Title: Shake On It, or Ew, Cooties

Summary: It's hard dealing with six superpowered kindergarteners. (Ms Keane thinks she should get a new job. And therapy. Most definitely therapy.)

Dedication: Firstly, to Rachel for helping me beta a few of my works. I love you so much man thanks a whole bunch :))

By the ways: It's au-ish, I guess? Where the ppg and rrb look like normal human beings, and the Boys have mostly gotten over their need to destroy the Girls. Also sort of featuring Him and Mojo as the boys' parental figures, and they just want their sons to have a good life, okay. What can I say, fraternal instincts?

anyway, enjoy reading!

It was the first day of the new school term, and Ms Keane... Ms Keane did not know how to feel.

It was the first time in a delightful– Ahem. Sorry, relaxing month that Sandra Keane would be seeing her students, and honestly, she had missed her chaotic bunch.

But, you see, that was what they were. A chaotic bunch. As much as Sandra loved her students, they were the single most exhausting class she has had to deal with in the past four years of her teaching career.

She meant, she had expected nothing less when the principal had told her, at the beginning of the year, that she would not be taking up just three, but six superpowered children (the other teachers still threw her pitying looks sometimes), but there were instances where she felt... It was too much.

That morning was one of those instances.

The prospect of having to handle the possibilities of what one of those six superchildren could do, today, was utterly terrifying.

Don't get her wrong, Sandra had really, really missed her kids. Today just... wasn't her day, she guessed. She prayed–oh dear God she prayed–that her beloved, cute kindergarteners wouldn't kick up a fuss. Just for today, she begged internally, give me a bit more time to prepare.

The clock struck eight and Ms Keane rose from her desk in the staff room, smiling politely at the colleagues that gave her sympathetic pats on the back as she headed for her classroom. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she squared her shoulders and went in.

Six pairs of eyes–pink, red, two green and two blue–stared at her as she walked, and she sighed.

I need a pay rise.

Brick had never seen the point of coming to school. He didn't think he ever would. What was the point, anyway, when he knew everything that the teachers were teaching? School was a waste of time. But both his old men wanted him to go, so here he was. 'Look after your brothers,' they'd said, and Brick had agreed, because he knew his brothers, but that didn't make school any less stupid.

Especially First Days, where no one learned anything. On normal days, at least he could get some satisfaction from showing off his superior-ness to everyone, (most of all to that stupid, know-it-all goody-two-shoes Powerpuff Girl), but First Days were absolutely boring and did nothing for him.

But it was break time now, and he was so ready to vent out all his pent-up boredom and frustration a good ol' game of catching.

He turned to the brown-haired boy beside him. Matt Williams, the only boy Brick had deemed cool enough to be friends with, stared dazedly across the classroom. At what? Brick followed his friend's line of sight and found the literal bane of his existence. He gave Matt a look, though the other boy didn't seem to notice. What was with everyone's obsession with her?

"You know, Blossom's really pretty." Matt spoke up, his voice soft.

Brick looked toward where the pink-clad Powerpuff girl was, scoffing slightly. That bossy girl? Pretty? What a joke.

She giggled, suddenly, and his ears picked up the high pitched sound. It pierced through his disgust and rang in his ears in a way that made his stomach feel weird. Ugh. He turned away and cast his gaze upon Matt instead, who still had his eyes locked on the pink-eyed girl. Brick rolled his eyes.

"Come on. Let's go." He nudged the brunette's shoulder, only to receive no response.

"Matt?" When Matt didn't budge, Brick waved his hand in front of his friend's face. What was he doing? Boomer and Butch were at the playground waiting for them to play catching!

"Matt!" The brunette jumped slightly at the irritated undertone in Brick's voice.

"Oh!" His face was red. Brick rolled his eyes again.

"Let's go." Brick adjusted his cap and left, striding towards the playground with his nose in the air. He wasn't about to let some stupid girl steal his friend away–

Wait.

Brick paused mid-stride, spinning around at the lack of feet pattering after him. To his chagrin, there was Matt, still rooted to his previous position and his eyes still glued on the pink Powerpuff girl.

Brick grit his teeth. "Matt!" He barked sharply, his eyes flashing with anger. Matt, snapped out of his stupor, shook his head and scrambled towards Brick.

Brick pointedly ignored his friend's apologies and continued on his way to the playground, his mouth set in a hard line.

"What took you guys so long?" Butch asked, standing on the seat of the swing as his fingers gripped the metal chains attached to it. Boomer was behind him, pushing the swing with all his might.

