TW: There'll be a bit of blood in this chapter. Just to warn you.
Chapter 6. Endgame
Knew her when I was young
Reconnected when we were little bit older
Both sprung, I got issues and chips on both of my shoulders
Reputation precedes me, in rumors I'm knee-deep
The truth is, it's easier to ignore it, believe me
Even when we'd argue, we'd not do it for long
And you understand the good and bad end up in the song
For all your beautiful traits, and the way you do it with ease
For all my flaws, paranoia, and insecurities
I've made mistakes, and made some choices that's hard to deny
After the storm, something was born on the Fourth of July
I've passed days without fun, this endgame is the one
With four words on the tip of my tongue I'll never say
Brick swore he had never flown so fast in his whole life. His mind was still hazy because of the alcohol he had been drinking nonstop for hours, but vomiting in the river had helped him in sobering up a little. Then there was that rush of adrenaline that was flowing like fire in his veins; a thousand questions were swirling inside his brain: Bubbles was pregnant? How? Was it even possible? Had that shithead of HIM lied to him for all that time? Was it true? Had Darwin really kidnapped her? Was it a trap? Why had Miss Secretary called him?
He shook his head and stopped a few kilometres from the building in which he knew Darwin's lab was hidden.
If it was a trap, Devon was waiting for him. Even if it wasn't and Darwin was holding Bubbles, he would be waiting for him nonetheless. Brick had to be careful, especially now that his senses weren't working at 100%.
He had to admit that Darwin had an excellent sense of timing: choosing to kidnap Bubbles the very afternoon he had decided to waste himself on alcohol – after years of manageable tipsy drinking – had been a real masterstroke.
But poor Devon didn't know there was something even more powerful than an intoxication for Brick: his rage. Rage would stir up the flames that were part of his own being and overcome him completely. If it was true – if Darwin had really kidnapped Bubbles because he was interested in keeping her and her child – his nibling – for his experiments, then poor Devon had to deal with him first. That's why he hadn't said anything to his brothers after the phone call from Miss Secretary, telling them just to go to the Puffs house and that he'll be reaching them afterwards.
It was his final showdown. The one he'd been waiting for more than a year.
He decided to barf one more time before heading to the secret entrance to Darwin's laboratory.
Buttercup's jeep stopped at the red traffic lights.
Boomer raised his eyes towards his brother Butch, who was sitting at the driver's seat, silently. The way he drummed his fingers on the wheel was making him nervous.
"Can't you just say anything?!" Boomer protested, crossing his arms in a fit of nervousness.
"Anything."
"It's not funny, you shithead!" Boomer burst out "My girlfriend's missing and you can't say anything to your brother?!"
"What the fuck do you want me to say?" Butch hissed as he stepped on the throttle at the green light. "That she's fine? She's probably not. I've told ya all that the son of a bitch of Darwin was too quiet! He must have been planning something for all the fucking time."
"But… why Bubbles?" Boomer moaned as he desperately ran his fingers through his hair.
"Because Buttercup and I were already out of the game and Bubbles was the weakest one. The Puffs have always been his main objective even though Brick and I got in the middle of his plan. Now that the people of this shitty town are starting to realise that he's a dickhead, he wants to accelerate his plans."
Boomer frowned at his brother. "You're surprisingly shrewd, lately".
Butch gave him a side look. "I've become a big wise boy this long shitty year. Brick can kiss my ass."
They parked in front of the Utonium residence and immediately saw Buttercup in the garden talking to three people in a suit, dark sunglasses and earpieces. As she saw them arriving with her car, she left the strangers and ran towards them.
Butch welcomed her in his arms and gave her a quick kiss on the head. "We're here. Sorry for the delay, but you know… this city's full of shitty traffic lights."
"I know, don't worry…" Buttercup met her gaze with Boomer's. "We still don't know anything about her and both Bellum and the Professor don't want Blossom to fly around the city looking for her. They're convinced it's a trap from Darwin."
"It surely is. Considering the hurry Brick had to leave us…" Butch commented with a frown.
"Where the hell is he?!" Buttercup exclaimed, finally noticing his absence.
"He received a strange phone call and left us, saying we had to come here on our own" Boomer commented bitterly.
"He surely knows something, then!" Buttercup retorted, but the brothers only replied with a shrug.
"You know him. If he doesn't want to tell us… he's probably scheming something. He'll let us know when he wants us to." Butch dismissed the matter.
"Or when he's already dead" Buttercup commented sceptically.
Butch pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "So? What's the plan? We just wait here?"
Buttercup bit her lower lip. "It's not like you and I can do more than this… without our powers…"
Butch blew out some smoke. "I can fight even without my motherfuckin' powers."
"Yes, but you can't heal without them, big hero."
Boomer stomped his foot on the ground, his hands in his hair, all messy at this point. "No! There's no way I'll just stay here doing nothing. I have to look for her!"
"You're not going anywhere!"
In that moment, Blossom zipped out of the house, reaching the little group and grabbing the blond by his arm. "Boomer, you and I are the only ones with superpowers right now and we need to think of a plan. Especially now that Brick has decided to solve things on his own, as he usually does."
"How do you know about Brick?!" Boomer asked her, frowning.
"Ms Bellum is inside with the Professor. Apparently, they have an inside man in Darwin's entourage." Blossom explained with a worried expression, but trying to keep her Commander and Leader cool tone. "He has told them Brick's just entered Darwin's headquarters searching for Bubbles, so someone must have warned him."
"The phone call!" Boomer exclaimed as he exchanged a knowing look with his brother.
"Our motherfuckin' lone crusader" Butch scoffed as he took another puff on his cigarette. "So? We just let 'em keep our siblings or are we planning a raid to take 'em back?"
"We're waiting for reinforcements to arrive" Blossom said as she looked at the three men in a suit in the garden.
"We do have reinforcements?" Boomer sneered as he looked at them.
"Apparently, Ms Bellum has been secretly working with the government to unmask Darwin's plans. Brick has known all along" Blossom explained, a veil of sadness in her voice.
"Of course he has" Boomer commented with a bitter tone. "I hope they'll arrive soon, I won't be waiting here forever."
"Neither will I" Blossom replied and exchanged a knowing look with him.
"I can't believe it! I just can't!" Buttercup burst out as she entered her room, while Butch closed the door behind his back.
From the window, he could see the seven black vans – probably bulletproof and with reinforced windows – parked in front of the house, full of armed agents as some of them talked to Ms Bellum. Blossom and Boomer were in Professor Utonium's lab as he was equipping them with his new bulletproof suit, a new prototype he had been developing with Brick to keep them safe from Darwin's RX loaded bullets. The two prototypes hadn't been finished yet, but the Professor thought it would have been better than nothing.
Buttercup threw herself on her bed, suffocating a scream against her pillow. Butch just stood by the window, watching at the small army that mysterious woman had been able to gather in so little time.
"I know it's frustrating not having our powers to join them…" Butch said with a sigh.
"It's not that!" she protested, punching her pillow. She raised her head and looked at him with teary eyes. "I'm just a stupid selfish bitch!"
"What the fuck, Butters, you can't be serious… it's not your f—"
"It is, though" she groaned as she sat up and embraced her pillow. "I've been a shithead."
"Why."
"Because…" she bit her lower lip and looked at him with a guilty expression. "…it's my fault I still haven't got my powers back."
