a/n: Warning! I'll probably be rating this M when I post my next chapter, so if you're not subscribed to this story, be looking in that section for chapter 11!

As for this chapter, it's pretty tame, and there's lots of development and somewhat plot-like things so that's cool. And I managed to give you a not super lame-ass short thing, either!
I'm proud of myself, okay?

xoxoxoxo

Free Runner

10: Stories of a Girl Named Ashley

xoxoxoxo

I must have nodded off sometime that night, because I remembered waking up to an obnoxious amount of sunlight in my eyes and a terrible sore in my neck. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was only 6 in the morning. Fionna was still asleep in my lap, but I realized that it was a school day for her, and I didn't know what her morning schedule would be like. I contemplated it for a while, and decided I'd wake her up, partially because I had lost most of the feeling in my feet.

"Hey, Fionna," I said softly, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up."

She groaned and curled up a little tighter against my leg.

"Fionna, get up. I'm starving."

She murmured something incoherent at me and rubbed her eyes. "Marshall…?" she mumbled.

"Morning, princess," I said, shooting her a smirk.

She forced herself to sit up and stared at nothing in particular. "What time is it?" she asked, slightly more coherently.

"A few minutes past six," I said.

She laid back down.

"Don't you have school this morning?"

She sat back up, eyes wide open and staring at me with her mouth open. "Shit," she said.

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Marshall I just slept at your apartment and my parents are… and I have school this morning and… Shit," she said again.

"You can always skip, you know. Just stay here. I mean, you kind of ran away for a reason."

She stiffened at my mentioning of the night before, and I instantly regretted it.

I looked down. "I-I'm sorry," I said. "I shouldn't have—"

"No." She shook her head. "No, it's okay. Don't worry about it," she said.

"So what are you going to do now?" I asked.

She replied by laying back down across my lap and sighing contently. "We're going to skip school together."

I couldn't say much to argue against her so I tried to make myself as comfortable as I could with two dead feet.

xoxoxoxo

"So… How did I end up sleeping on the couch with you last night, anyway?" Fionna was asking. It was then 9 in the morning and I'd managed to get another hour of sleep before we got up to start on breakfast (we'd opted on real food this time). I had six pieces of bacon cooking in a skillet while she made omelets next to me. I was glad that I'd gotten groceries the previous week.

"You don't remember waking me up at three in the morning?" I asked somewhat jovially.

She laughed embarrassedly. "I can't say I do."

"Well you did. It was all okay, though. Not like I needed the sleep anyway."

She elbowed my side. "Well sorreee," she said.

I laughed. "No you're not."

"I'm gonna over-cook your omelet just because you said that," she jabbed.

"May all your bacon burn," I shot back. We laughed together and continued on in warm silence.

"Mmmmmm this is so good," Fionna moaned.

"Note to self: bacon is Fionna's biggest turn-on."

"I'm not going to lie to you; that statement is 1000 percent true."

"Fionna is bacon-sexual."

"Bacon-sexual is best sexual."

We laughed, crouching over our food at the breakfast bar.

"You know, I'm so glad I met you," Fionna said, a smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah, me too," I said.

"I mean, I don't really know what I'd do," she said, the seriousness returning to her voice. "If I hadn't met you… Who knows where I'd be right now?"

I didn't really want to think about that, to be honest. The thought scared me, but Fionna went on.

"What if I didn't run away…?" she whispered. I seemed like she was talking to herself.

I set my fork down noisily and stood up. "I'm washing dishes. Wanna help?"

Fionna seemed to snap out of a trance. "Oh, yeah. Sorry."

"You're fine," I said. "You're totally fine."

xoxoxoxo

We shamelessly spent the next couple of hours watching various morning cartoons. Pokémon came on for half an hour followed by a mini Adventure Time marathon, which Fionna found utterly wonderful.

"You're so easily amused by this show," I noted.

"Hey, you've been laughing just as much as I have," she said.

I shot her a smirk. "Just making observations is all."

"It's a great show!"

"Never said it wasn't."

"I bet it's your guilty pleasure whenever I'm away."

