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.

*Could be seen as a continuation from Track 16

Track 48: I Miss You – blink-182

Butch tumbled out of the elevator and into the clean apartment hallway, slamming drunkenly into the hallway's wall before righting himself as he made his way down the long brightly lit hallway.

This wasn't his apartment complex. Realistically he knew that he had no business being on the property in the first place, but there was somebody here that he desperately needed to see before he lost what little was left of his sanity.

Buttercup.

He slowly made how way down the hallway, searching for her new apartment number in his drunken haze. She shouldn't be here either. He thought to himself miserably. She should be back at home with him in their shared apartment.

The thought made him flinch. Should. But she wasn't. She had left without so much as a word.

God he fucking regretted the fight that had pushed her to leave.

She had left close to a month ago, and he slowly been turning into a wreck ever since.

At first, he hadn't cared – she had left before when their arguments spiraled out of control, only to return a week or so later. That was normal. But when she didn't return after two weeks, he had gotten worried.

Soon after that, he realized that she had no intention of coming back at all, and he had lost it.

He had become bitter and angry, lashing out at everyone to the point that even his brothers had opted to stay away. He had been drinking excessively and had completely trashed his apartment – becoming increasingly more violent and unstable as more time passed – until finally Brick had caved, and revealed that Blossom had helped Buttercup get an apartment in the downtown area.

The ironic part? It was only about ten minutes away from their former shared apartment near the heart of the city.

But that didn't matter now, he was on a mission. A mission to bring her back home with him, where she belonged.

Truth be told, a part of him wasn't all that surprised that she had left – their last fight had been one of their worst ever, and he had said something that he… really didn't mean to say. But it would be all right – he had come to fix everything. He'd make it all right between them again.

He slowly dragged himself down the hallway before stopping in front of a gray door with the apartment number 48 written on the wall beside the door. He grinned.

Bingo. He'd found it.

He took a minute to straighten himself out best he could and knocked on the door – hoping that she was home and that she would answer the door.

A few seconds later – his advanced hearing picked up the sound of soft footsteps heading towards the door and his breath hitched. Yup it was her – he'd recognize her light tread anywhere.

Just hearing her again made him so deliriously happy, that he barely noticed the door swing open until he noticed a pair of bright green eyes right in front of his face.

Buttercup.

He grinned and spread his arms out. "Baby-"

The door slammed shut.

He frowned, the booze in his system making him both sad and irritable. Couldn't she see that he was here to fix things? he wasn't here to fight.

He pounded on the door again, clenching his fists as he waited for her to open it again. After a minute she did, glowering at his massive form.

"Go away." She snapped furiously. "Babe, come on, I'm not here to fight, I just wanna-" he slurred, only to notice the door was closing again. He panicked. He couldn't have her shut him out again or he knew that he would lose her for sure.

Panicking, he threw his weight against the door, preventing her from closing it on him completely – causing her to let out a startled grunt, as she fought to close the door on her side.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell is your problem dickweed?!" Buttercup snarled as she pressed her whole body against the door, attempting to close it in his face, but he wasn't having any of that.

Letting out an animalistic grunt, he backed up before charging through the door – forcing her to back up and into her glass coffee table – shattering it – as the door splintered and flew open from the force of the blow – the door-frame bending and cracking, as he barreled into the otherwise spotless apartment.

He stood up slowly, only to see Buttercup staring at him furiously – surrounded by glass shards of what used to be her coffee table. Both stared at each other in a stunned silence for a moment, before her face twisted in rage, and pointed behind him.

"Out asswipe! I'm not going to tell you again! I will forcefully remove you myself if I have to, but you're not going to like that." Buttercup practically roared, pointing towards the mangled door that swung listlessly in its frame.

If he had been someone else – someone who was sober, sane and less homicidal then he was – he would have listened. But he was none of those things.

