Yay! Becoming, Chapter 4! I'm happy I'm getting another chance to update. Twice in one week is a good thing, no? :) Also, for all you Angelica fans, I'll be updating that soon too. :D Just thought I'd focus on this story right now- since it's brand new and needs more work. The other one is well on its way to being done! I admit I'm kind of stalling it's completion because of that... I don't want to end it! Oh well, beggars can't be choosers so...The update for that story will be up too. As for this one, I hope you'll enjoy it and review it like usual. And remember, I have a page on Facebook now! Like me please? ;) Thanks. Now...On with the story! :D
DICLAIMER: I do NOT own the PPG, the RRB, Townsville, or anything else...unless I made it up and you don't recognize it. ;)
BTW: The PPG and RRB have NORMAL features and the PPG are 18. The RRB are 17.
Becoming
Chapter 4: We're Not Friends
P.O.V.: Buttercup
I have never been challenged before.
I have never been defeated before, or felt intense pain for any sort in over 10 years. I have not met anyone who could match my strength, besides my sisters and some of the villains in Townsville, although my sisters never really fight with me physically anyway.
Except...when Butch was around. Then, things were different. Then, I had someone to challenge me head on.
Sure, he was a villain, and sure, I always won...but it'd come close.
And I loved it. Secretly, of course. The fights we had as children would always make me want to fight better, to put all my effort in to it just to win. To show who was boss.
But now, I didn't have that anymore. Butch had left with his brothers for a long time. I didn't even know if they were still alive...
Yet here he was. Right in front of me.
I guess the slam to the jaw really made me remember those times. It sent a rush of adrenaline I had not felt in what felt like forever. And I loved it. It felt like fuel for a car that was running on empty all these years.
I guess that's why I smiled at him, why I told him he had my attention. Cause it was true. He did.
With that one punch, he had me feeling a bit like my old self again. And I never wanted it to end.
The only disheartening thing about all this was that we weren't the same as we were before. We'd never get into the same fights we did previously, I could just tell. He was a different person than when I last saw him, as was I.
There was something...calmer to him than before. Something less harsh or hyper to him. He almost seemed similar to me in that way.
However, I was still harsh. I was still mean- maybe even more so now than ever. I didn't mean to be, deep down, I just was. Specially around guys...
But, huh, there's one specific guy to blame for that...
"Y-You mean you'll actually talk to me?" Butch's voice, filled with shock, breaks my own thoughts. His eyes are wide with disbelief as I stare back at him.
"You won't try to punch back?" He's baffled. I can tell.
I look away, look at his room. It's a mess alright. Yet, there's something humbling to it. He might've stole the room, but there was the slight chance he might've actually bought it too. After all, there seems to be a sincerity to him that's grown in him over the years.
The years I wasn't around him.
"Not this time." I smirk, looking back at him, "But if you try anything again, I certainly will." I promise, my eyes serious and daunting. That smirk doesn't leave my lips though.
He scratches his beer stained hair and looks away from me in puzzlement.
"Well...alright. I guess..." He shrugs, and goes to sit down next to me. His bed squeaks when he does. Ugh...how annoying that sound is...
The silence is a bit awkward between us as I think up something to say. Should I really be here right now? He is still my enemy...isn't he? Technically?
He's thinking of something to say too, which is even more awkward. Wasn't he the one who blocked me from exiting? Wanted me to stay?
You'd think he'd be the first to speak then...
"So. Why did you bring me here?" I finally break the mind numbing silence. He looks at me from the corner of his eye, and after some time, he shrugs and looks at the floor.
Guess that wasn't a question he knew how to answer. Crap...
"Okay...then how about an easier question? Where are your annoying ass brothers?" I query, folding my arms. I stare at him, wondering why I can't hear them outside this room. Unless they were as quiet as Butch had grown, then I doubt they were even home.
"...Not here." It's his turn to surprise me now, "We split up. Brick is in Peru somewhere, I think, and Boomer's on a trip with his girlfriend in Spain."
My face must've shown how shocked I was because when he looks at me, his eyebrows furrow in slight irritation.
"Why do you look so shocked?" He demands to know. Now he folds his arms. He also sulks and looks away from me.
"I just thought...you know... you guys would be a team until the very end was all. I guess. Weren't you tight and stuff?"
He doesn't say anything for a while. Just stares at his bedroom wall in silence. I can't help but wonder what he's thinking.
"..Yeah...tight..." is all he mumbles out.
I sigh. This is going nowhere. Wait, where was it supposed to go in the first place?
