'What were you thinking Bubbles?' blossom turned to her sister in an accusing tone.
'About?' said the younger sister as she raced up the stairs and shut her bedroom door.
'Open this door bubbles we have to talk. You're getting out of hand.' Blossom knocked on her door, before letting herself in.
'Racing in front of us without realizing what's coming, agreeing to go to princess's party, defending a rowdy ruff in favor of your sister. What is going on with you?' she demanded. Watching her sister as she splashed water on her face.
'I raced ahead because I had to come home I was tired and I still am so if you will leave me alone, I'd appreciate it.' She said, her voice still a bit shaken.
Bubbles exchanged her clothes for a pair of shorts and a baggy t-shirt and begun changing behind her bathroom door.
'Sure, I'll leave after you tell me why you agreed to go to the party.' Blossom could feel how the question made bubbles uneasy, she was never good at hiding things.
'I did it because I thought it would be fun. I don't expect you to care but I haven't had a social life for a while and I'd like to change that.' Bubbles came out of the bathroom clad in her night clothes, her hair in a bun and her makeup washed off.
She went to her dressing table to get some moisturizer as her sister stood in the middle of her room, trying to find any loopholes in her reasoning.
'It's princess's party bubbles, I thought we made it clear that we didn't like her and that we wouldn't associate ourselves with her any more than we had to.' Blossom tried calling herself down but the idea of her sister alone with a rowdy ruff made it uneasy.
Bubbles stared at herself in the mirror, from her bleached blond hair to her eyelashes which looked non existent
Because of how light they were and her pale, lifeless skin. She hated everything about her look.
She turned to her sister who stood with her elegantly, with her arms crossed, her long auburn hair neat even after the rough flying and the slight tan that she had gotten. Blossom was the center of all the guys' attention, as uptight as she was, she really did get asked out a lot.
Surprisingly, bubbles didn't, she was on the cheer squad so that kept her from stooping too low in the high school food chain but she was no way as high up there as blossom or even buttercup. Buttercup had a reputation around school which she was proud of, much to blossoms dismay.
'This is all so immature blossom.' Bubbles sighed, she didn't know what to say to her sister that would keep her away from questioning whether or not Boomer had pressurized her into going, or that she had to skip class out with him.
'Well you will not be going. I can't trust you out with a rowdy ruff bubbles. We all know that you're very-'blossom cut herself short of what she was going to say.
Bubbles knew exactly what that was however. She walked towards her bedroom door, opening it wide for her sister, gesturing for her to leave.
'Weak.' Bubbles said completing the sentence for her sister.
Blossom walked towards the open door, deep in thought.
'You will not be going bubbles.' She concluded.
'Watch me.' Bubbles did not like being bossed around by her sisters, no one could tell her what she could and could not do. She would be going to that party whether or not her sisters liked it.
'buttercup get down already, we don't have time.' Blossom called out over the breakfast table.
Bubbles came down the stairs, she had been wearing a short skirt and a flowery tank top. Blossom and her hadn't been on speaking terms at the moment otherwise she would have definitely gotten a few words over her choice of clothes, none of them would have been good.
She did look at her and raise a questioning eyebrow which was more than enough to stir bubbles up.
'what?' bubbles sat down on her chain and began pouring herself a glass of orange juice.
'I don't recall saying anything?' blossom returned ever bit of I've she had gotten from bubbles' voice.
'You clearly have something to say though.'
Bubbles picked up, she had found a little courage locked up inside her and she would not be letting it go.
'I'm sorry bubbles but I don't want to ruin the taste in my mouth this early in the morning, thank you very much.' She replied, turning down bubbles offer to start a very hot argument.
The look she wore did not go with her words however, her expressions clearly suggested that it was bubbles' turn to fire some shots.
'So you do have something to say?' she set her glass down, folding her arms on her chest.
'Give it a rest bubbles.' Buttercup had been standing outside her room, listening to them bicker. She draped her jacket over her white t-shirt and skinny's.
'It feels like you're always just trying to pick fights with us.' She sighed, buttering her toast.
Bubbles was taken by surprise over her Buttercup siding with her sister.
'Buttercup you do realize that I am capable of handling myself right? I'm a minor but were the same age and if you guys can go out alone then so can I.' she stood up, walking to the coffee table to collect her art supplies, she had set them there to air dry after painting yesterday.
