At the mere mention of "boys", Buttercup knew she already wanted this party over and done with. She avoided being noticed while standing up, as not to be dragged into the conversation, and attempted to bolt out of the room with the muttered excuse of getting more snacks.

"C'mon, Buttercup, don't be a spoilsport!" Bubbles exclaimed, earning most of the girls' attention and agreement.

"Aren't girls supposed to kiss and not tell?" Buttercup grumbled, taking a seat against the foot of the bed.

Molly grinned and replied, "Overruled. We're all friends here. Plus, who have you been kissing that you don't want to tell about?"

"…No one," she replied dryly. "I have more important stuff to do."

By the contemplative looks on her sisters' faces, Buttercup knew they were trying to work out what exactly was the truth: that she had indeed yet to kiss anyone or that she was denying it as to save herself from talking about it. Shit. Either way sucked.

"You should try it," Molly suggested, a hint of shyness in her tone. "It's… kind of nice."

"Especially when it's your first kiss," another girl added dreamily. "Mine was so tingly…"

Twittering on about some weird whoosh they all felt when lips met and rapid heartbeats and all of that crap, the brunette Powerpuff steadily tuned them out.

Different from the girls at the slumber party, Buttercup shrugged off the importance of a first kiss; but, at the same time, she wondered if all of their talk held true. Was kissing really that worth doing over and over? She wasn't an idiot – obviously adults did it for a reason – but she couldn't shake the curiosity of what she in particular would feel like when kissed.

"…and he tasted like oranges!"

Wait, what.

Buttercup leaned forward ever so slightly, eyebrows drawn in concentration as she listened. "Oooh, that must have been so nice! My first kiss tasted really spicy, with lime and melon too."

"…You mean you get backwash from whatever they ate last?" Buttercup deadpanned. "Gross."

"No way!" Bubbles protested. "It's just what they tasted like, not food or anything."

"So you haven't had your first kiss yet," Blossom observed. Seeing Buttercup about to launch into a panicked rant, the redhead quickly intervened. "No, it's not a bad thing. It's kind of sweet you've waited."

Not about to tell her sister otherwise, Buttercup nodded in agreement and left it at that. As the other girls ran out of steam on the topic, the thought was unfortunate enough that the brunette couldn't shake it.

On a rare occurrence, Buttercup made a plan.

In this case maybe it really wasn't the best plan, since it involved Butch of the Rowdyruff Boys… okay, she conceded, that made it one of the worst kind of plans. But, she knew he would do anything for a fight - which made him somewhat easy to manipulate. He wouldn't ask too many questions either, and that was the deciding factor for going to him.

Then she found him, Butch's twitches indicated how jonesing he really was for some action.

"Yo, Butch," she called out.

"Hey, Powerpuff."

"I want a favor from you."

"What's in it for me?" Butch immediately fired back.

Buttercup shrugged, trying to appear more nonchalant than she felt – this is so, so stupid, she thought helplessly – and replied, "Whatever. You can have a favor from me or something. I don't care. But… that's if you win."

Hook, line, and sinker.

Butch's eyes became more focused on her, his muscles tensing and preparing for what she was sure was a fight. "First to get knocked to the ground loses?" he asked, already hovering in an attack stance.

She nodded, ready for him, but not at all ready for what would happen when she won.

Fighting didn't take thinking, not in the way Blossom liked to strategize and analyze anyway - it took reactions.

Roundhouse kick.

Punch forward while he's distracted.

Shit, block. Block again.

Try this on for size-

The adrenaline rush hit harder than Butch's lasers, kicking her body into overdrive past the pain. It felt good, and Butch was the only one to get that. No one just jumped without looking like she did.

They had done this enough times, though, that Buttercup saw through his attack pattern and knew when he left an opening. Instead of blocking his incoming punch, she grabbed his arm and swung him bodily towards the earth, finishing the job with a harsh kick to his torso.

Buttercup couldn't tell what kind of expression he wore, but it didn't take a genius to guess it anyway – Butch had lost. She watched him unceremoniously pick himself off the ground and was faced with the realization that she would have to put into words what she wanted from him. The good feelings from winning and fighting quickly drained from her.

