(BRICK's POV):
It was a new day. The second of our new lives. I honestly felt amazing! Yesterday was the first time I've ever been so joyful. Spending so much time with Blossom felt so right. The way she detailed every single thing was just incredible to me. During the cooking club, she showed me multiple ways to season different foods. She explained what seasoning combinations brought out the best flavors. She even let me try some of her small dishes after I screwed mine up. They all tasted fantastic!
By the time I got home, I hadn't even been able to properly address my brothers. I just went straight to sleep. It was the most blissful slumber I've ever had. Even if it was on the floor.
Once morning hit, I was the last one up. There was a lot of commotion coming from outside of my room. Butch was in the kitchen choking Boomer out for reasons I didn't know.
I sighed before deciding to ask. "What the hell are you two doing?"
"I was just about to murder this blonde-haired bastard!" Butch growled.
Boomer was gasping for breath. His face turned a light blue color. "C...can't... breathe!" I sighed and pulled Butch away from him. "GAH! W-what the hell is your problem?!"
"I'm not about to keep having your foot be my personal alarm clock! Stop kicking me in the face!"
"Easy there dumbass! It's too early to go around shouting like that. You want us to get evicted already?!" I heard a low grumble in my stomach and winced.
"I'm guessing you're hungry too?" Boomer asked.
"Unfortunately yes. This is horrible! I can't keep living like this!"
"Then get a job," Butch said, aggressively.
I raised a brow. "Did you?"
"Sure did. I start today after school. Might ask for an advance so we can start feeding ourselves at home."
"Oh wait! Is it at the café? The one Bubbles works at?" Boomer asked.
"Yeah. I guess the owner liked me 'cause I got hired on the spot."
"I see. Well, we should be able to get on our feet soon enough. We just have to bide our time."
Butch glared. "Yeah and get a job! There's no way I'm gonna be the only one working and paying for crap while you two are fooling around!"
"It's not fooling around. It's called building up my skill set. Cooking is actually a good thing to know."
"Sure it is Brick. I suppose Blossom being there had absolutely NOTHING to do with it?"
I narrowed my eyes at him and he folded his arms. "What point are you trying to prove here, Butch?"
"You tell me. Not like we need you to cook anyway! I'M the one that does it regardless!"
"Hey now! Come on guys. We gotta head to school now so let's go!" Boomer decided to cut in before things got out of hand. I secretly thanked him for that.
Butch stormed out of the kitchen with Boomer following behind. I had a better grasp of things now. I'm aware that Butch felt attracted to Blossom to some degree. He wasn't very good at hiding it. I can understand why. I mean, she's amazing at everything she does. Not to mention her flawless appearance. It would be hard to deny that she was nothing less than a queen. I get where he's coming from. It's just that he's crossing into certain boundaries that I couldn't let slide. There was no way I'd give up Blossom. I admired her too much. Far more than he did.
I did feel bad but at the same time, he didn't need her. He had power on his side. Fate chose him instead of me. He could go from regular teen to superhuman, to demonic warrior! What the hell did he care for? Why couldn't he just let me have this?!
"Are you coming Brick?" Boomer asked from the front door.
"Huh? Oh yeah!"
The flight to school was fairly silent. Boomer was going on about getting to borrow some portable gaming devices. I wanted to listen to him but my eyes were glued to my green-eyed brother. He kept looking around as if he were searching for something.
"Butch!" I called out to him.
He looked back at me with his usual stoic features. "What is it?"
"What's got you so on edge? You keep searching around the city like a madman. You lose something?"
He shook his head. "Last night, something was coming after me. I don't know what it was but I'm pretty sure it was hostile."
"How come you didn't just beat them up?" Boomer asked.
"I got a bad feeling from them. Something told me to stay away."
"I'm sure you're just overreacting. I mean, they were hesitant to attack you if you made it out with no damage."
"You don't understand! They were dangerous! I'm telling you they were! I've never felt that way before."
"Hey Brick, maybe we should look into it? This could be serious. What if someone IS after Butch?"
