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

Chapter Twenty-Three: Come Back To Me

Cold. That's what Blossom has felt from Brick's side of the bed for the past week. At night he would find whatever reason he could to put off going to bed when Blossom did. He'd join her later but only after she was asleep, and he didn't seem to stay there long. She knew of his comings and goings by the heat she would feel radiating off his body from his powers. The heat would get close to her, but it wouldn't come in contact with her for more than a second. A hand on her shoulder. A kiss to the back of her head. It was as close to he was willing to allow himself to be while conscious. Whenever their bodies would brush against each other in passing, Blossom would look up and smile and try to reach out for him, only for him to quickly disentangle himself and avoid her as long as he could in one way or another.

This particular night, there wasn't a brush of heat to caress her skin. There wasn't any heat at all. Brick's side of the bed was undisturbed and cold as ice. Normally the cold wouldn't bother Blossom, but she found herself missing the comforting heat that was Brick. Throwing the blankets back, she got out of the too-large bed and went to find where Brick could be. Her footsteps were cushioned by the rug that lined the dark hallway. First checking Coal's room, she was surprised to find him not there. That was usually where she'd find Brick if he was trying to avoid her.

If there was one thing that came out of all this, it was that Brick threw himself into taking care of Coal. He changed his diapers, played with him when he wasn't studying, and handled bath times with ease. The only thing he couldn't do for his son fed him, and when Blossom would bare her breasts to do so he'd leave the two to their bonding time together. Brick also seemed to be working things out with Mojo or at the very least find some kind of comfort in his presence. Before coming home, Brick would go to the tower for a while. All Brick's coping methods were working to strengthen the father and son relationships, but she couldn't help but feel a tad bit left out in his recovery.

Sighing, she decided to check on her baby while she was there. Walking to his crib, she noticed how unusually quiet it was. Coal in his sleep often sighed and would exhale softly. Stepping quickly to the crib, she was rendered frozen as she stared at the empty space. Rushing from his room, Blossom ran to the living room and sighed with relief to see her two boys on the couch asleep. Brick was sprawled on his back with one of his legs hanging off the edge. One arm was tucked behind his head while the other was cradling his son on his chest. Their breathing was synced up and the sight of them together was precious. As quietly as she could, she went back to her room and grabbed her phone. Quietly returning to the room, she focused her camera phone on the two sleeping. When the camera clicked, Blossom lowered her phone and walked over to them.

Pulling the throw blanket off the back of the couch, she draped it over them. She ran a hand over Coal's spiky hair before placing a soft kiss on his forehead. She turned to Brick and reached out to him, only to hesitate at the last second. He looked so peaceful and it was the first time in days that Brick has been able to be so.

Ever since the dimension rebound, he hasn't been completely himself. Blossom missed his fire. She sighed a cool breath over her boys and leaned over him. "I love you, Peach Fuzz." She then pressed a kiss to his lips only to back away and fall over when he jerked awake and sat up, Coal clutched protectively to his chest.

The infant let out a sound of discontent at being roused awake and started to whimper. Brick shifted his arms until he was able to get a rocking motion started and stood up, completing ignoring Blossom sprawled on the floor. "Shh, shh. You're okay. Daddy's got you. Daddy's got you." He walked back and forth soothing his son and himself.

"Brick?"

The young father stopped his pacing and turned to Blossom. He watched as she got up from the floor and walked toward him. "Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine." She brushed it off, watching him critically. "Are you okay?"

Rather than answer her, he turned away and started walking down the hall. "It's late, I'll put Coal down."

"Brick!" Blossom's voiced raised just enough to make him glance back, but he didn't stop moving away from her. Feeling her heart clench, Blossom followed after Brick into Coal's room. "Brick!"

"Shh." He shushed her as he continued to rock Coal in his arms. "He's almost back asleep." He whispered.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms. It took some time, but Coal finally settled back into a slumbering state. Brick rocked him a few moments more before bringing him to his crib and gently placing him amongst his downy cushions. After drawing the blanket over their son, he stroked his cheek and turned to Blossom with a wane smile.

"Why don't you head back to bed? I'll join you in a minute." He told her, hoping she'd do as she had previously and give him the space he desperately needed.

"I think I'll stay up with you."

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

"You don't need to."

"Humor me."

Brick was about to say more before he stifled it back along with a cloud of smoke that was in his throat. Before he could start coughing and wake Coal, he stepped briskly to the door and gently pushed Blossom out. Pulling the door closed, he broke into a series of coughs that he covered with the corner of his elbow. He walked toward the kitchen tipping his head over into the sink as he turned on the tap. He took a few sips, groaning with relief when his airways and esophagus opened up. When he stood up dragging the back of his hand across his mouth, he turned to see Blossom staring at him with a furrowed brow. "What?"

