They were eight when Bubbles first noticed it; her sister and Brick both liked climbing trees. Bubbles didn't understand why they bothered climbing. When you had the ability to fly, why waste your time climbing? Bubbles also didn't like finding a similarity between her sister and a Rowdyruff boy. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Brick climbing the tree outside Townsville elementary.
"Shit," Brick said as his foot slipped. He gripped the tree branch tighter as he scrambled for proper footing.
"Language," Blossom's bossy voice called from up in the tree. Brick frowned. He hadn't realized that she was here. He should have picked a different tree. The young boy let go of the tree branch. He floated up to her.
"Fuck," he spat. Her little face twisted in annoyance.
"You shouldn't swear, Brick." She hardly ever called him by his name. Brick didn't like it when she did. She wasn't evil enough for that. He really wanted her to go away. He did the only reasonable thing he could think of.
"Bitch, bastard, shit, fuck, ass…" and on and on he went. Blossom shrieked at him as she covered her ears. She glared.
"Language!" Brick ignored her and kept yelling every swear word he could think of. It must have been a sight. The two kids sitting on a tree branch, one swearing, the other shrieking, both stubborn and red in the face. Brick was running out of swear words. He was starting to just make the angry chimp noises Mojo made when experiments didn't work right. Blossom was starting to stop shrieking. The little boy was filled with horror at the realization that she was in fact giggling. He narrowed his eyes. The Powerpuff girls were always laughing at him and his brothers; every time one of his plans went wrong. There was no malice on her face this time though. It was then that Brick noticed the tears on her face. She'd been crying just now. Part of him felt guilty for yelling at her while she'd been crying.
"Why were you crying?" He blurted out. Blossom stopped her laughing to look at him. The wind rustled through the leaves. A little bit of sunlight drifted through and made her pink eyes soft.
"I'm not telling you." The softness of her eyes was gone as soon as it had come. Brick frowned.
"Fine," He said. He folded his arms and glared. She did the same. After a moment the recess bell rang. Blossom scrambled out of the tree, tearing her pretty pink dress on the way down. She sniffed.
"Oh no! Today is picture day!" She whimpered. Brick jumped out of the tree. "My picture is going to be a disaster." Tears were welling up in her eyes again. Brick began to panic. He did the only thing he could think to do. He ripped his own shirt.
"There," he said. "Now you won't be the only one with a bad picture." She blinked at him. He'd worn his nice shirt today too. He'd wanted to look good for his photo, but he'd settle for getting her to stop crying. Blossom sniffled, but her tears were gone. Blossom would end up bookmarking the page with his photo in her yearbook. She'd never tell a soul. The wind rustled in the tree they'd just left. The two went their separate ways. Three days later, Brick and his brothers would cause trouble and Blossom and her sisters would stop them.
Blossom found herself crying in the tree again when she was fourteen. She had just had her heart broken for the first time. She'd found her way back to the Townsville elementary school yard to be alone. She was in the mist of climbing when she heard a noise. She looked up to see Brick staring down at her. His eyes were bleary, like he'd just woken up.
"Were you sleeping in a tree?" She asked.
"Were you planning on crying in a tree?" he asked. "I mean, I know you did when we were little, but dude, you're fourteen. Aren't you a little old for that?"
"Aren't you a little clumsy for sleeping in trees?" Blossom shot back. Brick was notorious for stumbling over his own two feet. He'd never admit that it was only around her that he found himself unable to balance properly.
"Touche, Sniffles." He sat up on his branch while Blossom settled on one slightly farther down from him. They sat in silence for a few moments. The wind rustled the full summer leaves. "So why are you crying?" He asked.
"Like I'm telling you," she said. He looked down at her. She wasn't looking up at him. She was sitting with her back against the trunk. She was hugging her knees, poking at her sneakers. They were still scuffed from when she'd stopped an armed robbery last week. Brick had a feeling that more tears were coming. He huffed.
"Why are you sleeping in a tree?" She asked. Her voice wasn't bossy like it had been when she'd stopped him from stealing that rhino two weeks ago. He shrugged.
"With my brothers, a tree's the only place I can get any sleep." Brick looked up at the leaves, not noticing the way Blossom looked up at him. Her pink eyes watching him quietly.
