Ta-daaaaa~ Enjoy :)
18
Buttercup had a basketball game that morning and was out of the house by eight, citing a last-minute practice session as her reason for being awake so unusually early. To Blossom's surprise, the Professor was also up and about when she came down to the kitchen for her breakfast. However, he only managed a sleepy mumble of 'good morning,' before dozing off over the huge stack of papers he must have come up with overnight. Bubbles came downstairs soon after, yawning.
"Aren't you going to the game today?" Blossom asked, stirring her tea. Bubbles stretched and shook her head.
"No, we don't have any more game routines for this season. Coach wants us to work on routines for New York; there are about five of us who got selected to go."
"I see. I was going to go."
"Really?" Blossom nodded. She wanted to go and make sure that Buttercup was alright. Despite the fact that she had been acting normally last night, she was notoriously bad for blowing up at the wrong moments when something was wrong. It was probably the cause of the fiasco on Valentine's day.
"I might come with you then. I think Robin's going anyway, and there was something I wanted to ask her about our drama assignment."
xxx
There wasn't a big turn-out at the game, but Blossom chalked it up to the weather improving slightly. That said, she still ended up squeezed in between Bubbles and a woman who, for all that she didn't seem to be particularly overweight, seemed to take up all available space and keep pushing for more.
"Are you worried about something?" Bubbles asked, leaning over to peer intently into her sister's face. Blossom nodded absently, staring onto the court where Buttercup and the team were stretching out before the game. Then she realised what Bubbles had actually asked, and had to spend the next few minutes assuring her that no, she was not worried, thank you Bubbles.
The game started after about ten minutes of one of the sports teachers droning on about the upcoming tournament, with some mention of the members of the cheerleading squad being selected for the New York try-outs. Bubbles seemed excited about it, but Blossom barely heard a word. Still, the teams took their places and Buttercup proceeded to score within the first five minutes. And then again, and again. Blossom unconsciously gripped the edges of her seat. She could see what was happening, and it wasn't looking good. Apart from Buttercup being overly aggressive in her play, she was evidently forgetting to keep her powers in check, and it was spilling over to the other players. Two of the boys started arguing after a minor collision, and it escalated into a full-on brawl while they all watched. Meanwhile, Buttercup found herself confronted with two others who seemed insistent that she was not taking the ball any further. Violently insistent.
"Oh no. Come on, we need to do something." Unfortunately, Blossom found herself stuck, as the woman on the other side from Bubbles was apparently related to one of the boys on the court, and was on her feet and yelling at him to get a grip.
"Excuse me, ma'am, could I..." But the woman was ignoring her and kept on yelling. To make matters worse, Buttercup was starting to affect more and more people, and it seemed that she was now affecting females as well. More and more people were getting to their feet, shouting, pushing and shoving each other as fights started breaking out all over the stands. Buttercup had been backed up into a corner of the court, unsure of what to do. It would be easy for her to get herself out of it, but at the same time, it would also be easy to kill someone accidentally. Her confusion was spilling over as well, adding to the growing furore, and Blossom grabbed hold of Bubbles' hand and dragged her into the air, quickly flying over to where their sister stood. They landed in front of her, facing out and ready to push back if any of the players (or spectators, since a few had spilled onto the court by now) tried to get too close.
"Buttercup, you have to calm down."
"I am calm. I was calm."
"I don't have time to argue with you Buttercup. You have to focus. You can stop this." Buttercup bit her lip and glared at her sister, but then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Blossom felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, felt an acute surge of annoyance that she tried to push aside. Apparently Buttercup couldn't affect them as easily, but could still cause that nagging little suggestion in the back of their mind. But it was fading now. People started to calm down. The shouting stopped, and people looked at each other bemusedly, muttering vague apologies for things they only really half-remembered doing.
"I'm hitting the showers," Buttercup muttered, pushing past her sisters and heading for the door. Blossom made a move to follow her, but Bubbles caught her arm.
"It's better if we leave her for a while." Blossom, still worried that Buttercup might go off the deep-end again, hesitated and then eventually gave in. Just then, Robin came running over, evidently shaken by what had just happened. Bubbles gave her sister one last warning glance and then moved to comfort their friend.
xxx
Ultimately, the game ended up cancelled, and Blossom wandered along to the changing rooms, waiting outside until Buttercup emerged. Bubbles had said that she was going to Robin's for a little while, but she had warned Blossom not to push their sister too hard on what had happened.
Eventually, Buttercup appeared, hair damp and hanging in straggles around her face.
"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped immediately. Blossom simply held her hands up in surrender.
"Then we won't. Are you alright though?" Buttercup paused, and then nodded. The pair exited the school in silence, until Buttercup made a sharp noise of alarm and froze.
"Buttercup, what is...? Oh no..."
There, leaning beside the school gates, feral grin and all, was Butch. And he was staring directly at Buttercup. Blossom automatically took a step in front of her sister, tensing up. Of course, part of her knew it was useless; Buttercup was the only one of them strong enough to take Butch in a fight. Blossom wouldn't have stood a chance against him, but she didn't know what else to do at this point. Buttercup made a strangled sort of noise behind her, gripping her arm and trying to tug her back.