"Never said it wasn't."

She jabbed at my side.

"Violence doesn't solve anything, Bunny," I said.

"It fixes at least half of Finn the Human's problems."

"You're hopeless."

Just then I heard my phone vibrate from the other side of the couch. I slid over and unlocked it, seeing a text from Flint asking me why I was skipping.

"Who is it?" Fionna asked.

"Just FP wondering where I am," I replied.

"Oh, okay."

"I'm inviting him and Leo out to lunch around noon. What are you in the mood for?"

"I don't care, whatever they want."

I shrugged. "All right, then." I sent him my message and moved back next to Fionna. The last episode was just ending and Fionna's attention seemed to be fading away from the T.V. "So what are you in the mood for in the meantime."

Fionna looked up at me with an eager smile on her face. "You should play a song for me," she said, not missing a beat.

"Uh, okay. I'll get my bass," I said, standing up and going into my room to fetch it. It was leaning up in the corner next to the window. I planned to go back out to the living room, but Fionna had followed me in and was sitting excitedly on my bed, bouncing like a kid with a bag of candy.

"You should play one of your originals," she said, stilling herself somehow.

"One of my originals, huh…" I trailed off, thinking about what I might play. "Okay, I got it. Forgive me if I'm rusty. I haven't played this one in a while." Not since my last girlfriend, actually. That wasn't awkward.

"I wanna meet you,
And no, I mean the real you
Not this face you're putting on,
You act real tough when I'm around.
But I know what you're hidin',
I know why you're shyin',
You're just afraid of it,
What'll happen when I see."

I let my body rock along with the music. It was something that happened whenever I got really in to whatever I was singing.

"You know I think you're beautiful,
But I wanna see you past that hull,
See that lonely girl inside of there,
Fix her where she's broken.
Glue together all those parts
Fallen from holes inside your heart,
Wanna see that lonely girl inside,
And fix her where she's broken."

Fionna looked like she couldn't breathe. The captivation bled from her every pore. I couldn't help but smile at it.

"And I'll tell you that you're not alone,
I'll tell you when we all go home,
I'll tell you that you're not alone,
You'll never be alone."

I had to stop to take a breath, and she almost fell over at the sudden stop.

"I really want to meet you soon,
The girl trapped inside that cocoon,
The girl behind the tough charade
Who doesn't want me to see.
I wanna fix that pretty face,
And hold her, make her feel safe,
Wanna see that lonely girl inside,
And fix her where she's broken…"

"…Wow."

"You like it?" I said with a grin.

"How did you learn to play like that? And sing? And write your own music? How?"

"Lots of free time, and a beautiful acoustic bass," I said, returning the instrument to its spot in the corner.

"It was so beautiful."

"Stop flattering me," I brushed her off. "It'll never get you anywhere."

"When did you write it?"

I scratched the back of my head and turned away. "Uh… It was another one that I wrote about three years ago…"

"Oh, so it was for your ex-girlfriend," Fionna inferred.

"Yeah, that."

"You never really told me about her," Fionna said. "What's her name? What was she like?"

I sat back down on the bed and leaned forward on my legs as I thought. "Her name was Ashley, and she was really nice. Well, she wasn't nice all the time, but for the most part. She was chill, and she liked music."

"Why'd you guys break up? Weren't you dating for a couple years?"

"Yeah, we were. She was kind of that clingy, jealous type after a while. And I guess I got to a point where I just couldn't handle it anymore."

"How?"

"Well, she kind of… messed up something that was special to me."

"What was it?"

"…"

"Sorry. I'm asking too many questions. You don't have to answer that," she said.

"I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Okay."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. Flint had texted with a place he wanted to meet for lunch, and it was nearing 11:30, so we'd need to leave soon if we wanted to make it the time I'd said we'd be there.

"Make yourself decent," I said, standing up and digging through a drawer for a clean shirt. I still needed to do laundry. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

"O-Okay!" Fionna said, hopping up and dashing for the living room to grab her backpack, which was still sitting against the couch at that point. She returned soon after and shooed me out of the room so that she could change and whatever so I just swiftly swapped shirts outside.