"With my sisters," she offered. "A tree's the only place I can cry." She rested her chin on her knees. If she had told her sisters that admitting her crush to Mike had resulted in him rejecting her Bubbles would have smothered her with hugs and Buttercup would have punched Mike way harder than a normal person could stand to be punched. Blossom had decided to cry in a tree than admit she'd let herself be hurt by a boy. Especially, a boy that she had helped save multiple times; but she was fourteen, was she not allowed to have crushes on cute boys?
Brick rested his chin in his hand. "So why do you climb trees?" he asked. "I mean, since you can fly and all." He looked down at her. His red eyes weren't hostile like they'd been when she'd stopped him from spray painting certain body parts on the library. He just looked curious in an entirely innocent way. Blossom shrugged.
"I'm not sure. Why do you?" She asked.
"I like the smell of the leaves." He stood up on his branch. Blossom gave the lightest of laughs.
"You climb trees because you like how trees smell?" There was the tiniest of smiles on her face. Brick looked away from her. He didn't like how warm his face suddenly felt.
"Of course not. I'm just messing with you." He didn't like being laughed at.
"I like the way the leaves smell too," Blossom said. He stopped. He hadn't noticed her move because now she was on the same branch as him. She offered a genuine smile. "But mostly, I like the scratch of the bark on my skin." He slowly sat back down next to her. That was exactly why he liked climbing. Sure, he could fly, but then he didn't feel like he'd earned it. The roughness of the bark? The slightest bit of pain made it feel like he deserved to be in that tree.
"Does it ground you?" He asked. She shrugged.
"In a way," she looked over at him. "So, what's the real reason you're sleeping in the tree?"
"I don't sleep."
"Do you have nightmares?"
"No. Men don't have nightmares."
"Brick, you're fourteen."
"I'm still a man," Brick insisted. Blossom decided not to argue the topic further. There was no point in making him upset, even if there still was the boyish roundness to his face.
"Why don't you sleep then?" She asked. He shrugged.
"I just can't turn my brain off." Brick wondered what time it was. The sun was beginning to set. "Why were you crying?"
"It was dumb," She had the faintest trace of a blush on her cheeks. Brick didn't like how pretty it made her look.
"Did you tear your dress again?" He asked. Blossom blinked. It was easy to know he was talking about when they were small, after all she was wearing a t-shirt and shorts.
"No. I can't believe you remember that." The wind blew through his hair. Blossom had to admit; she liked the way his hair caught the light.
"Hard to forget. Mojo was really mad about that shirt. It was really expensive." She laughed and they sat in silence for the longest time. The villain and hero watched as the sunset.
"I won't think its stupid," Brick said. They were still sitting side by side, shoulders touching. "I mean, your shirt looks stupid, but I won't think the reason you were crying was stupid." Blossom stared at him for a long time.
"I told a boy I liked him. He didn't like me." She was shivering ever so slightly. The temperature had fallen in the absence of the sun. She looked incredibly sad.
"Oh," Brick said, not knowing how to respond. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm. There was an explosion in the distance, saving him from having to respond.
"I have to go," she blurted. She stood up on the branch. Brick followed suit.
"Wait," he slipped off his sweatshirt and offered it to her. "You're cold and you shouldn't fight when your muscles are cold so… here." Blossom took it softly. There was the rustle of leaves as she looked into his eyes.
"Thanks," she managed then darted off. A few days later, Brick found the sweatshirt in his locker, along with a small pile of leaves. He closed his locker quickly so his brothers couldn't see. Blossom soon forgot about her crush on Mike. She had yet to realize it, but she was developing a crush on someone else, and this time it was mutual; even if they both would rather die before they admitted it to themselves.
When they were seventeen they found themselves back at the tree. There were no gentle giggles of childhood this time, no awkward staring of young teens, this time, the tree filled with screaming.
"You bastard!" Blossom's face was red with anger. Brick fell from where he'd been sleeping in the tree. He hit the ground with a painful thud. "You absolute piece of shit!" Brick had to stare for a second. He couldn't possibly be seeing Blossom up in the tree. Her foot was still raised from where she'd kicked him. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. Was she… swearing at him? Blossom didn't swear. "What the hell was going through your head?" It was definitely Blossom. No one else's voice could get that shrill.
