I do not own the Power Puff Girls or the Rowdy Ruff Boys.

Chapter Eight: Relationship Status

The night was cool with its light breeze that wrapped itself around the two blond superhumans. Bubbles' fingers were entwined with Boomer's with the hand that was draped over her shoulder. Their hold on one another made it clear that the two of them cared deeply for one another. Having driven rather than flown, Boomer led Bubbles to his sports car. The sight of something so relatively flashy next to the other college student cars made Bubbles giggle.

"What?"

Shining crystal blue eyes looked up at her boyfriend. "Your car…and Brick's," she added after catching sight of Brick's similarly flashy car, "they kind of stand out. I'm surprised you two actually kept your cars."

"Hey, a car is a car." Boomer said as he pressed the button to unlock it. "You know, Butch is still a bit sore that you smashed his ride."

"He deserved it." Bubbles told him unrepentant as she climbed into the car.

Boomer chuckled as he pulled out of his space and slowly made his way out of the complex and back to campus. His radio was playing random pop songs that neither were really listening too. As they were driving down the road, slightly crowded from it being the weekend, Boomer noticed a drug store. Without really thinking about it, he maneuvered across the lanes and pulled into the parking lot. Bubbles gave him a questioning stare as he cut the engine. "Boomer?" she called when he got out the car without a word.

He paused and then leaned over so that he could look at her though the open door. It was probably very presumptuous of him for what he was about to do, but he felt it was worth the risk. "We need condoms."

Whatever reaction he was expecting, it most definitely wasn't her letting out a shocked giggle. "Expect no interruptions or mishaps tonight?"

It was said as a joke, but Boomer took it seriously. "Mojo already chewed me out for a hole I left in the shower wall a while ago."

Confusion graced Bubbles, face before Boomer gave her long look that made her face flush a pink so bright it was visible in the light coming through the windshield. "Oh!"

He nodded his head. "I'll be right back."

Bubbles nods as she watches Boomer make his way inside. Sitting in the car, she bit her lip and was reminded that she still hadn't talked to Boomer about listening to his dumb brothers about private matters. Part of her knew that the boys' dynamic was based on having no one but each other, but it still bothered her how easy it was for Boomer to be affected by them. She wasn't sure how long she was mulling over it when the car door suddenly opened, and Boomer sat in the driver's seat with a somewhat pleased smile on his face. The smile was short lived as he turned to Bubbles and took in her pinched expression. "What?"

"Can it wait till we get to the dorm?" she asked.

Boomer stared at her for a moment, before he nodded. The rest of their journey was quiet save for the softly playing radio. As they made their way to the campus, Boomer kept glancing at Bubbles' profile as she stared out the window. Once they made their way to the dorms' parking lot, Boomer turned to Bubbles, but she quickly got out of the car and waited on the sidewalk for him to follow. Only growing more concerned with her continued silence.

"Bubbles," he called to her once he stood beside her. "what's wrong?"

Turning to her boyfriend, Bubbles saw the cluelessness that was awash his face. She also took in the slight tilt of his head that made him look very much like a puppy. The sight of this softened her features and had her reaching up to brush some of his grown-out hair from his eyes. "Let's get inside, okay?"

She then took his hand and led him inside. After Boomer was checked in by the RA, the two made their way up to her dorm. Once she unlocked it and entered, she quickly turned away from the sight of one of her roommates in a very tight, very intimate, very naked embrace. She turned her face into Boomer's chest. Boomer's own face flushed red, at the couple having sex and very loudly slammed the door behind him. The couple startled with the girl shrieking and her boyfriend, pulling out and reaching for his pants.

"Hey! Sorry about that." The guy said while Boomer pointedly kept his eyes on the guys face.

Boomer nodded and quickly directed him and Bubbles to her room. The moment the door closed Boomer heard the two of them speaking softly before they having enough decency to move into their own room, thankfully on the other side of the four room complex. Within their own room, Bubbles was trying to cool the heat from her face, when she heard Boomer start laughing behind her.

"I figured I'd walk in on our siblings having sex before anyone else." He laughed as he dropped the bag with the condoms on her desk. He then sat on her bed and pulled her into his arms. "My highest bet would be on Butch and Buttercup."

Bubbles was brought out of the shocked stupor by Boomer's mention of their siblings. She rested her hands on his shoulders and pulled back from his so she could look him in the eye. "Can I ask you something?"

Boomer felt the mood change and felt his brow furrow. "Yeah, about what?"

Bubbles sighed and braced herself for the awkwardness this conversation was going to bring. "About your dumb brothers getting into your head."

Now Boomer, truly felt confusion as he didn't know what Bubbles what talking about. "What are you talking about?"

This time, Bubbles' face flushed red as she closed her eyes. It was vain attempt to make saying what she had to say easier. "Remember that thing you tried, and I totally freaked out?"

Now it was Boomer's turn to flush. "Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. I'm really sorry about that."

"Yeah, you should be. I mean…" she took a shuddering breath in. "If you wanted to do that, you should've said something."

"Well, I didn't think I wanted to until—."

"Until your brothers said something, I bet?" Bubbles finished.

There was no denying that he'd once again fallen prey to his brothers' teasing and suggestions. "Okay, but catch this. When we have sex how many different things can you say that we've done?"