Matt's face flushed and he looked down sheepishly.

Brick didn't even glance at him.

"Matt just kept looking at that Powerpuff girl." He rolled his eyes again, getting on the swing beside Butch's.

"Which one?" Boomer asked quickly, pausing mid-push.

"Hey! Keep pushing, Boomer! Unless you're too weak to keep pushing!" Butch cackled, his back barely grazing Boomer's nose as he swung back towards the blonde.

Brick narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his youngest brother. "The pink one."

"Oh." The concentrated expression on Boomer's face melted away. He refused to make eye contact with Brick.

"Ha!" Butch crowed, pointing a finger at the red-faced Matt. "Matt's got a crush~" He sang, grinning when said boy hid his face behind his hands.

Brick felt funny.

He didn't normally get angry at Matt, what with him being one of his only friends, but for some reason he felt this intense urge to... to punch him so hard he flew far, far away.

(Far, far away from Blossom, he thought immediately, but paused. So that... that girl couldn't steal him away, obviously!)

"What's so good about her, anyway?" He announced hotly, hoping that that intense pressure on his chest would leave. "She's just a stupid Powderpuff. She isn't even pretty!" His tongue felt heavy after he said it.

At this, Matt peeked out of his fingers and flashed a quick glance at him. "She's not stupid," he mumbled softly, "and I think she's pretty."

Brick felt his face heat up and his temper flare. How– How dare he?! "Well, I think she's dumb! She's dumb and ugly and you're dumb and ugly too for liking her!" He spat, fists clenched and blood roaring in his ears.

"No, we're not!" Matt had removed his fingers from his face and was now glaring at him. Brick caught a glint at the corner of brunette's eyes and his lip curled.

"Aww, is the lit-tle baby crying now?" He taunted patronisingly, "Why don't you run to Blossom over there, maybe she'll sing you a lullaby!"

"Well, maybe I will!" Matt shot back, a tear spilling down his cheek.

"Go, then, see if I care!" Brick pointedly spun around and crossed his arms, brows furrowed and breathing heavily. It had been a while since he last got this riled up.

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Brick didn't believe for one second that he would actually go. Matt was his only friend, and vice versa. The only difference was that while Brick always had his brothers to fall back on, Matt had no one.

He kept his eyes closed and his head high, waiting for his friend to come to his senses. That girl wouldn't take him in anyway. The troublemaker in Matt–the same one that drove Brick to him–would be an immediate turn-off for her.

"Brick..." Boomer's voice made him open an eye. "Matt's gone."

"What?!" He whirled around in a red blur. Matt left him?!

"He's been gone for a while, actually," his blonde brother informed sheepishly.

"And you didn't tell me?!" Brick narrowed his eyes at Boomer.

"Ugh." Butch groaned. "This is getting bo-ring. Can we play catching now?" He whined, getting off the swing. Butch approached Boomer with a gleam in his eye.

"Tag! Boomer's 'It'!" He guffawed, and a green flash later, he was gone.

Brick snickered, taking off as well.

"Hey! Wait up!"

"Catch me if you can~" Butch sang, shooting higher into the air and out of Boomer's reach.

Boomer let out a noise of frustration and attempted another swipe at his black-haired brother. Butch swerved away swiftly and sniggered at the Boomer's helplessness.

Meanwhile, Brick hovered in the air, quite a distance away from where his brothers were. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the blurs of green and blue. Whatever. His brothers could go play their childish games. Brick, on the other hand, had more pressing matters to attend to.

Like figuring out his damn rubik's cube.

Brick drifted languidly to the playground. It had been built at the beginning of the year, when he had come in, but it quickly became his favourite place in the school. Floating to his safe spot beneath the slide–he came there when everyone got too annoying. Even his brothers couldn't find him here–he pulled out the colourful cube from his pocket, narrowing his eyes in focus as he twisted row after row.

So if I turn the red one that way, and the other red one that way... He smiled a little when both red squares ended up side by side. Okay. Next one–

Two small pairs of feet came into his right peripheral view and he scowled. He recognised the shoes on one of the pairs. Black, paired with white stockings – that footwear set was only worn by three people, and judging from the small pink bows at the tips of the shoes, he'd make a wild guess and say that the owner of those feet had long, red hair and had pink, too.

"Hey, Blossom?" A vaguely familiar voice sounded.

Hah! He was right. Brick rolled his eyes before pausing. Wait. He knew that voice. That voice belonged to–

"What's wrong, Matt?"

