Summary: A pointless, plotless two-shot about Buttercup's crush on a boy who, she figured, would never go for it even though he most definitely and obviously is.

ANOTHER BUTTERCRUSH

A/N: Ahaha this was for real supposed to be a oneshot. Anyway, I'm not very good at fluff or romance, but I still think that the greens deserve to have cute crushes on each other instead of just fighting all the time. I hope this overly long, unnecessary, and sort of trashy two-shot achieves that! Part 2 coming soon probably! (dont own ppg)

edited 4/25/20

PART 1

It had taken awhile, but they were friendly. Well, they still fought, but ya know she couldn't say she hated him. Like, she guessed, they were friends now considering everything they had been through together. He had even saved her ass a few times, which was a pleasant change for someone who was always having to save everyone else's ass all the time.

But it was still…weird? Especially lately 'cause he made her feel weird. A little. Like when he looked at her sometimes, she didn't really know what to do. It was hard to describe because he wasn't looking at her to fight or anything. He would just glance over, and she'd start to think about how she was probably standing weird, or how her hair was probably too messy, or like, what if she looked dumb, like her outfit or something.

She'd just start thinking about things she never really cared about before and thinking that way always made her feel like she was betraying herself. It just wasn't who she was. Like why would she care what he thought? And about her outer appearance nonetheless! It was dumb, especially since he had seen her worse off before. Hell, he had even caused it sometimes!

So, that was a new whole weird thing she guessed she was dealing with now.

And to make it even worse, she would catch herself staring at him just like how all the other girls would from under their pretty, long eyelashes. Like in gym class, before they'd start the activities and Coach would make them stretch, and his arms would flex—and she noticed that now, but she hadn't before…and now she did.

It sucked because she wouldn't even realize she was staring until he'd look over and catch her, which was always humiliating. She would try to be casual about it, and thankfully, being the "cool" triplet (even though her sisters in no way thought she was the "cool" triplet) meant she had practice at smooth recoveries. But still, she'd always spend the rest of the day wondering if he really knew what she was actually doing.

He'd never show any signs that he did. Usually, he'd just nod his head in hello, but lately, and this was a very, very, new development, he'd also wink back at her. And that just made her feel even weirder!

When Bubbles found out (and promptly sworn to secrecy), she had said it all just sounded like Buttercup had a crush.

Well, she didn't say it so casually, and the whole "secret" thing may have been coerced. It was Bubbles. She wasn't causal about anything when it came to stuff like this. Honestly, Buttercup still semi-wished she hadn't even found out. But one day Buttercup may have been feeling a little overwhelmed about the whole situation…and may have lashed out in anger…and then, may have had to explain herself to her tearful sister…and that may have been how Bubbles had found out.

And that's how Buttercup also may have found out that she had a…crush?

At the moment, Bubbles was the only other person who knew, which meant Blossom did not know. Except she probably did because Blossom knew everything, but Buttercup had yet to tell her. Partly because Buttercup still didn't really believe it herself, but also because, well, she didn't want Blossom to be disappointed or something. Which was dumb, she was her sister.

Still, for now, one sister was enough, and well, Buttercup was overwhelmed, and Blossom's opinion mattered. Not that Bubble's opinion didn't! But she was so gun-ho about love, Buttercup could have confessed she had fallen in love with a rat and Bubbles would've been supportive. Blossom, on the other hand, was reasonable and weighed her options more than both Bubbles and herself did. She would be the one to tell Buttercup if these feelings were impulse, and whether to quit them or not.

And Buttercup wasn't sure if she wanted that just yet. She didn't feel particularly hurt by whatever was going on, and it wasn't like he was ugly. Plus, they were kind of friends now, so Buttercup was sort of okay with having a crush. If that's what this was of course, but Bubbles had seemed pretty positive.

Ya know, at times, it wasn't all so bad. It felt kind of like an adrenaline rush; having a secret of her own if she ignored Bubbles. So yeah, not bad, but (and she hated, hated, admitting this) the whole "crush" thing made her feel nervous sometimes. And "nervous" was so far off the spectrum of emotions that she regularly dealt with. Like her stomach would feel like it had exploded, or it had been punched, or something when she'd suddenly see him in the hallways, or at lunch, or even just near her locker. She seriously felt sick when they all hung out, but especially when she knew she'd be alone with him.

And that would most definitely explain, if anyone ever asked, why she had been hovering over her own house for like ten extra minutes. Because she knew he was in there all alone, and if she went in, they would be all alone…together. Something she only knew because, on her way home from an emergency call, Bubbles had called to warn her.

Apparently, the rest of the group, which still felt weird to say, had gone out to their typical Diner for a bite to eat. Bubbles had informed her that Butch had volunteered to hang back and wait for her. When Buttercup had asked why (because Sal's was one of his top three places to eat, but it wasn't like she was keeping track), Bubbles let out an exasperated sigh and said, there was a game on or something. Then, Bubbles got real chipper and told her that Boomer thought that had been weird also since Butch loved the diner and hated both the teams that were playing. Which meant, if Bubble's expertise was anything to go by, this was "probably a way to get you alone Buttercup!".

To say the least, Buttercup's stomach had exploded into nervous fits. And well, hope?

So, after a few deep breaths, she finally swallowed the butterflies that had fluttered up to her throat and descended down to her front door. There was certainly no turning back now because Butch had super hearing, which meant he had most likely heard her dumbly large elephant feet dropdown.

So, like, fuck her life.

"Hey," She called out, opening the door and floating in after becoming acutely aware of how large her feet were all the sudden. She was also ninety-six percent sure she had monster gunk stuck in her hair.

" 'Sup." He was sprawled across the couch, his eyes flickered from the screen to her form, and she fought the urge to look away. "Save the day, Butts?" He smirked.