I looked at Boomer and nodded. "We're gonna need some cell phones as well. We have to be able to keep in touch."
Butch gave me an annoyed look. "Okay but how does that help me now? We can't afford phones yet."
"I know...Look, just give me some time to sort this out. Whoever it is that's following you isn't likely to do it again the next day. They'd only attract more suspicion from an on-guard target."
I could tell that Butch was still uncertain about the whole thing but he remained silent. I wasn't sure of what to make from all this. Even if he was being followed, if they ended up being stronger than him, then none of us stood much of a chance.
I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. It wasn't worth exploring just yet. I needed more information to go off of.
"Hey guys, I'm gonna go meet up with some friends. You two be nice!" Boomer said as we landed.
"Do what you want. I'm gonna wait out front for the girls."
Butch ended up staying by my side. His mild look of caution never left his face. He was still worried about whatever was out there. Meanwhile, I couldn't even do anything to help him. Absolutely pathetic…
"Hey, Brick." He muttered.
"Yeah?"
"I don't think I've asked you this yet but have you ever tried to use the power HIM gave us?"
"You know that I didn't get anything from it. I'm not like you, Butch."
He gave me a hardened stare. His eyes were serious. "Have you tried at all?"
"Every single day…" I admitted. Truth be told, I really did want that power for myself. I attempted to bring it out whenever I was alone. Nothing ever happened though. It just wasn't for me and Boomer. It made sense though. Butch wasn't exactly right in the head back when we were kids. Something was clearly there.
"What if you do turn into one? You know...A demon."
I grit my teeth. "Just forget it. It's not happening!"
"Can you please just answer me? I'm really confused right now. I can't explain everything to you but last night I was almost tempted to transform."
"You were that frightened by whatever was after you?"
He nodded. "I just...I don't want to have to rely on that kind of power. It's HIM's bullshit that he forced upon me. I don't want it! I've never wanted it."
"You don't know how easy you've got it," I said absent-mindedly.
"What?! You think this is easy?!" He snapped. I didn't mean it like that.
"So much untapped strength and yet you're choosing not to use it. That's a pretty solid luxury to have."
He gave me a sarcastic chuckle. "I can't believe what I'm hearing right now. Is that seriously what you think? Do you honestly believe that I can just turn it on and off whenever I want?! News flash for you Brick, I CAN'T!"
Was it my pride? I didn't know for certain. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Him saying that he couldn't use his abilities was just weird to me. "Whatever you say, Butch."
"I don't even know why I bother talking to you about shit like this. I'll just figure it out on my own then, asshole!"
"Good! Leave me out of your demonic adventures." Why was I saying all of this to him? He was looking for someone to talk to and I blew it! All because of my ridiculous ego? I'm such an idiot!
We stood there in silence and continued waiting for the Puffs. When they arrived, we were quickly greeted before heading inside.
"Um, Brick? Butch's face is all moody again." Bubbles whispered to me.
I sighed and pointed at him. "Then go pester him about it instead of me."
She ended up doing just that. She slid over to him and started tapping his shoulder. He glared at her before slapping her hand away.
"What do you want?"
She smiled up at him before ruffling his hair. "It's a new day. You can't just start every morning with pessimism."
Blossom nodded. "She's right Butch. Try giving everyone a nice big smile."
His blank expression remained. "No."
"Yeah, guys! Butch is incapable of being happy. He's more of a sad sack of depression." Buttercup said with a grin.
"I do not feel like starting with you right now." He grumbled.
"Oh? What's the matter, Butch? You wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"
He shook his head. "I sleep on the floor so no."
"Wow, that sucks! No wonder why you look so awful right now." Bubbles said. I couldn't tell if she genuinely felt bad or not.
"I can't wait to see you both at work later." He said with a small smirk.
I let the three of them bicker back and forth and turned the corner and walked up with Blossom next to me. She was digging in her backpack for something. She smiled brightly and pulled out three folders.
