"Of course, dude." Fionna said, waving her hand dismissively. "Nothing to worry about when you're with me and Cake."
The prince steepled his fingers and cast a wary glance around the area. "Well...I suppose there's some truth to that."
"Come on, then!" Fionna trotted off into the snow, dropping her backpack beside a large, blanketed rock. "We'll just play right here, in this little area."
Gumball waded a few steps into the shallows, briefly scanning the thinly-clouded skies out of habit. "And she won't mind, you think?"
"Relax, princey!" said Cake. "Look at all this snow! You think Ice Queen's gonna pop her top over us playing with just a bit of it? I mean, it's not like she's using it, right?"
"Well, I suppose." He dragged his foot across the snow idly, voice still tinted with caution. "I just think I'd feel safer if you'd chosen a different place for this pic-"
"Let's build a snow butt!" Fionna exclaimed.
The prince muffled a snort. He watched Fionna get right to work, zealously rolling a snow boulder into shape. Ahh, Fionna...ever the master of derailing a person's apprehensions. She clearly wasn't worried, so why should he be? She'd protect him come what may, no doubt about that. She was a born hero.
With one final scan of the skies, he shrugged and joined in, followed by the expert sculptress Cake. Things were never as complicated when these two were around. They made the pieces of the puzzle of life fit together by sweeping them all off the table and making a table fort instead.
"See Gummy?" Fionna grinned. "Stuff is tons more fun when you stop worrying about old Freezer Burn and just play!"
Gumball laughed and leaned up against the cheek of their impending masterpiece. "I admit, I am having quite a good time."
His contagious smile spread to Fionna's face. "Nice change from being all prims and props all the time, right?"
She watched prince nod approvingly as he helped mold the sculpture into shape. It was really heartwarming to see Gumball enjoying himself for a change. He'd been rather stuffy lately, too crowded by Candy Kingdom business affairs to give himself any truly royal treatment. But here and now, relieved of duty for the day, he was free to paint his face with a warm, genuine smile that quite stirred her heart guts.
WHAP! A flying snowball knocked her out of her daydream.
"Hey!"
Cake giggled and started rolling another snowball between her paws.
"You're gonna get it now, dude!"
Out here in the tight, cool air where the Ice Kingdom met the plain old plains, there was nothing quite so fun as a good snowball fight. There was snow in the Ice Kingdom year-round, even when the plains were swamped with summer humidity. On the hottest of days, you could chill yourself to the bone marrow in a snowball fight, then hop back across the border into the heavy, breathless air of the plains to warm back up. You'd never be too hot, and you'd never be too cold. A playmate's paradise.
Not that Fionna would ever call Gumball a "playmate". That just sounded weird.
"Whoa, wait a sec, guys. Did the butt just jiggle?"
Cake didn't stop rolling snowballs. "YOUR butt's gonna jiggle when I pelt it with these babies!"
"No, seriously," Fionna said, dodging one last projectile before standing very still. Cake halted her volley when she saw Fionna slowly stretching out her arm to grasp the sword in her backpack.
A subdued scuffle etched its way across the plane of hearing, and was then superseded by a sudden sharp burst. Snow particles exploded through the air like confetti as the Ice Queen emerged from the crease of the sculpture.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!"
She charged forward in a flurry of flying flakes, reaching out to snatch Gumball with her clawlike fingers. The prince fell backwards and started scurrying away, to be replaced by Fionna, swinging her purple crystal sword in wild arcs. "Get off the road, crazy woman driver!" she shouted.
Ice Queen flew on undaunted, contorting her way under the stroke of the oncoming blade. Thinking quickly, Gumball scooped together a snowball and hurled it at the Ice Queen's face. On contact, she brushed the snow away with her eyebrows, using them like windshield wipers.
A moment later, she had tackled and pinned the prince to the ground by his shoulders. "Time to unwrap this stick of gum...". She licked her lips and traced a finger down his chest...only to be interrupted by a snowball to the back of the head.
"Cool it, tomboy!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Just let me open my birthday present first!"
"No way, Queenie!" Fionna stamped a foot, but it was muffled by the snow. She turned it into a angry walking movement. "Get up and fight me!"
She sighed dramatically. "Alright...chill, babe." The Ice Queen put a finger to Gumball's lips and mouthed the words 'just one minute'. Then she rose to full height and turned to face her opponent.
"Icy we'll have to settle this the cold, hard way," she purred, delivering the pun with more sauce than was necessary.
Fionna stopped in mid-pace to put her palm to her forehead. "Ugh, and stop with the puns. They're so dinkus!"
"Ooh, someone can't handle my flurry of puns!" A wicked grin spread across the queen's face as she started circling with Fionna. "'Snow wonder. You're too big a flake to understand them! They just drift right over your head!"
Fionna paused, trying to think of a good retort. "They're just DUMB...glacier-butt!"
Ice Queen wagged her finger and began charging up an ice beam with her other hand. "Ice try, girl, but I can see that frozen look on your face! I've given you a brain freeze, haven't I? You make me sicle! Now I'm going to have to-GUHH!"