'Yeah bubbles and that's why we don't follow you when you and your pompom friends go out to the mall.' Buttercup began, muffling her words a little because of the food in her mouth.
'but were going to be worried if you're going out to a party hosted by someone who made you streak the school naked and on top of that you're going with someone who had come very close to killing you.' She finished, setting her half eaten toast on the table.
Blossom hadn't looked up at either one of them, keeping her head buried in her homework. Oddly enough she hadn't done it a week in advance.
'This is about you guys trusting me to be able to fend for myself.' Bubbles didn't know what to say, her sisters meant well but she had already confirmed it with boomer and she couldn't cancel now, she even had a date.
'Bubbles you're not strong enough to deal with a rowdy ruff boy, okay? There I said it and it's the truth. You need us to be there for you and that's why you aren't going.' Blossom finally looked up from the papers she had been scribbling on.
Bubbles looked from buttercup, who had a slightly shocked look on her face, to blossom, who was looking quite satisfied. Bubbles caught the look buttercup was trying to slip blossom subtly and blossom was evidently avoiding eye contact with her. Bubbles collected her materials from the table, packed her bag and walked towards the door.
'School doesn't start for half an hour.' She heard her sister comment. What she didn't understand was why her sister had to know everything and comment on everything that she did.
'I know.' It came out a little less forceful than she had intended but she decided that it would have to do.
Bubbles walked out of her house to realize that despite the sun, it was in fact, a little windy. She didn't dare to go back inside the house for a cardigan though, she would rather survive a chilly evening than a bitchy morning.
She took another look at her yellow miniskirt and floral tank top, deciding that a little pink lipstick wouldn't look bad, blossom wasn't there to comment on it so she was good to go.
It wasn't her fault that blossom could look good clad in the white high neck and blue jeans that she was wearing. It stung her how blossom was pretty and smart but she could be so stuck up and commanding sometimes.
She walked towards the rowdy ruff residence, knocking on the door. It just felt so ironic how she could just knock on the doors of someone who tried to kill her not that long ago. What else she didn't believe was how she was there half an hour early considering it wouldn't even take them two minutes to fly to school with their speeds.
What was she even going to say to them, 'uh hi I'm the power puff from next door? I know we've been forced to spend time together and you can't stand me and my sisters but I'm here to spend time together.'
The door was opened a few minutes later by the slightly surprised Brick, clad in his only his jeans.
Bubbles felt a slight blush race to her cheeks, she had not been ready to take that in.
'Umm, hey Bubbles. Can I help you with something?' Brick folded his arms, looking interested.
'Yeah actually.' She said, recovering from her shock. She just couldn't believe that the rowdy ruff boys could look so…normal.
Brick just looked like a normal guy, not something created to destroy her.
'I have to get to school a little early. Seeing how I'm supposed to be babysitting your brother, he'll have to put up with this unnatural schedule.' She smiled slightly, thinking of how out of everyone who had been there yesterday, Brick had been the one to save her.
He chuckled slightly, opening the door a little wider.
'Why don't you wait inside I'm sure he's done getting dressed.' Brick offered a very reluctant Bubbles.
She nodded in agreement before passing him into his living room.
It was tidier than she expected, she had expected a lot of beer cans and a lot of dirty laundry but it was relatively clean.
'And to what do we owe this pleasure?' she turned around to find butch lying on his couch, with a gaming controller in his hands.
'Can you please just ask your brother to get down here already, I'm running late.' She lied but she'd rather not be in a house with three of her former arch nemesis.
'Boomer get down here your warden is here.' He shouted out over the game.
Bubbles stood a little away from butches couch, not wanting to invite herself to sit. She heard boomer curse from upstairs, opening his door to see her in her living room.
He stood there in a plain black t-shirt and grey jeans, holding a black jacket in his hand.
'Are you kidding me? School doesn't start for another half an hour.' He walked down the stairs, not afraid to show the hostility that was building up in the atmosphere.
'Well I have to go a little early today.' She stated simply, eyeing his jacket and wondering if she should get her own from her house.
'Why is it so cold in here?' she complained, looking away from boomer. He was good at making her feel uncomfortable and she didn't like it.
'Genius couldn't figure it out.' Butch pointed at his brother who was pouring himself some coffee.
