And They Called It; Puppy Love

Summary: To be fair, Butch hadn't meant to bring a dog back to the apartment. But there she was and it was too late now. When he got back home however, he realized he had no clue how to take care of a dog, so he called the one person who was more responsible than he was: Buttercup Utonium.

Happy Birthday Colleen! You are my Green's soul sister for life and I adore you! Go to Carrie's profile for a second supriiiiise! We love you!

-Rose xoxo

Part I: Butch

To be fair, Butch hadn't meant to bring a dog back to the apartment.

Seriously, he had gone out for fucking eggs and milk, not a dog.

It just sort of happened.

He was on his way back to the apartment that he and his brothers shared, when he heard muffled crying coming from a dumpster in the alleyway he was floating by. He paused as his super hearing picked it up and hovered over to the offending dumpster to see what was causing the noise.

"I swear to god if it's a fucking dumpster baby, I'm giving up on life and going home." he grumbled under his breath as he opened the lid and began to sift through the trash until he moved the lid of a peach create out of the way and froze.

There, covered in peach juice and whatever else was in the dumpster, was a tiny puppy, looking like it was barely more than a few months old at most. Butch picked the thing up, stunned, as the cries turned to whimpers as the sticky ball of fur registered it was being held by someone.

Now Butch might have been an asshole, but he wasn't that much of an asshole. As he stared down at the sicky, crying puppy, the only thing that flashed through his mind was: Who the fuck throws a dog in the trashcan?

Someone worse than he was apparently, and that thought alone made him want to laugh. Worse than he was? He was a goddamn super villain who had destroyed Townsville more times then he could remember, and he still wouldn't think to throw a puppy away like it was trash.

For some reason, it bothered him more then he thought it should.

He looked around to see if anyone else was around – and by anyone, he meant the prick that had abandoned the pup. Fortunately for them, he didn't see anyone. He glanced down at the squirming, sticky mess in his hands and he groaned inwardly. He couldn't just leave her there, there was no way she would survive if he did, and he didn't want to drop her off at a shelter either. He didn't have the best reputation even after all these years, and the last thing he wanted was someone to think he was mistreating animals, so that was out of the question.

He could take her home with him… but the apartment that he shared with his brothers wasn't pet friendly and Brick hated dogs for some unknown reason. He couldn't give less of a shit to what the apartment rules were; but he had to live with Brick, and he didn't want his fire-breathing brother literally breathing down his neck for bringing a dog back with him.

But then again, he had never really cared much for authority anyways.

Eggs and milk forgotten, he tucked the puppy under his jacket and flew off towards home. Dark green streak tailing behind him as he contemplated what to do.

It was a stroke of luck that Brick was out of the apartment when he had returned with the puppy (who he had now started to call Peaches for the hell of it). He was more than likely out with Boomer – the latter having moved out with Bubbles a few months ago, but still dropped by frequently.

He went to the kitchen sink and washed off all the crap that was sticking to her fur and dried her off, noting that she has a cute red-brown tinge to her when her fur was clean. He rummaged through the fridge, looking for something to feed to her, before settling on some day-old chicken fingers that Brick had made. Oh well, not like he needed them anyways.

He fed a few to her and she looked like she was starting to doze off, so he had made a makeshift nest of blankets in his room and tucked her in there, shutting the door behind him as he collapsed onto the living room couch.

Well that wasn't so bad. He figured. He just had to get her some puppy stuff and whatever and all would be fine-

He paused. The only problem was he had no idea what the hell puppies needed – especially one that young. Shit, he wasn't even sure if he was supposed to give her chicken fingers or even leave her by herself.

Still, it was better than Brick suddenly coming home and finding him chilling on the couch with a fucking dog on his lap.

Shit, he had no idea what to do with the puppy now that he had brought her home. If this was going to work, he needed some help… and he knew there was one person who was more responsible than he was, and probably knew more of what to do then he did.

He sighed reluctantly and got out his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he reached the B's. His thumb hovered for a moment over the last name in the section, before he pressed it and held the phone up to his ear, listening to it ring a few times. A raspy feminine voice picked up on the other line.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sunshine, it's me. Wanna come over? I have an emergency."

"Well, you got here fast." He grinned as he stooped down to peck Buttercup on the cheek as she allowed herself into the apartment. "That was under four seconds."