He was intoxicated, insane and just about ready to kill – but he had to keep that last urge in check. Something told him that the love of his shitty life wouldn't be very willing to listen to him if he went off on a murderous rampage.

"Babe, baby, Sunshine, just- just listen for a second okay?" He slurred as he struggled to remain upright. "I gotta tell you something important."

Buttercup narrowed her eyes him until they were piercing green slits. "You're fucking drunk aren't you." It wasn't a question.

"Maybe." He rumbled – proud of himself for not slurring his speech this time. "That doesn't matter, I came to-"

"I don't give a damn what you came to do, you need to leave." Buttercup snarled venomously. "You show up my apartment uninvited. You practically break down my door yelling like a lunatic, and to top it all off you're shit-faced." She laughed bitterly. "Just another typical night for me I suppose – I don't know why I'm still surprised."

Butch felt his right eye twitch as his hands curled up into fists. He had been fighting hard to keep his pain and rage in check for this visit, but he could only hold it in for so long before releasing it – and to be fair, she wasn't making this whole apology deal easy for him.

"Goddamn it woman I came to apologize!" he bellowed, his temper finally reaching its breaking point.

"Oh that's fucking rich, you think an apology is going to fix this? You and I are though. You made that perfectly clear the last time we fought."

"No you don't understand – I fucking need you! It's killing me not having you here- fuck it, YOU'RE killing me!" Any other time and Butch would have hated how weak and needy his voice sounded, but he was a desperate man and his pride had taken a backseat for once.

Buttercup's mouth dropped open in shock. She had been expecting a lot of things from him, but that was the one thing that she had not been prepared for.

"What… the fuck are you going on about…?" she growled finally after a long moment of silence had passed between them, "Are you trying to blame this on me-"

"No, no, not at all. I just... I just need you back… I'm a mess without you. I'm… a fucking wreck… God my brothers were right, I guess I really can't live on my own without you… sad huh?" Butch chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, refusing to meet her eyes – wishing desperately that he had another drink.

Finally he lifted his head to meet her bight green irises and he felt his breath get taken away as he looked at the woman that he loved most in the world.

The X powered ravenettes were silent as they stared each other down, neither daring to move a muscle – afraid that it would ruin the almost peaceful quiet that had fallen over them. The longer they stared at each other, the more Butch could feel the pressure in his throat build up until it felt like he couldn't breathe.

Finally, he snapped. Before Buttercup could even blink, he had closed the space in-between them and had wrapped her in a tight hug.

He felt her stiffen in his hold, and try and wriggle her way out of his grasp but he only held her tighter – afraid that if he let her go he would lose her for good.

And he wasn't willing to let that happen. Not to her.

"I miss you." He croaked out, hating that tears were starting to prick at the corners of his eyes. "I need you back. I know I fucked up, but I'll do better, I swear… This won't be the last time I do it, but if I'm going to fuck up I want you to be there with me, because I can't do it alone anymore. I just miss you so much."

Buttercup stopped trying to get out of his grasp and stood still as he started to break down on her shoulder. She knew she should feel bad, he had done this to himself, and she knew it. But damn it all to hell, she loved him.

As insane and nasty as he could be, she loved him. She needed him, and clearly – he needed her too.

She glanced around at her now destroyed apartment before looking back at the brute of a man who had his face buried into the side of her neck, and was now sobbing on her shoulder, and she made up her mind.

Damn it she was getting soft. She needed to stop giving people second chances.

She slowly brought her arms around his broad torso and returned the hug, feeling him squeeze her a little tighter in response as he continued to shake with sobs.

"I've missed you too." She murmured gently in his ear, as she rubbed his back comfortingly.

They stood there, wrapped up in each other's arms for a long time after that, surrounded by bits of debris that used to be the coffee table, and neither of them would have had it any other way.

All was calm that night.

.

XxX

Hello there, the angel from my nightmare

Don't waste your time on me.

You're already the voice inside my head.

I miss you, miss you