"Uhhh… Jake? Can you tell us where you're taking us now?" Finn asked, tugging at the blindfold wrapped around his head.
"No." Jake replied impatiently. "It's called a surprise for a reason. To surprise you!"
"I… don't really like surprises. They're too close to secrets for my liking." Flame Princess added, still in her royal armor and blindfolded with tin foil.
"Yeah, see? Just tell us, bro!" Finn said.
"Nooooo!" Jake insisted. "Look, we're almost there, okay?"
Jake led the two blindfolded teens through the grasslands east of the Candy Kingdom. Both Finn and FP were growing increasingly suspicious. Normally, Finn loved surprises. But when Jake insisted that Flame Princess come as well, he suddenly had a very bad feeling about the whole thing. As soon as they felt their feet touch sand, a shiver ran up both their spines.
"Okay kiddies, you can take off the blindfolds now!" Jake declared.
Finn and FP pulled off their blindfolds, and both recoiled in horror at what they saw. Before them was a massive ocean, beach to both their sides as far as the eye could see.
Finn's face was frozen in a blank stare as he slowly turned to his brother. "J-J-Jake? W-w-what is this?"
"Uh, the ocean? Duh."
"NO DUDE, I MEAN WHY ARE WE HERE?!" Finn blurted out.
"Oh! Weeeeellll, I just thought I'd treat the two of you to a nice relaxing boat ride!"
"What?!" both Finn and Flame Princess shouted in unison.
"Nononononono! Jake, you didn't say anything about water!" Flame Princess said, slight panic rising in her voice.
"Yeah, come on man! You know I'm still scared of the ocean!" Finn said.
"Plus, y'know, water can literally kill me." Flame Princess added.
"Exactly, FP!" Jake said with a sly grin. "That's why, as a king, you gotta face your fears!"
"Jake, c'mon, that's not cool. FP doesn't have to-"
"Hold on a second, Finn" Flame Princess interrupted, a look of intrigue on her face. "Go on, Jake."
"A king shouldn't afraid of anything!" Jake continued. "A king's gotta stand strong in the face of adversity! Even against stuff that can kill ya!"
"Hmmmm…" FP stroked her chin as she contemplated his words. "I think he's got a point."
"Y-you what?!" Finn said in disbelief.
"Well, I'm still totally new to the whole 'king' deal. If Jake's right, this could really help me out."
"See, Finn? It'll be good for ya!" Jake smirked.
"I mean, you don't have to come if you don't want, Finn." FP said. "I'm the one who's a king, so…"
"N-no I'll come with you!" Finn quickly interrupted. "I mean, uh, if you're going I… might as well come with, right? Hehe…" He blushed slightly.
"Awesome!" Jake leaped into the air, transformed into a small boat, and landed in the water with a splash. He then spread some tin foil on one of the sides of the seat. "Room for two~" He cooed as he patted the seat.
The two teens gave each other an unsure glance and carefully stepped onto the Jake-boat. As soon as they sat down, Jake began slowly paddling them out to sea. Immediately, fear began welling up in both of them, and neither of them was particularly good at hiding it. Finn began biting his nails and sweating, while FP was twiddling her fingers and looking at the water nervously.
Flame Princess clenched her eyes and attempted to psych herself up. "C'mon FP, you can do this…" She told herself. "You're a king. This is just water. It's nothing."
As they drifted further, Jake stretched his head over to see how the two were fairing. To his surprise, they were basically ignoring each other, too terrified by the ocean around them to even acknowledge each other.
What?! That's not what's supposed to happen!, Jake thought to himself. It was supposed to go more like:
"Oh Finn!" Flame Princess would swoon. "Our mutual fear of the ocean has brought us closer than ever before!"
"Indeed it has." Finn would respond in a manly tone whilst flexing his muscles. "But fear not, for I will protect you!"
"I now realize I still love you Finn!" She would say and jump into his arms. "Kiss me!"
Yeah! And then they would start dating again and live happily ever after! Hmmm, maybe my plan is flawed? Jake shook his head at the inconceivable thought. Nah, it's gotta work! Maybe I just need to push it further…
"Okay, uh, guys?" Jake finally said. "I'm gonna start shrinking a little bit. It'll uh… help you get closer to your fear!"
"What?!" Both teens yelled in unison.
"Nuh-uh, no way! You didn't say anything about that!" Finn said.
"Yeah, I'm not feeling so good about this anymore." FP said with a worried look. "Can you just take us back to shore?"