"Well you said it was an emergency." The dark-haired girl rolled her eyes as he shut the door behind her. "So, what did you get into this time? The apartment looks relatively okay."

"It's got nothing to do with the apartment." he rolled his eyes as he beckoned her to follow him. His counterpart narrowed her eyes. "Jesus Butch, did you put someone in the hospital? Is that why you called me? You want me to bail you out?"

"For once no." he sniggered as he stopped in front of his room. She rolled he eyes. "Did you call me here because you wanted to break your bed… again?"

"Again, no, but if you want to, we definitely can." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, grinning inwardly as he saw her roll her eyes, but noticed a pink tinge working its way up her cheeks. "Well, I give up then. What's the emergency?"

He sighed. "Before I show you, you have to promise you won't say anything to my brothers. They don't know yet."

She raised a perfectly arched brow at him. "Well now I'm really curious. What did you do?"

"Something that Brick is going to hate." He grinned as he turned the doorknob and opened the door, leading into hi somewhat messy room. She entered it confused. "I don't know what you're talking about-"

She paused as she looked towards his bed. Sitting in the mess of blankets was Peaches. Upon seeing them enter, the little puppy jumped up and ran towards her, barking excitedly as she jumped up on Buttercup's legs, wagging her tail happily as Buttercup just stared down at her.

She didn't say anything as he shut the door again and he began to sweat. It was never a good thing when Buttercup went quiet. He expected an outburst, a rant about why the hell he would bring a dog back to an apartment that clearly didn't allow them, but she was deathly silent.

Finally, she stooped down and began to rub the puppy between the ears, allowing the thing to jump up and lick her face. "So." She finally said after a moment, turning to look at him. "You got a dog."

He nodded. "Yeah. I got a dog."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Went out for milk."

"and you came back with a dog."

"Yeah."

"Okay." She went back to scratching the little dog's ears. After a moment, she looked at him again. "Why did you really get a dog Butch? Better yet, wheredid you get her?"

"It wasn't from some backyard breeder if that's what you're worried about." He muttered defensively. "I was on my way to get milk and I heard her howling from inside a dumpster. Some asshat just dumped her in there. I felt bad, so I took her with me."

Buttercup's jaw set at his brutal honestly and he could see a tick develop in her jaw as the implication of what he was saying washed over her. She let a sigh out through her nose as she continued to play with the little puppy. "So, what's her name?"

"Peaches."

She raised a sarcastic eyebrow at him. "Peaches?"

He shrugged. "I found her in a peach create, and I thought it would be ironic, sue me."

"Of all the fucking-" she shook her head, cutting herself off. "Okay, fine, whatever. Have you fed her anything?"

He snorted. "'Corse I fed her, what do you think I am, stupid? I'm not Boomer for Christ's sake."

"Debatable." Buttercup responded flatly. "What have you fed her?"

He sighed inwardly. Here we go, the part where he asks her for help even though god only knew he didn't want to.

"Well I mean, that's why I called you over here. I don't really know what dogs eat… or do… or anything. So, I need your help."

"Clearly." The green-eyed woman responded dryly as she repeated her earlier question. "What have you fed her?"

"I fed her some left over chicken strips."

She blinked. Once. Twice. Three times and said nothing as she gave him the most expressionless look he had ever seen. Was he not supposed to feed her that? Dogs were carnivores, right? His older brother was made from a dog tail and he liked meat enough. This was confusing.

"What?" She finally asked him flatly. "I don't know. Dogs like meat I guess, and that's all we had in the fridge. Unless you wanted me to give her chips or some shit." He shrugged. Buttercup sighed as she stood up. "You really have no clue what you're doing, do you?"

"No, otherwise I wouldn't have called you here, now would I? It's not like Mojo allowed us to have pets when we lived with him. They'd end up becoming his science projects. So, you got me."

"Christ almighty, okay let's go."

"You're so lucky that my sister has practically raised every animal on the planet and dragged me into helping her, otherwise you'd be shit out of luck." Buttercup snorted as they hulled their puppy supplies through the apartment window.

"Why couldn't we have gone through the front door like normal people?"

"You know why. This place isn't dog friendly babe. I don't want to attract attention."

"Oh, and this won't?" Buttercup huffed as she passed him a bag of kibble through the window. "Eh, the people in my building aren't the biggest fans of Brick and I. They tend to just let us do our own thing. Which is convenient for us." He grumbled as he grabbed the last of the puppy supplies from her and set it on the floor.

