

Boomer turned to him and simply shook his head. "It felt wrong even back then, all they used to tell us about humans... maybe some of it was true, but they never cared about raising us with proper ideologies or crap like that, we were just weapons to them."

Brick turned into the next road sleekly, almost as though his brain wasn't primarily focused on driving, the bulk of his attention was riveted to Boomer.

"Mojo was, I don't know, he was just obsessed with the girls, I think that's what the scenario was with him. But Him... he's literally the Devil, man."

They were nearing the suburbs now, thankfully there wasn't much traffic, so they were beginning to see a lot of free road ahead of them. It gave Brick the luxury to turn to Boomer, to look directly in his eyes as he said...

"Having any kind of relatability to him, who he is, what he is, that would make me evil." he said, in what sounded just a above a whisper.

The silence that followed seemed almost fitting, because that was the exact sound that filled Brick's head.

"Are you okay Brick?" Boomer's voice brought him back into focus.

Brick realized he wasn't even facing the road, he quickly corrected that, noticing that he'd almost missed a turn.

"Hey," came Boomer's voice again. "They don't define who we are, we're our own people."

"But they... they created us." Brick ventured, voice hollow.

"Yeah well, that's on them or whatever. It's not like we're indebted to them, fuck that. I'm not anyone's fucking toy. We didn't ask to be here." Boomer said more fiercely, frowning uncharacteristically.

"Besides, we're free from them now. Mojo, he can't do shit to us if we're being real, and Him, he can't even get to us, remember? You did that." he continued.

"We all did, the three of us." Brick managed to reply, even though it sounded like the words were coming out on their own.

"Yeah, but it was your plan."

Brick jerked suddenly, hitting the breaks as he missed a turn.

[Rerouting] the map voiced, cutting into the mess that was Brick's head at the moment.

Boomer's face had simmered from soft fury back to worry, he stared at Brick quietly, only mildly acknowledging the car that had to drive around them because of their abrupt stop.

His eyes tepidly followed the car's tail lights before shifting back to Brick, who was staring ahead emptily.

"Brick," he said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You're not evil."

Brick exhaled through his nose, closing his hands even tighter around the wheel. He stared ahead for a few more seconds—in which time Boomer dropped his hand—before looking back as he reversed.

"Bri—"

"It's fine. I'm fine. Sorry for being weird, let's just... play some music like you wanted to." Brick interjected.

Boomer frowned, but set up the Bluetooth anyway as Brick turned into the right street.

It was just a little over twelve minutes before they were finally turning into the girls' street.

[In three-hundred meters, your destination will be on the right]

Came the directory voice on the map.

The closer they got, Boomer could make out someone nearing the sidewalk after exiting the Powerpuff residence.

Brick noticed the person too, and when he slowed to a stop in-front of said residence, he recognized it that it was Buttercup.

Both ruffs stared at her through the car glass, she had her skateboard clutched at her side, looking casual in a green hoodie.

She lightly frowned at the car, seeming to mutter something faintly, before her green streak arced into the sky.

Boomer watched it fade into the dark hue of the night, before turning to Brick, whose eyes were just falling back down as well.

"Guess I'll call them." he said, pulling out his phone.

Bubbles picked on the first ring.

[Heyy,] she greeted cheerfully, which brought a slow smile to Boomer's face.

[Hi, um, we're outside, Brick and I.]

[Oh okay, we'll be out in a sec,] she replied.

[Okay.] he nodded and ended the call.

It was only a little over five minutes after that Boomer saw their front door open. Bubbles was the first to exit, with Blossom in tow after she'd locked the door.

"They look good." Boomer said, curtailing his true thoughts on Bubbles' absolutely gorgeous navy blue dress. "Blossom looks nice with her hair down."

Brick reluctantly turned to see if Boomer was talking them up unfoundedly, and the instant he laid eyes on them, even he had to admit he wasn't.

It wasn't just the fact that her hair was down, it was the way it'd been brushed to near perfection. The way her hair waved down her shoulders was—admittedly—gratifying, and he supposed it was no surprise how natural she looked in her magenta dress.

She looked up as they reached the car, immediately circling it when she caught a glimpse of Brick. He got the idea and redirected his eyes to the road.

"Heyy! Look at your hair!" Bubbles giggled when she got into the car, poking her head to the front to look at Boomer properly.

He smiled at her. "It was my mom's idea, think all I'm missing now is a fluffy kitten."

"And a cigar." she added and Boomer chuckled.

Bubbles smiled, really smiled, at the sound of his laugh, before turning to Brick.

"Ou, you look nice Brick—" she paused, marginally squinting her eyes at him. "—I think this is the first time I've ever seen you without your hat. Ever."

Indeed, Brick had put aside what was practically his signature cap aside for the evening. He wasn't about to wear it to a formal event, that would just be beyond silly…

"Thank you, you, uh, look nice, too." he managed back, and received a thanks from Bubbles.

The door behind him opened, and he went back to looking at the road.

"Hi Boomer, you look really nice." Blossom complimented, shutting her door.

"Thanks! You too." he replied thankfully, and Blossom threw him a "Thank you" as well.

"Okay, are you guys good?" Brick inquired, and got a hum of affirmation from Bubbles.

He shifted the gear back into drive, taking a quick look in the rear-view to find Blossom's eyes riveted to her phone.

