Title: ColorWheel : Paint by Numbers

Pairing: Butch x Buttercup, Background Buttercup X Brick
Rating: T for a few cuss words
Disclaimer: Clearly, I don't own.
Notes: As it seems that people were confused at Buttercups actions in the end of Color Wheel, I'm writing another to, hopefully, explain why she acted how she did.

It had been a long time in coming.

Butch knew it, somewhere deep in his gut, he had known it. He just hadn't wanted to believe it. But to understand just what he had known... It would be best to start from where it all began.

It started maybe three months after He and Buttercup had gotten together. It was incredibly small and simple. It was simply that he was ALWAYS home.

Butch wasn't much of a "Home-Right-After-School" Guy, but He started coming home more after he got with Buttercup. The two were like lit dynamite. The fuse was school. It'd start in the mornings when he'd come to her house. That was the spark the lit them.

Buttercup may have been a tomboy, but she had the body cursed by the fucking devil, because no angel could possibly have curves that dangerous and sexy. She looked good no matter what she wore, and Butch was never a guy of self-restraint. However there was never enough time to do what he wanted and he could never convince her to skip with him.

So they went to school. School was the dwindling fuse.

He'd watch her, steal kisses from her, press her against the wall until they were both out of breath and dangerously close to getting caught, but it was never enough. School was practically foreplay he both hated and enjoyed, because by the time the final bell rang, they could hardly keep their hands off each other as the raced to his house. They were completely absorbed in each other.

After a while, when the passion had cooled enough to where he could actually think about more than how none could rock shorts like Butttercup, the three month mark, Butch began to notice that whenever he brought Buttercup here, Brick would always be somewhere in the house. They'd be hanging out in the living room, watching TV or playing a game, and Brick would walk into the room and sit down, either Reading or watching the TV. He didn't say much, save maybe a hello when Buttercup said Hi, and it just sort of became natural to see him there. He never came closer than the Arm chair on the right, the seat closest to Buttercups proclaimed spot.

Butch had thought nothing of it. Brick was an incredibly unsocial guy and a fair bit of a nerd, so he just assumed Brick had decided that everyone else was an idiot and wanted nothing to do with them.

This wouldn't be abnormal. Butch brushed it off. After all, His brother's whereabouts were of no real bother to him. After all, Buttercup was with him, and all his attention was on her.

XOXOXO

Brick got a little Bolder.

It was Five months now, and Somehow, Brick had managed to integrate into their table. What was strange was by the time anyone noticed... It was too late for them to care. He just seemed to fit in seamlessly.

Before the table had consisted of him, Buttercup, Mitch, Buttercup's best friend, Robin, Princess, His Ex who wouldn't go away, and Floyd and Lloyd. Butch remembered the day he noticed. It was the first time he heard Brick actually laugh.

Not an evil laugh, not a cocky chuckle, But an actual LAUGH.

Princess had just started on about a rant as to why she was better then everyone ever and why Butch she go back out with her when Buttercup snapped.

"Princess! If anyone here as ever given the slightest hint that we actually give a shit what you have to say, Then we Apologize right here and now. We did not mean to make you think we want you here! Now, If You please, Would kindly shut the fuck up, We would like to get back to eating, Go to class, sit in the sun and have a STUPENDOUS FUCKING DAY, GOD DAMMIT!"

The table went dead silent as Princess gaped at Buttercup Like she had grown an extra head, and then we all heard it. It was slightly stifled at the beginning, but Brick busted up laughing. Now everyone looked at him like he had grown an extra head, but his laughter was contagious, and soon, everyone at the table was all laughing.

Princess walked off in an angry huff, and He watched her leave with a dark satisfaction.

Had he been watching his Brother, he would have noticed another first.

A smile.

Buttercup returned it.

XOXOXO

Butch was not the most observant guy out there, and he definitely wasn't not the brightest. Those two things alone would probably be the reason it took until he and Buttercup were nearing the nine month mark for the gears in his head to start turning. He can't tell you the exact day he noticed it, but he began to notice that whenever he hunted for the familiar head of black hair, he would always find that familiar red hat nearby.