She took off her "work" boots and spent a little time examining the huge tear in her "work" dress. Bubbles would throw a fit. She was the one who liked this uniform. Buttercup, on the other hand, could confidently say she did not, it was a little too girly and short for her, so good riddance. The only reason she was wearing it was because she had to. It was, of course, Bubble's turn to pick out the uniform they were supposed to wear that day.

She looked back up and threw on an easy grin, "Of course," she let out a sarcastic snort, "and before bed-time too."

Was that dumb? That was dumb. That was an inside joke with her family. Why would he ever get that? She tried pulling the dress down to cover more of her legs, as she grew even more uncharacteristically self-conscious.

His eyebrow quirked up, but nonetheless, he gave out a small sound of congratulations.

She stood idle for a moment and stared at him like a creep while he stretched and rubbed at his neck. Even though her mind wanted so desperately to focus on his broad, muscular, and perfectly toned arms, she shook it off and took a few steps forwarded into the living room.

"Good game?" She nodded towards the tv, thankful that she had something to focus on that wasn't him.

"It's shit."

She leaned forward on the back of the couch and crossed her arms, "Well, no wonder," she scrunched her nose in distaste, "It's the Seabirds and the Jets. They're both shit."

She looked out of her peripheral to see that he was looking at her with an amused smile.

Against her better judgment, she tore her eyes away from the tv to meet his and shared the smile…which lingered a bit too long…which she hoped he did not awkwardly notice. They were very close, given the fact that she was leaning on the couch, so she stood up straight once more and fiddled with her dress, directing her attention to the game a little longer.

They stood, well he sat, for a bit before they both opened their mouths to speak at the same time. Snapping his mouth shut, he gestured for Buttercup to talk first.

She stuck her thumb out towards the stairs, "I'm gonna go get ready, you cool down here?"

He nodded, "Yeah, totally."

"' Kay."

She floated upstairs, and then, like some kind of idiot, proceeded to play that very insignificant conversation in her head the whole time she showered and got dressed.

All in all, she had thought it had gone relatively well, a little quiet, and a bit rough in the beginning, but hey not her worst—still, it was nothing to report to Bubbles about. Drying her hair just a bit, she looked over at Bubbles' make-up stash. For a second, she wondered if she should put on blush or something, but ended up not. She figured that maybe it would make her look too obvious and desperate. Besides, he had already seen her today without makeup, and it was just the regular diner, so why look fancy?

Still, she couldn't help but sourly think that if she were Bubbles or Blossom, no one would have thought twice about it if she did.

She did, though, clip a section of her hair back, throw on some of her dark skinny jeans, and a regular t-shirt. Looking herself over, she didn't look like a total fashion embarrassment, so that was cool, and floated back downstairs.

"What? Was the game that bad?" She asked through a yawn, referencing his channel flipping.

He turned, his head following her walk to the couch, "Rain delay, oh well, like I said it was shit anyway."

She flopped down on the couch one cushion away from him (note it was a three-cushion couch) and hummed in agreement.

Her mind desperately searched for anything to talk about and was coming up with absolutely nothing. Ugh and to make matters worse, they didn't have any of the social buffers that they called siblings around to fill the silence. The whole situation was making her feel awkward, and that was seriously something she had never worried about before.

She was a superhero for crying out loud! She knew government secrets! Plus, she destroyed a monster today! Two actually! There had been a monster earlier this morning as well. The two of them had actual honest to god stuff in common, and still, nothing was coming out of her mouth?

"Tired?" He asked, turning his head to face her. She hadn't even realized she had been yawning.

She shrugged. Exhaustion came with the job

"Nothing I'm not used to. Hey, that one wasn't bad." She motioned her head to the movie he had flipped to, taking the subject off herself.

"We can watch it, I don't care."

"What about dinner, isn't everyone waiting or what? Aren't you hungry?" It was her turn to face him, as one of her eyebrows quirked up.

He shrugged and adjusted himself further into the couch, "It's almost done anyway, and you're tired. We can chill for a bit, then go."

He was acting weird, and she knew it, even if it had taken her a moment to catch on. He wasn't being loud, restless, annoying, talkative, or the least bit…well, spazzy. Hyperactive was the better word. He was acting like, well, Brick. Too cool. They were brothers though, she guessed they had to be a little alike some of the time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she examined him in full, as she adjusted herself onto her back to lay down as much as possible without touching him.

No, she thought. This wasn't Brick's carefree nonchalant, sarcastic attitude. When Butch wasn't looking down at his phone, he never looked at the tv for too long. His eyes kept jumping to different spots in the room, and every other second, he would shift. She had seen him act like this a few times before, especially when the two sets of triplets weren't on good terms and twice when they were. Each time Brick had told him to cut it out, and Boomer had eventually explained further that Butch was, though he'd never admit it himself, nervous.

Maybe it had to do with whoever he was texting?

"You can stretch out if you want. I don't care." He mentioned suddenly, looking up from his phone.

He must have caught on that she didn't understand exactly what he meant, because with his other hand he gestured to her cramped-up legs and continued, "I mean like you can stretch your legs out. Like you can put them on my lap or something." Then, he quickly looked back down at his phone, as another message flashed.

"O-oh, okay. You sure?" She hated how she stuttered a bit, but hopefully, he wouldn't think it was because of nerves.

He gave a noise in the affirmative range, and she adjusted her legs carefully over his. She hadn't ever done anything like this with a boy before, and well, honestly, she didn't know where would be the most…appropriate place to put a person's legs, so she aimed closer for the knee area (?) and fought the blush that ran across her face to die down. This leg on leg action was almost intimate, and her heart was accelerating at an alarming rate.

He adjusted too, making her careful attempts futile as her legs ended further up his lap then anticipated. Which was okay, whatever, cool. As long as he was comfortable, everyone was comfortable. And there was no reason to freak.

'Be cool BC.' Buttercup internally chanted.

