Today was the day. The boys had had all summer to get used to living with Mayor Bellum and today, the first day of 5th grade, they would start school with the puffs. She kind of couldn't wait. Buttercup had been glaring at her all morning too so she clearly wasn't doing a good job of hiding it either. She just couldn't help it! This was the first day they'd actually possibly just maybe talk to the boys since they all signed the agreement. She could still remember the small smile Boomer had given her as they had waited for their turn to sign.
Blossom was oddly almost indifferent to the whole thing from start to finish. Bubbles was definitely not looking forward to what would happen if Brick was in her class. He had walked into the room in a bad mood and Blossom's indifference had only seemed to make it worse. She wasn't going to think about that though! Surely as her counterpart, Brick would be placed in the harder class with Blossom right?
Wrong. All three were in her and Buttercup's class. To make it worse, Blossom asked them to keep an eye on him for her! I mean, rude! He's her counterpart, she should be dealing with him, not them. She pouted as the teacher introduced them to the class.
Afterwards all three sat quietly in the three empty desks at the front of the class. The desks right in front of her and Buttercup. She did get lucky though, Buttercup was behind Brick and not her. Which meant Boomer sat in front of her. He sent her a teeny tiny smile that she returned before he sat.
See? She thought. Why can't they all be like Boomer? He was nice! Or well, as nice as they could be she supposed. That was going to change though! They were good now right?
Bubbles pushed those thoughts off to the side though as the teacher started the lesson. Buttercup clearly didn't pay much attention, glaring holes into the backs of the skulls of all three boys. The teacher even let her be, knowing it would be a battle not worth fighting. Overall, the morning half of the day was simple and uneventful.
As soon as they were released for lunch Bubbles and Buttercup both watched the boys as they went to an empty table and sat to eat. It surprised Bubbles slightly to see them calmly take out their lunches and eat them. She wondered if Mayor Bellum had made their lunches for them. She thought it was sweet.
The two sat down at another table that had a clear view of the boys while waiting for Blossom. It didn't take her too long. When she arrived she looked between her sisters and the boys before sighing softly and sitting facing her sisters, her back to the boys. Bubbles could see Brick tense slightly at the lack of attention his counterpart gave them. She wondered why. Was it because it came off potentially as her thinking he was beneath her? Bubbles scowled slightly at that. If so, he was seriously misunderstanding. Bloss probably just thought that the boys deserved their chance and she was properly going to give it to them. That meant that she wouldn't be watching them like a hawk but simply prepared in case something went wrong.
Her sitting with her back to them showed she trusted them to not do something. It also helped Buttercup relax a little unconsciously, giving her something else to split her attention between. If something did happen though, Buttercup would be prepared which meant Blossom would get a warning meaning she wasn't totally letting her guard down. Bloss had picked up a habit of eating in the library last year but had decided she wouldn't be doing it anymore because of the boys. She guessed that Brick would have no way of knowing this though.
She looked over in time to see the red head whack Butch over the head for making faces at Buttercup. Boomer was quietly eating, glancing around occasionally but seeming to shrink in on himself at what he saw. She looked around and saw what he saw. Lots of people were giving them anxious glances and no one was sitting anywhere near their table. That wasn't nice.
Okay but maybe it was a tiny bit justified. She still didn't like it! They signed the paper. They were going to try to be good now! People should give them a chance. Speaking of, Buttercup was starting to growl slightly. She did that a lot, especially considering they weren't the ones made with puppy dog tails. Did the boys growl sometimes? Hmm, something she'd probably find out eventually with them all in the same class.
"Stop that. There's no reason to growl at them Buttercup. They haven't done anything." Blossom snapped at her sister. She sounded tense. Could she feel the glare Brick was giving her? Maybe that was why.
"Says you. You didn't have to sit behind them all morning. Plus, I have freaking Butch as a counterpart! It sucks! The guy is bound to lose his temper any second and snap the table in half or something." She said, barring her teeth slightly at the boys. Down girl, no need to raise the hackles yet. Blossom sighed.
