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yayninjabob · 4 years

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Author Commentary

Ramblings from Yay Ninja Bob about her monstrous creation~

Besides working on my fic, I personally try to journal every day, and I realized that a lot of my journaling has become me pretty much rambling about the process of writing this damn fic lol. So I thought I'd share some of that for those who may want to know more behind my chapters from my author's perspective.

It's certainly not everything I can say, but it is a lot haha..

Chapter 1 - Thirteen

Behind the title:

Well, when I first began writing VillainR, I hadn't planned on having chapter titles at all. Mainly because coming up with chapter titles (or titles for stories in general) has always been something I struggle with personally. Anywho after I decided I wanted to challenge myself with chapter titles, I went back and named chapter 1 "Thirteen." Why? Well, it is the PpG's thirteenth birthday, of course there is that. VillainR as a whole is many things, but one major thing is it is a coming of age story for Buttercup/Joey/Jojo, as well as a story of self-discovery. There's a few important ages I wanted to cover and 13 is around the age where many kids start to "develop" and being a super-powered kid, Buttercup finally begins to develop her own "special power" at this age. I wanted this "growing pain" to be the catalyst for the events of Part One. So, I gave the chapter the title of "Thirteen" to try to highlight the significance of that age for Buttercup. The self-discovery made at this age is that special power (although they are unaware of it at this point). It's considered an unlucky number, and as it turns out, it is an unlucky year for our main character.

During the writing process:

First draft was written on Halloween night 2019 and pretty much all of it was completely scrapped haha.

I started writing it in first person, like the original Villain, in Buttercup's POV. I kept the events but approached it again in third person and liked it so much better that way. One major thing I wanted to improve on with the rewrite was character development which is pretty hard to achieve when writing in a limited POV of a character who eventually loses sight of much around them. I debated briefly on maybe doing alternating POVs between Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, but then I felt like it would still exclude a lot for other major characters like Mojo and Princess. I could add them too but I thought alternating too many POVs would be overwhelmingly difficult (for me as the author for sure but I imagine for the reader too) Third person seemed to be the best way to handle everything and really my only challenge with that was tweaking the whole "unreliable narrator" trope which I will be honest is my favorite trope ever. It is a challenge to try to recreate the same effect in third person, but I decided that a close third person was the best way to 1) tell a broader story and 2) still set limits on the reader's perspective, and control when and how I drop information and attempt to recreate a similar experience in an entirely new way I've never tried before heh. (I guess I will spend more time on this on my notes for Chapter 6)

Second draft I scribbled out in another few days with this new approach. It began at the start of the carnival and ended where it ends. Simultaneously I was reworking my overall outline for the fic and began to narrow down all the characters I wanted to be my key players for this epic. Once my outline was expanded to include everyone, I added the scene with Mojo and Him. For me, that's when I was like "Ayyy it's all coming together 👍👍" haha.

Another thing I wanted to improve on was setting and world-building. So final draft I decided to include some "history" behind Townsville and that's when I worked out the final draft.

This chapter definitely had the most trial and error during the writing process than any other chapter other than 5 so far.

Inspirations:

Townsville world-building/history - much of it is inspired by the city I grew up in (for the most part) which is Los Angeles. I mean it has all the sort of settings we've seen in the show which are all pretty diverse right? Townville had to have a diverse cityscape ranging from a busy downtown setting to quite suburbs to upperclass mansions, beaches, an island, forests, etc. Well I knew LA had all that and so I tried to re-imagine Townsville as basically an alternate universe LA lol. Monster Isle, I based on research I did on Catalina Island. I imagined the Utonium household was in a middle class neighborhood like Pasadena- close to the heart of LA but still a relatively "calmer" part of the city. Morbucks Manor would be in the Hills like Beverly Hills. Downtown was the heart of the city like Downtown LA. I debated briefly whether or not to have the Gangreen Gang be from an area modeled after South Central or East LA, but eventually I went with East LA because TBH I am just more familiar with it since that's where my mom's side is from and where I grew up early on in life. PLUS East LA actually has a pretty big punk scene so that fit the story too with Ace being in a punk band and all that.

1998 PpG Show References:

"Oh my gosh they have giant Bunny-Bunny's at the prize tent!"

(Super Zeroes)

Pop Culture References:

(OK most of my pop culture refs are just punk references lets be honest lol. Why Punk?? - because it is rebellion and rebellion is the heart of this fic)

The Clash - OK in original Villain I established that this was Buttercup's favorite band so I HAD to have that back for the redux. Here's all the refs I crammed into chapter 1 lol:

"Oh, Man! It's so hard to choose, like, I love literally everything by them. But I gotta say it's a tie probably between their first album and London Calling."

"Hell yeah. Jimmy Jazz is my jam."

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"You know, my band does a cover of White Riot," Ace continued to talk music with the teenager as he lit his cigarette and took a deep drag. He held the smoke in his lungs as he continued, "Only we call our version Green Riot."

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Blondie:

The one artist Buttercup had introduced Robin to that she instantly obsessed over was Blondie.

(Some) Symbolism:

- Blossom is 5'9" and Buttercup is 5'8" - Buttercup is always falling one step behind Blossom.

- Bumper Car scene - has some foreshadowing and well...

Blossom sat behind the wheel of a red bumper car at the opposite end of the metal floored rink. Buttercup crossed her arms in protest, "No way. I'm driving." she demanded.

Blossom also crossed her arms from where she sat behind the metal wheel. "So you can just rampage and crash into everybody here? No way." She fastened her seat belt with a quick snap and placed her hands firmly on the steering wheel again.

"Ugh. That's the whole point of bumper cars! It's to bump the other cars! You're supposed to try and bump everyone before the times up!"

"You always take it too far, Buttercup. I'm driving, so get in." The redhead grasped the steering wheel in her hands firmly, and refused to move.

And...

"You drive like an old lady," Buttercup shook her head in disbelief as her sister managed to avoid yet another collision.

"Well, that's your opinion," she shrugged off the insult, "Personally, I think it takes just as much skill to avoid every single car in here, as it does to hit every single car," she smiled at her sister.

And finally a brief allusion to the OG Villain lol...

"Blossom!" Buttercup shouted louder so she could get her sister's attention. She pointed at the fast approaching purple car that zoomed towards them from their right side. Behind the wheel of that car was Bubbles who wore a rather determined look on her face as Robin cheered for her.

Blossom saw, but by then it was too late. Bubbles and Robin's car slammed into Buttercup and Blossom's car at full force, spinning Buttercup and Blossom's car into the wall of the arena. The loud buzz which signified the end of the ride then sounded.

- the roller coaster is Buttercup's ideal carnival attraction; it's got the thrills, twists, turns, ups and downs. And makes Bubbles sick.

- the Ferris Wheel is Blossom's ideal carnival attraction; it's a staple of any fair, grand and big, overlooks everything, and traditionally romantic

YNB's favorite scene:

Personally, I loved writing the whole exchange between Buttercup and Blossom in the car. Establishing their rivalry, Buttercup's jealousy over Blossom's special power and heroism, Blossom's projection of her own insecurities, their differences, and their commonality.

Final thoughts on the chapter:

I was pretty satisfied with how it turned out but I did wait to post it until I had a decent headstart on chapter 2. I was pretty nervous about whether or not I could stay personally committed to writing this fic so I just wanted to make sure I was really feeling it first, lol. It had been so long since I'd written fanfic so I just needed to be sure.

When I outlined everything I estimated the chapter length to be around 6-7k words... And I was surprised that it was double that at about 12k. Which was wild because on my outline each opening chapter for Part 1, 2 and 3 were supposed to be shorter and more like preludes to everything else. Well, I guess they ARE shorter chapters but STILL definitely longer than any chapter I used to write for my multichaptered stories. At the time I thought "Ok obviously my writing has changed but surely I wont go much longer than 12k for future chapters...." Hurr hurr.

Personally, I was pretty proud of myself for spending so much time on it and rewriting it over and over and all that. In the past, TBH whatever was my first draft was pretty much also my last draft haha. I cranked out a chapter in one sitting usually and edited it mayyyybeee lol. I just wanted to get it posted so I could move on and get to that next point in the story. But I suppose now that I'm older and a bit more self aware, I realize a lot of my own anxieties manifest a lot in my writing though and I can recognize it in my old works like the OG Villain where I JUST WANNA GET TO WHAT I WANT TO WRITE RIGHT NOW OK?? I forced myself to slow the hell down this time, take it one scene at a time, and when things felt off I took breaks, slept on it for a few days and came back with new approaches or ideas. And so far that's how I continue to work on it.

Also, CHVRCHES. I listened to a ton of that band while working on this chapter especially.

#villainr #ppg fanfic #yayninjabob #behindthescenes #writing process #chapter 1 #let me know if you guys like this kinda stuff and I'll continue for the other chapters #commentary #author stuff

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the-resurrection-3d · 4 years

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You know what, 1-30. I’m interested. UwU

I’m gonna answer this in batches so it’s not 5 miles long, and adding that video erased the other questions for some reason so I guess even this hellsite is tired of me running my mouth.

What was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

Powerpuff Girls, Reds (aka Blossom/Brick). Technically when I was in elementary school I wrote a massive crossover (though I only remember Cow & Chicken being involved), and before that I’d written/drawn some PPG fic before, but a song fic to “Breathe into Me” by Red is the first thing I ever published. Yes I stanned Christian hardrock, it’s called having a massive throbbing cock.

Where is that fic now? Who tf knows.

Do you participate in any writing events or challenges throughout the year? If so, what do you like about them?

I’ve tried doing some writing event before but they never really work out, and none of my main fandoms have much going on-- though I did try doing the 2018 EddTord week and that spiraled into the nightmare that was ETF, as ....actually only like three of you would know lolol.

Do you write fics from start or finish, or jump around?

Unless it’s a one-shot I’m going to jump around a lot, mostly so I don’t lose inspiration by trying to force myself to write in a linear manner when I’m one of the least linear thinkers I or any of my friends know. As I mentioned to @n3tn0b0dy the other day, I think it’s much more helpful to write whatever scenes or moments come to you regardless of how they fit into the chronology, since you can always edit that later.

Do you outline before you start writing? If so, how far do you stray from that outline?

I often try to outline, but the majority of my stuff evolves massively over the course of the project, which is why I try not to post longfics before the majority of it is already done. This becomes a problem when the project has evolved so much and will require so much revision that it doesn’t feel worth it to even post anymore...hence why I have over 60k of CB Au material that will probably never see the light of day.

If you’re really concentrating, how many words can you write in a day?

God, that’s a good question. I think 2-4k is the most I’ve managed in a day, although I’m also often writing longhanded, so it’s hard to know for sure. When I’m concentrating I’m also usually getting up and pacing to music a lot as part of my process, lol. I think over one night locked in the library I wrote like 17 pages of only Yang/Yuck dialogue.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, share a song that’s been inspiring you lately.