Then…nothing else happened. Soon her heartbeat regulated, and the fun was over. Buttercup was only mildly disappointed though, like what else had she expected to happen, a kiss? She turned pink at the random ("random") thought before she fell back into the pointless action flick willing her eyes to stay open. She hadn't realized how worn out she had been.

Eventually, she zoned out, mentally going over everything she had done that day before she faintly picked up Butch muttering something.

"Sorry?" She asked, pushing her head up to look at him as if that would help her hear him better. He wasn't looking at her, just kind of around.

"Said, um, I uh like your jeans."

Her eyebrows had pulled together in confusion, "Uh, thanks?"

He brought the hand he had hanging over the back of the couch up and placed it on one of her shins, as he continued to talk, "Yeah, they're, uh good."

Her heart would have jumped at the contact if the sudden out of character compliment hadn't taken place. It did jump though when she finally realized Butch had stopped talking, and started concentrating on his phone again, but had failed to remove his hand from her leg.

"Yeah, they're just some old skinny jeans." She explained after a moment with a casual shrug, but internally, her insides were evidently shutting down.

She had been right!

He was acting weird. Buttercup had half a mind to call him out and start some shit because he was probably about to start some shit. It was just too good to be true, this weird quiet, nice-ish act. What was he playing at?

Those words almost tumbled out of her mouth, but he beat her to it, "Is uh, can I put my hand there or?"

He still wasn't looking at her, and she still didn't trust this wasn't some sort of joke, but the words that squeaked (squeaked!) out of her tired body, for whatever reason, were not the words she had initially planned.

He had asked permission. Had Butch asked permission? Permission!

And while he had asked his thumb. His thumb! Had rubbed up and down on the spot that it was lying on for a brief second. And her heart felt like it had stopped for whatever dumb reason.

So, dumbly she squeaked, "Yeah, whatever."

"Cool."

And then, just like before, the excitement was over. And Buttercup concluded she was overreacting in every way. Crushes were hard. Obviously, she was the one being weird, even if Butch never asked permission to do anything before. He was just being…nice?

With a heavy sigh, he tossed his phone face down on the coffee table, and she selfishly wondered how long that would last. His hand was still on her leg, as his eyes glazed over while he stared at the tv with his head resting on his other hand. This was the longest she had ever seen him go still when he was doing something he was clearly disinterested in. The little voice in her head told her that maybe she had something to do with it, but she squashed the thought and instead tried to focus on the movie to help her relax.

Today had just been too long. Why had she taken that call by herself? It had knocked her out!

Buttercup soon realized a weird amount of silence had elapsed between the two, but as soon as she opened her mouth to bitch about the movie scene they were watching, she immediately clamped it shut. Her body tensed, and with wide eyes, she looked directly over at him.

"Uh, sorry. I, uh—" Butch straightened and snatched his hand off her leg, where mere seconds ago, it had run up and down a section of her shin.

"No, its…you just, uh, it's cool. Like I don't care. Like it didn't bug me. Just a surprise." She awkwardly teetered off, stretching her arms a bit, "I think I was just starting to fall asleep."

"Oh," He looked over at her, and she couldn't help her sheepish smile, but it seemed like he looked away too quickly to notice, "It's cool."

"Yeah."

Slowly he relaxed again, throwing an arm over the couch and his other on the arm cushion. Buttercup felt her shoulders slump with disappointment when she realized that meant there would be no more hand-leg touching. Oh well, he wasn't paying too much attention to her, and no one else was around, so at least she could look at him like a freaking creep without getting caught.

Buttercup never thought she was the kind of girl to have a type, but if she did, she'd guess he would be it. She liked his crooked nose, pushed back, messy hair, and the little scar that ran down his eyebrow. She knew if he opened his mouth, she'd see the glint of his tongue piercing, which she spent too much time thinking about. There also was a tattoo peeking out from underneath his collar that he had illegally gotten (it wasn't his only one either). He was definitely pretty in a rough-looking sort of way, and she had recently come to the realization that she could stare at his face (and arms) for hours.

And yes, she knew precisely how Bubbles-like and creepy that sounded. She even had to bite back the dreamy sigh that was threatening to spill out of her mouth. God, she didn't even recognize herself anymore! But apparently, she was a sucker for bad guys.

But luckily, she had been staring because she would have jumped again if she hadn't watched his arm slowly move off the armrest and back onto her leg. She had watched that hand with hooded eyes and then quickly snapped her attention to the screen on the off chance that her looking would somehow scare it off.

Her heart was jumping around like crazy, but it went into maximum overdrive when that hand started to, once more, crawl backward and forwards on her shin. But her heart, forgetting its previous panic, came to a full stop when Butch's fingers softly traced over her knee and onto the beginning of her thigh. She resisted the urge to whip her head around and track those fingers with her eyes or look at him in general. She instead tried to remain cool, "calm," and semi-collected.

"Hey," He finally spoke, his voice deep and heavy, and shiver shot up her spine when he said her name, "Buttercup?"

He hardly ever called her by her full name, and she melted just a tiny a bit.

She swallowed thickly, "Hmm?" and chanced a quick look, as she fought off a yawn. This was seriously not the time for a nap!

He was staring at her, and his gaze quickly sucked her in.

He smirked, "Tired?"

Not trusting her voice, she shrugged, then nodded.

"Then, sleep." He suggested.

Shyly (Shyly! Her shy? Pigs must have been flying), she looked away, "Nah, can't."

Also, she had embarrassing sleep habits that she had no desire to share with him.

"You sure?" He asked, dragging his hand from her knee to her ankle, and she suppressed another shiver.

It was borderline insulting how calm and causal he looked doing it too, as if he did this all the time, while she sat there resembling an array of Christmas colors.

