Adventure Time: Beck and Call
Chapter 1: A Rainy Afternoon
Finn sat on the couch in Marceline's cave house, lazily patting his stomach and listening through the closed window. Even in the center of a cave, he could hear the pouring rain from outside. He wanted to crack the window, but it was cool enough in the house, and he was feeling too lazy to move. The couch, though nearly older than time itself, had new cushions, as the old ones had been impossibly hard. The young man remembered well, the many years he had spent lazing about on that couch. Once upon a time, he had had more than enough room to stretch out on it. Now, several years later, he had grown to nearly adult-Finn size, while the couch seemed to get smaller. Even so, it was comfortable; familiar, secure. Not unlike Marceline herself. "Huh...', he drawled, absentmindedly. 'What a weird thought..."
"What's a weird thought?", her voice, dark yet cheerful rose up in tandem with her tall form, appearing from behind the couch, her shadow slinking across him. The vampire had tried to catch him off guard. It hadn't worked.
"Huh?', he muttered, looking up at her pale but pretty face, and into her red, sometimes gray eyes. 'Oh, nothing. My brain stuff was just thinking aloud."
The girl looked down at him pleasantly, blowing some unruly strands of midnight-colored hair out of her face. She sighed. "Finn... you're so quiet today. It's boring." She pretended to pout, effortlessly gliding over the couch and hovering next to him, as if the nature of gravity had never been explained to her, and thus, held no sway in her presence.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, Marcy. Just kinda feeling sorta, y'know...", he trailed off, blowing a raspberry at nothing in particular.
The older girl's smile began to fade. Sometimes Finn got into weird moods, and others he just laid about as if he were a radio with a low battery, and all the music came through a sluggish and static-y filter. She'd seen this before. It wasn't quite a funk, but nonetheless it would be difficult to shake him out of. The boy had always been like this, ever since she had known him. Now, he was very nearly a man, and although his body had grown bigger and stronger, and his mind too, albeit in a lesser measure, he was still very much the same boy that she had known back then. Marceline suspected that this, more than anything, was what appealed to her.
Though only barely, Finn took notice of the dark beauty's prolonged silent gaze, and lifted his head up. "Hey Marceline, what'chya lookin at?"
This shook her from her thoughts, and she felt a slight heat in her cheeks; an unusual feeling as blood seldom did circulate in her long dead veins. "Uh... just thinking is all.', she shook off the feeling. 'You wanna jam some?" A distraction. That was good.
Finn shrugged, patting his stomach some more. "Eh. I'm kinda good to just chill for a while. But if you feel like rockin the block, go ahead."
She really didn't feel like rocking, but refrained from saying so. The truth was, Marceline wasn't sure WHAT she wanted to do, but anything was bound to be better than watching Finn play bongos on his stomach that had been noticeably more trim of late. Shaking the stray thought from her head, Marceline ignored the tingling heat that was returning to her face. "Hey Finn!', she exclaimed, suddenly, her drastic swing from calm to excited causing her to hiss, slightly. 'Wanna go strangle some pixies?!"
The couch dweller eyed her disinterestedly, scratching at his stomach. The look on his face said he was having none of it. "C'mon Marcy. I haven't fallen for that one since I was like, practically a baby." Marceline crossed her arms, and looked away. "You were 13.', she grumbled, before adding with a whine. 'Finn, I wanna do something!"
"Like what?", he responded, now seemingly focused on a bug which had landed on the window seal.
"I dunno...', she confessed. 'We could go dungeon crawling or find some bandits to beat up.' Finn ALWAYS liked doing those things. 'You're always the one with the head full of adventures."
Finn shrugged again. "I actually feel pretty down with just chillin today. Jake and Lady are on their Cloud Kingdom vay-cay, P-Bubs is at her Science thing all week, and BMO is teaching NPTR how to play Football.', he paused, a dubious shadow growing over his face. 'The less said about that, the better..."
Marceline eyed him curiously. This was not like Finn at all. He was known all throughout Ooo for being an unstoppable force of energy; living for excitement and danger. "Are you... okay? Your'e not sick, are you? You NEVER just wanna chill when you come over." She put a hand to his forehead. It felt warm. Of course it feels warm, genius, she thought to herself. You don't have a pulse. Anything alive is gonna be warm to the touch.
