(TAKES PLACE BEFORE FROST AND FIRE)
(A little backstory for this one. I worked on the first 3/4 of this fic just before Frost and Fire came out. Then it came out, and I suddenly lost the urge to write them as they were before. So I scrapped this and started writing my other fics. Well, now that I'm out of ideas, I've decided to finish this one!)
"OH SNAPS! It's happening right now?!" Finn yelled.
"Yeah, man! The Breakfast Kingdom coffee dam's about to burst again! It's gonna flood the entire Grasslands! We gotta start barricading fast!" Jake replied.
"Right, ok. You get the windows, I'll get the…" Finn suddenly paused "WAIT NO, I HAVE TO CALL FLAME PRINCESS! That coffee will douse her home with her in it!"
On the far side of the Grasslands was the flaming house in question. Flame Princess was in the middle of eating supper when her phone started ringing off the hook. Slightly irked at the interruption, she picked it up and answered.
"Hel-"
"Flameprincessbigproblemthere'sthedamandcoffeeandyougottagoand…!" The frantic voice on the other end of the line was clearly Finn's, but he was talking so fast and panicked that she could barely understand him.
"Finn, slow down! What's going on?"
"Just get out of there! There's a huge lumping flood coming!"
The word "flood" alone is enough to strike fear in the heart of any fire elemental. She immediately dropped the phone and ran out of her house. She flew up high above her house and hovered there, eyes anxiously on the horizon. She waited in the air for a minute or two, waiting for the supposed flood.
"I don't see anything… This better not be some sort of prank, or I'll…" She stopped as she spotted something in the distance. "Oh glob…"
A towering wave of brown quickly came into view as it swept across the Grasslands. It cascaded through the various villages and homes that dotted the Grasslands. Word of the caffeinated flood spread quickly, and everyone took refuge beforehand. Unfortunately for Flame Princess, her house was basically made of fire and would offer no protection.
Mere seconds after it appeared, the torrent of coffee arrived at the Flame Princess' home. The flood had barely lost any energy as it engulfed the flaming house. Pillars of steam rose as the fire was doused instantly. Flame Princess could only watch as the wooden sticks and rubble of what was once her house was swept off the adjacent cliff and into the river below.
"Oh bunk!" She groaned with her hands on her head.
The flood soon subsided as quickly as it had appeared. As soon as they saw it was over, Finn and Jake leapt out of their tree house. Jake stretched to an enormous size and strode in Flame Princess' direction with Finn riding. With Jake's enormous strides, they quickly arrived to find her house gone and Flame Princess sitting on the ground with a defeated look on her face. Finn jumped off as Jake returned to normal size and they went to her side.
"FP! Are you okay?" He asked, kneeling down next to her.
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine…" She stared at the remains of her house scattered around. "My house though? Not so much."
"Oh dag…" Finn was so preoccupied with making sure she was okay that he almost forgot about her house.
Flame Princess sighed "Everything I owned was in there… The few things I could take from the Fire Kingdom. Even my candles…"
Finn couldn't really put his hand on her shoulder or anything, so he put his arm around her and let it hover just above her skin. "Man, that's total bunk, I'm sorry. But still, I'm glad you're not hurt."
She was comforted a little by his gesture. "Yeah, I guess it could have been way worse. Thanks for warning me. " She looked down again. "But what do I do now? I can't go back to the Fire Kingdom. I have nowhere to go…"
Finn was at a loss. She was totally right, where could she go? He couldn't build a new house just like that, especially with all the debris washed away. And it was getting late, he couldn't leave her homeless for the night. He had no idea what to say. He stayed silent for a few seconds until he had a spontaneous idea.
"Um… why don't you move in with me?"
Flame Princess looked at him and began to blush. "W-what?"
Finn suddenly realized the implications of moving in with your boyfriend. "Wait, no! Not like that! Or, I mean, maybe like that, if you want? It's not like I wouldn't want you to! I mean, um…" He blurted out quickly and stumbled over his own words. He took a breath and collected himself. "W-what I mean is, you can come live with me and Jake for a while. At least until we can build you a new house or something."
"Really? But what about the whole 'I'm made of fire' thing? I don't want to accidentally burn down your tree house or something!"
Again, she was right. He hadn't exactly thought this through, but he wasn't about to go back on it now. He scratched his head and said "I'm sure we'll think of something. We've had you over before! And I think we've got tons of tinfoil. Don't we, Jake?"