"Ready!" Fionna called a few minutes later, walking out in a t-shirt and some jean shorts.

"All right," I said, "let's go."

xoxoxoxo

We walked to a cheap little Italian bistro, just a few blocks away from my apartment. FP and LSP were already at a table waiting on food when we arrived. I let Fionna sit down so I could order for us at the front. I paid and took my number before I grabbed a couple sodas (Fionna said to surprise her so I mixed a rad suicide for her with coke, peach tea and sprite). When I sat down, Fionna and LSP were laughing while FP flashed them a smug look.

"We doing double dates now?" Flint jabbed as I sat down.

"What? Oh, yeah. Fionna's coming. Did I forget to tell you that?" I said.

"The information may have slipped your mind," he said through his smirk. "You met her, what, like, two weeks ago and you're already sneaking her out of school and buying meals for her? Next she'll be living with you. Have you already done the do?"

I saw Fionna blush out of the corner of my eye as I gave Flint the most unimpressed expression I could manage. "No," I hissed. "We aren't 'doing the do' or whatever you want to call it… but you should know that she'll be staying with me for a while."

"What? Really? Geez, I was actually joking on that one. What, did her parents kick her out or something?" Flint said.

"It's," Fionna spoke up, "just some family issues I'm kind of trying to get away from for a little bit. Really, it's nothing."

LSP scoffed a little. "Yeah, just enough for you to run away from home for. No biggie."

Flint elbowed him in the side. "Give her a break, Leo. If she doesn't wanna talk about it, she doesn't wanna talk about it," he said. "Why stay with Marshall, of all people, though? I mean, surely there are some… respectable people… that are your age… and gender that you could mooch off of."

"Oh, come on," I spat, "for the love of God I am a perfectly responsible and respectable human being."

"Yeah, and little Fi here is perfectly responsible and respectable jailbait, Mr. 20-year-old sophomore in college."

"I am seventeen, you know," Fionna chimed in.

"Which does absolutely nothing for you and your human rights," Flint replied.

"I turn eighteen in August."

"Wonderful, we'll have a party to celebrate and you can have all the grown-up sex you want."

"Holy shit, FP, don't scare her off," LSP said.

Flint didn't get to reply, though, since our food arrived not a moment later.

"So what do our little lovebirds have planned for the rest of the day, since it's obvious neither of you intend to show up anywhere for anyone today?" Flint was saying after everyone was done.

Fionna shrugged. "All we've done is watch cartoons all day and eat, so…" she trailed off.

I shrugged with her. "Maybe watch some movies. Eat waffles at midnight. Make bacon pancakes. Things like that."

"Whao, wait," she said. "Hah, I just tried to say what and whoa at the same time," she laughed. "But wait did you just say bacon pancakes?"

"You heard me."

"That sounds—"

"Amazing. Amazing is the correct response to that," LSP said.

"That's what I was gonna say," she said.

"Then you were right."

"Wow but that sounds so wrong, putting bacon and pancakes into one thing."

"But it's so right," I said.

"Why didn't we make those for breakfast this morning, though, 'cause wow."

"I'll remember for next time." I smiled.

"Aww, look, they're having a moment. How cute," Flint cooed.

"Oh, shut up, dickstick, no one asked you."

xoxoxoxo

"Dickstick, though," Fionna said as we walked home. "What kind of an insult is that?"

"You know, like a stick that you would put a dick on. Dick-on-a-stick. Dickstick," I explained.

Her face reddened and she giggled. "You use the weirdest names."

"I once had someone tell me, 'You are the fungus growing on my grandmother's crusty douche nozzle,' and I was just so flabbergasted at the amount of effort that they put into that insult that I thanked them." Haha. Flabbergasted.

"No way, that's awesome," Fionna said, her mouth hanging open slightly.

"Yep, and ever since that day, I've been trying to come up with more and more creative insults to throw at people, but I doubt I'll ever make it to that level of genius," I said.

"I'm sure you can do it. You just have to designate a little bit of time for it every day to think about these creative insults and soon you'll have a whole arsenal to choose from."