"You know what." She whispered, releasing cold air into the room.

The chill kissed Brick's cheeks and he flared briefly to stave it off and meant to walk away from her, only to be blocked and held in place by her super-strength. "Blossom, please. Don't."

"You don't, Brick. Don't push me away. Please."

"I'm not pushing you away." He then used his own strength against her as he yanked his hand from hers and moved her out of his way. "I just need space to get my head straight. That trip did a number on me, okay?"

Blossom went to sit beside him on the couch and reached for his hand only to have him pull it away from her. He tucked his hands protectively under his pits and looked away from her. It hurt more than she'd let him know for him to do that. "You think I don't know that. How couldn't I when you're afraid to touch me?"

Brick tensed at her words but didn't say anything.

"I know why you're afraid to, but I want you to know that you don't have to be." She dared to say, knowing she was treading dangerous ground with her future words. "You didn't—."

"Don't you fucking dare say it!" He growled out unable to stop the smoke this time. The thick dark plume of smoke billowed out of his nose, making him resemble a dragon. "You can't possibly know what I did or didn't do that night."

"Neither could you." She argued, moving closer to him and bringing her hand up to his face and forcing him to look her way. "Brick, you could never hurt me. Maybe when we were still kids, but not now."

"You didn't see what I saw." He then jerked his chin away from her hand and stood up.

"I didn't have to," Blossom told him as she stood from her place and tried to touch him only to be rebuffed. "You kept apologizing to me, but you also said it wasn't your fault."

She reached for him again only for him to recoil and hold his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"And it wasn't your fault. I was under his control too Brick, but it wasn't my fault either. Do you blame me for what happened?"'

"Of course not."

"Then stop blaming yourself. You did nothing wrong!" She shouted at him. When he turned away from her, she ran her hands over her hair. "Brick, that night was stolen from both of us. You gave that back to us, remember?"

Her hands dropped to her sides as she took a step toward Brick. When he tensed, she exhaled an icy breath and stepped behind Brick. She pressed her forehead against his back and wrapped her arms around his waist. When he tried to pull away, she used her super strength to hold him in place if only to remind him of who she was. He shuddered under her touch and steeled himself. "Blossom."

"No!" She yelled into his back. "You don't get to hate yourself for this. Not for something you're not even sure really happened."

He sighed as he forced her to let him go and he stepped out of her reach. "It's the not knowing that's the worst part, you know?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. You more than made up for it. That date we had for Valentine's Day. The day Coal was born. Every day we're here together matters Brick. It makes up for it." Blossom pled for him to understand. "H.I.M is dead. There's nothing more he can do to us. Do to you."

Brick logically knew that, but H.I.M's psychological abuse ran deeper than he realized. Every time he touched Blossom, he was plagued with the fake images from his hallucinations where Blossom was covered in bruises from where his hands had laid. From forcing her legs open. Holding her wrists together in one hand. Marking her collar and neck like a claim. From what he remembered of that morning after, Blossom was marked by him but so was he. His back and shoulders had stung from where her nails and teeth bit into his skin. Compared to more recent love marks she left, he was further convinced that he hadn't. Now it was just his heart and body that needed to come to terms with this, and for that he needed space. "Just give me time Blossom." He turned to her with a sad smile on his face, that held no reassurance. "I'll be okay."

Blossom stared at him with watery eyes and sniffled loudly. She walked up to him and placed her hands on his cheeks noticing how hot his skin got—a defensive measure. Her ice-coated her fingers to prevent burning as she held onto him. "Do you promise?"

"Promise." He brought his own hand up and turned her hand inward to kiss her chilly palm.

Blossom wasn't sure if she entirely believed that, but she'd give Brick the benefit of the doubt and whatever else he needed to get better. Even if it meant keeping her distance. Nodded her head she let him go and walked around them to their room, leaving Brick to stand alone in the living room.

He turned to look behind him and exhaled too sharply to be a sigh. Time, he thought. All we need is time.

Jamie was watching Bubbles from across the classroom, wondering what had her so distressed. He also wondered if it was his fault. He was a grade-A jackass when he kissed her, but he thought he gave her an out by telling her to just tell Boomer. He thought he was helping when he told Boomer the truth of what happened, but that only seemed to make things worse. Forcing his attention back to his professor, he decided that he'd talk to her after class. He just hoped she didn't punch him in the face.