"Butters, baby, it's not your fault. You've been taking those Chemical X shots for days, if they still haven't worked out it's not your…"
He stopped as he realised she was biting her lip even harder now and her eyes were squinting.
"…I haven't…" she said with a breath.
"You haven't what?"
"I haven't… been… taking my Chemical X shots…?" she replied with a guilty squeaky voice.
Butch looked at her totally dumbfounded. "You… what?! Why?!"
"Because… I'm a stupid selfish bitch. And… the Professor said I could stay with you in Citiesville… only until I got my powers back, so…" she gritted her teeth as she admitted it.
"Oh Butters" Butch lowered his shoulders and came closer to her "That's the most stupid romantic thing you could do! … definitely a Greens thing to do."
"Utterly stupid. Totally romantic." She commented as she launched herself in his arms. He joined his hands under her ass and pushed her up, holding her as she closed her legs around his waist. "But I'm regretting it now. I mean… Bubbles and Brick…"
"I know" he agreed as he kissed her collarbone softly, his mind wandering off. "But… we're still us. We can fight, if they let us."
"What do you mean?"
"I have an idea" he grinned smugly at her.
Bubbles was sitting embracing her legs with her handcuffed hands, her face buried against her knees.
How the heck did she end up in that situation?
What was happening outside? Did her family know? And Boomer? Were they worried? Will they come to save her? And what about Darwin's RX bullets?
And then there was the story of the baby.
In that moment, the door of her white cell opened with a slam. Darwin entered in rush, his usual confident expression a little darkened.
"Get up and come with me" he commanded her and went towards her, taking her from the collar of her t-shirt, as if she was some kind of animal.
He dragged her towards the door – she couldn't believe how weak she was just after a few shots of RX – and even though she was trying her best to throw herself on the ground, he managed to haul her to his laboratory. She grabbed the doorjamb with her fingers, resisting his grab, but he kicked her hands hard, making her groan in pain and throwing her on the floor in front of him.
Suddenly, a red light alarm started to flash in the white laboratory, followed by a repeated sign of danger. Something was going on and Bubbles looked at Devon's panicked face and she instantly realised that they were coming for her. Her sisters. Boomer. The alarm was probably signalling a breach in his security system.
She felt a renewed energy inside her and when Darwin went to grab her arm, she bit his hand as hard as she could, making him scream in pain.
"You, little…!" he growled, ready to slap her hard in the face.
"I wouldn't dare, you son of a bitch" a voice suddenly echoed among the deafening noise.
They both turned towards the door to see Brick standing there, his usual red cap on his head, his black t-shirt with flames designed on the front, and his ripped-out jeans all there to remember who he really was.
"Brick!" Bubbles rejoiced, but suddenly flinched when she saw Devon taking out a gun from his perfectly white jacket and pointing it at the boy.
"Brick. I thought you'd come sooner" Devon smirked as he moved to his lab counter, his gun steadily pointed at him.
"I've been busy lately" he replied with a poker face "And I've heard you've been busy too. Kidnapping young girls, it seems. I don't think this would do any good to your political reputation, which hasn't been that good anyway lately."
Devon's expression twitched with anger and Brick's lips jerked in an impish grin.
Bubbles noticed that his crimson eyes seemed to be glimmering with fire. Brick looked really intimidating when he was angry, she had to admit it.
"Oh, it isn't the blondie that I wanted, really" Darwin said as he took the pregnancy test from the counter and showed it to Brick "it's what's inside her that I want. The little Rowdypuff Baby. Right, Bubbles?"
She just bit her lowered lip hard, looking at that stupid, stupid test. She had to burn it to ashes when she had the occasion, she knew it.
"You know that she's peed on that thing, right?" Brick commented with an amused frown.
In a fit of rage, Devon put the stick down with a thud and got closer to Brick pointing the gun at his head. "You really are annoyingly impertinent; I can't wait to blow that dickhead off your body!"
"Then do it, shithead" Brick hissed with a challenging gaze glowing with anger.
"Brick, don't!" Bubbles pleaded him; he had to stop provoking Devon, otherwise it could end up in tragedy.
"Don't ask me twice!" Devon shouted and shot his gun, but Brick disappeared in flash of red and immediately appeared behind Darwin's back.
"Too slow" he whispered as he blocked Devon's hand with the gun.
"Too idiot" Darwin snarled back and Bubbles noticed that, with a swift movement of his free hand, Devon let a white knife slid out the sleeve of his white jacket.
With a rapid movement, Devon stabbed the white knife in Brick's stomach, making him moan and stumble back.
Bubbles screamed out loud as the white handle and white blade were suddenly covered in red blood. Brick moved his hand over the dagger and took it out of his body, letting more blood flood out of the wound.
"Hope you like my new RX dagger. The blade is constantly soaked with Reagent X thanks to an inner reservoir hidden in the handle. Not enough RX to block your powers, but if it gets injected directly in a deathly wound, well… it should be enough to kill you" Devon laughed a little as he saw Brick kneeling on the ground as he pressed his hands on the wound.
Bubbles crawled towards him, her eyes full of tears. "Brick! Brick!"
Oh God. He was bleeding. He was bleeding so much. She couldn't tell how much because his t-shirt was black, but she could definitely tell it was getting soaked with blood.
Brick raised his eyes to meet Devon's, who was taking out another gun from his jacket.
"And now, for the last act of our show, dear Mr Jojo…" he smirked.
"Too slow…" Bubbles heard Brick's hiss coming suddenly from his lips, before being blinded by an intense red laser of light shot directly from Brick's eyes by her side.
Devon moaned in pain as he shot a bullet and Bubbles closed her eyes, crouching to the ground.
She opened her eyes immediately after, looking around herself. The bullet had hit the counter behind Brick's back, a couple of inches away from his head, while Devon was lying on the ground, shockingly looking at his scorched white jacket, white shirt and flak jacket underneath it, a deep burnt wounding the skin of his chest.
"AHHH! AHHH!" Darwin was screaming, shockingly looking at his burnt skin "HOW?! HOW DID YOU…! I HAD THE FLAK JACKET!"
"I've never used my full power during our tests" Brick smirked slightly, but he couldn't hide the pain from his face "You shithead. Too… little… RX…" he moaned as he leant against the counter, his hands relenting the pressure against his wound.
"Brick! Brick!" Bubbles rushed to hold him in her arms, pressing her hands against the wound for him. "Brick, resist!" she couldn't hold back her tears. Suddenly, she heard some shotguns coming from outside the laboratory, and she heard screams and voices. Something was happening outside. Someone was coming. It had to be her sister. It had to be Blossom. She had to save them. She had to save him.
Brick was becoming very pale and his eyes were losing his glimmer. His body was becoming feebler against her chest and his blood was soaking her clothes too.
"Brick… please…" Bubbles whined desperately as she heard Darwin, still on the ground, struggling to reach his radio transmitter. Once he had, she heard him ask for reinforcement and backup, with a suffering voice.
Bubbles held Brick closer to her, shielding him with her body, crying out all her tears against his cheek.
She wouldn't have allowed him to die. She would have protected him. At all costs. He was just not allowed to leave Blossom. Not now.
"Bub… s…" he whispered against her ear, his breath still hot. "Le… ave…"
"No, I won't!" she whimpered, holding him closer.
"Bub…s… the… baby…" Brick murmured with a breath of voice.
Bubbles flinched and whined again, embracing him harder. "I'm not pregnant, Brick… that test… isn't… mine…"
The door of the laboratory opened suddenly behind her back. It had to be Darwin's backup.
