The Color of Love

"Unacceptable...UNacceptable...unacceptable…" Lemongrab paced back and forth in his room within Castle Lemongrab while flipping through the pages of an unknown magazine. His cadence became increasingly irritated, culminating in a burst of frustration. "UNACCEPTABLLLEEEEEEEEE!" He slammed the book down on the ground as he screamed.

Lumpy Space Princess burst into his room with urgency, "What?! What the flip is going on?! Are you okay smoochums?!"

Lemongrab quickly jumped in the air and landed on the magazine, laying down in a somewhat suggestive pose. "Ow."

LSP smirked. "Oh baby, if you wanted some time with me all you had to do was ask." She slowly began to float towards Lemongrab.

"You will assume nothing." Lemongrab threw his hand out signaling her to halt. "Do you have Finn's cellular number? I require his assistance."

"Oh! I knew you'd finally see it my way! Now we just gotta convince Huntress to let Finn-"

"Just call the man, woman!" Lemongrab cut off his girlfriend.

"Alright, sheesh. You weren't this eager last time I asked…" LSP uttered those last few words under her breath. She whipped out her phone and dialed Finn's number. A couple seconds passed before the automatic message played.

"Yo this is Finn! If you're hearing this I'm probably busy doin hero junk so just leave me a message! And if this is LSP, stop." The message closed with a loud beep.

She scoffed, "Ugh whatever. I'll get a hold of Huntress and get to him that way." She dialed the number for Huntress, after a few moments someone picked up.

"What do you need?" thankfully it was indeed Huntress.

"Hey gurl how's it hangin!"

"LSP I've told you time and time again this line is for emergencies only." Huntress was reminded of the countless times Lumpy Space Princess would call just to gossip.

"But this is an emergency! My sweet wittle wemon head needs Finn's help and he won't answer so will get him for me?"

"Please stop calling me that" Lemongrab interjected.

"..." Huntress was silent.

"Uhh gurl?" LSP cocked an eyebrow.

The wizard gave a frustrated sigh. "We don't associate anymore, I'm hanging up now, bye." And with that the line was closed.

The Lumpy Space Queen gasped in shock and shrieked, "NO. FLIPPIN. WAY." She quickly dialed the first contact that came up on her phone.

After the connection was established LSP shouted into her phone, "MAAAAAARCAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

"I think I just got tinnitus. What's up Lumps?" Marceline's voice came out the other end.

"DID. YOU. KNOW. THAT FINN AND HUNTRESS BROKE UP?!"

"Oh, yeah that's kinda old news to me girl. How'd you find out though?" Marceline made sure not to gossip about Finn's situation out of respect. As far as she knew she, Simon, and Jake were the only ones who had that intel, that was until LSP rang her up.

"You knew and you never told me?! Tch I see how it is. Well fyi I called up Huntress and after a bit of talking she spilled the beans to me." In true LSP fashion, the truth was skewed slightly.

"Wait, she told you? Sorry but I find that hard to believe." Marceline knew LSP had a knack for embellishing her stories, still, she needed some confirmation on the off chance LSP was being straight with her.

"Mhmmm! I called her up and she was all like Yeah me and Finn are totally done, I've already got a new boo and I was like Girl you did NOT! It's true, it's all true." LSP nodded her head to herself.

"She's already dating someone else?" Marceline was surprised to hear that Finn's ex had already found someone else, but more than that she was angered. The guy gives you four years of his life and then you just move on like nothing happened? What was the point?! Were you just messing with him, you psycho?! She gave a mental sigh. Okay, slow your roll Marceline. Maybe LSP is just being LSP. Let's just try and find out how Finn is feeling about all this, haven't heard him speak a peep about the break up since that one day.

Her thoughts were scrambled as Lumpy spoke up, "And guuuuurl you would not believe-"

"AHEM" Lemongrab cleared his throat to catch his girlfriend's attention and reminder her of the task at hand.

"Oh right! Marcy, me and Lemon need Finn do you think you could get a hold of him for us?"

Marceline's ears perked up, this was perfect. It gave her an excuse to hangout with Finn, not that she needed one, and potentially check his feelings on his break up now that some time has passed. "Yeah, can do. Be there in like thirty."

"Mmmkay gurl, see you then!" LSP hung up and turned to her boyfriend. "So how about that offer hmmm?" she struck a pose with a hand on her hip in a way that she deemed sexy.

"Perhaps later, I have something important I need to attend to." Lemongrab's eyes shifted back and forth in a suspicious manner.

"I get it, you wanna save this for dessert. Don't wanna spoil your appetite." She leaned on the doorway, sticking her lumps out. "Too much of a good thing, am I right?"

"Vacate the premises." Lemongrab remained on the floor.

"I love it when you play hard to get." She took her leave.

Lemongrab looked around thoroughly before running up to the door and locking it. He walked up to the crushed magazine and bent down to pick it up. The book was revealed to be a catalogue of a variety of wedding rings.