He diverted his eyes yet again, and resumed driving, en route to the Morbucks manor.

---

"Are you going to be okay?" Bunny said to Robin, who paced beside her as they headed for the hospital's exit.

"Yeah, I will, don't want to leave Mike alone in the waiting room anyway." Robin answered. She turned to Bunny and grabbed her hand. "Thank you for being here tonight."

Bunny grinned at her, giving her hand a little squeeze. " Of course, not doing anything tonight anyway."

"Are all your sisters out tonight?"

Bunny responded with a nod. "I kinda feel like having a lazy night though, might just watch a movie or something."

"Okay." Robin replied as the automatic glass doors slid open. "What about the party at the skate park?"

"Meh, I'll see if I'm up for it in an hour." Bunny answered.

The girls embraced themselves in a hug before saying their goodbyes. Bunny padded across the hospital car park, drawing out her phone to see of she had any missed texts.

There were a few from Pablo, Bubbles too, as well as a couple people from some of her World Literature classmates. The latest one was from Blossom, so she opened that first.

It was just telling her how the house was empty now, that Boomer had just picked them up.

That was good news! She thought, realizing that meant she had the house to herself for at least 2 hours.

[Okay sure. Good luck!] she replied the text, postfacing it with a heart emoji.

Just as she wanted to open Pablo's text, she got a call.

She stopped right before she got to the sidewalk, the ambient light from a car's front lights brightly illuminated her in the night before it passed by.

She blinked at the name on the screen one more time before answering.

"Hey Bear." she said as casually as she could.

["Hey,"] he replied. ["What are you doing tonight?"]

She'd continued walking when she picked the call, but now she stopped on the sidewalk, again.

"Tonight?" she repeated, and she could almost hear him nod. "Well, I kinda…"

Nothing! You are not doing anything tonight! A voice in her head yelled.

"… nothing." she obeyed. "Nothing, to be honest."

["Cool, want to go to Besrkverse?"] he offered.

There was the briefest of pauses before Bunny replied. "With like, someone from the gang? Or…?"

["No, just us. Feels like it's been a while since we've hung out alone."]

"… yeah, yeah! That's true, uh, I'd love to. Yeah, of-course." she replied, and all of a sudden she was smiling so hard she could feel it in her ears. "Should I meet you there?"

["Naw, just turn around."]

"What?" she said, then obliged his instruction. She knew it was his Mustang driving towards her the instant she laid eyes on it.

She dropped the phone, her smile widening as the car approached. She walked over when it slowed down a bit, the passenger window already sliding down when she reached it.

She looked into the car to see Bear grinning at her from the driver seat.

"Doesn't this technically count as stalking?" she jived.

"You think I've got the stealth to be a stalker? I literally drive a vintage Mustang." he retorted, Bunny chuckled. "Now get in, want to whoop your ass at bowling some more."

Bunny rolled her eyes. "Please, you just had better teammates." she replied, referring back to her birthday.

"How are you going to enjoy the food with all that salt?"

"I hate that you think you're funny, God!" Bunny said with an exaggerated groan.

Bear laughed as she got into the car, his eyes lingering on her as she adjusted her seat belt.

She looked back at him when she was done, his gaze eliciting a bashful smile from her. He returned a smile of his own, before twisting his key in the ignition.

---

"Just us?" Buttercup said, simultaneously exhaling smoke as she passed the blunt to Mitch.

"Kim's inside already, don't think Harry's gonna show. Kim said she was coming with Rose too." Mitch replied.

"They still hangout?" Buttercup arched a brow.

Mitch shrugged, joint-in-mouth.

"Who's Rose?"

They both turned in the direction behind Mitch, where Butch was seated with his back against the barbwire fence that demarcated the skate park from the street.

"She's like the only actual goth in school. Senior, dreads, stoner, et cetera." Mitch answered, passing the blunt back to Buttercup.

Butch's mind flashed back to Joey's party, and Mitch's description loosely fit that of the other girl in the bathroom that day.

"What the fuck is up with you, by the way?" Mitch ventured, flicking his skateboard up into his hands.

Butch looked up at him with a stoic gaze, before springing to his feet himself. "I'm just really high." he replied and pivoted, with intent to join the party.

It was pretty lit, to say the least. Even from the outside the music was blaringly loud, and he could make out a flock of people covered in glow-in-the-dark body paint from here.

"Did you do something?" Buttercup asked, lifting a dubious brow at Butch's retreating back as she flicked away the filter.

Mitch shook his head. "Not that I know. He's been sounding kinda off today."

Buttercup's droopy eyes peered into his back a little longer before she flicked her eyes away, chuckling at the cats she could see getting heated behind a trash can.

---

"There're barely any cars out here." Bubbles said, noticing how scanty the provided parking space was.

"I'm more surprised this Morbucks guy's got a mini car park in his compound." Boomer said, face against the glass as Brick swerved past the angel-sculpted water fountain.

"He's got a mini golf course and a tennis court at the back, this really is nothing... for him." Blossom inputed, her tone dropping slightly at the last two words.

"Most of the people here are probably coming in convoys." Brick suggested, his eyes catching the front gates parting in his rear-view, followed coicidentally by a sleek black convoy that confirmed his guess.

He shut the car off after parking beside a BMW, and they all filed out. Bubbles' eyes were glistening in awe at the beatific aesthetic of the mansion's outer lights.