That shocked Bubbles into silence. She honestly never thought about it as she always really enjoyed having sex with Boomer, but she'd told him she wasn't with him because of the sex. "Does that really matter?"

"Can you answer me, please?" Boomer plead, keeping his hands on her waist.

Bubbles fell into another silence. This time she did think about the "different" things they did when they had sex. Missionary. Cowgirl. Missionary in her room. In the orchard. Cowgirl in the orchard. In the car. "Boomer, we've done different things."

"Name them."

"We've had sex in the car. Had sex in the orchard. In my room." She listed.

"Those are just places." Boomer sighed. "I've thought about the different positions and things we've done, and found that we haven't a whole lot. We've only done missionary and cowgirl."

Hearing Boomer say that rubbed her wrong and Bubbles tried to pull away, but Boomer held tight to her.

"Wait, I'm not saying I don't like it, but—."

"But?"

Boomer pulled Bubbles closer so that he was able to press his face into the cleavage of her shirt. He groaned and the vibrations rippled through her chest tickling her. "I want to explore more with you."

"Explore?"

"Yeah." Boomer told her looking up at her with bright cobalt eyes. "I mean, try different positions. Try different things."

"Like what, sticking your tongue between my legs?" she asked, feeling hot and a bit uncomfortable.

Boomer smiled a bit and nodded. "Yeah. Don't you want to know what that feels like?"

"I think that'd be weird." Bubbles said.

"Why?"

Bubbles squirmed a little and tried once again to pull away from Boomer, but he linked his fingers behind her back. "You'd be putting your tongue where you put your penis. It's also where I pee from."

"We can take a shower together." Boomer suggested. "Make it all nice and clean before I go down."

"Will you shave me as well?" Bubbles asked, somehow managing to maintain eye contact. "Because I'm not completely hairless."

"Neither am I." Boomer quipped, still not seeing a reason to not try something new. "Look, we can try it once, and if you still don't like it, we won't have to do it again."

"Okay." Bubbles still seemed hesitant and that bothered Boomer. He didn't want her to have doubts when it came to their intimacy. "Will I have to suck your dick?"

"I wouldn't mind if you did." Boomer told her honestly. What guy wouldn't want a blowjob? "But only if you want to. I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do."

His words were a comfort, but she still felt stung by him saying that they hadn't done w whole lot as far as sex went. She told him that the sex was nice between him and he practically took it as an insult, not the compliment it was. It also made her feel like she was…boring. "I think I'm going to take a shower." She used her super strength then to break away from Boomer and turned to grab a clean set of underwear and her pajamas.

"Want to shower together?" Boomer asked, as he watched her move about her room.

"Umm, I have to shave my legs." She said as she escaped into the bathroom. She even locked the door behind her and took a shuddering breath. Figuring that Boomer might be listening, she turned on the shower and the vent to stop the room from getting too humid. The combined sounds would hopefully drown out her sniffling as she cried.

Big, stupid dummy. She thought as she stripped and placed herself under what would be a stinging blaze to a normal human. The tears of frustration that ran down her face was washed away by the shower as she bathed. Once she was out, she took extra time to hold a fresh towel that was run under cold water to soothe the redness from her eyes. Once she felt like she could blame the heat of the shower on the redness of her face, she dressed and went back to her room.

In the time that she'd been gone, Boomer had stripped to his underwear and undershirt and was lounging on her bed with his phone in his hands. The glow of it shining off his face. Bubbles dropped her clothes in the hamper and walked over to the bed. "Mind if we get under the covers."

Boomer glanced her way and paused when he noticed the flushed state of her face. It was barely there, but there was a puffiness around her eyes. If there was one thing he hated to do in the world, it was to make her cry. "Bubbles?"

Not wanting to have him question her about her appearance, Bubbles pulled the covers from under him and crawled into bed, putting her back to him. She then pulled the covers up so that her face was covered. "It was just the shower."

The blue Rowdy Ruff didn't buy that for a second. It was clear that she was more bothered by their conversation than she'd let on, and he felt like an ass. Dropping his phone somewhere on the bed, he then resituated himself under the covers and wrapped an arm around Bubbles in what was supposed to be a comforting hug. Her body was stiff at first, but then she relaxed against him. He then placed a soft kiss to her hair. "I'm sorry."

"Dummy."

His sigh was hot and heavy against her golden mane of hair. "I know, and I'm really sorry. I promise you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Bubbles sniffled, but thankfully held back more tears from falling. She instead just grabbed Boomer's hand and entwined their fingers together. "Just don't hold your breath for that blowjob."

"Damn." He said and got an elbow to the stomach. "Sorry, bad joke." She'd put her strength into that and huffed to catch his breath behind her.

"Fuck, that smarts." Butch said as he pulled up his pants from the shot in his ass. If it weren't for the Antidote X laced alcohol wipes Buttercup had, the two of them probably won't have been able to receive the penicillin shot.

The doctor who'd administered the shot disposed of the needle and gloves that he used. "Well, that's why we need to be careful."

Butch released a loud breath. "Yeah."

"Now, you're going to want to take these antibiotics and not have sex for a few days. A week at the most to be safe."

"Great," Butch murmured, knowing that he won't be having sex any time soon anyway. Not with how angry he was with her. She hadn't said it, but he knew that she wanted a fucking divorce. He couldn't believe that he was still trying to prove to her that he loved her.

"Now, I've already told your girlfriend—."