With a glance at my watch, my eyes nearly bulge out in pure horror.
It's 6:45 in the fucking morning.
I'm not home yet.
Fuuuuuck...
The Professor was going to KILL me. And if not him, then surely Blossom! I quickly check my phone and realize I have 12 missed calls, all occurring after I passed out. 5 from Bubbles, 5 from Blossom, and 2 from the Professor.
Just the thought of hearing what messages they left on my voice mail made me shudder.
I was in a shit load of trouble...
"Yo." Butch speaks up. Finally.
"You okay? Got somewhere to be?" He sounds as if he hopes my answer is no. I still don't get why he doesn't want me to leave..
"My family. They must be worried sick about me." I grunt, getting up from the bed.
Butch gets up too, a little bit too eagerly for my taste.
"Wait- you...you're not going now are ya?" He questions as I look towards his door.
Ew...what an ugly shade of yellow that door is...
"Yeah, I really should...I'll bet I'm in for a beating when I get there. Every minute counts."
Butch seems disappointed in that.
"You're going to let your family intimidate you? For some reason, I thought you were tougher than that." Butch mumbles, a small, bitter smirk working its way onto his face.
I scowl at him, my head reeling over a scenario of me walking into my house now, and Blossom pouncing on me 5 seconds after I've stepped in the door.
Not pretty...
"Look, it's none of your goddam business-"
"But I thought I had your attention?" Butch challenges me, which makes me grind my teeth together.
"Yeah, maybe before you went blank on me and said nothing." I challenge him right back, making his blood boil. It makes my heart beat a little faster to see him get agitated for some reason.
"Well, I'm saying something now!" He shouts, "And I'm telling you plain out, the buttercup I know would never dare go back there now. She'd keep pushing her family to see if they really gave a damn about her- and even then she'd still take a risk. Even more so actually. She'd spend a whole n'other night out in fact! The point is, she wouldn't back down." He persecutes me, making my blood run cold.
I feel tense and agitated along with him now.
"You act as if you know me! Well let me tell you something Bucko, you DON'T. Okay? All you've ever known about me is how I fight. That's IT."
"What else is there to know?" He challenges yet again, making me feel flat. One dimensional.
And the worst part is?...He's right.
What else is there to know about me, besides my fighting skills? I don't do anything, I don't know anything, I can't be anything other than a fighter.
So...what argument have I got with him? He's right.
But I won't back down.
"You son of a bitch. You brung me here to torture me, didn't you? We too bad! I'm leaving. I don't need this bull!" I growl out, grinding my teeth as I stomp off towards his bedroom door. I don't stop this time. I don't see a flash of forest green blocking my way to this door.
Instead I open it and pause at what I see.
The living room is just as bad, if not worse, than the bedroom. The television looks like it came from the trash- and was vintage, but not the good kind. It was a broken down 50s television, and it was running out of juice, if it had any left. The picture was on, but it was only in black and white and was small and fuzzy...
The couch was small and beaten up, as if Butch had personally punched and kicked it for mere pleasure. It was a muddy brown color that looked like it'd camouflage perfectly in the forest. I didn't need to see the rest of the house to know that it too was a dump.
And for whatever reason...this made me stop. This made me stop leaving.
But...why?
I bit my lower lip as he pushed past me, giving me a bitter shove. I allowed him too, my eyes glued on that television set...
He walked to the middle of the floor, the floor creaking with every step he took. When he got to the spot he was aiming for, he faced me and spread out his arms, as if she show off his ugly abode. His face was broken, fallen, and miserable.
"Welcome, Buttercup Utonium." He announces grandly, but bitingly, "Welcome to my scrap heap of a home. Sorry if it doesn't fit your tastes." He sarcastically announces. A frown forms on my face at this and I look away, not able to meet his gaze. Dammit, why am I acting like this? Just leave already!
"...I'm sorry." Wait, did those words just fly out of my mouth, or did someone else say that? No. Even though it sounded small and helpless, no one else's voice sounded like that. It was definitely my own.
"...Sorry?" Butch repeats, aghast. I just blink and look at him. "Why?" He scrunches his face up in confusion.
I shrug, obviously confused myself.
But it doesn't take long to realize why I feel the way I feel.
His apartment mirrors myself, and how I feel. Like crap.
Is it possible he feels this way too, deep down?
"Buttercup...you're just full of surprises for me today, aren't you?" He speculates, rubbing his drying hair. It'll stink like beer now. Thanks to me hitting him with one.