He whispered to himself, "It has to be acceptable. No, exceptional…"

Finn was relaxing in his home cooking up some egg rolls. He received a heads up from Marceline that she would be on her way soon. For this reason the rolls were dyed with red food coloring.

"I'm on a roll with these rad red egg rolls" he sung to himself as he cooked. "BMO can you bring out the sauce?" The little computer had been playing a tune for Finn on the kitchen counter.

"You got it chef!" He hopped down and waddled to the fridge.

These days Jake spent most of his time with Lady, he would only stay over during the weekends. It was a freedom Finn had to fight for as Jake insisted he should stay. Finn felt like he needed the space being a twenty one year old adult. The young man told himself that it would build character.

One of the first character building exercises was learning how to cook more than just basic meals. Thankfully Jake and Simon were more than willing to help, both were fairly skilled in the culinary arts. Simon was more of a baker and created some wonderful pastries with Finn. Jake, on the other hand, showed his brother how to prepare some excellent dishes from different parts of Ooo. Finn had become a master chef in his own right, he even came up with some specialty meals like his meat lover egg rolls.

BMO slammed the bowl of sauce down on the table with a loud THUD.

"And there's the pièce de résistance" he said kissing the tips of his fingers. "Red Rolls done, all that's left is to wait for Marcy." Finn grabbed a pair of tongs and set the egg rolls on a large plate before placing them on the table next to the sauce. He grabbed a cover for the rolls before jumping and laying on his couch.

BMO hopped onto his lap. "Is it game time now?" He said with a smile.

"Gimme a sec BMO, gotta set the schedule for today. Let's see what the Heroes Guild has got posted." Finn took out a smartphone and opened an app labeled Heroes Guild DB and navigated to a tab labeled Quest Board.

"Don't you get tired of doing hero stuff everyday?" BMO said dancing on his stomach.

"It's not something I can just stop doing BMO. You wouldn't understand. Besides it's not like it's the only thing I do, that's why I got a schedule. I make sure I got time for everything else."

Finn always made sure to meet his heroes quota, this consisted of taking on an assortment of jobs ranging from finding someone's lost pet to saving an entire city. Depending on the scale of the mission he would give himself Hero Points. Every day he made sure to accumulate at least twenty hero points. No one was forcing him to do so, it was something he required of himself. Finn couldn't rest easy if he felt like he wasn't doing enough good for the world. So he came up with this system to try and pace himself.

There were days where keeping such a stringent schedule felt taxing. Sometimes Finn would feel drained to the point of burn out and yet he never took a break. He couldn't. The anxiety and stress that came from inaction were much worse; so while nobody else was forcing him to do this, he forced himself. He could always reason that it was just a fleeting moment of sadness and he would feel much better the next day. This was true, but how long could he keep up this performance? It was a question he had asked himself before. What scared him the most was that he had no clear answer, maybe it would be this way until he died?

In the end he knew one thing, anything was better than being stagnant. All because one day he decided he'd rather do nothing. The twelfth of October. An event that brought him restless terror and haunted him to this day.

"Hmm, nothing exciting today. Looks like I'm takin a buncha small jobs." He continued to scroll through the quest board until he heard a knock on the door, two loud bangs. "Coming Marcy!" BMO jumped off Finn as he hopped over the couch to make his way to the door. He swung it open and gave a gentleman's bow. "To what do I owe this pleasure O most unholy one."

She knocked him upside head for laughs. "I gots a job for us squire." She closed her umbrella and set it near the door. Today she was repping a tan sweater with high rise shorts coupled with stockings and sneakers. Her hair was rather messy, yet she managed to pull it off.

"Oh dope, what do we got?" He walked over to the table and took a seat with Marceline following.

"LSP hit me up, she said something about Lemon Head- what's that smell?" a wonderful scent hit the vampire's nose. Not only could she identify a rich red color but she also smelled great food.

Finn gently placed his hand on the cover before ripping it away to reveal the egg rolls he prepared. "WUH BAM! It's one of your home boy's specials. Meat Lover Egg Rolls, now with extra red!"

"Yo this is like, a clean crimson color. How did you manage?" Marceline's eyes glistened and her mouth watered.

"Glad you noticed, took me a few tries to figure out how get em be the perfect red. Give em taste after you suck the red too, I think they came out pretty good." Finn grabbed a roll and dipped it in the sauce before taking a bite.

"I think I'll do that, I haven't eaten yet so thanks." Marceline sucked the red out of a roll, tasted just as rich as it looked. Then she dipped it in the sauce and munched the whole thing down. She wasn't expecting much as she never knew Finn to be an expert cook but she was pleasantly surprised at the explosion of flavor. "Hey these are actually really good! Not often I find food that's red and delicious." She stuffed another in her mouth.

