"I've got somethin' to say to you." Finn said sternly, trying to seem less out of breath than he actually was. In retrospect, perhaps running the whole way there was a bad idea.
"… What?" Princess Bubblegum asked, genuinely confused. She sat up straighter as she adjusted to the new presences in the room, and her eyes followed the giggling Ice King closely. Quietly, she hissed, "Finn, seriously, why did you bring Ice King here? This is a very sensitive situation, he really shouldn't be-"
"Don't try to change the subject, PB!" Finn shot back, cutting her off. "Me and IK had a nice little talk, and he made me think about some stuff. Like the way you treat me, and other people, too. " Princess Bubblegum rolled her eyes, not nearly as impressed with that little stab as he was. She took a breath to fire back a reply, but before any words left her lips she noticed Ice King examining an ornate glass beaker that had been resting on one of the dusty worktables. "Ice King, don't touch that, please!"
Marceline followed her gaze, wincing and moving over to him quickly. "Sorry, Simon. This thing's expensive. Probs shouldn't be messing with it." She said, laughing nervously as she snatched it out of his grip. Ice King pouted, grumbling under his breath as he moved off to another part of the large room.
"Marceline, could you try to keep him away from my stuff? And the egg-" "Hey! I'm trying to talk to you!" Finn interrupted, voice cracking a bit. He was trying his best to sound tougher than he felt in that moment, but he got the feeling that intimidated was not what Bubblegum was feeling. In fact, judging by that ever-patient expression she'd dawned, he would have said what she was feeling was closer to pity than anything else. "Okay, okay. What do you want to say, Finn?" She said, folding her hands in her lap.
Finn sucked in a deep breath, before allowing a waterfall of words tumble out of his mouth.
"Okay… First of all, why do you have to act like that all the time? Constantly, you're just so… condescending! I get that you're, like, a bajillion years old, but you don't have to treat me like I'm an actual baby, you know? A-and, it's not just me that you treat like that! You do it to everyone, even the candy people." He said, pausing in his pacing to gesture toward the kingdom above them. "Especially them. You made them, and you treat them like… well, either like babies, or like toys. Things that you can use and then… let go. And sometimes, it feels like you do that to me, too." He went on, tone softening just a bit. "You let me protect the kingdom, kick monster butt, save the day and all that stuff, and then as soon you don't need me anymore, you go back to acting like I'm just some dumb kid."
Bubblegum butt in, her expression now almost… hurt. "Finn, come on. You know that's not true."
He looked up at her sharply, "But it is true! Y-you know, you always get onto me about being immature, but then you won't even admit that you might be wrong! I mean, I get that I can be a real knuckle-head sometimes, but… at least I can fess up to it." He said with a soft laugh, shaking his head and watching Marceline try to herd Ice King into a corner. "… You know something? I think one of the reasons why you wouldn't straight-up tell me that you didn't want to date me was because you were afraid I wouldn't protect the kingdom anymore if you did."
She shook her head quickly, "Dude! That isn't it at all! I mean, maybe the thought crossed my mind while I was crunching the numbers, but... I know that you wouldn't do that. That's not who you are, Finn."
He gave her a tight-lipped smile and shrugged. "Well, you got me there. At least you still have a little faith in me." Finn paused, recollecting himself. Finally, he looked back up, "Hey, speaking of that mess… Why didn't you ever just come out and tell me what was up with Flame Princess? You kinda danced around the issue, when you could have just said, 'Hey, Finn, if you kiss her, she'll explode the Earth'. Were you… actually jealous of us?"
"I-I tried to tell you that!" She said quickly, looking over at Marceline for a second. "Of course not! I tried to tell you, but I couldn't find the right moment to… explain it properly." She trailed off, focusing her attention on her laced fingers. Finn just watched her, trying to see how the wheels in her head were turning.
Before either of them could say anything, though, Marceline finally got Ice King to sit down in the corner of the room with Gunter in his lap. She glided over, placing herself between him and the kneeling Princess. "Hey, Finn, why don't you back off?" She said cooly.