"Like you did when Mitch talked with that one girl last year? Please Buttercup, give them a chance. He can't be too much worse than you," Blossom said as she cocked an eyebrow at the girl. Bubbles giggled slightly at the memory.
"That was an interesting one to explain to the professor," she said. Buttercup was turning red at this point.
"Sh-shut up. You don't know what you're talking about," Buttercup grumbled as she finally stopped glaring at the boys.
Bubbles spared them another glance and her eyes met with another pair of blue. He quickly looked down at his lunch, a sandwich it looked like, and poked at it. Bubbles smiled. See? They weren't that bad.
After lunch, since it was a Monday, Buttercup and Bubbles went straight to the art room. Blossom said her goodbyes at the door before continuing down the hall to her classroom. Buttercup quickly went inside, wanting to just get it over with. She hated art.
Bubbles heard a small scoffing sound not long after followed by what sounded like a very low growl before turning to see red eyes glaring just past her after her red headed sister.
Bubbles turned around and caught Brick's attention. He turned his eyes, glare still solidly in place, to her. It was a little unnerving. Still, she smiled and waved at him.
"Hi Brick," she said in a happy voice. The boy gave her a weird look before adjusting his hat on his head slightly.
"Sure, hi. Whatever," he mumbled before walking past her. Hmm, he wasn't used to that was he? Well, she'd have to fix that. She turned to look back and saw Butch dragging his feet with Boomer dragging him along slightly.
"So laaame. I don't wanna. Why we gotta do this?" Butch whined. Boomer just tugged him along.
"Brick says we gotta so we gotta. We told Bellum we'd try to right? Going means tryin' so come on Butch. Stop makin' me drag you."
Bubbles smiled at the two. As if sensing her smile both boys looked at her. The corner of Boomer's lip twitched at the whisper of a smile while Butch just gave her a look.
"What you lookin' so happy bout blondie?" He asked. She giggled.
"Buttercup doesn't like art much either. The first time we had it I had to drag her into the room as well."
And now Butch had this weird combination of looks on his face. It said he was happy to have something to taunt Buttercup with but did it have to be the same thing as him? He grumbled but finally walked on his own into the classroom. Buttercup wasn't going to be too happy she had shared that with him. Oh well.
Boomer looked to the classroom a bit unsure.
"Boomer?" Bubbles asked. He didn't quite flinch but did this odd almost full body twitch at her voice. He looked at her hesitantly. "Everything okay?"
He seemed to think it over before responding.
"Only art I've done was usually on buildings. Gunna be weird using paper and shit." Bubbles giggled at that.
"First, the teachers don't like cussing at school so make sure neither Bloss nor them hear you say that again," Boomer winced and scratched the back of his neck. "Second, it's not hard, promise. They usually just have us color or something on the first day. Ooh! We could color together! Oh, let's go Boomer! This'll be so much fun, promise!" Bubbles said as she grabbed Boomer's hand and dragged him into the class.
She chose not to pay attention to the blush that popped up on his face when she did so. She also ignored the red and light green glares sent her way. It was art class next after all and if they had a problem with her being friendly then they should paint themselves a picture. She knew she always felt better after doing that.
Ugh. She had so much homework to do. She really should get home and get started on it before Bloss decided to track her down. She could only get away with slacking off for so long after all. 7th grade had so much more homework though. She was going crazy! How Bloss did it, Buttercup would never know.
After school soccer practice had ended only about 30 minutes ago though and Buttercup was still hyped from it. Their first game was on Saturday! Just two days and she'd be able to whoop Citiesville butt! The thought brought a savage smile to her face.
Still, she'd been just aimlessly flying around for long enough she guessed. Probably time to head home. She was about to do just that but stopped when she heard a familiar voice.