"So you said something about Lemongrab?" Finn grabbed another bite. Thankfully he made a dozen and a half egg rolls as Marceline was chowing down.

"Yeah sho anywaysh Lemongab neesh ouw help" the vampire spoke with a full mouth.

"What for?" Finn grabbed his fourth while Marceline gulped down her sixth.

"Dunno, forgot to ask. Could be interesting though. You in?"

"You said LSP called you? Man she better not ask me what I think she's gonna ask me." Finn rested his head in the palm of his hand with an annoyed expression.

"What's she gonna ask you?" Marceline asked as she grabbed her ninth roll.

Finn shivered, "I don't wanna talk about it. You comin with yeah?"

"'Course dude, I was gonna go whether you liked it or not." She kicked her feet up on the table with a cocky smirk.

"Well it's a good thing I like it then huh?" Finn gave a smile and got up and grabbed a white sword with a hexagon indented in the handguard. The sword seemed to have no blade, just a handle. "Normally I save this baby for the big bads but I kinda just wanna show it off now."

"You're not taking the Swiss Army Sword?" Marceline finished her last egg roll and floated up to Finn.

"Nah, today you're gonna witness the genius of Finn and Minerva Campbell." He held the sword hilt high. "Check out the Miracle Sword!" he shouted.

"So is the blade invisible or something?" Marceline cocked an eyebrow, she had trouble seeing the apparent majesty of the weapon.

"Watch this!" he brought the sword down to chest level and held it between him and Marcy with the the would-be blade facing away from them. He spat into the hexagon shaped indent.

"Wow you can spit on it? Wish I could do that with my bass" she chuckled. Her mockery was cut short as a water blade ejected from the hand guard. "Whoa!" She flinched back in surprise.

"Water sword, pretty slick eh?" He waved the blade around to demonstrate that it was fully functional.

"Does that work with anything?" She was curious about the Miracle Sword's limits.

"Put some of your blood in it!" Finn held out the sword once more, pointing away from the two.

Marceline used a claw to cut a small slit in her skin, a drop of blood fell into the indent. As soon as the blood made contact with the sword a dark maroon blade shot out in place of the water blade.

"Vampire Demon Blood sword, rad." Finn reached in his satchel and pulled out a bottle with lightning trapped inside. He popped the cork off and aimed the bottle at the hexagon, the lightning shot off into the sword and out popped an electric blade.

"Okay, that's pretty wild. You and your mom made that?"

Finn pressed a button and the blade disappeared. "Yup, I came up with the concept but she's the one who made it all work in the end. Its sleek and aerodynamic design allows it for maximum swinging potential. Leave your foes in shock, they'll be thinking WOW did I just get murked by the most awesome sword in existence? Yes my fiend, yes you did. It's compact build makes it easy to travel with. This bad boy can be all yours for the low low price of nothing because it's mine and I'm keeping it." He put the sword in his satchel. "You ready?" Finn took steps towards the door before being pushed back by Marceline. "What's up?"

"I'm not gonna let you wear the same outfit for the millionth time, especially not after we went shopping last week." She had annoyed tone and agitated look.

Finn groaned in response. "Aww c'mon Marcy, do I gotta?" he slumped his shoulders and threw his head back. Wearing anything aside from his iconic outfit felt awkward.

"What, are you saying the clothes I picked are trash?!" She contorted her face and hissed at him.

Finn laughed nervously, "N-no, in fact I'll go put em on now!" he rushed up stairs to change into his new get up.

BMO passed by Marceline while riding a small vacuum robot. "Onward my noble steed!" She giggled at the sight.

Finn jumped down the ladder and struck an action pose after hitting the ground. He was dressed in a royal blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up, the zipper placement was off center as the right side of the jacket overlapped the left. He sported navy blue jeans with black and white boots to compliment. And, of course, he hung his bear hat around his neck. "How do I look?"

Marceline let out a whistle as she scanned him. "Lookin sharp. Now we're ready to bounce." She made her way towards the door and held it open for him.

Finn marched outside with Marcy grabbing her umbrella and following behind him. "You want me to hold that for you?" he gestured to the umbrella.

"Nah it's cool- Actually, y'know what? Knock yourself out." She handed him the umbrella. Why not take the offer? Her arm had been getting a little stiff from holding it so much anyways."But if I get a lick of sunlight on me you're gonna pay, got it?"

"I'll hold this solar radiation blocking device like my life depends on it." He held his free hand up to his heart.

"Good cause it does, now let's roll."

Lemongrab waited impatiently, sitting on the edge of his bed that faced the door leading outside. He had maintained the position for quite some time now. His eyes narrowed as he hummed in frustration. A few more moments of silence passed until Finn burst through the door in panic sending Lemongrab into a state of panic himself.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" He shrieked as Finn quickly closed the door.

