Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,

only the story that I have thrown them in.

Chapter I

A lightly tanned built man with short light green hair walked out of the local hospital carrying a small bag of medication and smiling happily. He wore an Army regulated uniform with a Green Beret resting atop his head and his dog tags around his neck; to top it off he had made his way to a forest green pickup truck with the logo of his regiment decorating his back window. Pulling out his keys from his pocket he unlocked the driver side door before stepping in, setting the bag of medication in the passenger side seat he then grabbed his aviator sunglasses and covered his emerald green eyes before turning his attention to actually starting the car. Flipping through his set list of radio stations he happily sighed before announcing to himself, "Three months, one week, and four days."

What this 26 year old was referring to was not only the last time he saw his petite red haired love interest, but also how long it had been since the decorated war vet had 'flipped out'. Smiling wider to himself he put this truck in gear and pulled out of his parking spot, humming along with the song that was currently playing he made his way up to the stop sign and flipped on his right turn signal. For now he was heading home, he still had several more hours before his sweetheart even got out of work.

Across town at the Happy Tree Bar and Grille a small, pale, 19 year old red head with dandruff throughout her long messy locks sat on one of the stools, gently placed her elbows on the mahogany bar and sighed happily. Now that the cleaning was done all she needed to do was wait for her shift to finish. Within seconds she was attacked with a hug by her pinkette friend with her trademark bob haircut decorated with a red bow; smiling widely and returned her friends hug. "So we're holding karaoke tonight, you're coming right Flaky?"

Shaking her head the red head replied with a soft voice, "Sorry Giggles I don't think I'll be making it to karaoke tonight. I have a…." Pausing, her face started to heat up and a shade of soft pink started to take over her cheeks; playing with the hem of her uniform shirt and continued, "I have a… date."

Giggles gasped at her friend's news, this drew the attention of some of the other staff members and caused Flaky to try and shush her. One of the young waiters who overheard this made his way over to find out the details, throwing his arm over her shoulder he pulled her closer. He was also one of her good friends, but he was also one of the few people she didn't want to know. Looking over at him she was greeted by a goofy bucktooth smile of her freckled purple haired friends. Flaky smiled uneasily and gave a nervous laugh, he then spoke, "So you have a date? Our Flaky is growing up so fast!"

His statement made her much more fidgety and her cheeks became a darker shade of pink. Luckily for her their long haired bluenette manager walked over straightening her pinecone necklace. Turning her attention to the boy she spoke firmly, "Toothy, I suggest you remove yourself from her before I change my mind on that weekend you want off." His eyes widened, quickly removing his arm from her and backed away by a few steps and sat on a nearby bench. Once Petunia saw Toothy back to minding his personal space she looked to Flaky and asked, "So who's the lucky guy that gets to take you out?"

The blush only deepened more and the playing with her shirts hem resumed, looking down she mumbled the name of her date. The three simultaneously gave her a questioning gaze and leaned in a bit closer trying to get a better listen to what she just had said. Flaky bit her lower lip lightly and took a deep breath trying to regain herself, which was always a difficult task for her; breathing two more times she closed her eyes tightly and spoke bravely as she could, "Fl-Flippy."

The three who just a moment before leaning in all backed up back to where they were prior to her announcement; staying silent for a moment to let the name sink in. Giggles was the first to speak, and made sure to voice her concern. "Flaky are you sure it's okay for you to go alone with him? I mean it's been like three months since anyone as seen him, there has to be a reason for that."

"Yeah, I mean he might go on a rampage again, and sorry Flaky but I don't feel like dying again this week," Toothy added with a small shake remembering being decapitated just a few days earlier.

