whatever

Bubbles merely giggled at Buttercup's annoyance. Even as her sister tried to dismiss how huge this reveal was, the blonde still felt super excited for her. After all, it’s not every day where she finds out that Buttercup developed feelings for someone, as in full-blown romantic feelings for them! So obviously she wants to know everything! “And … hang out?” Bubbles repeated, catching the way the brunette trailed off as her smile slowly shifted into a smirk. Oh, she was even more curious now! She wanted to know when things started to change between her sister and Billy. Were feelings always hidden beneath everything, even back when Billy was the enemy? Again, it wouldn’t be the first for Buttercup to find interest in a bad guy even when they knew it wouldn’t be a good thing. But Billy wasn’t so bad, not even in the past, hence why Bubbles didn’t feel so concerned for her sister. Don’t get her wrong, she would still be very much protective over her if he tried to do anything to hurt her baby sister, but for now the blonde would be giving him the benefit of the doubt. At the mention of their hook up beginning after a concert a few months ago, her eyes light up. “I remembered! Blossom and I had been so confused on where you went and when we texted you, all you replied with was ‘busy’ and left us on read for the rest of the night!” She pouted. “Which was very rude of you, but now that I know why, I get it.” Then something new popped in her head and Bubbles gasped. “You’re solo album!"

Buttercup hated that this conversation was getting deeper than she wanted it to. She didn’t like all this mushy feelings stuff, which was part of what made her so hesitant to admit she even had feelings like that for Billy. Of course, Bubbles would be all over this conversation. Honestly, she was surprised Bubbles even remembered the concert she was referring to. She rolled her eyes as her sister pouted about ditching them before. It wasn’t the first time, and certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Bemused, it didn’t take Huey much to imagine Buttercup charging Davis for the constant interruptions he caused whenever he wanted Louie’s undivided attention. “Go for it.” He remarked in response. “Davis wouldn’t care. Heck, he’ll even pay you a hefty amount just to consume all the time he could with Louie.” Though the joke would still be on the young millionaire because if there was anyone who would fight him for his brothers attention, it would be the green Powerpuff before him.

Although Buttercup liked the idea of getting paid by Davis just for her letting him hog up all of Louie’s attention, she also knew it wouldn’t entirely benefit her. “Tempting… but that would only enable him,” the brunette pointed out. She couldn’t let Davis get too comfortable after all — he had to be reminded that Buttercup had the high ground with Louie no matter what.

Are you happy? she asked. Was he happy? No. But he thought he could be happy if he finally opened up to Davis, and that scared the shit out of him. That kind of happiness could so easily be taken away—it was easier in the long run not to let himself have it at all, that dangerous hope for an uncertain future. He didn’t want to sign himself up to be hurt when it was avoidable…if it was still avoidable. Was he already in too deep, bound to be devastated by any outcome?

Louie avoiding her question didn’t surprise her. In fact, his lack of an answer was an answer in itself — he wasn’t going to be happy if he continued to avoid his feelings, she knew that all too well from her own experience. She was in the exact same boat with Billy. It was no wonder the triplet and the Powerpuff girl were best friends — they were too much alike.

“Ow.” Louie regretted remarking on her light shove earlier, because this hit actually had a little bite, even if he had known it was coming and Buttercup was still holding back her full strength. She’d never actually hurt him, but the warning punch was a lesson learned: she was not cute. He still sulked silently as he waited for her to either continue talking about Bill or change the subject, not wanting to lead the conversation away himself if she wasn’t done or bring it back up if she was.

Buttercup smiled in satisfaction. While she didn’t try to go out of her way to hurt her best friend often, sometimes he needed a little reminder not to piss her off. She could tell the punch to the arm was effective. 