But then again, maybe he did do this all the time just not with her. And with that thought, she was able to emotionally pull it together as her eyes flickered quickly to his phone. She had seen Butch talk to plenty of girls before. The moment he and his brothers had gone semi-good, girls had started flocking to their door. Well, honestly, they had been flocking way before the boys had even considered going semi-good, but whatever.

"Yeah," She shrugged as her heart sunk, flicking her eyes back to his, "I'm pretty sure. Why? Do you want to get going?"

She made a move to get up, but he held her legs down instantly, "Nah, I'm good here. The movies not over yet."

She raised an eyebrow, "Really? I didn't think you were that into it."

"Yeah," He sighed as if he had weirdly deflated or something, "like you said…it's a good one."

Again, she shrugged, "I mean, if you're actually cool with it."

"I am."

They both turned again towards the TV, as she settled back down onto the couch. Vaguely she contemplated removing her legs entirely off of him but decided against it. Like yeah sure, so a million other girls had crushes on this guy, but she could at least enjoy a small victory, right?

He hesitated for a moment before she felt his hand relax on her shin. She could have sworn his eyes had flicked to her one last time before his hand again began to make its way back towards her knee. Maybe, she thought, he had even planned on going a little further, but then his phone rang.

Popping her little bubble of hope.

She felt his body jump, which corresponded nicely with her heartbeat like they had been caught doing something bad or something, which they weren't. She put her legs on her sisters' laps all the time. How was he different? Minus the, uh, rubbing part of course.

She politely kept her pretend attention on the tv, as he fumbled for his phone.

"Ye?" He finally answered gruffly and snapped, "What do you want."

She could hear Boomers muffled voice, and if she really focused, she would have been able to listen to both sides of the conversation. Most of the time, though, she was better than that.

"We'll be there soon. Just, uh, just watching a movie." His other hand flexed a bit around her leg, and she tried once more to fight the rising flush. It was nice though to see when she had glanced over that his neck was also finally turning a shade of red.

"She's tired. I dunno. Leaving? Then bring us something back. Like maybe twen—Hello Bubb-No, I do-" He sighed and turned to look at her with crossed eyes, "Bubbles wants to know where your phone is."

She rolled her eyes, "I must have left it upstairs, tell her I'm tired, and I want the cheese fries."

He nodded, "She left it upstairs. She said she's tired- Cheese fries. Wait! I wa—" He glared at the phone and scowled when the call ended, "I swear if they don't bring me anything back, I'm stealing your fries."

"That's fair." She snorted, as he sunk back into the couch with a huff crossing his arms.

The dumb girl part of her brain again mourned the hand-less state of her legs. She squashed that thought back down into its rightful place, where it would be allowed to resurface at a safer time, like three a.m. when no one else was awake to question her.

"Actually," he corrected as his sneer deepened, "if they don't bring me back food, I'm kicking my brother's asses, then stealing your fries. Those fuckers know I'm hungry."

"Oh, um, if you were that hungry, you didn't have to wait for me or anything, it would have been cool." She shrugged, feeling a little awkward. Didn't he just say he was fine?

Instantly, his sneer vanished.

"Nah, no, uh, it's no big deal." He told her legs.

"But—"

"Do you hear that? I think I hear them." He interrupted a little louder than necessary, which was the most normal thing he had done all night.

It took her a moment to locate their siblings. She never realized how great his hearing was and nervously tried not to think of the extra ten minutes she had spent floating outside the house.

"I think I'm starting to? Or those are…birds?"

He had started to text again, this time more rapidly.

"No," He said rather confidentially, "It's definitely them."

"Oookay, well um, thanks for ya know waiting with me then."

One corner of his mouth quirked up, and he shrugged, ripping his eyes away from his phone, "No big deal. Actually um, I was going to say we never really han—"

"Oh, wait." It was her turn to interrupt, "Now I hear them. For once, Brick's not arguing about something. Is he laughing?" She asked out loud.

Butch's phone dinged, and after a glance, he dryly replied, "Yeah. He probably is."

His brothers hadn't forgotten to get him food, so he regretfully had to let them live to see another day. Still, he had plenty of other reasons that he would make them suffer for.

Right now, he was stuck watching another fucking dumb, stupid movie that the girls were talking right through. He had tuned them out after Buttercup had finished talking about the monster she had taken down and the rest of her day that he had stupidly forgotten to ask about.

He stole another glance at her. They were sitting side by side, and every once in a while, her shoulder would brush against his. So even though he really wanted to get up and do something, anything, else, he stayed rooted to his spot.

She had initially gotten up when their sibling had arrived, leaving his lap cold. Resentfully he had gotten up and followed her out to greet the two fucks he called brothers and demand his food. He ignored their stupid smug smiles, and quiet goading, and had actually ended up landing a good punch on Boomer's shoulder before they followed the girls back into the Utonium's living room.

Upon arrival, Blossom had taken up one of the armchairs, and Bubbles and Buttercup had taken the couch. Momentarily, he had been distracted looking at, well, her for some dumb…stupid dumb…reason, that Brick had ended up stealing the seat next to Buttercup.

Butch had ever so slightly turned his head to stare as menacingly as he could at the fucking douche bag, only to be met with a smug smile. For fucking real, Butch hated his brothers.

"Whoops," Brick had said, "innocently," throwing his hands up into an overdramatic shrug, "was this your spot, Butch?"

"Yes." He had answered through gritted teeth.

Brick put his hands down, "Oh jeez, Butch! How rude of me!"

But Butch hadn't been paying attention to Brick's shit apology, he had instead taken the time to glare at the hand that now rested heavily on Buttercup's thigh. His eyes, after a long moment, had flicked back to the grin on Brick's face.

"Want me to move?" His brother asked.

Buttercup had turned away from Bubbles to Brick and looked down at his hand, raising one of her perfect eyebrows, "Ya need something?"

"Huh?" He asked her, "Oh nah, sorry! I was just asking Butch if he wanted me to move. I think he wants me to." Brick winked.