'Maybe if you laid off the league of legends for a while, you'd figure out that its right here.' She walled behind the TV to reveal a thermostat. She turned it down a few degrees, making the room warmer, getting shocked looks from the three boys.
'You didn't know about this?' she said as Brick walked over to the thermostat, holding his coffee in his hand.
She had just wanted to escape her house, even this house was looking better than her own at the moment.
'Boomer can you hurry. I'm late.' She walked over to the boy who was trying to look for food in his fridge.
'Why should I? I have thirty minutes to kill.' He said, clearly taking his time.
'Why should I go to the party?' she snapped back, getting the boys attention. He wore a scowl on his face, putting down his breakfast ingredients on the kitchen counter. He gave her a very displeasing look then begun to walk towards his bag, picking it up and walking towards the door.
Bubbles walked past butch who was not sitting on his couch. He also attempted to lift her skirt in the short amount of time it takes to walk past someone, earning a punch on his arm from bubbles.
Once they came outside she knew she had to explain herself.
'Look, this is an advance cash in for the party okay?' she said, catching up to Boomer.
Boomer was not looking very excited about spending extra time with her.
'Hey, where are you going? I'm not going to school yet. We've got the first two lesson off.' She pulled at his arm, which he tugged back violently.
'What the fuck is wrong with you. You're saying that we have more than two hours to kill right now?' he snapped at her, clearly not too enthusiastic about being dragged out to spend some quality time with her.
'Hey what's your problem I'm cashing in a favor. You don't see me moping about going to a bully's party.' She offered, attempting to soften her partner's rock hard shell.
They walked quietly for a little while before getting to a small comic book themed café. Boomer followed her inside, getting a table for two some brownies and two cups of coffee. Boomer hadn't said a word but he wasn't too excited. He gladly accepted the food though.
'I'm sorry for making you skip breakfast.' She said, pulling out money to pay for the bill so the both could leave. It was the least she could have done after the surprise visit.
They walked outside, boomer wasn't exactly elated but he wasn't radioactively angry either. The café had been much much more welcoming than the winds playing outside, she cursed herself for wearing the flimsiest skirt in her closet on this day. Bubbles kept her hands over her skirt, cautious about the wind blowing it over the limit. Blossom would not be happy seeing this, but it wasn't exactly her fault. She was starting to feel a little cold now.
'How long would it take for you to run off and get a jacket?' Boomer scoffed, putting his own jacket on and pocketing his hands.
'I remember, you used to be quiet the runner. You had practice from all those times you grabbed your ass and made a run for it whenever we spotted you out alone.' It was an insulting smirk, which he threw her. She knew it was true, she would run away whenever she had to fight alone, she always told herself that she could take the embarrassment if it meant not getting hurt.
'Yeah, that's hilarious. I'm sorry if I got scared of people who were made to kill me.' She protested, rolling her eyes. She didn't know what was worse, spending time with her sisters or spending time with a rowdy ruff.
'And I am not going back to that house right now.' She added, acknowledging the part where Boomer very slightly suggested that she might be feeling cold.
Bubbles heard a flicker of a flame, she turned to the boy to realize that he had just lit a citrate. She shook her head disapprovingly, he was smoking out on the streets, even as a minor.
At least the streets were a bit abandoned, maybe no one would notice that he was a minor. How does one know if a person is eighteen or not anyways?
Bubbles knew that her heart raced every time she did or stood with something even remotely illegal, she couldn't stand it. Years of fight for justice had left a mark on her.
She took a good look at him, from the side of her eyes of course. Boomer had developed some very interesting looks, and a very solid jawline.
'Why are you staring at me? And where are we going?' he growled, snapping her out of her thoughts. She felt herself blush, not believing that she had been caught admiring a rowdy ruff boy for the second time today. She shook her head, a little too physically.
'umm, we're going-' she began, trying to think of a reasonable excuse for a place to go before she felt her body being thrust against the ally wall with a generous amount of force. She winced from the pain, jerking her eyes closed. She felt a hand slip over her mouth, and something burn her on her leg, causing her to stomp her foot, hoping it would stop but it didn't.
She felt her heart race, not understanding what was happening, she ripped open her eyes to reveal her attacker was no other than Boomer. He was hovered over her, leaving barely any gap between their bodies. Bubbles stomped her head again, the pain was getting unbearable, and she muffled something from under his hand. That's when she realized that his attention wasn't fixed on her, his head was turned around, and he was looking at someone, a notable amount of fear on his face.
