Sorry for the wait, guys, and sorry for not adding another chapter to Jerkwad, yet. I just really wanted to write a prologue story before I finished with Jerkwad because I wanted a better idea of how Finn and Marcy's friendship blossomed. My brother's fiancé said that I didn't really need to do this, but my brother was totally on board and helped me to write it. I promise that I will get back to working on Jerkwad really soon. Also, this still an alternate timeline. Any episode taking place after Escape from the Citadel is not canonical to this story. :)

*Update June 25 2019*: I've decided to make Bubblegum and Marceline's romance canonical with this continuity, at least in the past. After rethinking the meaning behind What Was Missing as well as Sky Witch (not to mention that it was actually made canonical by the end of the series), I decided that simply seeing it as nothing more than platonic was just not feasible (and a bit immature on my part). Honestly, I don't really ship those two, but it would add more tension between the two characters in later stories for my continuity. It would also better relate Marcy with Finn, as both had feelings for the same woman.

Attraction that is Blossoming

Finn sat atop the tree fort, looking up the starry night sky of Ooo, not the least bit happy about his place in life. He ate from a huge tub of ice cream, his belly extended from inactivity and overall bad dieting (If you listened closely, you could hear the diabetes and future heart failures begging to be noticed). Stupid Billy, he thought to himself. It's your fault I feel like this. He waited, impatiently, hoping to see his former idol appear in the stars like he did a year ago. These were the only moments where he felt anything. He looked at his arm, and despite the cute little flower that hung from the stump, it made him quite angry. "Hey Billy!" he shouted. "Why the helps didn't you tell me my dad was a complete jerk?! And why you didn't you tell me any of this before you went kaput?! I swam through an entire freaking ocean for you, Billy, and this is all I get?!" He waited longer, but still it was silent. Finn's face grew red with anger. "BILLY! ANSWER MEEEEEEE!" He threw one the many ice cream bowls into the night sky, inadvertently hitting an anthropomorphic star.

"Ow! My chromosphere!" shouted the star, and it went plummeting to the earth.

Finn gave another angry shout to the heavens, before his depression finally settled back in, and he collapsed on his back. "Whatever. He's dead, and he's not coming back." He sighed. "Maybe I was just seeing things. Maybe life was always just me seeing things." From the corner of his eye, he took notice of a pink note. He sighed, again, knowing full well who it was from, and read the note, without much vigor.

Dear Finn,
Come to the Candy Kingdom as soon as you can. There's a very important matter that we need to discuss.
Sincerely, Princess Bubblegum.

The cold, methodical writing really ticked Finn off, and so he shrieked out of anger and tore apart the letter and tossed the pieces off the edge. "You still see me as just your little errand boy, huh?! Well, forget it! I hate your stupid face and I just want you to go away, forever!" Finn never forgave Bubblegum for her total disregard of his feelings for her, and he had convinced himself that he never wanted to see her again. At least, that's what he told himself. (Bet ya he won't see her again, eh?) But, Finn started to feel a twinge of guilt in his gut. His fat, chubby, disgusting gut. (Not the type of gut the ladies would lick your face over. Wait. What?) He sighed. "I could never hate you, PB. Not even if you hated me." Then the subject of love and guilt ultimately led to a name he didn't want to say (not even in his italicized, mind-bound words). Flame…Princ… He started to tear up. "Naw, man. I can't even. Not now. Not ever again." He sighed and started to feel sleepy. After a moment of motionlessness, Finn fell straight asleep, his depression so deep that sleep was the sweetest release from the bumpassness of his life.

However, he felt something slimy crawling up his armpits. "Hehehehe! Hey, Jake!" He giggled. "Quit licking my armpits! Hehehehe… you know I…Ha ha ha…hate that!" He finally opened his eyes and saw black tentacles crawling all over his body. He squealed. He felt himself being pulled backward, and when he turned his head, he saw the freakish maw of a monster waiting to eat him up. "AAAAH! JAKE! Heeeelp!" Were he in better shape, he would've easily gotten out of the hold, but obesity had a way of making one...well...sluggish and out of breath, to put it lightly. Still, he struggled as best as he could, but he just edged closer and closer to the creature's mouth. He was losing breath. "Argh! Curse you, cellulite! You've failed me again!" when his head was finally in the mouth of the creature, he closed his eyes, awaiting his fate. However, instead of gnashing teeth and crushed bones, he simply heard the giggle of a girl, and then felt soft a kiss upon his cheek.