"Lemongrab! You have to go! Run! There's demon in-" Finn's shouts of terror were interrupted by a black tendril busting through the door and wrapping around his head. Whatever creature the appendage belonged to ripped Finn back, breaking the entire door in the process.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lemongrab's scream was even louder than the first. He froze in terror, he could do nothing but scream. His fright began to die down when he heard laughter coming from outside his room. "AAAAaaaahhhhh?"

"Try and hold back next time, I think you pulled something in my neck"

"My bad dude. I'll give you like a neck rub or something later, kay?"

Lemongrab's fear turned to irritation when he saw Marceline and Finn walk in with satisfied smiles on their faces. "mmmmmMMMMMM, HOW DARE YOU MAKE A FOOL OF ME! I SHOULD HAVE YOU TWO ARRESTED!" he pointed and shouted at the duo in anger.

"Calm down Lemon Head, you still need our help right? So what's up?" Marceline made light of his fury.

"I require Finn's help." He turned his head to face Finn.

"She comes with the package, hombre." He shrugged.

"You want him? Then ya gotta have me." Marceline crossed her arms and gave Lemongrab a smug look as she leaned against Finn.

"Mmmmm. I need you two to procure a jewel for me. However, it must be the most exquisite jewel in the entire universe! I will accept nothing less!" He crossed his own arms as he awaited their response.

"No probs sour man. Let's get it Marcy." He turned one hundred and eighty degrees before being spun another one hundred and eighty by Marceline.

"Nah nah nah nah nah, we're not just gonna do this for free. You're sending us out treasure hunting and we don't even get to keep the treasure? Gotta compensate us with something." She stuck her hand up and rubbed her thumb against her fingers.

"C'mon Marcy, I'm a hero! I don't do this stuff for the reward, if they wanna pay me then I'll accept."

"Yeah? And how often do you get paid?" She cocked an eyebrow, she assumed he didn't get much in the way of monetary gain.

"Enough…" His response was sheepish.

"Finn…" She furrowed her brow at him.

"Like five times out of ten I get paid…" He shied away from her, sweat forming at his brow.

"Finn!" She floated in front of him.

"Okay fine! More like two times out of ten!" He put his hands in his pockets and puffed his cheeks in faux anger.

Marceline sighed. "You're way too nice dude, good thing I'm here to help. So how you gonna help us help you out Lemongrab."

He pulled out a sack of gold. "Will this suffice?"

"Man I don't feel good about this." Finn frowned.

Marceline grabbed the money. "Yeah, but your pockets will." She counted the cash, there was roughly one hundred gold coins. "This'll do nicely, thanks Lemon man" She tossed the bag to Finn.

"You're not gonna take a cut?" Finn said in surprise.

"Nah, you're taking me shopping later after all, right?" She gave a playful wink as she passed him by, making her way out the door. She did so to tease the young man, the idea of flustering Finn was fun to her.

"Huh, guess I am!" Unfortunately for Marceline, he took it at face value and was simply happy to treat his friend.

"Okay, but remind me again why we can't just take one of the gems off these walls? They're beautiful, I'm sure Lemongrab wouldn't mind." Marceline ran her hand along the jewel encrusted walls of a rather large cave she and Finn had been exploring.

Finn's knowledge of the land of Ooo made it easy for the two to decide where to start looking. His first suggestion led them here; the Crystal Caverns ,unrelated to the Crystal Dimension, which was located deep within the earth.

"I mean sure we could just grab one off the wall but where's the adventurer's spirit in that? I want it to be special, I wanna earn it." He continued to lead Marceline further down the cave.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You wouldn't be Finn if you didn't wanna do it the hard way."

She didn't hate doing hero work, but to her this felt more like running an errand. Had it not been for Finn she'd most likely have given up long ago.

The two marched onwards in search of the perfect gem. Unbeknownst to them, a large cluster of crystals had been trailing them on the ceiling for some time.

"Y'know there's a rumor that a super strong monster hides out down here." Finn began to slow his walking speed.

Marceline's ears perked up. "Oh? How strong we talkin?"

"Very, at least that's what I heard. Not a lot of info except here-say. They call it the Prism Troll; it's got hulking strength but the real kicker is the crystals it's got on its back and arms." Finn's movement slowed to a crawl, he listened very closely as his hero gut told him something was off.

"What's up with it's crystals?" Marceline eyed Finn quizzically. She seemed to have no clue about his intentions.

"Apparently every once in a blue moon it goes up to the surface and stores solar energy in its crystals. It can shoot that stuff back out at will and from what I've heard it can do some major damage." He came to a halt and knelt down.

"Make that double major damage for me. If that stuff comes from the sun like you said then we better watch out. That is if we run into- Finn what are you doing?" She couldn't take it anymore, she had to ask about his strange behavior.

Finn didn't move from his kneeling position yet footsteps could be seen forming in front of him, as if he were still moving forward. Just as Marceline was trying to wrap her head around the situation Finn slowly turned his head and whispered to her, "Marcy jump back NOW!" Without hesitation she leapt backwards. As if in response, a giant creature slammed down from above crushing Finn.

