JMJ

Chapter Two

What Family is for

"Buttercup's back!" announced Bubbles cheerfully.

"Tell, the whole world why don'tchya," muttered Buttercup, but she smirked just a little as she kicked off her sandals by the door and leapt over to plop down on the couch. "Smash turney?"

"Great, now you can be my partner!" cried Butch, smashing buttons so hard it seemed to be the point of the game to completely demolish the controller.

"But then you'll make it two against one!" complained Boomer.

"Where's Brick?" chirped Bubbles pulling an earbud out of her ear and blowing a big purple wad of bubblegum.

"Whaddya mean, 'where's Brick'?" demanded Boomer. "He doesn't play Smash."

"He used to," said Bubbles.

"He doesn't play anything, right now," Boomer pointed out.

Butch still continued the match he was playing with Boomer and him against two online players. His tongue stuck out of his mouth with full concentration as he moved the controller this way and that. He was on his knees, leaning one way then another. He was hanging over the edge of the couch arm with head nearly upside down as he creamed an opponent.

"Gotchya!" Butch snarled with joy and fell off the arm and onto the floor.

"Huh?" Boomer quickly jumped back into it, but the match had ended.

He was a good gamer, but solo-games were his forte— in that area he was basically the best gamer in the house. Everyone knew he could do Mega Man better than anyone any of them had heard of.

"Okay! Turney!" Buttercup urged squishing in between the boys just as Butch had scrambled back into the couch himself.

Butch handed her a controller, and the instant the select screen showed up, he collected his character.

"Wolf!" charged Buttercup with a punch in the air. "And we're not teaming up against Boomer. That's lame!"

"But funny!" snickered Butch.

"Nah! Lame!" sniffed Buttercup. "If you push it too much I'll team up with Boomer just to show you up!"

"Yeah, listen to Buttercup," said Boomer.

"So, where do you go all the time anyway?" asked Bubbles leaning forward curiously from the easy chair.

At that moment, Jojo leapt up on the back of the couch and came to see Buttercup for himself.

"Aww, c'mon, Jojo, I'm playing," Buttercup groaned as she pushed him gently away from fingering her controllers.

He began instantly to inspect her hair all nonchalantly for a moment, and she just rolled her eyes. She knew him better.

"Well," urged Bubbles. "Where do you go? See Jojo's asking too."

"None of his beeswax," muttered Buttercup and just managed to get the remote away from Jojo's grasping monkey fingers again to start the tournament.

Jojo complained but did not press it as he jumped down, but he was probably mostly just hungry and disappointed that Buttercup had not come home with a secret treat. Sometimes she was known to do that.

"Oh, come on!" teased Bubbles. "Secret lover, right?"

Buttercup punched Boomer's character a good one for that. He wasn't the one who deserved it, but she refused to answer. Bubbles giggled and popped her ear bud back into her ear.

Now Blossom who had been listening to all this quite clearly from the kitchen was really the one annoyed. Just because she used to be the leader didn't mean that she had to be in charge of everything. Like Brick had once told her, she didn't have to be taking all this work upon herself, but if she didn't, it all would have been left to the Professor. Everyone knew that despite their denials. If she had her way she just would have let everyone who did not help her go hungry, but she had already tried that tactic many, many times. It either ended up in a big mess of everyone raiding the kitchen for themselves and leaving stuff everywhere or leaving it all to the Professor at the last minute.

And it went like this as far as Blossom saw it if she didn't at least try to intervene. If Brick wouldn't help Butch wouldn't help, if Butch wouldn't help Buttercup wouldn't help, if Buttercup wouldn't help then Bubbles wouldn't help, and if Bubbles wouldn't help there was no helping Boomer, and so… Well, Blossom knew that if she wouldn't help, then the Professor would do it, and she knew that ever since the teen years started the Professor had been unable to keep up with them all. It was basically a situation with a single parent of sextuplets all high on hormones. Someone had to help him, and she knew, despite how much it made her grind her teeth, she would do most of the work. Like now. Making dinner so the Professor didn't have to, and it was close to dinner time, she was losing her tolerance now they were starting a Smash tournament.