After being so focused on her own self pity, it surprisingly took the blonde much longer to consider why Buttercup was trying to cheer her up in the first place. After all, it’s as she had just said, the brunette was Louie’s best friend, and so as his best friend, shouldn’t the Powerpuff be angry at her too? More so at that, considering how badly injured Louie was because of the fact that Webby had helped Dewey lie for so long, resulting in the youngest triplet getting severely hurt. Yep, Buttercup should detest her for that, not be trying to cheer Webby up and trying to convince her to go out with her. So imagine Webby’s surprise when she heard the older girl say it wasn’t her fault. “You don’t?” The blonde repeated, shocked, only for her to then shake her head. Actually, she hasn’t seen Buttercup talking with Dewey. But then again, Dewey had recently moved out of the mansion, so she couldn’t say for sure who was talking to him still or not. Besides Morty and Ferdie that is, since he’s living with them. Webby still continued to frown, not believing that Louie’s anger was displaced because he did have a reason to be angry with her even if Buttercup wasn’t. But she didn’t say anything about that, instead, listening to the rest of the brunette’s words before she attempted to slightly smile with gratitude. “Thanks for not being mad at me, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did but— thanks.” She made out, realizing how much she really needed to hear this. “I don’t want Louie to be even more upset with me for going out with you tonight though, but getting out of the house to distract myself does sound really nice.” 

It was rare for Buttercup to be so kind and genuine, but what happened with the Duck family was a special circumstance that required empathy and patience from the Powerpuff girl. While Buttercup did her best to act like everything was normal with Louie, helping him to feel normal again after all the unfortunate changes he’d been forced to go through, Webby needed some extra attention that would remind her that she wasn’t a terrible person for what happened. Not to mention, she needed an extra push to be forced out of the manor and to do something to make her smile again. Buttercup was stubborn enough to not give up on the blonde so easily despite her hesitance. She shook her head to confirm that she wasn’t angry at Webby, that she didn’t blame her for what happened, then attempted a smile to ease her concerns. “You don’t need to thank me — just say you’ll have a girl's night with me,” she answered, hoping that would get Webby on board. “And if Louie does get upset later, I can handle him for the both of us.”

And there’s the ticket! All it took was one puny insult about her new boy-toy and B-cups had snapped. Honestly, Butch was almost surprised, figuring it would take some more egging her on before the Powerpuff broke, but he wouldn’t say that he was displeased by her reaction. As soon as her fist made contact with his face and he was knocked down, the Rowdyruff’s eyes blew wide, and even with the following punches that came right after, he smirked.

Seeing his stupid smirk and hearing his laugh as she continuously punched him almost took the fun out of kicking his ass. Why did Butch have to be so irritating?!? Buttercup was angry enough to kill him, but besides the wide eyes he first had when she pinned him down, he showed no fear. 

The only response Blossom offered her sister was a knowing (but patient) tilt of the head. It said, “We both know you want something, so let’s not waste time pretending otherwise. Now do you want to tell me about it or not? I may be a know-it-all, but I’m a good listener,” without needing to say anything at all. Buttercup wasn’t the kind who could be pushed into anything, let alone admitting to needing help—which Blossom highly suspected was what this was about—and she had already annoyed her by calling it out. She wasn’t going to say anything to make it worse.

Blossom’s knowing look made Buttercup purse her lips momentarily. She almost debated backing out of the conversation entirely, knowing it was easier to deny than open up. Still, she wouldn’t have been so sugary sweet to her sister if she wasn’t desperate for some older sister advice… After a moment of silence, the youngest Powerpuff girl caved in. “... I think the guy I’m into knows I wrote my new songs about him,” she confessed hesitantly. She could have name-dropped Billy without any problem, knowing Blossom had seen Jukes sneak out before and had caught onto how much time Buttercup was recently spending with him. Still, Buttercup remained in denial and didn’t use his name. Instead of saying more, the brunette met her sister’s gaze with a look that said Help me out here, I’m out of my element.

He bit out a scoff at the implication that there was any innuendo in the expletive he fired at her. Brick hardly saw Buttercup as a woman—which was to say, her femininity was recognized only in the ways that made him superior to her, not in the ways that made him view her as a sexual object. He wondered briefly if the blue and green powder-puffs taunted him about wanting to sleep with them was just because his idiot brothers couldn’t resist getting their dicks wet, even by stooping to the level of fucking their super-heroine counterparts. Did they have to drag his reputation down with them? “I wouldn’t give it to you if you begged for it, babe,” he retorted. When she picked herself up again with a threat about killing him if her jacket was messed up, he opened his mouth again to tell her that it would be doing the jacket a favor and immediately ate another of her punches. He would never admit it, but her right hook was really the most powerful…besides his own, obviously. He returned her blows, his aiming for the gut—both of them treating one another like a punching bag—until he was yanked away from her by the back of his collar like a kitten being scooped up by the scruff. Humiliating position.