"I thought you and your brothers could use these. It's not enough for every class but it beats stuffing a ton of papers in your pocket."
"Thanks, Blossom. This will hold us over until we get our backpacks. I took the three folders and grinned. One red, one blue, and one green. It was pretty thoughtful of her.
"Good. You finished the homework right?"
"Of course. Knocked it all out in study hall. It was pretty easy. Speaking of which, how'd the pictures come out?"
"Pretty well actually. See for yourself."
She held them up and showed me each one. There were pictures of several different reptiles that we found yesterday in a lake outside of the city. They were perfectly clear and easily identifiable.
"Nice work on the pics. You must've used some expensive camera for those shots."
She nodded. "It was the Professor's. He had it lying around somewhere so I borrowed it."
Once we got to our class, we were instantly greeted by our first block teacher. His lively smile was nice to see in the morning.
"Well if it isn't two of our most developed young minds. Please, do come in." He said.
"Good morning Mr. Webb." We said in unison.
And this was the beginning of my second day at school. Things were pretty tame. Biology and Advanced Statistics were both a breeze. I was surprised to find out that I was understanding all of the content presented to me. None of it flew over my head. Not even a little bit. It felt natural!
Biology with Blossom was nice and all, but lunch is the time that I can speak casually with her. The food was kind of shit though. Still beats the stuff they served in juvy.
I somehow always managed to get to the lunch table first. Blossom and her sisters would walk in together with Boomer coming in right after. Butch for some odd reason took his sweet time getting to the table. One look at his face was all it took for me to guess what his problem was. He shifted over to the lunch table and plopped down with his food tray.
"Um...What the hell is wrong with Butch?" Buttercup asked first.
"I don't know but if he isn't eating the burrito then I will." Bubbles said as she snatched his food.
"Hey, bro? Is everything cool? You seem kind of...Well, scared."
"..." He didn't speak.
"Brick, what's going on?" Blossom asked me.
I sighed as I handed him and Boomer their folders. "Butch! Listen to me. Nothing is going to get you! You'll be fine! WE'LL be fine. Nothing can hurt you."
"You don't know that Brick…" He muttered.
"You're freaking out over something you don't even know about! What the hell could have you so alert?!"
"That's the problem! It could be ANYTHING!"
"You need to get over it! It can't be that big of a deal!' He shouted.
"I can't stand you sometimes man! I freaking swear! Stop brushing off everything I say!" He grumbled loudly.
"Ditto you flipped out jackass."
"Can we seriously not do this at every lunch? You two are brothers! You have to be more civil towards each other." Blossom said.
"Trust me Blossom, I've tried. He's just a bit too unwilling to admit when he's wrong."
"Eat a big ol' dick you red-eyed sack of shit!"
"Language Butch!" She narrowed her gorgeous pink eyes at him before shifting them to me. "Enough is enough! You two can't spend every lunch period arguing with each other! It's not healthy for your relationship."
He scoffed at her. "What relationship?! He's my brother. Not my friend! I may be forced to deal with his arrogant ass, but I damn sure don't have to like him."
"Right, back at you little bro!" I said with a sarcastic wink.
"Wow...To think you guys were so inseparable." Bubbles muttered.
Butch glared at her before snatching back what was left of his food. "Okay, first of all, knock it off! You have a full tray of your own food!"
The blonde girl shook her head. "Are you nuts?! I can't eat that now! It's way too cold!"
"I'LL EAT IT!" Boomer shouted quickly.
"Aww! Really Boomer? Thanks so much! I'd hate for it to go to waste."
"Y-yeah! No problem! I was pretty hungry today so it's all good." The fact that he was about to eat what looked like half a slice of sausage pizza was downright baffling. He only ever liked pepperoni.
Butch let out an aggravated huff and continued. "As I was saying, I'm not his obedient little lapdog anymore. The only person I take orders from is myself!"
I couldn't hold back the growing anger in my chest. I didn't get what he was trying to insinuate here. A lapdog? Seriously?! I treated them the way any leader would. I kept us going! I got us through all of the hardships! When things got ugly, I took the majority of the punishment! It was me! Was he really that shortsighted?