It was the end. It surely was.
She felt so pitiful, so weak, so useless.
Brick was dying to protect her and she couldn't even get up to fight. But she had to. She had to find that strength somewhere. Even though she was powerless. Even though she felt weak. She had to protect her sister's love. Her love's brother.
"Hey, is the party here, motherfuckers?"
Suddenly, a deep, male, well-known voice roared in the laboratory.
Bubbles turned slowly towards the door, her eyes open wide.
There they stood, wearing both a dark military uniform, army boots, gloves and holding a gun in their hands. Butch had a pair of aviator sunglasses on while Buttercup had her hair combed in two tiny pigtails.
"What the fuck…?! Bubbles, Brick! Are you okay?!" Buttercup exclaimed immediately as she panickily looked at her sister covered in blood.
"No, we're not!" Bubbles squawked in despair. "What are you two doing here?!"
"Taking my revenge…" Butch hissed as he turned towards Devon, who was crawling on the ground, reaching for his gun. "…hey, son of a bitch, what have you done to my brother?!"
Butch took off his sunglasses, threw his gun at Buttercup and moved towards Devon, but with a leap Darwin managed to take his gun back. He turned with a moan of pain and shot towards Butch. The first bullet hit his chest, but he didn't falter: Darwin noticed Butch was wearing a bulletproof jacket underneath the black jacket. He shot again and grazed his cargo black pants.
Then he managed to get on his knees and, with a stable aim, he shot again: Butch managed to budge the shot, but another followed immediately after, hitting him right in the arm.
Butch growled in pain, but didn't stop moving towards his enemy.
"Butch! Stop!" Buttercup cried, before seeing Devon pointing his gun at Butch's head. The boy stopped in front of him.
"Go back to hell!" Darwin shouted, his hand trembling in front of him.
"So? Are you gonna kill me or not?" Butch whispered harshly, his eyes fixed on Darwin's icy ones, as he stood in front of his enemy, who was kneeled on the ground.
"There's no need… to stain my hands… with that bullet in your arm… you're gonna lose strength in seconds…" he scoffed, ready to pull the trigger with his shaking hand.
"…if only I still had my powers. Which I don't, thanks to you" Butch replied as, with a fit of anger, he threw himself against Devon, feeling the bullet he'd just shot grazing his forehead.
Darwin fell to the ground and found Butch astride on top of him; he tried to raise his gun once again, but was hit on the nose by Butch's fist at full power. Then another punch came on the cheek. One on the jaw. Another one on the other cheekbone.
Devon moaned in pain as he coughed out a good quantity of blood and a couple of teeth.
Bubbles was staring at the scene speechlessly when she felt Buttercup kneeling at her side. They didn't say anything, only looked with dread at Brick, whose eyes were now closed, his breath heavy, his t-shirt and jeans covered in blood. Bubbles's hand was still pressing on the wound and was completely drenched in blood.
They both winced when they heard the automatic door slide open once again.
Bubbles's eyes looked at the figure who had just entered, just to be filled with dread once again.
It wasn't Blossom. Nor Boomer. Nor everyone she wanted to see.
It was Mr. Darwin's secretary.
And she was holding a gun.
Butch slowly got up from Devon's lap, looking at her.
With a deep moan, Darwin's pained voice shouted to his secretary "SHOOT HIM! SHOOT HIM! KILL BUTCH! KILL BRICK! KILL 'EM ALL!".
Butch stood in front of the secretary, completely defenceless.
Suddenly, a shotgun broke the air and Bubbles closed Brick in her arms as strong as she could.
But all she could ear was Darwin's scream of pain.
And she turned towards him.
"FUUUUUUUUUCK! JENNA! WHAT THE FUCK!" Devon shouted as he shockingly looked at the bullet that had been shot directly to his left leg.
Jenna, his secretary, shot another bullet to his right leg, making him scream even harder.
"It's not Jenna, for you. It's agent Beatrice Divonne. From FBI. And you're under arrest, Devon Darwin."
When Brick opened his eyes, he saw an unknown white ceiling over him.
He was lying in a hospital bed. A very uncomfortable one.
He heard a constant bit of some kind of hospital machine.
Three IVs stood at his left side and were being injected into his veins: blood, a blue liquid – probably Neutralizer X – and a viscous black liquid he knew too well, Chemical X.
"Brick!"
A soft shrill called his name from his right side and he slowly turned his head.
Bubbles was sitting at his side, holding his hand. Her eyes were red and surrounded by dark circles, her cheeks were soaked with tears. She wore some hospital clothing, but she looked fine overall.
He tried to speak but a sharp pain from his chest made him flinch.
"It's the stab from Darwin. Do you remember that?" she asked, softly.
"Yeah…" he mumbled, wanting to move but giving up the idea immediately. He felt his head was about to explode and his body was burning.
"You lost a lot of blood, but you should be fine…"
In that moment, the door of the room opened and Boomer and Blossom entered, holding a couple of disposable cups and some snacks.
"BRICK!" Boomer immediately shouted, throwing the snacks on the side table and launching himself over his brother. "How are you?!"
"Like shit, thanks" he groaned in pain as he felt his brother's pressure over his body. "Get the fuck up!"
"Oh. I'm sorry!" he immediately sat up, his blue eyes full of emotion as he looked at his brother.
"Stop that. I'm alive. Fuck off" Brick sighed with annoyance.
"You know. That blood…" Boomer nodded towards the IV filled with a red liquid "…it's mine" he grinned smugly.
"Holy fuck" Brick groaned "Now I get why I feel like shit".
"Fuck off. I've saved your life, you shithead!" Boomer pouted, but Bubbles put a hand on his shoulder and dragged him off the bed.
"Come on, boys. Now be quiet. Brick, you need some rest." Bubbles sighed.
Brick moved his eyes to Blossom, who stood silently against the door, embracing herself and looking at him hesitantly. Her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying too.
"Before you go…" Brick uttered, moving his eyes to Bubbles. "…care to explain what the fuck happened?"
"Oh! Yes! His secretary, I mean Darwin's secretary, in reality was an FBI undercover agent who was working with Ms Bellum!" Boomer explained in a fit of excitement. "She has assaulted his laboratory with a whole HRT squad. So fuckin' cool, I swear! But we've helped too, mh. Blossom and I were helping outside against Darwin's armed man, while Butch and BC entered to save you. There was no way I would have let Darwin keep my beloved Bubbles."
"Mh-mh. Yeah, right. And why was Darwin keeping you exactly, Bubbles?" Brick asked her with a frown.
Bubbles froze in place, widening her eyes and becoming pale.
"Brick… not now…" she pleaded him, but he scowled mercilessly back at her.
"No way. If Boomer's gonna be a father, he's got the right to know, ain't he?"
Boomer's eyes widened in shock and he swiftly turned towards Bubbles, who put her hands on his mouth, forbidding him to speak. "I'm. Not. Pregnant. Don't freak out. It was just a HUUUUUGE misunderstanding" she added firmly, staring at him in the eyes.
"Oh, thanks God. I mean. No. I mean. Not yet. I mean. But in the future yes. Ok? I mean. Right." Boomer said confusingly, as Bubbles tenderly caressed his back.
"I know. I know." Bubbles smiled sweetly and then looked at Brick, who was staring at her like a hound.