Ugh. Just what she needed. Neanderthal. What was he doing in the part of town? The mayor's house was on the other side.
Thinking about it, this wasn't too far from the observatory. She should probably check it out. Make sure he hadn't gone and grabbed some Mojo bots or weapons or something. She chose to ignore the fact that he didn't need them. Butch did lots of things he didn't need to after all.
She floated towards where his voice was coming from slowly so as to not tip him off that she was onto him. She still didn't trust them. So what if the boys hadn't caused any trouble in the past year and a half. They were literally made to destroy! They couldn't just change their ways that easy. She finally reached an opening between the buildings where there was a basketball court. On the court, there were a group of about three or four younger boys surrounding Butch.
Well, she guessed the looks on their faces meant she probably shouldn't start a fight with her counterpart. They actually looked happy to see him. If she was feeling generous, which she never was with Butch, they almost seemed to be looking up to the boy. He had a basketball that he was casually bouncing while talking excitedly to the kids.
"The coach was totally hyped after that. I'm totally gunna have a place and you guys definitely have to come watch! Imma whoop some ass!" Butch said followed by that cackle he called a laugh.
She remember hearing something about him having tried out for the team. Guess the coach was excited. Don't get why. The idiot had no control. He was bound to get kicked out of the first game for using his powers or something. Maybe he'd hurt someone. Maybe she should make sure to be at that first game if she could. Bloss couldn't complain about her wailing on him if he hurt someone first now could she?
Buttercup smirked at the thought but quickly let it fall off her face. Guess there wasn't much point in sticking around. Butch didn't have anything over than the basketball on him and the kids weren't screaming in terror. She had no reason for punching her counterpart in the face and so, literally no reason to stick around. It wouldn't be much longer now until Bloss decided to track her down after all. She wasn't about to get a lecture about responsibility again. Especially not because of him. Ugh. Even from here she could still feel the slime she swore the snail boy gave off.
She seemed to be the only one that felt that way though. The girls in her history class had been gossiping about the boys all class long. Apparently girls actually thought he was cute or something. Blegh. Gross. She'd had to spend the whole time with nothing to keep her mind off the conversation. She still wasn't talking to Mitch. Seriously, how dare he just sit with her number one enemy? Idiot! Boys were all dumb.
With a huff, Buttercup turned around to fly home but stopped when she heard someone yell. She looked down at the group and saw some high schoolers or something approach Butch and the kids. They had this cocky look on their face that reminded her of Ace.
Bloss still wouldn't tell her why she wasn't allowed to face him anymore. She went into leader girl mode anytime Buttercup asked. Even Bubs hadn't managed to get an answer out of her.
Not the point. Focus! Buttercup thought to herself as she turned back to watch the group.
"Didn't you hear me? Clear out. This here is our court," one of the kids said. Buttercup glared at him. Slimy sounding voice, she thought.
"Free court man. First come first serve. We were here first. We'll clear out when we're done. Shouldn't be much longer," Butch said. His posture had changed drastically. The basketball was trapped under his arm against his hip, other hand in his pocket. His shoulders were loose, ready and his stance was a little bit of cocky mixed with I-don't-give-a-shit. This could be not good. The other kids looked at one another before breaking out in laughter.
"Well well well boys. Looks like we gots ourselves a hot shot here. Look punk, you clearly don't know the law here but we'll help you out with that. His name's Jo and you're looking at him. Now clear out."
The kids had all backed behind Butch and we're obviously frightened by the kids in front of them. Buttercup didn't like that. She didn't like that at all. Without thinking about it she flew down to where they all were. She stopped about 3 or 4 feet above their heads, still slightly behind Butch. They hadn't noticed her yet. She felt that Butch was about to do something stupid so she spoke.
"Actually, I think if anyone here is the law it would be me."
Every single one of them snapped their heads in her direction. Everyone except Butch. He lazily rolled his head around until he was looking at her. She me his look and gave him one back. It was a good thing she had stepped in. He had THAT look in his eyes. Seriously, he needed to learn some self-control.