Oh you know it brother. I don’t think I’m gonna get to write much this week, but I’ve been vibing hardcore over Shamhat/Enkidu with “Samson” by Regina Spektor.

I will also say that SHINNER13 makes me want to write TordPaultryck going apeshit in the foreign. I’ve been reliving helping Jake pack up his whole life and steal away in the middle of the fucking night for the last two days.

Do you prefer to write AUs, canon divergence, or canon-compliant fic?

AUs and canon divergences. (I think I actually tend to be more canon compliant with YYY fic, funnily enough.) But it’s always been fascinating how much characters or a story can drastically change with just one minor adjustment in premise. Eddsworld is basically one long string of AUs of itself so it hardly even registers lol.

Do you enjoy writing dialogue, exposition, or plot the most?

Dialogue, 10000%. To my detriment, honestly lmaooooo.

If you could only write angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Well now that I’m apparently fucking Jake too I don’t need to write about sex anymore.

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So angst, for sure.

#drake-the-incubus

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aclosetfan · 2 years

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you are my favorite writer in this whole fandom and I cannot tell you how happy I am that you are not obsessed with reds like the most fandom is…

because first I read one of your stories (it was Another Buttercrush) I was so amazed, then I got worried that rest of your writings might be about reds

safe to say i was relieved

💚💚💚

omg thank you!! There are so many talented writers out there, so I'm happy you enjoy my work!! Haha I’m truly not a reds shopper anymore. I think them as friends and that’s it (unless I’ve got a joke I’m working with)

If you want, here's my tragic backstory:

I was once a reds shipper back when i discovered the ppg fandom on DeviantArt in middle school (😂😂 lmaoo that ages me). When I “rediscovered” the fandom, I opened up MTH for old times sakes, and was finding myself disappointed every time we had to switch back over to the reds plot. Reading it with a fresh set of eyes, I got to a part where Blossom’s crying over Brick, and was like baby girl, “he ain’t worth it, he sucks, like have you considered he just isn’t into you, ur being annoying???” and clicked out of the fic. I couldn’t take the reds any longer. Then, I clicked into some other fics and found myself having the same issues!

Eventually, I had a sudden, “wow the problem isn’t the story, the problem is me!” I just wasnt into their relationship tropes as popularly written, but I figured I still shipped them.

*gasp*

But then, I went through a period of time where I literally didn’t know what to do with Blossom’s character. Like I’d outline a fic and kind of just stick her with Brick, nothing else. Idk we just didn’t vibe. I knew she was smart, the “leader”, and Brick’s gf. Cool, not boring at all 🙄

Until, I realized I could make her gay, and everything just sort of fell into place. Which I know is dumb, but freeing her character from her common wlm relationships allowed me to see Blossom just as Blossom 💁‍♀️ it’s like when people cut their hair off after a breakup 😂😂 she felt like an individual to me again, and she’s a lot of fun to mess around with!

#thanks for the ask!!#blossom headcanons

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idleglowingpixels · 10 months

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Actually had coffee and liked it again, Cafe Bustelo continues to be the one coffee brand I actually like the taste of

Now that I'm hyped up from the caffeine, I got work this morning, but I'm thinking about working on XXY today when I get home. I keep debating between it and my miraculous fic's outlining because that fic's gonna be roughly 78 chapters (for 3 26-"episode" "seasons"), and from just my first episode draft being 22k words long, it's gonna take a while to complete, so having a completed outline to go off of would be great =H=" And S5 just finished so I got a big boost of inspiration to write the story better again because WHAT WAS THAT ENDING lmaoooo

But also I don't wanna leave my PPG readers hanging from Chapter 7 for too long (or myself cause reading the fic back I'm like "okay...so where's the rest of it" as if I'm not its author PFFT)

#linposts

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aclosetfan · 3 years

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ask game number 10?

(ask game) thank you so much for asking!!!!

BUBBLE BAND ♥♥♥

YESSSS YESS haha yessss someone chose 10!!!!!! So pumped for this one. For new fandom members (lmao I’m like a damn fandom historian), battle of the band fics got really popular for half a second b/c of the punks. I outlined my own where the punks are included but with a twist. No powers au, multi chap fic.

My outline is really detailed because I know I’m going to be writing this one!! It’s just too much fun, but I’m only gonna give you the jist, I don’t want to spoil too much :))) I’ve got like six pages of notes and I’m still not done mapping it all out. It’s supposed to be goofy as well as a big s/o to everyone who watched cringy amvs on youtube in the early 2000s <3

BACKGROUND:

Brick (lead guitar), Butch (bass), and Boomer (drums) are three brothers with a shitty garage band. They think they’re hot shit. They’re not hot shit (not yet). They’re good at playing their instruments but they don’t have a big following (or any good songs). On a good night, Mojo (their adopted father) indulges them and brings the crowd to a stunning total of 1.

PLOT:

One day, Boomer gets it in his head that he doesn’t want to be a punk rocker anymore. It’s dumb, he’s bored, and obviously, he is the next Picasso, so he quits the band. Brick all but disowns him as a brother. Butch is like dude I’d be cool staying in the band and Brick goes “you don’t have a choice!” Butch is like “aight, but now that Boom’s gone, can we maybe play a song I wrote?” Brick’s like, “no!” Butch is like “aight. That’s fair it’s dumb anyway. No harm, no foul bro. How are we going to get a new drummer as good as Boomer?” Brick’s like, “we’ll find someone better!” They won’t because, to give credit where credit is due, Boomer is quite a good musician.

Butch is like well this still sucks though cause we just got all those t-shirts. Like we’re broke af and they’ve got Boomer plastered on the front of them too. We can’t just replace them. Brick’s like “we’ll find someone better and someone who looks like him nbd.”

Brick and Butch don’t know any other drummers and they certainly don’t know anyone who drums and also looks like Boomer, so they make flyers~

“Annnd,” Brick chirped, grabbing the page from the printer, “done. There. Perfect. We just need to make like a thousand more of these and post them around the City.”

Butch yanked the flyer from his hand with a frown, his eyes jumping around it before he grimaced, “Man, I dunno.”

“What?”

“Must have blonde hair, blue eyes,” Butch looked up, “reads kinda neo-nazi-ish.”

Brick ripped the page from Butch with wide eyes, rereading the flyer. After a second he hissed, “Ah fuck. Fucking Boomer.”

“He ruins everything.” Butch solemnly agreed.

“Fascist can’t even be punk.” Brick huffed, glaring at the flyer.

Together they sat back in their chairs and regarded the flyer before turning their attention back to his cracked computer screen. After a few moments of hmm’ing and haa’ing, Brick snapped his fingers and leaned over his keyboard. He made the font big, bold, and red so it couldn’t be ignored at the bottom of the flyer:

‘CAN’T BE A FKING SKINHEAD’

“Dude,” Butch nodded, reading over his shoulder, “it’s beautiful.”

And then the boys post the flyers everywhere. Including their school, where most people ignore them regularly. Their flyers however become popular scratch paper for the art department where one Ms. Bubbles Utonium stumbles upon them. She takes it as a sign. She’s a bit of a drum hobbyist, but her dad has had enough of the racket and she needs to find a new place to play. She’s not practiced or anything, but she fits the four requirements to a “T”. She has blonde hair. She has blue eyes. She can play the drums. And she isn’t a skinhead! She thinks it’s silly they even had to clarify that. She’s not too into punk music but even she knows fascists can’t be punk! So on the day of auditions, she shows up with her drum sticks and gets in line!!

Brick and Butch are floored when Bubbles Utonium comes strutting in. They only know her because she’s a popular cheerleader at their school and shares an art class with Boomer, who only ever complains about the perky upbeat girl. Their first thought is to laugh, but when she starts playing, they’re like “oh?” She’s inexperienced, but she’s got a knack for it, and (as Butch points out) she is not a skinhead. Since she’s the best they’ve seen all day they offer her the position on the condition that she dresses like a dude when they play because of their t-shirt dilemma. She tells them that’s no problem, she likes playing dress-up, but they’ve got to work band practice around her cheer schedule. They agree.

The RowdyRuffs are a band once more.

Boomer btws is NOT AT ALL jealous. Not at ALL. Nope. (he totally is and he’s very obvious about it). In one of the early band practices that he barges in on to “check out the new drummer,” he’s ten shades of betrayed when he sees Bubbles of all people in his seat. He does not like Bubbles. Bubbles thinks Boomer is the bees-knees. He doesn’t like her because she’s good at just about everything he wants to be good at—except for drumming, which he proves then and there and is like “your new drummer sucks, later losers, you wish you still had me, by the way, dad wanted me to tell you he’s making tacos and they’ll be ready in ten.” Bubbles is not deterred by his behavior, thinks how he plays is really cool, and wants him to teach her, which he continuously refuses to do, but that doesn’t stop her from pestering him. (eventually, he does tho just a fyi; Bubbles is hard to resist)

Jumping forward in time, Princess becomes involved as their PR manager and decided that Bubbles shouldn’t act as Boomer anymore. They need “horny old man money” and everyone’s like ooooh yeah, horny old man money, neat! So, in all her genius, Princess decides to make Bubbles “Brat.” And boom! Here’s our first powerpunk girl.

It’s a hit with the crowd that the band is slowly starting to amass. After accidentally hearing Butch goof around on his bass, Buttercup ((((Bubbles’ sister, who at the beginning of the story takes pity on Butch and Brick and volunteers to help teach her sister how to be “punk rock”. She is also forced to drive Bubbles to and from band practice (because Buttercup is being punished for failing math)))) encourages him to pitch his songwriting to the rest of the band. He refuses. Brick’s the guy who writes the songs, who’s very bad at it.

However, after another shitty song about some mystery girl Brick swears he doesn’t have a crush on, Bubbles has enough and assigns the boys some songwriting homework. Butch writes a banger and their little band gets more recognition. They’re now playing sizeable gigs, but wait! OH NO! Bubbles and Butch aren’t going to make it to the show on time. Boomer’s like, “shit Brick! The show must go on, dude, but where are you going to find two people who know how to play the exact same instruments as Butch/Bubs, know all their cues, and all the songs in the next ten minutes????” Brick looks at Buttercup (plays bass like Butch/almost at all the band practices/has a lovely voice despite what she says) and Boomer (who was Bubbles before Bubbles) and goes “huh, genius, I wonder.” Buttercup’s like “oh no, wait wait! I’ve got stage freight!” To which Brick says, “get over yourself and join my shitty fucking band!”

And that’s how we get our Brute <3 (named by Brick). She’s a hit!

