Archive of Our Own ^beta

"I don't really know anymore."
Brick would never admit it — well, not on purpose — but, it was hard to focus when Blossom was sitting in his bed, smelling the way she was and looking like the damn ray of sunshine that she was. Let’s get this straight! Becoming her boyfriend was nothing short of a blessing. Even though they were both opinionated and firm in their beliefs, Blossom never once failed to support him in ways and avenues he didn’t even know he needed.

She was gentle; the exact opposite of what he’d expected her to be.  They had history — Blossom and Brick — and it wasn’t very peachy. Asking her out, navigating through the awkward starting stage, and getting to know her in a more personal and intimate setting wasn’t quite the trip he’d expected it to be. Initially, he’d envisioned them to be one of those semi-insane power couples who drove each other nuts in some untampered, carnal type of lust. However, things didn’t quite turn out that way.

Blossom was the type of young woman who listened more than she spoke. True, she would go off on a tangent about her aspirations, expectations, and how taxing her studies were, but she’d always be silent when it mattered the most. There was no question that she was the problem-solver and confidante in their group. Buttercup may have had everyone’s best interest at heart, Bubbles may have been the motivator and even though Butch wanted joy for everyone, Blossom’s throne remained unchallenged.

Asking her out was a heat-of-the-moment type of impulsion. She was pretty — sure! — and really nice to be around, — even when she gave him an especially hard time — but Brick hadn’t associated her with being girlfriend material until the day she sort of came on to him. Now, he couldn’t see her any other way.

He fell; hard and fast. Committing to Blossom was almost too easy. He honestly wasn’t prepared for any of this intense feeling crap. His mind almost refused to wrap around the idea that Blossom may possibly be the epitome of everything nice and it showed every time her kind actions made him blush and turn away.

Blushing.

He knew her way too long to be acting like a middle schooler in love... and he might as well start getting used to that type of thinking because if things continued going as they were, he just might be…. in… love.

"It’s a C Brick.” She sighed, her arms wrapped around his as she lay her head on his shoulder, “You're not seriously going to drop out of school because of ONE C?” Blossom hated how cold his room was. She’d often question how a guy born and raised in the same warm city as herself would purposely torture himself with such chilling temperatures.

Snuggling up to him seemed elementary now. Even the blanket thrown around her shoulders was no match to Brick’s warmth… Well… that’s a lie, but it wasn’t as though anyone particularly cared about the specifics anyway. Brick’s Fengshui meant his computer desk hid the thermostat and Blossom hadn’t been dating him long enough to tell him how stupid that fact was.  

Brick rolled his eyes with a strong urge to bury his head in his pillow. His words were mostly sincere and he couldn’t believe that Blossom, of all people, didn’t understand where he was coming from. At first, his lips moved to say something horribly rash, but not a sound vibrated off his vocal cords.

Today didn’t reflect their past. Her actions didn’t piss him off as they would before. He’d found too much comfort in his relationship with her for any intentional jeers to be directed at her. Heck, Brick had to hide his face before she’d seen its redness from the stomach flopping ideas — or memories — which dominated his thoughts.

"Babe,” it was a word that quickly changed meaning and tone after Brick had taken Blossom out on a real, 3.5-star restaurant dinner date, “What's the sense I'm out there busting my ass in the library for... I don’t know? About 3 to 4 hours most nights… then in between my shifts… and let’s not talk about those shitty class recordings I listen to in my car! A fucking C? I sweat blood for a C? " Brick whined like the overgrown, overaged child that he was. "You know, I could’ve just taken a job at my dad's company instead of this shit...  like why waste my time doing this nerd stuff when I can..."

He felt her tense despite still clinging to him. As usual, she was patient — albeit slightly judgemental — and quiet as she listened to his complaints with nothing, but a hum and calming circles she’d finger-drawn on his arm. So, maybe he almost divulged into the entitled mindset he knew she hated. If he could quickly change that part of him, he would. Townsville was a city that seemed to cultivate that type of behaviours despite the slow movement to try to fix their nepotistic and upper echelon praising ways.