She wasn't running away with it. He remembered everything that had happened in the lab and he needed to put a couple of missing pieces of that puzzle together, even though he was sure he had already got the general idea.
"I… he… Darwin found a positive pregnancy test and he was wrongly convinced it was mine. End of the story" Bubbles smiled nonchalantly and shrugged her shoulders.
"Then why didn't you deny it?"
"Excuse me?"
"When we were in the lab. He showed the test saying it was yours and you didn't deny it. He wanted the baby, the RowdyPuff Baby. He was convinced you were pregnant. If you weren't, why didn't you tell him so? …whose test was it, Bubbles?"
"I… I…" Bubbles tried to say, but she was panicking. A lot. Her cheeks were becoming redder every second as she tortured her hands in nervous movements.
"You were covering for someone else, right? You were trying to protect—"
"Okay. Stop it. Now" Blossom said suddenly as she zipped by his bed, an arm embracing Bubbles in a sweet half embrace. "Enough with your interrogation, Brick."
"B-Blossom!" Bubbles winced, looking at her sister with a panicked look.
"Why? I was just asking her some simple questions…" Brick raised a quizzical eyebrow at Blossom, looking at her with a challenging expression.
"You already know the answers to your questions, Brick" Blossom replied with a bitter voice, giving him a resigned look. "Stop torturing my sister."
"Blossy, I…" Bubbles voice broke down with her as tears started to flow over her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Bubsy. I didn't know you knew about the test. I'm so sorry you were dragged into this" Blossom kissed her forehead sweetly.
"I… don't understand" Boomer suddenly claimed as he scratched his head, honestly confused.
"Take my sister outside. When she's calmer, she'll explain everything to you" Blossom smiled sweetly as she gently pushed them towards the door. "Brick and I… need to talk."
"Fucking finally, I'd say" Brick scoffed nervously as he sat up with a painful groan.
"Blossy…" Bubbles whimpered, looking back at her sister from the corridor.
"Don't worry. I'll talk to you later, Bubbles. Thanks for everything."
Blossom closed the door in front of her.
Now they were alone.
Butch woke up groaning. His head was pulsing and his eyelids were heavy. But more than anything else, his body was on fire. It felt as if it was about to explode. He sat up on the white hospital bed, growling out loud, like a suffering animal. His eyesight was blurred.
What had happened? Why was he in that place?
"Butch!"
Suddenly her voice.
"Butters…" he moaned with light relief and soon he felt her hands on his arm. They were frozen at the contact with his burning skin. He searched for her body, for her presence. He embraced her and she winced at the contact.
"Fuck, you're boiling…" she caressed his back as she sat by his side on the hospital couch, hugging him back.
"What the… fuck…" he fumbled, trying to get over the state of confusion and pain in which he had found himself. He noticed there were some needles of IVs attached to his arm and he instantly moved his hand to rip them off his skin, but Buttercup stopped him.
"Don't do it! It's Neutralizer X. Since the wound on your arm didn't stop bleeding, the Professor believed that the Reagent X in your body was still lingering in your cells, and that that RX bullet in your arm must have reactivated it, making it killing you slowly from the inside. So, he has decided to inject you a massive dose of Neutralizer X hoping to clear your body from that shit before it was too late" she explained, her voice trembling with uncertainty.
He moaned in pain as he bent against her tiny body, embracing her in a fit of agony, burying his groans against her collarbone.
"I know it's a lot, but you have to resist, Butch… I'm here by your side…" she whispered against his ear with a trembling voice.
He turned his head towards hers with a groan, finding her lips in a desperate kiss. She didn't protest, but responded to his touch, kissing him back harder. Their tongues met in a feverish dance they knew too well already, a familiar touch, a comforting caress. She sat on top of him, pushing him back on the bed, letting her hands move up and down his bare chest. He felt her cold little fingers travel along the line in the middle of his abs, tracing their edges slowly, then moving upwards to his chest, circling his nipples with her nails; he moaned against her lips and she moved her little nasty hands over his shoulders, careful to avoid the bandage on his arm where the wound was.
"Hey… I thought you were suffering a lot…" she whispered against his lips with an impish smile as she let her hand slid down over his pyjama pants, where she found his erection pressing between her legs.
"Maybe… you can help…" he snickered with a low groan as she bent on him, grinding her lower part against his hard groin.
He felt his body temperature rising even more with each rub, his mind lost in a haze of pain and pleasure, mixing together with fever and desire.
He sat up and held her closer, kissing her collarbone and making her moan as he let his hands slide under her t-shirt.
Suddenly, the door slammed opened, making them both jump on the bed; Buttercup zipped off the bed as soon as she could, anyway a second too late because the Professor was standing in the doorway with the doctor: the first looking astonished, the second slightly amused.
"Sorry for intruding, guys. I didn't know you had woken up, Butch." The doctor laughed softly as he got closer to the boy. "But I think it's better if you take this slow and get some rest while your body processes this amount of Neutralizer X. It's probably going to be very stressful for your body, so you need to take it easy."
"In the meanwhile, Buttercup Utonium can zip off to your apartment in Citiesville and pack her bags to come back home. Now." The Professor claimed with his arms crossed as he glared at his daughter with an expression that didn't admit any reply.
"So? What was your great plan?"
Blossom sighed as she clenched her fist against the door in front of her face. She didn't want to turn, but she could feel Brick's feelings burning from behind her back.
"I don't know" she simply replied, starring at the door, blankly.
She was tired. She was nauseous. She was devastated about the events of the previous nights. She wasn't up for scheming and lies.
Only the bare truth remained.
"You don't know? You were planning on going to the other motherfucking side of the country to do what exactly? On you own?"
"I. Don't. Know" now her voice was shaking. She didn't want to turn to face him.
"Look me in the face, Blossom" he roared in a low voice and she did, her eyes teary and her lips pressed tightly together trying to keep all the dignity she had left for as long as she could.
"Brick… I didn't know what to do, ok?" she breathed with a veil of broken voice. Exhausted voice. Heartbroken voice.
"You could have told me." he whispered harshly, his eyes fixed on hers, hunting her down like a prey.
"I…" she stopped and bit her lower lip, lowering her gaze. "You were already dealing with a lot. I didn't want you to worry about it."
"Holy fuckin' hell" he scoffed, rolling his eyes to the ceiling "and so your great plan of running away to the other side of the country on your own seemed like the best fuckin' option, right? Handling everything on your fuckin' own as the great commander and leader you are? And by the way, who gave you the right to decide what's good for me?!"
She closed her eyes and just… she couldn't anymore. She knew he was right, right about everything.
Right to be angry.
Right to on her inability of dealing with the situation.
Right on everything.
And she just cried, like she had done for the last weeks. As if it was the only thing she was able to do lately. She just stood there, crying.
Crying about the miserable delusion she was to herself and to the world.
"Blossom…" he exhaled with exasperation "Can you come here, please? Or should I tear off all these fucking needles I have practically everywhere?!"
She simply nodded between the sobs, slowly walking to his bed. She saw the IVs in his left arm and she sobbed, realising how close she was to lose him because of her stupidity.
She didn't want to lose him. She loved him. She loved him so much that it made her almost insane.
"I'm sorry… I didn't know Darwin… knew…" she sobbed uncontrollably, looking at his arm.
"I have to admit the fucker always knows a lot of things. But this time he was a bit wrong. Luckily." His stern frown melted into a soft scoff, as he stretched his right arm towards her, reaching for her hand. She let her hand slid into his as she whined like the baby she was.