"I sure hope so. I at least discovered that if you add 'fungus' to the end of any word, it automatically becomes an insult."

"Really, now? Fuckfungus, shitfungus, dogfungus. Wow, you're definitely right."

"My favorite one is dickfungus mainly because it sounds extremely uncomfortable. It'll make any guy that you say it to squirm."

"That's an excellent observation to make."

"Isn't it, though?"

We rounded the corner and began trudging up the stairs to my apartment, the various fungi still hanging in the air around us.

"So that deal about Ashley…" Fionna was saying. "You said you'd tell me about it later. Is it later enough yet?" When I didn't reply for a bit she added, "I'm sorry, I'm just curious is all."

We got to my door and I pulled out the key to unlock it. "I'll tell you inside," I said, sighing. "It's not exactly conversation for an apartment hallway."

Fionna struggled to contain her excitement, biting her lip and bouncing a little. "Okay."

I opened the door to let her in first. She hopped over to the couch and sat down right in the middle. A lock of her hair was sticking up at an odd angle, and I noticed that she had the bunny clip holding back her side bangs. I couldn't help but find it endearing.

I settled down next to her and let the air hang still for a moment before I began.

"We broke up about three months ago. I think I told you that before," I said. Fionna nodded swiftly, leaning forward on her crossed legs. "Well it was sometime that I was with her that she started telling me that she didn't want me to go running anymore. I don't even remember when it was. It could have been a year ago, I guess. I'm not sure. But at that time I just sort of brushed it off, but I did stop doing, like, parkour stuff so often, I guess. I didn't even realize that it was happening. And, like, you know free running is my life, other than music. And Ash loved my music; she'd sing with me all the time. I just didn't go running anymore.

"It wasn't about the running, though. It was just this… manipulation that she had over me that had just been growing and growing over time. She would make me think I was in charge when she was really the one calling the shots, and, dammit, I never even noticed. I just let her. And it wasn't until—worst of all, get this—my mother called me out on it. I don't know if I've told you much about her, but she's a generally un-fun person to be around, to say the very fucking least. God, it must have been last November, and then I started to pick up on it. And I just realized how clingy and manipulative she really was and… things really just escalated from there and we finally broke up in, I guess, February."

"Dang," Fionna said.

"And then it wasn't until that night that I met you that I'd started running again," I added. "It was just something in the air that felt right about that evening, so I just went out."

Fionna smiled a bit. "I'm glad you went out that night," she said. "I'm glad I met you."

I smiled back at her. "Me too," I said.

Our eyes locked and I couldn't blink. Fionna closed her eyes. The distance between our faces was starting to get smaller, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her. Just a peck at first. But one kiss turned into two, then three, until Fionna was poised in my lap kissing me and biting at my lip. She kissed me with this sense of purpose, like she couldn't get enough contact. She pressed her body into me, fingers snaking into my hair, and my hands found themselves wandering down her back, playing with the hem of her shirt.

When, all of a sudden, this incessant buzzing started from her back pocket.

She broke away, cursing, "Shit," under her breath as she stood up. I sat back in a daze while she answered her phone, an angry parent likely on the line, but the blood was pumping so hard in my ears that I couldn't even hear her.

What the fuck just happened?

xoxoxoxo

Mini make-out scene just for you except it was literally only like 2 sentences long but you know it counts.

I had this big theater competition that I had to do this weekend and just omg it was so stressful I'm just glad I could even get this chapter up for you guys but goOD NEWS IS I MADE IT TO STATE COMPETITION WITH BOTH OF MY PIECES SO I'M REALLY HAPPY ABOUT THAT YAY.

Anon Reviewers:

Guest (1st one): Congratulations! Your wish is granted! M coming up real soon.

Bob Marley: What a great name. I got the warning right up there for you—! So you won't miss out.

Guest (2nd one): Thank you for quoting my favorite line in chapter 9 thank you for recognizing that that was really beautiful for me thank you.

Thanks to all of you readers readers and reviewers, and feel free to drop me a comment/review/criticism/love anytime! Thank you!