"You've got a whole lot of guts for saying something so completely untrue! I was nothing but fair to you and Boomer!"
He shook his head. "Like hell! You only ever do what benefits you! You never cared about me and Boomer!"
He was pushing it now. "You'd better watch what you say to me, Butch."
"Or what?! You gonna ground me? Give me a time-out. Don't tell me that you're gonna hit me!" He gave me a smirk. One that only a devil could muster. "By all means...Go right ahead and try it."
"I'm not afraid of my little brother, Butch. I don't care how strong you are! I will put you right back in your place!" I threatened.
"Then what's the holdup? Take your best shot, you egotistical son of a-!"
Things just escalated way too fast. I hadn't even noticed what had happened until it actually happened. All I knew was that the cafeteria was dead silent and my knuckles were in a lot of pain.
"Holy shit dude!" I heard Boomer mutter from beside me.
Blossom let out a small gasp. "Brick…"
Bubbles and Buttercup both stared up at Butch who had been sitting across from me with an unreadable face. His unruly, black hair was hiding his eyes. A small trickle of blood fell from his lips. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I didn't even know what to think. I had just punched him in the face. I didn't mean to. It just happened.
A knot formed in my stomach as the realization set in. What if I set him off? I might've just put the whole school at risk.
Before anything else could happen, Boomer ran over and pulled Butch out of his seat. He was walking him out of the cafeteria to hopefully cool Butch down. I could only hope that he'd be able to keep him under control.
Buttercup was the first to break the painful silence. "Dude! Are you trying to get everyone blown the hell up?!"
"I don't know why I did it! My fist just flew at him. It all happened too fast! I couldn't stop myself!"
"You two need some serious therapy. I don't know where all of this random beef is coming from but you guys need to squash it!" Bubbles said with an unusual frown.
Blossom placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. A look of worry was on her beautiful face. "Can we talk for a moment?" She asked in a tone that I wasn't too fond of.
"Um, yeah…"
I got up and followed her to the courtyard. We sat down on a wooden bench together. Under normal circumstances, I'd be pretty happy about this. Unfortunately, things weren't exactly positive right now.
"Listen to me when I tell you this Brick." She started. "I know that being the big sibling may be a pain at times, but you have to learn to be more patient. Butch might be hot-tempered and a bit hostile, but that doesn't give you the right to just hit him like that."
"You don't understand Blossom. He was never like this before. Back when we were little, he hadn't spoken all that much. He was easier to deal with. Now, he's acting like some alpha who can do whatever he wants! I know it's because of that power inside of him! He has the ability to end me if he wants to. That's why he keeps baiting me all the time! I'm sick of it!"
"Do you know how often I deal with that when it comes to me and Buttercup? She acts like she's exempt from any consequences because of her combat abilities. While I'll be the first to praise her for it, she can be a bit much sometimes. We constantly argue about how to handle certain situations. She favors a more direct approach while I like to be more strategic."
"Well, then how do you fix things between the two of you?"
"Truthfully, I don't. We're so different that we usually just clash with each other. Regardless of that, we still find a way to get the job done when the city needs us. We have a mutual respect for one another."
"How can I get him to respect me then? I know he looks down on me now."
She thought for a moment. "Well...Think about what appeals to him. What does he admire?"
I shrugged. "I guess he thinks highly of a person's strength."
"Then how about you start training! I'm sure he'll give you credit for getting stronger!"
I shook my head. "It doesn't matter how much I train Blossom. I'll never be as strong as him. It's not like there's someplace that I can push myself to the limit every day."
"Well…" She had a small smile on her face and it caused me to wonder what she had in mind. "What if I told you there was a room in my house that would simulate an actual danger scenario?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that you could come over and spend a few hours in there if you'd like. The Professor might have to tweak the settings to your level beforehand. My sisters and I haven't used it much since we were kids."
"You'd let me do that?"
