Brown was not Buzz's favourite colour. In fact, if he were to be completely honest, he would admit that it was a colour he loathed to see. It reminded him of mud, of tree bark and of filth. Even if it held a clean sheen and was clearly lighter than the average shade of dirt he came across, Buzz still associated brown with horrible queasiness.

Picking up a rectangular piece of food, the edible food familiar and something he knew that Bonnie adored, Buzz stared at it with a scowl marring his features. Chocolate, though described as delicious and tasty by many humans, didn't look all that appetizing, nor did it please in an aesthetic way. Anything the colour of chocolate immediately connected with the tones of brown he disliked, and he could not dissociate between them. Brown was an ugly colour.

Discarding the chocolate without a second glance towards the offending substance, Buzz looked around the room from the position he had on the bed. He liked it up here, not because it was soft or comforting, but instead due to the feeling of height he could obtain from standing on the tall structure.

Height was important to Buzz, always had been. From day one of his awakening, Buzz had subconsiously put the fellow toys into separate categories: larger than him, and smaller than him. Humans, animals and plants did not concern him, as most were much too large to even consider comparison against. Toys, on the other hand, had been just right for him to match his height up with, even though at the time he hadn't realised he was one of them. Shaking his head, Buzz couldn't stop the smile that rose onto his lips. Even when delusional, he had automatically placed each of his friends into little lists of those that were tall, around his height, and short.

Later on, when he had come to acknowledge his existence as being a toy, Buzz had continued to subject everyone he met with the comparison. As accepting as he was of different appearances, he couldn't quite dismiss his own personal tastes. He preferred toys that were shorter than he was, and asserted that he could only be considered pleasing on the eye when with someone else if said person was not taller than him. It didn't mean he had anything against taller toys, though the height issue was a truth that had made him feel guilty when first discovered quite a long time ago.

Biting his lip, Buzz tried to direct his thoughts elsewhere. The height thing wasn't exactly important, especially since no one actually knew about it. It was a private preference, one he felt that didn't really need to be publicised.

Moving his gaze from the toys that were currently in the middle of a heated, yet insignificant, discussion about something Buzz wasn't interested in, the space ranger's attention was drawn to the pillow as he spotted a familiar hat lying upon it. Frowning, Buzz slowly made his way over to the hat, his confusion as to its lack of owner being present only intensifying with each step.

"Woody wouldn't go anywhere without you," Buzz said, addressing the headgear, though he understood that it would give no reply. Directing words at the hat, Buzz assumed, made him seem more sane than if he were to speak out loud to himself, if only marginally.

"I think it knows that, Buzz."

Jumping in surprise, Buzz felt a sense of embarrassment wash over him when Woody ducked his head out from under the pillow, an amused smirk adorning his mouth. Attempting to form words of protest, not bothering to wait for Woody to crawl out from his hiding place completely, Buzz took a step back, one of his hands coming up to scratch his cheek as he did so.

When Woody was in full view and standing up, Buzz ceased all excuses and decided to try and turn all attention onto the other toy.

"What were you doing under there?"

Woody glanced at the pillow and shrugged. "Jessie's lost her hat. I'm helping her look," he explained, before leaning down to retrieve his own hat so he could place it back on his head.

Almost immediately Buzz's mind connected 'Jessie' and 'hat' together with the word 'cowgirl', which changed rather easily to 'cowboy'. Noting with mild confusion that this hadn't happened when he had first saw Woody's hat on the pillow, Buzz's thoughts switched to focus on the latter word almost subconsciously.

Anything relating to the word 'cowboy' was unfathomable to his mind, he surmised, his head lowering until he was staring blankly at the covers on Bonnie's bed. The connotations the word held within his thoughts were all negative. The climate associated with the people, the culture and way of life, even down to the clothes. Buzz couldn't stand anything that so much as hinted at cowboys in television, film or the media. He held no real prejudice against the people as a whole. Simply, he had no idea why they liked and lived how they did. Buzz couldn't understand it, but why not?

He was a space toy. The stars called out to him, made him want to fly and reach out to the greater world that was out there. Anything to do with space was brilliant. Feeling his eyebrows rise, Buzz let out a tiny huff of approval. Of course, that was the answer to his earlier question. The two things, cowboys and space rangers, were almost polar opposites. One group was a set of people who loved the dry land of Earth, and chose animals and nature to use as transport and tools, except when it came to weaponry. The other, the group Buzz belonged to, were lovers of technology and reaching out into the unknown, and people who strived to leave Earth behind to explore something different.

