Lords of the Playlist
Authors note: The Powerpuff girls do not belong to me and as always, they have human appendages.
Greens ages variate between late teens/early twenties.
Track 20: Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs
She was driving him crazy. Butch thought to himself as he watched Buttercup dance in the middle of their high school's gymnasium with a random guy who's name he didn't remember, and didn't want to know.
It seemed like every little thing that his counterpart did nowadays was enough to drive him up the damn wall, and he honestly didn't know why.
Well, that wasn't true – he did.
It had all started with the school's annual homecoming dance. Normally he wasn't a fan of these types of things and would usually skip them with his brothers or even Buttercup on occasion, but for reasons unknown to him – the school had deemed it mandatory that the students attend this one.
He snorted. It was ridiculous. No one enjoyed these things – except for maybe Bubbles or Princess and her cronies, but not him and especially not Buttercup.
Neither of them were looking forward to the dance – at least, that's what he said out loud, but secretly… he was. Because it meant that he would get to see Buttercup Utonium in a dress.
He kept that thought to himself for obvious reasons – and buried it deep, deep down in his chest where his inner demons slept. Never to see the light of day.
He didn't understand why he even wanted to see her in a dress so badly in the first place, and it scared him slightly.
Of course, because the dance was mandatory – he didn't want to go alone. His pride simply wouldn't let him. His first choice of a date was obviously Buttercup. She was his best friend after all, and they could always mess around while everyone else was preoccupied with dancing.
He had been tuning the corner to where her locker was – getting ready to ask her to the dance – only to see some other guy, who was not him, asking her out.
Never before had he felt the urge to blast something with his heat vision as badly as he did then.
He had stormed off after that – not bothering to stick around to hear her answer. He could faintly recall that the guy was on his football team, but aside from that, he was a nobody – a loser, some fucker who had stolen his-
He froze at the direction where his thoughts were going.
What the hell? His? Where was that coming from? She was just his friend for Christ's sake. It didn't matter to him on who she decided to take to the dance or not!
It didn't, it didn't, it didn't- it did.
… Why the hell did he care so much?
The evening of the dance came around a week later, and he had to admit that he looked pretty damn handsome in his white dress shirt and black slacks. His unruly hair was spiked neatly for once, and while he knew he looked good – he wasn't interested in flirting with any of the other girls at the dance who were ogling him – instead opting to take a seat off the side of the dancefloor and watch as the other couples came in.
And then she showed up.
Her hair was down and her Smokey eye makeup was done to perfection, making her lime green eyes pop out more than they usually did – but that wasn't what made his mouth suddenly dry up, and his eyes to widen to the size of dinner plates.
No. Buttercup Utonium was wearing a dress. And she looked good in it. (If he ignored the prick on her arm, then she looked even better in his opinion)
It wasn't like he was staring at her or anything – what, with her long, dark hair tossed carelessly down behind her back, and her short black dress that showed off her toned legs- NO. NO he wasn't thinking about her like that! She was his best friend! His friend. Just his friend – she looked good, he'd admit that, but she was just his friend-
He wasn't jealous. She just knew how to get under his skin better than anyone else.
And that's how they ended up here.
Goddamn it, do you even know what the hell you're doing to me? He wanted to ask her as he watched her dance with the nameless guy. It wasn't intimate of course – just a casual dance, but the sight was sill enough to make his blood boil.
Because it should be him she was dancing with. Not… that loser!
The song ended and Buttercup pulled away from her date and moved over to him. Sitting down next to him, she rolled her eyes jokingly. "Thank god that's over." She chuckled. "It was getting a little too awkward for me to handle."
"Yeah, sure." He grunted back, still off-put by what he witnessed.
Buttercup shot him an amused look as she watched him glare daggers at her other date who faded into the crowd with another girl moments later. Good. Butch thought to himself savagely as he watched him go. Stay the fuck away from Buttercup, you don't deserve her anyways.
He was so preoccupied with his hateful thoughts toward the other boy that he didn't realize that the song had changed to a slow dance song, and that Buttercup was still staring at him with a small grin on her face – quickly putting two and two together in her head.
Rolling her eyes, she got up and stood in front of him as she wordlessly extended her hand to him.
"Get up loser. We're dancing." She informed him as she tugged him up – fighting back laughter at the stunned expression on his face.
"What about the other guy?" he couldn't stop himself from sputtering as he allowed her to lead him into the middle of the dancefloor.
"I barely even know him." Buttercup chuckled as guided his hands to her waist, as she put her arms around his shoulders.
"Besides… he's not as fun as you." She murmured into his ear as she placed her head on his chest.
Butch could almost swear his heart stopped, as she shot him a sly grin.
Oh my god. What the hell was she trying to do to him? He thought to himself frantically, as he willed his rapidly palpating heart to slow down – refusing to look her in the eyes as they danced to the slow beat of the song.
There she was, in a dress, with her head on his chest, and her hands around his neck, and he could barely breathe.
He didn't know why exactly she was having this effect on him.
That was also a lie. He did.
Because if he allowed himself to admit it – if he dug into the depths of his chest, where he kept all of his darkest secrets – he could admit that he liked her as more than just a friend.
And maybe, just maybe – If this dance meant anything at all – he could allow himself to hope that she liked him too.
The song ended too soon.
Slowly, Buttercup pulled away from him, and he took that as his cue to let go of her hips. She sent him another sly smile as he dropped his hands.
"You know… you're not a bad dancer." She grinned – eyes flashing in the low lighting. "We should do thing again sometime." He could only nod dumbly in response.
She let out a low laugh and glanced at the clock before sending him a wink. "I'm going to get out of here. My feet are killing me. I'll see you later Butch." And with that, she turned on her heel and sashayed out of the crowded gymnasium, leaving him alone, stunned and confused.
Well. Butch sighed to himself as he watched her go. He was fucked. Completely and utterly fucked.
.
XxX
Let it never be said that romance is dead
'Cause there's so little else occupying my head
Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby
Do ya do ya do ya do ya
Know what you're doing, doing to me