' You're bad for me, Fionna.'
Fionna frowned at him, confused by the words he had given when she broke away for a quick breath of air. At some point they had ended up on the grass, Flame prince lying on his back and Fionna sitting next to his waist, leaning over the top of him. The shower had lightened to a drizzle as the sun slowly dropped in the sky, and now all that remained of it was wet grass and a faint blanket of mist obscuring the purple/orange sunset.
' How am I bad for you?' She asked, cocking her head to the side then flopping down on top of him, her chin in the center of his chest. Flame prince laughed at her and she felt his arms (Big, strong, warm- it was like being hugged by a bear, minus the fur. He had gotten a lot more solid compared to the scrawny teenager she had known) tighten across the middle of her back.
' You're just.. addictive. A bad influence. You make me want to give up on trying to find out my purpose and just make my purpose being with you. Even though I know I'd regret that.' Fionna turned her head to the side and listened to his heart (or equivalent thereof. His combustion chamber acted just like a human heart, keeping his plasma burning) to hide the small smile on her face. He was starting to heat up again, and she wanted every moment to count before she had to let go and face the complicated knot she had tied herself into by doing this.

' You're safe. I know you, which is why I don't feel guilty about a 'one last time' like this sort of thing . But it's also 'cause I know you, and cause I know it didn't work last time that I want this sort of thing not to happen again. I'm an adventurer, man. I like danger and uncertainty and discovering stuff. Safe and familiar is nice, but I can't do it for very long.' She heard him chuckle and one of his hands moved off of her back. He pulled off her bunny hat and ruffled her hair, running his fingers down through the river of blonde curls.
' I know. You really haven't changed a bit. I like that.' Fionna lifted her head, showcasing a pinkish flush cause by the heat radiating off him. Their time was almost up.
' You have. But I like that.' He smiled at her, then glanced up at the backdrop of midnight blue peeking between feathery wisps of grey cloud.
' Last, last kiss?' He questioned hopefully, and Fionna rolled her eyes at his expression before obligingly leaning in. He had heated up enough that it hurt now, but she didn't care. Pain and burns and bruises were just hickeys from the universe. And from him, too. She would need to cover them up before she went home.

' So you better not go figure more stuff out for a while, yeah?' Fionna said, propping herself back up and looking at him pointedly.
' Wouldn't dream of it.' Fionna pecked him one more time - 'Last, last last kiss. That's it. No more. One more.'- Then again, before she stood up and put back on her bunny hat. Flame Prince watched her with a complicated mixture of melancholy, relief and amused cynicism. It hadn't meant everything, but it hadn't meant nothing either. In some ways, she was now technically his one that got away. Through mutual exclusion. Whether this had been the right course of action- letting her go and this afternoon- only time would tell.
' See ya 'round, Pocket-rocket.' Fionna said jovially, shouldering her backpack and flitting her fingers at him affectionately. Flame prince returned the smile a beat too late.
' ...Yeah. see ya.'

As she walked away, Fionna heard a muffled 'Whoof!' behind her and looked back to see Flame Prince streaking up into the sky, a speeding neon blur of light. A living firework. No wonder he used to mesmerize her.
Did he still?
That was the dilemma she was trying to neutralize now, before getting back into the Marshall stuff that only made this one more complicated. She had never dreamed about Flame Prince. And she had to admit, when he had given her the first hickey on her neck (at this thought, Fionna swung her bag around to the front and began digging for her turtleneck sweater) the sensation immediately reminded her of the vampire. From that point on, he had been sitting in the back of her head insisting that she stop with this nostalgic nonsense and pay attention to him instead.
Her current train of thought was even more evidence that she no longer wanted Flame Prince the way she used to. If she was still in love with him, he would've been the only thing on her mind. But instead it was all Marshall, all the time. Sigh.

She obviously had a thing for him, to some degree, which was really stupid. On the off chance that he reciprocated that physically (That gobdamned 'pillow fight' yesterday. Though oddly, he had never kissed her on the lips) there was no way a guy like him would reciprocate emotionally. Fionna considered this gloomily as she pulled the sweater over her head and adjusted the turtleneck so it came all the way up to the bottom of her chin.
Marshall-lee was a thousand years old, but he hadn't settled down (or grown up)yet? That showed he wasn't the kind of man who ever would. He might be content to fool around for a few months, but then he'd get bored and she'd be left with nothing but regret and longing.
But even so... The way he had kissed her, bit her... She wanted that. Specifically. It was completely different to Flame Prince. So much more uncertain and exciting. She knew exactly how Flame prince was bad for her, but Marshall was a different kind of trouble (was it weird that she was actively looking for that? A issue to conquer and understand, an adventure?)
It wouldn't hurt to just try, right?
But how exactly do you attract a vampire?