"FINN!" She shouted in panic.

"I'm fine! We need to focus!"

She was momentarily confused as she turned her head to see Finn standing in front of the beast. Her mind clicked the pieces of the puzzle together. This was the same trick Finn pulled when she tried scaring him and the footprints were Finn's as he performed his magic. He wasn't teleporting, he placed a decoy and moved while his real body was invisible. She needed to ask how he was able to puppet the decoy after they finished taking this monster down.

Finn inspected the Prism Troll, it resembled a large hairless Gorilla but it lacked eyes. Not to mention the crystals and gems that decorated its arms and back. The creature roared at Finn but he was unphased as he planned his actions. Marceline took advantage of the beasts narrow focus and transformed into a large bat, rushing him into the wall.

Finn acted immediately by aiming his mechanical arm at the monster and launching the limb with rocket force. "Watch out Marcy!"

She took heed of his warning and backed off as Finn's arm made its way. Marceline anticipated a great punch to be delivered but was disappointed when the arm simply latched on to a crystal on the beast's back. Right before she could voice her complaints a flash of light came from his detached arm and then appeared Finn, reattached to his arm. "So you can teleport! Dope!" she cheered him on.

Finn ripped a chunk of crystal from the Prism Troll's back and he pulled out his Miracle Sword, shoving the the rock into it. As the blade formed he hopped off the back of the creature, noticing it reaching for him. Marceline thought to take advantage of the fact that the beasts back was facing her, but was caught off guard when the troll leapt backwards and shoved her against the wall. She had a few crystals lodged in her, however the real issue was that the crystals had pinned her to the wall. The monster turned to face her and roared as the crystals in his arm began to glow and whir.

She panicked as she tried to removed herself.

Finn could be heard shouting, "BO! GET OUT THERE AND SHIELD HER!"

The beast let out a final roar before extending its arms forward and firing blinding beam of light towards the vampire. Marceline braced for the worst of it, but was surprised to find that she had felt nothing change after the light had subsided. She looked up to find a white bear whose size challenged the troll was standing on its hind legs, protecting her. She wore a look of shock. "Finn?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Finn rush in to face the monster, meaning this creature was a separate entity. This was one more question that she would ask him about after their adventure was over, for now she opted to free herself and focus on the fight.

Finn snapped his fingers as he ran forward. The bear responded and charged the troll, their arms locked in combat. Finn sliced the beasts achilles tendons while it was distracted and forced it to its knees. "These crystals are pretty strong huh? Cut through like butter." The hero's banter was cut short as the monster attempted to stand back up, despite the tendons in his feet being sliced. "Jeez this thing doesn't quit. Bo!"

The bear and Finn seemed to understand each other without using many words. The white beast wrapped its arms around the troll and gave a great squeeze, following it up by tossing the monster behind itself in the direction of Finn.

He took a stance as if he were preparing to catch the flying troll. Just before the beast could land on him an invisible force held the Prism Troll high above his head. Finn's actions made it look like he were the one lifting the monster.

Marceline was confused yet again. Upon closer inspection Finn's arms seemed to be surrounded by a semi-transparent white aura. She witnessed as he slammed the troll down with tremendous force. He grabbed it by leg and whipped the beast around with unprecedented strength, tossing it to her.

"Catch Marcy!"

Marceline readied her fists and when the troll came within range she swung with all her might, delivering a fierce uppercut. The beast spun in the air from the impact before finally landing on its stomach. It lied unconscious.

"I think we did it." She breathed a sigh of relief as she returned to her normal form.

Finn walked up to the Prism Troll and thrust his sword into the head of the creature, it flinched before finally being put to rest. "Just wanna make sure." He put the miracle sword away and sat against the corpse of the monster, Marceline joined him.

"You know all things considered, that was a pretty quick slay. Up top." Marceline raised her hand up.

Finn returned the high five. "We make a bomb duo!"

The giant bear walked up to the two and sat down, his weight shook the ground beneath them.

"So uhh, care to explain?" Marceline pointed at the bear while she looked at Finn.

"Oh, that's Bo."

"Bo?" Marcy scanned the creature.

The bear huffed.

"It's short for Bogard, but don't tell anyone. It supposed to be our secret ain't that right buddy?"

Bo let out a low whine.

"Okay but like, where did he come from. Cause unless I'm just straight up blind, I don't remember us coming in with a giant polar bear." Marceline scratched her head, she just couldn't understand what was going on.

"He's my spirit animal. Something I picked up like two years ago." Finn shrugged. "Alright back in my spirit you go buddy." Bo responded to the command by bursting into white particles. The white dust flew into Finn's chest and Bo was gone.

She was incredulous towards his response. "You just, picked it up? I don't think that's something you just pick up."