"Got ya," she said. "Scared ya good, didn't I?"

Finn knew that voice. "M-M-Marceline?" He then saw the familiar face of the Vampire Queen plastered upon the black mass of tentacles. "W-What are you doing here?"

She returned to her regular form. "I always come here to watch you sleep. Duh."

"Oh yeah," Finn realized, half-heartedly. He turned away from her, too tired and depressed to want to see anybody, much less Marceline, the least sentimental and mopey person he knew.

"Speaking of which," she continued. "Isn't past your bedtime, kiddo? You usually go to bed on time like a good, little boy." She patted his head.

Finn jerked his head away. "Not now, Marcy. I don't feel like any of your games, right now."

Marcy raised a brow at Finn's irritation. This was not the kid she was used to seeing. She sighed, sympathetically. "Look, Finn," she said with more sincerity. "The real reason I'm here is because Jake keeps telling me you haven't been up for any jam sessions, lately, and that you don't want to see anybody. And I haven't seen you in, like, forever. What the heck, man?" Finn didn't answer, simply pouting and turning away from her. She gave a smile, hoping to get through to him. "What's wrong, hero? Too jelly that you can't compete with the awesomeness that is the Vampire Que…" She stopped, finally taking notice of Finn's flowery nub. "Finn! What the heck happened there?"

"It's none of your business!" Finned fully turned away from her. "Just leave me alone, Marcy!"

Marcy frowned, generally hurt by his rejection. As if by instinct, she entered her typical "apathetic mentality" mode and blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Fine. Whatever. I didn't want to talk to you, anyway. I'm outta here." She simply turned away and was about to fly off.

Realizing how he acted, Finn's guilt quickly overtook him. "It was my dad!"

Marcy paused for a second before turning back. "What?"

Finn's eyes started to water. "I met my dad…my real dad…"

Marcy gave a puzzled look and came a little closer. "Wait? You…have a dad?"

"Yeah!" Finn shouted, tears running down his face. "And he was a total jerk who abandoned me in the woods as a baby! I tried to make him stay with me…and then… I just lost my arm, alright?!"

Marcy simply looked at Finn, seeing a side of him that she had never seen, before. A side of him that she never really wanted to see. Things just got real, and Marcy didn't know how to handle feelings that were real. Not really. Not with friends (Or possums, because possums are way too emotional) She rubbed the back of her head, not sure of what to say. "Man…that sucks."

Finn became even more fired up. "And my girlfriend broke up with me because of my big, stupid poo brain, Bubblegum still won't tell me how she really feels about me, and worse…" he started choking up at this. "…I lost my hero, Billy, to the Lich!" He bawled his eyes out, not even caring anymore that he looked like a big crybaby in front of the one person he felt wouldn't understand.

Marcy just stared at the kid, dumbfounded by the amount of feels that were emanating off of him. She had occasionally seen a more emotional side of him, before, but never to this extent. This kid was depressed. No. Beyond depressed. He was pure bumpass. And part of Marcy just wanted to leave and pretend she didn't hear any of that or cared about anything that he was feeling. But, in truth, she understood completely what he was going through. Bad break up? Try three hundred-eighty seven of them. Major daddy issues? She made Finn go through literal Heck because of it. Not knowing what Bonnibel really thought of you? Shucks. five-hundred years worth of relationship issues can really surprise a person. A missing arm? Well, actually…a healing factor is a pretty awesome thing to have, so… she couldn't actually relate to that one. But… the loss of a loved one? That much she understood. Marceline cried a single tear. She looked away from Finn. "Yeah, man. I get it. I know exactly how you feel."

Finn sniffled and look up at her. "You do?"

"I've been through the exact same stuff you have. A hundred times over."

"I…I…" Finn didn't know what to say. An empathetic Marcy? That was like having a boring Capybara: it just didn't make sense. "I'm-I'm sorry…I-I didn't know."