' I'm home, Cake!' Fionna called, adjusting the turtle neck jumper one last time as she walked in through the front door. She giggled when she felt Cake's furry limb snaking around her waist and tugging her up through the treehouse.
' Whoo, baby girl. You're getting heavy. I don't know if you should give you this pasta I just finished cooking.' Cake teased her playfully, plopping the adventuress down into the booth. She was standing at the stove in front of a large pot of spaghetti. The smell of tomatos and basil drifted over to Fionna, and she suddenly realised she was ravenous.
' Naw, you can't deny me spaghetti.' Cake smiled at her affectionately over her shoulder, before delivering three bowls of food to the table.
' Of course not, darling. Beemo, come'n get it!' Cake yelled over her shoulder before sliding into the booth next to Fionna. Beemo skittered into the room a few seconds later, and climbed up the rungs of a stool so that she was perched in front of her dinner. Everybody got stuck in, and for a few minutes there was no sound beyond muffled chewing and slurping noises.

' So where did you go today, baby? Find any cool stuff or were you just kickin' it?' Cake asked, lapping up the last of her sauce in a very unladylike manner. Fionna shrugged noncommittally, stuffing a rather large wad of pasta in her mouth just before she answered. Cake rolled her eyes at the indecipherable words.
' Uhuh. Y'know, you could've just said you didn't wanna tell me.' Panicking that she was going to get caught, Fionna swallowed painfully.
' No, it's just I didn't do anything interesting. Just kickin' it, like you said. Anyway, w-what about you?' She replied, hitting herself in the chest to help sink the gluey lump that was resisting sliding down into her stomach.
' I got up to level 63 on Bomb The Breadtower. But Beemo kept giggling and messing up my game!' Beemo threw Cake a reproachful look, pasta sauce smeared all over her screen.
' That was your fault, not mine.' Beemo replied, hopping down off the stool and wandering over to the bathroom. Cake stuck her tongue out at Beemo's back then looked back at Fionna.

' So... who were you making out with, hmm?' Cake asked casually, leaning on the table top. Fionna choked in surprise and blushed, taking a drink from a glass of water to help her along.
'... What?' She replied, when she had finally finished coughing. Cake gestured to the sweater, smirking knowingly.
' Honey, don't think I don't know a cover up when I see one. Who's the lucky guy?' Fionna stared at her in disbelief, then looked down at her lap shamefully.
' He's not a lucky guy, it was just a kind of welcome back. I'm not gonna see him again. Well, uh, not like that at least.' Cake tutted at her.
' Fionna, handing out kisses like candy is a bad policy, and I'm gonna tell you why-' Cake proclaimed, tenting her claws together in a suddenly business like manner. Fionna didn't like where this conversation abruptly seemed to be headed.
' You're sixteen now, you're old enough to know and if you're sneaking away from me to go make out with men then you definitely need to know. I know you think I hate the idea of you with boys, but that's not true. I just wish my baby sister would stay my baby sister for a little longer, y'know?' Fionna's eyebrows creased together and she looked at Cake with a total lack of comprehension.
' I wasn't- Where are you going with this?' She asked nervously. Cake sighed, and hopped out of the booth. Then she turned to face Fionna and stretched one arm up into the treehouse to an unknown location.
' You're growing up darling, and as much as I wish you weren't, it's my responsibility as your kick-ass sibling to prepare you for the intimate workings of a relationship.' Fionna watched as Cake's arm retracted holding an aged and yellowing book entitled: It's Perfectly Normal. The sub heading was too small for her to make out. Cake laid the book on the table in front of her.
' Tier fifteen, baby. It's time I tell you all about it and how to do it safely. I want you to read that, right here, right now. Then come and talk to me about any questions you have, okay sweetheart?' Cake said, the first hint of anxiety showing in the way her whiskers quivered. Fionna's mouth worked silently for a few moments, before she nodded and Cake left the room, her tail flicking back and forth.