Sooner than he expected, the class was over and he was cautiously approaching Bubbles. Hands gripping the strap of his backpack, he reached out and tapped Bubbles on her shoulder. When she turned her brilliant blue eyes onto him, he braced himself for her scorn, or whatever negative emotion she'd possibly throw at him. "Jamie."

"Bubbles, hey. Umm…how are you?" He asked repressing a groan at how lame he sounded by asking that.

Turning back to her backpack, she sighed as she put her binder away. "I've been better. And you?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "Fine. How'd you do on the midterm?"

"Fine." She pulled her backpack up and turned to face him. "All things considering." She raised a brow at him and turned to head to lunch.

She's still mad. "Hey Bubbles, can I tell you that I'm sorry?"

"Jamie." She turned to look at him over her shoulder and shook her head. "What happened between us is over and done with."

Her former high school friend tried not the let that hurt. "Yeah, I just thought you still might be—Well, you just looked a little down. Are things okay between you and…and Boomer?"

Bubbles sighed and turned to Jamie abruptly with incredulity on her face. "Are you serious?"

"Yes?" he said, unsure of how he upset her now. "Bubbles—."

She raised a hand to stop him. "Did you forget how you kissed me knowing I had a boyfriend? Then you told him you told me to tell him that we kissed."

"Which you should have," Jamie told her not backing down from her ire. "Look, that's not what you're really upset about. Something else is bothering you."

"Yeah, and it's none of your business." She said turning and thinking she should go to Blossom's apartment. It wasn't her idea, but it would be better than having to stand here and deal with Jamie right now.

Running a nervous hand over the back of his neck, he groaned irritated. "Despite what I did, I thought we were at least still friends."

"Friends don't kiss their friends that are already in a relationship." Bubbles snapped. Her Bubblevicious side was coming out and striking at Jamie. When his face crumpled with guilt, she blew out a breath and softened her tone and attitude. "Sorry, it's just this thing going on with Boomer and the guys is stressful. They did something stupid a while back and are recuperating."

"Oh, what did they do?" He asked.

"Rebound off a dimensional wall and get infected by hell spores." Bubbles told him, cracking a small smile at his bewildered expression. "Crazy as it sounds, it's true."

"Huh, umm? Are they…I don't know, okay?" He asked as they started walking to the galley.

"They will be." She answered dropping her eyes to the leaf-covered ground. "They just need some time to recover."

Jamie hummed, not sure what to make of the bizarre situation Bubbles told him about. She said it in such a blasé way that it made him think that whatever happened was a normal thing for her. If dimensional rebound could ever be considered normal. He wondered how strong-willed one had to be to date one of the Power Puff Girls. Probably as strong as the Rowdy Ruff Boys, he'd imagine. However, he knew from seeing them together that it was more than just the strength of will and chemical makeup. Bubbles and Boomer loved each other. There wasn't a moment that they weren't revolving around each other or touching each other in some form. Thinking back about that made him feel an ultra ass for kissing her. "Hey, Bubbles."

"Yeah?" She turned to look at Jamie with wide eyes that showed a tiredness that he never saw on her face before now.

"I'm sorry about the kiss and the trouble it caused between you and Boomer. It was stupid." He said rubbing the back of his neck in that nervous gesture of his.

Bubbles didn't say anything for a moment as she took in the contrition on Jamie's face. He really was sorry and when it came to Boomer, that really was her own fault. If she were honest with herself she was more upset at the fact that Jamie put her in such a position to begin with. Like she said moments ago, it was over and done with. The least she could do was truly act like it was. "Yeah, but I didn't react well either. I really should've just told Boomer before we spent the weekend together." Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink thinking about how that weekend was spent.

This didn't go unnoticed by Jamie and he pointedly looked anywhere but at her. He couldn't help that she looked beautiful without trying. It was made worst when she blushed. Worst still when she blushed like she was thinking about something that made her have that dreamy look on her face. Clearing his throat loudly, he made a gesture toward the cafeteria. "Want to have lunch with me? As friends?"

Bubbles glanced at Jamie and gave him a wane smile. "Sure."

While the two were making their way to the cafeteria, they noticed Brick lying under the shade of an oak tree. From where Bubbles could see, he looked asleep. She hadn't really talked with Blossom, but from what Boomer told her they weren't sleeping as well as they could. Brick apparently was spending more time at the volcano tower and talking to Mojo. That had come as a shock, and she wondered if Blossom knew. She planned on stopping by the tower tonight, granted Mojo didn't pitch a fit about it.

"Hey, Boomer!"

The Rowdy Ruff boy in question rolled his eyes as he took a sip from his water bottle and ran the back of his hand over his mouth. "Yes, Alice?"