"It was this whole thing that happened. I met this guy, called himself Hero King and he showed me a buncha stuff but it turned out to be a raw deal. I mean kinda? It wasn't bad, but it wasn't something that I ended up wanting. In the end I had it forced on me anyway. But yeah, I guess I'm the Hero King now. Not like that really means much to me." Finn stared off into nothing, his tone was a mixture of annoyed, angry, and sad but mostly exhausted.

Marceline placed a hand on Finn's shoulder and smiled. "Dude it's okay. You don't gotta talk about it if you don't wanna." In truth she cared to know what was ailing Finn very much. However, she could also tell that whatever he was talking about came with some emotional baggage and didn't want him stressing himself when he didn't have to.

Finn looked up at her and gave a warm smile. "Thanks." He appreciated her empathy. It was in fact a very touchy subject for him that he'd rather avoid talking about if at all possible.

It was moments like these that Finn found his feelings for Marceline grow stronger. He appreciated her ability to understand the emotions of her friends. She was down to earth when the situation called for it and always seemed to know what to say put him at ease. All these things and more attracted him to her.

Calm down Finn, you're letting your heart go all out of whack again. You can stay good friends and still be close to Marceline. You can hang out with her when you're feeling down, talk when you got problems, cry on her shoulder when you're hurting, hold hands when your walking, cuddle when you're feeling lonely, kiss when you're feeling romantic… Wait friends don't do some of those things. AUGH stupid dumb brain, quit it! She's just your friend!

Marceline eyed Finn curiously as he gave her a blank stare. She snapped her fingers in his face. "Earth to Finn, we still gotta grab a gem for Lemon Head."

"Huh? Oh! Yeah yeah! Let's take one off the back of this bad boy." Finn slapped the body of the Prism Troll. "These things should still have a bunch of solar energy in them so maybe they'll look prettier?"

"Only one way to find out." Marceline floated up to the back of the beast. "Yooo…" her tone conveyed a sense of bewilderment.

Finn stood and climbed up the monster. When he reached the top of the back he witnessed the sight that had Marcy awestruck. "Wow…"

All the gems and crystals raidiated a heavenly glow.

"Oh! Look at that one!" Marceline pointed to a transparent tetrahedron shaped Crystal lodged in the beast. The object had a rainbow dancing within it.

"You think Lemon will like that?" Finn pulled out his sword and placed another gem in the socket, preparing to cut the prism loose.

"Not really, he's probably lookin for something a bit more yellow... But I'd like it!" She knew the perfect spot for the crystal in her room.

"Say no more." He cut the figure out perfectly and handed it to Marceline.

She held the object and rotated it, getting a good look at her new decoration. "And here I thought we weren't gonna get anything for ourselves. We're keeping the cash though."

Finn spotted a radiant amber diamond, despite it being slightly smaller than his thumb it stood out amongst the rest. "Think we found our needle in the haystack."

Marcy floated over to see what Finn had discovered. "Oh definitely."

He plucked the stone from the back of the troll. "Like pickin bugs off a monkey's back." Finn raised the diamond above his eye to get a good inspection.

Marceline giggled. "Weird metaphor but okay. Let's get movin, with any luck the sun'll be down."

Finn stuffed the gem in his bag along with an assortment of random crystals he took from the beast. "You got it boss."

Lemongrab maintained the same position on the edge of his bed, there was no telling if he even moved since the two left.

"Hey Lemongrab!" Finn poked his head in the still broken doorway.

"Guess what we got?" Marceline poked her head above Finn's.

Lemongrabs eyes widened in anticipation. "Do you have the gem!?"

Finn walked in with Marceline and tossed the diamond to Lemongrab who clumsily caught it.

"How bout it? Pretty good eh? Eh? Ehhhhhhhh?" Finn leaned closer to Lemon with every eh, excited to hear his response. He was sure it would be overwhelmingly positive.

Lemongrab scanned the gem with great care, he rolled it around in the palm of his hand, pressed it against his eye, sniffed it, licked it.

Both Finn and Marcy wore looks of concern.

Lemon hummed while rubbing his chin. "Unacceptable."

"Scuse me?" Finn was baffled.

"This gem is unacceptable."

"What do you mean it's unacceptable?! It ain't gonna get more perfect than that!" Marceline exclaimed in frustration.

"It's roughly point three micrometers too large in width. A-and the height is off by fifty nanometers. Not to mention, of course, that the color is approximately a half shade lighter than what is optimal. Fetch me another!" Lemongrab tossed the gem to Finn and crossed his arms.

"Are you serious?! What kinda gem are you looking for any way and why do you care so much?!" Marceline had no doubt that they could find another gem, but she was convinced that Lemongrab was just being a stingy nuisance and she wasn't about to go on a wild goose chase for no reason.

"Do not raise your voice at MEEEEE! How can you possibly expect myself to propose to Lumpy-!" Lemongrab quickly covered his mouth realizing he said something he hadn't meant to.