Traitor, he thought, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. Matt did go crying to that Powerpuff Girl. Stupid boy and his stupid crush. The two of them were making him sick and they'd barely just started talking.

"I- I have something for you..." Matt said. Brick watched the boy's feet shuffle a little. Unconsciously, he leaned closer to his right side to get a better view.

"Really?" Her voice became brighter, and the sound of it made him queasy. Ugh.

Matt's shuffling became more intense. Brick shifted his gaze upward a little, only to find a little pink flower clenched in Matt's left, dirt-covered fist. That traitor had probably dug that flower up from Ms Keane's private garden in a corner of the school grounds. It suddenly hit him, what the flower was for, and his blood ran cold.

He then imagined how Matt would give it to her, the glow of happiness on her stupid, ugly face, how she would smile at Matt with that blindingly disgusting smile, and—

Why did he care, anyway? He didn't care. He didn't. He. Didn't. Care. Why was he still listening? Those two were making his ears bleed. He needed to solve his rubik's cube.

"H-Here!" Brick could see it – Matt gripping the flower with both hands so tightly that the stem of the flower crumpled, him thrusting both hands out at her, his face flushed and– Brick. Didn't. Care.

Rubik'scuberubik'scuberubik'scube– Sadly, his mental chanting did not drown out the sound of her surprised gasp, nor did it mute the delighted tone to her voice as she said, "Woah! That's so pretty, Matt! And it's for me?"

Ugh. His stomach flipped. She was truly disgusting.

He forced his gaze back to his cube, staring intensely at the different coloured squares. He didn't care about them, not at all.

But then he caught the Powerpuff's feet moving closer to Matt's, glimpsed the hem of her skirt swishing against Matt's knees, as–he presumed–she wrapped him up in a hug, and his blood boiled.

"Thank you," she whispered, probably only for Matt's ears, but–curse his Chemical X–her voice brushed against his ears too.

Brick had had enough.

"Ugh," he voiced out, crawling into the open air from under the slide. Crossing his arms at the two of them, he sneered. "You two are gross."

"Brick Jojo?!" The stupid pink girl gasped and let go of Matt, which removed some of the pressure on his chest. "How long have you been there?!"

Brick rolled his eyes. He didn't bother answering her. "A flower? Seriously?" he looked at Matt and jeered, "You're such a simp. I'm out."

And out he was, zooming across the playground with his rubik's cube safely back in his pocket. He'd go find his brothers, he thought. Maybe beating up Boomer would make his stomach stop flipping.

When Brick found his brothers, they were no longer playing catching. Instead, they'd found a ball–"In the tree," Boomer explained gleefully, "I flew into the tree and the ball fell out."–and were kicking it around.

Brick took one look at the ball and, feeling all the anger from before resurface, brought forward his right foot and shot the ball straight into Butch's face.

It only took a moment for his green-eyed brother to recover, Chemical X working swiftly and efficiently to mend the broken nose he had suffered. After mere seconds, Butch grasped the ball and threw it straight into Boomer's stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of the blonde.

"Hey!"

And then they fell back into play-fighting, throwing the ball at breakneck speed towards each other, knowing the impact would be intense but short-lived (they'd never hurt each other severely on purpose – after all, they were brothers). It was that split-second pain, that rush of adrenaline and the surge of satisfaction when his ball hit the mark that made him feel like, for a while, everything was okay and it was just him and his brothers.

But of course her giggles came back to haunt him, carrying that same, repulsive happiness from before that made his hair rise and his stomach flipflipflip. He unwillingly zeroed in on that sound, and he absentmindedly flung the ball in Boomer's vague direction before turning to face the source of his problems.

Her sisters and friends were surrounding her, and he wrinkled his nose. Girls. Ew. But then, he caught sight of the thing they were all huddling around.

That stupid, stupid flower.

The blue one was bouncing on the balls of her feet, squealing incoherent nonsense that made the pink one's face turn red. Something in his gut twisted. Disgusting. The green one only eyed it, a smirk on her face, but she did nothing to discourage the blonde from her antics. Then, there was a brown haired girl ooh-ing and ah-ing at the flower, peering at it from different angles as if it made a difference.

Brick sniffed. Girls.

Just then, the ball hit him at the back of his head.

"Brick! Wat'cha doin'? Pay attention!" Butch jeered, and Brick turned to face his brothers.

"What's wrong, Brick?" Boomer, noticing his frown, questioned cautiously.

"It's just the Powerpuff Girls." He grumbled, bending down to pick up the ball. "They're pissing me off."