"Wow." she breathed, eyes flicking from the fountain to the large, flourished garden to her left.

"Your dress fit in there?."

She swiveled to find Boomer behind her, nearing her with a smile. She followed his eyes to her above averagely big handbag, hung firmly on her shoulder.

"Blossom's outfit for her performance too." Bubbles chuckled in reply.

"Girls' handbags are literally like tiny dimensions," Boomer jived, shaking his head.

"That would be ridiculously convenient." Bubbles cooed with imaginative bliss.

Boomer laughed at her expression, stepping up a bit quicker so he could walk beside her.

Bubbles' eyes settled on him, with his hair slicked back she got a clearer view of his side profile, and she noticed his jawline was a bit sharper than she'd realized.

He had an unfair amount of good genetics, like herself, but still he really was...

"You're so cute." she heard herself say before she could stop. And the reality that she'd done it only hit her when his azure eyes were now looking directly into her baby blues.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" she chuckled awkwardly, yet couldn't tear her eyes away from his. "I just think you look... really nice, today." she added, hoping to salvage something from the awkwardness she'd just created.

"I think you look really nice everyday."

Bubbles awkward smile melted at those words, surprise replacing her unease.

"And I think you're cute too, more than cute actually, you're one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen." Boomer said, in an unshakingly gentle voice, smiling all the while.

Bubbles smile crawled back up to her lips, in a way that made her look uncharacteristically shy.

Her lips then parted, with the grin still lining the sides of her mouth. "Um, thank you."

"Just facts." Boomer shrugged.

Bubbles tittered again, before whipping her eyes away from him, almost embarrassed at the fact that she couldn't stop smiling.

Boomer's smile strangely looked a bit... sadder, as he stared at her turned head of hair, but he shifted his gaze back to the Manor without another word nonetheless.

Behind them, there wasn't much chatter going on. Brick had his eyes forward and his hands stuffed into his pockets, his camera dangling around his neck as he silently surveyed the Manor. He could see the bouncers letting in a couple as they got closer to the building itself.

Blossom screened the area, mainly focused on the pathway that laned left towards the Manor's Grand doors—flanked by two ostentatiously serious bouncers.

A few meters from the lane, gathered together like a herd of cows around the fountain, were numerous camera men. Press was natural, Blossom deemed, for an event of this caliber.

Boomer and Bubbles came into view at the doors behind a tall lady who Boomer swore was Charlize Theron.

The bouncers took one look at them, then the one on the left signified they enter, extending the action to Brick and Blossom behind them.

Sara was waiting for them in the foyer, having been informed of their arrival. Her hand was propped statuesquely on her hip, smiling as she caught sight of the familiar pair of blondes and redheads.

"Ms Bellum!" Bubbles beamed.

"Hey there," Sara grinned. "You girls look stunning."

"More could be said about you." Blossom ventured with a smile. Eyes passing over Sara's very familiar looking midnight blue dress.

"Boys—" Sara said over the girls' heads, which was no easy feat considering they were both on heels. But a woman of tall stature herself, Sara's own heels kept her eyes above them easily enough.

"—you look quite charming yourselves."

The boys both looked up, having let the girls be the ones to greet Sara while they stayed somewhat backward. Boomer's formality, though, had vanished now that she'd spoken to them.

"Thank you Ms Bellum! This place looks amazing!" Boomer beamed like his counterpart before him, eyes glazing over as he arched his head up to stare at the grandiose chandelier that hung in the middle of the foyer ceiling.

And he hadn't even talked about the ceiling paintings.

Brick was stiff after his brother's reply, wondering how he should acknowledge Sara.

"Thank you, Mayor Bellum." he finally said.

"Oh don't be so serious dear, we won't be so formal for much longer." Sara responded, throwing him an almost cryptic smile.

Brick seemed slightly surprised by her comment, and in-fact, so did Blossom.

"Let's get you three backstage," Sara said before Blossom could open her mouth to speak. "Brick, Giuseppe will take you to your reserved seat in the hall, though I imagine you won't be doing much sitting.

Brick followed her pointed fingers to see a middle aged man in a suit approaching him.

"Giuseppe, of-course." Brick said with a blank face. He fell into step behind him either ways, quickly checking his camera that hung from his neck.

"See you later man!" Boomer raised as he followed the girls behind Ms Bellum.

Brick turned back just before he lost them in the hallway he was heading towards. "Yeah, goodluck man." he replied, just as Bubbles turned as well.

He paused, then…

"You too." he said to Bubbles with a raised hand he hoped was a good enough substitute for a wave.

"Thanks Brick!" Bubbles threw him a smile, actually waving before she disappeared around corner.

---

Butch silently toked on a joint, sitting by himself atop one of the smaller ramps. He'd separated from Mitch and Buttercup when they said they'd wanted to go mix in with the other skaters.

There were easily forty-plus people here, maybe more, UV lights were arranged in surprisingly organized fashion on the fence surrounding the skatepark. Towards the entrance was where the DJ had a small set up, with flashing multi-color lights ringed around her speakers.

A few people were skating, others we getting high, and some people were doing both. Butch inhaled another drag as the girl on the discs cut the song playing, before a tune he knew all the well loudly permeated the air.