Frowning she looked to the floor and furrowed her brows; it was true that Flippy had his problems and would try to slaughter the whole town, but it wasn't like everything wouldn't go back to normal the next morning. Everyone knew that this cursed island that they lived on wouldn't let anyone die if it wasn't from old age, still it was a pain losing a day or so due to temporary death. Still, Flippy had made her a promise and she was going to stand by his word. Remembering that promise she felt some courage well up in her, looking up she spoke firmly, "It'll be okay. Flippy told me he wouldn't ask me out again until he was positive he would be able to control himself. That's the reason no one's seen him around lately, he admitted himself so that he could gain control over his PTSD, and he said he's ready and I believe him."

Petunia smiled at her response and thought about how she herself stood firmly by Handy's side even with him being and amputee. It was a giant hurdle that they had to concur, and she could see herself in Flaky as she took to Flippy's defense. Smiling happily Petunia gave her a cheerful response, "Well I'm very happy for you two and hope you have a great time, and if you still have time afterwards bring Flippy by for some karaoke."

Flaky's face was taken over by a smile, glad that someone supported her, and the smile grew even wider once the wall clock started chiming. It was four o' clock, and that meant it was time for her to punch out and get ready for her date. Jumping off the stool she hurried over the computer and logged herself out of the time clock and took off her waist waitressing apron and set it in its respective place. As she made her way out she turned back and added, "I'll see if I can talk him into coming to karaoke afterwards." With one final wave she exited the building and hopped on her purple Vespa and placed her helmet over her messy hair. Starting it up she turned left out of the parking lot, now she just needed to go get ready to spend the evening with the man she had a crush on since he moved to Happy Tree Town.

Running his hand through his inch long hair he made sure it was kept neat; blowing smoke out of his nose he leaned in closer to the mirror and checked his jaw line for any stray whiskers that he may have missed when he shaved earlier. Confirming that he was indeed cleanly shaved he returned to standing straight and removed the cigarette from his mouth to tap the ashes into one of the glass ashtrays that were placed throughout the house. Returning the burning tobacco to his mouth and took another puff; looking over his light blue jeans he nodded happily seeing no stains then turned his attention to pulling his black tee shirt straight. Looking at the platinum watch his lips curled up into a happy smile. Putting out the cigarette he splashed some cologne on before exiting his bathroom. Taking a right he grabbed his camo jacket and threw it over his black shirt then reached out for his beret before pausing. He wanted this to be the best night it could possibly be, retracting his arm he then took out his jacket and hung it back up, the only army related this he kept on were his dog tags. Patting his back pocket he confirmed that he grabbed this wallet, he then picked up his keys and locked up his house before heading to his truck. Stepping back into his truck he turned over the engine and buckled himself in feeling as though he could take on the world. Driving to her house he knew just were to take her, the carnival; last year he ended up 'flipping out', so this would be the perfect place to prove he was completely in control. Within five minutes he had pulled up into Flaky's driveway and put his truck in park and jumped out walking up to her front door. Pausing he took a deep breath, "Okay Flippy, this is your moment to shine." Knocking on the door he then quickly straightened back up as if he were standing at attention.

Flaky looked herself over making sure that she removed all the dandruff possible. Jumping a bit at the noise she then turned to face the oak front door. Smiling she ran over and opened the door, seeing him out of uniform made her stare in awe, without the jacket is was clearly visible how buff he actually was. Her face started to light up and she stared shifting, "H-hi Flippy."

Looking her over and smiled seeing her wearing a white and purple tank and a semi short black skirt with a pair of white flats. Picking up her hand and bent over to place a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, standing straight up again he still held her hand, "are you ready my dear." Nodding she unwillingly took her hand back and locked the door, then followed her date to the passenger side of his truck. Holding the door open for her he waited for her to get situated before closing the passenger side and joining her in the driver side. Buckling himself in again he looked her over again, "You know, you're absolutely beautiful Flaky."

She felt her cheeks starting to heat up again and fidgeted clearly not expecting the complement. "Y-y-you l-look a-maz-z-zing w-w-without y-your jacket covering y-you up," immediately after she realized how it sounded and covered her mouth, the same sentence didn't sound anywhere near as sensual in her head. Flippy also caught how it sounded and started blushing himself, but it was also clear that Flaky could have possible died out of embarrassment and decided to try to play it off as nothing. Reaching his arm over he rested it on top of the passenger side and ran his hand through some of her locks to try and calm her down a bit.