"Ayy! If ain't the green one! What brings one of you sweet things to our part of town?" Jo said. He was eyeing her in a way that made her really angry. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing she didn't have to deal with Ace and his gang if they might be giving her looks like this.
Butch seemed to notice the look too and Buttercup could hear a low growl coming from the boy. Seriously, self-control she thought.
"Not much," she said as she floated down to stand next to Butch. She threw a kick at his ankles causing him to flinch and give her another look. She ignored him. "Heard you three talking though and thought that maybe I should swing by. You know, see what's up."
Jo rubbed at his mouth, still giving her a look. Buttercup mentally recited a mantra to stay calm but it wasn't getting easier. Sleaze balls like this thug really needed to be brought down a notch or two. He glanced back at his pals before replying.
"Not much up here either. We were just bout to play a round or two. We're a man short though. Maybe you'd like to join in. You can even be on my team."
Butch began growling again and Buttercup saw him shift ever so slightly. She quickly latched onto the collar of his shirt and yanked. Hard. He quickly fell back a step or two to avoid having his shirt ripped and shot a glare in her direction. She ignored him again.
"Nah, see, last I checked these guys were here first and I don't think they were quite finished with the court yet." She looked at them, finally meeting Butch's eyes. He looked like he was starting to catch onto why she was here but boy did he look cautious as hell. Did he really think she'd support these losers? They were slimier than he was! Jo barked out a laugh.
"Nah, see doll, they just told us they were done. We're good," he said taking a step towards Buttercup. She swung around and glared at him causing him to freeze.
"Is that so Butch?"
"You know it ain't. Where were you lurking about? Up by those buildings? Easily heard everything we said didn't you?" Butch said, still looking cautious. Ugh, the idiot had to make this more difficult by being difficult didn't he?
"Look, we always practice here around this time doll. The neighborhood knows this. These boys won't mind clearing out, will you?" Jo said towards the kids behind Butch. The other two with Jo came forward and stood straight. All the kids backed further behind Butch making Buttercup frown. That was never a good sign. Who did these sleaze balls think they were scaring kids like this? And right in front of her too. She couldn't let that just go.
"We'll play you for it," she said without thinking. Then mentally screamed at what she just said. Too late to go back though. With a slight wince she gestured at Butch. "Him and I, no powers, against all three of you. First to five baskets wins."
Butch finally seemed to get it and gave the boys in front of them one of his manic smiles. Buttercup tipped her head back slightly, making it obvious she was looking down her nose at them. The three boys exchanged looks, slightly off kilter at the suggestion. They looked back at Buttercup.
"Uh-uh. There's no way to tell that you'd play fair. Powerpuff girl or not! You're the green one! You only play to win, even we know that."
Buttercup glared at them. What the hell did that mean?! She kept her word! Always! It was part of what made her a green. Greens always keep their promises. That was what they were known for.
Among friends at least. She guessed these guys only ever saw her beat the shit out of things and lose her temper. Maybe she should take Bubs up on that offer to try out that new meditative yoga studio. Clearly she was being too destructive lately.
"Powerpuffs never break their word dipshit, especially this one. Stubborn as a fucking mule. She says she'll do it, she will. As for me, well, she's something of a warden for me and my bros, breaking her word would get my ass thrown in jail. So no powers, two v three boys. What d'ya say?" Butch said swaggering over until he was in Jo's face.
"Why would you-" Jo said, clearly confused for a moment until he finally really looked at Butch. "Shit. A Rowdy? Fuck man. Ain't no way I'll go against one of you in anything. I know what happened last time someone did that around here. C'mon, let's split. We can go to the court over in the next neighborhood." He backed away from Butch then turned and quickly began walking away. Buttercup was a bit peeved that she wouldn't get to blow some steam but she guessed that was one way to do it. She was also pissed they seemed more scared of Butch than her.