They just keep getting bigger and bigger as a band, and record labels are starting to take an interest, so after Brute debuts, everyone’s like welp, Brick needs his counterpart too. And it’s eventually Blossom, but that comes about in a roundabout way because Brick’s feelings are still hurt (she’s the girl he was crushing on, but she rejects him). Eventually, Bubs is like “listen, Brick, we need a Berserk (Butch name’s this imaginary person), and it's coming down to the wire. Blossom can do it. I know she can. It’s for the band.” So, he sucks it up and Blossom hesitantly accepts (she’s very much preppy pop to whatever Berserk is lol so it’s difficult for her at first). After a heart-to-heart with Brick, they make amends (I think I’ll leave it platonic for now tbh) and their first show altogether is a hit!

As always, there’s a happy ending :) They get their record deal lol.

I can’t write songs. I’m shit at poetry, but I was thinking about just choosing irl music and mashing them up, so the music is still “original” but people can also be like omg I remember that horrible song from my emo “phase.” I have to find a good song list first. If anyone’s still reading send me some recs. The music I like is too embarrassing.

#my writing #my outlines #outline ask game #BUBBLE BAND #this one just makes me smile because I get to listen to all my music from middle school #don't get me wrong middle school was shit #but the music was top notch #ppg fic outline

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aclosetfan · 3 years

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And Np

(ask game)

haha dude you’re like my new best friend now lmao thanks so much for being interested enough to ask about my dumb ideas!

Eight is titled “Artistic Aspirations” which isn’t a creative title at all. It’s another multi-chapter, no powers au, blues fic!! Personally, I think it's too safe and boring to write. The story spans a few years; I’ve shortened the outline to make it readable, but it still ended up being too long, sorry.

Background on the girls at the start of the story:

Bubbles is 21 and a broke, struggling artist finishing/right out of undergrad. Lives in Cityville. she’s on the verge of having to crawl home to her family with her tail between her legs

BC is 23 and finishing her physical therapy program in Townsville. Still lives with the Professor, but she practically lives full time at her boyfriend's place. She’s semi-neurotic about her relationship, not because it’s unstable, but b/c she thinks it’s too good to be true. Butch, for what it’s worth, doesn’t blink an eye—just a chill dude in this one. VERY into BC.

Blossom is 25 and starting her law career. Lives on the East Coast, working for a successful firm. Would like to move back home at one point, but she hasn’t really had the “right” reason to.

Plot (under the cut!)

It opens with Bubbles at a diner waiting for her sisters at their regular booth. Life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine like she had hoped. At the diner, Buttercup announces that she and her long-term boyfriend are finally engaged! Bubbles has met Butch plenty of time as well as Brick, Butch’s older brother, but she has yet to meet his youngest brother. In fact, Bubbles doesn’t even know his name. Butch just affectionately refers to him as “my dumbass little brother,” which Brick (a defense lawyer here in Townsville) wholeheartedly agrees with. Butch has also said “he’s into all that artsy stuff like you. Draws and shit.”

Until they finally meet at the wedding

He wasn’t there for the wedding rehearsal because his flight was delayed—he was somewhere “fancy” according to Butch b/c of some “art thing, idk, he’ll be here.” “He better be!” Cries HIM, who is one of Butch’s dads, but Bubbles doesn’t really know how exactly b/c everyone is adamant that HIM and Mojo (their other eccentric father) have never once been in a relationship

So when Bubs finally meets the brother she’s walking down the aisle with, she—a person who has an undergrad degree in art (haven’t decided what kind yet lol)—is like WAIT BOOMER JOJO THE BOOMER JOJO?!?! He’s like, “lol sup” and she loses her mind because Butch’s dumbass little brother doesn’t just “draw and shit,” he’s actually an art world prodigy, who despite being very young and very alive, is considered very renowned in major art circles.

(Not Banksy per se, but he’s like one of those Bad Boy artists that would make other artists roll their eyes) (also a man of many projects but doesn’t have the follow-through for a lot of them—which if he wasn’t so good at the stuff he actually finishes, would bite him in the ass; he’s flaky, gets bored easily).

Bubbles is amazed she hasn’t made the connection between the brothers and Boomer just laughs.

There’s, quite predictably, an instant connection between the blues. Butch, who cares for his sister-in-law, is like “Bubs don’t date my brother. He’s not mature enough to be dating anyone.” And Bubbles doesn’t listen!! Because she’s desperate for love and this could also mean she’s finally getting her big break!! Their relationship is really intense and Boomer does end up getting her a nice cushy job at some indie gaming company that he’s dipping his toes in. But just a quick as the flame is lit, it goes out. Boomer gets bored, Bubbles’ art isn’t being taken seriously, and she ends up getting fired for creative differences. Fired and despondent, she gets her break-up text from Boomer the next day. The day after that, he’s dating a model.

Absolutely crushed, Bubbles packs up her bags, leaves his apartment, and moves back in with the Professor. Butch and Buttercup (and Brick—but he’s at work) are ready to kick ass. Bubbles though would rather forget about it and holes up in her childhood bedroom. Eventually, BC gets her out of the room, brings her to Butch and her’s home, and is like “listen I know you’re heartbroken, but ima need you to do something for me—“ and Bubbles is like omg srsly?? Right now?? And BC is like “I need a mural on that wall, something cutesy, ya kno a stork or something?” And Bubbles is about to snap but then, she's like WAIT A STORK!!! And a new baby on the way really brings Bubbles out of her stupor—it gets her painting again. (Bubbles is full of love and you can’t tell me she doesn’t love babies)

So the mural is a hit at the baby shower and Robin (longtime best friend, also pregnant), is like Bubbles please paint me one, and her partner Princess is like MONEY IS NO OBJECT IF ROBIN WANTS IT SHE GETS IT. And then, subsequently, Robin’s (and Princess’s) mural takes off in the rich, white lady community, and soon enough Bubbles is being commissioned for more than just Baby Murals. Princess goes around bragging that she was the one who “discovered her,” and becomes Bubbles' “business agent.”

Basically, Bubbles is on the rise. As opposed to Boomer, who is on the fall. He’s hit an art block. It’s really bad. His melancholy is really bad. Very much plays the “woe is me" card. Hasn’t been back to Townsville in a while, so when his nephew (who he’s met briefly over facetime lol) turns one, he decides to fly in for his birthday.

Plans to mope and bum off his brothers for a bit, but is shocked to see Bubbles, who he then realizes he shouldn’t be so shocked to see. Has a ream “this was a mistake, she’ll make scene” moment, but Bubbles greets him as if nothing between them had ever happened (LIKE A QUEEN). Boomer takes this personally. Then Boomer meets Princess, who gloats about Bubbles, and then, looks at the award-winning boy and goes, “so anyway, who are you again?”

This pisses Boomer off even more and then, over the course of the week he stays with the greens, this anger builds up. He eventually takes it out on Bubbles, like, “you wouldn’t be who you are without me.”

[cue that one blinking gif] Bubbles goes off. Boomer storms off. Romance is in the air.

[well I guess the reds are hitting it off, but that’s c-plot and who cares]

Princess isn’t privy to this growing resentment and only sees an Opportunity™. She reaches out to Boomer’s agent. Then, she reaches out to a museum, and is like “I’ve got the most BITCHING exhibit for you.” Then, she tells Bubbles about the gig she booked for her.

Bubbles and Boomer are like no way am I doing a collab with them. Boomer’s agent is like “chief ima be real with you, it’s this or nothing.” Princess looks at Bubbles and tells her to suck it up. So, they end up working together, which means Boomer is back in Townsville.

Cue lovers to enemies to friends back to lovers speedrun. Hello yes.

Because they’re forced to collaborate, because Bubbles is more confident, and because Boomer has been knocked down a peg or two, they actually (finally) get to know each other on a personal level. And being closer to family helps Boomer, in some ways, mature. It’s a whole connecting back to your roots “ive grown and im better now” character development for Boomer.

Ends ambiguous ;) but it's happy.

#ppg blues #ppg fic outline #my writing #outline ask game #this one is boring #but it is cute to think about #i guess the theme is growing up in your twenties #which is really hard ngl #read more under the cut #if you think it's not boring :) thank you

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aclosetfan · 3 years

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(ask game) thank you so much for playing the game!! you’re the best (per usual)!!

Helllll yeahhhhh 21 is the DUMBEST STUPIDEST fic I’ve ever made and I lovvveee it 💚💙❤️ it’s the “Vampire Zombie” one i mentioned in the original ask game post 😂😂

So glad someone picked the number!! Background to keep in mind: do yall remember when there was just a shit ton of Vampire fics on FFN?? Idk about ao3, but for newer fandom members this was TOTALLY a trend in the early 2000s on ffn, and I was like why the fuck are all of these here??? And like, why is it constantly a predator-prey relationship between the rrb and ppg??? So I was like wait…okay, but this could be funny and decided to write a story making fun of these super cringey stereotypes.

The story would be a multi fic and I have zero idea how to explain it concisely, so basically below the cut is just me laying it all out for you srsly I’m just bearing my soul to you:

For the girls’ birthday, the Professor tricks out the simulation room they train in to be a VR game room b/c the girls had talked about VR once (and only once), but the Professor thought it was cool and ran with it. The Girls can create a world of their choosing and explore. They admit the idea is pretty cool and eventually start arguing where they should “go” first. Blossom suggests a historical era like the Victorian era/Bubbles suggests something romantic, where she hints at vampires/Buttercup doesn't like any of those ideas, but the vampires reminded her of all of her zombie videogames she plays and she ends up suggesting something like that instead/ To prevent arguing the Professors says he’ll combine all three ideas into one!

[[how does this machine work??? IDK in the spirit of early 2000 fanfics, anything complicated and confusing is only vaguely explained—which has in story effects that drive Blossom INSANE! Idk how it would work technically, but my choices as the writer on what is/is not describe and purposeful grammar mistakes has story implications] [ill explain this more later]]

The Professor loads up the “game,” but something malfunctions. He tells the girls (Buttercup) not to touch anything. She doesn't listen and ends up plugging something into an entirely different device against Blossom & Bubbles protest. The device is that old “time machine” thing the Professor made in one of the OG cartoon (the one where the girls meet the Young Professor). It turns out that whatever she does (again still don't ask me how) fuses the basic concept of the two machines together and creates a device that transports them to a parallel universe that matches the specifications of the “game” they wanted to create.

[[Throughout the story, i want to include little video game gags, like bottomless bags for storage, or random bullets laying around, little things like that. (they've lost their powers/ but BC keeps finding all these random guns/knifes so they're good) I also give the girls the “ability” to read the dialogue I write. So, when I mess up a comma (i.e. Let’s eat Grandma! vs Let’s eat, Grandma!), Blossom will look at the “character” they’re talking to and be like, “WELL, which is IT!?”] [I know it’s stupid, but I think its so fun!]]