Her eyes had flickered between them for a moment before she turned back to her sisters, "Uh, ok?"

Butch had watched Brick's hand slide up her thigh as he stood like it was the most normal thing in the world. Like it hadn't taken Butch twenty whole damn minutes to build up the courage, which he had never had an issue with before, just to put his hand on her fucking shin. And this prick had just gone and touched her thigh.

He had felt himself twitch as he darkly tracked his brother's walk across the room towards Blossom, which, fortunately for Brick, was a safe distance away from him. Both Brick and Boomer had snickered their dumb little heads off, while Butch had stood there mentally going over where the darkest corners of Townsville were to hide a body in.

He had continued to glare as he settled back down into his couch corner until Buttercup had glanced back at him and offered one of her small, rare little smiles. He had tried smiling back but had never been too good at the feat. It ended up not mattering anyway, by the time he had managed a real smile she had already turned back around.

So instead, he had decided just to ignore the knot his stomach had tied itself into and mechanically chewed away at his food.

At the present moment, she was resting her head on her bent knees, as she listened to whatever the hell Bubbles had been squeaking about for the last twenty minutes. He was now foodless. How BC managed to stay interested amazed him, especially given the fact that her eyes had been fighting to stay open the whole night.

Blossom walked back in with two bowls of popcorn, one for the sisters and one that was most likely supposed to be shared among the boys. Butch greedily snatched it away before Boomer's hand could reach it and commandeered the whole bowl for himself. That'd teach those stupid fucks!

"You look tired, BC. Do you want to go to bed?" Blossom asked Buttercup.

The question made Butch freeze, allowing Boomer to by-pass the foot that had been dug into his stomach, keeping him away from the popcorn, and snatch the bowl.

Butch could care less, though. He was more focused on what Blossom was talking about. Going to bed meant she'd leave! He had been planning on asking her something when they finally got a minute alone. Something that he had been trying to say all night.

"Nah, seriously, I'm good." She said through a yawn and then smiled, "Promise."

It was ten minutes into listening to Brick and Boomer recount some event (Butch wasn't listening, he was trying to tell them how they would die telepathically) when something heavy landed on his shoulder.

Butch tensed, his eyes widened, and his chewing came to a sudden halt. He swallowed the popcorn already in his mouth with a hard gulp and slowly looked out the corner of his eye at Butter's sleeping figure. Grossly, he came to the sudden realization that he could have stared at her forever…

…if there weren't two sets of eyes boring holes into his fucking skull. He shot a glare at his brothers who both had the same shit-eating grins plastered onto their faces. It took a whole lot of will power not to lunge at the two, especially after Brick decided it would be funny to wink at him.

Internally, he moaned, groaned, and bitched. This whole "thing" (he wasn't ever going to put labels on it) was really messing with his carefully constructed tough-guy persona. He needed to cut the crap and move on with his life, but it was like his body wouldn't listen to his brain.

In his defense, though, he had seriously, seriously, tried not to let this happen, but she was just too hard to ignore.

He looked down at his phone, which was lighting up like crazy and knew exactly who the messages were from before he even bothered to read them.

The screen was blowing up with messages, as it had been all night thanks to his annoying, shitty brothers. Glancing at the screen, like every message he gotten from them since they had caught him talking in his sleep (which was arguably the worst night of his life), they all centered around Buttercup.

Dude! Don't fucking stare like a dumbass. Brick texted, Do something.

Put ur arm round her or sumthin! Came Boomer's suggestion.

He looked as discreetly as possible up at them for more confirmation. Boomer nodded at him eagerly, sneaking a glance at her sisters, who had been talking up a storm and not paying attention to them (thank god), and then gave him the thumbs up.

He tried swallowing again, but his dumb throat was super dry for whatever reason.

She mumbled something and fell further into him, making his eyes go wide. He threw another nervous glance over to his brothers. Brick rolled his eyes and motioned for him to get on with it.

Which honestly, Butch knew he was being a bitch, but there was no reason for Brick to remind him that he was being a bitch. It was so stupid. For real, why was he nervous? All he had to do was lift his arm up and just sort of put it around her.

Seriously, he had successfully robbed a Swiss Bank with his brothers at the tender age of 12! He had broken out of a handful of high-security prisons before he had gotten his full set of adult teeth! Hell, he had passed his tenth-grade math class with a high C! He could fucking put his arm around a girl, no fucking problem!

But this was Buttercup. Buttercup, who had really long legs that made him stare, flaunted around in short little uniforms that made it hard for him to talk and had absolutely no problem kicking his ass. She wasn't just any girl, she was the girl he had been made for.

Did she even get that?

He took a breath, then held it, as he quickly threw an arm around her shoulders. Well, it was more like he had thrown his arm on the back of the couch, but if he flexed his fingers, he could just barely touch her shoulder. So, he'd say that had been pretty successful.

He was just about to look over at his brothers to brag because he knew they thought he'd chicken out of it—ha! He showed them!—when she stretched her arm over his torso, curled into him, and sighed. Her head rested on his chest, and for a split second, he wondered if the fucking noise his heart was making could wake her up.

And, shit, she smelt nice. Why'd she have' ta smell nice?

Now, Butch was tense, slightly panicking, and red. He could feel the back of his neck, burning up and reaching his ears. And if Butch was aware of it, then his brothers were extremely aware of it. There was no way in hell he was going to look over at them. Not now, not ever.

"Aw! Isn't that just adorable!" Bubbles cooed, "Buttercup must have really been tuckered out, poor thing! Maybe we should get a picture? You know she'd absolutely love this."

"Oh, way ahead of you, Bubs." Brick smirked as he held up his phone.

"Smile, Butch!" Boomer snickered.

With his free hand, he flipped them off but kept his eyes firmly on the wall above the tv. He swore to himself that, yeah, they'd both be dead by morning.