"You know if you really think I look better like this I'll try wearing more casual clothes," he said with a smile.

Flaky opened her mouth to argue what she meant but then looked him over again, she was far too shy to admit it but she really did like seeing just how defined he was. Her blush deepened and nodded, and looked forward to try and figure out where he was going to take her, but a moment later she heard her date humming along with the song that was currently playing and giggled. It didn't take long for her to join him by singing along until she noticed the parking lot he just pulled into. The color drained from her already pale face, swallowing hard she looked over to Flippy and nervously spoke, "a-are you sure?"

Smiling he parked and removed his seatbelt before leaning over and placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. "Flaky I promise you I'm ready for this," he then placed his forehead to hers trying to reassure her about their date. Flaky then recalled his promise, nodding against his forehead she smiled. After a moment the closeness gave Flippy the bravery to do something he had meant to for a while now, tilting his head he leaned in to place a kiss on her lips. Before he could close the gap there was furious tapping on the driver side window and this made Flaky pull back to see what was going on. With a disappointed sigh he straightened back up and looked over to see who was so oblivious to disturb them; as soon as he saw a tall lanky man with blue hair and a goofy smile he knew who it was. Rolling down his window he greeted the man, "Hey Lumpy, what can I do for you?"

The blue haired man handed him two entry tickets, "I just wanted to come give you the tickets you ordered so you wouldn't have to stand in line and wait." After Flippy took the tickets he looked past him to the other passenger and waved, "Hope you two have a great time."

"Thank you that was very thoughtful Lumpy, try not to work too hard," she said sweetly before waving goodbye to him. Turning her attention back to Flippy as he motioned towards the carnivals entrance, "Shall we?"

Once inside the gate Flaky looked around happily taking in all that was going on around her, it was a lot bigger and flashier than last year and the new look amazed her. Chuckling he placed his hand on the small of his petite dates back trying to edge her in farther, "So what do you want to do first sweetie?"

"C-can we start with games," she asked sweetly ready to have fun.

"Of course," he laughed and followed her over to one of the many game stands that were lined up and chose the balloon game. Flippy handed over a dollar to the one person running the stand then took his place next to her and watched as she took aim and started squirting water at the clowns mouth trying to fill up the balloon as fast as she could. Once it popped she yelped and jumped back startled, and by doing this she avoided being splashed with the water that exploded from the balloon, Flippy however was not. Once she opened her eyes she saw standing with his arms stretched out and the front of his shirt soaked and sticking to him; she started to laugh but slowly stopped seeing he was giving her a stern look, fearing that he may have flipped she gasped and started to run away. Flippy's expression changed to confusion as she took off, "Hey, where do you think you're going?" Chasing after her the quickly scooped her up and cheerfully laughed and hugged her closely, "You still need to go pick out your prize!"

Once she was set down back in front of the booth she turned to check out Flippy's expression and realized that he was still normal, flushing from embarrassment she then looked over the stuffed animals. Once in particular caught her eye and she smiled and happily told the person running the booth which one she wanted. He handed over the green bear with a pink heart shaped nose, thanking him she held it closely before turning to Flippy again and shyly said, "I'm sorry."

"For what," he asked while still trying to become accustom to his wet shirt.

"I….. I thought you flipped out… Th-that's why I ran away," she said ashamed that she fell to the fear that was still in the back of her mind.

His eyes softened and he placed a kiss on her forehead, "I'm sorry sweetheart I didn't mean to scare you like that."

She ignored the fact that his shirt was wet and hug him closely, it was clear he wasn't mad or blaming her for not trusting him but she still felt bad. Once she stepped back she felt her cheeks being pushed up by a pair of thumbs, looking up she was greeted by a wide grin, "Come on smile we're supposed to be having fun."