She stumbled forward, her face planting in the shallow snow as the tiara flew off her head. Cake slung her baseball bat-shaped hand over her shoulder. "STRIKE ONE!" she called, then spit and tugged her ear for effect.
The queen pushed herself up on all fours, only to have the wind forcibly extracted from her lungs as Fionna kicked her in the stomach. "Lay down and stay down, ya fridge-witch. And stop trying to jack up the prince, or I'll jack up your face."
She left the queen gasping and helped Prince Gumball to his feet. "Come on PG, let's get you back to the Candy Kingdom."
The queen quickly fumbled her way forward, scrambling for the tiara. She clutched it tightly to her heaving chest, running her fingers along its smooth, golden surface until her breathing slowly returned to normal."So...unfair..." she hissed back at her assailant. "You won't let me take a mate, you won't even friend zone me! On my birthday, of all days!"
She continued rasping something, but the trio was already walking out of range of hearing by that point.
A bit shaken, but quickly recomposed, the prince shot a brief glance back over his shoulder in case the queen decided to pursue. She didn't. "Was that really necessary, Fionna?" he asked.
Fionna didn't look back. "Of course it was, dude. I mean...it was, wasn't it? You don't...like her, do you?"
Gumball raised a hand in assent. "No, you're right. She gives me the chills." A pause. "Er, no pun intended."
Cake snorted.
"No, she was definitely in the wrong for jumping me like that," the prince continued. He changed his tone slightly. "I just wonder sometimes if your heroic acts are bit too...ehm...aggressive."
Fionna tugged on the straps of her backpack and kicked a small rock idly as she walked. "But...kicking butts is what I do best! I spank evil's buns and leave 'em there to cool until they need another spanking."
"Yeah," Cake butted in. "And besides, that was the ICE QUEEN. You know she's bad news. There's no way to be too rough with her."
After a moment's consideration, Gumball nodded in agreement, though his face suggested he was still debating it. Fionna remained silent, as though not interested in giving the matter any more thought.
Cake glanced back and forth between the two of them. The only sound to be heard was the shuffling of shoes on grass. Gumball's expression was distant, lost in thought. He occasionally glanced skyward, but didn't speak. Fionna's face was unusually blank. Feeling slightly awkward, Cake smacked her lips to break the silence.
"So...did you see how I clocked her while she was distracted, Fi?"
Fionna half-smiled, her expression thawing back to life. "Yep, that was pretty sneaky, Cake. Pretty sneaky...".
"She's such a dumb butt," Cake continued. "She actually pays more attention to her banter than she does to her fighting! If you get talky, she gets cocky!"
"Yeah," Fionna agreed. "She's pretty dumb...".
"She's so dumb, she'd bring ice to a fire fight." Cake carried on, snickering at her own joke.
Fionna turned toward her this time. "Cake, I think that's enough."
"She's so dumb, I bet all her brain food goes to her thunder thighs!"
"Cake!" Fionna stopped and grabbed her friend's cheeks between thumb and forefinger. "Seriously. Cool it."
Taken aback, Cake paused, then submitted, mumbling "Yeah, well, Ice Queen's so dumb, you tell HER to cool it and she shoots it with ice."
Fionna cracked a slight smile at that one. "Cake, you so crazy."
"Naw, YOU so crazy," her cat replied.
Fionna pulled a weird face at Cake. "Bleeeaaaahhh".
Cake countered with a face of her own. "Bluuuuuurrr".
"Well, I thank you for accompanying me home, ladies." Gumball turned to bid them farewell. "And thanks for the entertainment. You've really put my mind at ease."
Fionna smiled jovially. "Sure thing, dude. Just doing what we do."
Gumball returned the smile. "Well don't ever stop. Thanks again, bye now."
He turned on his heels and walked off into the gates of his candy domain. Fionna watched him go until the doors were shut behind him.
"We goin' home now, booger?" Cake asked.
"What? Oh, yeah. Totes."
Fionna took the lead.
"You were checkin him out, weren't you, girl?"
"What? What are you talking about Cake? Of course not."
Cake's face folded into a smug smirk. "Whatever you say, Fi. Whatever you say...".
Fionna sighed and rolled her eyes. "Let's just hurry up and get home now. I kinda want a bath."
Cake stopped. "A BATH? You?"
A light breeze struck up, causing Fionna to shiver. Spring was still around the corner, it seemed. "Yeah, I just...I dunno, after all those Ice Queen jokes I feel kinda...dirty."
"Pff" Cake said, waving a paw. "You're just being a baby."
Fionna stared at the ground, thumbs behind her backpack straps. "Yeah...maybe."
"Maybe?"
"...maybe."
A crooked smile wound its way back across Cake's face. "Maybe, maybe, ya big blue baby," she rapped. "Don't be messin with me or I'll be givin you da rabies!"
Fionna gave in and chuckled, slinging Cake over her shoulder for the remainder of the walk home.
The impending candy-colored sunset would have signified the end of the day and the close of another daily chapter in the lives of two fun-loving heroes, if not for the cold, raspy sigh ambling between the sheer shining faces of the Ice Kingdom mountains...