They've only been dating like what; three to four weeks now? But when you paired that with their fourteen years of knowing each other, — being partial friends for at least a year of it — it made sense they were domesticated quickly. It was funny how desperately Blossom tried to expose Brick for being a fraud during the first few months they were ‘forced’ to play nice with each other. Kind of sucked that only Brick was trying to be friends back then.

"Why are you laughing?" A small, slightly confused, and curious giggle soon followed from Blossom. To her, understanding Brick was like an unsolvable jigsaw. Every time she thought she got a firm grasp of his character or actions, he’d always surprise her in the silliest of ways.  The way her shoulders playfully pushed against Brick’s almost made him go into hyperdrive. It was nearly crazy how touch-oriented Blossom made him. He wanted to so badly hold her hands, fiddle with her fingers, and kiss the bridge of her nose but he also didn’t want to seem as though he was forcing his affection onto her too quickly.

He could be a lot sometimes and he was aware of that. As someone who had a mediocre tolerance for social interactions, he knew limits existed for everyone. Blossom may have been able to tell someone to fuck off in over a hundred ways, but admitting she’d overextended herself was something her niceness made her incapable of doing.

"It’s just,” he chuckled shortly. His sharp breath inhaled in a sort of drawn-out hiss. “Your mom made the worst brownies I’ve ever tasted at that block party when we were kids."

Blossom rolled her eyes and released Brick’s arm. He hated the new sensation of loss he’d felt from her distance, but he understood that it’d all been for her to give him a playful and pouty shove, “I’ll have you know, my mom is a top-notch baker!”

“I need to take you out to a good bakery sometime.”

She giggled, “Those were my dad’s you ass!” her head found its way to his shoulder again as a fresh tinge of cool breeze entered Brick’s room. He had to slouch a bit for her to relax on him. Their height difference wasn’t much to talk about, but it’d be difficult for her to cuddle if she’d have to stretch awkwardly for every action. “He got carried away with his taste test and tried to cover his ass by re-baking her brownies. If we’d known, we would have just ordered from this little café mom liked at work.”

“What does your mom do again?”

“She’s a financial analyst. Why?”

“Just curious.”

She smacked his chest lightly, “Still can't believe you remembered that! What was it? Ten years ago?"

"Maybe eleven? Think that crazy pink-haired Mr. Lumpkins was there.”

She giggled, “Oh he sure was!”

“Pretty sure you got famous after those bad brownies though."

 "Please,” she scoffed, “I was a girls scout. If anything, I was popular because of that.”

"You really think they saw past the uniform and box of cookies?" he wiggled his brows, just looking at her with the smuggest grin she’d ever seen.

"Oh, it's whatever!" She had to push his face away. Blossom went there to be his moral support, not to admire how unusually attractive he’d get when he started his teasing! Seeing him kick over the school’s trash can in a fit of rage didn’t quite sit right with her. Brick was the type to hold stuff in if you’d let him. His random bursts may have seemed comedic to the people who thought he was just fooling around, but she knew that whatever griped him was going to be the source of his nightmares for weeks. Over the past year of sharing the same friend circle, she’d had the displeasure of watching how stress easily took a toll on his body.

Just… Brick was this antsy about a C grade? She used to laugh at him being stuck in summer school during his middle school career. She didn’t understand why he’d been so down on himself for one bare pass when he could’ve easily made up for it in his future exams.

"I wish I could help you study." Rubbing his back in cool circles, she could feel his stress and tenseness whenever his muscles flexed. He hadn’t been taking care of himself recently and the pessimistic part of her worried that her relationship with him was the cause.

He joked, "I'm like another C away from either seducing my lecturer or throwing a fat wad in my next assignment."

"Well, that's two ways of getting kicked out...” His smug grin was back, and this time he held the hands which were going to push his face away, “…for a grade that's only...” she continued, hiding her amusement as she tried to talk some sense into him, “…how much percent of your coursework again?”

"Ten percent."

"And how much does your coursework weigh towards your final grade?"

“Does that even matter babe?”

She shrugged, “Humour me.”

"Forty percent."