"What did I do this time?" He asked. He sat up and studied her. She was red in the face and looked absolutely livid. He racked his brain for anything he'd done wrong lately and other than the petty theft she'd yelled at him for two months ago he had nothing. He made a note to commit more crimes later, after all, he was a villain.
"You checked out every copy of every book by Jane Austen?" She hollered. Oh that, Brick smiled to himself.
"I'm writing my English paper on her." He watched as she puffed out her cheeks in frustration. Lately, all he'd done was irritate her and Blossom had just about had enough. First, he'd scored better than her on their math test last week, then he'd got the best time on their mile run yesterday and now this. She was going to make sure they didn't have any classes together next semester.
"You don't even like Jane Austen! You're obsessed with Hemingway and Camus." Blossom had started to pace the branch she was standing on. Brick stood up, stretching.
"I'm expanding my horizons, Sniffles." The young man walked toward the tree and began to climb.
"But do you need every single copy of every goddamn book she wrote?" She asked. Brick was surprised that Blossom would use all these swears. Part of him liked how he was able to provoke such language from her.
"I want to be thorough," he said simply as he made it to the branch she was on. He noted how pretty she looked today. She was wearing a plain pink blouse with black jeans that weren't tight, but perfectly fitted to her. He felt a bit sloppy in his t-shirt and ripped jeans.
"Brick Jojo," she said angrily. He liked the sound of his name on her lips. "Are you lying to me?" He smiled at her. Blossom liked this specific smile, it was a smile she only ever saw up in this tree. She kept the stern look on her face. There was no need to let some silly crush stop her from yelling at him.
"I would never lie, Scouts honor." Brick folded his arms and leaned against the trunk of the tree. Blossom put her hands on her hips.
"You were in the Evil Scouts." She was beginning to struggle with keeping her face serious.
"There was still an honor code," he argued. She covered her mouth with her hand.
"The Evil Scouts did not have an honor code," she watched him as he frowned.
"They did too."
"No way. It's called the Evil Scouts." She was beginning to talk with her hands. "I mean Evil is in the name."
"Does being good have an honor code?"
"Of course, it does. Good is literally defined by honor codes," Blossom almost lost her balance she was waving her hands around. Brick reached out to help steady her. A light breeze rustled the leaves around them.
"Therego, Evil has an honor code." Brick said as Blossom regained her balance.
"What's the honor code for Evil?" Blossom asked. Brick shrugged.
"Do crime, don't wash behind your ears, don't lie to pretty girls, always stay up past your bedtime, dishonor your father and mother, always break…" Brick stopped talking. Blossom was staring at him. Her cheeks were bright red. His face flushed to match hers when he realized what he'd said.
"Y-you," she was stammering. Blossom didn't stammer. "You think I'm pretty?" Shit. Brick racked his brain to talk himself out of this one. Shit. He was a villain after all, there was no way she had a crush on him too. He did the only thing he could think of. He started yelling swear words.
"Shit, bitch, ass, hell, bast-" He wasn't able to finish his panicked swearing. Blossom had sprung forward and pressed her lips to his. The motion caused Brick to lose his own balance. He fell backward into the tree trunk, his hands flat against the bark. Blossom stumbled with him. It wasn't a romantic stumbling. It was awkward and clumsy. When the kiss broke Blossom took one look at Brick's burning red face and pulled away. Brick stared at her. She covered her mouth with her hands.
"Oh my god, I can't believe I did that." Brick blinked as she continued to freak out. "Oh my god. Oh my god. What was I thinking? Of course, you don't like me. I am so sorry." Blossom was talking so fast now that the teenage boy couldn't decipher a word she was saying, even if his brain hadn't short circuited the second a pretty girl kissed him. Brick gulped.
"This is so embarrassing. You know what? Have fun with your essay; I'm gonna g-" Blossom never made it out of the tree. Brick had grabbed her wrist and spun her back to him. This time Brick kissed her. Leaves rustled around them.
