Author's Note: Hey everybody, happy Monday!
Just wanted to warn you all that the next chapter is going to be NSFW. I don't intend anyone under 18 years of age to read it, and it's definitely not something you want to read with somebody looking over your shoulder. :P
Also, narwhal asked me to put the meaning of the German Bonni, Gumble and Perry sometimes speak in parentheses so I will start doing so to make the Boehms a little more understandable! ;)
Other than that, enjoy and thanks for all the support so far!

Christmas was enjoyable that year and before anyone knew it, it was New Year's Eve.

Of course, the main attraction of the night for Advent Tides' younger inhabitants was the fields, so large groups of students began trekking out there all throughout the day of December 31st.
By 8pm in the evening, the entire gang were sitting under a large oak tree, talking, laughing and well on their way to being drunk.

"I propose a toast!" a tipsy Logan cried out, holding up a can of the beer his twenty-one-year-old cousin had bought him.

"Here, here!" Jake shouted, tumbling into Finn's lap.

"A toast indeed!" Logan proclaimed. "So raise your glasses with me comrades and we shall toast – shall toast...t-toast-"

"Toast what?" Fionna asked, hiccupping.

"Toast, toast..." Logan trailed off, then shrugged.

"The new year!" Gumble chimed in, holding up his own rum and Coke, and the whole gang cheered loudly.

"Yes, yes, the new year!" Logan agreed happily, and then splashed some beer down his front as he excitedly went to drink it.

Bonni laughed, looking around at her inebriated friends.
She sipped at her own drink and then felt two arms wrap around her middle.

"Hey," Marceline's breath was hot in her ear, and smelt of tequila. "Having fun?"

Bonni smiled, turned around to find her girlfriend's lips, and kissed her.

"Yes," she said, grinning. "Are you?"

"I am," Marceline smiled, hugging her a little tighter.

"Marceline!" drunk Finn yelled enthusiastically. "I've got some rum, you want some?"

"Nah dude, I'm sticking with tequila tonight," the black-haired girl replied, holding up her own half-full bottle. "Thanks though!"

She slipped her legs on either side of Bonni and rested her head on the red-haired girl's shoulder.

Gumble looked over at them, smiling at how happy his sister looked in Marceline's arms, and then felt a kiss land on his cheek and an arm slide around his shoulders.
He turned around to see a certain handsome young man smirking at him.

"Marshall!"Finn cried, turning his attention to the other Abadeer twin now. "You want some rum dude?"

Marshall laughed.

"Eh...sure!" he said, reaching for the bottle.

Finn excitedly passed it to him and Marshall took a swig.

"Ahh! Thanks man!"

Marshall grinned at Gumble as he handed the bottle back.

"You reek of rum now!" the redheaded boy told him.

Marshall shrugged casually.

"I bet I taste like it too!" he said, leaning in.

As soon as the two young men's lips pressed together, Lich felt anger drop and explode in his chest like a bomb.
From where he stood several metres away, he gripped his own beer can tightly, then threw it to the ground, kicked it fiercely, and marched across the darkness over to the gang.

"You filthy faggots are still going at it!" he spat, as he got close.

Gumble's stomach lurched uncomfortably in apprehension but Marshall's firm squeeze around his shoulders instantly calmed him.

"Get out of here Lich," Finn warned, and even though he was drunk, his tone meant business. "No one in this circle wants to drink with you."

"They already got you expelled, don't cause yourself any more trouble!" BMO piped up, and Lich turned around quickly, his eyes locking on the boy who had just spoken.

"Don't talk to me you little fag!" he barked, storming forward, grabbing a fistful of BMO's hair and pulling hard.

"Hey!"

Both Finn and Fionna rushed forward and threw themselves at Lich, making him let go of BMO, stumble backwards and fall to the ground.

"Now get out of here you asshole!" Fionna shot at him.

"Yeah, just leave us all alone you fucker!" Finn added.

Lich pulled himself into a sitting position, looked past Finn and Fionna, and stared straight at Gumble.

"I'm going to get you," he said, clearly and angrily. "I-"

But before he could finish, Marshall had jumped to his feet, stormed over and delivered a kick to Robert Lich's side.
Lich let out a howl of pain as he lurched backwards on the ground.