"Okay, everyone!" she announced popping out of the kitchen doorway. "It's too late for a tournament!"

"Aww, c'mon, Blossom!" Butch complained.

"Well, you gunna get your plates and cups or you gunna eat with Jojo?"

Butch laughed at the thought.

Blossom rubbed her temples.

"Bubbles?!" she pressed.

Blossom popped her earbud out. "Mmm?"

"It's almost time for dinner. Can't you listen to music and help at the same time, at least?" Blossom snapped.

"Okay, okay!" Bubbles huffed leaping off the couch. "You don't have to be a crab. You're almost as bad as Buttercup sometimes."

"No one's as bad as me!" snorted Buttercup, but she was still coming.

Boomer was bounding off the couch too after a roll of his eyes and a sigh.

"You're all being so lazy lately," Blossom scolded.

"Brick's the lazy one," shrugged Boomer, but he looked over her shoulder warily as though afraid his brother had radar hearing.

When nothing happened he continued with a nervous chuckle.

"What about Butch?" asked Bubbles.

"Butch!" snapped Blossom.

Clicking the roof of his mouth, Butch dropped his controller and slouched off towards the kitchen.

"Ug, you'd think I was making you do hard labor on the Pyramids of Giza instead of just getting you for dinner," said Blossom crossing her arms as everyone got their eating supplies. "And Bubbles, how can you chew gum, right before dinner, anyway?"

"I'm not chewing… oh!" Bubbles blinked in surprise and she opened the cupboard under the sink to spit her gum out into the garbage.

"Where is Brick, anyway?" asked Blossom.

"I dunno, you're the mom," said Boomer almost as candidly as though he believed this to be a simple fact.

Blossom ignored him. "Can one of you two boys go get him, please!?"

"Oh, just have Jojo go get him," suggested Buttercup.

Upon hearing his name, Jojo immediately made himself known with a hoot.

"No!" Bubbles protested almost slamming her plate. "That might have worked when they were little boys, but it's not gunna work now!"

"It sure makes Brick mad," Boomer said uncomfortably, but more uncomfortable from the memories of Jojo trying to herd them like he thought he was a sheep dog or something.

Blossom knew, just as they knew, though, that Jojo never forgot that the boys belonged to him, and had never stopped thinking they were his responsibility. Especially if the Professor was unhappy with the boys, Jojo would be there to set things right… or at least that was the way the poor animal saw it. Usually he just made a chaotic scene into a circus of his own with those boys as his monkeys.

Jojo pulled on the fridge. That seemed to be more on his mind at the moment than Brick.

"Wait, Jojo, wait," laughed Bubbles.

Jojo grunted impatiently.

"Here's your dinner. Let me get it for you."

At least Bubbles always took responsibility for Jojo. Blossom had to smile a little as she watched her get his plastic bowl and cup for his perch on the side of the kitchen. She could still remember how hard it used to be to keep Jojo from the table. He thought he should be treated like everyone else there, but the perch had been Bubbles' idea from the beginning. He didn't eat on the floor like a cat or dog but neither did he eat at the table to make a mess. He was pleased with the compromise. The perch was built into the wall with his own little hammock and a bowl-shaped table of sorts was for his meals.

"Here's your water and your figs and your nuts and your salad and your icky bugs and your little bit of meat. Everything perfectly balanced for a perfectly happy Jojo, right Jojo?"

Jojo took his bowl himself right up into his perch and Bubbles set the sippy-cup into the holder next to it. Here he was very grateful, and his grunts turned into far more pleasant chirps. Bubbles stroked his shoulder, and he touched her hand absently before eating away merrily.

"Good boy, Jojo."

"So… who's gunna get Brick?" asked Boomer.

"You are," said Butch.

Blossom rolled her eyes. "I will."

"No need!" grunted the man in question.

Everyone turned, and it seemed that the Professor himself had brought in the renegade. The kitchen had been so loud that they had not noticed him come back from the Townsville Research Center.

"Hello, everyone," said the Professor cheerfully.

"Hi, Professor!" five voiced said back.

"Hi, Dad!" finished Bubbles, who insisted on referring to him as their father.