Marceline and Finn's eyes widened in shock.

Lemongrab stared at them in silence before speaking, "You will forget what you heard." He spoke in a calm manner.

Something in Marceline's mind clicked. "You got it Lemon Head. We out Finn." Marceline made her way out the door.

"Wait- but- he- the gem- I-"

"Let's go hero boy." Marceline came up to Finn, grabbing him by the arm and leading him out the door and down the hall. She stopped when she figured she was out of Lemongrabs hearing range.

"Marcy are we really just gonna leave him hangin like that? I mean now that I know it's for Lumps I kinda really wanna help the guy out." Finn may not have been best friends with Lemongrab, but he loved the idea of helping out two love birds.

"Of course we are, we got already got the perfect gem right here." Marceline raised Finn's hand that contained the amber diamond.

"But I thought he said it was unacceptable?"

Marceline laughed at Finn's lack of understanding of the situation. "Dude he's just super nervous. We could bring him anything and he'd say it's unacceptable. Thankfully I know how this works; we'll wait a bit out here and then walk back in, hand him the same gem, and he'll think it's a different gem, and accept it."

"Huh, well I hope you're right cause I don't think we're gonna find a better gem than this." Finn leaned against the wall and waited, as instructed by Marceline who joined him by his side.

"Crazy how those two are gonna tie the knot and yet a couple of losers like us can't seem to find someone huh?" she elbowed Finn with a friendly smile. She saw an opportunity to segway on to the topic of relationships and hopefully ask him about Huntress.

"What do you mean?" the idea of Lemongrab and LSP getting married didn't seem far fetched to Finn.

"Well I mean, look at em. You telling me you thought Lumpy the queen of vanity would keep it steady with Mr. loud and awkward?" She knew better than to assume that all relationships were based on personality compatibility but she still had a hard time seeing the two make it work, and yet they were getting married.

"I didn't think anything of it really. Something I learned is that nothing in this world is black or white, it's like this weird grey that can be more white than black or it can be more black than white. Same thing can be said about the color of love. Sometimes personality is nothing and sometimes it's everything. Opposites don't always attract and the perfect match can be the perfect trainwreck. Like you and PB for instance, not to say you guys were a trainwreck, but I never really thought there was much point in thinkin about whether you two would work. I was always just cheering you guys on cause I wanted y'all to be happy. Turns out it didn't work, but what are you supposed to do? Blame each other? Blame yourselves? Nah. Love ain't some kind of algorithm you can pin down. That's why I prefer to try and focus on what made me happy, makes me happy, will make me happy. And I can only hope everyone else does the same." Finn was blunt in his honesty. His words were kind and wholesome, but more than that they carried wisdom. The sentiment came from a place of genuine understanding and it was this way of thought that appealed to Marceline.

There was a time when she thought Finn's attitude was naive, that it could be attributed to his young age and when he grew up he would be jaded like most people. But that never rang true. It was clear that he had matured emotionally and that he was aware of the world around him. She had no idea what he could've gone through in his life but she could only assume he didn't have it easy. And yet he never stopped being empathetic towards others. He never lost his optimism. Finn was always sure to help those in need be it physically or emotionally. Marceline found herself craving that empathy.

"That's… That's really thoughtful of you Finn." She wanted to give him a peck on the cheek, something she had practiced in the past with ease. But now she found herself flustered at the notion. What was it that made her hesitate? Marceline tried to reason with herself.

Just give him a quick little kiss on the cheek, it's not like you haven't done it before. If you think about it for too long it'll be weird, just do it! ...Too late. What is up with me, for real?! You're Marceline the flippin vampire queen! You're rockin girl full of punk attitude! … Or I was… Things have changed, I've changed. I may be punk but I got other stuff goin on in me too. If I kissed him right now it'd feel like I mean it, cause I do mean it. I like Finn. Marceline laughed at herself in her mind. Oh wow I can't believe it, I really do like this kid. Well calling him a kid ain't fair, the dude is probably the most mature out of all of us at this point. Having him around me makes me feel good. He's a hero, the de facto good guy with no ill will, and he's always wanting to hang with me, despite me not always being the greatest person. Means I'm doing something right, right? Heck, I was able to help him with his issues. I used to never care this much about what I thought of myself. Back then being sad was the norm and clownin on people to make myself feel better was okay. Then these losers had to show up and make me feel good. Now I'm a loser. I like being a loser. I like what we have and I want more, is that selfish? Now that I think about it I don't really know how he feels about me. He likes me, right? He's gotta. Unless he's still caught up on Huntress. Oh! Right! Huntress.

Marceline looked over to her side where Finn had been leaning on the wall, lost in thought. "So, you hear anything from Huntress?" She hoped her question didn't push any wrong buttons.

"Not a peep. Why? Have you?" Finn was curious as to what brought up this topic.

