Bubbles stared down at the sketch in her lap for a solid minute before groaning and erasing Butch's face for the 10th time. She just couldn't seem to get it right! Was his nose straight, or was it crooked from fighting? What was the exact shape of his eyes? How defined was his jaw?

The fact that she couldn't answer these questions was tremendously frustrating. There was no way she was handing in a portrait that wasn't as accurate as she could make it. She was better than that! Art is her forte, art is where she excels, she isn't going to hand in a portrait that she knows isn't up to her standards.

She considered asking Buttercup for her opinion on the sketch, but she decided against it. What would Buttercup think if she knew Bubbles was painting a portrait of one of their greatest enemies? She was sure her sister would get the wrong idea…

Bubbles' frustration was growing by the second, and frankly, it didn't suit her.

She shoved her sketchbook and pencils into her grey messenger bag, threw on one of her hoodies, and flew out of her bedroom window.

As soon as she sat down, she pulled her phone out of her bag. She shot Blossom a quick text that she was at the Townsville Park, and that if there was trouble to come find her. She really hoped there wouldn't be, though. She wasn't sure she could explain what she was planning to do here, or who she was going to do it with.

She shoved her phone into the large middle pocket of her hoodie and pulled her sketchbook and pencils out of her bag. She flipped to the next blank page and began doodling to pass the time.

She was drawing aimless little sketches for about ten minutes before she felt his eyes on her. She felt herself getting nervous, but she took a deep breath and reminded herself that she planned to meet him here. There was no need to be nervous. Hopefully.

She put on her best fake smile and looked up at him. "It took you long enough. I was getting bored of waiting for you,"

Butch raised an eyebrow at her, "You were waiting for me?"

"Well, I guessed you would show up if I went outside. And I was right," she hummed.

He was silent for a moment before he asked, "Why did you want to see me?"

"Because of this," she mumbled as she flipped her sketchbook back to the half-drawn portrait of him.

She stayed silent for a moment to let him see the sketch. She was too nervous to look up at his face. Oh god, what if he got the wrong idea?!

"It's for my art class," she blurted out, still staring down at her sketch. "We're doing portraits of people we wouldn't normally paint, and…" she trailed off, finally looking up at his face to judge his reaction.

He looked as neutral as he did before. Man, either he's made of stone, or she just hasn't figured out how to read him yet.

"So… what? Do you need a picture of me to work off or something?"

His question pulled her out of her thoughts. "Well, no. I don't really like working from pictures. I'd rather use you as a model. But you can say no if you want!" she blurted out the last part quickly.

She realized how weird this was. They were enemies, he had no reason to agree to model for her. He had no reason not to attack her. She expected him to say no.

"Fine," he said, taking a seat next to her on the bench.

She blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I said I'll model for you. What, do you not want me to?" he asked, sounding slightly… amused?

"No! I mean, I do want you to model for me. I just expected you to say no," she answered.

"I didn't. So get going before I change my mind," he said, smirking at her.

She genuinely smiled at him for the first time in her life, before starting to sketch out his features. His crooked nose, almond shaped eyes, his jaw line, everything was coming together much smoother now.

"Done," Bubbles sighed, dropping her pencil on her paper.

"It took you long enough," Butch mumbled as he took a drag of his cigarette. He looked down at her sketch as he blew smoke out of his nose. "This isn't half bad, Blue,"

"Thank you!" she beamed at his praise. She was absentmindedly rubbing the space between her pointer and middle finger on her right hand, it was sore from drawing non-stop for almost half an hour. They had sat in a comfortable silence the whole time.

"So, you don't need me anymore?" he asked.

"I didn't say that. I'll still need you to model when I do the actual painting. I'm just done with the sketch," she said as she put her pencils and sketchbook back into her bag.

"When are we doing that?" he asked, flicking some ash from his cigarette onto the ground. He mumbled, "Hopefully not today, I'm already bored out of my mind,"

"No, not today, I'm too tired," she yawned. "But definitely tomorrow. It's due on Friday, and today's already Wednesday. I'll transfer the sketch onto the canvas tonight and do all of the base painting, so it shouldn't take us too long tomorrow,"

"And where do you expect us to do this? Your house?" he asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

She froze for a moment. Oh no, she had no idea where she could paint him! She couldn't just take him home, he could steal something! Or hurt the Professor! Or her sisters could walk in on them in her room and get the wrong idea! They would kill her!

She thought about it for a moment before asking, "Do you know where Pokey Oaks High School is?"

"Yeah," he answered nonchalantly.

"Good. Meet me there tomorrow at four, and don't be late!" she said. "I've got to get home before I miss dinner. I'll see you tomorrow!" she smiled at him before she flew off.

Butch watched her go. He stayed of the bench for a moment to finish his cigarette before dropping it on the ground and squishing the filter and ash under his boot.

He chuckled to himself, this was turning out to be easier than he expected. He wondered if his brothers were having as much luck with their targets.

With one last glance at the fading blue streak in the sky, he took off in the opposite direction, towards Townsville Woods.

I'm… embarrassed that it took me this long to update. Seriously, it's been far too long, you guys deserved this update months ago. School pretty much stole all of my time and motivation for writing, but I've finally graduated high school and have a few months until college steals my soul, so I'm going to get back into writing

Also, if you've been following this story since the beginning, you saw my whole debate in my notes (which I have since deleted, since I now find them embarrassing) as to whether or not to add romance to this story. Well, I actually decided (and I won't change my decision this time) to add romance as a big part of the story. I'm a huge sucker for romance, and ButchxBubbles is my guilty pleasure PPG ship. Hopefully you guys still like the story!

I'd also like to give a shout-out to my friend, AButterfly'sTrueColours! She helped me develop some ideas for this story, finally got me to decide on my whole romance-discourse, and helped me get my motivation back. I probably wouldn't have updated for another few weeks if it wasn't for her.

The next chapter will be mixing it up a bit, and actually won't be totally Bubbles-centric! Plus the other two Ruffs make a larger appearance.

Thanks for reading!