Finn didn't even move, or look at her, he merely shrugged. "Eh, one of those days I guess." The truth was, he DID want to do something. In fact, he had been playing with ideas on a loop for the past hour. So far, nothing had sounded good. At least nothing that he could imagine the pretty vampire being down with. A few of the thoughts in particular flashed through his mind, and this time it was his cheeks that burned. Lucky, he thought, that he was facing away from her and she would not likely notice. He heard her growl and grumble discontentedly, but she said nothing. Finn was beginning to feel bad. After all, it had been his idea to come to her house, and such a visit had most always meant the two would be getting into some sort of mischief. Just taking up space on her furniture made him feel kind of like a burden.
"If that's the way you wanna play it.", she intoned, drifting up, and putting some space between them.
He continued to stare out the window, towards the mouth of the cave for a bit. Watching the rain was calming. So much so, that her words did not sink in until a few moments had passed. Finally, it occurred to him what she had said, and when he turned to look, she was gone. "Huh?' He looked around. 'Marcy?' He sat up, eyeing all corners of the room. She was nowhere to be seen. Sighing loudly, he slid back down into a laying position. 'Poots.", he muttered, annoyed with himself. He laid there for a few moments, though it felt like longer, and stared up at the ceiling. Then, without warning, he heard the flutter of wings, and a large bestial form bolted up-right next to him, growing and contorting from a large, hellish, bat-like creature, into the vampiric vixen he called his friend. This time, she had been quite successful in startling him, and he jumped nearly off the couch.
"Surprise tickle!", she shouted, in a booming double voice matching her inhuman nature. Instinctively, Finn shrieked. This was all he had time to do, and before he could make any move to prepare himself, the Vampire Queen had pinned him to the couch, centering herself firmly on his chest. With her left leg, she brushed his legs towards the inside of the couch, using her weight to keep him from kicking. She then folded her right leg, using her knee to pin his arm that wasn't buried helplessly in the couch cushion, affectively creating a gate for his whole right side, and perfectly hindering his use of that arm. Quicker than even his well-trained eyes could follow, her hands were at his sides; her fingers sliding under his raggedy shirt, and dancing feverishly along his rib cage. He cried out, squirming and wiggling about, but to no avail. The fight was over before it had even started. Unfortunately, Marceline was not in it for a a quick victory. She was in it for the sport.
"Oh...', she cooed, pursing her lips together, playfully. 'Is duh big, bwave hewo ticklish?" She cackled evilly, watching him continue to squirm helplessly, and drinking in his sporadic laughter and unintelligible protests. The playful torment continued for several minutes, before Finn, panting and gasping for air, started frantically slapping at the couch cushion; an enduring sign through the ages that he was prepared to submit. At this, Marceline eased up her attack ever so slightly, but refused to offer him complete respite.
He gasped, sucking in air, between laughs. "Marcy! Marcy! You win! I give! I GIVE! Just... tell me... what you want!"
Her eyes gleamed with triumph. All to easy, she thought, slowing her fingers down until they were still, and stroking her hands up his sides, and back to the outsides of his faded blue shirt, resting them softly on his chest. "Okay, Finn...', she said with a dangerously mischievous smile. 'What I want, is for you to do something for me." She suppressed a snicker.
Still panting, out of breath, and flush with the anxiety of defeat, he managed, in between his labored breathing. "Sure, Marceline. Anything. Just tell me what I have to do."
Perfect. Right into her hand. "Suffer!", she roared, grinning ear to ear. Moving her hands underneath his arms with lightning speed, she began her siege anew, brushing the soft skin of his underarms, and reaching her nails into his sleeve, scratching in a ticklish manner.
The poor human boy shouted helplessly, twitching and laughing. "Nooooooo!", he cried out, though the smile he wore was genuine and sincere.
And just as soon as it had begun, it stopped. Marceline cackled again. "Nah, just teasing! What I REALLY want is for you to get your lazy butt off my couch so we can go do something! I don't care if it's raining. I am NOT gonna spend all day watching you count bugs on the window, or play belly bongos! Now come one!' Though her voice was raised, here words were dripping with mirth, and her smile was one of good spirits. Finn, having been severely weakened by her playful game, trembled slightly, saying nothing, but nodding in agreement. The undead vixen made a mental note of that. Perhaps he was even more ticklish than she had realized... Good, she thought, chuckling inwardly. Lifting a still somewhat dazed Finn completely off the couch, and over to the door, she tossed it open, flying out of the house and towards adventure, with him in tow.