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The Morbuck’s mansion is jumping in its roots to the beat of the most expensive and loud stereos Princess was able to find in the tech store. He knows through Mitch’s hammy testimony that they roamed around the mall from 4 in the afternoon until they got kicked out of the store.
But the night was just get started with its comforting cold breeze. A few hours before the party back at their volcanic home once storage for Mojo’s complex devices that failed inevitably. With time, the Ruffs were able to convince their aging dad to lay low and enjoy some well deserved vacations after so many years of evil schemes; a relief to the three.
The redhead knew his clothes wouldn’t matter much (his entrance would be noticed anyway) so he rummaged for not more than 5 minutes in his closet and suited for a random dark gray shirt, loose denim pants, and red nikes.
Maybe it was the odd smell in the air, had Butch smoked an extra blunt before Princess’s party or had Boomer not showered? But they both seemed rather calm if not jitterish in excitement and the three shared sharpened senses (gift of puppy dogs tail), so, was Brick Jojo going crazy?
Wouldn’t be surprising if some of Mojo had stuck to him from all those years.
Maybe it was the different creak the door made when locking it, it was low and muffled contrary to its usual thunderous squeak; small details like those did not escape him and stealing a glance to his brothers, the blond beamed:
—I fixed the door! Well, kind of.
That explains it. So maybe it wasn’t the creak of the door but the whiff he got in the living room.
—Jeez, Butch, can you go on a day without that stinkin’ marihuana!? —Boomer swept the air with his palm, the aforementioned laughed low.
—To your information, it was an scented candle this time! Thought your lil’ girlfriend taught y’all about that —Boomer flushed in spot with an spreading wince in his face.
—She is not my girlfriend! And if that was really tha candle you made with Bubbles then you snuck some weed into its mixture because you damn reek!
Butch responded with another laugh and Brick finally locked the door shut, swinging it a little to hard making the whole platform shook and his brothers shut up for at least a few minutes.
And back to the comforting cold breeze, his proclaimed-by-himself younger brothers continued childish bickering with not a drop of poison intended until the music started to sound at the distance and the two or three stars in the darkening sky disappeared; the beautiful sunsets of contamination was a thought that appeared in his mind. The sparse stars were replaced with rays of color coming from the party that lit up certain spots in the clouds above. No picture would ever capture the beauty of the unique skies. Unique. And he mopes thinking this is a sky that won’t ever be the same.
Once they were checked by one of the guards at the entrance of the garden, they walked their way through the gorgeous bushes in shapes of jewels and pennies and parted ways to their respective preferred spots; drinks, dance floor, and a far corner’s window. Before entering, he took a minute to breathe and lets his brothers take a leap ahead, so it wouldn’t be awkward. Finally, stretching his arms and legs, popping his knuckles and unclenching his teeth, he convinced himself that night would go like all the others; a girl trying to lull him or a boy with a weird droopy smile looking for trouble. He stepped inside with a sigh.
Brick strolled nonchalantly, as if his his bones weren’t shaking with the music, towards the fully stocked bar where a few known fellows had already dipped their faces on multicolored beverages. He felt as if he was a background character in a retro movie in its disco scene with lots of glitter, women in platforms and men with unbuttoned pants and thick golden chains.
The bar was a little further away from the dance floor, the music was much lower, and the vibes shifted from glitter and chains to groovy electroswing with a bendy straw for drinking straight out of a bottle of wine, if that makes any sense. His bones stopped shaking and relaxed already tasting the liquor in his tongue.
—Brick! Your are here! —he was more than startled when the figure with her back turned towards him whipped and revealed those radioactive pink eyes. Not only that, but she seemed way more excited than usual to meet him.
—I am here too! —Robin said, which didn’t surprise him as much since both had become good friends thanks to their friend groups being tangled.
—Hello there, thought you were a wine gal, Pinky —he sneered lightheartedly, in hopes of getting some reaction from Blossom— but strawberry crush and vodka seems fitting too.
—You have to try some, you won’t get it otherwise —Blossom spat back with poise, signaling to the waiter who got the respective cans for the redhead and a glass with ice.
—Too manly for strawberry soda? —Robin added onto the jokes just as lighthearted as her friends with a giggle.
—You two got some screws loose —he snickered and took a seat next to Blossom, mixing the drinks in pinkish bubbles.
He tried it and fell rather surprised. It was just soda with the extra burn of alcohol but very good nonetheless, the sweet and sour of it almost drove his mind into its fog of the red bow and her beautiful everything he fell obsessed with just from seeing her in the middle of a conference about monsters with scratches and black spots, runny makeup, and messy hair. He wondered how the girl was able to look so splendid everyday from that point on. It was most definitely the kilograms of sugar that single can had and not a silly obsession he developed.