"Wife." Butch snapped. "She's my wife."

Credit had to be given to the doctor for keeping a straight face. "I already explained to your wife that her birth control would be affected by the antibiotics, so when you decide to have sex after this wait period, be sure to use condoms." The doctor then gave him his prescription and sent him on his way.

Out in the hall, Buttercup was sitting with her arms crossed tightly over her chest and her legs bouncing nervously. Butch walked over to her and stood before her. "Ready to go?"

Buttercup stood up and started leading the way to the pharmacist. "Yeah."

The two silently made their way to the pharmacist's desk and got what they needed before leaving. Buttercup was reading the directions for the antibiotics when Butch grabbed her arm to stop her. "You know we need to talk about our marriage."

Buttercup yanked her arm from Butch and shook her head. "Do you seriously think this is the place to do it?"

A quick glance around showed that a few of the other patrons were both subtly and not so subtly eavesdropping on their conversation. Butch reached to grab Buttercup again, when her eyes glowed red and she zapped his hand. It didn't hurt so much as it stung enough for him to let out a sharp curse. Buttercup then stalked out of the clinic with Butch following after her. As she was walking, she glanced at her wedding ring and scoffed in disgust. Shifting the bag with her and Butch's prescription under her arm, she moved to take it off.

"What are you doing?" Butch demanded with a thunderous expression on his face. "Don't take it off."

"Give me one reason not to." she asked staring up into his darkening green eyes ablaze with indignation. "This marriage isn't even real."

"Yes, it is." Butch hissed at her.

"No, it's not." She retorted.

Butch ground his teeth before he folded his arms across his chest. "If the marriage isn't real, then there's no need to get a divorce."

At that logic, Buttercup had to roll her eyes. "Don't be such an ass. You know for damn sure we have to get a divorce."

"If we get a divorce, it means this marriage is real. It has to real to us to get a divorce." He continued, serving to only sound more and more petulant to Buttercup.

"We need to get a divorce because this marriage isn't real." Buttercup sighed. "Why don't you understand that?"

"What I don't understand is why you are so insistent on getting a divorce. I thought we loved each other. We spent the better part of the night and day at that bed and breakfast talking about it." Butch groused.

A headache was beginning to form, starting in the middle of Buttercup's forehead. She didn't want to fight back and forth with Butch about another fucking issue that had come up between them. As she stood there with him with his hackles risen, she realized that they had a lot of problems. First it was about their meaningless sex-based relationship. Then it was about whether or not their feelings were real. Then it was about how strong those feelings were without the tingles or cootie shot being a factor. Now it was about a marriage that happened in a way that could only be described as fucked up. She was starting to grow tired of fighting with Butch. Taking a single step forward and then falling back two.

She brought her hand up to try to massage the tension when her phone pinged. Deciding to ignore Butch for the moment, she pulled her phone out noticing that it was an email. What rose alarm bells in her mind atop the pounding headache was seeing Las Vegas Chapel. "Oh shit!"

Butch watched in brooding silence as Buttercup opened her email and read through the message. As her eyes ran over the lines, her slightly tanned skin started to pale. "What is it?"

Buttercup didn't answer as exited out of the email and went to her contacts. Clicking on her sisters' numbers she waited impatiently for them to answer.

"Buttercup, what is it?" Butch's anger was leaking out for concern at the frantic look coming across her face.

She shoved the pharmacy bag at him and walked a few steps away, so she could focus. "Come on, answer the phone."

The phone rang a few more times before it clicked on one line. "Hello?" It was Blossom and sleep was thick in her voice.

"Blossom, it's Buttercup?"

"Buttercup? It's ten at night. What—" a yawn broke through. "What is it?"

Before she could answer the other line clicked, and Bubbles answered. "Hey Buttercup. It's kind of late here in Townsville."

"Girls, this is really important. In the morning, go to our house and check the mail." Buttercup rushed to say.

"Why?" Blossom yawned again, really only half paying attention. In the background, the girls could hear Brick talking to Blossom. "I'm fine. I'll be going to bed soon."

"Because I just found out that my marriage certificate has been delivered. Please, I can't deal with the professor before Butch and I deal with this." Buttercup pled.

"We can go over in the morning." Bubbles answered. "You know he doesn't check the mail all that regularly."

"Yeah, yeah. We'll go look for it." Blossom said drowsily. "Do you think one was sent to Butch's house?"

Buttercup closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh fuck! Butch!" she spun and almost crashed into her chest. He'd been right at her back listening in to the conversation, since she hadn't said anything directly to him about what was going in. "Call your brothers and have them go home and search the mail. Between the professor and Mojo, Mojo definitely cannot find out that we're married."

Part of Butch didn't care if Mojo found out or not. If someone other than their siblings knew, then it'd be harder for Buttercup to deny that it was a real thing. Not with legal proof that is. On the other hand, this could very much induce a fatal heart attack. "Fine, I'll call them."

"The sooner the better." She then turned her focus back to her phone. "Just keep it away from the professor and Mojo till we get home."

"When will you be home?" Blossom asked.

"Soon?" Buttercup answered, sparing a glance at Butch who was now on the phone with Boomer. The conversation did not look to be going well.

"Just do it doofus!" Butch snapped.

Buttercup didn't hear what Boomer said as Blossom was speaking. However between the yawn and Butch's continued yelling, she didn't catch what her sister said. "Huh?"