"And you got a C... which is like... seventy to seventy-nine percent, right?" He only nodded. "So, assuming you got the lowest end of the C, you basically lost around 1%, right... if I checked that properly…"
"I may not be that good at maths babe, but, I'm pretty sure I lost three percent there." She wanted to cringe at the three fingers he dragged up to support his claim.

"It’s obvious that's you're not good at math, Brick."

He kissed her nose teasingly, "We have something called calculators for exact numbers."

"But still… even your equation is wrong."

"I'm studying programming, you're studying law... I'm pretty sure I’m the one who’s better with numbers."

"Yet you came up with three percent… Brick… babe."

He felt challenged, "It's better than your 1%"

"I rounded it off."

"Okay...  you wanna go? Let's dish it out."

"I rather you just vent or study so you don't get another C to lose another ‘3%’ ."

"Ha, so you admit it's three percent! "

"I was being sarcastic Brick... I don't even want to know how you got 3%"

"The same way I can't even begin to fathom how you got 1%"

"Approximately 1%... It could be like 1.2 or 1.25 even. It’s only a quick calculation."

"Blossom, you're smart and all, and I really admire that, but you should just take your ‘L’... because you’re wrong."

"Oh my gosh... okay, let's show working!"

"You're going to show me a whole load of bullshit... Let's text the smartest person we know."

"Don’t really want to give Dexter another reason to call you a golden spoon idiot."

Brick rolled his eyes, "I swear, some people just hate me for no... wait! Did you just say ‘another’ reason?"

She blushed, quickly changing the topic. Maybe she shouldn’t digress about the discussions she and her childhood friend had before she started going out with Brick. It was best to leave the past where it was. No need for him to know what was said far from his ears. "Uh... Bubbles probably does calculations, right?"

"Bubbles uses a calculator to multiply single unit numbers. God knows what she’d do without her formula sheet or her fingers. Heck, I don’t even—"

“Rude."

"But not as rude as that four-eyed dork calling me a golden spoon idiot. You know, I should have pantsed him in high school."

“He went my high school, but your middle school.”

“Well, whatever.” He grumbled, “I just should’ve.”

"Well, Buttercup's studying Business right... maybe —"

"She'll leave you on read."

"Butch?"

"Please don't."

"Boomer?"

"I don't even know if he's a real student here!"

"Well, he’s always doing assignments…"

"I mean, if you could find someone who’d vouch for him being in their class and not auditing it, then we'll go to him... what about my roommates?"

"I’ve seen them crack raw eggs on their foreheads then drink it for protein… they might say 5%"

"Okay fine! how'd you get your answer then?"

"So, going with the assumption that you got 70 percent on your paper, I calculated you got thirty percent wrong. Since the weight of that grade was only 10%, it meant you lost three percent from your coursework.”

“Exactly!”

“I’m not finished, Brick.”

“There’s literally nothing else to calculate.”

“But that’s ten percent of your coursework which is actually forty percent of your final grade.”

“And?” he sighed, “Still doesn’t change that I lost three percent in one go!”

“Yes, but no.” she clarified, “The actual percent you lost is just three percent OF that forty percent course work… which is equal to..." she double-checked her answer on her phone's calculator, "1.2%."

“You're the literal embodiment of overthinking, Bloss.” He expressed.

“But I’m not wrong though.”

 "You're a law student, Blossom."

 "Who was also smart enough to be a mathlete"

"Keyword: was. And, and, and… math… just isn’t a sport. Take that shit back, I don’t know what kind of heresy your high school taught but this is a Christian apartment."

“Explains why I heard someone’s daughter screaming for the Lord’s guidance last week.”

Brick deadpanned, because if he didn’t, he’d be making an ugly snort with an embarrassing laugh to follow, “Exactly.”

“But Brick, your school’s tuition is way too high for you to be reproducing this type of math."

"You’re kidding, right?" Were they really going to continue this argument?

 "Brick... the level of wrong you are means you should sue that school.  Did you even pass math?"

 "Yes; easily."

"Bet you didn’t do the AP courses."

"Now why the fuck would I?" He smirked.

She kissed him, "Hey! Don’t take that tone with me?"

"Or what?" he kissed her back.