He gave her a tug and pulled her on the couch with him, her face suddenly against his chest.
"You had to tell me, Bloss. I know the idea of… you know… being pregnant with my child is probably the worst thing you could have asked for, but—"
"It's not like that" she protested, raising her head to face him. Now their faces were close.
Oh, she had missed him. So much.
Another waterfall of tears fell from her eyes because she wasn't able to say anything else.
"What were you thinking, Blossom… being on your own, not telling me, not even your sisters…" his voice was quite now. A barely audible whisper. Calm. Warm. Reassuring.
"I… I needed… some time a-alone… to think… what to do… I…" she whimpered between the sobs. "And… here in Townsville… or any… anywhere near… here… it was too dangerous… too… I… I… don't… know…"
"It's okay now. It's okay. We'll figure something out together. If you'll let me" he sighed, embracing her and caressing her back to calm her down "Just please, let me. Let me be there with you. Don't cut me out of the project. Don't run away."
She buried her face in his collarbone for what seemed to be ages. She cried everything she had to cry, endlessly, shamelessly, desperately. She couldn't do anything else in that moment.
The beep of a machine to which Brick was attached was the only sound in the room
And he just sat there, still, embracing her, caressing her, waiting for her to calm down.
Eventually she did.
"I don't know what to do, Brick…" she mumbled, her voice still broken.
"I know" he whispered against her head, nuzzling his nose against her hair. "I'm sorry. I've been a dickhead. Half of the times we were getting it on I didn't use any protection."
"I've noticed" she muttered, making him laugh a little and causing a little smile to form on her lips too.
She was feeling better. She really was. She still felt that heavy weight on her chest, but being with Brick, finally saying everything to him was making this weight a little lighter. More manageable.
And it was strange. She thought all that had ended. Brick and her. That they wouldn't have been able to be the same again, together. But in that moment, she was starting to realise she might have been wrong.
"It's because of HIM, though, I swear!" he protested, putting a hand on his heart.
"I know. I've visited him some time ago, when I started to have some doubts about… this" she sighed, closing her eyes.
"You did? And what did he tell you? I hope he doesn't know about… this."
"I don't think he knows, but he probably must have found my visit a bit… suspicious" Blossom remembered, frowning. "I asked him about this curse your brothers told me about. He said that the first time he had cursed you by saying your legacy would have ended with you, he was just joking. He was pissed off. And then, when you were about 13 and asked him about that curseagain – about which he had totally forgotten – he said he just wanted to make fun of you again, Brick. And that he didn't clearly say you couldn't have children."
"I clearly asked him if it was true that we couldn't have children!" Brick protested.
"Yes. And HIM told me he simply replied why would you want to have children? I guarantee they're a pain in the ass, just like you. You should be thankful IF you can't have children. That's all he said. At least, his version." Blossom explained with a shrug as she looked at Brick's blank face.
"Goddamned son of a bitch" Brick whispered almost to himself, staring at the wall blankly. "He's been deliberately ambiguous."
"Well, he's the devil after all. I hope you don't have too many children out there because of his words" Blossom commented ironically.
"What do you take me for?" Brick frowned at her, smiling "I'd probably have a hundred at his point!"
"Brick!"
"Just joking" he smirked and then looked at her. "I'm really sorry, though. Even if sometimes we were so on fire that I don't know if I would have been careful anyway." He smirked smugly at her.
"Brick! Come on! This is serious" she reprimanded him, pinching his side but she couldn't help blushing.
"I know. I know" he hugged her closer once again, kissing her forehead. "We'll figure out something together. Don't worry. Just let me get out of this bed. Okay?"
"…okay" she whispered back, leaning against him. "I'm so sorry for what happened with Darwin. If only I had told you…"
"Don't worry about it. I could've told my brothers instead of rushing on my own to the lab to fight the dickhead. New lessons learned. Anyway, his dagger was a shitty invention, it couldn't have killed a fly."
"It almost killed you, Brick. You had a huge haemorrhage that your body wasn't able to heal" she revealed to him and as she thought about it, she shivered. He noticed and he embraced her again, with more strength.
"Just the doctors being overdramatic. Ain't a chance I was gonna die like that" he replied with a smug grin.
"Boomer's blood transfusion saved you!"
"Don't remember me about that. I already feel a bit dumber than before."
"You're awful!" Blossom laughed as she felt Brick kissing her neck softly. She turned towards him, meeting his crimson eyes in hers. "Aren't you mad?"
"Mad about what?"
"About this."
"Oh. Well, I'm pretty sure I'm half responsible for this, so I try to avoid being angered with myself. I already have too many people to hate. You and I are not gonna be part of the list. You are the one who should be really be mad at me!"
"I… I'm not. Yeah, I might have been a little, but… I was there too and didn't say anything so… well… it is what it is… I suppose…"
Someone knocked at the door.
Blossom was ready to get up, but Brick pulled her back against him, kissing her sweetly on the lips.
"We'll talk again, babe, okay?" he whispered against her lips.
"Okay."
"Just don't flee to Antarctica in the meanwhile."
"Wow… that's a shock…" Boomer whispered as he looked at Bubbles in front of him.
They were standing by the vending machine of the hospital, waiting for some news about his brothers.
He massages his hands nervously, biting his lower lip. That situation must have been hard for Brick, but well, he somehow got in that on his own. Still, he couldn't really imagine Blossom and Brick, the perfect stupid couple of geniuses, being stuck with an unforeseen pregnancy.
"What do you think they will do?" Boomer asked Bubbles, embracing her with an arm and pulling her closer to his chest.
"I have no idea…" she whispered against his neck "I haven't had the time to talk to Blossom before being kidnapped. I was just looking for my brushes everywhere, I thought somebody might have thrown in the trash. They were inside a white box so, when I found that white box in the bin, I thought they were my brushes… I couldn't have imagined it was the box of Blossom's pregnancy test."
"The what?!"
Boomer and Bubbles froze in their embrace as they slowly turned towards their backs, where a stunned Buttercup was looking at them, in hand a few coins for the vending machine.
Brick pushed her down on the bed of his hiding place under Utonium's laboratory, kissing her deeply and slowly, making her moan against his lips. He blocked her wrists against the sheets, pressing his body against hers.
He was boiling with desire.
"Brick… stop…" Blossom moaned as Brick started to kiss the line of her jaw and then her neck. He let a hand slip underneath her loose camisole and she immediately sat up, pushing him back. "Brick!"
He snorted and rolled his eyes, exhaling. "Oh, com'on, you're already pregnant, what's the difference?"
"I—!" Blossom's face blushed deeply, but she noticed he was grinning with amusement and frowned "It's not funny."
"It is. I mean, it's not like I don't want you anymore" he snickered as he smugly lent back on his elbows on the bed, leering at her.
"I know, it's just… you know… we haven't still talked about it and… plus…" she blushed deeply "…it's showing a little bit already."
Brick raised his eyebrows and looked at her in disbelief. "Really?! How? How many weeks are you…?"
"I have no idea! I still haven't been to the hospital, Brick, how would I know?" she replied with an exasperated sigh.
"Show me" he asked as he looked frowning at her hidden tummy.
"No!" she refused categorically.
"Oh, come on!"
"Brick!"
"Okay. Let's talk about this and decide what to do" he raised his hands in an annoyed gesture.
"What? Right now…?" Blossom replied in disbelief, a little pale.