She shrugged. "You never asked." Catching herself slipping, she coughed and said, "Not like I'd tell you, anyway, kiddo. There are so many skeletons in this closet, it's a little too spooky, even for me."

Finn looked at the Vampire Queen, seeing straight through the façade of a girl who hid her feelings under a tough exterior. A façade he so often wore himself, especially when it came to like-liking girls. Maybe we're not as different as I thought. Finn gave another sigh. "Yeah. I guess that makes sense. Expressing your feelings sucks in a big way."

Marcy gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Yeah. Ain't that the truth?"

Finn sighed again. "Life sucks in an even bigger way. I hate it, man."

Marcy cringed at that. Finn saying life sucked was like enjoying hibiscus flavoring: it just didn't make sense. "Woah, Finn. I think you're being a little too hasty. I mean, yeah, I know what you're going through sucks," then, thinking about Billy, she added, "Ok. So it really, really sucks. But you're still just a kid. You shouldn't be saying life sucks when you've barely lived it."

Finn looked at her, questionably. "Then why do you get to say how much life sucks?"

She shrugged, giving a smile. "I'm really old, Finn. I have the right to say life sucks. And for me, it's been mostly true." She frowned and huffed. "But you still got a life to live. You got tons of people who like you, who look up to you, who want to be you…" She smiled. "And a ton of girls who want to make out with you."

"Blegh!" Finn exclaimed, blushing.

Marcy chuckled. "Point is, you still got something to live for, and you don't have a lot of time to fix it. Me? I've got an eternity to do whatever I want."

Finn frowned, feeling way more down. "Eternity, huh? I wish I had that. But I'm just gonna get old, and fat, and wear old man diapers." He laid back and splayed his arms out carelessly. "I don't know, Marcy. I just…don't feel I can fix anything. I'm too far gone…too far fat…too far stupid."

Marcy sighed. Man. Why do I even bother? I'm no good at this guff. She was tempted to leave once more, but seeing him pathetically scoop a glob of ice cream into his mouth with an unreasonably grimy, sugar-stained hand made her pause. She looked at his big fat gut, listened to his labored breathing and pitiful moaning. She was disgusted by the sight, but she still felt pity. Man. You're all kinds of messed up, kid…and I don't like it. This is not the Finn I know and…um…tolerate. For reasons atypical of her usual character (and ones that she didn't even fully understand, herself), she was resolved to help him. "Hey, Finn."

Finn lazily looked up from his bowl, "Que?"

"I've, uh… got a bit of a rodent infestation back in my cave. You wanna come and help me with it? Stretch your legs, and all?"

Finn looked at her, then at his bowl, then back at her, then at his bowl, and then back at her. "Naw. I'm good here."

"Too bad!" Marcy said with a smile, and she carried him off into the night sky.

"Hey! Put me down, Marceline!"

"Make me!"

"I said put me down! This is a total infraction of my rights to...um…not to be touched!"

"Tell somebody who cares, kid!"

"Put me down! Or I'll…I'll…I'll give you a stern talking to!"

"Ok! Whatever you say, hero!" In what seemed like a matter of seconds, the two made it to the mouth of Marcy's cave, and she tossed him haphazardly inside.

"Ow!" Finn shouted when landing on his side. "My love handles." He took one of his hip fats, and gave it a kiss and a hug. "I love you so much."

"Ya see, Finn," Marcy said. "I got a rodent problem, and I'm not letting you go until you help me fix it."

"Why? Can't you just use your Vampire powers to spook them out?"

"Yeah. I could do that, but I already got you here, and I don't think I can handle these kinda rats by myself."

Finned rose an eyebrow. "They're just rats, Marcy. How bad can they be?"

She shook her head. "Oh no, Finn, these guys aren't just normal rats." She pointed behind him.

Finn turned around to see an army of 10-foot-long rats, each astonishingly more horrifying than the last and each, verifiably, not normal rats at all. Finn shrieked in abject terror.

"SPOOORM! SPOOORM!" the rats roared in tandem, drowning out Finn's baby-like screams.

"Oh glob! Those rats are size-normous!"