"Are you crazy?" she hissed. "He's here for me, not you."
"But I can't let you-"
"You have to." She shook her head. "He won't stop until he gets what he came for. Just like that night at the park. Just like Thursday night." Blossom looked at her sister helplessly. There was that feeling again; that this was all spiralling beyond her control and nothing she could do was ever going to make it right again. Buttercup could evidently sense her sister's distress, but she could shake her head again, let go of her sister's arm and step forward to face him. Except that help had arrived, from the most unlikely source.
Brick had appeared at Butch's side, and from the look on Butch's face, had just said something that he really didn't like. Blossom watched as Brick's gestures and expression became more insistent, and eventually, Butch snapped and swung a punch at his brother. What happened directly after was too quick for the eye to see, but the result was Butch ending up on the ground gasping for breath. Blossom guessed a swift strike to the throat as the cause.
Brick hauled his brother roughly to his feet, shot a quick glance and nod over to the two girls, and then took off with Butch in tow. Buttercup gaped slightly, before turning to Blossom.
"What... what just happened? Did your boyfriend just-"
"He is not my boyfriend Buttercup. Come on, let's go home already."
xxx
Aside from making dinner that night, Buttercup stayed locked in her room. However, after Blossom had explained to Bubbles and the Professor what had happened, they had all decided that it was best just to leave her that way. Blossom was shut up in her own room as well, half-heartedly making her way through the maths homework that was due for Monday. She had thought that working on something might take her mind off the whole debacle, but it wasn't working. Finally, she closed over her book and laid her head down on it, defeated.
After a few minutes, she heard a tapping noise. Automatically looking at the door, she suddenly registered that it was coming from the window. Groaning inwardly, she drew back the curtains and found, to her dismay, that Brick was indeed outside her window.
However, for some reason, she opened the window for him. Evidently, this surprised him as much as it surprised her, since he just sort of hovered uselessly for a moment staring at the window as though he was worried she was tricking him.
"Are you coming in or not?" she eventually snapped, surprising them both further. "It's cold with the window open."
Things became very awkward for the next few minutes. Brick had perched himself gingerly on the window seat, while Blossom had retreated to the far side of the room after closing the window behind him. She refused to sit down, instead pacing restlessly.
"I don't even know why I let you in here," she said irritably. "I should have just let you stay out there like I usually do."
"Well, evidently something's bugging you. Other than me, I mean."
"Well, yes, but why would something bugging me lead to me letting you into my room?" She shouldn't even have let him into the house, never mind her bedroom. For one thing, she wouldn't put it past Buttercup to sense his presence from down the hall.
"Because talking to your sisters hasn't helped, and you know that if you talk to me, you can still turn around and assume I'm lying to you, therefore enforcing your own ideas with your denial of mine." Blossom stopped pacing and started at him.
"Just putting it out there," he said mildly.
"But... That... Since when do you even talk like that?"
There was silence for another minute or so while he smirked at her and she glared back. And then she gave up and sank into her desk chair.
"Why did you stop your brother earlier?" she asked quietly. His smug demeanour slipped a little.
"Cos I could see what you were doing. You realise that was stupid, right? I know Little Miss Hothead can take him, but he could have killed you."
"I don't need you to fight my battles for me."
"And your sister doesn't need you to fight hers. I stopped Butch today because I didn't want you to get hurt. I wouldn't have done it if it was just her there. And before you ask, I followed him to the game today; I wasn't stalking you." She knew from the look in his eye that, for once, he was actually serious about this.
"I guess I'm supposed to be grateful."
"It would be nice." She almost flinched at the tone.
"Why are you acting as though we're friends? I have no reason to even be talking to you as civilly as this, never mind be grateful about something like that."
"And what about the music lessons you asked for?"
Blossom stopped, floundered for a second, and then wondered why he was able to be making these arguments. And win.
"Okay, I'm... I'm sorry. There, are you happy now? Ugh, I can't believe that you, of all people, are making me apologise for something. Nothing makes sense anymore." She turned her back on him and silently fumed at the wall. However, she peeked back over her shoulder when she heard him move. He'd stood up, and was reaching for the catch on the window.
"Look, I know you're worried about your screwy sister and how she's gonna get herself killed one day. Don't. There's nothing you can do about it, and it's not your fault. It never will be. One thing I can tell you though; Butch won't be the one to do her in. He needs her. She's the only one who interests him. Just... back off her, okay? They both have their issues. There's nothing we can do about it." Blossom turned to look at him fully.
"Why is it that you can figure this out and not me? I thought... I'm supposed to be the smart one. I'm supposed to-"
And while she was grasping for the words, she never noticed him making his way over and suddenly being very, very uncomfortably close.
"Stop it Bloss. Let it go. You don't have to worry about it. Any of it." She stared up at him.
"I'd appreciate it," she said firmly. "If you'd back off just a-"
The kiss on the cheek stopped her. In fact, the kiss on the cheek did a lot of things. It stopped, stunned, shocked and surprised her. And it landed Brick with a bruised jaw and a scorch mark on his chest. It also nearly ended in a broken window, but thankfully Brick was a good enough escape artist to manage to open it and jump out quick enough to avoid her throwing him through it.
She'd get him for that on Monday. Oh yes, she would...