Author's Note: Nearly two hundred readers! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reads/likes/reviews this story! Also, a shout out to my Betareaders, thanks for helping me make this story as good as possible!
Also, if you get email updates, the new update will probably tell you that it is just a Q&A update, but since I consistently move the Q&A to the end chapter, this is not the case. I am actually adding a new chapter, but since I am replacing the old Q&A, this is just how the system works. That being said, on to the story!
Finn walked along, his feet crunching the snow beneath his boots. He held a small picture of Flame Princess in one hand, in the other, the wad of Princess Bubblegum's hair. He didn't know what to do. He looked at the picture in his hand. He really liked Flame Princess, she was cute and fun and exciting and willing to go on adventures with him, but… she was a fire elemental. They couldn't ever kiss. He didn't know what the glob Jake meant by tier 15 or whatever, but he knew that he and FP were going nowhere fast.
It wasn't like it was going any slower than he and PB ever had. The clump of hair in his hand seemed to twitch in sympathy. Or had he and PB gone at all? He had told Jake that they had never gone steady, but does that mean they had never gone at all, or did it just mean that she wasn't his girlfriend? As much as Finn didn't want to admit it, there was still that place in his heart for Bubblegum.
Every time he thought he had eliminated that little bit of him, it just reared back up and into his life. It would just be a little thing, something that reminded him of her, and suddenly all the feelings would come crashing back. It was becoming harder and harder to fight back. It was also becoming nearly impossible not to hate her.
It pained him to acknowledge it, but there was a small, but growing, part of him that hated Princess Bubblegum. The hatred grew from his pain, his confusion, and he knew, but he didn't know what to do with the hurt. She had scorned him, turned him down! Him, Finn the Hero! How many times had he saved the Princess? How many times had he stopped the Ice King, or the Lich, or saved the whole Kingdom? How was it fair that she still would not love him? What did he need to do?
His feet crunched through the snow, bringing him closer and closer to the spring. His body knew where it was going, while his mind was off somewhere else.
The part that hated her raged inside, and screamed its questions, while the part that loved her gave no answer. The loving part could not say why she didn't love him, or why she did not have him around as much anymore. Maybe it was because PB knew it hurt him to be around her. Maybe she didn't know how she felt. Even so, those answers failed to penetrate and change the growing anger. The answers seemed hollow and fake, just something to fill the void.
Even scarier was the fact that this was starting to affect his relationship with FP. He found himself being annoyed at her for not being like PB, for not acting the same way. It scared him, because he didn't want to lose her too. But even that was changing. At first, the future with FP seemed so bright, like her, but the more he got to know her, the more it looked like nothing could ever be there. They were different in so many ways, and that made the fight to stay with her even harder.
Luckily, she hadn't noticed yet, and Finn hadn't yet decided what to do. All he had decided to do was go to spring, and think. He noticed with a start that he had arrived, and was simply standing there, staring into the frozen water.
"What am I gonna do?" he asked aloud, questioning the air. He put his demon sword on the ground next to him. The snowflakes that landed on it instantly hissed to steam. It twisted around in the air, moving as confusingly as Finn's own thoughts. "What am I gonna do?" he repeated.
"Come to my house tonight silly," said Marceline, suddenly appearing from behind a rock.
It took quite a bit to scare a hero. It however, did not take a lot to startle one. Finn leapt into the air, his arms flapping around. He heard a loud laugh coming from Marceline, and whirled on her, his eyes wild. "Marceline! Why the math did you do that?"
"To scare you of course," she laughed as she landed, lying down across a cold rock.
Even Finn could admit that the situation was funny, and started to laugh. It was good to laugh, and the tight little bundle of funny feelings started to vanish inside him. "What's going on tonight at your house?"
"Movie night. You've got to get Flame Princess there," she gave Finn a crooked smile, "at least if you want her there…"
Finn blushed, thinking about what he had been considering right before Marceline showed up. "Of course I do!" He whirled around so maybe she wouldn't see his red face.
He felt a hand on his cheek, and then heard more laughter. "You dweebs don't even know what love is, and you start blushing as soon as I mention your girlfriend." She leaned in close, close enough for Finn to feel her breath on his neck. "Maybe I should see if I could suck some of that red out of your cheeks…"
Finn turned around, his eyes going wide. Marceline's face was floating just inches from his, and suddenly he noticed that the noodles were back. "Wh-wh-what," Finn stuttered, feeling odd. He took a few quick steps back.
She laughed again, and then paused, looking thoughtful. "Maybe I should try to get some of Flame Princess's red…" She rolled over onto her back, kicking her feet in the air at Finn's face. "You're too easy!"
"I've just been feeling all mix-mushed up on the inside like mud," he said indignantly. "I'm not sure I could come tonight-"
"Too bad! I've already invited Bonnie and Jake and Lady, and I said you were gonna be there…" She started to transform into a massive wolf. "So you'll be there or I'll eat you!" She lunged at him, her jaws snapping in the air.
Finn dodged to the right, behind a big rock. She crashed into it, and Finn threw himself over it and onto her back. He grabbed her fur as she started bucking and snarling at him. The entire situation was too silly for Finn, and he started laughing while he slid off Marceline to the ground. It was good to laugh, and the dumb junk inside went away again.
"There you go, you dork! What if I ate you?"
"Then I couldn't be at the movie tonight, and everyone would know that you ate me."
The vampire looked at him, her eyebrow cocked. "And how would they know that?"
Finn grabbed the demon sword and hefted it. "I'd wait until I heard the movie start… and then… ALGEBRAIC! I'd cut out of your stomach and ruin the whole night!"