"Marceline, it's okay." Bubblegum said softly. Marcy looked down at her, shaking her head slightly. "No, it's not. You can't just let him talk to you like that!"
"Dude, it's not your job to talk for her." Finn said, folding his arms over his chest, "If either of you have a problem the stuff I'm saying, just say so! I'd love to hear it. "
Marceline laughed sharply, almost looming over him as she moved closer. "You'd love to hear what I've got to say, huh? That's perfect, because I'm about done listening to you whine! I mean, seriously, if you've got such a big crush on Bubblegum, why are you being such a doorknob to her?"
Finn went red in the face as he glaring up at her angrily. "If you were listening to me, you'd know why I'm mad!" He spat, standing up on his tip-toes in a futile attempt to match her height.
She laughed again, rolling her eyes. "Sorry, dude. I didn't realize that your stupid squealing was meant to be taken seriously."
"... You're really gonna sink that low, man? You're just gonna pretend that you didn't compare me to Ash earlier? You're such a hypocrite! You're holding a grudge against me for still being a little weird about Ice King, while you're holding a grudge against me for stuff I've apologized for!"
Bubblegum reached out from her seat on the floor, gently grabbing Marceline's arm. "You said he was acting like Ash? Marceline, that's just… uncalled for. I know you're upset about all this, but that's too much."
She tugged her arm out of the Princess's grip, looking between both of them as she said, "Okay, okay! It was a dumb thing to say! Whatever! I have my reasons for being mad, and you know I'm right about that stuff!"
"Of course I know you feel strongly about everything that's been going on. That doesn't mean that it's okay to say stuff like that! Even if you don't really mean it, it could still really, really hurt someone." She said gently, catching Marceline's gaze and squeezing her hand. This time, Marcy didn't push her away.
Finn looked between them for a moment, then said, "… PB? Isn't saying and doing crazy, impulsive things, like… her entire personality? The first time I met Marceline, she tricked me and Jake into jumping off of a cliff because we thought she turned us into vampires that could fly. And, uh, a bunch more stuff that could have ended really badly."
Marceline shot him a look, "So what? You guys are fine, and I was just having some fun. And anyway, no one's been permanently hurt or anything. Unlike the stunt YOU pulled." She hissed, "Flame Princess has been way different since then, I've heard. You can't say you didn't mess her up a little."
"Hey, I get that! I made a mistake, and I've been doing my best to fix it. And Flame Princess isn't messed up. She's just… doin' her own thing right now. Ice King has his kingdom again, and FP is healing. Everyone's okay!"
"That's a pretty bold statement, Finn." Marcy said lowly, "What about everyone else? A lot of people have their homes destroyed because of the melted ice from the Ice Kingdom. And, and! What about us? You've been standing there, bad-mouthing me and Bonnie for, like, an hour." She paused to take a breath, quickly adding, "And, dude, talking about Simon like he isn't even here is MAD disrespectful."
Finn groaned, rubbing his face. He turned to look at the work-table that Ice King was watching Gunter scuttle around on, calling out loudly, "Hey, Simon! Dude, do you feel like I've been disrespecting you, bro?"
Simon looked up, took a moment to process his words, then laughed."Phft, nah, bro. You're just tellin' it like it is!" He called back, waving his hand dismissively. Then, he grabbed a big glass… thing, from the table in front of him. "Hey, while I've got your attention, can I look at this thingy, Princess?"
Bubblegum didn't even seem to register that she was being spoken to as she said, "Finn, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but Ice King might not be the most… sound-minded individual. He really can't made choices for himself, or pick up on subtle emotional-" Bubblegum paused, looking over at Ice King. She gasped, "Hey, put down that Kipp generator!"
"What, this? But you said I could-" "NONONO, that's a hand-blown and very delicate instrument!" She interrupted, rushing over to him and struggling to get the item out of his grip without breaking it.
"She's right, Finn." Marceline sighed, turning her attention to Finn again. "As much as I care about him, Simon isn't able to pick up on social junk anymore. He's… old. He can't tell when someone's being mean to him, or when he's doing stuff he shouldn't."