"Yeah. Right now. You've been putting this off for too long."
"But… you've just found out two days ago! And you've just come out of the hospital!" she protested "I don't think you've had the time to clearly think…"
"I think I've thought about it more clearly than you have. God Blossom, if we wait for you to be ready to face the thing, you'll be giving birth without you even realising it!" he snickered and received a pillow in the face as an answer.
"It's not easy, Brick!" she replied, her voice shaking and her face pale. She embraced herself, lowering her gaze.
He had been trying to make her relax as much as he could, but he knew the situation was serious. And that it needed to be faced. As soon as possible.
"Okay, so, babe. The options available are not many" he shrugged as she replied with a slight nod. He rolled his eyes and he knew it was about the moment to say it. He needed to. "Babe. I love you." Blossom looked at him with a mix of sad and teary eyes. "You know I'm not saying this because you're pregnant. It's just the way it is. The way it has always been. I'm just telling you because… whatever you'll decide to do, I'll be by your side."
A tear escaped her eye, sliding along her cheek. She brushed it off quickly. "I love you too, Brick. That's why I didn't want you to be stuck in another situation you've not decided to be in. Just like the story with Darwin. You're always forced to live a life decided by somebody's else actions."
"I'm pretty sure I've had an active role in this situation" he snicked with an amused grin.
"But the choice is mine to be made" she replied, instinctively looking at her belly. "It's just… I… I have thought about having a family with you. I'd be lying if I told you I haven't. But still… not like this… not in this… order… things are definitely not going in the way I have planned…" she closed her eyes with a heartbroken sigh.
"Well, welcome to my life" he just shrugged, finally getting closer to her and hugging her with an arm. "But things can't always go the way we want them to, Miss Commander and Leader. I know it's hard for you to accept this world's truth."
"I… really wanted to go to the university…" she mumbled to herself "…I know it sounds selfish, but…"
"You will go to university. Next year." He nodded confidently.
"But… how? I mean, if I…"
"Either way, you will."
"You know it's impossible if we decide to…"
"You will in either case. I promise."
"Brick, that's…"
"That's gonna be incredibly hard, but for fuck's sake, we've got superpowers, I'm sure we will handle this without any problems!"
"Brick. I. We" she looked at him, agape. "I… we don't have money, nor a job, nor a house, nor…"
"I do have a job" he protested, frowning at her.
"Really? Like how? When?" she was astonished.
"I talked to Ms Bellum yesterday. I told her that after the shit I've been through because of Darwin, I wanted a job. A well-paid job. In Townsville. She said I will. We already have some projects in mind." He smirked with a satisfied grin.
"You're joking, aren't you?" Blossom looked at him totally in shock.
"Ask her if you don't believe me."
"I… I…" she was staring at him confusingly and paused for a moment. "Brick… are we really talking about what I think we are? Like, really?"
Brick shifted position so that he could look at her in the eyes. "Babe, honestly, if you really wanted to get rid of this… Baby RowdyPuff, I think you've already done it before it started to show… and I must admit to myself that… I'm probably glad you didn't."
"Brick…" she got up in a fit of agitation and closed her eyes, already filling with tears. "Now you say like this but you don't know how it's gonna be every day!"
He got up as well, getting closer to her. "I know, but nobody can know it, right? Plus, Baby R. has half of my genes and half of yours, he'll already be smarter than both of my brothers at birth. I somewhat managed to raise those two idiots, there's no way it will be harder with Baby R."
Blossom glanced at him with a teary, sceptical look. "I can't believe you're really saying this."
Brick just shrugged and sighed. He knew too well she wouldn't let him away with it that easily. She wanted more. She wanted all. And she deserved it.
So, no more secrets. It's an all-in, Brick Jojo.
"Blossom, I… I thought about it yesterday. About the things you've said about HIM. About the fact that the idea of not having children had always somewhat… disturbed me… in a way I couldn't really figure out. And I couldn't understand why. But maybe I have, now. I probably was… pissed off that… I couldn't get to choose what kind of family to have. It's not like I couldn't have children for natural causes, but it was only because HIM had chosen for me. He had already chosen to bring me back to life, to use me as his puppet for his crimes and dark purposes. I've never had the chance to choose anything because Mojo Jojo and HIM had always chosen for me. And even after that, I had to take care of the other two idiots. Because they were the family I was given. But now I have to admit to myself and to my pride that… probably… I wanted to have a family on my own, someday. I want to have a family. Like, a totally normal family. A boring normal family. With children, if you want to have children. But on one thing I want to be totally honest: it has to be with you. I want to be with you, Blossom Utonium. So, if it's fine for you, let's decide what to do together. From this moment on."
Blossom didn't say anything. She launched herself against him, clashing against his chest at full speed; he hugged her back, kissing her head sweetly. She was crying, again. Hopefully, tears of joy.
"And I promise to be an honest citizen. At least, I'll try. If I survive."
"…survive?" she looked at him as she sobbed with a big smile.
"Yep. Survive the Professor."
Suddenly, Blossom's tears stopped as she widened her eyes. Her smile vanished. "Oh… my goodness. I haven't thought about it."
"But I have" Brick narrowed his eyes in pain as he looked worriedly at the ceiling above his head. "So, let's do it one more time while I'm still alive."
"Briiick!"
"What?!"
And there went her last nail. Buttercup sighed as she looked down at her fingers, her nails completely picked because of the stress. She looked around her. She was sitting on the couch in her living room while Butch was playing with his mobile phone without a care in the world. Boomer and Bubbles were sitting on the armchair, she on top of him, as she caressed his blond hair absent-mindedly, looking outside the window with a worried expression. Boomer was dozing off against her shoulder.
"What do you think will happen?" Buttercup asked her sister, giving her a concerned look.
Bubbles turned towards her and, as she did, she moved her shoulder slightly, waking Boomer up. "Everything will be fine. I know the Professor will find the best solution for everyone."
"Oh, come on, we all know what's the best solution" Butch commented, never taking his eyes off the screen.
"Butch!" Buttercup barked at him, taking his phone away from his hands.
"What?!" Butch protested with a frown. "They're fuckin' 18, no house and no jobs. She wanna go to university. Where the hell can they put a baby?!"
"We will find a way!" Bubbles jumped off the armchair, frowning. "We can help them!"
"I won't be babysitting a little pest" Butch grumbled.
"At least you'll have a job" Buttercup muttered bitterly.
"I do have a job!"
"Yes. In Citiesville. Are you planning on coming back or what?" Buttercup retorted, glaring at him.
"Yeah, but… I need to find a job first…" he mumbled in a low voice "…a job that doesn't involve changing diapers!"
"I want to help them. If they keep the baby… I mean, he or she will be our nephew or niece…" Boomer said with dreamy eyes.
"Anyway, the Professor has made a fuss about finding us in the hospital room, Butters… while the perfect, trustworthy Reds have gone beyond expectations behind his back" Butch grinned wickedly.
She groaned and gave him a powerful punch in the ribs, making him moan in pain. Luckily, their powers were back where they were supposed to be. It took them several shots of Neutralizer X and Chemical X, but they were finally back to their original glory. Sure thing, they were a bit out of practice, but they were planning on starting training as soon as Butch had moved back to Townsville.
In that moment, they heard the door of the office opening.
The Professor walked slowly out of the room, standing in front of the Greens and the Blues, as pale as a ghost. Blossom and Brick exited his office hand in hand, behind his back, their gazes low and penitent.