A giant wave of pain shot through her leg and she felt tears run down her face. She freed her hands, which were pressed against his chest and began reaching for the cigarettes plastered to her leg and pushing his hand off of her mouth. Boomer finally turned his attention towards her, shooting her an enraged look before turning his focus back on something else.
She tilted her head over the pain to look at whoever Boomer had been looking, she didn't see anything. It was nothing unusual.
She squirmed under his grip, getting his attention back. She stomped her leg again, attempting to tell him about the cigarettes butt that was burning her, only to realize that it had gone out. The pain and the burn were still there but the cigarettes was no longer lit.
She felt new tears drop down her face, as she attempted to throw him off of her with new found strength. Boomer turned to her again, visible fear in his eyes, she felt him shake his head a little, telling her to be quiet but she was not going to take that. She kept struggling against him, he moved his hands to pin her arms over her head, leaving her mouth open. Bubbles was about to scream but it seems Boomer was way ahead of her. She felt him bring his mouth crashing down over hers, biting her lip slightly. Her eyes widened even further, the pace at which her heart was going was unbelievable.
Her mind was only focusing on the boy, sucking slightly on her lips, pushed closed to her while his eyes tilted away from her. Her mind was picturing a thousand images and a thousand questions, none of which she was willing to ask anyone.
'You're weak and you need us.' A voice rang in her ears and she felt new tears glaze her eyes and drop down. Blossom? Why was blossom in her head?
Bubbles felt as if her heart would explode, she felt her head get light and her struggling ceased further.
She closed her eyes as she felt him release her lips but she couldn't react, she couldn't move, her mind felt numb. She felt a heavy gaze on her and she knew that he was looking straight at her. She opened her eyes weakly not prepared for thaw look on Boomers face, her knees felt like jelly and they stopped supporting her up. She fell to the ground, tears still falling out of her eyes. She saw him kneel in front of her.
'Bubbles, listen to me.' She saw him look at her, her hands still in his. She looked up at him, her heart still racing.
'I found HIM.' He whispered. This caught her attention, she heard herself gasp. HIM was back? What were they supposed to do about it? Was he here to get the boys?
She had questions but she couldn't ask any, all the events that went down in the last fifteen minutes had been too much for her. Her mind had stopped comprehending things.
A gust of wind blew, causing her to shiver.
Him was back? She tried thinking back to all the people who had been standing there. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, there were a few adults but that was it. Then it hit her, the man in the braid. She remembered how the ends of his braid had danced like black flames. She felt so stupid for not noticing that before. Boomer was trying to get her to stay quiet, if they had made any sudden movements HIM might have noticed.
She buried her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment, she was so caught up in Boomer kissing her, and she didn't even notice that he was scared, every detail was coming to her mind now and she was hating herself for being so immature.
Another strong wind came blowing, making her shiver even more. Something warm slipped over her shoulders and she looked up to see that Boomer had draped his jacket over her shoulders.
She was thankful for the sudden warmth but a little confused as to why he did it. She wasn't going to deny it though, she hugged it closer, feeling a raging headache approaching.
'Look I didn't know about the cigarette.' He began, pulling his hands away from her.
She lifted her skirt a little to look at the burn. It didn't look big but it stung.
She wore the jacket properly, running a hand through her hair. The least she could do is not make a big deal about it.
'Its fine, we've got HIM to report anyways.' She wished she was as calm as she looked. Bubbles bit her lip, it was a little swollen from the kiss. Kiss? Or whatever it was.
He stood up, pulling her up with him.
'You can spare your sisters the details of how much you enjoyed the kiss.' he smirked slightly, taking a deep breath. Bubbles felt a blush crawl up to her face which she couldn't fight back. '
'I-I didn't.' she stuttered, infuriated. How could he even think that? He was so annoying.
'Sure.' He smirked, leaning in close to her. 'We can try again.'
Bubbles felt her face heat up too quickly and she walked faster, aiming a bunch of insults at the amused boy.
'Imp serious bubbles. Spare everyone the details.' His eyes wandered over to her leg. The girl nodded grimly. If anything, today she had learned that Boomer wasn't ill witted and he was pretty strong. Being around him still made her cautious.
She had to get to Blossom and tell her what they had found. Both of them rushed towards the school.