His lead came up to leaned and leaned against their delivery truck. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He asked leaning beside her and folding his arms across his chest.

Alice shrugged as she looked over Boomer. "Well, you missed a day and had your girlfriend's…sister come to tell us that you were sick. You show up the day after and you look like you went through hell and still going through it."

It wasn't a far stretch from the truth, but Boomer wasn't about to tell her that. "I'm fine. It was just a stomach bug."

"From something your girlfriend cooked?" Alice joked only for Boomer to grunt and bang his head against the side of the truck. The loud bang that unexpectedly came from the truck startled her and she jumped away from where she was standing. "Whoa!"

"Lay off, Alice." He snapped. "I'm really not in the mood." He sighed and tried to calm himself down.

"It was just a joke."

"It wasn't funny." He spat as he gripped his water bottle and took another sip from it. "Also, what the hell was that on Halloween?"

Alice stared at Boomer with actual surprise on her face. It wasn't the first time that she'd teased him. Usually, he'd humor her and brush her off, but today he was irritable and overly sensitive about her jokes. However, she didn't take too kindly that he was being a bit of a jerk about her behavior. Her natural defense to jerky guys was to be a jerk back. "If she had an issue with that little quip then she doesn't trust you enough. If she doesn't trust you it's either because you're untrustworthy or she's doing something she shouldn't."

Again, she was close to the truth and again Boomer wasn't going to tell her that. "Would you please mind your own damn business?"

"Would you stop being a sensitive little boy about it? It was just a joke." She put her hands on her hips and lifted her chin in a challenge to him to say anything more to her.

Boomer's blue eyes grew stormy with his anger at his lead. Rather than fight with her, he turned his eyes skyward, looking for Bubbles. She was supposed to meet him at the lot, before getting takeout and going to the volcano tower. Mojo was thankfully going to be out of the house for the majority of the evening, so hopefully, he'd had a relatively peaceful evening. All he wanted to do was lounge with Bubbles in his arms and hopefully, get a few hours of deep dreamless sleep. Soon enough he saw her signature blue streak cutting across the sky before she decelerated and began her descent to just outside the lot. Walking around Alice, he made his way toward the gate leading out.

"Make sure you don't pass what you have to your girlfriend!" Alice shouted out at Boomer behind his back.

"Make sure what you have isn't permanent! Penicillin doesn't kill everything!" Bubbles yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.

Boomer was only mildly shocked that his angel would say something like that, but he remembered that little girls were made of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Bubbles might be the sugar, but that mean she didn't have a dash of spice. Also, it wouldn't surprise him if Buttercup taught her a thing or two. Sparing a glance behind him, he saw Alice scoff and storm off. Chuckling he came up to Bubbles and wrapped an arm around her in a hug. "Hey."

"Hey." She gave Boomer a light squeeze of a hug and pulled back to look up at him. "How are you doing today?"

The lightness of the mood dropped as Boomer was made to think about why he wasn't in top form. "Fine. Better-ish. Nice comeback at Alice."

The youngest of the Puffs shrugged her shoulders in a completely unrepentant manner that earned a chuckle from Boomer. "Where do you want to eat?"

"I could go for a tonkatsu." Boomer answered her.

"Okay then."

With that decision made the two flew to the Tokyo City area of Townsville, where Boomer claimed the best tonkatsu in the city was. It came as a surprise to Bubbles when they walked into a small restaurant and she saw Mojo's image on the wall. Apparently, he was telling the truth when he claimed to have worked in a restaurant. For Bubbles, it was hard to believe that Mojo Jojo did anything that was legal before the boys come into his life a second time. Also, being at the restaurant reminded Bubbles that Boomer was multilingual like she was. When he spoke perfect Japanese with the owner, she smiled to herself and shook her head.

"I forgot you spoke Japanese." She said in just as perfect Japanese surprising the owner of the shop. He turned her way and smiled widely.

"You speak Japanese as well." The owner asked her.

"Hai. Fluently. Like Boomer, we're multilingual. A special gift we were made with." She turned to Boomer smiling wide. "But like I said, I forgot."

Boomer leaned over to whisper in her ear with a playful smirk on his face. "Yeah, I'm quite the cunning linguist, aren't I?" He switched over to Czech seamlessly not wanting the owner to hear the innuendo that passed between them.