"Oh, BC." Butch could hear the affection in Blossom's tone, "Sorry Butch, looks like you're her pillow tonight. Good luck trying to get her off you."

"Wha'?" He risked a look at BC's sisters, which was way more comfortable than looking at his brothers.

"Oh yeah," Bubbles giggled, "She's always been a snuggler! She was even worse when we were kids and had to share a bed. Poor Blossom got stuck in the middle of us three alllll the time, and Buttercup wouldn't let her go for nothin'!"

Blossom snorted, rolling her eyes, "And of course she's an active, heavy sleeper. I was always waking up with some kind of bruise. Just let us know if she bugs you, we have a few ways to get her up. We're experts by now."

Together, Bubbles and Blossom laughed.

"Oh, don't worry about Butch girls, I bet he'll be juuust fine." Boomer drawled out, and Butch couldn't decide if Boomer or Brick would be the first to die tonight, but he was still leaning towards Brick.

"Well! In that case," Bubbles chirped quickly, "Do the rest of us want to go chill in the hot-tub? Professor got it working again!"

There was a chorus of agreements, and the three of them jumped up. Blossom remained on her chair, watching with interest.

"Hey, wait, what about me?" Butch blinked, trying to wrap his head around everything.

"It's going to take you some time to pry that little snake off, so just meet us out there! I mean, you can handle it, right?" Bubbles asked sweetly, but something very different twinkled in her eye.

"Well, I mean, yeah." He shrugged dumbly, not willing to admit he actually had no idea what he was doing to Buttercup's sisters.

"Yeah, Butchie," Brick smiled smugly as he patted Butch on the shoulder on his way to the kitchen where the sliding doors were, "Just meet us out there after your little snuggle sess."

Butch snarled and moved to swat at Brick's hand, but froze when Buttercup whined in her sleep.

Boomer laughed following Bubbles out, "Have fun, Butchie."

He swore if one more person fucking called him that—

His train of thought was cut off when he noticed Blossom was still there staring at him intensely.

"Don't worry." He bit back a scoff, when she got up and walked towards them, "I can get her off."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that, Butchie." She crouched down, so she was at eye level with him, just millimeters from his face, with the closest thing to a sneer he had ever seen tacked onto her face, "You think I'm a smart girl, right Butch?

"Uh, yeah?" He answered, trying to shrink away from her gaze and instantly forgetting his previous threat about the dumb nickname.

"Good. So, even though no one's telling me what's been going on here," Blossom motioned between him and BC, "you are aware I know, right?" She asked, seriously.

He felt his body stiffen on its own accord like it had done during interrogations back in the day.

"Know what?" He asked through almost gritted teeth.

She let out an amused hmph and got even closer to his face. She was smiling, but the look in her eyes made his blood chill. Instinctively, he clutched Buttercup closer, a move that did not go unnoticed.

"Butch, I know how cliché this is going to sound, and trust me when I say I derive no pleasure from having to say it out loud, but I want you to listen very carefully." She paused before humming, "Are you listening?"

He nodded like a dumbass.

"Greeat." She condescendingly wrinkled her nose. "Then I won't have to repeat myself when I say, if you ever consider hurting my baby sister in any way, I'll make sure you suffer from something that will be ten times worse. And I wouldn't question that if I were you," She somehow added nonchalantly, clasping her hands together, "I mean, we did just agree on how smart I was, right?"

"Rrrright." He said, still nodding.

She stood up, so she was now looking down at the two of them and reached out to smooth some of Buttercup's hair, "I'm sorry it has to be like this. Of course, you understand, right? I mean, Bubbles and I love her to death. You have sibling, you get it."

"Yes?"

"Perfect!" She clapped, "Well, maybe I'll see you out there! If anyone comes in to ask where I am, let them know I'm changing and grabbing some towels. You know those three didn't even bother to think about that." She shook her head, walking off, and Butch continued to sit in slight, uncomfortable terror.

He wasn't pulled out of his daze until Buttercup once again nuzzled her head into his chest, and his body responded like someone hadn't just threatened to send him to an early grave.

Like fuck, when did Blossom become fucking scary? He thought dads were the scary ones! Of course, Butter's dad was the Professor, and that guy couldn't scare Butch even if he tried. Hell, the guy probably wouldn't even be able to scare a mouse! He'd probably call in one of the girls. Probably Buttercup and if Butters was away…

…and now Butch knew why Blossom had to be the scary one.

But she was gone now, and it was finally just him and Buttercup, who, sure, wasn't really conscious for their time alone, but at least with her like that, he wouldn't make a dumbass out of himself like last time.

She snuggled in closer, and since no one was around, he allowed himself to grin. His heart thumped along happily as he wrapped both arms around her, leaned back down, and adjusted her into a more comfortable position. To the point where she ended up laying pretty much on top of him.

Sure, was he stuck watching another crappy movie? Yeah. Would he rather be in a hot tub with bikini cladded Powerpuffs? Hell yes. And was one of his legs falling asleep? Absolutely. But he couldn't think of any other time where he had been this close to Buttercup without there being any fighting, and apparently, she was just as warm as she was soft. Her hair tickled his nose, and if he stroked her sides, she'd sigh in her sleep. When he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend she was awake and letting him do this.

Which was pretty awesome.

She woke up to the feeling of someone rubbing circles into her back and thought vaguely that if they'd just reach her shoulders, that would be fantastic.

"Hey." A voice said.

"Hey." She mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.

"Have a nice nap?"

"Mhmm." She sighed and stretched, sitting up. She took a moment to roll and rub at her neck. Yeah, a neck message would probably be heavenly.

She blinked lazily and realized she had fallen asleep on the couch and wondered when the boys had left. Too bad, she had really tried to stay awake. Basically, being pushed into Butch's lap the whole night had really added fuel to the fantasy fire, and she hadn't wanted it to end.