He was pretty good at masking it behind furrowed brows and stern lips, but Blossom’s look had him shifting his attention back towards the emptying glass.
—You almost downed the whole thing! Knew you would like it! —The blue eyed girl finally said standing up —I am gonna burn some energy and probably rip my eardrums, see ya around! —she waved with an innocent smile.
Blossoms gaze turned a tinge softer, her eyes who used to burn holes in his periphery now stared with curiosity and a gleam. He couldn’t help but yelp when he felt poking on the side of his arm, it was none other than the apple of his eye with her hands experimentally touching his arm like a cat does with a scratching post and without the claws.
—Woweeee! Muscles —she giggled with her gaze fixed on his arm.
So why is Brick Jojo, the one who collects fangirls like to-do homework, frozen in place with the slightest red in his face? The one with fame for being the most fierce and cunning of the Ruffs from day one, appears to have fallen in a daze for the Puff’s mere touch.
If anything was to get him more drunk than a mixture of Butch’s weed, Boomer’s stink and Princess’s bar whole it would be her. Just her.
—Are you drunk? —the words came out of his mouth so out of nowhere he wasn’t sure if they were his.
—I may or may not have taken a little too much alcohol with Ro-ro, she told me not to tell anyone so… —she approached his face with her index finger over her lips being the only one in between the two— shusshhh…
His heart picked its already quick beating with her scent like candied apples; whatever expensive perfume was getting his mind even more clouded than Butch’s “peace and love” or Boomer’s cooking ever would. He swore on his life in that exact moment to preserve this picture of her gorgeous eyes in puppy eyeliner the best he could in his memory because his phone was almost dead.
The boy in the red cap hadn’t even noticed the waiter had been handing the girl can after bottle.
—Ain’t that a lil too much alcohol? —he asked more out of curiosity than concern. She is a Powerpuff. She can handle monsters the size of skyscrapers.
—Ain’t that a little too much little? —she emptied her bottle into his glass of soda— enjoy!
—Who would know Blossom Utonium is the type to get silly drunk? —his voice shifted from its usual low grumble to a velvety, lovesick smooth the girl herself was starting to grow fond of.
It wasn’t long for both to get bored of the scenery and tired of the screams from every so often that followed the crash of glass and a record scratch. Blossom had been to the mansion a few times since Princess and her had grown past their differences and become great friends so she was well aware of where things were more or less. An idea popped in her head when she stared at nowhere in particular and her eyes landed in a sculpture of a shiny pegasus, presumably made out of gold.
Without a word, she jumped off her seat into the ground making her bell bottoms pop from under the counter. Her brown platform heels poked from under the denim. A pinkish belt hugged her hips and joined her dark pink cropped shirt. She dragged him across the room by pulling the same arm she played with and into an unknown door to him.
She pushed it open and turned the switch on, revealing a long corridor of fancy pieces of all kinds of art, from your typical painting and sculptures to robes and weapons in display.
—Oh my… to think mom was a hoarder —he murmured in awe, referring to the chimp that must now be in a South American beach.
—At least the Morbucks collect interesting stuff pleasing to look at, Mojo had cascades of rusting junk.
—Fair point.
Their first stop was in front of the elephant in the room, literally. A humongous silver elephant laughed at the two from it’s height, it easily tripled the size of the normal thing. With cautiousness floating, he realized it was slightly reflective and he found he didn’t have his cap anymore and almost burst in flames until Blossom floated by his side and over her reflection’s head laid a red smear.
—No wonder you never take this off, it’s reeeally comfy.
—Err… right —he cleared his throat— what do you think this sculpture even means? —Brick didn’t have the heart to take his cap back, it looked so much better on her anyway.
—If you check further, its tusks are absent —he was surprised drunk Blossom was still as good at noticing hidden messages— It probably has to do with how the poor guys are hunted down for them.
—Damn. Poor Elephants.
—But it also looks happy, and there are little flowers in the ground —she pointed at the floor where indeed, plastic flowers adorned —I’ve heard some scientists figuring out how they could be ignored by hunters if they were tuskless, maybe the eli now lives happily.
Brick was getting choked on grief and pointed at another art piece.
The following was framed with an exquisite golden frame, most likely hand made with expensive wood, a rather dramatic pizzazz for a single apple in the middle of the canvas which though realistic looked rather lonely and plain, almost as if the painter had given up on it. Thanks to the fraction of times he had paid attention to the teacher in art class and not done his own thing, he noticed how the painter also didn’t clean his brush between colors because there were odd green and brown stains which stood out in a not-so-pleasing way.
—And what’s that supposed to mean?
—Society’s poisonous words.
—I was thinking more of, vitamin C… or an apple that fell and is being eaten from the inside out by worms.