Giggling she pushed his hands away from her face and returned to hold her bear close, "You're right. Let's play some more games."

Following happily he let her play to her heart's content, most of the time she didn't win and this was starting to depress her, seeing this Flippy took matters into his own hands and stepped up to one of the shooting games. Holding the fake rifle as if it were real he took aim and started knocking down the plastic ducks one after another he smiled triumphantly seeing he knocked them all down. Standing he looked over the prizes and picked a red porcupine that also had the pink heart nose. Looking at the stuffed animal he couldn't help but smile, and handed it to Flaky, "For you my dear."

"Thank you, you know you didn't have to," she replied sweetly taking the animal and held it closely with the other one.

"Of course I did. Your bear looked so lonely I had to make sure he had a friend."

Smiling she leaned onto her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek, then looked around for what to do next, the one thing caught her eye. Holding both animals in one of her small hands she then grabbed Flippy's hand and started pulling him along to where she wanted to go. Being pulled along he tried to figure out where he was being pulled to, it wasn't until they stopped and Flaky let go of his hand that he knew what it was that they were going to do next. Looking down the line he saw the giant Ferris wheel that light up the night sky. While they stood in line together he slipped his hand next to hers and interlaced his fingers with hers. Looking over at her hand in his she blushed and closed her fingers around his and couldn't help but smile at this new sign of affection. After the short stand in line they were greeted by a blond haired boy who had just let a couple out, "Flaky, Flippy, how are you?"

"We're good Cuddles, how about yourself," Flaky answered before inquiring about himself.

"Can't wait to get off work, Giggles wants me to go sing karaoke with her. You're coming to right?"

Flippy raised a brow at the mention of singing and looked to his date to see if she knew what he was talking about, "Ummm…. I'm not sure, it depends on what we do next."

He mouthed the word 'oh' before motioning them into the car, "well hope you can join us," and with that he closed them in. Sitting across from Flippy she set her new stuffed animals next to her and looked out the window, it was then that it hit her; she seemed to forget she was afraid of heights. Noticing this Flippy pulled her over and hugged her closely to comfort her. She closed her eyes and listened to his steady heart beat; wrapping her arms around her soldier, and felt completely at peace as he played with her hair. She had been enjoying herself so much and didn't want their date to end; cuddling closer she happily smiled feeling a kiss being placed on top of her head, but when a firework went off she pulled back quickly. Her eyes widened in fear as his breathing became shorter and more rapid, swallowing hard she waited for this breathing to go back to normal, "F-F-Flippy?"

He then looked over at her with emerald green eyes and a warm smile, "Sorry they caught me off guard."

Giving a heavy sigh of relief she then looked out the window at the fireworks, "they're beautiful aren't they?"

"Not at beautiful as you," he added, when she turned and looked at him he cupped the side of her face; looking her face over he leaned in and placed his lips on hers. Sitting stiffly for a moment she was in complete shock but at the same time couldn't say that she didn't want this. When he started to pull back she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back into a kiss. In a bit of shock he paused before placing his hand on her mid section and careful pulled her into his lap making sure to never break their chain of innocent kisses. It wasn't until their time in on Ferris wheel was coming to an end that Flaky pulled away flustered, but also very happy with how the evening had been unfolding. She began to fidget in his lap, picking up on this he removed his hand from her sides and helped her over to the side she was originally on. Not long after Cuddles opened the door and saw two flushed faces, he couldn't help but smile and laugh to himself as Flippy helped his date out as she carried her stuffed animals. Walking away holding hands, Flaky then smiled and pulled her Flippy's hand to get his attention, "Do you um… want to go sing some karaoke?"

A/N: Oh god this is my first fic I've written in almost six years and I truly am nervous about submitting this. Though I must say I think I'm doing this more for myself this time instead of trying to write what I think everyone will like. So I am revoking my one review per chapter rule; also I'm open to critiquing so please let me know what I could do to improve my writing.