So, because of the video game “glitch,” the girls think for the longest time they’re actually IN a video game, but when they “go to sleep” thinking that’ll save the game and they can quit, per Professor’s instruction, they find out they can’t. Cue freak out. After the calm down, Buttercup’s like okay, listen we probably just have to beat the game! Too bad they don’t know what the game’s objective is exactly. They just know they’re dressed in Victorian Era clothes and their “Professor” is the town’s doctor? Their mother died (tragically). It’s all a bit dramatic. They start searching for clues. Eventually, they find out that the Town has a zombie problem (THANKS BUTTERCUP!), and Blossom figures if they can cure that, they beat the game. Unbeknownst to them, they are actually stuck in a stupid vampire love plot there just happens to be zombies. [Like, you can’t have one supernatural creature without another and I wasn’t going to write about werewolves.] No one in town seems to care about the undead problem. Buttercup keeps “leveling up,” Blossom’s on the verge of a breakdown, and then, finally, Bubbles meets Boomer.

Boomer swears up and down Bubbles is his fated mate. Bubbles—who is definitely interested—is like ooo so you’re a vampire, cutie? He’s broody about it. She’s like so do you sparkle in the sun?? (I absolutely love sparkles, she says). He’s like, wut?? She’s like, do you sparkle???? He’s like, uh no, the sun kind of burns my energy tho. She’s like, oh. Okay. I see. You don’t sparkle. Sooo, well, haha, okay you seem like a really really sweet guy with the whole eternal devotion thing, but I don’t think this is really going to work out between us. He’s again like WUT. Boomer gets broken up with because he doesn’t sparkle.

Vampire Butch is flat out scared of Buttercup. Like he fully admits he’s sucked infants dry of their blood; he’s why people should fear the night; he’s not a “good guy”; but BC is a force to be reckoned with. In the Victorian era, I’m guessing they had little to no experience with the modern day “bro” and BC is full on bro. This doesn’t mesh well with Butch’s broody, dark, vampire thing he’s got going on. She’s too vulgar for a Victorian lady, she wears things called “Chacos,” and she has a gun??? Multiple guns. And He. Has. No. Fucking. Idea. What. She. Is. Saying!! No! He will not “dab her up!” No, he “doesn’t lift.” This wasn’t his mysterious, tough (but still a damsel, mind you) mate he met one fateful evening, this was some heathen creature (and this is coming from a vampire), so please, please, please, can he kill her?????

Blossom’s like I don’t like to be touched and I’m a lesbian, and Brick’s like one) I think I respect you more than the old Blossom; two) the zombies just appeared, stop asking; three) you need to now help us find our mates before their eighteenth birthday or we’re all screwed.

Ready to kick ass and fight sexist stereotypes with their new “bros,” the girls set out with their new objective, hoping beyond hope that once they find the missing girls they’ll be able to go home. The girls find out that their parallel alternatives went disappearing a few days ago, so their “return” had been a relief to the whole town. [[Blossom’s like why did no one question our clothing?!?! Why are there zombies?!?!]] ugh and then, I don’t know what happens :( really. I never really ended it. They girls just constantly shit on the boys being broody vampires and kick zombie ass, like idk what else a gal could want out of a story. I feel like they end up finding the other girls. And I think that I was going to bring HIM into the mix, but it’s still just regular HIM. It turns out that HIM likes jumping dimensions to make the Girls life hell in every lifetime and has cursed the three girls living in the vampire dimension. (“I’ve got a life outside of just you, ya know.” HIM huffed, “What are you three doing here?”) It also turns out that out of all the dimensions, our Girls as Superheroes are the best at beating HIM and saving the day, so he’s extra pissy that they’re ruining his carefully crafted “historical romance vampire soap opera.” Blossom loses her shit because the historical inaccuracies are too high to now ignore, Bubbles is pissed because HIM didn’t make good enough vampires, and Buttercup’s like honestly, not a bad game, ngl. Everyone ignores her.

[[They beat HIM, free the other girls, return home, and BC obsesses over their stats sheets. Back in Vampire land, the boys are like wait a second the relationships we are now stuck in suck.] [The zombies are still not explained]]

#21 #is such a good number #my outlines #my writing #outline ask game #ppg fic outline #this is so stupid but come on I miss early 2000 fanfics #also like i said I don't know how i would even write the gaming glitches #but it would be really fun to figure out #maybe i WILL write this one someday just for the fun of it!!#lemme kno what you think #this is my last one tonight but plz keep on asking lol

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aclosetfan · 3 years

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To be written ideas: Number 16

Thanks for playing along!! @kayyee also asked for 16!

haha omg I haven't touched #16 in like four years. Okay, don't judge me, but i've got it titled in my outlines folder as "PowerPossible"

The outline's pretty long. i've actually shortened it for you all lol. Please let me know if you want to hear more about this one!! I can talk about it for a while :) Read below the cut for all of it!

this story's the obligatory Human/tmnt/Kim Possible-ish AU. The girls are NOT related and have no powers (in the beginning).

Family dynamics:

BC: Professor and Ms. Keane are her parents, she has a little brother named Ken (ppgz reference ;p). According to BC, Ken is their favorite child. She's just jealous because Ken has more in common with the Professor, who BC truly adores. She and the Professor have trouble relating because she's into sports, he's not. However, the Professor and her are more alike than she knows. Ms. Keane is still a kindergarten teacher and is the reason their family moves to Townsville.

Bubbles: Her parents died when she was young and now, she lives with her grandparents, the Mayors! The Mayor is still the Mayor of Townsville. (btw Im 85% sure that canonically his last name is also Mayor) The Mayor is under HIM's thumb, and when he finally messes up one too many times, HIM has him "taken care of." However, that's like towards the middle (?) of the story. So, in the end, Bubbles only has her grandmother.

Blossom: Two moms! Ms. Bellum and an unidentifiable second mother, who isn’t important (lol). 2nd mother isn't dead or anything, and she's happily married to Ms. Bellum--she's literally just one of those "mentioned in passing characters who are constantly out of town." Ms. Bellum is the Mayor's secretary, which Blossom uses to her advantage.

PLOT

The story starts out with the girls in kindergarten. Bubbles and Blossom are friends because Bubbles is the only person who doesn't think nerdy lil Blossom is annoying/socially awkward/too smart for her own good. Blossom in turn doesn't make fun of Bubbles being a crybaby. Buttercup's kind of a bully, but she's really just mad that her family had to move to Townsville. Ms. Keane (BC's mother) finally has enough of Buttercup's rebellious attitude and makes her sit with Bubbles and Blossom. Together the three girls find themselves in a confusing and troublesome situation: what happened to their class pet Twiggy??? (that hamster in that one episode). They solve the mystery (i.e. Mitch), and Ms. Keane frees Buttercup from the "loser lame-o sissy table." Except Buttercup ends up staying because *spoilers* they become best friends. (and she likes solving mysteries with them)

FASTFORWARD TO HIGHSCHOOL-ISH AGE

The girls are as thick as thieves and have a bad habit of sticking their noses where they don't belong. Blossom's the brains of the operation, Buttercup the muscle, and Bubbles is the obligatory "guyssss you promised we were going to the mall today not solving crime!" (Like Arnold from the Magic School bus who's like "oh please let this be a normal field trip!" And everyone is like "With Bloss and BC?! No Way!")

They've hit a "mystery" dry spell. At this point, none of their "mysteries" have been high stakes. Just petty stuff, but BC wants more. After another bust, she goes home and overhears her father (who's still a high-profile scientist) on the phone talking about the "odd mutant/monster-like" sightings that happened a few days ago in Townsville Central Park. Buttercup takes it as an opportunity to 1) help her dad and win his favor (that she already has smh) and 2) to break the dry spell she and the girls were going through, so they set off to investigate. To protect their identities, the girls essentially "mask up" and by the end of the story are described by the Townsville News as vigilantes.

Eventually, the girls stumble headfirst into Townsville's underbelly and the adults in their lives are all connected. They find that there is in fact a mutant uprising that has an overwhelming connection to the Professor, his ex-lab partner, the Mayor, and a mysterious man only referred to as HIM. And, of course, Chemical-X. X was the once abandoned project of the Professor and his once lab partner Mojo Jojo. It was supposed to be a miracle medicine! Now, in Townsville's underbelly, it's a popular/very dangerous drug/commodity.

At one point in the past, during a fit of rage, Mojo had mutated himself with an unstable vial of the chemical—accidentally--and fleed with the only "perfect" vial. He runs into a sickly man (who becomes HIM) and is conned out of the chemical. HIM takes the chemical and it "cures" him from his disease. It also gives him "superpowers." (NOTE: chemical-x superpowers varies person to person) However, the chemical is also unstable, and now HIM wants (NEEDS) a better formula, one that isn’t tainted (as Mojo still cannot figure out how to make it correctly) and will do anything for it. This is something that HIM believes the Professor can do. So, the Professor is essentially blackmailed into working for HIM (like most everyone who is in a position of power in Townsville). It's an expensive endeavor, so HIM sells the "almost perfect" batches (which in small doses can make a person feel invincible, but is highly addictive) to the crime syndicates. If you take an "almost perfect" version of Chemical-X, you generally need to keep micro-dosing to stay alive or your body starts to fail. (This is why HIM needs that PERFECT version)

Unbeknownst to everyone, The Professor was only ever able to perfect the formula once and it was by complete accident. (the version HIM had gotten was very close to perfect, but not all the way). Even the Professor doesn't know how he did it. (But that's because it wasn't the Professor who had perfected it--the Girls had done it accidentally during a sleepover in middle school (which the ever studious Blossom had recorded in her notebook). The Girls had been playing "scientist."

However, the Professor HAS figured out an Antidote-X. Again results vary. His version works best on the lab rats the original research group had experimented on. Blossom ends up perfecting Antidote-X for humans and the Girls are able to reserve mutations they come across on their "patrols", which pisses HIM off to no end, resulting in a bounty on their head. (He doesn't like the lose in profits)

As more mutants begin to appear and HIM becomes more frustrated at the lack of progress, Townsville becomes a darker place. At the height of this frustration, he kills the Mayor (who was wanting to break ties with HIM b/c of Bubbles' pleading). At that point, the Girls know who HIM is and what he is capable of. Since they have no one of authority to turn to that can stop HIM, they work together to create the perfected chemical-x like they had all those years ago in hopes that they can appease HIM and free the Professor.