"Why did you tell the professor Butch cheated on you?" Blossom asked.

"I didn't." Buttercup sighed. "He assumed and I didn't have a chance to say he didn't."

Butch's groan of frustration drew Buttercup's attention. "Do you want to be responsible for Mojo having a heart attack when you damn well couldn't prevented it?" It was a low blow, but the second Rowdy Ruff Boy knew it was the only way to get his younger brother do to what he'd asked. Especially considering Boomer was still somewhat irritated with him. "Just check the fucking mail and if you see anything from Vegas just stash it where the monkey can't find it! Like Brick's house."

Turning back to her own conversation, Buttercup heard her sisters talking about what would happen should the professor find out they were keeping secrets. Again. "It's not going to be a secret for long." Buttercup cut in. "I'd just rather tell him myself than have him find out by mail."

"Fine. Fine." Blossom yawned again. "We can go tomorrow. We don't have classes with it being Labor Day."

"Labor Day?" It was the first time in a while that Buttercup had consciously thought about what the date was. They'd been in Hawaii longer than she thought. "It feels like just yesterday we got here."

"Time flies when your having fun." Bubbles quoted hoping to lighten the mood.

Her attempt proved to be in vain as Buttercup snorted. "Right. If you call getting drunk, drugged, married and fucked seven ways to Sunday fun."

"What?" Blossom sounded a lot more awake then she did moments ago. "Buttercup, what do you mean drugged?"

Fuck, she thought. "It's nothing."

"Like hell it is! What the hell do you mean by that?" Blossom demanded, before the sound of movement from her line took over. "Brick!" her voice sounded distance and there was another sound of shuffling.

"Where's snails for brains?" Brick asked.

Buttercup glanced at Butch. He was still on the phone with Boomer, the two fighting if Butch's heated words were anything to go by. "He's talking to Boomer on the phone."

"Tell him to hang up and call me. I'll talk to Boomer." Brick said, the command strong in his voice.

Brick, much like Blossom, knew how to speak to get someone do what he wanted. Unlike Blossom, he happened to do it in a way that left no contest in who was really in charge and had no problem reminding someone if they dared to try him. It was this quality that made Buttercup not be as warm to him—no pun intended to the hothead. "Would it kill you to say please?"

"We're helping you with a problem you and Butch made. I could ask the same of you." Brick retorted before hanging up.

Buttercup scowled down at the phone in annoyance. "God, I can't stand him."

"He's kind of right Buttercup." Bubbles murmured from her line. "It wouldn't hurt to be a little nicer to him."

Buttercup's response to that was to just hang up the phone. Butch too had hung up on his younger sibling and was about to stash his phone in his pocket when Buttercup irritably told him to call Brick. An exasperated sigh left his lips as he dialed up his older brother, who answered on the first ring. "Brick?"

"What the fuck is going on?"

"Our marriage licenses were delivered. Can you and Boomer find it before Mojo does?"

"Not that, asshole." Brick snapped at him. "Blossom is freaking about because Buttercup said you were drugged. Is that true?"

If Butch didn't know his brother as well as he did, he'd have missed the worry hiding under the burning anger in his voice. "It was Vegas, Brick."

"Fuck that! You tell me what happened now!" Butch knew for a fact that if he were standing in front of Brick, there'd be a thick cloud of smoke being blown in his face.

Rubbing a hand over his face, Butch released his own heavy breath and spared a glance at Buttercup. "We might've been slipped some ecstasy…" he trailed off not really wanting to tell his older brother about his and Buttercup's night of sin.

"I'm seriously going to sucker punch you in the balls when you finally bring your ass home!" Brick growled at him. "What were you thinking? Don't answer that. Is this why Buttercup wants a divorce?"

"Brick." His tone was a warning and a plea. While he couldn't regret telling his brother about his relationship issues, he didn't want to be told he was wrong. If he wasn't going to run from this, then he wouldn't allow Buttercup to either.

On the other end of the phone, Butch could heard Brick whispering to Blossom. It was a bit muffled, but he heard her say "the balls" before there was a groan of discomfort and Brick mumbled about hot flashes. "I'll call you tomorrow after we go to the tower."

This caught Butch's attention. "You're going to the tower?"

"Think nothing of it." Brick retorted. "Look, it's late and I need to cool Blossom down so she can sleep."

"Convince her to not go for my balls, would you?"

His brother's chuckle was not promising. "I value my balls." He said before hanging up the phone.

Butch groaned and unconsciously brought his hand to cover his threatened junk.

Boomer's head was thrown back against the pillows of his bed. His hands were clenched amongst the sheets of his bed, and his breath was coming out in short hot huffs from between his parted lips. As he stared up at the ceiling, all he could think of was the pleasure that was racing throughout his body; its origin being below his waist. He spared a glance down and his eyes widened. "Bubbles?"

Sky blue eyes peeked up at him while her rosy lips made his dick disappear. When she pulled off him for a second, she placed a gentle kiss to his tip that pulled a strangled groan from his throat. She kissed her way down his member and briefly warmed his balls with her mouth, before completing the circuit by placing another kiss on the head of his cock. The kiss was followed by a very sinful lick as precum leaked from him.

The sight was a bit more than he could take and it had him swallowing back his moan of unadulterated lust. "Oh, Angel."