Bubbles, who was walking home from the store, happened to be passing the Townsville Elementary school. She glanced up at a certain tree. Bubbles stopped walking for a second. Blossom was standing in the tree kissing Brick. Bubbles rolled her eyes. "Took those two long enough." They'd been dancing around each other all year. Bubbles went back to her walk.
The tree became a popular place for the two teens. Any given day they could be found in the tree. The tree was happy for nearly a year, until a week before their high school graduation. Brick climbed the tree to see the shape of Blossom sitting unmoving on her favorite branch.
"Hey Sniffles," Brick said as he pulled himself up. "Everyone's been looking for you. Bubbles and Buttercup had to fight a monster without you." Blossom pulled her knees closer to her chest. She didn't say a word. "Hey, are you okay? It's pretty late, the Professor is really worried."
"I'm eighteen; he doesn't need to worry." She didn't say anything else. Her voice sounded off. Brick sat down in front of her on the branch.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked. The moonlight glinted off her cheeks. "Shit, are you crying? What happened?" Blossom sniffed and wiped at her cheeks.
"I want to be alone," She said. "Please, just go away." Brick gently nudged her sneaker with his knuckle.
"Not until you tell me why you're crying," Brick said.
"Brick, please," Blossom said. She still hadn't turned to look at him.
"I just want to know why you're so upset you're crying," he said. Blossom frowned.
"Go away."
"Just tell m-"
"I'm crying because of you, Dumbass." Blossom was finally looking at him. Her pink eyes were full of tears. She only ever swore around him. This time, Brick didn't like it.
"What did I do?" He racked his brain for anything. He hadn't done anything worse than petty theft since they'd started dating. Was she really that upset about a few sodas? Brick stared at her.
"Nothing," she said.
"Are you that upset that you haven't seen me naked yet?" Brick teased. Blossom covered her face with her hands.
"Brick, don't joke around. I'm trying to be serious."
"Then what did I do?"
"It's not what you did, Brick." They sat there for a second. Brick didn't know what to say.
"Okay?" He managed. "I'm confused."
"You're a villain. I'm a hero. What were we thinking when we started this?" Blossom snapped. She sounded angry now. Brick felt his heart sink. He should have seen this coming. "We were doomed from the start."
"Sniffles, we don't have to break up."
"Yes, we do. We're graduating next week; what happens after that?" Blossom stood up. "I'm a fulltime hero then, you're a fulltime villain. There's nowhere for us to go after this."
"But I haven't done anything worse than petty theft for nearly a year." He stood up to argue with her. "I wouldn't really consider myself a villain anymore."
"That's not the point, Brick." Blossom swept her hands through her hair. It was falling down around her like ribbons. Brick had run his hands through it plenty of times. He knew exactly how soft it was. She'd once admitted that it calmed her. She didn't look calm now.
"Then what's the point? Huh, is there something I'm not understanding?" He gripped a branch above him as he looked at her angrily.
"The point is that everyone still sees you as one!"
"Well, it's a good thing it only matters how you see me," Brick huffed. Blossom stood still. She wasn't looking at him. Brick froze. His chest tightened. "You don't see me as a villain?" Blossom was chewing on her thumbnail and uncharacteristically quiet. "Blossom?" His voice came out sounding small. He didn't like how childish he sounded.
"I didn't." She said. "Until I stopped Butch from arson last week." She finally looked at him. Her pink eyes were the saddest thing he'd ever seen. He wanted to reach out and hug her. "There was a moment, I looked for you, because I thought that maybe you were the mastermind. I mean, your brother isn't that smart and then I thought you'd help do it and I'm sorry." She wiped at her cheeks. "And you deserve someone that sees you as a hero." Brick couldn't believe what he was hearing. She still looked at him and saw a villain, a devil to be battled. She who he had held with gentleness and every once of love that his body possessed. She still thought he was the monster under the bed. Brick felt his eyes burning.
"I understand," he said. Brick floated out of the tree.
"Brick, please," Blossom was sobbing loudly. "I hope you know how sorry I am. I really hope you know." He didn't turn to look at her.
"Yeah, me too." He flew off. The late night wind blew through the leaves as Blossom sat down again. She could smell the leaves, but they no longer smelled like leaves. They smelled like Brick and it broke her heart. God, it broke her heart.