He suddenly pointed his fingers to his daughters. "You're not leaving this house until you'll be married. Have I been clear?" and saying that, he left the house, clearly in need of fresh air.
"What the hell?!" Buttercup protested, glancing at her sister.
"I'm sorry, Buttercup. He obviously got quite mad" Blossom sighed, a guilty expression on her face.
"Not as mad as I thought he would be" Brick frowned nonchalantly, crossing his hands behind his neck, an amused grin on his lips.
"So, what's the plan?" Buttercup asked with a sigh, rubbing her eyes.
"We…" Blossom blushed a little. "We're keeping the baby."
"You fuckin' crazy, man" Butch sputtered, with eyes wide open.
"Oh my God, I'm so happy!" Bubbles jumped with joy.
"I'm gonna be the best uncle ever" Boomer went to embrace Brick, but he pushed him back away from him.
"Well, fine… I'm happy as long as you're happy…" Buttercup mumbled, reaching her sister's side "…but the Professor will become a gatekeeper with us from now on, thanks to you three" she groaned, exasperatedly.
"I'm so sorry, Buttercup…" Blossom bit her lower teeth, sincerely sorry for her sisters' fate.
Blossom stared blankly at the doctor in front of her, wide eyed. What thought it would be one of the most beautiful, important, unforgettable moments of her life, was slowly starting to turn into a very shocking one.
"Excuse me, what?" she repeated with a breath, staring incredulously at the black and white monitor by the doctor's side.
The woman smiled widely at her, then blinked at Brick, who was looking at the monitor totally expressionless.
"You heard very well, Miss Utonium. As you can see on the monitor, here's a beating heart and… here's another one!"
"Check again."
"I… already have, Blossom. There are two heartbeats. Two babies. Congratulations!" the woman smiled and slowly clapped her hands together, in a fit of joy.
"Brick…" Blossom mumbled, going pale, her voice almost broken with tears, fears and stress. "Tell her something…"
Brick cleared his voice and adjusted his position on the chair on which he was sitting. "Are you sure there isn't another one? Like… three heartbeats?"
"No… only two, sir…" the doctor replied, looking at him with a perplexed frown.
"Just asking. Because we usually come in packs of three."
"Briiiick!" Blossom moaned with exasperation.
"What?!"
"And this is the last one" Butch exhaled and put down the last box in front of the door of his apartment in Citiesville.
Buttercup looked around the empty apartment with glassy eyes: at the beginning, she had hated that town and that place but right now… she was starting to feel nostalgic. She and Butch had lived happily in that shitty place for weeks and the idea of coming back to her old house, under the constant gaze of the Professor was making her feel suffocated.
"So, Brick and Blossom get to play the happy family in Bellum's luxury apartment and I'm going back to my shithole with Boomer… how fun…" Butch snorted, hugging Buttercup from behind and nuzzling his nose against her neck. She leant against him, drawing in his scent.
"They'll be having twins, they need a place to stay with some room… Bellum's been nice to leave their flat to them for free. Since she's moving in the City Hall as new Mayor."
"Those lucky brats" he grumbled.
"We've been lucky, too. I mean, she's offered us a good job". Time to bring the topic up.
She felt Butch break the hug and take a couple of steps back. He frowned at her. "Are you sure this is what you wanna do?"
"Honestly, I don't have many ideas for the future" she just shrugged "I mean… fighting's all I've been doing fine all of my life. Now she's offering to pay us to keep on fighting and defending the city. It's not that bad."
"We'll be officially working as cops" Butch shuddered.
"We'll be working for Brick who is now the chief of the security of the city, not the police."
"Different name, same story" Butch mumbled, leaning against the wall.
"Well, you can go back to being a criminal if you want. I'm dying to keep kicking your ass forever" Buttercup smirked smugly and Butch smiled back at her.
"Well, I'm dying at the idea of not waking up with you every morning like we used to" he sighed bitterly, beating his head against the wall behind it.
"I know, me too. But the Professor's been categorical. We won't be leaving the house until we're respectably married girls. Blossom's already been the only acceptable exception of the family. But I'm sure that as soon as the babies are born, he'll soften back to his usual self. We just need to wait for a while."
"When will the little scamps be born?"
"Around mid-December" Buttercup moaned looking at him.
"Fuck my life, we're in August now!"
"I know… we'll have to invent all sorts of things to escape the Professor's strict vigilance… I'm already stressed at the idea. There's no other way, Butch…"
"…I think there is" he suddenly turned with a strange, dangerous light in his emerald eyes.
Bubbles dried a drop of sweat from her forehead as she looked towards the sparkling sea in front of her. The simple wedding arbour stood in the middle of the beach, covered in white, light drapes and white and yellow flowers and ivy entwined all over the arch. About thirty chairs stood in front of it, wobbly on the yellow sand. All over the place, their lifelong friends were wandering around, all sweating in their shirts and nice dresses, drinking from disposable cups and chatting merrily. She spotted Mike Believe, who was stoically wearing a black suit with white shirt and red tie, followed by Mitch wearing only a pair of baggy cargo shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Some Butch's friends from Citiesville were here too.
"I can't believe this" she mumbled for the millionth time that day.
She turned towards Blossom: she was wearing a thin, pink sleeveless minidress, with a high waist that let the skirt fall soft on the barely visible curve of her stomach. The warm breeze moved lightly the edge of the soft pink skirt. Her hair was braided and adorned with white flowers as well as Bubbles's, which were combed in two ponytails with two braids at the base. She was wearing the same dress, only in light blue.
Bubbles focused her attention on the bouquet in her sister's hands: yellow blooms, ranunculus and white freesias with yellow alstroemeria. It looked so simple and wild, and yet it was beautiful.
"I can't believe this" she mumbled once again with a sigh.
In that moment, Robin joined the girls. She was wearing a short yellow off-shoulder dress.
"Hi girls! How are you doing?"
"I just can't believe this!" Bubbles replied, still in shock.
"I know. You've been repeating this for two weeks" Robin smirked amusedly. "How are you three, instead, Blossom?" she gave her a knowing glance.
"Do I look huge with this dress?" Blossom asked, worriedly looking at her tummy.
"You look gorgeous" Robin replied with a smile.
"You surely do" Bubbles sighed as she gave her sister a sideway look. "I can't believe you're agreeing with all this."
Blossom gave her a dumbfounded look. "Why not?"
"Why not?! I mean this is totally insane and reckless and… oh no." Bubbles drew a big breath of shock as stared at the road at the other side of the beach.
The Rowdyruff Boys had just zipped down from the sky, all three wearing white shorts and a Hawaiian shirt of different colours: Brick red just like his backwards cap, Boomer blue like his shiny excited eyes and Butch green like the temples of the aviator sunglasses he was wearing. He smiled broadly at the people in front of him, chewing the gum in his mouth with too much vigour.
"The motherfuckin' groom!" Mitch announced with an amused yell.
"Yo fuckers!" Butch replied with a triumphant smile, raising his hands in the air as he started to greet all the people who had gathered there.
Brick and Boomer laughed and then immediately zipped towards the girls.
Robin was crying out all her tears with laughter. "Oh my God, guys, you look terrific" she said, splitting her sides laughing.
"I know" Boomer smirked smugly at his Hawaiian shirt, then noticed Bubbles looking at him agape. "You look beautiful babe."