"Exactly," Marcy said. "They keep eating my supply of Red Leicester. So…" She tossed Finn a large, whoopin' stick. "I need you to teach them a lesson."

"Uh…" was all Finn could muster before a rat leaped on him. He used all his strength to hold the stick in place, but with his one, flabby arm and almost an entire year without training, it was gonna be tricky. "Aaarrgh! Get off me, guy!"

"SPOOORM! SPOOORM!" The rat howled back at him through a mouthful of low-quality, semi-glossed hickory stick.

Marcy punched the rat away and gave Finn a disappointed look. "You're gonna need to do better than that to chase these rats away, kiddo." A rat jumped behind her, but she put it in a headlock, and then bonked it on the head, knocking it unconscious.

Finn looked on, marveling at the awesome display of Marcy going beast mode on the rats. He blushed. Wow. I didn't know Marcy could kick so much butt.

Marcy tossed a limp rat body into an oncoming swarm of other rats before turning back to Finn. "Hey!"

"Huh?" Finn said, coming out of his trance.

"Where's that boy with the moves I used to know? He was WAY less of a wimp!"

Finn frowned. "I'm not a wimp!" He pulled himself up with the stick. "I'm…" He huffed. "I'm…Huff…I'm…Huff…I'm AWESOME!" He smacked a rat in the head, and it fell to the ground.

Marcy smiled and nodded. His old, Finny vigor was coming back. She was doing something right, it seemed. Dare she say, she felt ecstatic at the sight of his energy. "Great. Three down, two hundred and twenty-seven to go."

Finn beat his chest. "Bring 'em on!" He winced from self-inflicted pain. "Ow. My udder."

Marcy charged ahead, using her momentum to knock down several rats, while Finn ran with all his chubby, asthmatic might to catch up. Finn smacked a rat in the head, then kicked another in its ratty gut, and as he kept on fighting through the swarm, each strike seemed more deliberate and energetic than the last. Marcy grabbed a rat by its tail and used it as a flail to smack down several more rats, before throwing it to Finn, whose "incoming rodent" reflexes had long since suffocated under seventeen cases of non-dairy whipped topping.

"Oof!" Finn shouted. He pushed the unconscious rat off of him, panting from the effort. "Marcy!"

Marceline shrugged. "You need to work on your reflexes, bro." A rat came from behind her, but she tossed it over her shoulder to Finn. "Think fast."

Finn jumped to the side, and he gave a breathy laugh. "Hahaha! Still got it!" However, before he could celebrate, more rats piled on him (were they able to say anything besides horrifying, nonsensical rat noises, they likely would have told Finn that he did not, in fact, still have it).

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Rookie move, chubs," Marcy said. She shot a blast of telekinesis at the rats, sending them flying to the wall. She picked up Finn and brushed him off, making him blush. "Don't celebrate before gumble hits the fan, ok?"

Finn nodded. He was having more fun with this than he thought he would. "Right. Thanks, Marcy." As they spoke, however, the rats swarmed on Marcy in one big, disturbingly fluid mass. "MARCY!"

"Finn!" Marcy shouted, half-heartedly. "I…can't fight them...off…ow! Hey! Watch the hair! You need…to…save me…and junk!"

"B-But…" Finn mumbled, fearfully. "I can't fight them all off."

"Finn…they're tearing me apart…so hurry up… and save me….you big WEENIE!" Marcy disappeared under the mass of rats.

"Marcy! No! I'm…" Finn hesitated. He was scared, He was tired, he was fat and he was panting harder than the Writer on running day. But then, as he sat there, helplessly watching as the rats tore away at Marcy, something unrelated to cholesterol got his heart beating; the heart of a hero. The one he thought he lost from all the angst and chocolate ice cream. "I'm….I'm…I'M NOT A BIG WEENIE!" Finn jumped into the pile, smacking the rats with all his might. Biff! Wham! Pow! He made each rat squeak in pain. He punched faces, bit tails, tickled armpits, and made each rat regret making him angry. Finn finally reached the final rat, the one on top of Marcy, and with his single hand, he held it by the scruff and looked deeply into its demonic eyes. "What's my name?!" He said, evilly.