"Try me and you'll see!" she flicked his nose. Even took pride in how red it looked, or how he’d been trying to act like it didn’t fucking stung.

Their interactions with each other changed. Had a ‘fight’ like this happened about a month ago, Blossom would have already stormed towards the shuttle stop because he was too pig-headed to realize his mistake. Now things like this seemed cute.

Funny.

As much as she’d hate to admit, heated settings really knew how to drive her attraction to him. It was the only familiar thing she knew in her relationship with him. It could’ve been because she’d never once pictured Brick to be the accommodating type of guy. Sure, he’d seemed like he was the devoted type to his ex, but Blossom had figured his history with her was the result. Him being more than just a pretty face was not what she was expecting, and she actually couldn’t be any prouder to be his girlfriend; officially, publicly, monogamously.

But right now, cute wasn’t going to cut it. It's true Brick worked exceptionally hard to fix most of his shortcomings, but occasionally, he’d slip at grasping the basics, and it was a bit obvious that his charm, schmoozing and family background had landed him a spot at this university. Not discrediting him being a pretty good programmer but… ask Brick what mustard gas was, how to solve a polynomial, or to locate his clavicle and he’d give you a surprise.

"Brick, you text Bubbles and I'll text Boomer!” she was getting tired, “Let’s get this matter settled once and for all."

"Why not you text Bubbles and I text Boomer?"

"Because you're gonna accuse Bubbles of taking my side if I ask and you know Boomer isn't going to take my side."

"Boomer always takes your side..."

"Only when I’m conclusively right. "

"So, you're saying you're always right? "

"Conclusively? Yes.” She tapped her chin, “Actually Brick, what do you think about making a group chat?”

“I’m not against the idea…”

Blossom pulled her body towards the wall and snaked an arm around her brooding boyfriend, “I'm sorry." Her voice was soft as it was candy-sweet. Brick inhaled sharply; the sound intense and a bit exasperated.

What he truly needed was a break. While he was wasting his time fussing over one mediocre grade, he could’ve been studying as his girlfriend suggested, sleeping as his body begged, or catching up with his long-paused movie list.

She looked beautiful; shivering slightly but never complaining, hair wrapped messily in a high bun and cheeks flushed red from the temperature. Heck, he knew exactly what he’d rather do than mope over 1.2%.

"Make it up to me."

Her eyes fluttered sleepily as she hummed. Took her a while to register his words, and when she did, she wouldn’t even try to suppress her smile, "John Hancock, some M&M’s and microwaved popcorn?"

"Add pepperoni pizza and some hot cocoa." He moved to gather the stuff from his pantry.

“You have frozen pizza and hot cocoa?”

“Ordering the pizza… and bought the packets by accident.”

“Don’t tell me you—”

“Yup, thought it was some type of coffee.”

She grinned, “Buttercup did that with the—”

“Italian choco tea?”

She giggled, “Your long-lost sister.”

“Please, no.”

She was grateful he’d gone through the trouble of finally fixing the temperature. Especially after he bent to remove the wad of paper stuck under his desk’s wheel. When she’d seen just the crack of his boxer’s belt, she just had to look away before the memories stalked her. They’ve only been intimate twice. The first was before they got together and the second… well… something about quinoa, rigatoni with shrimp and broccoli, seared steak, and a glass of Rondel Brut Cava made their night exceptionally passionate and memorable.

But she wasn’t going to dwell on that night’s activities too much. There was an unspoken agreement between the two that solidifying their emotional involvement was more important than scratching an itch. Besides, Blossom’s priorities lay elsewhere, "I'll even throw in some math lessons on the side."

She gave him a wickedly devious smirk!

Brick barely turned from his pantry, bringing out the granola he knew she loved before giving her a gentle smile, “Blossom, fuck you.”

"You wish." Didn’t matter that the pillow she threw knocked his carefully stacked items to the ground, Brick won when he’d flashed her the most innocent, heart-fluttering smile.

“Don’t I know it.”

Blushing profusely, she tried to retain her composure, “Let’s just watch the movie! I can’t believe you’ve never seen this gem!”

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