The Girls figure out the formula, and in a race to save the City and, most importantly, the Professor, they confront HIM. Because they're kids, they naively think that they can trade the formula for BC's dad. It doesn't end up working out as they planned. In the end, HIM injects BC w/chemical-x (PERFECTED version), and she gains superhuman powers. To keep the ending vague, the Girls end up saving the day ;)

Important Characters the Girls Encounter:

Amoeba Brothers: the brothers are the first failed chemical-x test created by the Professor's research team that did not result in death. They haunt the sewers after they escaped the lab. They are the Girls first encounter with the mutations/mutants running rampant in the City

Gang Green Gang: Delinquents chosen by the City to be injected. Again, the tests failed. Had temporary "powers" but they teetered off quickly and the boys permanently stayed green (weird side-effect)

Bunny: Sad. She is also a failed test, but she is mutated while the Girls are actively investigating the case. She has super strength and was able to break out of the lab. The Girls hunt her down and they end up trying to help her. However, she passes away. This has a lasting effect on the girls.

Sedusa: she's definitely in the story idk how yet. lol. I just really like her as a character.

Princess: For financial support, HIM promised Mr. Morebucks that'd he'd give Princess superpowers like she wanted when the formula is perfected. But she’s mad, impatient, and power-hungry. In the end, sick of HIM's games and the Professors inability to give her what she wants, she injects herself with the chemical. It works for a bit, and HIM's like "holy shit did we do it??" but after a few days, she becomes unstable. (Her death is captured during live television b/c she makes her superhero debut a Whole Thing). Knows Blossom and Bubbles b/c of their parents. Doesn't like them. Doesn't bother to learn BC's name. Just canonically a brat.

The RRB: Adopted by HIM (and Mojo) "out of the goodness of their hearts." (PR stunt). They were really adopted to be test subjects, but HIM ended up liking them more than anticipated, so HIM decided that they'd be injected AFTER chemical-x is perfected. Absolute shit-heads. They can do whatever they want and no one can tell them "no." They cause havoc for the Girls to keep them off HIM's tail. Drive futuristic motorcycles that leave "light trials." Mad that they can't pin down who the Girls are.

#long post #plz read under the cut too #my outlines #outline ask game #where you pick a number between 1-21 and let me talk about fics I want to write #let me know if you want to know more!#like i said I could go on forever about it #i tried giving the short version of my outline lol #I’ll do better next time 😔#it just doesn’t make sense if I don’t give a lot #didn't edit so let me know if I need to explain/correct something #ppg fic outline

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aclosetfan · 4 years

Text

Aight here’s a 16teen-esque mall au for the ppg that I’ll never write, but enjoy thinking about and have heavily outlined (its long, so most is under the cut):

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup aren’t related in this one, but you’d figure they were. Bubs/Buttercups are fraternal Twins (Mom/Dad=Keane/Prof)

Blossom’s mom is Ms. Bellum, who is dating Ms. Ima Goodwoman. Sedusa is actually a good woman in this lol, she just doesn’t vibe with blossom very well.

It also doesn’t help that Ima’s son, Butch, is now an even more permanent fixture in Blossom’s life. She had always thought school was enough.

Later on in the story, Bellum and Ima get married and Butch&Bloss have to come to terms with being step siblings (they break up their parents and end up having to parent trap them back together)

This new relationship between Butch&Bloss works out perfectly for Brick because Brick’s bestfriends with Butch and also has a low-key crush on Bloss. They have English class together and while he very much has a goth persona that he can’t compromise (obviously) by a preppy girl like Bloss, he still enjoys fucking with her. Too bad she has that boyfriend :(

Wait what happened to the mall part?? Here we go:

So, to preference, Bloss is a very smart young women. A real intellectual. Tons of smart extracurriculars. She’s definitely going places, but an Ivy League school costs money. So, she gets a job at the local mall in the bookstore. Bookstores in malls aren’t doing to hot financially and hers gets bought out. It’s going to be replaced by a more mainstream Barnes and Noble, but applications for employees don’t open up until after construction. She’s out a job and for some reason (maybe it’s her horribly inconsistent schedule) no one’s hiring her!! She’s worried about a gap in her resume, but her Mom ends up having the hookup. Turns out her mom’s boss (the mayor, who’s not the Mayor in this one) actually owns the lone hot dog (& pickle) stand in the mall, and it needs a new person to man it.

(((This is a call back to when blossom, in the show, had to get a job at that hot dog stand 😂 she has to wear the same uniform with the stupid hat. )))

Her best costumer is actually Mayor, which perplexes Blossom because that can’t be a financially sound business move. His weird wisdom guides her.

ANYWAY, she takes the job and finds out the stand (and the embarrassing uniform) is unfortunately located in front of. . .

. . .HOT TOPIC.

Who works there??? Lol obviously Mr. Doom and Gloom himself--Brick!

So, Brick’s pretty much the manager there, right? Wrong, but he is a decent employee. He doesn’t actually need a job, but he’s a counterculture rebel, right?? And rebels go against their parents wishes, right?? And his dads (Mojo and Him) don’t want him working in a filthy mall because they’re rich and there’s better things to do. But he’s pretty anti-them so (🖕) he gets the job (Mojo also does not at all understand goth culture)

And then, because the gods favor him, not only does he end up getting to bug Bloss in English, but ALSO on his work breaks. He ends up eating more hotdogs then he ever thought he would in his life, but also, eventually, ends up becoming her study partner. Another fun and great thing for him is that as the story progresses he gets to watch her relationship with that-Jared-guy crumble right before his very eyes, which just adds fuel to his fantasy fire.

So tbh this story actually really works out for Brick. He gets to spend time with the girl he secretly likes and has a decent shot at getting her to date him!! Blossom, on the other hand, suffers, but who’s there to help her through this suffering?

Well, obviously, Bubbles (and BC)! Bubbles works at Claire’s. She does well on the floor, but does not at all like piercing ears. She’s not good at it. She messes piercings up too frequently and blood freaks her out. Her coworker Mary often has to step up and do it for her. Still, she likes all the sparkly stuff in the store, so it’s generally a good fit. As of right now, Bubbles really just vibes in this story. Her biggest source of conflict is with Boomer, who works at the Spencer’s across from Claire’s.

Boomer is what Brick calls a shitty scene kid. He isn’t, Brick’s just mean, but Boomer rolls with it. Tbh he just likes dying his hair a shit ton of colors. He isn’t an ideal employee and is often found taking one too many breaks, but he’s charming and doesn’t make too many bad jokes about the dildos on display in the back, so they keep him around. He should honestly be on Claire’s payroll instead, because when Mary’s not available he’s the one who does the piercings (and the right way too, he might add, not with that fucked-up piercing gun) for Bubbles. And while that might make him seem like an overall helpful guy, do not be fooled. Bubbles always pays a price.

Boomer also has a shitty mom (femme fatale; she didn’t want a son), so his at-home life isn’t great, but he puts on a brave face. Brick and Butch essentially share custody of the boy. He has a room at each of their homes, which throws Blossom for a loop because not only does she have to share space with Butch later in the story, but also with Boomer (who she ends up tutoring).

Speaking of Butch, he was fired from Spencer’s after Boomer got him a job there because he was “immature.” He was also fired from Hot Topic for basically the same reason. Then he landed a job at the Sporting Goods store, but again ended up getting fired (but this time it legitimately wasn’t his fault. His manager was just out to get him, as explained later) Now, he works for the malls arcade arena (they have go-karts and bumper cars; it’s one of those good arcades, ya feel?), so he runs a lot of kid’s bday parties. And to everyone’s surprise, he’s actually really good at it. Apparently, Butch really vibes with kids jacked up on sugar. Parents like him too because he flirts with the moms and pulls the dads into “friendly” but competitive go-kart racing betting pools.

The person doing the actual hard labor at the arcade is Robin. She gets stuck in the chuck-e-cheese-like costume way too often. She’ a good voice of reason for everyone else, especially Butch. She’s his favorite co-worker.

Going back to the sporting goods store. Buttercup works there. She’s the best sales rep they got. It helps that she’s crazy athletic and is on track to get a pretty decent scholarship with some D1 schools. (What’s she play? Idk? Whatever your heart wants) She can’t say though that she’s the most popular amongst her coworkers. She got in a fight with Mitch, which also meant she got in a fight with the twins that follow Mitch around. She definitely didn't get along with Butch when he worked there. And she thinks her manager’s kind of creepy and he’s only gotten creepier since his partner Snake broke up with him

She doesn’t know why Snake broke up with Ace, but she’s pretty sure it has to do with Butch getting fired

Now, this one’s going to throw y’all for a loop, but the reason she gets in a fight with Mitch is because Mitch was picking on her boyfriend Elmer (THATS RIGHT IM SHAKING IT UP—but don’t worry 😏 I love the greens too much).

Elmer works at the comic/geek shop with Mike. She obviously likes her boyfriend and is big buds with Mike. Elmer’s pretty insecure tho and thinks BC’s going to break up with him all the time. This really bums her out. She doesn’t get why he thinks that (b/c she’s out of his league, but she’s oblivious) because she really likes him. Unfortunately, it gets to the point that she eventually decides she has to break up with him because she can’t convince him to trust her (still their relationship is cutesy side plot for a long bit). It’s her first big heartbreak. A heartbreak that is. . .

. . .ideal for Butch because he’s realized he has more then friendly feeling for her. See they weren’t friends AT ALL beforehand, but his new sibling relationship with Blossom has catapulted BC squarely into his life. Slowly they end up going from workplace enemies to eh to friendly to friends to (😉).

A significant turning point in their relationship happened to involve Ace. Butch was on his smoke break and saw Ace making Buttercup uncomfortable. That same night he sees Buttercup trying to leave and Ace/his gang are trying to pressure her into following them. Butch takes offense to this and ends up walking Buttercup to her car. She argues she doesn’t need him saving her, which he readily agrees to, but explains that any excuse to beat that creep Ace up is a good excuse. Afterward, anytime BC has to work close, Butch walks her to her car.

Eventually, he explains to her that he was the one who inadvertently convinced Snake to get out of their toxic-ass relationship with Ace. Ace found out and that’s why he was fired. So, now, he has real beef with the guy. Him and Ace don’t get along at all. To the point where Butch was banned from the sports store, but he sneaks in to see his friends and mess with BC.

HAHA does the story ever end????

The story ends when Barnes n’ Noble opens. Blossom gets the job, ditches the old boring boyfriend, gets the goth boy, saves her mom’s relationship, and gains a sibling.

The format of the story would be pretty episodic, with a conflict/resolution in each chapter. But what’s written above highlights the over arching plot lines

and holy shit! how could I forget the cherry on top??? Brick and Princess are cousins, and she does NOT let him forget this.

((If you want more specific details ya gotta ask. there’s a lot more then just this.))

#ppg fic outline #I'm not going to tag this too heavily #i dont need people judging me on how bad and unoriginal it is lololol #because its hella stupid #but its been on my mind for a while #it's way funnier in my head #hey maybe one day??#ppg fic #my writing

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aclosetfan · 2 years

Note

hug 7 for greens, please

anon idk who you are but i love you for picking this prompt with this pairing.