The park went into uproar at recognition of the beat, and Butch managed a dinky smirk as Gunna's Sold Out Dates blasted through the speakers, before flicking his eyes towards the taller ramps, where he could see Mitch carve down at speed before doing a kickflip as he reached the top.

He stuck a perfect landing with an ecstatic laugh before someone breezed past him. He smirked down at Buttercup's retreating form, watching as she carved down the ramp, before spinning a perfect McTwist when she rolled up to the top.

She received lauding howls from everyone around the ramp, including Mitch. She skated back down the ramp, flipping her board over, before doing a tailside on a ledge to the left.

She carved around the ramp, and could already see Mitch doing the same from the other side.

"Blunt me." She said once he was close enough, putting an awaiting hand out.

Mitch proceeded to pat himself all over, before looking back up at her with a shake of the head. "Mine's out, Butch should still have some."

"Yo Mitchelson! Skate-off on concussion ramp!" A voice a few meters from them bellowed, they both turned to see a guy whose eyes were barely visible under his snapback.

"You're on motherfucker!" Mitch shrieked in elation, flicking his board up into his hands and sprinting to the tallest ramp, his challenger right beside him.

"Mitch chill! Go get the weed for me!" Buttercup yelled after him fruitlessly. She released a semi-irritated huff as he and the guy—that she realized she recognized from Mitch's trailer park—disappeared in the mix of wilding teenagers.

She released another huff, then shifted her eyes over to where she and Mitch left Butch, he was still there, in the middle of rolling up a joint.

"Ugh... what the hell." she resigned, pivoting towards him with her board clutched to her side.

Butch looked up when he was done tightening the blunt, and watched with slightly bemused eyes as Buttercup approached him.

"You gonna light that up?" she said straightly.

Butch blinked, as if trying to register the reality that she was actually talking to him.

"Yeah, I... you can have it you know? I just killed one by myself." he said, offering her the blunt.

"Is it out?" Buttercup asked.

Butch stuffed his free hand in his pocket, then nodded.

"Do you still wanna get baked?"

He paused, then nodded again, slowly.

"So light it up Butch." she said with finality, dropping her board beside his and sitting beside him on the ramp.

Butch blinked again, then obliged her request and sparked his lighter.

"So—"

"I'm here because you've got weed, not because I want to have a conversation." She interjected.

Butch glanced at her, and took the first hit in silence.

---

Bear watched with unreadable shock from the seats up their lane as Bunny hit a third strike in a row, sealing her victory.

"Are you kidding?." he muttered to himself as Bunny spun and popped her hips, rubbing her victory in his face with a Milly Rock.

Bear shook his head, but couldn't get himself to stop smiling. He sprung up and met a still visibly gloating Bunny in-front of the bowling lane.

"I mean I knew I would kick your ass, but a sweep?" Bunny said with a 'tsk'. "That was embarrassing."

"Fuck off." Bear retorted petulantly, playfully shoving past her as he made his way to the Food Area. Bunny laughed and walked up to him, surprising him a bit as she linked her arm in his.

"Not so long ago I was the one getting accused of being a sore loser." she teased.

"What do you want to eat?" Bear asked with a chuckle.

"Deflecting now?"

"I'm minutes away from walking out the front doors."

Bunny laughed as they reached one of only two two-sitters in the area. She plopped down after Bear and immediately swiped the menu for a glance.

"You know you're paying right?" she said, staring at him over said menu.

"What happened to equality?" Bear arched a brow with an open questioning hand.

"Financial limitations for women cause of the patriarchy." Bunny answered with a similarly stark expression.

"Touché."

Bunny laughed again, dropping the menu to the table this time as she surveyed it.

Bear watched her in silence, eyes riveting to her lips as she sucked the lower one in—which she tended to do whenever she was in thought. Her hair was held up freely today, not in her usual two puffs. Her usually black septum ring was currently substituted for a silver one. She was mindlessly bopping her head to the tune emanating softly from the arcade speakers—Bear recognized the song as one of Britney's.

She looked effortlessly beautiful, like she always did, Bear thought. Her glistening skin, her perfectly measured full lips, her—

"The combo! Definitely that, it's got extra cheese." Bunny proclaimed, bringing him back to Earth. "Now you can have a look too." she said, handing him the menu.

He took it as casually as he could muster, running his eyes through it quickly. "Think I'm just gonna get some fries."

"Boring."

"Economic," he retorted. "Drink?"

"Milkshake!" Bunny gleamed, Bear tittered.

"Oreo? Strawberry? Chocolate?" he asked.

"Whatever you're getting."

"What if I don't want a milkshake?"

"Sounds like a you problem." Bunny replied, waving the waiter over.

Bear shook his head, his smile inveterate as they made their orders, with them both indeed ordering an Oreo milkshake as their drinks.

"I thought you'd be at the Cager tonight." Bear said, initiating conversation.

"Social battery's kinda low today." she replied, leaning forward with her arms on the table.

"She said, after a round of bowling in an arcade." Bear smirked.

"Please, you were practically on your knees begging me to come here." she said with an eye roll.

"Translation, I saved you from a mind numbingly boring night."

"Binging Game of Thrones with a bucket of ice-cream by my side isn't boring by any classification."

Bear made a face. "Why would ice-cream be your snack choice watching something as nasty at GoT? Putting it softly."

"It's my comfort snack, besides, I like keeping things wet." she smirked.

