Powerpuff girls (male reader insert)

Knock It Off

(Opening shot: the city skyline during the day.)

Professor: (from o.c.) The city of Townsville?

(Pull back. The view is that from a window in his lab. He stands nearby, phone in one hand and mop in the other - taking a break from cleaning up the place to speak with whoever is on the other end of the call.)

Professor: It's about fifteen miles east of the 101. Take the 210 to the Harbor Freeway exit south. It's the third house on the left. Bye!

(He hangs up. Camera shift: the girls and (Y/N) stand across the lab from him and are helping with the cleanup.)

Girls: Who was that?

Professor: Huh? Oh, that was my old college buddy and roommate, Dick Hardly.

(The scene undergoes a wavering dissolve to a view of the Professor in his earlier days. He is working intently at a desk loaded with beakers and flasks. His hair sweeps down a bit lower over his eyes, and he wears nearly the same clothes he uses in the present. Two differences: he has no lab coat, and his shirt sleeves are short rather than long.)

Professor: (voice-over) Aw, gosh. I remember those late nights, working side by side on our lab assignments.

(On this last, pull back and pan across the room - a college dorm room, as evidenced by the bunk beds. The Professor's half is neat as a pin, but the other half is a total wreck: clothes scattered everywhere, Grateful Dead poster on the wall, lava lamp on a stereo speaker by the door, even a couple of liquor bottles lying about. The bottom bunk has been made with hospital corners, marking it as the Professor's. The top one sports rumpled sheets that have apparently not been washed in quite some time.)

(At the door, on his way out, is the Professor's roommate. This fellow wears shoulder-length blond hair swept back, a broad-collar shirt open at the neck, pink-tinted glasses, and a deep tan. He looks and sounds somewhat like Dexter's father on Dexter's Laboratory, but more of a youthful smooth talker. This is Dick Hardley's past counterpart.)

Student Dick: Hey, Utonium, make sure you finish our homework before I get back.

(Opening the door partway, he finds an attractive coed waiting outside.)

Student Dick: Hel-lo, Betty. (He opens fully. A squat, older, frumpy-looking woman is there too.)

Coed (Betty): I brought my mom along. I hope that's okay.

Student Dick: (over his shoulder) Hey, Utonium, I got a new assignment...

(Cut to the college chemistry lab, with the two roommates in attendance, then to a close-up of them as the Professor's narrative continues. They are working on an experiment. Student Prof applies a flame to the base of a flask, while Student Dick looks away from his as if he would rather be out partying than working on his assignments with his roommate, not caring if the teacher notices and scolds him for his lack of initiative.)

Professor: (voice-over) Yes. He was a veritable wellspring of resourcefulness.

(Student Dick gets an idea and reaches around behind his partner, tapping him on the far shoulder. The latter sounds much as he does today, but his voice is not as deep.)

Student Prof: (looking over there, surprised) Huh?

(While his attention is diverted, Student Dick uses the opportunity to switch the two flasks. The roommate looks back at him, puzzled, and he whistles innocently for a moment before giving a broad, reassuring grin. Unaware of the switch, Student Prof adds a drop of a chemical to Dick's flask, only to have the mixture explode in his face. A complete backfire. Student Dick, meanwhile, adds a drop to the Professor's, causing it to fizz and emit a miniature fireworks display complete with American flags sprouting from the flask's mouth. He feigns surprise, then smiles in triumph as the rest of the class - Student Prof included - gathers around the bench to applaud him, with no one, not even the Professor, aware of Dick's little switch to get all the credit and glory himself instead of the Professor.)