Disclaimer: Don't own PPG.

Nothing here to say but that you asked for it.  Part 4 coming your way with an extra helping of comedy sauce!  Read on!

Love Him Not

Blossom blinked uncharacteristically, actually at a loss for words.

            "'Operation Buttercup' was a doll?"  She asked her sister Bubbles in the midst of her hideously pink room.  Bubbles was practically tearing her blonde pony-tails out.

            "Are. You. Even. LISTENING?!"  She shrilled, her voice almost reaching that pitch in which windows break.

            "Bubbles…" Blossom trailed off softly, shaking her head.  "I think you're overreacting." 

Bubbles twitched once…twice…

            "I'm…OVERRACTING?!"  In a blaze of blue and pink the two Powerpuff girls found themselves outside of their sister's bed chamber.

            "Go ahead Blossom."  Bubbles snapped, motioning to the door.  Blossom took a deep breath and peeked inside.

And blinked.

And stared.

And again, there was that unusual absence of opinion.

            Blossom pulled away from the door and shut it softly.  When she didn't say anything, Bubbles nodded triumphantly.

            So having nothing else to say, they hovered off to Blossom's room, curious but really too confused to implore the situation further.

            "YOU DID WHAT?!"  Boomer and Brick piled on top of each other, either's eyes as wide as the Mayor's favorite jar of pickles.  Butch, with his eyes closed and his arm crossed, sat on the boys' raggedy denim couch, wearing his most appropriate scowl.

            "I gave up.  Let the brat have her way.  It shut her up faster."  Boomer slapped a hand over Butch's forehead, whereas he flung his arm away with equal force.

            "Stat!"  Brick cried.

            "Reactions normal."  Boomer muttered, leaning in to examine his face closer.  "Say 'Ahhh'…"

            "Get the heck away from me!"  Butch protested and shoved himself further down the couch.

            "Mind seems to be in order.  No signs of temporary insanity."  Boomer stated in a very professional manner.

            "Will a physical examination be needed?"  Brick asked, genuinely worried, though the glint of mischief quivering at his mouth proved otherwise.

            "Only a minor treatment.  CLEAR!"  Brick and Boomer smacked him securely over the head, first once, then twice for good measure.

            "Where's Butch and what has she done with him?"  Brick shouted in one ear.

            "Yeah," rallied Boomer, "Bubbles may be my girlfriend nobody's sister gets my brother stoned, man!"

            "Drop it, would you?!"  Butch pushed them roughly away, and in a blaze of green energy the door down the hall violently slapped shut.  On the other side of the room, the boys stared. 

            "We've got to talk to the girls about this.  Things are getting out of hand."

            "Word."

            Blossom and Bubbles were still in the former state of pensive silence when the phone rang later that evening.  Bubbles, being closest to the phone, picked it up with a very neutral voice.

            "Hello?"

            "Bubbles, my love."
            "BOOMIE!"  She squealed, knocking Blossom from her train of thought.  "I was hoping you'd call today!  I missed you."

On the other side of the line, Boomer got sort of a smitten look.

            "I missed you too, love.  It seems like forever."

            "Forever and ever.  It's almost been…twenty-four hours since I've seen you!"

            "I was thinking about you all day."

            "Oh, I was thinking about you too, Boom-Boom!"

            "I missed you, love!"
            "I missed you too!"
            "I missed you like the moon misses the stars!  Like the deserts miss the rain!  Like-" 

There was a thump then on the other line, some assorted yelling, selective words and a comment that made Bubbles go red, before Brick picked up the phone and Boomer could be heard 'oww'ing in the background. 

"Bubbles!"  He ordered sharply, "Buttercup!  Butch!  Talk!  Now!"  Bubbles' lip trembled, just before…

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

On the opposite side of the line, Brick winced.

"Bubbles…No, no…don't cry…please…"  The red Rowdyruff looked over.  Boomer was glaring daggers into every available point in his body, and had flushed a deep, riled red.

"You made her cry." 

Brick laughed nervously.

            "It was an…uh…accident?"

            Blossom seemed to have regained her senses.  She blinked.  Bubbles was whimpering terribly, the phone settled between her hands in her lap, drenching it with large, dramatic tears.  How had she managed to miss all the commotion?

            "Bubbles?"  More whimpering.  Blossom sighed, prying the phone from Bubbles and patting her blonde hair.

            "Hello?  Boys?  Brick?  Boomer?"  Blossom asked.  There was sounds of a faint struggle, and pink Powerpuff heard of a distinctive 'oooooooowwwwwwwwwwww cough-cough sputter' in the background.

"Hello?  HEEEELLLLOOOOOO?"

"Huh?"  The voice sounded as though it were being throttled around the neck – the voice was too gravelly for Blossom to tell whether it was Brick or Boomer, but decided against inquiring.

"Listen, meet Bubbles and I at the Townsville Plaza in front of the Ozzy's Ice Palace."  She paused, waiting for a response, but only heard raspy breathing, quiet fighting, and Bubbles' whimpering beside her.  "We'll…get to the bottom of this whole Buttercup Butch situation and, when we've figured this all out, they'll be all over each other in a matter of seconds."

There was still no reply. 

            "Bye then."  Blossom hung up the phone.  Bubbles, who was sniveling on her bedside, wiped her eyes.

            "What did they say?"

            "Not much…"  Blossom stated.

Butch frowned, and returned the receiver to its hook.

            Somehow he couldn't be terribly surprised –his brother would go to the ultimate low, setting him up with his sworn rival and enemy for the sake of their prissy-prissy girlfriends.  He growled.  And to think it was going to share the pizza he was about to order with them!