Bear gaped in exaggerated astonishment, which elicited a laugh from Bunny as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"So all that straight-laced hero shit ends when the cameras go off huh?" he teased as Bunny reach over to punch him.

Bear laughed along with her, putting his hands behind his head, balancing it before loosening a few knots as he rolled it around.

Bunny's eyes riveted to his arms, watching the way his biceps swelled because of their position, she could get used to him wearing short-sleeves, she really could.

She liked his hair down too—mind flashing back to the Battle of the Bands—but didn't mind how he wore it up. It gave her an unobstructed view of his face, from his near sculpted-looking jaw to the silver hoops that hung in both his lobes. He was almost pretty, it wasn't enough to just call him good looking, don't even get her started on his voice—

"Think I want to get a new tat, a small one though, don't know where yet." he said, dropping his arms and rocking Bunny out of her musings.

"What do you want to get?" she mustered, hopefully with no hint of awkwardness.

Bear shrugged. "I just kind of let that happen, it'll come to me."

Bunny nodded in understanding, eyes flicking to his left arm, where his other tattoo was located. She grabbed said arm and stretched it over the table to get a better view.

Her eyes passed over the ink, taking note of every intricate detail. It was mostly a writing, with three tiny butterflies surrounding it. She could tell it was obviously a quote, and it was in French. She rubbed her fingers over it tenderly, as though she could actually wipe it off if she wasn't careful.

"What does it mean?" she finally asked, lifting her eyes to look into his.

"We say that time is a great teacher. It's too bad it kills all its students." he answered.

There was a short silence between them as she took in his answer, textured by the faint sound of laughing children behind them at the game machines, as well as bowling pins that were continuously knocked over in the distance.

She released a soft chuckle. "You really are pretentious as fuck." she said, her eyes falling back to his arm.

Bear's lips curved into a smile at her response, looking to his arm himself as she pokily withdrew her hands from it.

"I wish we met earlier." she said suddenly, randomly.

Bear blinked, shifting up on his seat a bit.

"This might sound weird, but it just feels like... like you're supposed to've always been here. With me, you and your mom."

Bear stared at her intently as the words flowed out of her mouth, while she mindlessly drew out a loose thread from the cuff her flannel.

"I'm not sure if that makes any sense," she said with a short laugh. "I guess it's normal, that I feel connected to you, to her, but I've still never even met her, so I guess..." she trailed off, but it wasn't quiet for long.

"I understand."

She looked up.

"I used to think about you all the time. Whenever I saw you and your sisters on TV, I would get kind of jealous, because it was supposed to be us, me and you." Bear said to an arrested Bunny. "And my mom, it felt like you were stolen from us." he added.

Bunny's hands were now both smoothing over imaginary lines on her flannel as she let Bear's reply sink in. She used to think about him too, about them, all the time. She'd even had multiple dreams...

She always felt a certain disconnect from something she could never pinpoint when she was growing up, and this wasn't to say she felt like an outsider in her family… at least not anymore. They were her family, the girls were her sisters, and the Professor was her dad, but... she could never shake the feeling that something was missing, something only the missing pieces themselves could help her find, by meeting her.

"Though," Bear started again, getting back her attention. "Now that I've met you, I'm a little glad things happened the way they did."

Bunny arched her brows. "Really? Why?"

Bear looked uncharacteristically bashful all of a sudden. "I mean, if you'd stayed, we'd have probably been raised as siblings."

Bunny's eyes marginally widened. He was right, if she'd stayed with them, and had been raised by Olivia Venus, then right now, she'd technically be Bear's sister.

"Oh wow, I never even thought about that," she said, flicking her eyes away from him momentarily, before bringing them back with a grin. "I'm a pretty awesome sibling you know, you sure you'd never take that option?"

"No way." he replied without missing a beat, in a tone that was so stark it actually took Bunny off-guard.

And with the intensity of his gaze on her seeming to have spiked in that moment, now Bunny was the one looking bashful.

"I'll try not to take that personally," she managed to say, failing to sound casual as she cleared her throat after a failed laugh.

Bear pursed his lips, realizing he came off much more serious than he intended. He also deduced that it was too late to rectify it, so he stayed quiet, hoping he hadn't messed this up.

'Messed what up?' he thought to himself, but didn't get an answer to that either, so he stayed quiet.

"You... you know how it happened, don't you?" Bunny said, breaking the silence.

"How what happened?" Bear inquired.

"How my dad... took me from your mom."

Bear—literally—froze.

"I'm not angry if you do, not at all, I could have asked when I first told you about this." Bunny followed up, putting him at ease. "It's not your responsibility to tell me anyway, I just... like how much do you know, exactly?"

Bear paused a second longer, before answering...

"The conversation they had, right before he took you. I… woke up, before you did."

Bunny nodded slowly. "Is it okay if I ask about that?"

"You can ask about anything you want."

She nodded again, eyes perusing the poster-like table cloth of the table, before they slowly rose back up to Bear. "Okay... okay. Um, so after you woke up, until I was taken, just tell me... everything."

Bear was the one who nodded this time.

"Okay."

---

Brick was only sat for about fifteen minutes before the first group of performers were called up onto the stage, he excused himself from the table, which was mostly vacant save for four overly-expensive looking people, he imagined the extra three seats were reserved for his brother and the girls.

