Just a quick note to thank everybody for all the reviews I've been getting. Seriously, I love you guys, you're all amazing and make me feel like I can actually write worth a damn.
25
Buttercup wouldn't talk about what had happened. Ever since they'd got her back into the house last night, she'd neatly dodged any questions, even the ones that her sisters hadn't even asked. As it stood, Bubbles had finally given up and was trying valiantly to continue her outfit plans, while Blossom felt as though her stomach was trying to eat itself, she was that worried.
"Do you think-"
"Blossom, you know what she's like; she's too stubborn to talk. Now, do you think black or gold shoes would go better with this dress?"
"Does it make a difference?" Bubbles gave her a look.
"The concert's in three days, and you're going to be on stage in front of a couple of hundred people. Yes, it makes a difference." She scanned the picture of the dress that she had on her phone. "Definitely gold. It'll be easier to match jewellery that way."
Three days? Can it really only be three days? Blossom began to panic.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually need to see Brick. I need to get some serious practice in today and of course this would be the day he doesn't show up." Bubbles held up a piece of paper.
"He got Boomer to drop this off yesterday." Blossom took it. It was a phone number, with 'to stop me being impolite again,' scrawled above it in Brick's messy handwriting. Despite herself, she felt her lips twist up in a half smile. Bubbles finally shoved her phone back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Well, I'll leave you to it then. I'm going to go buy these dresses and stuff. I'll see you later, kay?"
She breezed out and left Blossom with a half finished cup of tea and the phone number.
xxx
"'And even if I did, I wouldn't use it.' Wasn't that what you said?"
"Brick, do not make me break this violin over your head. For one thing, it would ruin the concert and I'd have suffered your company for nothing."
"I'm only teasing Bloss, you know that."
"And don't call me Bloss."
As much as the arguing was not helping her efforts to practice, and as a consequence was not easing her panic over her impending concert, she had to grudgingly admit to herself that she was still kind of having fun. Brick had brought coffee again and when he wasn't teasing her mercilessly, he was actually being constructive about her playing.
Of course, the fact that her stomach had started doing odd things whenever he broke out one of those really big, genuine grins was starting to get on her nerves.
"Now, are you absolutely sure that you don't want Puff in there?"
"Are you absolutely sure that you don't want me to rearrange your ear to rear end ratio?" He pressed a hand to his heart and rocked backwards on the piano stool.
"Blossom, those scathing comebacks of yours wound me. Although I do like that one; I may have to steal it."
"Well as long as that's all you're stealing these days, then be my guest. Now can we please get back to what's actually getting played at this thing? I'm worrying enough as it is." He laughed and then complied, and they managed to do a full run-through without too many hiccups. But Blossom was still worried that it might be boring.
"How do you even make this sort of thing interesting for more than a few solos? I mean, at least with an orchestra there are plenty of different people to look at, but it's just going to be me up there."
"Well, I know I could never get tired of looking at you." She gave him a withering glare, and forcefully ignored the little part of her that was making delighted squeaking noises in the back of her mind. His teasing done with, Brick actually considered the question.
"Well, I could always get Boomer in and we can rig up some pyrotechnics or something. That might work. You know, give it a bit of oomph at some of the crescendos."
"Are you kidding? We'd never get away with that. It breaks almost every fire safety regulation ever; you need really specialist equipment and venues for that kind of thing."
"Oh, it's cool, I totally know a guy who can sort that out. He always gets his hands on the best gear, and he's really good at getting around all the regulations, so-" She stopped him.
"Guy?" He looked sheepish.
"Uhh... You remember Snake?"
"As in from the Gangreen Gang?"
"Yeah, he's been going solo since last summer. Said Ace was cramping his sssssstyle." Blossom tried really hard to look disapproving, but the impression was too much for her, and she started giggling instead. Dammit.
"Look, no pyrotechnics, and no Snake, alright? That's the last thing I need. Let's just get back to practicing, shall we?"
xxx
"So, why are we here again?" Blossom surveyed the cafe in front of her with skepticism. It didn't look like much; the white walls were dirty and the sign sitting by the door had definitely seen better days. But Brick seemed enthusiastic.
"Best ice cream in Townsville, I swear."
"Brick, it's February, it's still cold out; why on Earth would I want ice cream?"
"Because you've never had this ice cream. Just wait."
"We could still be practicing right now." She checked her watch. "It's only half three; we could get at least one more run-through done and-"
"I don't know about you, but I needed a break, and some of the blueberry ice cream they make here. Two secs, I'll get you something too."
"No, that's really-" He was gone, and yet another sentence died before completion. She sighed and tried not to let it bother her. Instead, she huddled inside her coat and tried to ignore the wind that was tugging her hair all over the place.
"Here you go; got you mocha." She blinked as the, rather overloaded, cone appeared in front of her face.
"Ah, thanks," she said, a little awkwardly as she extracted her hands from her pockets and took the cone. Despite the fact that the wind was making her extremely reluctant to put the ice cream anywhere near her already numb-with-cold mouth, she did anyway.
Suddenly she understood why Brick had felt the need to drag her here.
"How do you keep finding these places? This is amazing." He laughed.
"Well I needed something to do when I didn't go to school and only had my two morons of brothers to hang out with. Crime gets kinda boring if you do it all the time, so I just ended up wandering around a lot. It's amazing what you can find if you get bored enough."