The punches she received back from Brick didn’t deter her at all, only fueling her to hit even harder in return. Not only was Buttercup strong, she was stubborn as hell. She was so focused on punching him that she didn’t even notice Blossom breaking things up until her fists hit only air, Brick being held by the collar of his shirt midair by her sister. Despite Blossom ruining the fun by ending the fight, Buttercup snickered in amusement at the sight of Brick dangling pathetically. 

As Buttercup floated closer to him, Huey braced himself for the incoming punch. Once she did it, he pretended to react like it had hurt despite the Powerpuff not hitting him as hard— he expected that she wouldn’t. He could complain all he wanted over the way she prefers to greet him, but at the end of the day he was aware this is how she liked to say “hi” to him and that she truly wouldn’t hurt him even if she wanted to still punch him. Letting out a quick “Ow,” in reaction, Huey reached over and pretended to rub the place where she had punched him. “I still think a ‘Nice to see you” is adequate enough greeting compared to punching.” He replied, with a pout. Yet Huey dropped it a second later, watching as Buttercup floated towards the counter where she sat down. 

Buttercup couldn’t hold back as she rolled her eyes at his reaction — he was so dramatic, knowing the punch was as light as possible and probably didn’t even hurt at all. She’d hit Louie way harder than that before and he still handled it better. “That’s what you think,” she answered simply as she made herself comfortable on the counter.

“Pretty sure you already need to be attracted to someone in order to sleep with them— repetitively.” The blonde commented to her sisters rebuttal after Bubbles questioned if it was Butch who Buttercup had a thing for. While it was a sigh of relief to know it wasn’t him, the older couldn’t contain the knowing look and smirk she had at the younger. Said expression didn’t last long, however, as the Powerpuff yet again squealed when her sister confirmed it was Billy who she liked instead. “Duh, of course it was him!” Bubbles claimed, more so to herself than to her sister. With the amount of times Buttercup had snuck off with him whenever he was around, she should have known that one day the younger would end up falling for him. And he better had fallen for her too! “Are you two like together then or what? Wait, no— you need to tell me everything! Like when did things officially started happening between you two, who made the first move, have you two been hooking up, or how long?”  

“You know what I meant,” Buttercup grumbled back in annoyance. Similar to Buttercup hating to talk about her past relationship with Ace, she also hated to discuss her hookups with Butch. The brunette rolled her eyes as she heard her sister’s excited squeal, honestly surprised at how excited she was about it since he was a previous enemy. Then, the billions of questions came rolling in. She sighed. “I told you, there’s nothing to tell because we’re not together. We just hook up and … hang out…” she trailed off, her tone becoming less angry the more she spoke. Ugh, she was already giving herself away, but at least Bubbles was more oblivious than Blossom. “We started hooking up after a concert a few months ago…”

She shouldn’t have gotten as excited as she did. As much as she wanted to be—and she really really wanted to be—the blonde shouldn’t. Almost as if a switch had been flipped from inside her head, Webby remembered why she had been so down in the dumps lately in the first place, and that was how can she be so happy and excited when she had faults in what had happened? Then remembering how Louie was still healing from losing his leg and how he was also avoiding her at that, the blonde’s shoulders had sagged. “…..I don’t think I should be going out in the first place.” The younger confessed with a heavy sigh. She was already starting to think of how she should get out of this outfit and return it back to Buttercup. Her friend could just go to the axe throwing place with someone else who deserves to be hanging out with her at what Webby wouldn’t doubt was an amazingly cool place to go to. Like one of her sisters. Or maybe Louie himself if he was up for it. With another sigh, the blonde glanced back at her friend and shrugged. “I mean, yeah?” She replied, saying it in a way as if Buttercup should’ve known that. In fact, why wasn’t the other not upset with her too? If Louie was so angry that he wouldn’t want to even talk to Webby, the girl couldn’t believe that his own best friend wasn’t as angry with her too. So, to hear Buttercup tell her otherwise and how she’s allowed to have fun, the blonde only stared at her uncertainly. “Why aren’t you upset with me too?” Webby suddenly questioned, now wanting to know why the older girl has been trying to cheer her up. “Actually— why have you been doing all of this for me? You know Louie hasn’t been happy with me lately, don’t you?” 