There was a darker edge to her normally sweet and always cute laugh. "Angel? Me? No."

"Yes." Boomer sighed as he strained his body to not thrust into her mouth. She was going out in a limb for him—the least he could do was not be a jerk by shoving his dick into her mouth. "Always."

"I don't think angels would be doing something so impure, Boomer." She teased him. She was then quiet as her mouth was occupied for a few moments as she fellated him, tongue stroking him in a way he couldn't imagine if he tried.

"Doesn't matter." He gasped. "Always my angel."

"Always?" her voice sounded off, slightly deeper.

Boomer lifted his head and was shocked to see wings. Big, beautiful white wings with just a touch of blue at the tips attached to his Bubbles, his angel. "Bubbles?"

When her eyes met his again. They weren't the shining blue they normally were. They were dull, with no shine resembling a grey lake rather than the vast ocean they normally were. "What's wrong?"

"Your eyes." He pulled himself away from her not wanting something that looked like Bubbles, but wasn't Bubbles touching him. "You're not Bubbles."

"Yes, I am." She said, as a touch of grey started to stain her wings.

"You're not my angel." Boomer said, growing angry and reaching for the blankets to cover himself with. "Where's Bubbles?"

"I am Bubbles." The imposter cooed as she reached for him. Her touch was cold and had Boomer recoiling away.

"No, you're not."

The soft smile that was on her face, dropped and her grey eyes welled with tears. Her wings grew darker and feathers started to fall. Stringy, wiry feathers that had none of the soft down appearance from before dotted the bedsheets. "But you said always. I'd always be your angel."

"But you're not my angel." Boomer shouted. "Where is she?"

The feathers started to fall faster as the tears spilled over. "But…but…I did what you wanted. Did you not like it? I can do better."

She reached for him again and again Boomer recoiled backward. Expecting to feel the pillows and the wall of his room, he fell into nothing. A black, dark nothing.

"AHHH!" He gasped as he sat up, covered in sweat and still hard from the first part of his dream. Rubbing his hands over his face, he tried to slow his breathing. It proved useless as he couldn't find it in him to calm down. He was much too riled up and confused from his dream. That and his body was much too hot. Not even bothering to look at the clock, he climbed out of bed and practically flew to the shower.

Just barely managing to not tear his clothes as he stripped, he ran the cold tap and groaned in relief. Its icy spray not only cooled his head and body, but shocked him awake and out of his jumbled state of mind. Finding himself calmer than he was moments ago, he slowly washed himself and got out. The lack of steam left him visible in the mirror and he saw that he still looked a little frazzled—and that was putting it lightly.

There was something familiar about the feel of the dream. It niggled at the back of his mind, but she couldn't bring forth the memory it was attached to. Deeming it much too early to be thinking so hard, he lumbered back to his room, with only a towel around his waist. After pulling a clean pair of underwear from his drawers. He happened to glance at his alarm clock.

4:45am

"Fuck!" Boomer quickly dressed in what he considered industrial clothes. A pair of jeans that he usually wore when helping Mojo work on his machines and a blue plaid flannel shirt. Making sure he had his wallet and cellphone, he zoomed out the house and flew to his job, praying he wasn't late. In the early morning sky his blue streak stood out in sharp contrast to the purple and orange sky. He landed harder than he meant to, leaving the impression of his feet in the street outside of the truck yard. The gate was locked, and rather than hopping over the fence, he pulled his phone out and checked the time.

5:15am

"Shit!" he looked around for any movement inside. Using his x ray vision he scanned the building and pretty soon felt like a rightful dumb ass. He'd easily forgotten that it was Labor Day and his new boss told him he'd be starting on Tuesday. "Shit!" he grumbled again as he flew home.

When he crept back into the tower, he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep for a few hours. However, that nightmare he had earlier pushed itself to the front of his mind and he instead stripped his flannel off and just collapsed onto the couch. Sleep immediately overtook him, and sprawled on the couch with one arm and a leg hanging off the edges was how Mojo found him three hours later.

"Boomer!" he shook his son's shoulder to rouse him, getting a groan of discontent instead. "Wake up!"

The youngest of the Rowdy Ruff Boys woke up slowly and yawned widely. "What?"

"Why are you sleeping on the couch? And I thought you got yourself a job." His father pestered as he shifted to a more comfortable position.

"I don't…start until tomorrow." He yawned. "I didn't remember until after I got to work."

Mojo grunted as he followed his arms and moved out the way for Boomer to stand and make his way to the kitchen. "Is that why you were sleeping on the couch?"

That forgotten memory tugged at his mind again. He felt there was something truly important about it, but couldn't exactly tell Mojo about it. It would just worry him for no real reason. Instead he told Mojo something that would make him happy—or at least he hoped it would. "Brick's coming over today."

Mojo's eyes widened in surprise. "He is? Why?"

Boomer shrugged as he walked into the kitchen, hiding his face in the fridge as he dug for the orange juice. As he was about to but the carton to his lips, Mojo gave him a disapproving glare. Remembering to be civilized, Boomer set the carton down and went to the cupboards for a glass. Once he finally had his juice, Mojo asked again why Brick was coming over.

"Can't he just come over?" Boomer asked, not wanting to have to lie to Mojo. "This is his home."

"Not anymore." Mojo said looking away from Boomer. "Not since he moved out to be with her."