Jake had wandered a few yards away. He seemed to be picking things up off the ground. "Huh? Oh yeah, we've got loads!" he called back.
"Finn, I don't know what to say… You'd really do all this for me?" FP asked.
He gave her a reassuring grin. "Well, 'course I would! You're my lady, and you're in need! It's the least I could do. Besides, I'm sure you'd do the same for me! It's what good people do!"
A smile finally graced her face. She would do the same for him, she thought. Though a human living in a flaming home would probably pose an even bigger problem than her living in their tree house.
"Thank you so much, Finn!" she said as she gave him a very quick hug, so as not to burn him. "This means so much to me."
"Heh, no prob!" he said carefully hugging her back.
"Hey Flame Princess!" Jake called as he jogged over with something in his arms. "Look what I found!"
"My candles!" FP said excitedly, her hands clasped together.
"Yeah! Well, sorta. These are the only ones I could find. And uh…" He gave them a quick sniff. "They just smell like coffee now. Not that I mind, though. I freakin' love coffee!"
"Oh… Well, thanks anyway Jake. I appreciate it." she replied. She wasn't exactly fond of the candles' new smell, but she wasn't about to tell him that.
"I'll head back to the tree house and get everything ready for our new roomie! Laters!" With candles in tow, Jake stretched over towards the tree house and out of sight.
The sun was already setting, so they decided to head for the tree house soon after Jake left. On foot, it would take them a few minutes to get there. Plenty of time for the magical dog to prepare. It quickly turned to night as they began talking during the short walk.
"So, what exactly was up with the coffee flood?" asked Flame Princess.
"Oh! Yeah, this is something that doesn't happen very often. Last time it happened was, like, a few years ago. Basically, the Breakfast Kingdom is mega-bad at building dams I guess, so their coffee dam busts open sometimes. We usually get enough warning to hide in our houses, but uh, no one in the Grasslands has ever had a house made of fire…" Finn looked at her and shrugged with a timid smile.
"So this has happened more than once? Doesn't anyone ever get angry at them? That seems like a pretty big deal."
"Yeah, but then everyone forgets after they have the Breakfast Kingdom's pancakes. They're crazy good, yo!"
"Hmph." Flame Princess was not pleased with this answer. "I think it'll take more than pancakes for me to forgive them for destroying my house! They just better hope I never come across their kingdom."
"Um, yeah. Right…" Finn coughed nervously. "Oh hey look! We're here!"
They came upon the tree house with Jake standing at the door. Despite Jake saying he was preparing things for FP's arrival, it looked normal from the outside. Jake approached them with tinfoil shoes in his hands.
"I made these for the little lady! You'll need 'em since you're gonna be staying here for awhile!" Jake said proudly as he handed her the makeshift shoes.
She took them and inspected them. They were surprisingly well-crafted, and looked much like normal shoes. Just a lot shinier. She never needed anything like this before, but that's because she was always over there to visit, not to stay. She slipped the shoes on her feet. They weren't the most comfortable things in the world, but nothing too bad. She was just glad he didn't expect her to wear a full tinfoil suit.
When they stepped inside the tree house, both Finn and Flame Princess marveled at Jake's quick work. In no more than ten minutes, Jake had already covered all the key spots in foil. The chairs, the couch, the tables, and even the ladder. Everywhere someone would need to sit, use their hands, or just spend a long time was neatly coated in foil.
"Dang, bro! Nice work!" Finn said as he gave his brother a fist bump. "Anyway!" He turned to Flame Princess excitedly. "Shall I give you the grand tour, m'lady?"
"…You know I've been here before, right?" She asked with a straight face.
"Yeah but… this time you'll be living here! C'mon, please?" Finn pleaded.
She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Oh alright…"
"Yes! Alrighty, we'll start with this room! This is our treasure room" He gestured around at the many gold coins and trinkets. "It's where we keep all our loot and swag and stuff! None of it's flammable, so you can rummage through it and pick something you like!"
"Ooooh! Okay!" Flame Princess eagerly stuck her fiery hands in one of piles. After a bit of searching, she found something that interested her. "Oh! Can I have whatever this is?" She pulled out a shiny brass shape with multiple holes in it that fit nicely around her fingers.
"Aha! Brass knuckles! Good choice!" Finn said, winking at her. "Anywho, let's go upstairs!" The three of them climbed up the foil-covered ladder into the living room.