Butch crossed his arms over his chest, face drawn into a frown. "So what's the favor?"

"…I, well... uh." The grass to Butch's left became extremely interesting as she floated back to the ground.

"This better not be anything weird like you girls did with Boomer dressing like a girl or whatever." Butch's surliness wasn't quite palpable enough to ease Buttercup's awkwardness.

"Don't give me ideas," Buttercup grumbled, not bothering to correct him that it had been Bubbles in Boomer's clothes that time years ago. Catching his gaze abruptly, she continued, "Whatever happens here, you don't get to talk smack and you don't get to tell anyone, got it?"

"Okay…"

"Then. I want you to kiss me."

The boy's resounding laughter had Buttercup's face scowling and red. The pointing and clutching of his stomach really, really didn't help his case. Frustrated and furiously embarrassed, she seized his shirt collar. "Asshole! I knew this was a bad idea!" After releasing him roughly, she began stomping away from the extremely entertained Butch.

"No, wait, Buttercup." He flew in front of her before she could get too far away and grabbed onto her wrist for safe measure. "Don't go."

The corner of his mouth was still at an amused tilt, and Buttercup could tell by the way his eyes were attempting to mask the laughter that he was so not over making fun of her. "Why should I stay, huh? I won that favor fair and square and you back out of it in a split second like the chicken-shit you really are!"

"Fair and square doesn't exactly apply to me, you know that," he said indifferently. Butch's grip held firm despite Buttercup's lack of struggle.

Anger deflating gradually, Buttercup rolled her eyes and stated, "Doesn't change that you're still a chicken-shit."

Butch raised the hand that wasn't holding on to her wrist and adopted a mock-serious visage. "On my honor as a Rowdyruff do I hold to the favor that was asked of me."

Her hand was moved to rest at his chest; she left it there. "Some honor."

A shrug, an inch closer. "It's all I got."

"Whatever." She felt something – his hand, she realized - at her side.

"Are you ready to have your world rocked?" he taunted, way too close to her face and hand ever so prevalent against her waist.

"Shut up and do it; not saying that stuff was part of the deal."

"Alright, alright." Nerves steeled and braced for impact, her eyes slid shut as Butch finally pressed his lips to hers and they were kissing.

Kisses…

Kisses tasted like mouth.

After all of that, kisses tasted like fucking mouth.

Buttercup pulled away from Butch and glared at his lips. "Isn't there supposed to be some magical whooshy crap that happens and fuzzy, tingly feelings?" she questioned, grumpy discontent apparent in her tone.

"I'm sure feeling some tingly feelings somewhere," he leered, smirk wide and shit-eating on his lips that tasted like mouth.

The Powerpuff Girl had to roll her eyes, knowing she set herself up for that one, and pushed herself completely off of Butch's chest. "Keep it harnessed or I blast it off." It didn't take a genius to know what would happen if she did indeed do something that extreme to Butch.

Butch glared spitefully and replied, "Unfair advantage."

"Ha, that's just proving that women are superior to men."

"You think that, babe. You think that."

"I don't even have to think it, it's true."

When Butch didn't reply, Buttercup turned and stretched her arms forwards. This whole thing was dumb. She should have realized that it would be different for her, just like most other things were. None of the other girls liked fighting as much as she did, none of them like to push the boundaries like she did, or minded getting her hands dirty. If Buttercup didn't know any better, she would have thought she was missing out on something. …Clearly not.

"I'm out."

The Rowdyruff's gravelly voice jarred her out of her thoughts. "Why, had enough pummeling today?" Buttercup challenged.

"Nah, I could take you any time. But," he started, a glint forming in his eyes that Buttercup didn't quite like the look of, "if I leave, then I get to do this –." Without warning, Butch kissed her again. He was full of shit and mirth and confidence, and Buttercup punched his arm once he put some distance between them. With a quick 'later', all that remained of him was the dark green trail from his flight.

Slowly, Buttercup took off into the sky as well.

Yeah, alright, Buttercup admitted to herself, maybe he didn't taste like any weird combination of flavors, but maybe parting ways like that kind of left that stupid whooshy feeling after all.