"Yeah sure, no prob! If you wanna keep your fear of water forever!" Jake replied with an innocent smile.
Flame Princess gave Jake a stern glare, a slight scowl across her face. "Do it." She eventually said.
"Uh… Y-you sure about that FP?" Finn was once again in disbelief, but he wasn't about to chicken out if she wasn't.
"Too late, we're going for it!" Jake excitedly shouted. With that, he began slowly shrinking in size. The rims of the Jake-boat inched closer and closer to Finn and Flame Princess. They scooched next to each other in fear of the receding sides.
"Oh crumbs oh crumbs oh crumbs oh crumbs oh crumbs!" Finn breaths became quick and panicked, practically hyperventilating. Flame Princess wasn't fairing much better. It was Flame Princess who had eventually had enough.
"O-okay Jake, I think that's good! You can stop now!" She said.
"Uh, what?" Jake shouted, pretending he couldn't hear her. "I can't hear ya over all these, uh… waves n' junk!"
He continued to shrink, causing Finn and FP to jump out of their seats. They stepped as close as they could to each other, almost shoulder to shoulder.
"Jake, she said stop!" Finn yelled.
"What?" Jake continued the façade.
The Jake-boat got smaller and smaller until it was a mere 3 feet wide. With a high-pitched shriek, Finn jumped into Flame Princess' arms, both of whom were too terrified to be embarrassed. Luckily, Flame Princess' armor was hot, but still far cooler than her skin or her fiery clothing.
Huh… Well, she was supposed to be the one jumping into his arms, but I guess this works too, Jake thought.
"Uh, c-can't you just… fly us out of here or something, FP? Please?" Finn pleaded while in her arms.
"I-I can't! This armor's too heavy for that!" She said with panic rising in her voice.
They both screamed as the sides of the boat closed in on them, putting them closer and closer to the dreaded water.
"Uh oh" Jake frowned, realizing he took it too far. "Okay guys, th-that's enough for today!" He said as he returned the boat to normal size.
He quickly stretched the two panicking teens back to shore. Despite their hysteria, they hadn't actually drifted that far from the shore. Finn and FP collapsed onto the sand, trying to catch their breath from the horrifying experience.
Jake transformed back to his normal form and stood over the two, checking them with a guilty look on his face. "Uh, guys? You alright? I wasn't gonna actually drop you or anything!"
"Jake…" Flame Princess said weakly.
"Y-yeah?"
She slowly stood up over him, looking down and straight into his eyes. "What… the… FLIP WAS THAT ABOUT?!" Her flames swirled and crackled furiously.
"Um… F-Finn? A little help?!"
Finn, who was still sitting on the ground trying to catch his breath, responded with animosity in his voice. "I kinda… agree with FP here…"
"Jake… you have 10 seconds to tell me why I shouldn't burn you alive!" FP growled through her teeth.
"Uhhh, umm…" Seeing Finn wasn't going to help, Jake desperately thought of a response. He couldn't tell her that this whole thing was an attempt to get her and Finn back together. That would be a death sentence. He looked at her feet, then had an idea. "Aha! It may have been a rough method, but it worked! Check it out!" Jake pointed at her feet.
Flame Princess looked down, and to her surprise noticed that the tide was only a foot or two away from her feet.
"See? You didn't even notice! You really are getting over your fear of water!" Jake exclaimed.
"You…" She looked angry for a moment, but suddenly went back to her normal state. "You're right!" She turned toward the ocean and raised her arms. "I have bested you, water! You will no longer torment me!" She yelled triumphantly with a smile. "Thanks Jake! Sorry I doubted you!"
"Whew… Uh yeah! No prob…"
Pleased with her victory, Flame Princess walked over to Finn, still gathering himself.
"Thanks for sticking through that with me, Finn." She told him with a gentle smile. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Y-yeah! See you!" He replied weakly, but suddenly feeling a lot better.
With that, she happily trotted away in the direction of the Fire Kingdom. Jake sat down and wiped the sweat from his brow, relieved he just dodged a bullet. He smiled when he saw Finn and FP's friendly interaction. Maybe the plan wasn't a failure? Maybe they did bond over their mutual fear?
"Well…" Jake said to himself. "That could have gone worse!"
(I feel like I may have written Jake as a little bit too much of a jerk here. But whatever, I never said I was good at writing him! Plus he kinda needed to be for this whole scenario to happen.)