"I guess." Buttercup muttered as she climbed through the window and shut it behind her. "So where are you going to put all this stuff so Brick doesn't see it? You know he's going to lose his shit when he finds out you brought a dog back home with you."

"I'll put it in Boomer's old room. We don't really use it for anything else. I can probably get away with hiding most of this shit under the bed." He shrugged as he scratched Peaches under her chin. "Okay, and what are you going to do about her then?" Buttercup nodded to the little puppy. "He's going to hear her before you show him."

"I mean, I could just knock him out when he comes home-"

The lock on the front door suddenly clicked open and the door swung inward and then shut a second later as two different voices floated in from the front.

He didn't even have time to tell Buttercup to hide the puppy before Bubbles and Boomer rounded the corner into the kitchen, and stopped dead at the scene before them.

He could almost see the gears in his brother's head turning as he tried to process what he was seeing. He almost looked like he was more shocked to see both him and Buttercup fully-clothed in their kitchen instead of half-naked and covered in love bites – then he was to see the small puppy he was holding. Bubbles on the other hand, took much less time to react.

"A PUPPY!" Bubbles shrieked at an octave that was just under a sonic scream, as she darted forward and yanked Peaches out of his grasp before he could stop her. "A deaf puppy." He grumbled under his breath as he locked eyes with his younger brother. "What the hell man? I thought you were out with Brick?"

"I was." Boomer confirmed, still looking stunned as Bubbles gushed over the pup in her arms. "Then I dipped off to grab Bubbles so the three of us could play on the X-box later."

"Great, so where's Brick then?" he asked as he tried to rescues Peaches from Bubbles, only to get swatted away by the crooning blonde. "Probably still out getting snacks, why?" Boomer's eyes narrowed. "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Hell no." he snorted as he pried Peaches away from Bubbles. "Dude I'm homicidal, not suicidal. There's a difference."

"Okay, well, you know how Brick feels about dogs, so, it's your funeral I guess." Boomer shrugged before quirking an eyebrow. "So where did you get her from anyways?"

"He found her in the garbage. For once I'm not going to argue with him." Buttercup cut in before he could respond. "Oh." Boomer muttered as he reached out to pet the little pup. "So, what's her name?"

"Peaches."

"Peaches, dude that's so dum-" Boomer trailed off as Bubbles shot him death glare. "-I mean, I just never thought you would name a dog that."

"Don't ask." He rolled his eyes. "She wouldn't make it if I left her there, so I called Sunshine here, and she got me set up with all the shit I need. I'm set."

"Awe, Buttercup, you did listen to me when I forced you into helping me rehabilitate some my animals!" Bubbles beamed at her older sister, causing the dark-haired girl to roll her eyes. "Yeah, don't think this means that I'm going to be doing it more often – if you bring home another goddamn emu, I'm going to take it back to wherever you got it from. Dogs are the easy ones." Bubbles stuck her tongue out at her before she clapped her hands excitedly.

"Oh my god, I have to tell Blossom! She's going to freak out when she sees this cutie!" Bubbles squealed as she whipped out her phone and began frantically typing a message out to the absent red-head. Buttercup cast both brothers a withering look. "She's had a rough semester." She muttered, causing both to hum in response.

"So… what are you going to do when Brick comes home and see's this?" Boomer asked, scratching the little dog behind the ears. He shrugged. "Meh, I was thinking about hiding her for a little bit… break it to him gently."

"and all this crap? Where are you going to put that?" Boomer gestured to the bags of dog food and other supplies behind them. "Well it's not exactly like you're using your room." He countered with an eye roll.

Boomer punched him on the arm. "Dude, I moved out like three months ago. I'm surprised you and Brick haven't done anything to my room yet. It's almost like you miss me or something."

"Yeah, yeah, don't let it go to your head." He grumbled as he waved him off. "I'll tell Brick later. When he's less prone to collectively losing his shit."

Buttercup's eyes widened suddenly as she whirled on Bubbles. "Bubbles please, for the love of god, tell me you didn't text Brick as well."

Bubbles looked up guiltily from her phone, but before she could open her mouth, the front door slammed open and hit the wall so hard, he would be surprised if there wasn't a massive hole in the drywall.

"THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN BUTCH GOT A FUCKING DOG?"

Well, Brick was home.

*Go to Carriedreamer's profile for Part II babes.