"Yeah. I tend to do that." I say nothing else. I just stand there.
"I see that." He looks back at his T.V., hiding his face from me, "Wanna watch some sports?" He suddenly suggests.
He looks back at me with slight interest. Sports?
Wait...why is it I get the feeling he's trying so hard to be friendly?
"...Why are you doing this Butch?"
"Doing what?" An dark eyebrow of his cocks up.
"You know what." My eyes narrow at him suspiciously, "Don't pretend."
"...Asking you to watch sports with me?" He suggests, going over to his rugged couch and grabbing the remote.
"No! Ugh...trying be all...friendly! It annoying me."
He blinks and looks back at me, his forest green eyes taking me in for a minute or two.
"...Why?" He suddenly startles me, "Why does that bother you so much? Having a friend I mean."
"We're not friends." I state a bit more harshly than intended. But, it was the plain truth, right? He frowns at this and looks back at the T.V. I can't see his eyes now, but before he looked away I saw conflicting emotions surface in them.
"We have to be friends to watch sports together?" He queries, acting innocently confused. I roll my eyes at this.
"Yes Butch. We do. And we're not."
"...So you still want to be enemies." It was more of a declaration than a question. That made me rack my brain.
Did I want to be enemies with him? I already had enough as it is, minus Alanna. I didn't really need any more, and Butch could be a powerful alley, if needed. Did this mean he was good now? That he wanted to stop being evil?
Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't be so lonely anymore with him around. But what would the girls say? Oh, who cares what they say. I'm already disobeying them as it is...
I feel my heart say 'No, I don't want to be enemies with you anymore. What would be the point?'
Instead, my mouth is saying something totally different before I can correct it.
"We are enemies Butch. We always were! Nothing changed just cause you went away for a couple of years." I state, my voice harsh, cruel, and determined.
Butch blinks at the T.V., and slowly turns towards me. His eyes pierce my own. I can't tell what he's thinking though.
"You're pathetic, you know that Buttercup?" Butch suddenly whispers. He's not putting in any effort to even try to be mad. I wonder how hard it must be to not get mad at me at this point.
Heck, even I'm mad at me, for whatever reason...
One more enemy shouldn't hurt, right? I can fare on my own like usual... or could I?
"Yeah, that's what they all say." I grumble, fighting the burning sensation in my throat, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go now. My damn family's more important than the likes of you."
But why did it feel I didn't mean those words? At all?
It felt like my family was a million miles away. People I barely knew. Perhaps they were even aliens to my heart now. Yet, here Butch was. So close, so visibly alone, just like me.
Couldn't we both use each others company right now?
But no. I couldn't tell him that. Ever.
His face dropped at that, a scowl crawling on his lips.
"Yeah, stupid Bubbles with her stuck up red headed sister and a square father? Real great family you got there. Family is shit. They say they love you and contradict themselves. Screw family..."
But there was something in his words that was filled with pain. Something about them echoed the hurt deep inside his soul as he flicked the remote control rapidly, as if his finger was on fire. When the television didn't respond, he gave a roar so loud and ear booming that it caused my ears to ring. He flung the remote at the T.V. and the whole thing broke in one instance. Smoke and sparks alike gathered around the old little device and I just stared at Butch who stared at the broken television. Smoke floated all over the whole house, even towards me. I could see him through the smoke, but he looked ominous and like a distant illusion of my mind's eye.
Anyone could tell it wasn't really me he was pissed at. But something deeper than that. I wonder if he was pissed at his brothers for leaving him here, all alone. Was Butch actually showing me something deeper going on inside him than I ever could? I might never know.
"Goodbye Buttercup." He said it in such a way that any good natured person would've felt the torn emotions in his heart. Any good natured person would've walked over to him, sat down next to him on his mud colored couch, held his hand, or even hugged him.
But I was no good natured person. Instead, I clutched onto my phone, smoothed the smoke out of my hair, and walked on out of his apartment.
Ohhh...Buttercup was extremely cold in this chapter! But no worries, she'll be warming up to Butch soon...I hope. Anyways, at least she wasn't in pain this chapter around! What did you think of this one you guys? Liked it? Did it aggravate you to see them so tense around each other? To see them fighting? I'm sure Buttercup's attitude must've made you a bit pissed too haha. Unfortunate as it seems, there IS a reason why she's doing all this. One we as the audience WILL see, but not now. Soon. Please review you guys! Sorry for any spelling mistakes as well...Thank you! ^_^