Hug prompt: 7. hug from behind

Title: THE FAKE DATING AU NO ONE ASKED FOR <3

Characters: Butch, Buttercup

Words: 6682

a/n: LMAOOO. Yah. This got long way fast and I’ve got an outline in the works. This would be the first chapter. I’m not too please with it yet—this is just the bare bones of it, but I wanted to get the prompt done, so I figured a draft wouldn’t hurt anyone. If I continue this, I’d beef up the chapter with a few more background details to really set the stage for the rest of the fic! Lemme know if anyone’s interested!

Also s/o to the boy who asked me to homecoming senior year and would not take no for an answer. Bruh, that shit was the worst, but at least it’s funny now.

Edit 1/1/2022: this turned into a whole story: read the other chapters here: one, two, three

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An alarm started going off in Buttercup's head when her math tutor, Elmer S'Gloo, pressed a chaste kiss to her knuckles, tipped his hat to bid her adieu, and turned on his heel with a smile like a milked cat. She stood frozen in her spot for ten minutes afterward, hand still stretched out in front of her. She processed what had just happened twenty times over, and she probably would have continued for longer if the school librarian hadn't snapped her out of her reverie and kicked her out of the building.

In conjunction with the number of times Elmer's arm had brushed against her own while they had been going over her trigonometry homework and the near-permanent flush on his cheeks whenever she was around, the strong inkling that Elmer liked her as more-than-just-math-buddies was becoming harder to ignore. Numbly, she floated into her house, chewing away at her thumbnail.

It couldn't have been possible, right? Elmer S'Gloo didn't actually have a crush on her or anything, right?

Sure, Buttercup considered Elmer a friend, but she had never once thought of their relationship like that. Instead, she felt more indebted to him than anything else for two particular reasons. One, Buttercup owed her current math grade all to him; he was actually a very competent math tutor. And two, she still felt guilty about picking on him all those years ago in preschool, and while—arguably—friendships founded on both pity and guilt weren't the healthiest, she had never thought she was ever doing him any harm by it.

In fact, Buttercup had gone out of her way all these years to make sure the nerdy, scrawny boy didn't end up on some stereotypical bully's shit list, going so far as to occasionally walk him to and from class just to make sure he arrived in one piece, and—

"Shit," She hissed, chomping down on her nail.

Was Elmer the kind of guy that confused niceness for flirting? Was she going crazy? Maybe a kiss on the hand wasn't weird at all. Maybe that was just something guys did? Like platonically?

She didn't know. She hadn't ever actually had a boyfriend before. It wasn't like she was much of a flirt in the first place, to begin with. Maybe, she decided, she needed to find a better authority on the subject before jumping to conclusions.

"Professor?" She called out, looking for her father in the kitchen, pleased to find him at the stove. Alone.

The Professor paused his stirring and sent a smile her way, "Hi, sweetie. How was tutoring?"

"Uh, fine," She shrugged, "I guess, I dunno, say, Prof, how do you know when a guy likes you?"

"Like as a friend?" Her father smiled with a tilt of his head.

"No," She shook her head, "like, like-like."

"Hmm," The Professor thought, "well, it really just depends! Is there a special boy you have in mind?"

She felt her neck warm, cringing at her dad's question, "Ew! No! I was just wondering."

He chuckled, turning back to his stew, "Hun, it really just depends on the person, but typically, it's the same for everyone. Laughing at their jokes, smiling and trying to get their attention, sappy gross stuff you don't need to be worrying about yet—" He shook his spoon at her, "—your much too young."

"Professor," She snorted, "this is my last year of high school. I think I'm old enough."

He reached over, playfully pinching her cheeks, "Not to me you're not. Now, go get your sisters and Robin—if she wants to stay for dinner, of course—from upstairs. The food's ready."

She hopped off the counter and floated her way upstairs. It probably hadn't been smart going to her dad right off the bat about boys. It was too embarrassing telling him the whole truth, but she bet the girls would know what to do!

"Hey," She opened their bedroom door, "guys, I gotta—"

"What do you want!?" The three of them simultaneously snapped, stopping whatever fight they had been in the middle of to glare at her instead. She paled, noticing how her sisters' and Robin's art history project covered close to every inch of their room. Whatever was happening in here, she wanted no part.

"Food's ready," She announced, slamming the door shut once more and making her way back downstairs. Until that dumb art history project was done and over with, her sisters and Robin would be close to useless—she had already had to take on more Townsville emergency calls by herself this week than any other so far this year.

She tsked to herself as she helped the Professor set the table. It seemed that if she wanted to know something about boys, she needed to go to the source itself.

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Buttercup looked around the cafeteria, scanning for a prime boy to ask. First, there was Elmer—the source of the problem—who kept trying to make eye contact, but she ignored him for now. Next, she considered asking Mitch, but after watching him hump one of the school's support beams for three consecutive minutes to the amusement of Floyd and Lloyd, she decided against it. Instead, she glanced over at Harry, who was rather popular with a lot of the girls at their school, but their relationship consisted of sports statistics and pro-wrestling trivia—she didn't want to breach the sanctity of that.

She skipped over Pablo because it was just Pablo.

Finally, her eyes landed on Brick, who was sitting a little away, tapping furiously on the keyboard of his phone. Brick, along with his brothers, had at one time been their sworn enemies, but nowadays, he was more interested in pissing off his paternal guardians than fighting her and her sisters. The change in his moral allegiance had a multitude of advantages. For one, he and his brothers weren't actively destroying the City, which Buttercup appreciated, and two, it was nice having other people dealing with chemical-x infused puberty that weren't her sisters around.

On top of that, Brick was pretty analytical and serious about stuff—like real smart—and based on appearances alone, mostly a guy, so she figured, if there was one person who'd give her an honest and objective answer, it was probably him. She and her sisters didn't hang out with the boys much outside of school, but they were all friendly enough that Buttercup felt comfortable asking him, given their shared history.

"Hey, Brick!" She called out after the bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch and the beginning of the passing period.

He paused and looked up from his phone for a brief second before returning to its' screen, "What."

She kept step with him easily, "Can I ask you something, uh, about like guy stuff? You are a, uh, a guy—" she squinted at him, looking him up and down, "—right?"

He threw her a dry and humorless look, "Har. Har. Is that a long hair joke?"

"No," She threw up her hands, "just don't want to assume nothing."

He shook his head, rolling his eyes, "Listen, not now, Buttercup," He waved his phone at her, "I'm in the middle of an internet fight. I'll answer your questions later."

"But—" She tried, but he had already entered the room to his next class. With a sigh, she floated off to class.

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Buttercup plopped down next to Boomer in their creative writing class, which they had both strategically (and coincidentally) taken for the easy 'A' English credit. Boomer, like Brick, was tapping away on his phone.

Boomer, as opposed to Brick, was far from analytical. But he was also far more popular with the opposite sex on account of his charm. Bubbles said it was the artistic "I'm in a band" vibe he gave off, but Buttercup thought of him more as an annoying puppy rather than a rock star. Still, he probably knew more about boys than she ever could, so she had sat down determined to ask him his opinion on Elmer.

(Of course, she'd also have to make sure the blabbermouth swore he wouldn't tell a soul what she had asked him, but that came later.)

"Hey, Boom, I gotta ask ya some—" A single finger shoved itself against her mouth, cutting off the rest of her question.

"Sorry, BC," Boomer's eyebrows furrowed, "I gotta concentrate! I'm switching between, like, five different accounts so I can keep baiting Brick into fighting strangers on the internet." He looked up at her quickly before returning to his phone with a broad smile, "You should see how mad he's getting! It's priceless!"

She rolled her eyes, propping her head up with her fist as she let out a loud sigh. There was only one last person she could think to turn to, and knowing him, her plan would no doubt backfire on her in the long run.

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"What," Butch asked her flatly, feet propped up on their shared math table that their teacher called a desk, without looking up from his phone.

"I didn't ask anything yet," She huffed, pushing his feet off her side of the table.

"Didn't have to." He placed his feet back up on her side, ignoring the way she glowered at him, typing away on his phone.

She let out a groan, "please don't tell me your baiting Brick into an internet fight."

"Nope," He popped the last syllable, "guess you talked to Boomer, though?"

"We're in the same English class, remember?"

"Right."

They sat in silence as she pulled out her math notebooks. Out of the three brothers, her rockiest relationship was no doubt still with Butch—counterpart privilege and all that bullshit—but their trig teacher had partnered them up as 'desk buddies' regardless (Buttercup had a feeling it was because she was the only one in their class not afraid of him). It wasn't like their relationship was terrible or anything; the physical fights had died down years ago, but no fighting meant there were now plenty of awkward silences that neither one of them bothered to fill. Of course, Buttercup didn't really think the silences were all that awkward, but Bubbles had informed her that they, in fact, were.

Still, that didn't matter much to Buttercup. How it was her problem to figure out, like Bubbles' insisted, was beyond her.

This time, however, the silence did make her feel uncomfortable. She was putting off asking Butch about Elmer for no reason other than not wanting to ask him. She had no doubt in her mind that Butch would give her the honest truth—he was blunt like that—but instinctively, he was one of those guys she felt she needed to protect Elmer from. Butch was like Elmer's anthesis.

Where Elmer was scrawny, pale, and nerdy, Butch was one of those bad-boy heartthrob girls who were a little too obsessed with vampires in middle school swooned over. She rolled her eyes at the thought of it. Her counterpart. What did that say about her?

She didn't even want to know.

"Did your boyfriend do our homework for us?" Butch eventually asked after their teacher had told them to work quietly on their class assignments.

She shot him a look, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Sure," Butch shrugged, "does fuck buddy make you happier?"

"Can it, or you'll give him more ideas," She sniffed, hardly thinking through her response, "the crush is bad enough."

Butch paused, giving her a look, "Oh. So, you finally figured that out then, huh? About time."

She felt her eyebrows furrow on her own accord as she turned to look him over, "Excuse me?"

"What?" Butch quirked an eyebrow up at her.

"What did you mean by 'finally figured it out'?"

"That Elmer has a crush on you." Butch drawled out, "Duh."

"Wait—" She froze, flushing head to toe, "—I said that out loud."

"Yikes," Butch smirked, "you're losing it. That can't be good for the City."

"So, he does have a crush on me?" Her eyes bulged as cruel reality finally hit her smack in the face, "Shit."

"For as long as I've known him," Butch nodded his head, "in fact, I think you're the last one to find out. It's not like he's—" Butch nodded his head side to side, looking for the word, "—discrete about it."

"Shit," She whispered again, burying her head in her hands, "oh no. Fuck. This can't be happening. He can't have a crush on me—" she looked up suddenly at Butch, "—you're a guy, how bad does he have it?"

"Okay, one," Butch put his hands behind his head, leaning back in his seat, "it's impolite assuming shit like that nowadays; you should know better. Two, pretty bad."