"You guys really should give him more credit." Finn said, "When he wants to be, he really does seem to know what's up."
Marceline scowled at him, "What, you think I don't want him to be better?! If anyone would have faith in him, it'd be ME. Don't tell me how to treat Simon."
"I'm not, jeez! Calm down!" He said sharply, "I'm just saying, maybe he isn't-"
"You want me to calm down?! Ohoho, you're just FULL of it today!" She laughed harshly, floating closer and forcing him to step back. "I know you're used to being a 'hero' that everyone looks up to, but I'm not gonna take your crap! You're so… full of yourself!" She said, finger jabbing into his chest.
Finn shoved her away, "Marceline, you know that isn't true. You're just trying to make me mad at you!"
Marceline shoved him in return, making him stumble back into something. Princess Bubblegum shouted loudly, "Woah, woah! Look at the egg, it's- ICE KING, LET IT GO!"
Finn glanced behind him, and sure enough, he'd bumped the stand the egg was sitting on. He whipped back around, "Yeah, Marceline! Watch it! You almost made me knock over the egg!"
"Oh, because you care about it SOOO much! I bet that you're only saying that because she cares about it! You're still hoping this will make her like y-" Marceline began, but was stopped by Princess Bubblegum stomping up between her and Finn, shoving them apart.
"BOTH of you need to calm down!" She shouted, panting slightly from her previous struggle with Simon. "The egg is starting to hatch, and it might not come out right if you're both being so hostile and loud around it! I don't know a lot about dragon psychology, but that'd mess anybody up!"
The boy and the vampire looked at each other, then sighed in resignation. Marceline rubbed her arm, "Okay, you've got a point. I mean, Finn's still being a real dipstick right now, but… I don't wanna mess the little guy up."
"Yeah, me either." He agreed, giving a little laugh as he added, "Or little lady."
Princess Bubblegum cleared her throat. "… It's more than likely going to be female. The level of heat I've been keeping it at should promote its chromosomes to-"
"Woah, too much information, nerd." Marceline said, rolling her eyes.
"I thought it was kinda interesting. I mean, I wanna know as much about this thing as I can. I'm, like… its dad. Sort of." He said, reaching behind him to pat the egg's shell. "I know for sure that it's orange and cool-looking, but that's not a lot to go off-"
To his surprise, Finn felt only air behind him. He turned, and found himself staring at empty space. The egg was just… gone.
"… Guys? Did… it already hatch?" He asked, looking around blankly.
"Huh? Did what h-…" Princess Bubblegum began, before she turned around and noticed the distinct lack of orange in the room. She gasped sharply, turning her attention to the open door. "ICE KING! He must have taken the egg!"
"No way! He wouldn't have- Why would he take that thing?!" Marceline asked, her tone more frustrated than accusing. She quickly glided around the room, peering under every work-table and sheet.
"Look, maybe he just thought it looked cool. I don't know!" Princess Bubblegum groaned, moving to the vampire and grabbing her wrist pulling her toward the door. "There isn't time to think about that, because if that egg gets too cold, it might not hatch at all! We've gotta go, now!"
Finn wasted no time in rushing to the door, only pausing to call behind him, "No time to lose! Let's go!"
Bubblegum and Marceline didn't need to be told twice, as they gave each other a little nod and headed off after him. Within moments, they'd matched his stride; Princess Bubblegum a pink blur to his right and Marceline a dark streak to his left.
Finn couldn't help but grin excitedly as they turned a sharp corner. He could feel their hearts pounding as one, as they worked together for a common goal. … Well, for the moment, at least.
Author Note: This is a chapter I had in my head for a awhile, Finn calling out Princess Bubblegum actions not only in this story because thought out the series and for Finn to get closure on his feeling for her, I don,t consider Princess Bubblegum or Marceline bad people, they just both mad mistakes and those mistakes need to be acknowledge, but Finn also made a big mistake and they have every right to be mad at him. I hope you enjoy this chapter and the next chapter the last one that would wrap up this story.