The hall was quite big, Brick thought as he arced around some tables to get a better angle of the seated crowd. The caramel themed décor really ignited the room, he even noted the swirl designed marble floor and was almost tempted to float up to get a full shot.

The applause died down, directing Brick's attention to the stage where a costumed man ran out onto it and began exclaiming some lines. Seemed it was a play being performed first on the night, he took a few shots of the man, and the equally costumed woman who joined him on the stage soon after.

He sauntered over to the vendor displays, where said vendors where either stood or seated behind the row of scrumptious looking food. He got some more candid shots of the people in the audience, and of the performance they were focusing on.

Another quick scan of the room made him realize he was one of just three people in this room with a camera—excluding the one guy with a video camera near the stage. Considering the amount of paparazzi he saw outside, 'limited access' didn't even suffice when he thought about how lucky he was to be in this room.

Speaking of, he still hadn't caught sight of Jean Morbucks, or Oliver Karlsson. Though, in fairness, he hadn't roamed near the stage, where he took a wild guess that the prominent—even amongst this crowd—figures were seated.

His eyes soared over the sea of heads to the area he identified just now, he stared, then shifted his eyes away.

'Just focus on what you're here to do', he told himself. There was no rush, and no need to look desperate, he reminded himself, before tilting his camera for another shot.

---

"Man, this guy's loaded," Boomer thought out loud, adjusting his bow-tie in the mirror. "Who has an event hall in their house? And backstage changing rooms." he chuckled, smoothing out his blue dress shirt, before he folded the one he'd come in into his duffel bag.

His loafers followed, having momentarily replaced them with his dancing shoes. He pushed his bag under the vanity cabinet, before springing back up animatedly and pointing at the mirror.

He turned to view his other side, before miming one of his hands as an imaginary mic.

"Pressure pushing down on me! Pressure down on you, no man ask for!" he sung, sliding back and pointing with his other hand now.

"Under pressure that burns a building down! Splits a family in two... puts people in streets." he continued, humming as 'dropped the mic' and smoothed out his shirt.

The cheers and applause from the crowd faintly seeped into the room, making Boomer take a breath.

He was a little more nervous, but that was less about the audience awaiting him and more about the girl he would be performing with in-front of them.

His smile faltered a little at that thought. He kept thinking back to the party, and what he'd seen, and how sobering the reality that hit him had been.

But there was nothing he could do about it, that was a lesson he'd already learnt in the past, now he only had himself to blame for making the same mistake.

He puffed his cheeks and softly slapped the air out of them before shaking his arms in a bid to physically shake the last of his nerves out.

"Tonight's about the performance." he said to himself in the mirror. "Can't mess that up too, right?" he smiled again, giving his reflection a fist bump.

He exited his changing room, seeing a group of costumed people down the hallway, peeking at the performance from their peers from behind the curtains.

A few of them caught sight of him and waved, which he found a bit odd, but he did wave back.

He got to Bubbles changing room and rose his hand, he closed it, waited a second, then knocked.

"Come in!" came Bubbles' muffled voice from inside, he pushed the door open.

"Hi!" she pitched with a smile, looking at him through the mirror.

"Hi." he greeted back with a beam, shutting the door and sauntering towards her. "Done?"

"Mhm. Just trying to get my hair in a ponytail," she answered, stretching a band in one hand, grabbing her hair at her crown in the other.

"I know you said this guy was rich, but I didn't know you meant Italian butler rich." Boomer jived, standing behind as he watched her work with her hair.

"He's also multiple advanced weapons stored on a remote island rich." Bubbles replied, huffing she failed to stuff in all her hair in the band.

"Fuck off?"

"I'm serious." Bubbles chuckled. "Princess literally had a supersuit when were younger."

"Okay, now I am so curious about her villain origin story."

Bubbles chuckled again. "She actually wanted to be one of us, but she was a bit too... privileged, I think, so she didn't really get why we did we what did for the city, for the people."

"So she built a supersuit out of spite?" Boomer laughed.

"No seriously it was vicious, you could tell it was tailor-made after our powers."

"Crazy." Boomer said, still snickering. "Nervous?"

"Kinda," she answered honestly. "You?"

"Same."

"That's good."

"It is?" he smirked with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, we've got each other," she said, and that feeling he thought he'd gotten rid of swirled to life in Boomer's chest. "We'll balance ourselves out." she finished, smiling at him.

"Yeah," he breathed out. "yeah, we will."

Bubbles huffed, with a bit of irritation as her hair fell out of her hand again, Boomer blinked at her in the mirror, then took his hands out of his pockets.

"Let me help." he said, gently grabbing her hair already.

Bubbles impalpably jerked at the near-electric tinge she felt when his fingers brushed against hers. She dropped her hand slowly, keeping her other one in the air only long enough for Boomer to take the band from it.

The first thing he did was finger-comb some hair out of his grip, Bubbles watched in silence as some of her blond curls fell, framing her face.

In one swift motion, he swept the rest of her hair into the band, twisted it, and did it again.

He had a feel to ensure the level of tightness at her crown, before dropping his hands to the top of her chair and looking through the mirror into her dazed eyes.

"That was so smooth," Bubbles grinned, not wanting to let even a second more of silence pass.

"Having Brick for a brother helps with practice," Boomer chuckled, loosely citing his brother's hair.

"Um, how do I look?" Bubbles asked, tearing her eyes away from him to look at herself.