And just like that, the mood shifted between them as Bubbles remembered how much of a cunning linguist Boomer was and the events surrounding that night. When she told Jamie that what happened between her and him was over, she was telling the truth. When it came to herself and Boomer, outside of caring for him in his recovery, she wasn't entirely sure. They'd yet to really talk about it. When he came back from his rebound, things were like they were before, but not as without effort as it was before. Like when she met him at work before flying over; rather than the bear hug, kiss, and flirting that would normally happen, only an awkward one-armed hug and brief squeeze with no kiss happened. Just thinking about the significant difference between that and before was depressing.

Clearing her throat, she turned to the owner with a plastered-on smile. "Boomer, you're embarrassing me." She then bowed to the owner. "We shoulder get going."

Boomer having watched her at that moment, sighed and turned away. He couldn't stand to see that fake smile on her face. Seems like they still had things to talk about.

"It was a pleasure meeting you. Please come by again." The owner said while handing the two of them their food.

Boomer took the bags of noodles and broth in his hands and led Bubbles out. Silently they took to the air and made their way to the volcano tower. Before Bubbles was allowed entry, Boomer checked the open area for any sign of Mojo or Brick. Both of them had been spending more time together with each other, but neither Boomer nor Butch were sure if they were working through past trauma or just finding familial comfort in one another. Either way, it seemed to be doing their relationship some good.

Deeming the coast clear, Boomer let Bubbles in and they made their way toward the kitchen. Bubbles sat at the island and watched as Boomer moved around the kitchen for the large bowls Mojo got them specifically for ramen dishes. Wide and deep and capable of holding broth, noodles, and other add-ins with ease. The minutes passed in silence as they prepared their ramen the way they liked it best. A quick zap of heat vision made the broth the right temperature for loosening the noodles and simmering the vegetables. Letting it sit for a while until everything was saturated in pork bone broth, left the two of them with an awkward silence to fill.

"So…" Boomer started, only to trail off when he had nothing to say.

"So…" Bubbles repeated as she pulled the band from one of her pigtails and retied it.

"We never really talked about any of it have we."

At that remark, Bubbles' brow pinched as she focused on the covered bowl of her ramen. "I wanted to talk about it."

"I needed time to think." Boomer cut in before she could get upset. "I couldn't do that with you in my face."

Bubbles' face flushed red with anger, but she kept a tight lid on her words. This needed to happen with Boomer or else, they wouldn't get past it. She began to braid her pigtail just to keep her hands busy and channel her feelings. "So what did you think about?"

"About how you didn't trust me enough to just tell me. It was made worst by the fact that Jamie gave you an out, but you didn't take it because you thought I would do something to him. Worst yet, you thought fucking me was going to make it okay." Boomer braced his arms on the countertop and leaned toward Bubbles. "You have to see how much that sucks."

She knew that it did. Having Boomer spell it out for her like he did make her feel worst. "Are you saying you wouldn't have done anything to Jamie?"

"At this point does it matter?" He countered, moving further and knocking his arm against his ramen. The force almost tipped the brothy goodness over and he had to use his super-speed to catch the bowl. When he had it settled, he took the lid off and looked at the progress of his noodles. "It's ready. Nothing worse than soggy ramen."

Bubbles watched as he set the lid aside and reached for his chopsticks. The sound of him snapping them apart and sliding against each other to smooth out the edges seemed so loud over their sudden silence. As he dipped his chopsticks into the bowl to stir the contents, Bubbles went about beginning her own meal. Looking at her chopsticks, she sighed and dipped them into her bowl, and swirled the contents. When she began to eat, she hardly tasted anything. The same couldn't be said for Boomer. He seemed to relish every slurp of noodles and bite of tonkatsu soaked bamboo shoot. It seemed nothing could ruin a good meal for Boomer. Not even the crushing awkwardness of this conversation.

"How can you stand to eat?" she asked after she forced a mouthful of broth and ramen down.

Boomer had just bit into a hunk of pork when she asked, so all he could provide in answer was a shrug. After chewing and swallowing what was in his mouth, he focused his attention back to his bowl. "It's the best tonkatsu in Townsville and the first meal I've felt like eating since getting back. Nothing is going to ruin this for me."

Looking down into her still mostly full bowl of ramen, she pushed it away before she could force herself to take another slurp. If she did, she was sure she'd throw up. It was such a pity to let it go to waste, but Bubbles just couldn't eat with her stomach in the knots that they were in. Instead, she just watched Boomer eat to his heart's content.

When Boomer was nearly finished, he lifted his bowl to his lips to slurp down the last of his ramen. After he set his bowl down, he let out a loud belch that made Bubbles' face wrinkle. "Rowdy Ruff Boy through and through." She murmured.