"Are you kidding me?" Bubbles replied, still shocked. "Please, tell me you have your suits in the trunk of the jeep. Please."
Boomer only replied with a thin smile.
"…pleeeease?"
"Com'on Bubbles, were you really thinking they would have taken this seriously?" Brick scoffed as he held Blossom with an arm and kissed her head lightly.
"BOOMER! YOU DICKHEAD!" in that moment, from the other side of the beach, Mike Believe pointed a middle finger towards Boomer, making him burst out laughing.
"He's gonna kill you!" Robin laughed as she patted Boomer's shoulder. "Why have you told him to dress up like that? He's the only idiot on the beach wearing an elegant suit!"
"We needed at least a penguin on the beach" Boomer snickered mischievously as he walked towards Mike with Robin.
"You're the usual clowns" Blossom laughed as she adjusted the collar of Brick's Hawaiian shirt.
"That's what you've signed up for" Brick smirked as he kissed her lightly. "How are you feeling? Isn't it too hot? Don't you have a hat? Do you want mine? Have you been drinking enough water?"
"Don't you worry about me, I'm doing just fine" she sighed with a small smile.
"I can't believe this" Bubbles sighed once again, looking at Boomer's head being locked by Mike's arms as they merrily joked and fought on the beach. "I thought I'd be the first one to get married and to have children" she turned towards her sister and Brick "…and I'll be the last one in all of these things!"
"Oh Bubsy, this is not a race" Blossom caressed her back sweetly. "You're gonna do everything at the right time."
"Not like us, totally fuckin' randomly" Brick smirked ironically and got shot by Blossom's death glare. "And come on, aren't you the joy and the laughter? Why are you sulking at your sister's wedding?"
She gave Brick a small, bitter smile. "Yeah… you're right… it's just that… everything's changing so suddenly and… the house will be so empty without you."
"Oh, don't you worry. From December we're planning on filling the house with a couple of people more. We'll be there very often" Brick rolled his eyes as he pointed at Blossom's stomach.
Bubbles smiled softly. "I can't wait to meet my two niblings".
In that moment, Ms Bellum arrived, wearing a simple white blouse and knee-long white cream skirt. She smiled at the girls and caressed Blossom's back.
"Hi girls, it's so good to finally meet you there. At a joyful event. All together, lastly. That's what we all needed" she smiled "and look at you, Blossom. You're gorgeous. You too Bubbles. You look so beautiful today, my girls."
"And the protagonist has yet to arrive" Bubbles smiled, showing finally a bit of excitement.
"With the only person who is not gonna be joyful for the event" Brick commented.
"Oh, come on Brick. I'm sure my father has managed to digest this story by now. I hope." Blossom nodded, as if she was trying to convince herself.
"I've been with the Professor all morning and we've had a loooong talk about everything. Don't you worry girls. He'll be fine. It's just shocked by the sudden series of life-changing events. But he's happy to see you all happy." Ms Bellum smiled and then pointed to the wedding arbour. "Brick, let's retrieve your brothers and move towards the arbour. The bride is arriving any minute, now."
Bubbles smiled as she stared at Boomer, who was radiant with joy, talking to his brothers in front of the wedding arbour, listening carefully to what Ms Bellum, the officiant of the ceremony, was explaining to them. He had one arm around Butch's shoulder and the other one around Brick's. Her mouth twitched, trying to hold back tears of real joy. After more than a year, after all the lies and the suffering, they were finally back again. And they were all becoming one family. Who would have thought all this that day of almost 13 years before, when those three little rascals had first appeared in their lives?
The sound of a car stopping caught their attention. On the road at the other end of the beach, Buttercup's jeep, full of white bows and ivy, had just parked in front of the site.
The Professor jumped off the car, the second person on the beach to wear a black elegant suit, with shirt and a black bow tie. He nervously greeted the cheering crowd of guests and went to open the door of the jeep, letting the bride jump off it. Buttercup laughed as she saw the guests and her future husband waiting for her in front of the wedding arbour, wearing his stupid Hawaiian shirt.
Bubbles bit her lower lip to hold back tears: Buttercup was lovely. The white boho short dress they had chosen together was perfect on her and her hair was adorned with a small, thin crown of wildflowers that she had made for her sister. Then, Bubbles's lower lip twitched when she noticed that the lovely ballerina flats she had chosen for Buttercup had been substituted by a pair of green converse. Her sister stuck her tongue out at her as she moved closer to her with the Professor.
"You didn't really think I would have worn those horrible things for my wedding, right?" Buttercup smirked at her.
"Only for five seconds, probably. Silly of me." Bubbles snorted, but then immediately embraced her. "You look stunning, BC."
"Yes, I know. And the Professor looks hot. In all the ways a man could be hot. Right?" Buttercup snickered looking at her sweating father. "I've told you could just wear a summer shirt."
"There's no way I wasn't going to be elegant at the wedding of my daughter" the Professor protested, stoically drying a drop of sweat from his forehead. Then he glanced at the boys standing by the wedding arch, all smirking and wearing Hawaiian shirts. "You're still in time to change idea, though."
Buttercup laughed merrily. "Don't worry, Professor. Divorce is always an option!" she shouted.
"That's the spirit" Blossom commented ironically, with a sly smile.
"I can hear you!" Butch shouted from the distance, raising his middle finger.
They all smiled mischievously as they looked at the boys at the distance.
"Am I dreaming or are Butch's eyes a little bit teary?" Blossom whispered as he handed the bouquet to Buttercup.
"That's why he was wearing sunglasses" Bubbles snickered softly.
"He's not gonna last to the end of the ceremony. I bet." Buttercup smiled sweetly towards him, who closed his eyes shut, rubbing at them.
"So… are you sure you wanted your wedding this way?" Bubbles asked her sister as they saw all the guests leaving the beach to take their seats, waiting for the bride to walk the sandy 'aisle' towards her Hawaiian-shirted future husband.
Buttercup grabbed his father's arm as her sisters stood behind her back.
"Yes, I am. It's totally crazy. And perfect."
The End
[Officially the story has ended.
I'll be probably adding some Extra Chapters in the future.
More in the notes.]
I hit you like, "Bang"
We tried to forget it, but we just couldn't
And I bury hatchets but I keep maps of where I put 'em
Reputation precedes me, they told you I'm crazy
I swear I don't love the drama, it loves me
And I can't let you go, your handprint's on my soul
It's like your eyes are liquor, it's like your body is gold
You've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks
So here's the truth from my red lips
I wanna be your endgame
I wanna be your first string
I wanna be your A-Team
I wanna be your endgame
Endgame.
I've finally finished this fanfiction! It took me a while to write this last chapter because I've changed my mind so many times about it – and I've had some health issues slowing down my work.
The Greens' wedding idea came totally out of the blue and the more I thought about it, the more I realised it was a crazy idea. Crazy just like them. And in the end, I've loved it.
I'm gonna probably write some extra chapters. Mostly spicy scenes/slice of life moments after the end or some missing moments, especially because I'd love to explore the Reds life after the mess they've made. I also wanted to write a Greens spicy moment during their packing of Butch's apartment, but it would have been too long, so I decided I'd be probably writing something specifically for them in the future. I'll be updating the chapters in this same fanfiction as extra-chapters.
You can also write me if there any scenes you'd like to read about!
That's all folks! Thank you for keeping company and reading my trifles. And thank you Taylor for inspiring me!
Hope you've enjoyed it!