"Hey! If I hear about you bullying kids into giving up the court from you I promise a Rowdy will be the last of you concerns. Surely you've heard of what Bubbles did to the last bullies she was tipped off about? Guess who gave her the idea and think about that next time you think about bullying someone." Buttercup called after them. They looked back at her and just to make sure they got her point she let an eye beam build in her eyes, knowing they'd start glowing a bright green. She let a little bit of energy build around her as well just to drive the point home. They did a double look before double timing it away.
She still felt unsatisfied. Butch scared them away first. Maybe the yoga would be a bad idea. Clearly she hadn't been destructive enough if Butch was still more of a threat than her. Speaking of, he was shaking oddly now and Buttercup couldn't help but edge away slightly giving him an odd look. A second later though, he broke out in a very loud barking like laugh. For once, it didn't even sound manic. He spun around to face Buttercup.
"That was awesome! Did you seem them run? And we didn't do shit even! Actually, that bit kinda sucked. Ignore that bit."
"What'd he mean about last time?" Buttercup quickly redirected. She wasn't used to a non-manic crazy Butch. She didn't have the time to try and learn how to deal with him. Butch stopped and cocked his head in thought.
"Dunno. Could be that one time with Boom maybe? When we were, what, 6 or 7? Anyways, some kids broke some toy or something of Boom's once and he went ape shit. Took both Brick and me together to stop him. Think we managed to get away that time before you three showed up. Must have been 7 then? By that time we stopped really caring too much about destroying you three."
Buttercup decided that he was being honest enough. She supposed. She remembered a time when they'd really gone at it when they were 8 so she wasn't so sure about his last comment. Still, if Boomer had a hardcore mode like Bubs then what he'd said wasn't impossible.
"Whatever."
She was about to take off for home when Butch spoke up again.
"One v one?" He asked her. He cocked an eyebrow at her and she couldn't help but glare at him. He smiled that familiar crazy smile in response. "C'mon. Let's give these kiddos a match they'll be talking about for year." He gestured at the kids. They looked at her, still a bit uneasy but clearly excited at the thought of a match. Buttercup scoffed at her counterpart.
"I've got homework so hard pass." Butch frowned at that. Basketball beat out homework any day of the week. She knew that he knew that she was really just saying no to him. She started floating up but turned to the kids. "Those three cause you trouble again, you call me. Just yell as loud as you can. I'll hear." And with that she shot off and away from the group.
Maybe if she was lucky Bloss's lecture wouldn't be that long.
It was a really nice day out. Perfect day for lazing about and just flying where the winds took her. Sadly, Blossom wasn't able to just let the winds take her wherever they pleased today. She had something she needed to take care of. It was her turn to check in on the boys this month and this was the only day she had free time this week.
She supposed she could have done another week, she did after all have the whole month, but she'd felt off all week and just really wanted to get it over with. It didn't help that Brick had been different too. It wasn't just him either, or at least it didn't feel like it. It was still only the first month of the school year but clearly 9th grade was not going to be anything like 8th.
It had started small. Kelly had made a comment in math class to Gloria about the hair. For once, she said, it looked brushed and it had such a nice shine to it to. Blossom remembered being confused and looked at them only to be more confused when she saw who they were talking about. Brick had been assigned a seat to the front of the classroom and apparently Kelly and Gloria weren't the only two noticing his hair. She supposed it did look a bit more under control than normal but the ever present hat was still there so it was hard to tell. From what she could see, it was still poking out in all sorts of directions from the loose bun he'd had it in that day. The summer heat had lingered and he knew he tended to overheat easy.
It didn't stop there. Next thing she knew, Debbie, at lunch time, was near drooling over the boy. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Princess who of coarse threw a hissy fit at her current best friend. Which then escalated until Princess was once again on the market for a new bestie. Brick had noticed the ruckus, rolled his eyes, and left as per normal when Princess was screaming. It didn't seem to take long before even be wasn't acting normal though!