This was not a conversation he wanted to have so early in the morning. He took another sip of his juice if only to not have to say anything.

"When will he be coming over?"

"I don't know." He hoped it was sooner rather than later. Being under Mojo's scrutiny made him nervous. Escaping to the living room, he flicked the television on and settled on a game show. While he was watching, he heard knocking around in the kitchen. When he glanced over the back of the couch, blue eyes saw that the green skinned chimp was prepping to cook breakfast. Boomer watched for a moment longer before turning back to the television.

From the kitchen, Mojo glanced at Boomer's distraction before going about making breakfast. Normally he'd just fry up some eggs and have some bacon along with toast and some orange juice. Today, since Brick was coming over—and in the event he was still angry with him—he decided to make pancakes with cinnamon and apples. Those were Brick's favorite as he liked almost anything with spice to it. The more of it the better. Even if he didn't get to have them for breakfast, he could at least take them with him. Even if Brick didn't appreciate the gesture, it would at least show him what he was missing by not being at home.

When the sound of something hitting a skillet and cooking sounded, but wasn't met with the greasy, fatty smell of meat the blonde headed son turned to look over the couch again. When he saw that Mojo was making pancakes and the scent of cinnamon hit his nose, he grimaced. Rather than say something to him about it, he turned around and pulled out his phone and typed a quick message to his brother.

Mojo's making your favorite pancakes.

He didn't have to wait long for a response.

He's either doing it to be a kiss ass or to be petty. Did you tell him I was coming over?

Yeah.

Then he's being a kiss ass. I'll be there soon, just dropping Blossom off at the professor's.

Boomer sighed, knowing that this late morning early afternoon showdown between his dad and brother would get messy.

Thirty minutes later, Mojo was just finishing up the pancakes when Brick walked in. He still had a key to the tower, and was only mildly surprised that Mojo hadn't changed the locked after he left. "Hey."

Boomer remained on the couch as he watched the awkward moment pass between Brick and Mojo in strained silence.

"Brick." Mojo said after a moment. He then looked to the spread he made and gesture to it with a raised hand. "Care to join us for breakfast since you're here?"

The choice between just finding Butch's marriage certificate and bouncing, thus spiting Mojo verse staying and spiting Mojo by purposefully not eating his favorite pancakes was a tossup. He then looked to his brother who was silently pleading with his eyes to not make a huge scene. After all, Boomer was going to be the one that would have to deal with Mojo's ire. Decision made, Brick shrugged a shoulder and made his way toward the dining table. "Why not?"

The pleasant surprise that shown on Mojo's face gave way to a large smile as he went about fixing a plate stacked with at least four pancakes for Brick and three for Boomer. His own plate had three as well before he continued to fill their plates with eggs and bacon to go with it.

While he was preoccupied, Brick leaned toward Boomer. "Did you look through any of the mail?"

His blond waves shook in the negative. "No. Anyway, yesterday was Sunday, so nothing could've been delivered."

Brick grimaced at that. If that were the case, then that means he'd have to wait until it was delivered so that he could take it before Mojo saw it. Unfortunately mail for them wasn't delivered until around two in the afternoon. He really did not want to spend the day with Mojo, no matter if they were fighting or Mojo was kissing butt. He pulled his phone out to send Blossom a text saying he'd been at Mojo's a while longer. He was just putting his phone away when Mojo set a full plate in front of Brick and Boomer.

Just as Boomer forewarned, Mojo had made Brick's favorite pancakes, cinnamon with caramelized apples on top. To their credit they looked good, but their reason for being there made his stomach turn over. He hoped Butch and Buttercup appreciated what he was doing for them. "Thanks." He then picked up his fork and went for the eggs that were perfectly scrambled and seasoned with red pepper and hot sauce.

Mojo sat as he set his own plate down and watched intently as Brick ate everything around the pancakes he'd made specifically for him. This didn't go unnoticed by Boomer, who none to gently kicked him underneath the table. When blue met red eyes, they flickered to their dad who'd turned his eyes down to his plate and was slowly eating his own breakfast. His then gestured with his head to the pancakes before looking up at him.

Holding his brother's stare a moment longer, he rolled his eyes and made a bit of a show as he cut into his pancakes and hauled a large forkful up to his mouth. The taste was just how he expected them to be. Slightly buttery with the kick of cinnamon and the cooked sweetness of the apples. They were delicious and tugged at a time for Brick when things were simpler. It was just him and his brothers with Mojo. Their bizarre but happy little family. No worries about the outside world. No connections to the Power Puff girls other than a distant rivalry.

"How are the pancakes?" Mojo asked after he looked up to see Brick eating them.

He forced himself to swallow them past the sudden clog in his throat. "Just like I remembered."

Nodding, pleased with himself unknowing of the conflict within Brick, he reached for his glass of orange juice. "Good, I'm glad. So what brings you hear today?"

"Checking the mail." He answered honestly, much to Boomer's wide-eyed surprise.

"What for?" Mojo asked as a bit of bitterness seeped into him. "You don't leave here anymore."

"My change of address wasn't finalized until just a few days ago. Just checking to make sure nothing important slipped through. Also, I'm expecting something."

Mojo's brow furrowed in thought before it deepened into a frown that visibly aged him in front of the boys. Whatever he was thinking now, his face showed to whom he was thinking of. "For?"