Buttercup had attempted to keep the mood up and still get Webby to come along despite the damper in her spirit, but the blonde seemed to be dead set on changing her mind. Just moments ago she was practically jumping up and down in excitement of the idea of throwing an axe, and now it was as if she’d never been excited about it at all. Buttercup’s attempt at another smile fell again. “And why is that?” The brunette asked genuinely, wanting to understand why Webby was being so hard on herself. Just because of what happened with Louie? Buttercup wondered if Louie himself was being hard on Webby to make her feel that way — as the blonde continued, it answered that question without Buttercup needing to ask. “... I don’t think what happened was your fault,” she answered Webby’s question honestly. “It was Dewey’s. You don’t see me talking to him, do you?” She pursed her lips, pausing before continuing. “I think … Louie will ease up eventually. He’s going through a lot, and he's probably just letting his anger out in the wrong places… he is my best friend, but sometimes we don’t always agree on everything.” She knew Louie would probably be mad if he knew she was trying to give Webby the benefit of the doubt and spend time with her, but he would get over it. She wasn’t afraid of him, and she still believed that Webby really needed a night to feel normal again. “Trust me, if I was mad at you, I wouldn’t be here trying to do this. Despite everything, you’re still my friend too," she reassured her. "I really think you should get out of the house and try to have some fun tonight.”

He wanted to correct her, assert that she definitely had seen hickies on him before—albeit way back in high school—but that wouldn’t prove the point that it meant nothing. If anything, it would just confirm that he was in deep now, to have let someone mark him up like that. Louie wasn’t the type to hook up with people he didn’t have deeper feelings for. Buttercup knew it as well as he did, and if he’d had to realize his own feelings the other night, then she was sure to catch on just as quickly. Trying to hide shit from her was like trying to hide from himself—and he’d already found his hiding spot. Out with it, then.

Buttercup knew she was being dramatic, that it wasn’t entirely true that she’d never seen a hickey on him before. It had just been a long time, long enough to where the sight felt foreign to her. Plus, Louie wasn’t in a relationship right now, so that meant that he was teetering close to one if he was willing to go this far with someone. She didn’t want to believe who she thought it was until she heard it from Louie himself. He didn’t say Davis’ name as she lured the tea from him, but she knew exactly who he was referencing anyway. 

“Mm, I knew there was a reason I kept you around,” Louie answered her casual non-greeting and caught the bag of candy she threw his way. He was peacefully investigating the selection when Buttercup suddenly joined him in his personal space, inspecting him. “What—” She was looking pointedly at his neck, or rather the mark left on his neck from recent activities that he hadn’t planned on talking about…Fuck. He was cozy enough in bed not to need a hoodie on, but he certainly wished he could hide in one now, his face automatically heating up at the feeling of observation his best friend was subjecting him to and cursing himself for not thinking ahead to avoid this.

Buttercup smiled playfully at Louie’s response, though it obviously fell once she was distracted by the hickey on his neck. Her jaw had dropped open in surprise, instantly noticing his cheeks redden as he realized what she was investigating. Oh, this was going to be good, Buttercup couldn’t wait to hear his explanation. She already had a feeling she knew without asking, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to shake the details from him anyway. 

With her underwear finally off and Buttercup laying hot and ready underneath him, looking up at him with eyes that begged for more even if her lips were too proud to say it, Jukes didn’t waste too much more time teasing. Having her so receptive and even uncharacteristically submissive for him was the sexiest thing in the world, and he wasn’t going to take it for granted. He grabbed her legs to spread them apart and give himself full access to her dripping core, sparing a few hasty kisses against her inner thigh until he reached his target.

It wasn’t the first time he had gone down on her, but Buttercup moaned louder than she normally would as his tongue reached her center. She didn’t have to worry about her sisters or any of his roommates hearing them — they were completely alone, and god he felt so good. Her hand instinctively went down to grip his hair, keeping his head in place to ensure he didn’t stop. 

An ex-criminal was better than a current criminal, Louie supposed, so that was an upgrade for Buttercup already. He couldn’t really make his judgment about this new guy without meeting him, but he was taking notes to at least get a vague picture. It was quite interesting that Buttercup had begun to volunteer more information of her own accord without it being pulled out of her. Was she really so into him that she just wanted to share more details about him?

Buttercup held back from hitting him at first, instead rolling her eyes. She sort of set herself up for that one, her height an easy way to poke fun at her. As soon as he said it was cute as he pictured it though, she couldn’t control how quickly her fist collided with his shoulder. “You know what’s not cute? This,” she replied as she hit him, a little harder than she intended but still not with her true strength.