"You fucker!" he whined, in a defeated voice.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Marshall snapped, his voice so vehemently furious that nearly everyone in the gang flinched. "Leave us all the fuck alone and I won't have to do it again! Now get out of here Lich! Now!"

Lich scrambled quickly to his feet, shot Gumble a quick filthy look, and then stamped angrily off across the dark fields.

"You OK dude?" Marshall looked to BMO who was rubbing his head.

"Yeah, I'm alright," BMO replied, smiling gratefully around at Finn, Fionna and Marshall.

"What about you honey?" Carla leaned forward to Gumble.

Gumble looked up sharply.
He saw the sympathy etched in Carla's face, and when he looked around the circle, he saw it in everybody else's eyes too.
And he hated it. Hated it.
Absolutely despised how everyone was looking at him with such compassion and pity, as if he was some sort of pathetic victim.
A pathetic victim of somebody he could barely defend himself from.
Bonni put a comforting hand on his knee, and the commiseration in her eyes (his own sister who he had put through so much) was what made him snap.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Gumble said shortly, nonchalantly brushing Bonni's hand off and leaping to his feet.

"Hey, wait!"

"Dude, stop!"

"Gumble, don't!"

"Hey man-"

But the redhead didn't listen to any of them. He just walked quickly away from the group.

"Gumble, come on," Marshall gently took his boyfriend's arm, and was shocked when he was just shrugged off.

"Don't Marshall!" Gumble barked, and kept walking. "Just don't!"

Marshall made to follow him but was stopped by Marceline grabbing the belt of his jeans.

"Let him go dude," she said gently. "Let him go."

Marshall watched his boyfriend storm away, feeling utterly helpless.
And hating Lich more than ever.

Gumble kept walking and walking, feeling the anger and embarrassment throb through him like a virus.
He barged around the fields, puffing hard, and eventually began to feel the negativity ebbing away from him.
With each step, he felt less and less awful.
And then he stopped, alone and hurt in the middle of some very vast fields.

"He just pushed my hand away!" Bonni was shouting out, almost hysterically. "He's never done that before! I don't know why he-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Marceline tightened her grip around her girlfriend's waist and held her a little closer. "It's OK, he just got a little self-conscious is all. He needed a moment alone."

"But what if-?"

But Marceline shook her head.

"What if nothing," she concluded simply. "He's still your brother, he's still your friend. He just needed a second to cool off. He'll be back when he's ready."

Bonni nodded, calmed down, and kissed her girlfriend gratefully.

Gumble stopped by a large birch tree and slipped down to the ground to sit under its branches. He sighed heavily, regretting his decision of running off.
But he had just felt so humiliated, all those eyes (well-meaning eyes but still) staring at him, seeing him as a casualty, singling him out.

"Hey."

The red-haired boy turned around and saw BMO standing a few paces away, smiling amicably.
Gumble looked at him, remembering the way Lich had yanked at his hair.
He probably felt pretty embarrassed too.

"Hey," he said quietly. "Your head OK?"

"Yeah, it's fine," BMO replied, running a hand absent-mindedly through his hair. "What about you? Are you alright?"

Gumble smiled sadly, looked down at the ground, sighed.
Then he looked up at BMO, shrugged.

"I'm so sick of people seeing me as a victim BMO," he said unhappily. "I'm so sick of people looking at me like I'm some sort of pitiful weakling, it's embarrassing."

He hung his head and BMO looked at him for a long moment.
Then he stepped forward, sat down next to Gumble and heaved a sigh.

"Gumble," he began. "There's only one person who sees you as a weakling and that's you. Everyone else sees you as their friend. Their friend who they're worried about and they want to help look after. Their friend who-"

"But I shouldn't need looking after BMO!" Gumble interrupted, looking up at him. "I should be able to look after myself!"

"Gumble," BMO's tone was indignant, as he shook his head. "Everyone needs looking after sometimes. We all need help every once in a while, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. You can't be expected to do this all on your own, that'd be crazy!" he paused, "We all just want to be there for you Gumble, that's all."

Gumble nodded, considering this, and then smiled warmly at his friend.

"Thanks BMO."

BMO beamed at him.

"No problem Gumble! Now come on," he said, climbing to his feet. "Lada's parents went away for New Year's so after what just happened, she called for a sleepover at her house. We're getting pizza!"

Gumble grinned up at his friend.
And when BMO offered him a hand to help pull him up, he took it.