8-8-10

1:24pm

Summary–Boomer doesn't have much experience in cleaning up the mess he makes. Bubbles is willing to show him how. Sharing is caring after all.

Disclaimer–I do not own The Powerpuff Girls, which belongs to its respective owner(s) and is only being used in a fan-made, fictional story.

READ ME: This is the third and final in a supposed series (though they can stand separately I think). The first being "Completely Crushed" featuring Buttercup and Butch. The second was "Top Marks" featuring Blossom and Brick. And here is the final one for Bubbles and Boomer. The characters are still just five year olds and this isn't an AU type setting. For a better explanation as to the circumstances leading to these events just read the first few paragraphs in "Completely Crushed".

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Title–Messed Up

By–Moon Prynces

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Boomer didn't care much about what his brothers were up to when they stepped through those doors – into that building.

Butch was still on Buttercup's case even though, for the moment, it seemed they had run out of sports and games to compete in during recess. (And unbeknownst to anyone he would sometimes pluck a flower out of the ground, and stare at it before throwing it back down and stamping a foot on the poor thing.)

Brick and Blossom's academic rivalry was at a standstill for one day. The day he did better than her on a test. But then the next day she skipped into class, announced it was just a fluke and that she would never let that happen again. (Which Brick was secretly glad for, because he wanted a real victory after finding out the truth.)

Boomer was the youngest of his brothers and sometimes considered the weakest and an idiot. He had a tendency to speak before actually thinking, and thus things didn't always make sense.

But after attending Pokey Oaks Kindergarten class he didn't have to spend all his time being pushed around by his brothers, having people point out all his mistakes.

He could just pick up a crayon and start scribbling on paper and everything was just fine.

And sure his attention span led to more than just a few colors on the page but he was working on it. And okay, so he wasn't the brightest but he didn't just let words out of his mouth anymore, not until he tried to think them over (after realizing how bad it was to look stupid in a school).

He was definitely glad to have been forced to enroll in school, even if the original goal had been to get dirt on the Powerpuff Girls so they could finally beat them once and for all. (And of course Mojo had no complaints about shoving them out the door and out of his hair for a few hours.)

Being in school had a profound effect on all three Rowdyruff Boys. They weren't as...well, rowdy. Still, it didn't mean they had completely given up their ways and ideas. Just that the negative energy was focused on slightly less negative actions. (They were still boys and doing mean and frowned upon things was kind of expected.)

"Hey!" Boomer shouted immediately as a hand grabbed his nearby Goldenrod crayon.

Bubbles looked up with big innocent eyes. She saw the displeasured scowl on his face and promptly dropped the crayon.

"Sorry! I didn't know it was yours!" she squeaked before flying to another table in haste at his look.

Ms. Keane sighed and knew she would need to have a talk with Boomer about sharing. Technically they were crayons provided by the school, and each student got his or her own box – but Boomer had become very possessive.

Yes, Boomer of the Rowdyruff Boys was not keen on sharing anything when in school. It usually came down to art supplies and paper that he favored.

No one could look at his drawings without him glaring and growling at them. This behavior was noted on day one of the Boy's enrollment.

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On day two it was noted that Boomer was a messy person. At any given time there were at least five pieces of paper strewn across his tabletop with various drawings and crayons rolling all over until some fell onto the floor.

He never really noticed or even cared until he was looking for a specific color. And even then he only looked around, glanced under the table and after spotting it on the floor and reaching to grab it he still left the other five on the floor until they were needed. By which time there might be another two down there after having rolled off.

Ms. Keane would wait until he was done with whatever activity he was engaged in (because interrupting had not been a good idea the one time she'd tried it) to talk with him, yet again, on why it was important to keep his space tidy.

After days and days of him listening intently but not really hearing her words she decided to stop babying him. It was only because he seemed so innocent when no one was bothering him and he was happily in his own world that made her forget he was a Rowdyruff Boy.

And he was still one of her students.

By this time Boomer had gotten used to Bubbles absentmindedly sitting in the nearest seat, which happened to be near him, and using his crayons. She even had her own box with her sometimes, and of course all boxes were not created equal, so she would offer to trade briefly so he could use a color she had and she could use a color he had.

He was still possessive and so watched her carefully, making sure she returned it every time. And Bubbles became mindful of his penetrating gaze (that she tried not to be intimidated by) and always made sure to return his things by depositing them directly into his hands when she was done.

After a while he got used to Bubbles and even became comfortable with sharing his crayons with her.

Just her.

She never stole anything from him and never bothered him while he was drawing and never asked to see what he was drawing. She was as close to a kindred spirit as it could get because they both liked coloring so much.

He was fine with the way things were.