—That’s gross! My goodness —she shoved him playfully away making sure he wouldn’t hit any of the Morbucks’ collection and smiled.
—That’s my interpretation, miss Utonium —he dragged out the y— That was not very nice of you.
—Whatever, next step on this personalized tour? —she offered him her hand, he took a moment to offer his because he thought it was a joke at first.
Her palms were both soft and calloused, the perfect point in between, just like how she balanced her sugar and spice. She didn’t waste any time and dragged him into another door he didn’t recognize nor cared too much about, if she was to take him into a trap and throw him into lava he would die a happy man.
The humid of petrichor was overwhelming when she opened the door, which was a clue they were heading outside. Thankfully it was the start of summer, so it wasn’t microwave hot outside nor popsicle inducing, so he embraced the smell and the now more than muffled background choir of catchy pop songs from the mansion.
In the darkness of early night, her best features highlighted with the warn yellow lampposts above then, he came to a conclusion:
Maybe it isn’t the alcohol but the Powerpuff herself that got him “cursed”.
Through the paths of the gardens were bushes of all kinds of berries, trees of all sizes, umbrellas and picnic chairs for whenever the rich would want to take a breath and smell the sweetness of homegrown fruits. Unlike the bushes in the entrance, the ones in the backyard were shaped in neat squares and circles, a nice contrast more pleasing to the eyes.
She pulled him even further making him think about just how big the mansion actually was, the path to wherever she was leading him was pretty long. It all made sense when he saw a turquoise glow and focused on the pool that was now right in front of their eyes.
It was gorgeous. Artificial cascade in the left side and beach chairs to bask in the sun on the other. It that wasn’t enough for a fancy life, there was a fully stocked bar right by the pool like those in hotels so people wouldn’t even have to get out to mess up their livers with liquor.
He didn’t even notice that they were still holding hands when Blossom untangled their fingers and the refreshing cold of hers left his hand, but he took the hint and followed her to the corner of the pool. Hands now in the pockets of his pants.
—If Princess ever asks, you were never here —she whispered, both playful and threatening— I don’t think she would like it very much…
—Gotcha.
—Now there are soo many things I wonder ‘bout chu —she said getting comfortable in the concrete by the pool, sitting criss-cross and leaning into her palm, causing her words to slur.
—Go ahead —he sat by her with a knee up to support his arm. He knew she could forget at least half of what she had said and most of what he would tell her by tomorrow so he encouraged her to make her questions, now curious himself.
—Weeeell, are you like, a dog or something? —he crooked an eyebrow and stared in amusement, but she sounded like she genuinely asked so he responded with a restrained laugh.
—I guess I technically have some somewhere —Brick shifted his gaze from her face to the cascade, sheepishly— why do you ask?
—Just, wondered something for a very long time since I found out you and your brother’s concoction.
Was the air thicker? The temperature rose a degree or too. The neat poem that was his thoughts for her skyrocketed and burst into the sky like a firework the colors of the sunset from earlier when the girl of eyes like sakura trees propped herself up with her arms, kneeled so her head slightly toppled over his and tenderly patted his head.
—W-what are you doing?! —he found himself unable to move again (not like he wanted to), face flushed and overwhelmed with a rush of warm blood he felt pumping through his whole body.
—I know puppies like head pats and scratches, do you? —she spoke even softer and silkier than a whisper, the bitter and sweets of her breath all mixed from the soda and the vodka burnt his senses and dizzied him in fondness and,
love.
That’s how Brick Jojo finally let his feelings free from the little corner in his brain he had been pushing them to.
They knocked some sense into him, I am in love! screamed the voices.
Blossom curling her natural, long nails with fuchsia nail polish over his scalp and scratching even more affectionaly had him gasping and leaning back instinctively. He begged the universe Princess wouldn’t have any cameras, but honestly, she most likely did, so he made a mental note to beg her to delete the evidence of his humiliating touch starvation.
—You are just like a puppy! Oh my gosh!! —Blossom squealed in delight and continued caressing the boy that turned into putty and finally rested on her lap so the two would be much more comfortable.
The past chills in his body that spiked his hair were soon turned into the sweetest of goosebumps and muffled noises that escaped his throat every now and then when Blossom found all the right spots.
And though the sky may not be your beautiful melted milky way but a pitch black nothing, evidence of big companies’ greed; her eyes are more than enough to get lost in, to stare into, to appreciate. He swore to catch a slight twinkle above, likely an airplane, but his inner child long forgotten in the sinister streets of Townsville wished for the girl with hair like cascades of ginger to not leave his side ever; and if the day comes the part ways, may the afterlife be an eternity of plenitude that at least tries to resemble how complete he feels with her by his side.