Gloria and Kelly had, after that day, made very obvious efforts to get Brick's attention. As was her counterpart's normal, he thoroughly ignored them. Until he didn't! She nearly tripped over her own feet when she saw Brick talking to both of them on the way to her locker just a week ago. Robin had given her a weird look but she'd brushed it off, only to nearly choke on her own shock as she saw Brick lean into whisper in Gloria's ear. The world was ending. Her usual stoic but temper prone counterpart, for all intents and purposes from what she could not only see but also unfortunately hear, was flirting! At that point, she'd told Robin that she actually didn't really need anything from her locker and had promptly turned on her heels and walked away.
She still couldn't quite believe what she'd seen and then continued to see! It seemed that girls all of a sudden couldn't get enough of being around Brick. And he was eating it up!
Well, alright. That was a slight exaggeration, but only slight! There was clearly flirting going on with all involved parties. She wasn't imagining it either. Earlier in the week she had purposely asked Bubbles to walk with her to her locker, knowing that if the trend continued then Brick would once again be flirting. Two seconds after they'd gotten out of Brick's earshot Bubbles had gone crazy! She needed to know the who's, the what's, and the when's. Blossom hadn't indulged her as she knew her sister tended to be a bit of a gossip but it reassured her a little. She wasn't the only one seeing it!
She also wasn't sure how to handle it. She was used to Brick mostly ignoring girls other than her. Even with her though, he tended to just insult and argue with her. He'd never seemed nice. He was definitely being nice to all these other girls all of a sudden. Butch wasn't just being green eyed anymore but green faced from the attention his brother seemed to be getting with no effort on his part. She'd overheard him complaining to Boomer about how that was supposed to be him. Boomer had been too busy staring after Bubbles again to really pay him much notice.
Maybe she should talk to him. Both hims? One seemed so forlorn lately and the other was really starting to wear on Buttercup's already short patience.
Well, maybe today would help clear things up. In the past year or so, the girls had stopped ringing the door bell and tended to just do a sweep of the mayor's house, with her permission of course. It was around dinner time and Blossom knew that the mayor had taken the afternoon off to spend some time with the boys so she planned to just, awkwardly peek in?
God that sounded so creepy. She hated lurking like that but it always got so awkward when she rang the doorbell. Mayor Bellum would always invite her in while Brick would stare at her like she had two heads, Butch would be not so subtly checking her out, and Boomer would keep looking behind her as if he expected someone else to just magically appear. It would only get worse as she would be invited to stay for dinner and the mayor really wasn't one to take no for an answer. She shuddered at the memory of those early, very awkward days.
She slowed as she approached the large house. She flew down slowly to the back of the house, approaching the upper corner of the large glass window that looked into the house's kitchen and dining area. Floating near the top of it, Blossom slowly peeked into the house.
All four were in the kitchen, cooking something. She quickly corrected herself when she saw the large mixing bowl with what looked like cookie batter in it. Mayor Bellum was wearing some denim jeans and a t-shirt with an apron on, looking more casual than Blossom could ever remember seeing her. She was laughing as Butch, with flour covering his head, chased Boomer around the kitchen. She had a few flour spots herself and Blossom couldn't help but smile at the sight. The boys had become very close with the mayor over the years, becoming very protective of her. No villain dared outright go after her because of it. It irked Blossom a bit that the boys were more of a threat than they were but she begrudgingly understood. The boys didn't have their level of restraint. She stayed there for a few minutes longer before deciding it was time to take off for home.
She was about to do that but stopped short when she realized something. She saw Butch, Boomer, and the mayor. Where did-
"I woulda thought lurking like this to be above a puff."
Blossom jumped a near foot further into the air, spinning, hands on her chest, to see her counterpart standing with his arms crossed not far behind where she had been.