The super hearing allowed for Boomer to still hear her comment and he smiled cheekily at her. "What can I say? It's who I am." The second part of that was said with a touch of melancholy that came unexpectedly. Dropping his eyes from her face, he noticed her half-full bowl and sighed. "Bubbles."

The front door to the tower opened and Mojo walked in. When he looked up, his eyes immediately landed on the two blondes at the kitchen island and he snorted as he made his way to his room. While the door didn't slam it also wasn't closed gently either.

Boomer stood up to clear the island, putting his empty bowl in the sink and Bubbles' in the microwave. He then took her hand and led her through the tower until they were in his room. For extra measure, he locked the door, lest Mojo tries to come in and interrupt. Bubbles stood awkwardly in the middle of his room looking around the space she'd never been in before. It was what she'd expected of him; bed haphazardly made, dirty clothes strew in a corner, posters of cartoon characters on his walls, and a shelf of old stuffed animals at the edge of just out of the way. The color scheme was also expected with shades of blue, silver, and white.

"Tell me what you're thinking right now." Boomer asked, not liking how silent she was being.

Turning around so that she could face Boomer, she stared up into his face. His cobalt eyes were not nearly as bright as they could be and his skin was paler from lack of sleep, highlighting the shadows under his eyes. His appearance was mostly because of his failed trip to a collapsed world, but some of it was her fault and she decided to say as much. "I'm a lousy girlfriend."

When Boomer didn't disagree immediately, Bubbles groaned and turned away from him folding her arms over her chest. Boomer stepped toward her with a hand outstretched, but he wasn't sure what exactly he should do. Clenching his hand into a fist he brought it to his forehead and shook them both at the situation. "You haven't exactly been the best recently. Okay, you've been helping with my recovery, but having sex with me to soften the blow before you tell me another guy kissed you is…" He dropped his hands and stared at Bubbles with eyes wide with hurt. "…it's a goddamn insult."

"Insult?"

Boomer's cheeks burned with his humiliation, but he held her gaze in his own. "I know I'm labeled as the dummy in the group, but I'm not stupid!" he yelled, needing the words to be out despite what it might do to Bubbles.

"I never said you were!" she yelled back at him.

"You didn't have to when you treat me like I am!"

Now Bubbles was confused. How had she treated Boomer like he was stupid? The events and her actions within the past few weeks ran through her mind and she struggled to make the connection to Boomer's conclusion.

Seeing the baffled contemplation on her face, Boomer ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Jamie kissed you. He kissed you. You didn't kiss him. You didn't do anything other than be kissed by him. It's just that simple. You, Bubbles, didn't do anything wrong. I would've understood that."

"You get so jealous, Boomer! You thought Mac and I were dating before we told you otherwise!" she was now screaming at him, the slight shrillness hurting his canine-like hearing as it bounced off the walls of his room. "With that precedent in mind, how could I not think you wouldn't act the same or worst?"

"BECAUSE I'M NOT STUPID!" His voice thundered back at her. "You made me feel stupid by fucking me before telling me that Jamie kissed you! Sex for us wasn't just a way for me to get off. It…it means something to me, all right? I thought that's what we both meant that weekend at the lake, but apparently, you were thinking 'Boomer is too stupid to understand, so maybe letting him fuck me how he likes will make him feel better.' You cheapened us and put Jamie over us!"

Angry tears welled in Bubbles' eyes and she was breathing heavily enough to make her nostrils flare. Her hands were clenched into tight fists under her folded arms and she stepped up to Boomer, chin raised in indignation. "How dare you accuse me of cheapening us when you practically called sex with me boring."

"Don't turn this on me! I never said sex with you was boring!"

"You got all bent out of shape because we never did anything more exciting than me being on top! You took me saying it was nice to mean boring. All that 'research'," she made the air quotations to emphasize her point, "was so you could brag to your brothers about all the kind of sex you could have! If that doesn't say cheap, I don't know what does!"

For a split second, Boomer was consumed with a need for destruction. His palm twitched with the growing itch only to have it quelled when his body reacted unpleasantly to the holy water in his system. It was like a fire burning throughout his body. Bringing a hand to his chest, he grunted and moved around Bubbles so he could sit on his bed until the feeling passed.

Anger and indignation were forgotten as she turned to Boomer and tried to reach out to him, only for him to catch her hands in his own and hold them away. "Don't."

"Boomer—."

"I'm fine." He sighed as the feeling of the burning stop. "It passed."

They were quiet for a moment and took the unintended reprieve to cool their heads. It seemed like they'd gotten nowhere before resorting to screaming at each other. Bubbles moved around so that she could sit on the other side of the bed, facing the opposite direction from Boomer. Once again silence had descended over the two of them, broken up by Boomer's heavy breathing. Bubbles unraveled her braided pigtail and removed the bands from her hair to shake it out.