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But Ms. Keane wasn't fine with the way things were.

One of the kids had accidentally slipped on a nearby crayon and was crying instantly after landing on his butt harshly.

Boomer only looked up and grabbed the crayon off the floor.

"Alright class, time for recess!" she announced, and students trampled their way outdoors.

Boomer was sometimes reluctant to leave when he wasn't finished with a drawing. Today was one of those days.

"Boomer, stay a minute," Ms. Keane instructed.

He happily obliged and sat back down, snatching up the nearest crayon eagerly.

Ms. Keane left a moment to make sure there wasn't any trouble outside. (She had noticed Buttercup and Butch's competitive streaks and wondered if any of the other kids would get hurt during the games.)

After she was satisfied that nothing was amiss she returned to find Boomer had finished his picture and was sitting around blankly.

"Boomer," she addressed with a kind voice. "I thought we talked about keeping your space tidy? Do you remember when we talked about that?"

Boomer nodded though he didn't actually care.

"Well," Ms. Keane sighed. "It doesn't really look like you listened." And she glanced down at the table and floor near him. "I'm sorry but you won't be allowed recess until you clean this up. But also, as punishment you're going to tidy up around the room as well.

Boomer immediately glared at her (but Ms. Keane was immune to these by now). "But I don't wanna! I'll clean up my stuff!" he said angrily, thinking he could just throw the crayons in the box and shuffle the papers together like he'd seen her do before. "But not everything!"

And there was a shared glance around the room where toys, paper, and more writing utensils were all over the place. Not to mention the chairs that kids didn't bother to push in under their tables and blank pages sitting around.

"I'm sorry Boomer but you knew the rules and I explained them enough," Ms. Keane with a stern face. "You're going to have to clean all this up."

She tried to give an encouraging smile but he just folded his arms and looked away with the same scowl he liked to use. She then walked to her desk and sat down to grade something while Boomer started to grab his crayons off the floor.

By the time he was shuffling his papers together (still grumbling under his breath and wanting to destroy the room with his lasers) Ms. Keane stood up with a stack of papers in hand.

"Okay Boomer. You still have fifteen minutes to clean up everything else. I need to make some copies of something so I'll be back as soon as I'm done." Ms. Keane paused at the door, knowing he was glaring at her. She turned back and said, "I'm sorry you don't like being scolded. And yes the other kids need to be reminded about keeping tidy as well. So when they get back in, you and I can have a nice talk with them about why it isn't fun to leave a mess behind."

And then she was gone.

Boomer rolled his eyes and stared around the room. He folded his arms and looked confused a moment.

What was he supposed to do exactly?

The most he knew was to pick things off the floor and push in the chairs.

Where did all those toys belong? What do you do with the blank papers? Did he...throw away the broken crayons?

Boomer looked on hopelessly, unsure how to start this task.

He and his brothers never really cleaned up a mess before – they were usually the ones causing it.

He looked up and the clock said two of his precious minutes had passed by. He stood in shock at the remaining time and felt overwhelmed at getting these things done before recess was over.

"What'cha doin'?" a voice asked.

Boomer jumped into the air in surprise. As he floated around he turned to see Bubbles of the Powerpuff Girls looking up at him in question.

"What do you want?" he demanded. "Why are you here?"

Then, he became a little embarrassed, wondering if she knew about his punishment. It was definitely something he didn't want his brothers to hear about.

Bubbles just smiled happily. "I had to go to the little girl's room, that's all!" she stated.

Carefully, he landed on the ground and eyed her suspiciously.

"Oh," was all he said.

She just smiled naïvely, no longer scared of his supposedly feral expressions. She sometimes told her sisters he was just a softy underneath all that evil. They usually just gave her weird looks and she would go back to coloring or playing with her toys.

"So what are you doin'?" she asked again.

Boomer looked up as another minute ticked by. "I have to clean up the whole room," he replied dejectedly and flew over to the toys in a corner.

He didn't realize until he turned around holding a firetruck and doll that Bubbles had followed him.

"What's wrong then?" she astutely questioned.

Boomer glared at the sound of her voice. "I don't know how!" And he dropped them on the floor.

"Ooh! I can help you!" Bubbles said with her hand in the air.

"What?" he asked blankly. "Why?"

"Because it can be fun!" Bubbles said cheerfully.

Boomer just watched her suspiciously. "Okay..." he finally agreed.

Bubbles picked up the firetruck and doll.

"Wait! You want something from me, don't you? Well you're not getting that Goldenrod crayon from me! Not ever!" Boomer announced, referring to the one color she so often borrowed from him.