She floated higher into the air, plaintively waving her hands in front of her. "Oh no! Not that!"
"Dude; that'd be so math if that happened." He sat down and took his hat off to scratch his short hair.
"Yeah that would be except- DUDE! When did you cut your hair all short!" The next thing that Finn knew Marceline was running her hands through his hair. "This is great, it feels like a peach."
Finn closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the feeling of her hands rubbing his hair. She stopped after a second and he looked up at her. "Uh. Thanks." He blushed, but noticed that she had turned slightly red too.
"Yeah… I'll- uh- see you tonight at my place. Uh, don't forget to bring some snacks or something." She turned and flew off, vanishing off into the snow after only a short time. As he bent over to pick up the clump of hair that he had dropped when Marceline scared him, he noticed something; the noodles were back.
The walk back to the treehouse took longer than him getting to the spring. He twisted one way and then the next, wandering through the forest trying to figure out what was going through his head. All he knew was that he was that he was confused, and that was something Finn never was.
He had always known what was right and what was wrong, but now, there didn't seem to be a correct answer. When he had gone to get the Enchiridion, he had known that he couldn't just kill the ant just because. That was wrong, and Finn was good. Now? He didn't know what to do.
Things had always been so plain, but there didn't seem to be a right answer. He liked Flame Princess, but he wasn't sure how seriously. He liked Peebs, but she had made it clear that she wasn't interested in him. Why did he have these feelings then? Nothing seemed to be working out like it should. A sudden scream from the woods cut through Finn's thoughts, and he ran towards the screaming, lifting his sword.
Four kids were caught up in a tangle of vines as a plant monster attacked them. The thorns were starting to cut into them, and he charged screaming. His sword hacked through the largest vine, freeing two of the kids, who scrambled away. Four vines launched themselves at Finn, who barely managed to deflect them.
They came around for another try, and one nearly grabbed his ankle. "No way dude, not gonna happen!" The sword dragged along the ground, throwing snow and green sap into the air as he severed more vines.
The ground shook with the roar of the vine monster, and it dropped the other two. It turned to face Finn, and a mass of limbs sprang at his face. He twisted to the right, his sword flashing out and slashing more flailing branches. Two managed to grab his arm, and he felt the thorns tear his skin. He switched his grip and cut those too.
Now, the monster seemed to realize Finn was a bigger threat than it had thought, and tried to shamble away back into the woods. He reared back and launched the red sword at the creature. It impaled it through the center of the body, and the plant-thing fell to the ground dead.
"That was awesome!" One of the four guys Finn had saved walked forward, limping slightly. This one was a girl, she looked a few years younger than him. "I mean, that was totes rad!"
"Uh, no problem little dude. I was just doing what I do." He walked over to the mass and pulled out his sword.
The other three moved up to stand behind the girl and were nodding with her words. "No really! That was great! We were attack by some sort of werewolf earlier, if only you had been there!" She paused, then said more quietly, "It turned into a blue girl after it stepped on one of my dice, but she was still scary."
It seemed to Finn that Marceline had been out causing trouble earlier in the day. "No, don't worry about her, she was just trying to scare you guys." He noticed that they looked travel worn and tired. "Where are you staying?"
They looked at each other, and the girl spoke again. "Nowhere, we've been wandering."
A smile broke out across Finn's face. "Why don't you guys come stay at my place? Its huge and you can sleep downstairs." The group started talking excitedly, and quickly agreed.
"Yeah, you guys can sleep down here." Finn pointed at a mass of blankets and other cloth. "You can make your beds with that." Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement as BMO climbed down the ladder.
"Oh! We have guests!" BMO's face flashed a smiley. "I will cook everyone a big meal!" He clapped his hands excitedly.
Finn walked to closer to BMO and lowered his voice. "Before that, can you send a message to FP?"
"Oh sure! What do you want to say to her?"
"Invite her to Marceline's house for a movie night. And tell her to bring some snacks or something."
BMO clapped excitedly again. "Ooh! Your first double date. This is serious Finn, this is Tier 4. You must make sure that everything goes well." His face grew serious. "I will make a special snack for Tier 4. It will be good." He turned around and marched back up the stairs, mumbling to himself.
"Don't forget the message!" Finn said, shouting up the ladder at BMO. He turned back to the others who were settling down under blankets. "I've gotta be somewhere tonight, so BMO, that's the robot, will cook for you tonight. Don't cause trouble, alright dudes?"
They nodded together, and promised to be good. Finn climbed up the ladder to his room. He needed a shower.
Flame Princess stood in front of the cave to Marceline's house. For a moment, Finn hesitated to let her know that he was there, instead he just watched her. Looking at her now, he couldn't understand why he was considering leaving her. Her hair waved in the night air, and she was holding a box of cookies. Her dress looked great, and her face was glowing beautifully in the dark.
"FP!" He called out to her as he walked up, waving at her.
She ran over to him and gave him a quick hug, trying not to burn him or squish her cookies. "I'm so excited! I've never been inside Marceline's house." She smiled, and Finn noticed that he felt warm on the inside as he took the cookies from her.
"Well, let's go see what is happening on the inside." They walked into the cave and knocked at her door. Marceline answer and waved them inside.
"I've got a seat for Flame Princess made," she said, pointing at a large chair covered in foil.
FP squeaked and sat down on it, grinning contentedly. "This is great! Thanks Marceline!"
Finn walked through the living room, FP and Marceline were talking about some girly thing, and into the kitchen. Marcy's little white dog looked at him, then hurried out the doggie-door and out of the house. Shrugging, he set the cookies and BMO's snacks on the table.
Another knock came at the door.