It Is What It Is

Buttercup gradually noticed that she was awake. The dawning realization led her to open her eyes and smile. She stretched, her feet pulling her covers off her face in the process.

It had been three weeks since Bubbles and Buttercup first went to the seaside cliff to talk about Mitch. Buttercup wasn't quite sure what to make of everything yet, but she didn't let it bother her. She had probably just blown things out of proportion in her mind. There was no way she could really be in love with her sister, after all. Sure, Bubbles was sweet and more enjoyable than Buttercup had ever imagined. Somewhere over the years she had changed from a whining coward to a confident, proud young woman.

Buttercup didn't doubt her feelings would level out eventually. What would be left behind, she was sure, would be a wonderful friendship. In the meantime, she would just enjoy it. No one had ever made her feel this wonderful and it might be a long time before Buttercup felt this happy with someone else.

They'd talked about nearly everything that could be talked about and even had one or two friendly debates along the way. They'd spent a lot of time just sitting and talking, but they'd had a lot of other fun, too. Some of that was just going to exotic places. Sometimes they just went to talk and enjoy the scenery, but there were usually more interesting activities.

Buttercup even convinced Bubbles to have that game of tag high in the sky on a cloudy day. It ended when Buttercup grabbed her sister from behind and dove them both into the ocean. They'd laughed until they hurt, swimming around and splashing each other, seeing who could hold their breath the longest, and when that got old before either of them gave in, they just floated around to rest up.

Last weekend they spent a night camping on Mount Everest. They figured could stand the cold and altitude just fine, but they'd brought a tent and sleeping bags anyway. But before the night was over they zipped them up as one and shared. Buttercup had been a little nervous, but in the end she couldn't help but enjoy the warmth and softness of Bubbles close by.

Yesterday they had visited Japan on a whim. Bubbles briefly spoke with a pen pal of hers there, in the process proving to the girl's friends that she really was in regular contact with a Powerpuff. Buttercup had felt so out of place and almost vulnerable just casually wandering around Tokyo, but she found she put her trust in Bubbles easily. Bubbles had been bright and confident, speaking to and even joking with the occasional fan or shop owner with her uncanny fluency. She'd explained a number of cultural nuances to Buttercup along the way.

Eventually, though, Buttercup had to get out of bed.

Today their dad had to speak at a conference out of state. Blossom had offered to fly him there in his car so she could sit in and listen. Buttercup figured she and her sister would probably lounge around the house today. When she made her way downstairs she found Bubbles in the middle of just that.

"Good morning," Bubbles chimed.

"Morning," Buttercup replied, continuing on to the kitchen. "So, getting tired of me yet?" That question, and variations of it, had become fairly routine, a sort of in-joke.

"Not yet," Bubbles replied with equal regularity.

"I started one of those comics last night," Buttercup called from the kitchen.

"Manga," Bubbles corrected in an almost sing-song voice.

"It's in English!" Buttercup countered.

"Still manga," Bubbles retorted.

"Whatever!"

Buttercup returned with a bowl of cereal in hand. She hopped the couch and drifted gently down in the middle, beside her sister. As she ate, Buttercup realized Bubbles was watching one of her purchases from yesterday. So she assumed, at least. In any case, it was definitely not in English.

"This got subtitles?"

"Nope. Sorry."

"All right, then. Care to tell me what's going on?"

"Ha," Bubbles half-laughed, half-sighed. "Remember, you asked for it." After a pause, she continued. "Well, there's this corporation slowly draining the souls away from children through their products. Turns out it's run by a group of ancient demons. No surprises there. Now, see that girl? On the left? She's a descendant of a powerful line of priestesses, but everyone thought their descendants were wiped out ages ago. The other girl is actually part demon. You know the devil and angel on the shoulder thing? Well, everyone she kills, she recruits their little devil conscience and now she has a small army of them she uses to kill people."

"Ooookay," Buttercup said. "Weird, but I'm somehow not surprised."

"Oh, it gets worse. The priestess girl, Yukina, and the half-demon girl, Komiko, fell in love and had sex in the first half of the movie."

"Again, somehow not surprised."

"You should have let me finish. They just found out they're actually half-sisters through their mother."

Buttercup choked on her cereal a little and started coughing. Bubbles laughed.

"Are you okay?"

Buttercup set her cereal on the coffee table and nodded, still coughing.

She laughed again. "A little less par for the course?" She leaned over and wrapped her arm around Buttercup, resting her head on her sister's shoulder. "What's wrong? Afraid of a little friendly girl-on-girl incest?"

Buttercup coughed hard one last time and pushed her sister away playfully. Hoarse but smiling, she said, "Get off me, you weirdo."

Just before Buttercup fully recovered (physically or otherwise), she was taken by surprise when Bubbles tackled/wrestled her onto her back, prompting a laughter-accompanied, "Hey!"

Bubbles kept kissing the air as her head slowly descended towards her sister, the intended threat obvious. Buttercup smiled and when Bubbles came closer enough decided to show her up and gave her a brief kiss on the lips. Buttercup dropped her head back onto the couch right after. When Bubbles looked down in mild surprise Buttercup offered a triumphant, "Ha! See, you don't scare me none."

"Well, well, well," Bubbles started, smirking. Apparently she couldn't think of anything to follow that up with, since she said nothing further just then. After a while, she did silently laugh a little, and Buttercup felt her shake as she did so. "If nothing else, I guess you are pretty comfy."

Buttercup smiled wryly, "You gonna kiss me again or are you gonna get off?"

"I dunno," Bubbles teased. "Maybe I like it here. How about that, huh?"

"Heh. I guess it could be weirder. For starters, I always imagined I'd get to be on top."

"Oh, so now you're telling me you've been imagining this for a while, now?"

Buttercup chuckled. Had they done this even a week ago she'd have been blushing and stammering like crazy from the start, but now that she'd decided this was all a passing phase it was just fun. For that matter, it helped to get over it.

"Hell, no. But..." Buttercup stopped, asking herself if she really wanted to say this. In the end she figured, why not? "But for what it's worth," she continued, wrapping her arms around Bubbles's back and giving her a gentle squeeze, "I couldn't settle for someone who can't make me as happy as you do."

"Aw, Buttercup--I'm beginning to worry I may have turned you into a wuss." She gave Buttercup a peck on the cheek. "But that's still sweet of you."

"Well, I guess that answers that question."

"What question?"

"'Are you gonna kiss me again or are you gonna get off?'"

"Ah, that question. Well, before this gets awkward, how about both?" Bubbles floated up and landed beside the couch at Buttercup's feet.

"Good move," Buttercup offered, sitting back up. "What would the neighbors say?"

"Hey, twelve years ago daddy was making little girls in his basement and then his monkey tried to take over the world. And you wonder why the Japanese love us?"

Buttercup couldn't help but laugh. Then she saw Yukina and Komiko on the screen again, trying to resist the urge to share one last kiss before starting their final offensive on the evil corporation. That just made her chuckle more. "You know, Bubbles, you've got a point."