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."  It wasn't really a desperate matter exactly, but it did seem the most appropriate thing to say.  Butch burrowed through his closet and pulled out a wrinkled trench coat (the sunglasses were still in the pocket, and one of the lens was slightly cracked but he'd have to make do) and pulled it on in slow motion.  If he had any manly pride at all, he would have to out smart his brothers at their own twisted game.  He smiled deviously.  It might be fun.  And as far as partnership…

Butch knew just where to start.

The other two Rowdyruff boys were breathing hard in the other room.  Boomer looked a bit dizzy as he moved to pick up the phone.

"Bubbles?  Bubbles?  Crap, she hung up!"  In a blaze of blue energy, the phone was chucked across the hall way.

"She probably hates me now…"  He whimpered slightly, then his face suddenly hardened.  The blue ruff-boy snapped his attention to that of Brick, who freezed from getting up like a deer in headlights.

"AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"  An blazing blast of blue energy blew the left wall of Brick's room onto the lawn, and his poster of Carmela Electric sizzled.

"CARMELA!"  Brick cried.  He glared viciously.

"NOBODY sizzles CARMELA!"  Another brawl broke out, and the two boys were so preoccupied with all out war that neither noticed the black-garbed figure swiftly flying uptown.

Buttercup finally felt finished with her whole 'sad-moppy-misunderstand' feeling and had grunged away into a more angry, bitter genre of music (CUT MY HEART INTO PIECES!  THIS IS MY LAST RESORT!) when a knock came on possibly the only space of her walls not wallpapered with posters.  The last strum came out an awkward combination of notes.  Butch the green ruff-jerk was attempting to wave her out of the house.

Buttercup blinked.

            FWOOOSH!  They were suddenly out on the lawn, Buttercup straddled over his chest, punching the living daylights out of his face.

            "TAKE THAT!  AND THAT!  AND THAT!"

            "HEY! (punch) STOP (punch) I HAVE TO (punch-punch)…JUST STOP FOR A SECOND!"  Buttercup came to a screeching halt.  Butch breathed roughly, his head fell back onto the springy grass.

            "Your sisters are concocting some…evil, horrific plot to make me want to…"  He struggled the words out of his mouth, "date you, and vice versa."  Buttercup stared down on him incredulously.

An awkward pause.

            "TAKE THAT!  AND THAT!  AND THIS!  AND THAT!"  Buttercup ceased from punching him and throttled his neck instead.  "WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY DO THAT?!"

            "SO THEY COULD LIVE AS ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY!"  Buttercup discontinued once more.  It all made sense…the pictures, the hijacking, the scheming and secret phone calls…she could count them off her fingers if she had any.  She could barely bring herself to admit it but…the ruff-jerk may have actually been…

Right.

            Buttercup took advantage of the fact that her hands were still around his neck.

            "Alright you…I-"  Blossom and Bubbles could be heard approaching the door.  Buttercup jumped away from the Rowdyruff.

            "We'll talk in my room.  Quick!"  They apparated away, just as the pink and blue Powerpuff girls were strolling out of the door.

            "Come on Bubbles!  We've got to get to the Plaza."

            "Coming!"  In a blaze of pink and blue, the girls were zooming into the city of Townsville.

            "Stand here."  Buttercup growled as she walked past Butch, "And don't.  Touch.  ANYTHING."  She flopped onto her bed, pushing her thick raven hair behind her shoulder.

            "Alright.  What the heck is going on?"  Butch crossed his arms.

            "Brick, Boomer, Bubbles and Blossom are thinking up some hideous plot to possibly get me and you into thinking of each other as anything more than…"

            "Bitter rivals and enemies."  Buttercup supplied.

            "Right."

            "Impossible."  The green Powerpuff snapped.  "Never in this lifetime."  Butch shrugged sketchily.

            "Right, though my charm is very hard to resist."

            "You're pushing it."  Buttercup hissed.

            "Whatever…"  The ruff-boy paused, "Can I sit down or something?"

Buttercup glared.  So Butch cleared his throat, feeling very strategic indeed, and continued.

            "Anyway…my guess is that it was the girls' idea and the boys are just along for the ride."

            "And the undoubted brownie points."  Buttercup mumbled, more to herself.

            "Exactly."

She uncrossed her legs and scooted to the edge of her bed, leaning her elbows on her knees.

            "So, supposing I actually believed your pathetic story…what are we supposed to do about it?"

            "We'll just have to outsmart them at their own vile scheme."

            "But how…"

The inquisitive silence lasted for a good number of minutes.

            Then, the two of them looked strangely enlightened.

            "Are you thinking…what I'm thinking?"  Buttercup grinned in his presence for the first time in a long time.

            "Somehow, I think we're staring into the same light."

            "And tomorrow…Butch's Grand Master Plan begins-"

            "Ah…don't you mean Buttercup's Grand Master Plan?"

            "Buttercup?"

            "Did I stutter?"

            "Why would we have a wussy name like that?"

            "WUSSY?!"
            "Did I stutter?"

            "Jerk!"
            "Brat!"

            "You're an idiot!"

            "So are you!"

            "Fine."

"Fine!"

"FINE!"  There was a moment of sulking.

            "We'll just call it The Plan."

            "That's cool too."

            The future had chaos written all over it.

End of Part IV!

            Another quasi-cliffhanger.  Many apologies, but I did get part four out!  So?  How is this fiction progressing?  .::Arte-chan is a bit hyper::.  Comments?  Flames?  Chewy Chocolate Chip Bars with Multi-colored sprinkles and marshmallow bits?  HOT DOG!

Uh…yeah, sorry about that. -_-;;

            Many thanks for reading. .::bows graciously::.