"I never thought what we did was boring. When my brothers started teasing me about what I could be missing out on, it made me think of what you could be missing out on." He turned to look over his shoulder at Bubbles' back and shifted so he could face her fully. "When it came to us, I always put what would make you happy first. Nothing and no one else. I guess it was too much to ask that you would do the same."

"That isn't fair Boomer!" She turned so she was one her knees on the bed facing him. "I was putting you first."

"No, you weren't!" Boomer snapped at her, angrier than he's ever been with her. "You put Jamie over me, and you did it in the worst way. You made me feel stupid. Out of everyone, I didn't think you'd ever be the one to make me feel like that."

Her face crumpled as she retreated from him and felt her eyes sting with tears. Before now Bubbles thought Boomer's issue was just the kiss when really it was so much more than that. Now she realized that she made him feel insecure not just about her feelings for him, but also insecure about how she saw him as a person. That was worst than anything else she could've done to him. Boomer hated being thought of as stupid. When the tears began to fall, she pushed herself off the bed and began to make her way toward the door.

"Bubbles, don't walk out on me when we're finally getting this all out in the open." Boomer used his super-speed to cut her off and catch her by the top of her arms.

Bubbles tried to break from Boomer's grip only for him to use all his strength to hold her in place. "Boomer, let me go."

"No. I want us to work this out." Boomer insisted on keeping his grip tight enough to hold her, but not enough to bruise.

"How are we going to do that?" She asked.

Boomer's shoulders relaxed and he sighed. "Promise me you'll never treat me like I'm stupid again."

Her head bobbed in a nod before she stepped closer to Boomer and pressed her head into Boomer's chest. "I promise I won't make you feel stupid again. I'm sorry." Her voice broke at the end as more tears ran down her face.

Boomer sighed and wrapped his arms around Bubbles. Closing his eyes and pressing his head atop hers, he relished having her this close and comfortably tucked against him again. When she sniffled and wrapped her arms around him she snuggled closer to him.

"I'm sorry, Boomer." She said holding him tighter. "I'm sorry."

Pulling back, Boomer tucked a finger under her chin to see her tear-stained blotchy face. Her bottom lip wobbled, and Boomer couldn't resist leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "I'm sorry too."

Shaking her head, Bubbles pulled her arms up and brought her hands up to cradle Boomer's face on her own. "You have nothing to be sorry about. This was all me, Boomer."

"It takes two to tango." Boomer whispered to her before kissing her again. "Speaking of…Butch said makeup sex was really good."

Bubbles scoffed out a laugh as she pushed back from Boomer bringing her hands to his chest. "Maybe, but I hated fighting with you. No sex is worth how we felt when we're fighting."

"Probably," he said as he pulled her back into his arms and held her closer to him. He kissed her again, this time deeper and with a bit of tongue inserted into it when a loud knock came from the other side of the door. Boomer pulled away from Bubbles and reached for the door, practically yanking it off the hinges as he pulled it open.

On the other side, Mojo was standing there with a stern look on his face. He took in their flushed cheeks and swollen lips with a frown. Apparently, he rushed up to his son's room for no reason. Their yelling was heard from all the way in his room, worst when he came out in need of a snack and stalked into the kitchen. Looking at them now, it was clear they were on the mend. Still, concern for his son's well being made him ask to be sure. "I heard yelling." His eyes landed on Bubbles and it gave him sadistic satisfaction to see her look contrite. Should any of these girls hurt his sons after all their bartering for peace and a chance to start anew, they should be filled with shame. It would be the least they could do.

"It was nothing. We're fine." Boomer told his dad, knowing Mojo would be relentless should he find out that Bubbles almost broke his heart.

"Didn't sound like nothing." He turned his pin tinted eyes to his youngest with concern shining through.

He reached for Bubbles, hand and entwined their fingers together. "We're all good." He turned back to give Bubbles and smile and she returned it weakly.

Mojo narrowed his eyes as he looked between them. Just by looking at them, he knew that something happened, however, he'd save his inquisition for after Bubbles left. "Hmmm. Well, she needs to leave before nine. The last sleepover that was hosted here ended horrifically."

Boomer winced a bit at the dig toward his married brother and sister in law. Granted said sleepover was never meant to be discovered by Mojo. At the same time, it didn't come as a major surprise to anyone that Butch and Buttercup were the ones that were caught. However, Boomer and Bubbles were not ones to talk as they came into the professor's home hugging and kissing all over each other in direct view of Mojo and the rest of the family.