Oh well. What was that phrase? All good things come to an end or something. Speaking of the end, when had the couch got so lumpy? Again, she stretched out her arms and rolled her hips with a groan. God, she needed to stretch more before fights…and did the couch just squawk?

Buttercup's eyes snapped fully open, and she looked down to met her counterpart's wide gaze. It took a terrifying few seconds to comprehend that she was, in fact, straddling the boys' torso

"You…y-ou aren't my body pillow…" She announced, falling back onto the other side of the couch and banging her head on the side table.

Without missing a beat, he also shot up into a sitting position, and quickly he agreed, "I am not your body pillow."

If her eyes got any wider, and if she turned any redder, she was sure her head would explode. Why'd she have to stretch like that on top of him? Oh god!

"How long was I out? Where is everyone?" She asked, trying to edge the panic out of her voice.

"Chill," He said, trying to calm her down, not that it was working, "like an hour, and outside. It's late, though, so we're probably going to head out soon." He paused, and she watched a wicked smile travel across his face, "So, uh, you're not going to finish that lap dance, huh?"

And, acting on complete instinct and panic, she punched him.

"Oh shit!" She clambered over to his side, "I'm sorry!"

He swatted her hands away and held his nose, "It's cool," he replied nasally, "Bad joke. Is it bleeding?"

"Let me see." She removed his hands and sighed in relief, "No. No, you're good. Do you want ice? I can get ice."

"No, I'm fine. Shit," Butch moaned, moving his hand back to his nose, "You really got me, Butts."

"I know. I'm sorry. You just freaked me out." She explained.

"Blossom said I'd probably end up with a bruise, but I thought she meant while you were sleeping." He sighed, dropping his hands from his face, which was pretty close to her own. She moved back again to give him space, as she processed his last sentence.

"Oh, cool. So, my sisters did know. Great." She muttered mostly to herself. Stupid sisters! They knew what she was like! "I'm, um, gonna go and bash my head in." She clapped her legs and then stood up, "See ya later. Sorry…again."

"Wait!" He grabbed her arm, pulling her back, "You didn't do anything weird. Everyone knew you were tired, it's no big deal. I was tired too—"

"Bullshit, you've been bored this whole night. Don't lie." She finally called him out, too minorly pissed at her sisters and embarrassed to care.

"Well, yeah, bu—"

"It's cool you don't have to deny it. I mean, I did just punch your face." She pointed out.

"Yeah, but I usually deserve punches to my face!" He protested, and his grip became tighter as he yanked her back down.

"Hey!" She glared, not liking the idea that she was being treated like some rag doll, "Watch it!"

"Oh, shut up! Just stay here!" He hissed.

"Fine!" She hissed back, "Weird-o!"

Not her best insult, but her heart really wasn't into it at the moment. They sat in silence, each stewing in their own little world. She sighed and again rubbed at her neck.

"Is your neck okay?" He asked, noticing the movement.

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small smile when she snorted, "I think your nose is more important than my neck right now."

It was his turn to laugh, "My face has been through way worse, you know that."

"Yeah, I do." She admitted, "Fine, my neck is sore. I must have slept on it weird. I'll take some pain pills later or something, see if that helps." She shrugged.

His eyes brightened. "Hey, wait, come' ere. Turn around."

Slowly, she complied.

His fingers on her neck made her eyes flutter shut, and instantly she swore she must have been dreaming again. Any past anger washed away from her in a snap.

"I learned this trick from Him, actually." And he probably was telling her more about it or something, but she wasn't listening. Instead, her brain had absolutely fucked off, but it turned out she was ultimately, one hundred percent, fine without it.

Was this how Bubbles lived? This was fantastic.

"Oh?" This time she didn't resist the dreamy sigh that escaped her lips, hoping that would keep him talking and keep his fingers moving.

Instead, his fingers stopped, and she actually felt herself pout until he said her name in the way that made her toes curl.

"Buttercup?"

"Yeah?" She heard herself whispered as she turned around to look up at him.

At this point, blood was pounding in her ears, and she felt like she was a character out of one of Blossom's old people romance books. His face was so close, and his eyes were her absolute favorite color of green, and they were staring right at her, and she swore he was getting closer…

…but then the back door open and whatever vibe the two of them had going shattered. He cleared his throat, looked towards the area their siblings were laughing and pushed away from her.

She watched him get up saying something about brothers, leaving, and murder, but it was like her mind had froze. Had she just imagined all of that? Was that a rejection? Did she interpret that whole moment wrong? Fuck, she was going crazy!

That was Butch, and she was Buttercup, and the things she had felt at that moment had to have been entirely one-sided. Right? Maybe?

'He pushed away kind of fast.' Her mind reasoned, but she didn't have time to think about it any further because the five others came walking back into the living room.

"Hey, Butter-cup-" Boomer popped the last syllable of her name.

"-Have a nice nap?" Brick finished, shrugging on his jacket and running his fingers through his wet hair.

She flushed, but nonetheless had enough sense to glare, "Yeah. Fantastic."

Brick winked, "Oh, good, Grumps over here wouldn't tell us a thing! But don't worry, I bet Butchi—augh!" Brick doubled over, holding onto his freshly elbowed stomach.

"Don't call me that." Butch shoved his hands back into his hoodie, stole a glance at Blossom for whatever reason, and turned his head away from the group. It was the second time tonight that she had seen some sort of color on his cheeks.

Boomer snickered and then dodged out of the way when Butch stomped past him towards the door. She looked over at her sisters, who both shrugged.

"We're leaving!" Butch announced loudly and threw open the door.

He was about to take off when Brick, still coughing, scolded, "Butch, it's rude to leave without saying goodbye."

Boomer looked like he was about to lose it, but tsked along with Brick.

Grumbling, Butch turned back around towards them but kept his eyes on the ground.