She just walked over to the boxes nearby and told him, "The dollies go in this box because it says so. And the firetruck goes in here because that's where the cars go." She explained, "It would be really bad if dolly's hair got stuck in the firetruck's wheels and then the firetruck wouldn't be able to roll around and get to the fire in time and the building would burn down because no one helped it!"

And Bubbles looked so horrified at her pretend scenario that Boomer wondered if she knew the firetruck didn't actually spray water, so he would have been useless anyway. Either way it seemed to make sense.

She showed him what went in the other boxes and the two zipped back and forth to put all the toys back in their proper place.

"Now what?" Bubbles asked after the toys were done.

"The chairs have to be put in and the papers need to go somewhere," Boomer grumbled. "But I don't know where."

Bubbles giggled childishly. "They go on Ms. Keane's desk! You can't just throw away perfectly good paper! What if we run out? Then what will we draw on!"

And then even he looked horrified at the thought.

So the two continued in the task that technically should have been just Boomer's doing. The chairs were neatly tucked in under tables by Bubbles while Boomer snatched up any blank pages (because secretly he wanted to shuffle them together like Ms. Keane always did with a big stack).

Boomer looked over at the pig-tailed girl and asked, "But what about the broken crayons?"

Bubbles stopped herself from giggling this time. His sad expression while holding one up was funny, but it might make him angry.

"We put them in the little box over there!" she said and picked up the crayons on the nearby table. "People can still use them!" And she deposited them before watching him do the same.

Boomer noticed all the blues and greens and reds and purples while enjoying this last chore. So he also noticed that there was no other Goldenrod in there. He briefly wondered if he had the only one.

"Hurry!" Bubbles urged with her hands on her face. "Recess is almost over!"

He quickly dropped the last of them in the box and flew over to her.

There was still a minute and a half to spare but Bubbles wanted to make sure everything was done so she wouldn't get caught helping him. Ms. Keane might get mad and then they would both be in trouble!

Boomer stood next to Bubbles awkwardly. After a moment of silence he turned to her and gritted his teeth, but still managed to push the words out of his mouth.

"Thank you," he said.

Then things took a turn when the innocent Bubbles grinned and said, "Okay, but now you owe me!"

"What?" he faltered. "So you did want something!" he accused. "What? What is it!"

"Nothing," Bubbles blinked, because she had only just used the expression and didn't really expect anything.

"Yes you do! Tell me what it is now so I won't have to think about it ever again!" Boomer demanded.

Bubbles thought about this.

Everyone was still outside and Ms. Keane wasn't back yet (Bubbles could tell this by looking out the window). Usually she would be by the door, ushering everyone inside and back to class.

"Okay!" Bubbles agreed. "How about a kiss!" She bounced on her feet happily. "I gave you one before."

Boomer instantly shuddered in fear, remembering the last time that had happened. "No way!"

"But you said..." And Bubbles trailed off sadly, unsure what to do. "I helped you clean and you said you didn't want to owe me anything..."

He stiffened, and then the horrible thought was that she would tell Ms. Keane he had been helped! She would even tell his brothers he had been "punished"! She could get the whole class to laugh at him the same way Buttercup did to Butch. He was starting to fear the laughter and ridicule, even if it had only befallen him once during school.

"Okay, okay!"

He cautiously leaned forward and Bubbles just stared at him.

Boomer didn't make a spectacle of it and just pecked her cheek quickly, not unlike the same thing she had done to him before. When he pulled back he made a face and frowned.

"Okay, we're even!" Bubbles declared. She put her hand to her mouth. "Shh. We can't let anyone know I helped!" And she flew over to her seat without another word.

Boomer stared at her.

That was it?

All he had to do was touch his lips to her cheek and it was good enough for her helping him clean up?

Bubbles didn't even look at him after that.

He slowly moved to his seat and sat down as kids began pouring through the door with Ms. Keane following behind.

As she congratulated him (without announcing why) and all through her lecture on cleaning up and things, Boomer didn't listen (once again).

But this time he had learned his lesson.

And you know what, he didn't really use that crayon anyway.

So he didn't care if Bubbles wanted it.

He would tell her so the next time they sat together, coloring.

...Besides, maybe he just wanted that Cornflower Blue she never seemed to use. Yeah, that was it.

xo end xo

Done.

Let's see...so hopefully you read the READ ME note at the top so I won't explain that down here again.

I have now finished a one-shot for each of the three couples in this "universe" (the universe is actually just me tacking on the fact that the Rowdyruff Boys were coerced to attend kindergarten with the Girls).

There is also the one-shot "Paying Attention" in a slightly different universe for Buttercup and Butch where the age of the characters is fifteen. I would like to try and maybe write another one-shot for that "universe" for Blossom and Brick soon. Fifteen is a nice age.

8-8-10

8:59pm