She wanted to ask him so badly. Blossom hadn't thought of anything else ever since Boomer dropped the bomb on her.

'Realistically, he'd probably just tell me to mind my own business and snake a hand in my pants to distract me.'

She didn't even know how you could even casually bring up such a subject . On top of that, she hadn't even seen that much of him to get to ask.

'Bold of you to assume he'd ever tell you something he hasn't even told his brothers yet.'

'Any ideas?' Brick's question snapped her out of her reverie. They were all having takeout in the cottage's kitchen, this time Brick had brought fresh grilled fish and some strange looking bread. He said it was traditional rye bread called rúgbrauð, Blossom found it a bit too sweet for her liking.

'I say we go to Colombia, I need some good cocaine. Flossy here might like it, too.'

'No, no, we can go on the African savannah, Blossom would love to see the elephants.' Boomer chimed in, playfully touching her hand.

Blossom shivered at the contact. She hadn't expected for the blonde to warm up to her so fast. Especially since yesterday's story, he had gotten more loving with her by the minute. It reminded her too much of Bubbles.

'Getting touchy with Brick's girl, Boomer? I hoped I'd be the first.' Butch groaned, streching like a lazy cat.

Brick shot him a cold look and then addressed Blossom:

'How about you? Where do you want to go?'

'France.' she blurted out.

'Why? 'an amused grin adorned his face.

'Flossy here wants to eat croissants with you in the Eiffel tower, obviously. It's so adorable I want to puke my guts out.' Butch teased, making gagging noises.

Blossom narrowed her eyes at the raven haired teen:

'For your information, The Louvre Museum is in France, and I've never visited it. But of course, since your brain is fried from all the coke, you wouldn't know or care.'

'I'd rather be brainfried than a boring bitch like you.' he mouthed a kiss at her.

'Kids, calm down.' Boomer waved his hands in their line of sight in an attempt to dispel the bad vibes.

'What were you thinking, Brick?' Boomer attempted to revert the attention to the redhead.

'Nothing in particular on my mind.' he softy replied, surveying the room. After a few seconds he added:

'I can go with Blossom in Paris by myself. If you're not interested, you and Butch can go where ever you want.'

'I can co...' Boomer started, but was shut down by a quick icy glare from his brother.

'He wants us to be alone...in Paris.' Blossom fought the blush creeping on her face.

'Such a cliché.'

'It will probably take more than a day for us to visit it, so we can all meet in two days. Is that fair to you?'

'I'm done in a few hours. How much time do you want to spend in that shithole savannah, Boomer?' Butch asked, giving his brother a playful punch.

The blonde seemed dissapointed with the turn of events.

'If you guys aren't coming, I'm done in a few hours, too.'

'Sweet, wanna go on a coke bender with me then?'

'No coke benders when I'm not with you.' Brick said coldly.

'Fine, then what about we get some sweet cars and just drive on the seaside like crazies? C'mon, you like that.' he ruffled his hair.

A tiny smile crept on Boomer's face.

'Yeah, I do. Ok, then.'

'Brick, we'll meet you guys at that neat cabin in the Alps in two days' time?'

Brick nodded. 'Sounds good. And don't touch that coke.'

'Ok, mom.' Butch rolled his eyes while grabbing his clothes and headed for the exit. 'Boomer, coming? I'll go on your stupid savannah trip if you do Colombia with me.'

'Ye, ok, sure.' Boomer replied hurriedly. 'Have fun, you guys. Cya soon.'

The kitchen was soon empty, and Blossom could feel the tension permeating the air. They hadn't been alone ever since the kitchen fight.

'I like the Louvre, too. I've been a few times, it's a good choice.' he said, his tone softening. 'But, I don't think my brothers would get it.' He got up and drew closer to her.

'Is that why you asked them not to come?' Blossom inquired, slight amusement in her voice.

'That, and other reasons, Red. I want you to have a pleasant experience, through and through.' he murmured, following the line of her jaw with his finger. 'You told me back in Townsville that you don't want to be my partner because we don't know eachother, maybe it's time we get to it.'

'That, among other things.' she couldn't help but mutter under her breath.

'Yes, I know, I've esentially coerced you into joining. Gave you no choice. Bad move on my part, I admit it. I lost my patience after having you once. Needed to have you again.'

'You slaughtered my ex in front of me. You're calling that a 'bad move'? his hand had travelled down to her neck, his touch leaving a burning trail behind.

'Yes, bad move. You weren't ready for it yet.'

'Yet?'

'I would have done it eitherway at some point. But one always has to strike at the perfect time. Shouldn't let emotion cloud one's judgement.'

His hand travelled further down, and he slowly started to unbotton her shirt. This one was a red silky blouse, and Brick had gotten her a perfect fit once again.

Blossom felt her breath quickening as he continued unbottoning, ultimately leaving her exposed, only wearing her bra.

His intense look sent shivers down the redhead's spine, blood red eyes almost tearing away at her clothes.

'Why would you have done it eitherway?'Blossom asked harshly, trying to break the spell of his eyes.

'Because you need to let go. You're too tied to the people in this world. You don't realise just how powerful we really are.'

'And couldn't I have done it on my own terms?'

'Everyone needs a guiding hand.' he replied in a hushed tone.

'Or maybe a claw.' Blossom's voice bit into him, his eyes widening in realisation as he sprag away from her.

'Someone told you. Probably Boomer. It's fine, you should know.' he replied, pacing about the room.

It was a rare instance to see him this flustered, she had clearly hit a nerve. Blossom almost felt guilty for pressing on:

'What did you do with Him?'