She patted the top of my head. "I really want you two to get along. Brothers shouldn't be fighting like that. If you believe that gaining strength will help, then I'll support you in any way I know how. You can come over anytime you'd like."
I wanted to just reach out and hug her but I decided to remain seated. I didn't want to scare her or anything.
"Thank you, Blossom."
"Anytime! Now, lunch is almost over. We better head back inside."
As we stepped back into the cafeteria, my anxiety had risen yet again. I hadn't forgotten what I did. Butch was probably furious. I could only hope that Boomer took care of things.
The entire cafeteria was still silent. Everyone watched as Blossom and I slowly walked back to the table. Butch was there. He was looking dead at me. His eyes were darkened the same way they would be when he was angry. It made me hesitant.
"Hey, Brick...You guys should talk." Boomer muttered with a mild glare.
"Yeah, I know. Could you guys give us a minute?"
"Sure thing Brick. Please try to be understanding and make sure you're on time for class."
I nodded and watched the four of them walk out of the cafeteria. That left just Butch and myself.
"Listen, Butch-"
"Tell me something Brick." He spoke in his emotionless tone. "What do you think of me?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Am I your brother? Your goon? Maybe you see me as a threat? I don't really know. Help me understand."
One wrong word and I might set him off. I couldn't lie either. Butch was pretty good at reading others when he wanted to. He'd know if I were being genuine.
"I'm not too sure anymore. We'll always be brothers but at the same time, I can't just submit to you either. I'm the leader so it's my job to keep you in line."
He smirked. "Keep me in line? That's funny to hear from you. Weren't you saying that I should embrace my power?"
"Obviously! You'd be much stronger with it. More so than you are now." I said back.
He looked away. "You just don't know. You have no idea what's happening inside of my head."
"THEN TELL ME!" I shouted with frustration.
"WHY SHOULD I?! You just wave everything off! You don't care about anyone but yourself! I've always noticed it! You're selfish! Just admit it, asshole!"
"I'm not selfish! I want to help you, man! I just...I can't! I'm not trying to come off as a jerk. I just don't know how to deal with you. You've changed way too much."
"Yeah? Well, you haven't! You're still the same as you've always been. A self-centered, know-it-all who does whatever will give him what he wants! I'm starting to realize it now. You don't care! If I died today, you wouldn't even shed a tear! You'd have me out of the way and Pinky would be all yours. You'd be the strong guy again! EVERYTHING WOULD GO YOUR WAY!"
"You're insane! Where do you get off thinking that?! I would NEVER wish death upon you! Don't act like I'm heartless!"
"You know what Brick? Screw you! I've got nothing left to say." He stood up and turned to walk away.
I shot up from my seat and grabbed his arm. "No! I'm not done talking to you! We need to resolve this!"
"..." He spun around and buried his fist into my stomach. I fell to my knees and resisted the sudden urge to vomit. "You know what? You're right Brick. I have changed I'm not a goddamn coward anymore!"
All I could do was watch him walk away. He was leaving me again. My little brother saw me as a nuisance. He felt as though he didn't need me anymore. Even worse than that, he felt like I didn't care. That hurt more than the intense pain in my gut. Did he really see me that way? I couldn't blame him. I don't know what's wrong with me! Every time I try to get close to him again, I end up saying or doing something to screw it all up. I just couldn't understand why I was like this.
I didn't realize how long I had been on the floor until the sound of the bell ringing hit my ears. I hadn't made a single move to get up. I just sat there feeling the pain before finally slipping into a state of unconsciousness.
A/N: Another chapter finished! I'm currently working on the next one as we speak. This one was more or less diving into Brick's mentality.
For anyone confused by his harsh and judgmental nature, it all falls under the loss of status and how it tampers with his ego. As Butch grows more independent, Brick's role as a leader begins to dwindle. Brick blames this on Butch's power despite not knowing all the details.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one, and thanks again to everyone who reviewed it. I appreciate the feedback.
Stay safe out there and I'll see you in the next chapter!