When Blossom finally wandered home that night the tree sat silent. It sat silent and sad as the next day, Blossom discovered Brick had skipped town. It sat silent and sad as only five super-powered teens walked the stage at graduation. It sat silent and sad as thousands of miles away Brick rented a dingy apartment. It sat silent and sad as he returned to being a villain. It sat silent and sad as the years passed and the two grew up. Sometimes, Bubbles would pass the tree and feel sad. Blossom hadn't truly smiled since the night in the tree. Brick hadn't been back to Townsville since.
Three years passed before the tree was visited again. It was not visited under happy circumstances. Blossom climbed the tree slowly. Her hair fell around her, the red ribbon she usually wore in it was gone. She sat down on what had once been Brick's favorite branch. It was wide enough to sleep on and had the best view of the sunset and sunrise. The redhead was silent for hours. She took a deep breath.
"Hey Brick," she said out loud. There was no one with her, at least to her knowledge. Bubbles stood at the base of the tree, out of view. "It's me, Sniffles. I almost died yesterday." Blossom tugged at the sleeves of the sweatshirt she was wearing. She had found it hiding in the back of her closet. It had once been Brick's and had somehow not been thrown out in Blossom's great purge of everything that reminded her of him. "My sisters and I were fighting this monster. It was pretty nasty. We used up so much Chemical-X fighting this thing. It got a pretty good hit on me. I don't think I've ever bled so much. Bubbles and Buttercup couldn't do anything to help me. They were trying to get rid of the monster. I was sitting there, bleeding on the concrete and I looked for you. I looked for you." Blossom tucked her hair behind her ears.
"I was bleeding out and all I could think about was looking for you. You. It's been three fucking years, Brick," Bubbles blinked at the sound of her sister swearing. "And I know that I'm the one that broke us up. I know that you left because of me. I know you're some big bad villain now, but god, I miss you. I miss you so much." Blossom wiped her tears. Bubbles could hear her sniffle. "You know, sometimes I think about how somewhere out there in this universe there's a world where I'm not a hero and you're not a villain. Somewhere out there there's a world where we're together, where we got to be happy. I dream about that world all the time, because this one breaks my heart. And Brick, I'm sorry. I am so sorry."
Blossom sat in silence after that. She watched the sunset. Bubbles had left the base of the tree. She had gone home to make a phone call. An unsuspecting young man would answer his phone that night.
Three days later, Blossom was grumpily walking to the store. Bubbles had demanded she go grocery shopping. Blossom was unsure why Bubbles hadn't done it herself. It wasn't like the blonde had anything to do. After much nagging, however, Blossom had given in. So now she was making her way toward the store. Out of pure habit she'd glanced at a certain tree as she passed. She halted. The tree wasn't empty in the autumn air. There was a figure sitting on her favorite branch. She suddenly felt very self conscious of the red sweatshirt she was wearing. The wearing of an ex's sweater wasn't so sad when they weren't in town to see it. She'd known she should have opted to steal one of Buttercup's very cozy and very not red and very not Brick's sweaters. The figure gave a small wave. Blossom flew forward toward the tree. She scrambled up the tree, the bark scratching roughly in her haste. When she made it to the branch with the figure she hoisted herself up very clumsily. She didn't care how frantic her movements looked. Blossom was staring wide-eyed at him. Brick was sitting in the tree. His hair was short under his red baseball cap. His shoulders had filled out more.
"You cut your hair," was all she could manage. Brick looked over at her.
"Bubbles called me; she said you'd gotten hurt pretty bad the other day." His voice was deeper than it had been. Blossom tucked her hair behind her ear as she stared at him. He looked down at his shoe. "She, um, also said that you were wearing my sweatshirt again. I thought you would have thrown it out." Blossom's heart stopped at the expression on his face. There was hurt written all over it.
"I'm sorry," She squeaked out. "I'm sorry for everything." She wanted to move closer and hold him close but she didn't dare move. He looked skittish as if one wrong move from her and he'd vanish.
"I know you're sorry. Bubbles yelled at me for thirty minutes about how sorry you were and how I had to come back to see you." He finally met her eyes. Oh, how she'd missed that color of red. "That's not why I came back though." Blossom pressed her lips together in anticipation of his next words. What was he going to say?