"Ooh! What're you gonna do?" Butch's eyes lit up in enthusiasm.

"Yeah! What're you gonna do? What're you gonna do?" Boomer grinned.

Brick hesitated. "Nothing for now. Him will get angry if he's called in for us destroying the school again."

"Aw." Butch pouted. "You're no fun."

"Shut up," was Brick's response, and he hurled the ball into Boomer's shoulder.

"This isn't about Matt and Blossom, is it?"

Stupid Boomer. His stomach burned at the mention of those two names. "No!" He rebuked sharply, glaring at his blue-eyed brother.

And then there were those stupid giggles again, triggering that image of her, cheeks pink and smiling and hugging Matt and that dumb, ugly flower that was just like her dumb, ugly self, and there was this inexplicable rage that blazed throughout his body like a wildfire. It was hot and consuming and it burned.

"Brick?" "Brick!"

His brothers' voices called out to him, but he paid them no mind. They sounded so far away, so far behind him, and he vaguely registered that he was moving.

His eyes were locked on his target, the one with the stupid pink eyes and the stupid red hair the stupid pink flower in her hand. For some reason, he felt miserable. Miserable and angry.

And since she made him miserable and angry, he was going to make her miserable and angry too!

Brick stomped up to the group of four girls, shoving past them effortlessly to get to the pink Powerpuff. Fools, he thought, as he took in her indignant gasp. Without further ado, he snatched the stupid pink flower out of her hands and threw it on the ground.

Stupid. He stomped on the petals. Flower. Another stomp. Stupid. Stomp. Pink– He ground the shredded plant into the dirt, effectively venting his anger and ripping the flower into shreds.

He sneered down at its tattered remains, a twisted sense of satisfaction washing over him like a tidal wave.

Suddenly, he was pushed back by a strong force. Planting his feet into the ground, he just barely managed to keep from flying out of the school perimeters.

"What is wrong with you?!" Blossom cried, her eyes slits as she glared daggers at him. "What did I– What did the flower ever do to you?!"

"It was pissing me off," he replied matter-of-factly, "You were pissing me off."

"You had no right!" She yelled, her frame trembling slightly. His lip curled. "No! Right!"

"Oh yeah?" He goaded, mouth forming a snarl, "What are you gonna do about it?"

"You–" Buttercup was rolling up her sleeves, her teeth grit and frown in place. Bubbles was right beside her, arms crossed and stance rigid.

"No, girls," Blossom stretched out a hand to bar her. "I'll deal with him myself."

"You sure?" He was acutely aware of the Chemical X bubbling beneath his skin, raring to be released. "You might need some help, or you'll end up like your stupid little flower."

She growled and shot at him, fists glowing a neon pink, and threw a hard punch at his cheek. He easily countered it by raising his left arm, swinging his right fist at her stomach. His hand collided with air as she flew back, raising both palms to aim a blast of pink energy at him. Amateur, he thought. In a crimson flash, he was behind her, delivering a sharp kick to her back.

A satisfied smirk formed on his face as he watched her hit the ground, her hands and feet twitching as she tried to push herself up.

"Blossom!" Brick whipped his head around to find Matt running towards her. He clenched his jaw, unable to tear his gaze away from the way Matt gently touched her shoulder, the way she smiled a strained smile at the brown-haired boy as she took his hand to help herself up, the way Matt held her hand, and how she let him, and he saw red.

He charged, wind whipping against his face as he dived at her, and he took a little pleasure in the way she let go of Matt's hand immediately to whiz at him too, and they were just blurs of pink and red as they fought, him countering her every punch with a punch of his own, her deflecting his every kick with a kick of her own. When she landed a punch on his cheek, he was only spurred to drive a fist into her stomach.

They hovered in the hair, chests heaving as they fought to catch their breath. He didn't fail to notice the way she took a deeper inhale, the way she clenched her fists at her sides, how her shoulders tensed - he was no stranger to her attacks; he knew what was coming next. He took in a bigger breath as well, feeling molten lava build up at the back of his throat, the white hot fire from his anger begging to be let out. His mouth burned. Now–

"Blossom Utonium! Brick Jojo!"

The heat in his mouth dissipated in an instant, a chill descending onto the scene. Brick knew it wasn't because his counterpart released her ice breath. Both of them slowly floated back to the ground, and Brick's eyes unwittingly followed the waves her hair made as it settled.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ms Keane asked sternly. Her blue eyes, so unlike Boomer's, seemed to pierce straight into his soul. It was then that Brick noticed the crowd of onlookers that had gathered to watch the fight.