It was too obvious a dare to disrupt this fragile peace that was trying to settle over them. Brick was trying to not ignite the fight, but it was proving difficult as Mojo was asking pointed questions. Boomer cut a larger than safe to eat piece of pancake and stuffed it into his mouth. "Dad, these are really good." He spoke around a full mouth before pretending to choke and tipping over his juice. Brick quickly got up and sped to get napkins to wipe up the mess. Mojo pushed away from the table to avoid the mess.

"You ham!" Brick mumbled low enough for only someone with super hearing could hear.

Boomer gave an unapologetic shrug in response. The large bit of pancake was swallowed. "Bite me."

"Are you all right Boomer?" Mojo asked after Brick sat down.

"Yeah, just went down wrong." He answered, hoping his distraction worked. His hope was crushed when Mojo turned to look at Brick and he repeated his earlier question.

Sensing he wasn't going to back down until he was answered, Brick sighed before coming up with a lie. "It's a gift for Blossom and the baby."

Boomer closed his eyes and breathed through his nose as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. This was the exact thing he was hoping to avoid. Mojo inhaled deeply and clenched his fist tight enough for the cracking of his knuckles. "Your audacity is forever astounding."

Brick sat unbothered as Mojo got up from the table to dump the remains of his breakfast into the trash. "It's meant to be a surprise. I couldn't have it delivered to the apartment and risk her finding it first."

"Then why not send it to her former home?" Mojo asked with his back to Brick and Boomer.

"Because the professor or Bubbles would ask questions and possibly ruin the surprise." Brick smoothly lied, partially hating that he had to do it, but was smarting from Mojo's continued hostility at the mere mention of Blossom and his son.

"So you dared to send it here? What if I had found it and destroyed it? Or are you so uncaring of what I think that you would chance it." Mojo smashed a plate in the sink as he turned to face his elder son.

"Please excuse the fuck out of me for thinking of my child before you." Brick snapped, quickly growing tired of being cut on the chip from Mojo's shoulder. "He matters a hell of a lot more to me than anyone. Including you. Not that you'd understand that."

Boomer cringed at the words, knowing it would spark a large fight and words would be said again that would do more irreparable damage. He hated that his family was fighting. They used to be so close and relied on one another. He knew the reintroduction of the girls into their lives had influence, but he didn't think it was a bad thing. Granted, they all seemed to be in awkward situations in way or another, but they stuck together. He and Bubbles talked about their physical relationship and he felt better for it. Brick was taking to being a young father pretty well, from what he could tell. The only one that truly needed help right now was Butch. Hence their suffering Mojo's wrath at the moment.

"How dare you say that to me! Me, the one who created you in the first place. The one who made sure you had a home to lie your head! Feed you so you wouldn't be hungry!" He yelled as he stormed over to the table. He threw his hands out in gesture to the spread he'd made for him. "I made your favorite pancakes!"

"For what reason?" Brick asked his hard glare shining with undealt with pain. "To show me how much you care? To show me what I'm missing out on by not being here? If it's the latter, then you're just being petty. If it's the former don't fucking make me laugh. You showed how much and what you truly cared about in March!" He then stood up abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor as it slid back. Walking off he headed to the stairs, intent on spending the rest of the time waiting for Butch's marriage certificate from within the solitude of his former room.

Below Mojo and Boomer watched as the young man with hair as fiery as his temper disappeared down the upper hallway and violently slammed the door to his room. The former observatory rattled dangerously and had Boomer running to grab Mojo in the case the stability of their home gave out. When the shaking stopped and only a dust feel indicating the slight shifting in the frame, Boomer set Mojo down. He then ran his hand over his blond locks and turned to Mojo with an exasperated expression.

"What? He snapped turning his anger on his youngest. "What words do you have to say?"

The youngest of the Rowdy Ruff Boys shook his head. "What can I say? You won't listen anyway."

That statement coming from Boomer was a bit of a shock. "What do you mean I won't listen?"

"You won't." Boomer told him as he started clearing the table. "If it has anything to do with the girls and puts them in a positive light, you won't listen. I'm sorry we got involved with them and lied about it for the better part of the year, but what else can we say? We love them. I love Bubbles." He glanced at him with a tired expression as he walked over to the sink. Before he put in the set the dirty dishes aside and picked out the broken plate from the sink. He then set the dirty dishes in and went about packing away the leftovers.

Boomer's words left Mojo speechless. Of course, self-righteous anger flowed through him, but when Brick and Boomer's words were put together it did make him question a little bit about how he'd been behaving. Choosing not to respond to Boomer's words, he retreated into his room, wanting to be left alone with his thoughts.

Now by himself in the kitchen, Boomer went about cleaning everything. The silence, broken only by the clinking of the dishes and running of water as he washed and rinse, felt suffocating. He hoped two o'clock came around sooner rather than later.

Once he was finished in the kitchen, Boomer tried to keep himself busy by cleaning the rest of the house. He himself wasn't an overly neat person, so making an extreme effort to clean to Mojo's meticulous standard kept him busy. It was as he was pulling out the vacuum cleaner about an hour later that Brick emerged from his room. He looked around for Mojo before coming down and sitting on the couch. He took his cap off and hand his hands through his hair.

"Where's Mojo?"