"It's obvious."

"What is?" Blinking, Buzz lifted his gaze back up and was met with the stare of his suddenly bewildered friend. Realising that he had just spoken that out loud, Buzz quickly tried to think of something to dismiss the subject. When nothing immediately came to mind he gave in with a sigh, his features forming a defeated expression.

"I'm just talking to myself again."

Woody raised an eyebrow. "Again? Oh, so now you talk to yourself as well as inanimate objects?"

The words were punctuated with sarcasm, though Buzz could see Woody was just teasing from the hint of mischief held within his gaze. Craning his neck slightly to look up into brown eyes, the eyebrows that lay a tiny space above them obscured slightly by a cowboy hat, Buzz came to a sudden realisation, one that made his lips tug up into a fond smile. No matter what his preferences were, there was something he knew to be completely true.

"You're beautiful, Woody."

And he meant it. The problem was, he figured just a tad too late, that he had spoken that out loud also. Immensely happy that it was impossible for toys to blush, Buzz felt his fingers close into a loose fist, before they uncurled again in a nervous twitch.

"Er..." Buzz noted absently that he really wasn't very good at articulating his thoughts in awkward situations. Regarding his friend with wide eyes, he registered with a minute amount of joy that Woody seemed barely able to express anything intelligible either. Buzz had caught him completely off guard.

"Um..." Watching while Woody gaped at him, his mind still processing what Buzz had just said, Buzz felt a very intense desire to duck under the pillow to hide away overcome him. After what felt like hours of silence had passed, though in reality it was merely a few seconds, Woody managed to get some sound out.

"Are you okay, Buzz?"

It wasn't what Buzz had been expecting, at all. The tone was laced with worry, the question unveiling Woody's explanation as to what was going on. Rather than speak about the statement itself, Woody was connecting it together with what he believed was Buzz's apparent need to speak to non-living things, and coming up with the answer of something being wrong.

Buzz had to admit that it was a brilliant excuse, one he could easily run along with. He wasn't the greatest liar in the world, or even Bonnie's room for that matter, and having a plausible explanation handed over to him willingly was a blessing. But he couldn't do it. What Woody was offering was a way out - Buzz understood what it was, knew that Woody didn't really believe anything was wrong with him at all - but Buzz wouldn't take it. He had to take a chance some time.

Drawing in a deep breath that he didn't actually require, Buzz blew out the air, his muscles tensing even though he was trying to calm down.

"I'm fine, Woody. And I mean it."

The surprise was evident on Woody's face. His mouth opened a fraction, his eyes widening a bit while his gaze darted to the bed rapidly.

"And yes," Buzz continued, his body trembling slightly, "I do."

Woody's eyes instantly came up to lock onto his once more. "Do what?"

"Want to try a relationship, if you want," Buzz finished, his confidence growing with each passing second that Woody remained in front of him without any sign of disgust or revulsion.

"You want a relationship... with me." The bluntness was shocking, and at once Buzz's confidence wavered. Woody's features had relaxed into a blank curiosity, his expression giving no indication as to what he thought on the subject.

"Yes?" Buzz said, attempting a smile, though he could tell that it was weak.

Woody nodded, before pursing his lips together and sitting down on the pillow. Buzz could see the concentration in his expression as Woody bit his lip, pondering his answer and the predicament he found himself in as a whole. Licking his lips, Buzz moved over to sit beside the cowboy, the act automatic and unintentional. He'd spent too many hours sitting exactly like this with Woody, talking over everything and nothing, for the action to be seen as anything more than an instinctual reaction.

"We could try it." Buzz wouldn't have heard the whisper if he hadn't been seated so close to Woody. He turned to look at Woody, his hope probably evident in every fibre of his being.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Woody said, before giving a firm nod and glancing at Buzz. "Yes."

Staring into his eyes, Buzz couldn't help the smile when he noticed how sure his friend appeared to be. Pulling in another deep, unnecessary breath, Buzz jerked his head in the direction of Woody's hat.

"You know, cowboy, brown is actually one of my favourite colours."

The smirk he received was one of the most reassuring things he had seen in a very long time.

"Buzz, that's a lie. And you know I know it."