"He kissed my hand the other day," She confided, keeping her voice low, "I don't know what to do."

"Your hand?" Butch pulled a face, "Why? That's so weird."

"I know," She whined, dropping her head back into her hands.

"Welp," Butch clapped a hand onto her back a little rougher than truly necessary, "if he hasn't made his move by now, I doubt he ever will."

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Butch was wrong. Butch was very, very wrong.

Elmer was planning something; Buttercup could practically smell it in the air. She had an awful feeling in her gut anytime he walked by, and based on her time in her part-time occupation, she knew her gut was hardly ever wrong.

She sent another panicked side-eyed glance towards Elmer as he stretched his arms out and placed one not-so-sneakily over the back of her chair. She leaned as far as possible over the table they were sitting at to avoid all possible contact, screaming internally and wishing he'd just hurry up and finish grading her practice quiz. Anyone else—literally anyone else—she would have punched him across the room, but this was Elmer!

Geeky, nerdy—slightly sticky (?)—poindexter Elmer. Someone who, years ago, she had promised to be the best of friends with and protect from all bullies with her life, which sure was dramatic, but she had been in preschool!

If he asked her out, there was no way she could say no. She couldn't hurt him like that—just flat out reject him in front of everyone—she couldn't! She didn't think she could even do it in private. She was—she was—! Holy shit! She was too nice! Her! Buttercup Utonium!

What was she going to do!?

Elmer cleared his throat, putting her practice quiz down for a moment, "Soo—" Elmer breathed, leaning forward towards her, which she countered by leaning backward, "—Buttercup, uh, ha, uh, can you believe prom's just around the corner?"

She choked on her own spit, hitting her chest to clear her airways.

"About a month and a half away—they're already selling tick—hey, are you okay?" Elmer patted her on the back, his hand lingering there, further down her spine then it had any right to be.

Buttercup swiped up her water bottle, throwing it back and chugging, before slamming it back down on the table and whipping around to face him, "Ha! Ha! Who'd ever want to go to prom! Such a lame dance! I didn't go junior year, and I won't go this year! Ha!" She continued to laugh louder than necessary, ignoring the scowl the librarian threw her, "So lame!"

Elmer cringed, the flush on his cheeks diminishing slightly as he fingered the papers sticking out of his sweater vest pocket. It made her feel like the biggest bitch in the whole wide world, but she refused to let up, "Like me in a big poofy dress with like—like a date! Ew! Who—ha! Whoever asked me would have to, like, go all out to get me to one of those places! And let me tell you, close to impossible!"

Elmer was quiet, watching her over-animated charade intently when a small smile brightened his face once more, "But still possible."

She bit back a scream, eyes bulging, "No! No! Pretty much impossible!"

"Pretty implies possibility." Elmer pointed out, and she wanted to wring his smart little neck, "And who knows, Buttercup, it is the last dance of your high school career, and you haven't been to a single one—"

"—Why fix what ain't broken! You haven't either! Just a stupid dance, for stupid people, who waste their stupid money—so expensive." She interjected, "No way! Not in this economy! The stock—the stock market is in shambles!"

"Um, actually, the market's pretty hot right now." Elmer countered.

"Well, the thing about the market is that if—it isn't always hot. Ya never know." She argued, knowing full well she knew nothing about the stock market, "Supply and demand, El! Supply and demand!"

"That's the risk," Elmer agreed with a nod, "just like…prom in a way—circling back to that—ha."

"I don't really care for circles," She was close to hysterics, racking her mind for any way out of this conversation, "you know that!"

"I do," Elmer's smile grew, "and I also know that if the right guy asks you, I think you'd have a lot of fun at prom, and who knows, maybe that guy is a lot closer to you than you think."

She stared at him—his stupid poor dumb heartbreaking face—at a loss for words and decided that he had forced her hand. Invasive maneuvers had been called for. She shot up out of her chair and put a hand to her ear, "Whoa! What's that indiscernible noise that only someone with super hearing could ever be able to hear!? Is it Timmy! Stuck in a well! Oh no!"

She cupped her hands over her mouth and bellowed, "Hang on! I'm comin' Timmy!" before shooting off out of the library and leaving Elmer behind, lost in a cloud of papers.

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School was way more intense now that Buttercup had someone who knew every second of her schedule to avoid. Every time the bell rang, her heart shot up into her throat. It was totally and ethically wrong and against her moral code, but she prayed for monsters to wreak havoc on Townsville just so she'd have a way out of school far away from Elmer.

Prom was officially a month away, and people were really starting to talk about it now. Tickets were being bought, girls were discussing the best places to score a dress, and boys were already plotting and executing progressively more embarrassing 'prom-posals.' The other seniors, particularly, we're going all out this year. From anxiety alone, Buttercup had gnawed all her fingernails down to the nubs waiting for the moment Elmer popped the question like a cornered animal.

There was a cheer down the hall from her locker that startled her out of her thoughts. Looking about, she noticed that another guy with a cheesy sign had nailed down a date—their friends all cooing around them. At the very least, Buttercup had the small comfort knowing that Elmer would never do some elaborate ask in a public space. He was way too shy.

It was only a matter of time now before he asked, though—Buttercup just knew it. She realized her number was up this morning when the bad feeling in her gut shifted into maximum overdrive. The bad feeling started after Bubbles had forced her into her "prettiest" uniform with no explanation except a "because I said so!"

Buttercup hadn't told either Blossom or Bubbles (or even Robin) about her conundrum. She had meant to, but then she realized that her sisters were nicer than her, which meant they would have been strong advocates for Elmer.

He's sweet, Buttercup, she could hear Bubbles arguing with a sympathetic smile, and he really likes you, maybe it won't be so bad! Maybe you'll have fun!

Buttercup, avoiding him won't do you any good, Bloss would snap, it's not fair to Elmer. You know this is probably taking a lot of courage on his part, asking you. Really, it's only one little dance!

'Then you go with him!' She mentally whined, letting her head hit her locker door.

Now, because of the uniform mishap this morning, the thirteen text messages that she needed to be on time to the pep assembly this afternoon, and the multitude of secret smiles that had been shot her way, Buttercup understood that it didn't matter that she hadn't told her sisters. She had a sneaking suspicion they—along with everyone else close to her—were already involved and very much on Elmer's side. The most damning evidence was three days ago when she had seen Elmer whispering to her giggling sisters and just knew what they were up to.

It wasn't their fault, she guessed. Buttercup knew her sisters were good people. Of course, they would help Elmer ask her out. But still! A little sister solidarity couldn't have been much to ask for?!

Her stomach churned, and she pivoted her way to the closest bathroom but paused before entering. This would be one of the first places anyone would check for her. She needed a better place to hide. Someplace no one would think to look.

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"What are you doing in here?" She frowned, stepping into her math room and walking towards Butch.

He gave her a dry look, "What are you doing here?"

She had no time to play this game. Marching up to Butch, she leaned over and poked a finger into his chest, "Something's going on today. I know everyone's in on it—including my sisters— and that it involves Elmer asking me to prom, so spill, buddy, tell me what's going on."

He hit her hand away with a flick of his wrist, rolling his eyes in the process, "You've just pieced that together, Sherlock?"

"If no one bothers to tell me what's going on, then, yeah, I end up being a little late on the uptake," She growled back, her eye twitching ever so slightly.

He had the audacity to smirk, "Just take your best guess, then, and multiply it by five—I know the math's hard for you, but give it your best try."

Usually, she would have had a witty retort, but she faltered, eyes going wide, "That bad?"

He held up three fingers, "Scouts honor."

She plopped down in her usual seat next to him and sunk low into it. "My own sisters?" She asked with a pathetic lilt in her voice.

"Just about everyone at this school is team Elmer." Butch explained, showing her a facebook page dedicated to the cause, "Apparently, this has been a long time coming."

She looked up miserably from his phone, "How?"

"Did you forget what you're made of?" Butch shrugged, taking back his phone, "Huh, Ms. Everything Nice? You were too nice."

"No," She shook her head after a moment, despondently, "I'm the one made out of spice—the theme song says so. This should be happening to Blossom, not me."

Butch snorted, "Listen, you've never treated other people the way you treat Elmer. Sorry, bud," He shrugged, "You got people talking. And that means you got his hopes up. You dug your own grave."

"I don't like him like that." Buttercup mainly muttered to herself, then turned to Butch, "What do I do?"

"Say no." He suggested flatly.

"I can't!" She huffed, throwing her arms in the air in defeat, "I can't! I want to, but your right! I already know! I'm too nice. It's like, I can be mean about anything else or to anyone else, but really pathetic guys who think fedoras are staple pieces in their wardrobe? It's like—it's like—" She struggled for a word, "—it's like they're so sad, I have to be nice to them! What's wrong with me?"

Butch patted her on the back, turning his attention back to his phone, "Just about everything."

She held her head in her hands and let out a very long and tired sigh. Then, after a few moments, she peaked a look back over at Butch, "And what? Are you in on it too? Waited here just to drag me to my doom? Trying to score front row seats."

Butch scowled at his phone and tossed it face down on the table, "Nah. Actually, I literally just got stood up."

She sat up a bit, "What?"

"Julie Smith. She told me to meet her here. Now, she's not showing. Why would I care about you and Elmer?"

"Julie Smith only hooks up with guys in relationships." Buttercup pointed out, "Of course she ditched you."

"How do you know?" He asked, eyebrows pulling together.

She sighed, waving him off, "I suffer through gym with her. She's a talker. You could do better."

"Says the girl in a committed relationship with Elmer S'Gloo."

She didn't respond. Instead, she let her head fall onto their table with a loud thunk.

"I guess he's not so bad." She told herself, "He's nice. I have fun with him. He does our math homework."

"Yeah, just ignore the weird thing he does with his chapstick, and you'll be just fine."

She groaned. Then after a moment, she turned her head on the table to look at him, "I'm sorry Julie ditched you. I didn't know you liked her."

"I don't." Butch sniffed, "Just a way to pass the time. I don't like pep assemblies." He stretched out, putting his feet on the table by her head, "I'm not the peppy type."

She smiled despite herself, pushing his feet away, "Still. Sorry. One of us should at least be having a good time."

"It's just one dance, Butters." He sighed, "Not the hardest thing you've ever done."

"It's not just one dance, and you know it." She argued, "Because it starts as the dance, and soon he'll ask me out—and I won't be able to say no to that either—so we're stuck going out, and he visits me at school, and then he gets me a promise ring, then we graduate college, and he proposes, and the next thing I know I'm stuck planning a wedding, and—boom!" She jumped up, "I've popped out my solid two-point-five little Elmers. I'm screwed!"