Boomer was already looking at her, so he kept at it, peering over her ensemble, from the long v-neck black dance dress—shimmering at her hips—to the tiny choker hugging her neck, embellished with diamond-shaped marbles.

"You look beautiful." he answered bravely, and was put at so much ease when Bubbles lips upturned into a beam.

"Thank you Boomer... is it weird to say you look beautiful too?"

"Gender coding in 2018? What do you take me for?"

They shared a laugh as a knock sounded on the door.

"Yeah?" Bubbles answered, swiveling her head to it.

A female backstage coordinator poked her head through, throwing them both a friendly smile.

"You guys are on in ten."

"Okay." the blondes echoed as she shut the door.

"So he's also backstage coordinator rich?" Boomer jokingly inquired.

"Looks like it." Bubbles chuckled.

"Ready?" he smiled down at her.

"Yeah." she answered before finally standing up, smoothing out her dress—a motion which Boomer's eyes followed intently—before turning to face him.

"Ready."

They could see Blossom in the midst of some of the theater performers behind the curtain when they exited Bubbles' changing room, she'd likely just joined them. They were peering through the only conveniently big parting in the curtain where they could stay out of the audience's view.

Blossom caught some movement in her peripheral vision and turned to see the blondes approaching, she threw a smile their way.

"You ready?" She directed to Bubbles.

"Doesn't really matter now." She answered, coming to a stop beside her sister. She scanned the crowd through the parting and allowed herself a deep inhale, then exhaled slowly.

She felt a hand grab hers, and she followed the motion to see Blossom with an even more encouraging smile. She returned it, interlocking her fingers with Blossom's.

"What about you Boomer?" Blossom asked.

From Bubbles' other side, Boomer simply shrugged. "Ready as ever, no matter what happens, we've got each other out there." He replied, confidently.

Bubbles directed her beam at him this time, and she got a classic Boomer simper in return.

Ten minutes later, the whole theater group was on stage, collectively bowing to the applause of the crowd at the end of their play.

The superpowered beings showed their support from behind the curtain as well, dishing out congratulatory compliments as the actors filed off the stage as the applause began to die down.

Boomer watched Ms Bellum saunter up the stage, taking his hands out of his pockets when she began to address the crowd. Blossom and Bubbles were signing a couple autographs behind him, which he found kind of wild, that so many of these people—who looked in their late twenties or early thirties—were fans of the Powerpuff girls.

For all he knew though, there were probably a few of them in that number who owed their lives to the girls. He could hear some foreign accents amongst them, and almost just remembered that the girls were now popular globally, not just within Townsville like he used to know them to be.

Sometimes he really did forget that they'd been doing their thing since they were five years old.

He felt Bubbles come up beside him, and nothing needed to be said as Ms Bellum announced their performance.

He looked down to see Bubbles smiling up at him already.

"Goodluck you guys!"

They turned to the voice to see Blossom giving them a double Thumbs Up. Bubbles chuckled while Boomer smiled in appreciation.

They turned back towards the stage and moved forward in unison.

Leaning on a pillar closer to the crowd's mid-section now, Brick watched on in anticipation as Boomer and Bubbles took the stage, a-ways in-front of the set up piano closer to the curtain, where the pianist was awaiting her cue.

He joined the crowd to applaud them as they stopped to face each other in the middle of said stage.

He'd decided he could take a brief pause from taking pictures, subconsciously passing his eyes over the crowd in search for the two men he was most concerned with here. When he didn't find them still, he returned his attention to the stage.

The hall quieted down as Boomer raised his hand in-front of him. Bubbles slowly raised hers to touch his and looked right into his eyes.

He stayed there, losing himself in her orbs, and it was by sheer muscle memory when they both side-stepped to their lefts as the piano's acoustic began to fill the air.

---

John exhaled a wide-mouthed yawn after letting himself sink into the chair, having just exited the control center. Finally, finally he was going to get some days off.

Off coming to the Lab at least.

There was a pack of Level 6 monsters swamped by The Shield right now, and they were being repelled efficiently, meaning the Defense System was working at maximum—for now at least—capacity after exactly four launches.

Which meant home.

He released another semi-yawn and clicked his office computer into life. The next fifteen or so minutes were spent inspecting new project models and proposals, making sure he wouldn't have anything would need his attention, or approval, overlapping into tomorrow.

it was simply comical that he yawned again when he was done, so much so that a quiet chuckle seeped out of his throat.

His eyes widened a bit at the sound of a knock on his door, mostly as a reaction to get himself to stop dozing off.

"Come in." he granted, and his door pushed open.

John knitted his brows, bemused. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Great to see you too man." Frank grinned. "Came to pick up a few documents, got to make sure I don't forget anything before the trip."

"Still going to Kansas for Thanksgiving?" John inquired, sitting up a bit and mindlessly scratching at his eyes.

"Yeah, Sandra's old man's been pestering her all year. It'll be nice for the kids to see him again though," Frank answered, taking one of the seats opposite John.

"What about you? Got any special plans for the holidays?"

"Not this holiday." John replied, closing a tab before giving Frank his full attention. "So really though, what are you doing here?"

Frank's demeanor simmered down a bit, taking on an atypically serious visage.

"The project."

John was completely awake now. "Were you able to find anything?"