The dad smiled and patted Bubbles' head, but Blossom could tell he looked tired.

"Thanks for getting dinner ready," he said.

Boomer had actually gotten the Professor's plate. Good of him.

"You're welcome," five voices said, even though not everyone had exactly helped.

Jojo raised his hand too as though he was claiming some credit. The only honest one who hadn't spoken this time was Brick. Though Blossom sighed, she knew that the Professor knew exactly who was the most helpful around the house, so she did not have to feel in the least bit slighted in that sense.

"Here! Have some soup, Professor! You look like you need some!" Blossom said brightly.

"Thanks, Blossom," the Professor said and as he sat down in his chair it was as though he had aged ten years behind Blossom's back.

The bags under his eyes were a tad puffy and his face pale.

"Are you, okay, Dad?" asked Bubbles.

"Yes, just a little tired, that's all," he said. "Sometimes I think I should cut back from these extra hours at the Research Center, but the inventions aren't coming to me like they were…"

"Aww, it'll come back, Professor," said Boomer. "Right, Butch?"

"Sure!" said Butch.

"Sure it will!" Buttercup pressed harder.

"Of course!" agreed Blossom. "Just hang in there! The creative juices are on their way!"

"You believe in the Professor, right Brick?" Boomer said grinning widely at his sullen brother.

Aloof as usual, Brick lifted his eyes to Boomer about as grimly and as tired as though he had been working somewhere as hard as the Professor, but it was all just funk. Blossom also knew it was an excuse of late for him to be ill-tempered— kind of like Buttercup. Boomer may have been the one with the chibi candy-skull wearing headphones on his moody blue T-shirt, but Buttercup and Brick were about as Goth as they come whether they admitted it or not. In some way, Brick was even more-so even with his outfit being the most similar with his original Rowdyruff Boy clothes.

He still had the same red hat. His shirt was replaced with a pouch hoodie of the same color red with the same black stripe as his toddler shirt. His jeans were black. His shoes were black and his eyes were like red coals. Those smoldering coals met Blossom's cherry-colored eyes only for a moment, but she promptly looked away with a head held high. Looking in Brick's eyes always meant a challenge like he was some kind of animal more than Jojo, and she was not in the mood.

"Oh, I know it's not forever," said the Professor warming himself up with a big spoonful of soup. "Oooh! Hot."

"Blow on it first, remember," said Nurse Bubbles.

The Professor grinned gently. "I'm glad I can count on all you being here to warm my spirits."

"Things going weird at the center?" demanded Buttercup suspiciously.

"Oh, not that. I'm just tired," the Professor insisted.

"Maybe you're sick," Bubbles suggested.

Both girls were pressing on either side of him.

"Hey, c'mon!" Butch teased. "Give him the man elbow room to eat!"

Boomer laughed. Brick snorted. Blossom tired not to look at him.

"So, how was school? I never got a chance to ask besides Blossom and Bubbles."

"The Halloween party's just this Friday!" Bubbles sang.

Buttercup groaned.

"I'm going as Batman," said Boomer proudly.

"You're what?" growled Brick like an angry cat, but no one paid him the least bit of mind.

"I'm going as a vampiress!" said Blossom wryly.

"You mean you're not going as Wonder Woman?" scoffed Buttercup.

"No," said Blossom indignantly. "Who are you going as? Freddy Kruger?"

"Uh—!" Buttercup started and stopped. She turned away with a moody sort of air. "No. No. Why would you think that?"

"Mine's a secret!" said Butch.

"He doesn't have a costume yet," teased Boomer leaning rambunctiously over the table.

Butch pushed him by the face back.

"Hey!"

Brick closed his eyes like an anime cool boy and shook his head with a sneer before taking a sip of water from his glass. It was actually humorous in a way, though Blossom knew the retaliation she would receive if she had spoken such a sentiment out loud no matter how tempted she felt about it.

And speaking of anime…

"I'm going as Mew Ichigo!" exclaimed Bubbles.

"Anything else I should know about today?" the Professor was now looking at Buttercup who suddenly avoided eye contact.