He smirked, giving her a sideways glance:

'It's the only information you couldn't get from Boomer, what makes you think I'd tell you? '

'You expect me to be honest with you, and yet you're a closed book. And still you dared to lecture me on hypocrisy.'

'Fair enough... you're right. I won't pester you anymore. Keep your thoughts for yourself.' he replied, an annoyed smile adorning his face.

She didn't expect this answer. Whatever it was, it gnawed at him so much he'd rather go against his word for it. She felt compelled to continue:

'Why do you even call me your partner, then? Do you expect me to just pretend Boomer didn't tell me anything?'

'No, I expect you to tactfully ignore topics that don't directly involve you.' he answered, rubbing at his eyes.

'Then I'm clearly not what you're looking for in a partner.' she darkly replied, attempting to return to her room.

'Blossom.'

His tone sounded pleading, much more different than his usual confident self.

'Yes?'she returned to face him, but the softness was already gone from his eyes.

'Nothing.' he strolled back to his room, passing by her hurriedly. 'We're leaving in 10, get ready.'

'I can't believe I'm going to see the Louvre...with this asshole, ugh!'

'What are we doing here in the middle of the night?' They were hoovering high above the Louvre pyramid, slowly descending, the ruff leading the way.

Brick looked back at her and scoffed:

'You didn't expect we'd go in the middle of the day with the other people, did you?'

'How do you plan to get in? I'm not killing anybody, if that's what your suggesting.' Blossom said, crossing her arms together.

'Not that there's anything wrong with killing the guards, but the Paris mayor happens to know me and what I can do. We have an arrangement, I prefer my visits here to be as uneventful as possible.'

They arrived at the entrance, several guards were protecting it. They looked at them curiously, and one of them came forth and addressed Brick:

'Le musée est fermé, monsieur.'

Brick sighed and turned to Blossom.

'They're probably new at the gate, let me take care of this.'

He turned around, grabbed his phone and soon Blossom could hear him dialing a number. After several rings someone responded:

'Yes, Pierre, it's me, Brick. I'm here at the Louvre again. Will you be so kind to tell your guards to let me in? I'm afraid I haven't been here in a while and none of them knows me.'

Brick then approached the guard in charge and passed him the phone:

'Allez! Tu peux parler avec Monsieur Dubois!'

The guard hesitated, but Brick shoved it in his hand before he could accept. He then rose it to his ear and the exchange that followed resulted in confusion, followed by fear and wariness. After a few minutes, the man passed Brick his cellphone back, and the redhead quickly wiped off the sweat that had accumulated from the nervous man's hands.

'Mister Brick, we are honoured to have you and your lovely companion with us at the Louvre tonight.' the guard spoke with a very thick accent.

'We did not know you were coming, otherwise we would have prepared better.' his tone was servile,perhaps trying to make up for failing to recognise him.

'It's fine. Just make sure everyone in the building finds out before we head in.'

'Of course, sir. Enjoy your stay.' He swiftly grabbed his walkie-talkie and started ranting in French, while motioning to them to go in.

Blossom was low-key impressed, she expected more broken bones to be involved in the whole affair.

'What kind of arrangement do you have with the director?' she asked while stepping into the pyramid.

'Nothing fancy, just full acces into the museum at night.'

'How did you convince him?' Blossom looked in awe at her surroundings

'I just told him I'd hunt his family down if he doesn't comply. Then I showed him what I can do. Worked out just fine.'

'Is that your usual method? I expected more death in this scenario.' she gave him a sideways glance.

'I try to avoid it when I can. I happen to enjoy some things that humans produce. Who would make the honey if I killed the bees?' Brick replied with a cocky smile.

'Like they connect the honey each season, I collect art, food and good wine. A fair exchange for their safety.'

'Very shamelessly exploitative.' Blossom felt the need to add.

'They should be glad we choose to keep a low profile. We're merely pilgrims, but we could be tyrants if we chose it.'

'Why didn't you?' Blossom asked, genuinely curious.

'Freedom is more valuable than power.' he simply answered and then he started showing her around.

Brick seemed to know his way around the huge hallways, his enthusism was subdued as he pointed out several works of art that he especially enjoyed.

'How come your father never took you here?

'Guess he didn't think it was a priority.'

The professor had gotten more hermit-like in the last years, working almost every waking hour in his lab. And the girls? They were all so caught up in the fantasy of leading normal lives that they hadn't even considered the possibility. She hadn't, anyway. At some point, after the villains had become scarce, she felt strange for using her powers.

'You never dared to rebell, Miss 'Everything nice'? he teased.

'What am I doing now?'

'Fair point. Daddy must have turned livid when he found out.' he pressed on, attempting to get a reaction out of her.

'Maybe he thinks you captured me.

'Poor Blossom. Although you seem to be enjoying your capture.'

'Hardly.'

Brick pointed out at a statue in the distance, further away on the hallway.

'There it is, la pièce de résistance.'

It was Venus de Milo, even more beautiful and majestic than in the pictures she had seen before.

'Aphrodite... in the artistic vision of Alexander of Antioch.'

The white marble gleamed under the lights, and Blossom almost found herself touching her curves.

'Breathtaking. Somebody carved these curves, these pleats into stone. And yet they look so soft..'Brick entangled his hand with hers:

'Come, there's much more to see.'

Blossom's heart fluttered at the thought.

'This isn't half-bad. He isn't wrong, I've been missing out on a lot. Maybe I should make up for lost time.'

She followed him, their shadows mimicking their flight on the ornate walls.

I'd love to hear what you think about it. I have several directions I might take it in, so I would appreciate some feedback.

XOXO