"Ms Keane– No! He–" Brick's counterpart started to protest, her eyes wide as she peered up at Ms Keane.

Their teacher held up a hand and Blossom fell silent. "I expected more from you, Blossom," Ms Keane turned her disappointed gaze on him. "And you, Brick, I thought..." She shook her head and Brick felt his stomach drop.

He looked quickly at his counterpart and frowned. It was all her fault! If she didn't... If she hadn't been so annoying, if she hadn't taken Matt's stupid flower, all this wouldn't have happened! She was the one at fault here!

"Look at all the grass the two of you destroyed!" Ms Keane said reproachfully, and Brick scanned the area to find that she was right. "If I hadn't stopped you two just now, the damage would have been much more severe. The school playground hasn't even been here for a year, and I have no doubt that it would have either been frozen or burnt to a crisp." She looked at the both of them pointedly.

"No– But Ms Keane! Brick was the one who provoked me!" The pink Powerpuff explained desperately, "He just came up to me out of nowhere and destroyed my flower!"

Brick felt something in him flare up again. "Well, your flower was annoying me!"

"How?!" Blossom rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"It just was!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was TOO!"

"Was NOT!" They were butting heads at that point, eyes narrowed and teeth clenched as they glared at each other.

"Alright, the two of you, enough." Ms Keane interrupted, pulling the two of them apart. "Both of you are at fault."

"But Ms Keane–"

"No 'but's." Their teacher said. "I want the both of you to apologise. Now."

Apologise?! To her?! No way in hell.

It seemed both him and his counterpart were on the same page for once, if her steely, unrelenting glower was anything to go by.

"Know that I'll have to call Professor Utonium and Him if you don't apologise," Ms Keane added, a warning.

Brick's eyes widened. "I'm sorry!" He blurted, forced, and he felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He blinked when he realised they had both done it at the same time.

"Good." Ms Keane gave a pleased smile. "Both of you won't do this again, right?" He nodded slowly, and she did the same. "Now I want you to shake on it."

"What?!" They exclaimed in unison, glancing at each other in shock.

"Eeeww, I'm not touching her, she'll give me her cooties!" He protested, making an expression of disgust as he took a step away from her.

"I am not shaking hands with a barbarian!" His counterpart drew away from him and scrunched up her nose.

Ms Keane made a show of taking out her phone and scrolling. "Him... Him... Ah! There's his contact! Oh! Professor Utonium's too!"

Both of them froze.

Blossom reluctantly extended a hand to him, determinedly not looking in his direction.

"And Brick?"

Screw them, he thought, and spat on his left hand before holding it out.

"Brick."

"Fine." He held out his other hand.

They shook awkwardly, both immediately retracting their hands after one shake to wipe them on their clothes.

I have cooties now, Brick bemoaned bitterly, scrubbing his right hand on the side of his pants.

"Alright!" Ms Keane stood and clapped her hands. "Playtime's over, everyone, back to class!"

And as the kindergarteners slowly filed back into class, chattering, Brick sought out Matt. He pushed past the brown-haired boy, muttering, "We're not friends anymore, traitor."

Matt didn't say anything and continued on his way back to class.

"Brick! Hey!" Butch appeared and threw a playful punch at his shoulder. "That was pretty cool!"

"And you almost had her, too!" Boomer piped up, next to Butch. The blonde flashed him an encouraging smile. 'You'll get her next time, Brick!"

Some of the weight on his chest eased, and Brick sighed. "Yeah. Next time."

Sandra Keane had a headache.

How was she going to explain the destroyed grass field to the principal?

Oh, her students. She loved them, so dearly, but they would be the death of her.

ah, nothing like some kindergarten drama to ruin a teachers day, am i right?

well, hello, and welcome to my latest fic! for those of you who have been here a while, you might (or might not, i don't know) know that i've been working on this since the beginning of the year. it's been on my profile, under the "in-progress" section for the longest time. and, yes, before you ask, i took four months to finish this thanks to my expert procrastination skills and my even more superior side-tracking techniques. anyway, this fic will have seven chapters, and it's basically scenes of the Reds growing up. gonna be honest with you, i have no idea when the next chapter will be finished, but i'll try my best to do it fast because i love you guys.

(and for those who got the simp reference, yes i do watch pewdiepie and i love felix a lot but can he please grow back his hair. thank you very much and good night.)

i hope you enjoyed my jealous baby Brick; please rate and review, it means the world to me :) thanks for reading !

love,

vrea