Fionna looked down at the book laying on the table in front of her, eyeing the people on it's cover apprehensively. She had been badgering Cake to explain tier fifteen to her for years, ever since she had mentioned it that one time she went to the movies with Mar- M.. The Vampire King (Why was she having such trouble thinking his name? It made no sense!). But now that Cake was actually willing to tell her about it, the timing just seemed hideously convenient. Just when she was trying to figure out how to get Fang-face to like her like that, just when she was dealing with all this complicated schizz, Cake was gonna drop in and either clear it all up or make it all a lot worse.
And the only way to find out which one it was gonna be was to read the book.

Fionna gulped nervously and reached for it, fingers trembling as she opened the cover.

'Uhm.. C-cake?' The calico cat jerked in her seat and looked over to the door. Fionna was standing silhouetted in the entrance, the bright light coming from the kitchen in contrast with the dim candles in the living room. Cake wasn't tall enough to change them without her stretchy powers, and she had been too preoccupied with her thoughts for the past half hour to be bothered anyways.
' Yes, Honey-bunch? Did you finish it?' Cake said, an odd note of sympathy to her tone. What did she have to be sympathetic for, this wasn't a sad occasion. It's not like something had died.
Well, actually something had died. Fionna's innocence.

' Yeah, I finished it.' Fionna said, coming and primly perching on the edge of the couch, the book held limply on her lap. Cake looked at her with concern. The adventuress's face was impossible to read.
' So... is there, um... Do you have anything you want to ask me, sweetie?' Cake questioned. Fionna looked at the book and her mouth twisted to the side thoughtfully.
'... Not really. I'm just... gonna go to bed now.' Cake hesitated, then nodded. It was a lot for her to take in, considering all she'd ever done up to this point was kiss a boy. It would take her a while to process everything she had just learned.
' Okay, darling. We'll talk about it some other time.' Cake said, forcing as much brightness into her voice as possible. Dear lord, this was so awkward but it had to be done, gobdammit! She wouldn't have her babygirl getting herself into things she didn't understand, especially when something like a human-? hybrid child was a potential consequence.
Fionna nodded and scurried away from the cat like a mouse, disappearing into the depths of the tree and up to her bed.

So.
So.
That actually explained quite a lot.
It explained why she got this weird shivery feeling when she thought about Marshall touching her, and how that shivery feeling could be manipulated to create the best thing ever (in that context). It explained what had been going on in Marshall's jeans after he had pinned her yesterday. And that explanation was entirely shocking.
Her body was telling her it wanted to have his babies. And apparently, his body wanted the same thing. Why him in particular though, it didn't explain.
Jeez, that had not been what she had expected from finding out what tier fifteen was. She had thought it would be something purely romantic, like kissing was but no. It was how everything made children.
Though, that really made quite a lot of sense. If something felt good to people, then obviously they'd want to do it as much as possible, regardless of the consequences. And when the consequence was the continuation of your species, it was probably pretty important that you enjoyed doing it.
The book had also pointed out that sex was an important part of a relationship, and not just about kids though. It was what made the difference between friendship and lover. The intimacy of it. Marshall had clearly overstepped that boundary yesterday in real life, and in her head last night.
Fionna bit her lip guiltily as she remembered the dream, taking off her clothing and picking up her red pajamas from the floor. As pulled them on, she noticed a tear at the bottom of the row of buttons. A tear that crudely ripped the crotch apart.
Just like in her... dream?
Oh. My. Glob.

Author's note: HELLLOOOOO THERE! Finally, an update! I've kept you guys waiting on this chapter for almost a month, and it's been done for 'bout a week and a half! I am really sorry, I hadn't realised that I hadn't posted it D: To make up for that, and because I do realise this chapter is quite short, I'll post the next one immediately and it's a pretty decent chunk of lemon, trust me on that ;D But probably not in the way you guys are hoping. This will be an epic m-rated saga, so please for the love of the lord, hold on to your butts. The ride is just getting started.
I just realised I didn't reply to guest reviewers on the last chapter, so here we are instead:
Some username: Well, I glad you think so :D
Guest: I keep it sizzling like the surface of the celestial sun, baby ;D sorry for the late updates though!
Booky: You know it.

-WRA