Disclaimer: I do not own any intellectual properties represented in this story and make no profit from it.

Susan got scared easy, and she wanted to be brave, and she knew that being brave was about doing stuff even though you were scared, but some things were super scary and sometimes she wished she could just turn into a tree and be ignored or have a super invisibility cloak (or marquee, she was quite aware and proud about her volume), and she stomped her feet nearly half a foot into the ground and tried her hardest not to move at all.

Finn tugged at her wrist; his hands were surprisingly big for his size, probably because his arms were deceptively skinny-looking, and she was simply so big that even so his hands barely covered more than a little corner of the join of hand and arm, but his grip was right, and he was strong.

Jake chuckled from behind a log, watching Finn pulling Susan's wrist and leaning so far back for leverage that he had nearly gone horizontal. Suan's grace was fixed in a stubborn grimace, her feet slowly sliding out; Susan was big and strong, and Finn was insanely strong for his size; he'd be insanely strong for a giant, and it was curiously impressive to watch that many hundreds of pounds of human being shifted by a boy less than a third her size and even less weight.

"Come on!" Finn said. "BUDGE!"

"SUSAN DON'T WANNA!" Susan said, her feet digging in, almost slipping, and grinding in at the last moment. Finn's balance twisted, and he went flying. She flinched. "Whoops."

Jake said, "There'll be cake, y'know!"

Susan's resolve,not normally all that firm outside of important things, wavered. "...Cake? Cake is yummy..." She put a chubby finger, gone dainty after a lengthy expedition to the Personal Care And Grooming Kingdom (whose PR department was trying to find a fun way to say 'PCAG' without making it sound like an exotic skin disease). Reluctantly, she stepped out of the little pit she had made.

Weding himself out of a tree, Finn said, "That's all it took to get her to go? No one tells me anything..."

"You totes could have done it if you'd thought about it," Jake said. "Using your brain is good for stuff! Pleasing ladies and also dudes, beating puzzles and dungeons, solving those really hard tricks that come in newspapers, and if you take your brain out you can hit things with it! I wouldn't recommend that last one, it probably ain't good for your think-meat."

Susan clutched her forehead. "Susan likes her brain where it is," she said firmly.

"My head can be used like a club," Finn said proudly.

Susan and Jake briefly exchanged a look. Finn's friends tended to give looks like this a lot after Finn made comments like that, and none could say whether he really was a bit of a sweet ditz with occasional flashes of brilliance, or whether he was a tactical genius who enjoyed acting like a dim-witted goof.

(It is worth pointing out that the truly good and competent, such as Finn, found that stupidity whether intentional or inherent was an impediment and undesirable.)

Susan reluctantly walked up the steps to the Candy Kingdom, slinking in the shadows. She had not been here in a... long time, years even, and she felt a little uncomfortable about it. Susan's view of what was permissible to eat was still unpleasantly broad by Finn's account, but her perspective of what was considered a person had become more Good in scope; knowing that she had happily intended on eating sapient people made her a bit uncomfortable now, not to mention that it didn't make her feel good when they ran from her.

Coming to the castle, though, made her feel even worse. She knew what was waiting for her there.

Susan's fingers went together, clasping and squeezing like she could wring out the fear that way. "This not good idea," she said miserably.

"Is too, come on!" Finn said. "Don't worry!"

"...They're gonna hate Susan, me."

"Nuh-uh."

His confidence was infectious. Susan remained resistant. She looked at the ground as they walked, trying not to look at the portraits of... she wasn't sure what. Previous rulers? (But Bubblegum was so old...) Members of Bubblegum's family? (But she was alone.) Experiments made in her image to imitate a family? (Maybe, just maybe.) They stared at her, and she felt wanting in their visage.

Finn reached up, as high as he could. He touched one low-hanging finger, and she slouched low so they could hold hands. His grip met her palm, and squeezed gently. She smiled, and returned the squeeze. It felt like a little hug, or a kiss, and color bloomed on her cheeks.

And, it felt all too soon that they were in front of a door, and Susan had no time to mentally prepare herself; she squealed as the door opened and Jake grew and swelled out into a flat shape, pushing her in like a bulldozer.