"Um…" It said, fearfully. "Sporm?"

"Yer darn tootin'!" Finn head-butted it, breaking its bucked teeth and knocking it unconscious. As his blood rage died down, he focused again on finding Marceline. "Marcy!" He turned to see her, but the time he turned his head, he saw Marcy get up with torn clothes and a few scratches, but otherwise alright. He was very relieved and ran to her. "Marcy!"

"Not bad, hero," she said as she dusted herself off. "That was a good, solid 6.0."

Finn stopped himself when he noticed Marcy's midriff and bra were exposed. However, instead of instinctively holding his head down, Finn just stared at her for a moment, admiring her form. "Wow…"

"What was that, Finn?" Marcy asked.

Finn shook his head, and looked away, blushing. "Uh…n-nothing! I'm…uh…glad you're ok, Marcy."

Marcy lifted an eyebrow at that. "Uh…thanks." After another dust off, she floated closer to him. semi-excitedly. "Now, ya feel any better?"

Finn had to think about that for a moment. There was still that cloud of depression hanging over his head, and he still wasn't sure he was ready to talk to Jake, Bubblegum, and definitely not certain other thermodynamically-inclined princesses. But, at the very least he did feel a jolt…one he had not experienced in a good long while. He pinched his thumb and index finger together. "Eh…a little bit."

Marcy gave a sigh, disappointed that he wasn't nearly as happy as she wanted him to be. She put her hands on his shoulders, Finn blushing from the contact and her war-torn clothes. "Alright. Listen, kiddo. I can't stand seeing you like this. This sad, mopey…un-you you. And, I'll be honest, I really suck at trying to motivate people. Half the time, it takes all my effort not to call you or Jake weenies or an idiots. So, can you do me a favor?"

Finn felt a bit a warmth he had not experienced before with Marcy. He always liked her as a friend, as a fellow jam sessionee, and even pitied her for all the guff she went through. But now, he felt like they were actually become "friend-friends." He smiled. "Sure, Marcy. What is it?"

"Go talk to Jake and Bonnie," Marcy said with sincerity. "Sure, Jake might not be 'all there,' sometimes, and Bonnie can be a total…well…brain lord, to put it lightly…but those two actually care about you. Everyone in Ooo cares about you. I…" She stopped herself, trying not to say the thing that she knew in her heart. "Yeah." She coughed. "So, will you do that?"

Finn had spent so much time feeling sorry for himself that he hadn't really considered how he was making his friends feel. Even Marcy, the most selfish and closed-off person he knew, wanted him back the way he was. And if Marcy could show so much compassion, then Jake and Bubblegum certainly would, too. He smiled and teared up with joy. "Yeah, Marcy. I'll go talk to them."

Marcy gave a relieved smile. Her job was complete. The real Finn was back. "Good." She bent down to kiss him on the cheek. Finn's eyes widened as his heart fluttered and his mind became dazed. He felt a wave of euphoria wash over him, time seeming to slow down as he looked at Marcy's drop dead gorgeous face. "Now, get out."

"Wha…" Finn said, half-listening. But, before he could react, Marcy punted him out of her cave, cackling.

"Begone, mortal scum!" she hissed.

Finn simply nodded, not sure what exactly what he was feeling, but it felt so right. "Y-y-yeah…thanks, Marcy." He ran off, rubbing his recently-punted buttocks.

Marcy laughed until the boy was out of sight. "Had a feeling that would work. Just wish there wasn't so much of 'the feels.' That's stuff's totally gross…" Then her face softened. "And kinda infectious." She stuck out her tongue out at the sound of those words. "Yuck! What's wrong with me, tonight?" She turned her head when she heard the moans of the many battered and bruised rats. "Nice work, boys. Couldn't have done it better, myself."

"Sporm," a rat said, agitatedly, its teeth broken and falling to the floor like glass. It reached out a paw in anticipation. "Sporm, sporm."

"Yeah, yeah," Marceline said. "As promised…" She used her telekinesis to bring forth a giant block of cheese from behind a rock and dropped it right in front of them. "…one ton of Baby Swiss for a job well done."

"SPOOORM! SPOOORM!" The rats cheered in tandem.