Marceline debated in her head whether she should tell Finn what she heard from LSP. In the end she decided it best to tell him, she felt he could handle it. "Well, I heard this from Lumps so take it with a grain of salt but, word is she's found a new partner."

Finn was quiet as he closed his eyes with a furrowed brow and crossed his arms. At first he felt his heart sink slightly, but after some thought he opened his eyes and smiled. The weight was gone. "I'm happy for her."

Marceline was surprised at his response. "You are?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Finn placed his hands in his pockets.

"Well it's just that, don't you think she moved on a little too fast? You two went out for like four years and it just kinda seems weird that she's already moved on." Marceline remembered her initial burst of anger and to see Finn happy at the news bewildered her.

"What's the alternative? I be miserable and wish she was having a terrible time? I don't hate Huntress, I never did. We just couldn't maintain a relationship. I'd like to think that over time we can still be friends, after all she's still a good friend in my heart. And I want my friends to be happy. It's honestly kind of relieving to hear that she's doin okay." Finn's smile was genuine, as were his words.

Marceline took a moment to process his words. She had trouble understanding how someone could be so virtuous but after hearing him explain himself it made sense. Then she found herself applying the same logic to her situation. Marceline didn't hate bubblegum, and if Bonnie ended up finding someone else why shouldn't she be happy for her best friend? Whatever leftover weight she carried from the break up was gone.

She smiled at Finn. "You're a good dude, seriously, I mean that."

"Well, I gotta thank you. I said it before but, that talk we had that one night did me a lot of good. It's thanks to you that I got my brain case all cleared up."

Marceline blushed, receiving such heartfelt compliment made her feel warm and fuzzy. "No problem. Let's give this gem to Lemon, I think we're good to go."

"Lead the way."

Marcy floated down the hall and into Lemongrab's room with Finn following close behind. Lemon was in the same position, looking down at the floor until the two walked in.

"Why have you returned?" Lemongrab squinted at Marceline.

Marceline smiled as she floated up and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Well we thought long and hard about this whole thing, and y'know we just couldn't stand by idly while our good friend Lemongrab-"

Lemon cut her off, "On with it!"

"We got you a new perfect jewel." Marceline floated back to Finn who tossed the amber diamond to Lemongrab.

He held it and gave the same inspection as last time, licking and all. He was quiet for a few moments.

"Thisssss…"

Finn felt a bead of sweat form on his brow.

"This isssssss…"

Marceline began to tug at her own arm out of anxiousness.

"This is...EXPCEPTIONAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" Lemongrab exclaimed in excitement.

"Oh thank glob." Finn exhaled in relief.

"Glad we could help you out Lemon Head. So we invited to the wedding yeah?" Marceline crossed her arms and laid back, satisfied with the work she had done.

"I'll think about it, now leave!" Lemongrab pointed towards the door, demanding their exit.

Marceline wore a look of disgust as she left. "Pfft, whatever."

"See ya Lemon." Finn waved goodbye as he followed Marcy.

Finn decided to speak up as he and Marceline left the castle. "Hey...do you think that we could…" He was hesitant with his words.

"Spit it out dude." She was curious about what had him choked up.

"...I really like it when we have those serious talks, y'know those down to earth convos. Hangin out with you is a blast and all but I was just wonderin if… Well if we could just like, sit down and spend some time talking cause that's a lot of fun for me. We don't gotta if you don't wanna though! It's no big deal if we don't, really." Finn was nervous as he spoke. He thought his request lame, he wouldn't fault her for denying. He expected it.

Marceline found herself slightly shocked that Finn enjoyed their talks as much as she had. She thought he loathed these long drawn out discussions about life and their feelings when he, in fact, loved them. "Of course man, I'm totally down to just talk and chill with you." The two made their way out the castle doors.

"Does tomorrow night sound good? Your place?" Finn pointed a finger at Marcy.

"Then it's a date." Marceline give him a peck on the cheek. She was able to now that she accepted her feelings, she meant this kiss. She also wanted to see Finn become flustered and blush, it was a cute mental image for her.

"You got it homie, I'll give you a call when I leave tomorrow." He pointed finger guns at her.

She was stunned when she witnessed Finn completely unphased. "Tha-that was a joke by the way. Like y'know we're not, uhhh, it's not actually a date." She tried to clarify the situation. She had become the flustered one.

Finn laughed. "Yeah I know. I thought that was obvious? Well anyway, you take it easy, alright? Peace Marcy!" He waved goodbye as he walked off.

Marceline stood still in shock as she processed what had just happened. A new thought hit her mind for the first time, one she never even considered. She uttered a few words under her breath, "Wait… does he not like me?"

A/N: I know I promised I'd try to not do these often but I do want to apologize for the wait. No real excuse but your positive feed back real made me kick it into gear. Hopefully the fluctuation in chapter length isn't much of an issue, I try to make each chapter only as long as it needs to be so it will vary often. Once again I'd like to thank everyone who leaves a comment, it means a lot.