"Can't find what's been erased from our log." John's expression bespoke his confusion so Frank continued. "I spoke to Tom and Andrew, got them to rake up our records on Aquatic Monster Probation through the last five years."

And?"

"And they found nothing."

John furrowed his brows, his confusion still prominent. "That's impossible, Amphibian was one of our longest-running projects, wasn't it?"

Frank nodded. "It was, which is why I'm suddenly a bit interested myself, and I also have a hunch on why you wanted info on the project."

John stared at his colleague silently, an action Frank returned. John shifted his eyes to the side, propping his elbows on the table and placing a hand on his mouth.

That hand slowly slipped down to his chin, eyes still peering aimlessly.

"Even in the event of discontinuation of a project, the only person dignified to erase, or privatize the data collected on said project…"

"Is a Deputy Director." Frank finished.

Now John looked at him, and knew instantly that they were thinking the same thing.

"But… Olivia's the D.D for operations, not research." John ventured, not wanting to allow his theorizing mind wander in the direction it was going.

"While Larry's still on-site in Russia, the available D.D has paramount control over what happens with Lab records, from both units." Frank informed.

John dropped his hand from his chin then, eyes falling away from Frank, then rising back to him.

"Even at that, to erase a project from the log would require authorization from the Lab Director." he said.

Steve Brisbane was said Lab Director, and for all John knew, he didn't have a reason to authorize such, as he was someone who strictly adhered to protocol.

"Exactly." Frank monotoned.

John sat back into his chair, arms now loosely folded as his mind ran with several possible scenarios.

Was something about the project related to the Rowdyruff boys? And if so, why does no single A.L.D know about it?

Did that explain their monster fighting prowess?

Did Olivia have any connection to it? Those were her sons after all…

Was she… trying to hide something? And how was Steve involved in any of this?

"Pretty sure you're echoing some of the same questions I asked myself when I found out." Frank said, pulling John from his musings.

Frank didn't have any business with the Rowdyruffs, John knew that much. But he supposed even he would be curious as to what Olivia's reasons could be for erasing the project.

"Were the records still intact four months ago?" John asked, Frank nodded.

"Had Tom confirm that they were still on the log in early August."

John pursed his lips, Olivia arrived in late August.

"I see." he managed. This was a curve he wasn't expecting this situation to take, even if he had a minute nagging feeling it might have.

Now he didn't even know where to begin.

"What do you want to do now?" Frank asked.

A few seconds passed before John weakly responded…

"I… I don't know."

---

Buttercup exhaled smoke into the air, bopping her head to the music as the skaters raged on. She perused the scene, eyes on concussion ramp where Mitch was competing with a different person now.

A few more hits and she'd probably head over there as well, he was looking pretty smug so it was only right she kicked his ass to humble him a bit.

"Yo Butch!"

She swiveled to the voice to see a couple guys—from the basketball team, she recognized—making their way towards her direction.

"What's up Buttercup," one greeted. Buttercup obliged him with a grin and a fist bump. Extending the courtesy to the other one as well—who was one of the many people here covered in body paint.

"Can I hit that?" the second one asked. Buttercup looked to Butch who nodded before she passed the joint.

"What's up?" Butch asked the first guy.

"I got a little something for you," he smirked, drawing something out of his pocket and passing it to Butch. The ruff took it with a look of curiosity.

Buttercup glanced at it as well, and nothing was ever hard to see with her Telescopic vision.

It was a tiny, transparent bag, housing four different-colored pills. Butch pocketed it before she could inspect it further.

"This from Haz?" Butch asked in a slightly more blithe tone, the guy nodded a confirmation. "Nice, you know if Rodney's here?"

The guy pointed towards the entrance of the skate park where the DJ was set up. "Think he's over there with Skylar."

"Speaking of Skylar," the second guy said with a grin, bending down to fix his laces while keeping his eyes on Butch. "Word on the street is you guys got nasty at Joey's party."

Butch arched a confused brow as the first guy laughed.

"Holy shit! I forgot, heard you even slated Ashley that night you whore. King shit!" he said, boisterously slapping a catatonic Butch on the shoulder.

Buttercup rolled her eyes, not even willing to deign this painfully typical guy conversation with her input.

"Who's Skylar?" Butch toned.

"This guy," the guy shook his head as the other one laughed.

"I'm serious, who is she? What does she look like?"

Their laughter died down at Butch's lack of amusement. "Uh... tall? For a girl. She's got a lip piercing. Dyes her hair every three weeks or some shit, but I think her hair's… blue? Right now?"

"Yeah, it is." the second guy confirmed, passing the joint back to Buttercup as he stood up. "I'm rollin' man, later guys." he proffered, and indeed rolled away on his skateboard.

"Pop one of those man, you'll have a fucking night." the guy said before dropping his skateboard and rolling right behind his friend.

"Guys and their scintillating conversations." Buttercup said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Almost want to give that guy props for describing Skylar without talking about her tits."

She took one more hit and passed the joint to Butch without turning, it was almost out anyway, and she was getting pretty baked.

When she was still holding it two seconds later, she whirled a confused look on Butch, who sprung up from the ramp instantly.

Her bemusement only grew when he walked past her, leaving his board behind. He looked… pissed, all of a sudden.

Buttercup watched on as Butch marched with an aggressive gait, fists clenched as he stormed towards the people gathered in-front of the DJ...

~End: Ch. 7~