Quickly, he looked up towards her sisters and then his stare flickered to her, before it shot down again, "Bye."

And he zipped off.

A good hour later, the three girls were in their bedroom getting ready for bed, when she finally found her phone tucked underneath her pillow. There were 14 missed calls and 20 messages from Bubbles, two from Bloss, two goodnight texts from the Professor, who was away at a convention, which she quickly responded to, and one single:

hey

That was from Butch, and her heart hit the ceiling. She had gotten it two minutes ago. She debated whether she should text back right away or wait another ten minutes, so she didn't look desperate. At the same time, though, maybe he had forgotten something? Like a…wallet? Maybe his cell phone!

'How would he be texting you then, idiot?' She reprimanded.

Hey, she texted back and quickly afterward also sent, Did u forget something?

no

well yeah, came a second reply three seconds after the first.

She waited a moment for him to continue, but when he didn't, she responded, ok?

She put her phone back on her bed and continued to get ready to sleep. Her sisters were scurrying around as well, and she knew if she didn't make it to the bathroom now, there wouldn't be an opening for another hour. They both had the weirdest nighttime skincare routines.

When she came back fifteen minutes later, there were two unread messages.

Sorry late reply Mojo was throwing a fit. something about curfew like that's ever mattered or soemthing

I forgot to ask you something

No biggie. What? She asked, not allowing herself to get too excited.

Three little dots appeared, then disappeared, then reappeared all over again, and she watched them intensely.

"What are you doing?" Blossom asked, the green mask on her face had already started to crack, and it had made her look like some freaky alien. A second ago, she had been fighting in the bathroom with Bubbles, so her sudden presence (and appearance) made Buttercup jump and drop her phone.

"Damn, Bloss! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Who are you texting this late?" Blossom pressed on, and Buttercup saw no sense in lying.

"Butch. He forgot something."

"What?"

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"But why would he bother texting you so late about it?"

"I don't know. You snuck up on me before I could find out!"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic!" Blossom tsked as she walked over to her vanity.

"Maybe he forgot his phone!" Bubbles said and poked her head out the bathroom door, holding her toothbrush out of her mouth in thought.

"He's texting me from his phone, duh." She muttered, looking over the new messages and growing warmer by the second.

Thankfully, Bubbles shrugged and went back to brushing her teeth.

We should hang out w/out our siblings sometime. theyre fucking annoying.

Not so much your sisters tho but fuck my brothers

Lol no my sisters can be super annoying. Bubbles wouldn't shut up earlier would she? Buttercup responded quickly.

No offense she never does. Better then Brick tho

Haha no doubt

After another minute or two, he texted back, so yes? To hanging out?

Her heart thumped, and she tried tucking her smile underneath her blankets, oh yeah, sorry, I thought it was obvious I was good with it.

Nbd cool

Blossom switched off the light, and a chorus of goodnights filled the room. Buttercup turned to face the wall, so the light of her phone wouldn't bug anyone. Her eyes were still pretty heavy, even after that nap. However, she had already fallen asleep (literally!) on him once tonight, so she wasn't going to try again.

Yeah just let me kno. Btw sorry Mojo chewed you out

Butch sent just the eye-roll emoji, and a moment later replied, its always something with him. Hes just pissed we dont fight for him anymore.

He doesn't do much anymore either tho?

Trust me we know.

She smiled, yawned, and figured she might as well say goodnight. Butch's responses were coming in later and later, and she again thought about looking desperate.

I'm falling asleep on you again lol, so Ill talk to you later.

Its only 1. What is it about me that makes you so tired hm?

Ok first off, 1am is late and I had to take care of three calls today. One by myself. Second, not my fault you make a pretty damn good pillow. Then for good measure Buttercup sent, lol, to alleviate some of the risks of the previous text, since it had felt pretty borderline flirty.

Hey if im that good I can always come back over. You make a pretty nice blanket ;)

Her grin grew, and she was glad the room was dark. This was flirting, right? Was Butch flirting with her? She shook her head, nah, she was overthinking things. Butch flirting with her? Impossible. Right? Right.

She sighed and deflated as she sent her next message.

Haha thanks but a regular pillow will just have to do. Night :)

If youre sure. Night

There was really no need to get her hopes up, but she did stare at the little winky face in the previous message for way, way longer than necessary, as her heart flopped around in her chest. And since it was late and no one was going to be asking her any question, she silently indulged in the idea that maybe Butch had a little crush on her too.

Bitterly though, she remembered the little thought that had nagged away at her the whole night, and she let the entirety of it surface to her mind. Seriously, who in the world had he been texting the entire night? It had to of been a girl. Girls from school were always giving him their numbers.

Buttercup's frown deepened, and she abandoned her body pillow to turn onto her other side. She was now facing Blossom, who was snoring away peacefully. And then it hit her full force.

Oh.

Of course, now she knew!

Butch had been acting weird around Blossom when they all had said goodbye. He was definitely eyeing her and, if Buttercup was remembering correctly, the texting had really stopped whenever she was around. That'd also explain why she was so keen on why Butch was texting her.

She sighed.

Yeah. It made sense to Buttercup. She couldn't even be mad at him or anything. Blossom was absolutely perfect. Buttercup would never, ever, in a million years, ever be on her level. It was her fault for deciding not to tell Bloss that she may have been slightly into her counterpart, so if Blossom liked Butch and Butch liked Blossom, she really couldn't stop them. That would be plain wrong, and who was she to call dibs.

Tears pricked at her eyes, and she blinked them away.

No. Buttercup would not do that.

This was her sister! And she liked Butch enough to want them to be happy. She wouldn't let her prissy little attitude get in their way. She only had a tiny crush, if you could even call it that! In fact, them getting together would really help her get over whatever this actually was.

"Yeah," Buttercup thought out loud, "them getting together!"

Her fist hit her palm in determination. She'd make sure nothing would stop them.