"Brick! Oh my gosh. Please don't do that!" She said as she tried to calm her racing heart. He cocked an eyebrow at her, that annoying smirk on his face. It always tended to show up when he was annoying her in some way or another.
"Maybe you shouldn't be peeking then. Aren't there laws or some shit against that?"
She glared at him. Mayor Bellum had done a good job for the most part getting the boys to stop swearing. Generally all three, maybe not Butch so much, didn't cuss very much. They all tended to break that trend around her, Brick even more so. She was sure he did it just to annoy her.
"For your information, I was not peeking or lurking. It's my turn this month for the check-in. I thought I'd just swing by and make things easier for all parties involved that way."
"You mean peek in, not swing by. See, swinging by kind of implies letting someone know or going by the front of the house."
"Yes well, you know now so there." It was weak and she knew it. His smirk just grew at the comment. "Anyways, I've checked in. All good. So, just going to leave now."
"Sure you've peeked enough? Aren't worried that we're secretly doing something evil and horrendous that you need to take us in for?"
She scowled at him.
"I was not peeking. Next time I'll just ring the doorbell then if it really bothers you that much. Also, I know you're not doing anything horrendous or evil. You aren't breaking any laws." He just snorted at that, only causing Blossom to scowl more.
"The only thing being broken here is a couple of eggs. Maybe a few egg heads too if they aren't careful."
"Well, just keep it that way. Especially since you've been Mr. Popular lately." She whispered the last part, unintentionally but softly enough that she thought he wouldn't hear. Apparently she'd not had enough practice whispering below x-hearing level. He looked confused.
"What? Did you just say Mr. Popular?"
Blossom mentally panicked. Why would she say that?! She continued to glare at him and made sure not to tense up or move in any way that would give her away.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He gave her a look at that.
"Seriously Pinky? X-hearing. Heard of it? Still though, gunna have to clear something up for me here. Why do you care?"
"I don't." He scoffed at that.
"Then why bring it up?" He brought a hand to his mouth and rubbed at it in thought. She was screwed! She gave away too much! This was a disaster! She didn't even know why she cared!
She didn't care. She shouldn't. But he was right. Then why bring it up? She continued to glare at him. Much more of this and she might as well just eye beam him at that point.
"Pinky, are you jealous?" Brick asked with his 'I win' smile.
"No." And without giving him a chance to say anything else Blossom took off at full speed for home. She refused to even glance back.
Oh! This was awful! She wasn't jealous. Jealousy implies that she liked him. She can't like him. She isn't Bubbles! No. She was just off. It was weird seeing him talking to other girls. Smiling at them, even laughing at their jokes. No. She refused. She couldn't be jealous. Right? Right?!
Well...crackers and fish sticks.
Well. That was interesting. Brick wasn't 100% sure what to make of it but it was interesting. There was enough venom in that simple 'no' that even he had nearly flinched. She hadn't been that harsh with him in a long time. It was enough to tell him the chances of her being jealous were pretty slim but that she was still bothered by all the flirting that he'd been doing lately. Which, of course, meant he now had to keep it up if only to bug her.
He took his hat off and scratched at his head before placing the cap back where it belonged. Still, she hadn't needed to be that harsh with it. She should have known he just said it to get a rise out of her like he usually did. She didn't need to be that angry about it.
"Bro! If you don't get in here there ain't going to be any cookies left for ya!" Butch yelled from inside the house. Brick heard Bellum gentle scolding him for the slang. Butch was the worst at slipping back into it when he was in a good mood like today.
"You eat my cookies you'll also have to eat my fist. Those are mine Butch!" Well, at least he could take his annoyance with Pinky out on Butch if he was stupid enough to touch his cookies.
"I never said I was the one who was gunna eat them!" He yelled back followed by the quiet snickering of Boomer. Brick scowled.
"Hell no Boom! You leave my cookies alone!"
He'd worried about Pinkie later.