"So I suppose even criminal masterminds need other things to do with their time."
"Ah, so you admit that I am a mastermind then?" She took another mouthful of ice cream.
"Criminal, yes. Mastermind might be stretching it a little bit."
"Still beat you in that last maths test."
They bickered all the way back to the town hall, and it was only once the ice cream was gone and she was picking up her violin again that she realised just how much she was enjoying this. Not the practicing, not the food, just spending time.
This was bad. Probably.
"Can we please do Puff? Just this once? For fun?"
Oh no, wait, there was the annoyance. It hadn't gone away; that was more promising.
xxx
"Professor, Professor, look!" Blossom tried to protest as Bubbles shoved her into the kitchen in her new dress. The Professor, who was making dinner for once, with Buttercup assisting him, blinked once or twice and then broke out into a broad grin.
"You look lovely Blossom. Is this for the concert?" Blossom nodded, fidgeting with her skirt. Bubbles had been right abour the dress, although Blossom felt it was a little low-cut in the neckline, and there seemed to be an unneccesary amount of ruffles in the skirt for a knee-length dress. Bubbles had also pulled on her new sapphire-blue velvet cocktail dress and was currently trying to wrestle Buttercup away from the chopping board so she could force her into her brand new emerald ensemble.
"Bubbles, do I need to remind you that I have a knife? Like, right here?" Bubbles was not to be deterred.
"You need to try it on so I know if it fits or not. The concert's on Tuesday; we don't have a lot of time to get it changed if it's wrong."
"But why do I need to wear a dress? And does it need to be green? I could just wear black or-"
"You are wearing this dress." Even Blossom flinched at that tone. That tone rivalled the most authoritative of Blossom's. That tone was not to be messed with under any circumstances. That tone was why Boomer was currently sat in a suit in the living room and looking utterly miserable. Brick, on the other hand, had been preening himself in the hall mirror since he'd put his on.
"Say, Professor?" Blossom asked, sidling around Bubbles and Buttercup as the former placed the latter in a death grip and started dragging her towards the door. "Are you really alright with the Boys being here?" He chuckled.
"Blossom, if I wasn't, I wouldn't have allowed them in. Remember, I do have a hefty stash of antidote X in the lab; I would have dealt with them if it was a problem." He paused and gave her a long, steady look. "Are you alright with it? You have been spending a lot of time with Brick lately, but that's no reason to assume that you're comfortable with this."
"No, no that's not it. I was just worried. I mean, it wasn't too long ago that Boomer attacked us in the park, and Brick's known for his schemes and-" She stopped as he placed a comforting hand on her head.
"Blossom, I trust your judgement, and your sisters' too. Well, mostly Bubbles, but Buttercup does have her sensible moments some days. Now, I think you'd better go make sure they aren't causing trouble, hmm?" She managed to break out a smile for him and, after a moment's deliberation, threw a hug in for good measure.
"Oh, before you go, Miss Bellum rang earlier. She said to tell you that the venue arrangements are all made; no need to go back up to her office." Blossom nodded. Although slightly disappointed that she hadn't played a part in those decisions, it was another thing that she didn't have to worry about.
"Thanks Professor."
As she wandered back into the living room, Brick emerged from the hall, tugging his tie straight. As much as she hated to admit it, he did look really good in that suit, only helped by the fact that Bubbles had picked a black shirt and red silk tie for him, and confiscated his hat.
"Well don't we clean up nice?" he said, looking her up and down in such a way that made her feel both uncomfortable and yet oddly pleased. The fact that the light tone he was going for had a decidedly meaningful edge that was, she assumed, unintentional, also made something in her want to jump up and down and declare that she was the happiest girl on the planet. She squashed that particular feeling very quickly.
"Bubbles, no! I'm not-"
"Yes, you are." Everyone turned as Bubbles forcibly shoved Buttercup into the room, the latter cursing none too quietly at the treatment.
"Wow." It was the first word Boomer had said since Bubbles had finally wrestled his tie around his neck and tied it for him. It was also an appropriate reaction.
The dress Bubbles had got for Buttercup was very simple. Sleeveless, it fell to her knees and didn't cling anywhere, while still accentuating her figure. She looked fantastic in it, plain and simple.
She also clearly hated having to wear it.
"Why does it have to be a dress? I haven't worn a dress since I was seven years old." Bubbles glared at her for a minute or two in response, and finally, Buttercup backed down, tugging restlessly at the skirt. Her sister slapped her hands away impatiently and told her to go show the Professor, which Buttercup reluctantly sidled off to do.
"I think these'll do nicely, don't you?" Bubbles said triumphantly, looking around at her assembled outfits.
"Yes, they're all lovely, thank you Bubbles." Blossom was still feeling slightly overwhelmed at the whole thing, but somehow, she felt a bit better now. Maybe it was the fact that Bubbles was really pulling all of the behind the scenes bits together, and she and Brick had finally decided on a programme for the show. Whatever it was, she was just relieved that she no longer felt like she was going to implode from all the random stress attacks on her psyche.
Then, as Buttercup emerged from the kitchen, there were two simultaneous clicks as Brick and Boomer took pictures of her with their phones.
"What the- you'd better delete those right now." Brick snapped his phone shut with a smirk.
"Not on your life. This is a momentous occasion; I had to take a picture." Blossom sighed as Buttercup started snarling at him in a very unladylike fashion. This was going to be a long evening, she could tell.