Instead of provoking him, Boomer tugged Bubbles out of his room and down the stairs with Mojo behind them. The three of them found themselves in the living room, with Mojo sitting in the recliner and the reformed couple on the couch. Under different circumstances where the two of them would've been alone, Boomer would've had Bubbles sit in his lap with her arms around her and able to kiss the side of her head. For now, all he could do in view of his dad was hold her hand in his own as they lie between them. That at least was out of Mojo's sight. Still, the weight of his scrutiny never lessened.

Before long, Bubbles pulled her hand free of Boomer's and stood up. He stood along with her watching as she stretched her limbs. "I should get going."

"Want me to fly with you back to campus?" He asked as he walked her to the door.

She turned to glance over Boomer's shoulder at Mojo and shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. You can stop by the dorms tomorrow."

"Okay." He said as he placed a kiss on her lips on last time before she stepped out and took off into the sky. Boomer leaned against the metal frame of the door as he watched Bubbles fly away.

Mojo, from his place in the recliner, looked on as Boomer came back seeming better than he has in weeks. He'd wondered what had Boomer so unlike his usual cheerful self. "What was your fight about?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing wouldn't have had you so irritable," Mojo noted to his son. "What happened?"

Sighing, Boomer ran a hand through his hair. His internal debate on whether or not to tell Mojo ended when he realized that Mojo would just keep asking. That, and he might ask her at the worst possible moment if he didn't get any answers out of him. "We had a disagreement."

"About?"

"She didn't tell me something that she should've." Boomer said vaguely, hoping it was enough to get Mojo to leave him alone. "And I had to find out from someone else. Look, we already talked it out, we're going to be okay."

"Are you sure?"

The actual concern for his wellbeing brought Boomer back into the living room. He sat on the couch turning toward Mojo and nodded.

Mojo moved out of the recliner so he could sit close to his son. He then wrapped his arm around his shoulders and gave his shoulder an awkward pat. "You still manage to make me worry."

Boomer scoffed out a laugh at that. "You've always worried about us."

"It's my job as your father." Mojo reminded him. "Though, I'm more worried than I've ever been for your three."

That caught Boomer's attention. "Dad, we're getting better. We're fine."

Sighing, Mojo pulled his arm from around Boomer and reached for the remote so that he could mute the television. "I'm not talking about the recent escapade you and your brothers managed to get yourselves into. I'm talking about H.I.M."

All the muscles in Boomer's body tensed as Mojo turned to look back at him with a furrowed brow. This was a conversation he wasn't keen on having with Mojo. Ever. What happened between the boys and that demon was traumatic and something they would rather not talk about. Boomer stood up and started to walk away when Mojo grabbed his arm. "Let me go."

"Boomer, please. Brick told me the things that H.I.M did to you three. I'm—." Mojo was thrown off of Boomer with a rough shake of his arm. The couch skidded across the tile loudly from the force. "Boomer!"

"I'm not talking to you about this!" Boomer shouted, closing his eyes to banish the images of that terrible night and the many other abuse filled hours from his mind. "I don't want to think about that shit! He's dead, we're not! It's over!"

Mojo cautiously stood up and reached a hand toward Boomer only to drop it by his side and clenched it tightly. "Apparently not. I hate that I didn't know what happened to you three. Worst, that those girls—the cause of his anger taken out on you—knew before I did."

"I am not talking about this with you." Boomer then stormed up toward the stairs, stomping hard enough to rattle the tower.

When the door slammed Mojo's eyes closed and he slumped back onto the couch, bringing a hand up to his forehead. "Curses!" he muttered to himself, knowing what he needed to do get his family back together. The issue was that he didn't want to have to do it, but he would. If only for his sons' sake would he put up with the utterly unbearable. "Curses!"

Hello my lovelies. I hope there were enough feels for you guys in this chapter. If not there will be more to come! Next chapter we're going to learn to rely a little bit more on our friends and family. It'll hopefully be for the better for everyone as tears are shed, laughter is had, and memorable moments are made.

Also, a reminder for my original story RockStar will be debuting in January of 2021. I know that sounds like a long way off, but on my side of the screen, it's a lot closer than I think and it kind of is when November right around the corner. (Also for my American readers, I urge those of age who can vote to please do. It's much too important not to. If not for yourself then for someone who can't.) For more updates about what is going on with RockStar go to my page and follow the links to my FictionPress, WattPad, and Instagram pages. I'll be posting character information on FictionPress; WattPad will be another reading source, and Instagram will be for art media. *I may even do a little comic page if I get enough of you following* ;)

I love you all. Until Next Time