"Here's where we do pretty much everything! Relax, eat, play BMO, that kinda stuff." Finn said.
"And over there is my domain: the kitchen!" Jake added, stretching his finger towards the kitchen. "Hehe, you're so lucky to eat my algebraic cooking every day now!"
FP smiled at the thought. "Awesome, I can't wait!"
"Over here we got the bathroom," Finn said as they walked to it. "It's uh… well its pretty self-explanatory, ain't it? It's where ya do your business and… wait a sec… do fire elementals use the bathroom?" He laughed nervously, embarrassed he didn't know.
"Hehehe, you just asked your girlfriend if she poops…" Jake giggled before being quickly shushed by Finn.
"Ahem." Flame Princess loudly cleared her throat. "Yes, in fact I do do 'that'. Now, uh, can we move on?"
"Hehe, she even said doo doo." Jake snickered.
Flame Princess shot Jake a burning glare, causing him to hold his mouth shut as they continued to their final stop, the bedroom.
"Aaaaand finally, here's where we catch our z's!" Finn declared.
Flame Princess curiously looked around, never having been in this room. She spotted their strange bedding arrangements. "What's that?" She asked, pointing to the sleeping bag laying across Finn's bed.
"That? It's where I sleep, FP! I can't sleep without my sleeping bag!"
"Speaking of z's…" Jake added with a yawn. "It's gettin' pretty late, guys. Why don't we get to sleep?"
"Yeah, you got a point." Finn replied. "The tour's done anyways." He opened one of the drawers and searched for his pajamas.
"Um… what about me?" Flame Princess shuffled in place somewhat nervously. "Where do I sleep?"
Finn slapped his forehead in frustration. "Gah, I forgot about that! Uhhhh, let's see… would the couch work?"
"The coooouuuch?" She said with disappointment. "But I'm so used to sleeping in a bed! Can't I just sleep with you in your bed?"
Finn's face went blank and turned bright red. "You wuh… you want to… sleep in the same… guh…" He stammered and gasped as Jake couldn't help but burst out laughing, clutching his chest.
"I-I know it's a little weird." Flame Princess said, blushing slightly as well. "I mean, if you that set against sharing a bed, I can-"
"No!" Finn interrupted. "I-I mean, who am I to deny our guest, hehe? Um, just lemme think for a sec. How is this gonna work…"
Jake let out a content sigh as he finally finished laughing. "Well, you two can figure it out on your own. I'm heading in." Jake said as he crawled into his bedded drawer. "No hanky panky while I'm asleep, alright?" He announced before shutting his eyes.
"Hanky what-y?" Flame Princess whispered to Finn.
"No idea." Finn whispered, scratching his chin. "Oh! I got an idea!"
"About what hanky panky is?"
"Wh- no! About how you're gonna sleep!" He picked up a nearby roll of tinfoil and began carefully wrapping it in a large cylinder shape, making sure it was all nice and flat. A few minutes later, it was finished. "Ta-da!" He presented a tinfoil replica of his sleeping bag. Same size, shape, everything. He placed it right next to his bag on the bed, which was just wide enough to fit both.
"So, whaddya think?" He asked expectantly.
Flame Princess curiously approached the makeshift sleeping bag, feeling and inspecting it. It was surprisingly solid, with multiple layers of foil keeping its shape. "Woah, this could work actually! Thanks, Finn!"
"Heh, no prob, no prob." He scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, can you turn around for a sec? I gotta put my jammies on."
"Huh? Oh, right, sure." She turned around while he quickly slipped on his fuzzy red onesie.
Finn energetically hopped into his sleeping bag and zipped it up. Wait a second… zipped…
"Aw, crud!" he said in sudden realization. "How're you supposed to get into yours without a zipper?"
Flame Princess, however, was clearly not bothered. "Heh, don't worry about it. I can just do this!" In an instant, she morphed into a flaming wisp that floated in the air for a second before flying into the tinfoil sleeping bag. She regained her normal form inside the bag, leaving only her glowing face visible. "Hm, not bad! Pretty comfy!" She smiled at the boy lying next to her.
"Woah…" Finn watched in awe as it happened, his eyes sparkling. He blushed as she appeared in the bag next to him. "You're awesome, FP…"
"Heh, thanks." She shuffled her body a little to get comfortable. "You're pretty awesome yourself!"
They closed their eyes, both of their cheeks flushed, and both with a content smile on their face.
"Well, heh, g'night FP."
"Goodnight, Finn."