It didn't strike him as too odd, but even he was beginning to see that, in a very subtle way, Brick was becoming just as much a constant in his life as Buttercup was. He would always find them together, talking about something or other.

Butch began to notice that no matter what the day, Brick ALWAYS had something to talk about with Buttercup. Be it about the game she had played last night (He went to every single one), about a project they had in their shared classes, or about a new game he had bought at her recommendation, or hell, even just on how her day was going, Brick would always stop and take time out of his day to talk to her.

Normally, you'd think this would have alarm bells ringing in anyone's head, but Brick wasn't a fool. The red ruff would also seek out his younger brother's girl, Bubbles, and talk to her, or seek out his counterpart and her boyfriend…. Though notably, it was far less than he did with Buttercup. And far less flirty. With Bubbles and Blossom, there wasn't the long lingering gazes, the laughter, the small touches that were both casual and some how intimate at the same time.

However, As soon as Butch showed up, with a usual overly sexed display of affection toward his counterpart, The Red ruff would go off and disappear into the crowd.

With his disappearance, a gut feeling would rise up, telling him that something was wrong, something out of place. It was there, right there, he was just looking in the wrong direction, and needed to turn his head just slightly…

Butch brushed it off, his attention back on Buttercup's lips.

Had Butch been an observant person, he would have noticed Buttercup's hesitancy as she kissed him back, would have noticed she slowly stopped kissing him and only reacted when he kissed her… that when he let her go, her smile didn't reach her eyes.

Had he been an observant person, he would have seen the tiniest of flashes of irritation in blood red eyes as they walked away.

Had he been smarter, he would have paid attention to the gut feeling he brushed off.

XOXOXO

But he wasn't. Butch wasn't observant, he wasn't a thinker. Butch was a doer, a man who ran in pure instinct and gut feelings.

And for the past few months, His gut was telling him something was wrong.

For the past few months, he brushed it off. For the first time in his life, Butch didn't want anything to be wrong. He didn't want something bad to happen. So he chose to ignore it. Everything was fine, He was happy, Buttercup was happy, that was all that mattered. So what if she was a little distant. The two of them were loners by nature, it was natural to pull away a little. It was natural for her to have friends, natural for her to need a bit of space….

It was natural for them to argue. That was what couples did right? They fight and then everything was good again.

Why couldn't he believe that? He didn't want to lose Buttercup. As much as his manly pride died over it, Butch had fallen for the Green puff, and damn it he had fallen HARD. It hurt, the distance that had grown between them, but to make her happy, he'd give her space. He'd give her anything to see that smile.

If it made her happy…

Butch would give her up.

This turned out much sadder then I intended, and I fell so... sad for Butch. I feel the need to let you all know I have nothing against Butch X Buttercup. I actually Really like that couple. And I feel like if Brick and Buttercup really became a couple this way, things wouldn't be all happy and sunshine.

This was meant to explain things, but I think It only made things slightly more confusing. I feel like to get the whole message across about just how Buttercup came to love brick, I'd have to do one from her view. I probably will... and It'll take just as long to come out as this one did, If Not longer. Haha I actually was going to write another one From Butch's point of View, after everything. This is all up to you guys. I'll probably still write them, but If I post them or not will be up to you.

So review, and tell me what you thought? I know I probably lost a lotta fans of Colorwheel with this one... haha. Ah well. I know this is bad, cause It took me FOREVER to actually write out. Should I take it down, and just leave it as Colorwheel? I don't know.

Before it is said, Yes, I know at the end there, Butch seems OOC. He is. Think about it. Butch is this ruff and tumble bad ass who should have a heart of god damn stone. But He ended up dating Buttercup (In this Fic anyway, for Reasons unexplored). That's a huge step. and he STUCK with her. He's commited to something other then crime. Her. So yeah, he's a bit (read: A lot) OOC. But with a justified reason.

Okay, i'm done. Review please?