"Just say no."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

She slumped back down in her seat with a sorry shake of her head, "I don't—I don't want anyone to, you know, make fun of him about it. In middle school, he asked out Robin, and Mitch still brings it up." She frowned, "You should have seen him cry, Butch, it was—" She sighed bring up one of her knees to hug, "—geez, I'm not heartless. I don't want to hurt him. He's nice."

"Not to be the voice of reason, you know, since it's really not my M.O., but leading him on isn't much better." Butch shrugged, "I mean, he's going to find out. One way or another, and you don't want that to happen when the two of you wind up in bed."

She stared at him in horror, "Please don't say that."

"What? It's the truth, Butters, the way you're going, Elmer S'Gloo's the lucky guy who's taking your virginity. How did you think you'd get those two-point-five kids, again? Asexual budding?" Butch tilted his head, mirth in his eyes, betraying his grim expression.

"Stop."

"It's not my fault you're going to let Elmer deflower you."

She felt the heat rush to her cheeks, "At least don't say it like that!"

He tipped his head back and laughed, "How do you want me to say it? Because I could keep going. He's going to bang you, you'll both do the horizontal tango, shake the sheets, tap ass, participate in amorous congress—" he paused looking at her, "—you know, it's no fun if you don't get mad at me."

She didn't really have any fight in her, though, as she softly admitted, "He'll be my first kiss."

Butch's eyebrows met his hairline, "Sorry, hello, what? But we—"

"That doesn't count," She cut him off, "that was on the cheek. I've kissed three boys on the cheek, you, Harry, and Mitch—don't judge me, it was a dark time—" she stopped him before he could make a joke, "but I've never actually kissed anyone, and if you tell anyone, I'll make you regret it."

He let out a low whistle, "I feel significantly worse for you now."

"You should," She nodded, "even Blossom's kissed someone. I just never got around to it."

He groaned, slapping his hands to his face, "Ugh, you're so lucky you're my counterpart! I would tell everybody if it didn't end up being such a poor reflection on me!"

Again, she found herself smiling despite herself, "Sorry about that, coach."

"It's just, why are you such a prude?" Butch moaned, "Can't you be hotter?"

She glared at him, all amusement dissipating, "Just ugly to spite you, I guess.

"You do a good job." He sniffed, watching her stand up, "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" She threw a look over her shoulder at him, "To get this over with."

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"You don't have to follow," Buttercup murmured, throwing him a sideways glance.

Butch shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, "It wouldn't feel right, missing your downfall."

She sighed, walking a snail pace through the halls towards the gymnasium where the pep assembly was held. She could already hear the band playing and cheerleaders cheering. She had about forty-two text messages, and fifteen missed calls, all demanding where she was and why she was missing.

"Can you at least tell me what to expect?" Buttercup looked back over at him, "It'll be in private, right? He's too shy."

Butch didn't answer for a while, until, finally, he stopped the two of them from walking any further, "I heard from Boomer, who heard from Harry, who heard from your sister, and so forth and so forth, that Elmer got into his head that you'd only go to the dance with someone brave enough to do something big." He gave her a look, "That's all I know."

She sighed again, remembering exactly when she had given Elmer that stupid idea. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, only opening them when she had found her center, "Right. Okay. Let's go."

The next time they stopped, it was because of a teacher. They had neared the doors when someone had called out to them, "Hey! You two! What are you doing out here!"

Then, when the teacher had actually seen who she was, a smile had broken out onto her face.

"Oh! Wait! Actually, you—uh—" the teacher glanced at the two of them, trying to put back on her 'serious' face, "—actually you two stay right there, being tardy without a pass, you wait here while I get the principal! This is very serious!"

"Smooth cover-up," Butch muttered after the teacher, nudging Buttercup with his elbow, "you know I may actually get away with missing half this shit with you next to me."

She gave him a tiny smile as nervous butterflies erupted in her stomach. If Butch had been right about anything, he was right about this. Everyone was in on it—whatever it was.

"I can't do this," she stared at the doors to the gym, listening to the commotion inside as things like 'get to your places,' and 'shush' were loudly being stage-whispered, "for the first time in my life, I think I finally found something I can't do."

"That's not like you at all." Butch frowned, looking down at her, "Not very toughest fighter."

"Yeah, well, my whole life is flashing before my eyes right now. The way I see it, either I hurt someone I care about, or I hurt myself, and I'm too self-sacrificial to do the former." She let her shoulders drop, "You know, maybe the superhero thing really has fucked me over."

"Well, you can't avoid him forever." Butch said, still frowning, "It's hardly done you any good these past two weeks. Not to mention, our math grade is suffering because of it."

"I can try," She argued, assessing the school's main exit only a few measly feet away, "I'll move to Zimbabwe. They probably have a few monsters I could fight over there. I could be their new superhero."

He snorted, "I'd like to see Blossom and Bubbles let you."

"They'll be fine without me." Buttercup quipped, staring so intently at the exit; she was practically burning a hole through it, "It's better than hurting him or losing myself."

Butch dropped a hand on her shoulder and pivoted her around to face him.

"If he's actually your friend, whatever you say shouldn't matter." He huffed as she wriggled under the intensity of his gaze, "Buttercup, just say no."

"I—" She started but was quickly interrupted by the principal, sneaking out the gym door.

"—Ah, Buttercup!" He looked towards Butch, and his smile dropped, "Butch."

"Bradly." Butch greeted back with little amusement, letting go of her shoulder, and she found herself missing the weight of his hand.

"Principal Johnson." Principal Johnson corrected.

"Sure, Bradly." Butch sniffed, "Let's get on with it, yeah?"

Principal Johnson glared at Butch for a moment longer before turning back to her, "Buttercup! We've been waiting for you, see we have a—" she watched Principal Johnson think on his feet, unaware that she already semi-knew what she was walking in on, "—have an award for you and your sisters that we were hoping to give out to you three!"

"Oh?" Buttercup asked, raising an eyebrow as she tried to play along, "What for?"

Principal Johnson paused for a moment before settling on, "For being such phenomenal young women."

"Again?" Butch piped up flatly behind her, and she almost laughed.

Principal Johnson shot another nasty look over her shoulder at Butch before ushering her forward, "Now come on, wait right here—" He led her directly behind the gym doors, "And I'll go in and announce you."

She followed his directive and stood stock still, feeling miserable. She took a deep breath in and let out another long and heavy sigh as she listened to the gym fall into a chaotic frenzy. This was it. This was what she had been dreading for two whole weeks, and she couldn't avoid it any longer.

"Fuck!" There was a loud groan from behind her, "Fine! Fuck! Okay! I'll help you! Dammit!"

She blinked in surprise and looked over her shoulder at a very cross-looking Butch, "What?"

"Oh, don't what me!" He mocked, "How can someone know how to topple mountains but not know how to say no to some dweeb!" He ran his fingers through his hair exasperated, "It's so pathetic! You owe me big, you fucking got that—big!"

"What do you mean?" She asked again as Principal Johnson called out her name.

With a sudden hiss, Butch pushed her through the doors, "Just play along, okay? Wait a few seconds, and I'll be right behind you."

She blinked back at him as the doors swung shut, and she stumbled her way into the gym to a deafening roar of applause. Confetti rained down, obscuring most of the student body behind a cloud of colorful rainbows. The marching band pep song rang loud and clear as the cheerleaders flipped into action, leading the school in their fight song. Through the chaos, she could make out signs painted with tacky hearts and her and Elmer's name through the middle.

She cringed at the sensory overload, and when she made eye contact with her sisters—Bubbles cheering up a storm and Blossom standing there rather stoically, despite the slight smile on her face—Buttercup wanted to fall right through the floor.

But nothing—no other feeling at all—compared to the heart-stopping moment when Elmer S'Gloo stepped into view. He passed off his trombone to Bubbles as he made his way to her. There was a proud look on his face that made Buttercup's already bleeding-heart break into smithereens—the whole entire school really would lay witness to her signing her own death decree.

Maybe, on some cosmic level, she deserved this. But, unfortunately, this was what she got basing a whole friendship around pity and guilt. She'd never make the same mistake again—not that she'd ever had the chance to anymore.

"Buttercup," Elmer said with his chest for the first time since they had met (in a weird way, she was really happy for him, facing all of his fears like this), "I really hope this is what you meant by going all out because I pulled a few strings—" He laughed to himself a bit, gesturing around to some of her waving family and friends, "—and tried doing something special for you."

"I—respect that." She nodded, unable to lie.

Elmer smiled, cheeks bright red. He cleared his throat and began, "Listen, I know you hate prom, it's really not my thing either, but I've wanted to ask you to it since, uh, well, since middle school, honestly—" He pulled two tickets from his pocket, "—so what do you say? I think, maybe, we could have fun together. We always do."

She stared at the tickets in his hands before letting her eyes jump around the gym. Everyone was practically on the edge of their seats. She could see it in their eyes—they'd be happy if she said yes, they'd be happier if she said no. Her heartbeat was in her ears as she looked back at Elmer—the sweet, earnest, and open expression on his face that she was in no way, shape, or form attracted to—and she swallowed past the lump in her throat.

"Uh," She started, her hands twitching slightly towards the tickets when curiously, Elmer's expression began to morph. His expression went from sweet to dark as she felt someone hug her from behind.

"Hey, babe," Butch drawled, resting his chin on her head, and she froze as his arms wrapped firmly around her, "whatcha doin'?"

The gymnasium fell silent, but quickly, the crowd around them began to sputter back to life a few seconds before she did.

"This guy ain't bugging you, is he?" Butch hummed, pointing over at Elmer, who was wide-eyed, distraught, and ten times paler than usual.

"Uh, what?" Elmer asked with a squeak.

Fortunately for Elmer, it seemed that he and she were back on the same page—because what!?

"Mr. Jojo!" Principal Johnson came storming over, "Let go of Ms. Utonium this instant and take a seat. This isn't any of your business to interfere in!"

The outburst startled her out of her shock, and she ripped her eyes away from Elmer to look at Principal Johnson, then the bleachers packed with other students, and then, finally, her sisters, whose jaws were both on the ground. Something about that—maybe it was the adrenaline—made her happy. They weren't the only ones keeping surprises to themselves.

"Well, considering she's my girlfriend," Butch snorted, squeezing her tighter to his chest, "I guess it is my business."

"Girlfriend?" She heard Elmer whisper a bit brokenheartedly.

"What?" Some of the other students whispered to each other, "When did that happen? How did we miss that?"

"What." Blossom hissed as Bubbles broke out into a sweet, "aw!"

"WHAT?!" Came a very distinct yell as Brick's voice cut through the surprised murmurings.

"Sorry, Elmer," Buttercup heard herself saying—and she was really honestly sorry—quickly following along with Butch's lie. She shrugged in a causal attempt to soften the blow, resting her hands on Butch's arms, "I can't go to prom with you."

She looked up at Butch with the cheesiest smile she could muster, "I've got a boyfriend."

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