"Buttercup called me." Blossom nearly fell out of the tree. Buttercup had never liked that Brick and Blossom were a couple. She hadn't trusted Brick. From the moment Brick and Blossom had started dating she'd been against it. Buttercup hadn't given much sympathy at the news of the break up. She'd shrugged and said it was for the best. "She called me before Bubbles did. I was already packing when Bubbles called."
"What did she say?" Blossom asked.
"She said that when they got to you you were looking around and calling my name. That when you got hurt you lost consciousness and you were talking in your sleep. Apparently, you were calling for me." His expression changed to something Blossom couldn't figure out. "Why the hell would you call out for me?" There were tears welling up in her eyes. Brick didn't move despite how much he wanted to wipe them away.
"Because I wanted you," She sobbed. "I was dying and all I wanted was you by my side. Everything stopped mattering. Good and Evil stopped existing and the only thing that I gave a shit about was seeing you. I just wanted you. You're everything." Blossom sucked in a quivering breath as Brick stared at her.
"It's been three years," he said.
"You think I don't fucking know that? Do you know how hard I've tried to get over you? I even went on a date with Boomer one time."
"Boomer?" He asked. There was a look of amusement on his face. Boomer had had a crush on Blossom for as long as Brick had. "You really were desperate." Blossom gave the smallest of laughs.
"It was awful." She wiped her nose on the sweatshirt. She was ugly crying. "The entire night I was too busy noticing all the things he did exactly like you to enjoy myself." Brick couldn't help it, he laughed. The idea of Blossom and Boomer didn't piss him off. Blossom and Brick hadn't been a couple, she could go out with anyone, but the image of her and Boomer on a date had to be one of the funniest things he'd heard. "Stop laughing," she protested but she was laughing too.
"I've got you beat, Sniffles, I went out with Princess."
"Morebucks?" Blossom said. She moved closer to him. Neither seemed to notice.
"Yeah, and let me tell you, I've never been so scared my entire life. Not even when I met the Professor was I that scared." The two laughed as other stories of the past three years spilled out. Blossom had found herself babysitting for Butch for a week straight. She couldn't even remember how Butch had roped her into that. Brick laughed because he didn't envy watching his niece for an entire week. Blossom turned red with laughter when Brick told her about the disaster in Paris. ("There were baguettes everywhere!") They laughed and laughed. It wasn't until they were laying on Brick's favorite branch, Blossom with her head on his chest that she realized how easy it had been to fall back together. Brick had fallen asleep and Blossom studied his face. His jaw was more defined and his hair was only long enough to curl at the nape of his neck. Her fingers carefully traced the side of his face.
"I love you, Brick," She whispered. She cuddled closer and closed her eyes to sleep.
"I love you too, Sniffles," Brick whispered back. He hadn't been as asleep as she thought. His arms looped around her waist and they fell asleep in the tree. Back at home Buttercup asked Bubbles why Blossom still wasn't home from the store. Bubbles gave a knowing smile and shrugged.
Two years later, the tree was decorated with lights and flowers. In the playground surrounding the tree there was a tent set up over a very large party. Boomer came up to Bubbles.
"Where'd Brick and Blossom run off too?" Boomer asked.
"Where do you think dumbass?" Butch chimed in with a young girl on his shoulders. "They're off to consumate." Buttercup smacked Butch in the gut. His daughter laughed.
"Don't be disgusting," Buttercup gripped. "Especially when your kid's around."
"Buttercup, what did you promise Blossom?" Bubbles asked. The green eyed woman frowned.
"That I wouldn't injure anyone at her wedding. I would like to argue though that this is the reception, not the wedding and that Butch shouldn't count." Butch and Buttercup began to argue. Bubbles gave up on settling that dispute. Boomer grabbed his niece from Butch and looked at Bubbles.
"So where do you think those two are?" He asked. Bubbles smiled.
"Never mind that, let's go get this little girl another piece of cake."
Blossom looked down at the party below them. The white of her dress glowed in the moonlight. Brick leaned into her.
"We could go back down there if you want," He said. Blossom shook her head.
"No," She said. "I'm happy right here." The wind blew through the leaves. The tree sat happy and filled with the sounds of laughter.