"In his room." Boomer said before clicking the vacuum on and making a circuit around their living room carpet. Brick watched mindlessly as his younger brother worked around him. "Mail should be here in about an hour."

"Good." Brick was more than ready to leave his former volcano tower home.

A silence settled between the two of them. Boomer lifted the coffee table singlehandedly to vacuum under it. When he lifted the couch with Brick still on it, he noticed Mojo come out of his room dressed in his favorite blue shirt—dress, if you asked the boys—and belt and headed for the door. He glared at the back of Brick's head and left the tower without a word. Boomer set the couch and Brick down before shutting off the vacuum. Boomer was coiling up the cord when he turned to Brick.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

Boomer pursed his lips before leaning on the vacuum. "Are you still angry with Mojo?"

"About what?" There were a number of things that Brick was angry with Mojo about.

"About Mom."

Brick stood up and grabbed Boomer by the front of his shirt in a grip that smoked around the collar of his shirt. "Don't you ever refer to that fucking monster as our mother! What he did…" he took in a shuddering breath and let go of his brother, wining a bit at the burnt edges of his shirt. "I thought Mojo would've cared more about us being victims to that demon, than his goddamn vendetta."

"Yeah." Boomer dropped his eyes, feeling more disappointed than hurt like Brick was. This was a lot more personal. His brother and Blossom had their first time stolen from them. It was amazing that the two of them were able to find solace in one another. He liked to think that the baby had something to do with keeping them together.

The dark laugh that came from Brick drew Boomer's attention. "You know, Blossom wanted to name the baby after Mojo. Have Moses be his middle name, so that he can kind of sound like Mojo Jojo." There was a slight tremble to his voice, that hinted at the storm of emotions swarming in him. "But how can my son be named after the father that didn't care enough when I told him Blossom and I were raped?"

Too quick for Boomer to really be sure, but he could've sworn that he saw Brick's eyes shining with unshed tears. When he blinked the shine was gone, but the tenseness in his elder brother's shoulders was still there. He reached out and placed a hand on Brick's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Brick grabbed Boomer's hand and patted it.

An hour later the mail came and with it Butch and Buttercup's marriage certificate from the Las Vegas Chapel. Brick took it and texted Blossom that he got the certificate from Mojo's home and would be coming to pick her up soon.

Blossom and Bubbles were searching through the mail that had predictably piled up at the Utonium home. They'd been searching for an hour when the professor came up from the lab, he was taking off his lab coat and folding it over his arm when he saw two of his girls. They were so engrossed in their search that they didn't notice him until he cleared his throat.

"Girls, I didn't expect you two to be here." He said watching them startle.

Blossom put a hand to her stand and breathed deeply. "You woke him up." She closed her eyes as he shifted and stretched within her belly.

"What are you girls up two?" he asked, watching them intently.

"Buttercup…" they both started only to stop when they heard the other speaking. They looked toward one another before Blossom started speaking. "Buttercup asked us to grab any mail that came in for her."

"Is she expecting anything?" he asked. "I mean, she's on vacation with Butch in Hawaii."

Bubbles shrugged noncommittedly. "Not really, she just wanted us to grab her mail."

It took everything in Blossom to not react to the very obvious lie.

The professor rearranged his coat over his arm and shook his head. "Nothing came in for her. I actually checked the mail if you can believe it."

The girls weren't sure whether to be relieved or nervous by that statement. If Buttercup's certificate hadn't arrived yet, then when would it? Also, it would be harder for them to search during the week with them being in school and the college being on the other side of town. Blossom wasn't really in a position to fly at great heights or for long distances at the moment, while Bubbles needed time to study for her classes.

"Is it something important?" he asked.

Not sure how to answer that without lying terribly again, Blossom asked her own question. "Are you going somewhere?" She only asked, because he'd taken his lab coat completely off—something he only did when getting ready for bed or was leaving the house.

"Yes, I'm treating an old colleague to lunch." He answered, while the hand underneath his jacket tightened a bit around the hidden envelope in his grasp. He started making his way toward the stairs, intent on freshening up before meeting his colleague. "If anything turns up, I'll be sure to call her and let her know."

Bubbles nodded while Blossom rubbing self-soothing circles over her belly. A nervous pit had settled and she wasn't sure what to make of it. "Okay."

Once out of sight, Blossom spun on the island chair and faced Bubbles. "You are a terrible liar." She accused of Bubbles.

"You're no better." She commented. "Besides it's not like I enjoy lying to him."

Blossom hummed in agreement before feeling her phone vibrate in her purse. Reaching for it, she immediately took in Brick's message that he got the certificate from Mojo's. He was now on his way to pick her up.

We didn't find anything.

Maybe it was just the one sent to Mojo's house. Brick responded after a short while.

For her sister and brother in law—it felt weird just thinking of Butch as such—she hoped that was the case.

Upstairs in his room, the professor pulled out the envelope from its hiding place amongst the folds of his jacket. The envelopes seal had yet to be broken, but the professor didn't need to break it to know the contents. The persons to whom the contents were for said it all

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Butch Jojo

Hello my lovelies, and yikes. What will happen next now that the professor knows that Buttercup and Butch are married? How will Mojo react? How long before the guilty party knows that their parents know and tried to keep it from them?

Sorry for the tri weekly posts. My job had gotten crazy for the past few weeks and there was little to no time to write. I hope the length of this post makes of for it.

Until Next Time