The room was brightly lit though it had no windows; it might have been a lounge, some time in the distant past, and it seemed like there were two fires there; Susan's eyes, naturally suited to darker places where illumination was a prize to win, took a moment to adjust.

Susan swallowed nervously when she saw that there were three women there, apparently reading from a book; the one holding a book was a vampire, blue-gray and astoundingly pretty, floating up like she was too slim for gravity to affect her. She looked... just pure cool to Susan, the unfettered essence of coolness. There was a fire elemental in the seat next to her, stocky and cute almost despite the heavy armor/containment suit that was the mark of the Fire King of the Fire Kingdom; quite interested in the book. And scooted away from the others, looking horribly embarrassed, was a bubblegum woman; tall, a bit chubby, astoundingly curvy and beautiful in a quiet way like falling starlight when your eyes were still sleepy and your brain was dreamy. Pink gooey hair fell over her shoulders like dreadlocks that didn't need maintenance, and her face was faintly familiar to Susan... Susan twisted up, uncomfortable aware of the last time they had met, Susan had wanted to eat her kingdom.

Finn cleared his throat, giving the book a curious look. "Hey, guys! We're here!"

"Oh good hi Finn it's really been too long," Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum said a little too quickly.

"Whatcha guys reading?" Jake drawled.

"Aw," Marceline said, tossing the book away. It was a thick volume, with the image of a blonde boy embraced by a young woman of the sort featured in heroic fantasies of amazons punching everything to death; she had familiar-looking pink hair. "Just torturing Peebubs with some fanfiction she wrote and she didn't know we knew all about."

"I learned a new word today," Flame Princess said slyly. "Lurid. It's a very good word. And apt, in this case." She gave Bubblegum a sidelong look.

"Hmph." Bubblegum crossed her arms. "Behave your minds, please!"

Susan cleared her throat. All three women looked at her.

Bubblegum coughed. Her eyebrows narrowed; she looked from Finn to Susan and back again, her gaze lingering in their clutched hands, and she looked annoyed, briefly. It cleared, as though she was purposely ignoring it for Finn's sake. "Ah. Hello... Susan, is it? Oh yes, it was. Hm, hm."

"Hi there," Flame Princess said. It felt redundant to think of a fire elemental as speaking warmly, but there she was.

"Well, hul-lo," Marceline the Vampire Queen said with a interested grin, raising an eyebrow at Finn as if to say 'nice going!'.

Susan felt as though she was being introduced to Finn's family, evaluated and considered if she was a good match.

She most certainly was.

"If you'll sit, Susan?" Bubblegum said, indicating a seat.

Susan sat down. The chair creaked and the floor shifted.

Marceline said, "Wow, you're big."

"Marcy!" Flame Princess said.

"What? She is! And it's, it's totes attractive. You have a way for cuties, new girl." She winked.

"Um. Thank you?" Susan said, uncertainly.

"So, Susan." Bubblegum said.

Flame Princess said, "You know each other?"

"...Briefly," Bubblegum said, diplomatically. She gave Susan a look that clearly said, 'I am doing this for Finn, please don't make me regret it!'. Susan nodded firmly.

"So," Flame Princess said, a finger to her chin. "You're Finn's girlfriend."

"...Yes!" Susan said, nodding frantically now.

She laughed. "Calm down, calm down! I'm not gonna yell or anything."

"Okay! Good! No yelling is good!"

"And loosen up. You look like you're gonna bust."

Susan relaxed, marginally.

Marceline floated over, cuffing her on the shoulder. "So. A human, huh? Haven't seen another one since Finn. You like him?" This was added sharply.

"Yes," Susan said, honest and blunt.

"Ah, all is good." Marceline floated back, looking satisfied.

Bubblegum sat up, looking like a long line of extreme questioning was at hand. Susan tensed as Bubblegum reached behind her...

and Susan blinked as Bubblegum pulled out what looked like a set of books, a board, and miniatures. "Roleplaying games are the best for determining character," Bubblegum said excitedly. "Wanna have a go?"

Susan sat down at the ground as they set the game up. Finn clapped her on the shoulder knee (because that was as high as he could reach) and said, "Told ya they'd like you!"

Susan giggled, feeling better now.

It was nice, feeling accepted.