"I beat up a teacher!" said Butch.

The Professor's eyes leapt.

"No, he didn't!" snapped Boomer.

The Professor shook his head trying to smile, but it was very weak.

"Are you sure you're alright, Professor?" asked Blossom.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I promise," said the Professor.

But Blossom kept her eye on him for the rest of the dinner. He seemed to be revived somewhat after two bowls of soup, but Blossom was not convinced. She was even less convinced than ever when he got up to go to his lab for an extra lab time that would have gone long into the night if she had let him, but just before he reached for the door to the basement steps, Blossom put her hand on the knob.

Jojo complained. He was right behind the Professor. Jojo was always in the mood for lab time with his favorite scientist. "Lab time" was a key phrase for Jojo. It wasn't going to happen this time, though.

"Oh, no you don't," said Blossom with a wry smile.

"What?" asked the Professor.

He was pretty haggard and looked about as if she had just woken him out of sleepwalking.

"Blossom's right!" declared Buttercup. "You're sick."

Again, Jojo complained.

"Nope, not today, Jojo," Bubbles said. "The Professor's going straight to bed."

"The girls are right on this one, Prof!" said Boomer leaning one hand against the wall nearby.

"Might as well except it," Butch added with a snigger.

Brick was nowhere around, but at least Blossom had to say, no matter how lazy the others were getting these days, everyone still had their sincere concern for their father. She felt vindicated somehow, or at least she felt she had proved to herself that they were indeed a family, after all, no matter how dysfunctional of late.

"Come on, Professor," said Buttercup, tugging at him towards the upstairs staircase.

Blossom and Bubbles were soon pushing him along too. He had no strength to fight them, so the boys had no reason to lend a hand in this as they watched with more amusement than anything else.

Jojo was still complaining at the locked basement door. There was nothing to be done about him at the moment.

"But girls," the Professor whined; he reached out his hand for the shrinking door— oh, yes, very tired and ill indeed. "Lab time…"

"You're worse than Jojo," said Buttercup.

"You've overworked yourself, Professor, and these are the consequences," Blossom told him with full authority.

She and her sisters did not let up until he was seated at the foot of his bed.

"Now," said Blossom kissing his head. "You just put on your pajamas and climb right under the covers. We'll check on you later."

"Lab time tomorrow if you rest up tonight!" agreed Bubbles with another kiss.

Buttercup hugged him. "Don't make us worry about you or Bubbles will get out the thermometer."

"That's right, I will."

"Oh!" moaned the Professor, but he was smiling again. "What would I do without you…?"

The girls only giggled.

Jojo was suddenly next to Bubbles and pulling on her dress with whimpering protests.

"Come on, Jojo, you can come upstairs with me and we'll do something together, okay?"

But Jojo was looking at the Professor not her. He really wanted that lab time just as much as the Professor, but now the Professor looked quite convinced.

"Go on, Jojo," he said motioning broadly with his hand for the animal to get the picture.

Jojo understood, and then turned reluctantly; though he did look once more into the room as though there was one flicker of hope for the lab left and he might miss it if he was not careful. He even did a double take, but in the end he followed after Bubbles.

"Buttercup," said the Professor quietly.

"Hngh!" Buttercup cringed as though she had been shouted at from behind.

She spun around.

"Before I can relax, I want to talk to you alone a moment."

"Agh…" moaned Buttercup.

She went back inside and shut the door behind her as she went to his side.

"It's probably about where she disappears to all the time," remarked Bubbles practically.

"I think it's probably more about school," said Blossom, because she knew full well where Buttercup disappeared to.

It was a secret she was determined not to tell the others and one she was not supposed to know about herself. No matter how in a funk Buttercup was and how much she may have even deserved the teasing about visiting their old enemy Ace without anyone but the Professor knowing, Blossom would be the good big sister about it. Buttercup needed an outlet, and the Professor even encouraged it.

"But where do you think she goes?" Bubbles pressed.

"The Professor will take care of it. He's the dad, right?" said Blossom. "It's our job to clean up the kitchen."

"Aww, c'mon, Blossom!" Bubbles moaned, but Blossom would hear no more about it.