Marceline whistled casually to herself as she walked down the sidewalk. She held her old guitar case loosely. Honestly, she couldn't be in a better mood. Her first concert as a solo act was tomorrow night, and she just had a sound check at the café where it was held. And she sounded awesome. Sure, café gigs weren't nearly as impressive as the concert halls she aspired to play, but so what? Everyone had to start somewhere. And this was her start.
She was looking at all of the shops she passed as she walked. Ooo was a pretty nice town, it was large and diverse, and it had almost anything you could want in a town.
Suddenly, she stopped walking as she came across a certain diner, almost making a passerby walk right into her. She stared at the waitress through the large window she was standing in front of and grinned mischievously to herself. She had an idea.
She walked into the diner and sat herself down at the first booth she saw. She placed her guitar case next to her and looked around. The joint wasn't very busy, thank God. There were only three other customers there at the moment. It was kind of surprising; you'd think a little family owned place like this would get all kinds of customers during the summer.
She looked down at herself, the t-shirt she had on of a band she didn't even listen to anymore and a pair of jeans she's had since high school. Bonnie would cringe if she saw how she was dressed right now. She only ever seemed to leave the house in dresses and bows, whereas Marceline just threw on whatever clean, or mostly clean, clothes she had within arm's length. Honestly, she and her girlfriend were polar opposites, but that's what made their relationship so much fun.
"Hello, miss. Welcome to… Oh, Marceline, it's you," came a voice next to her, startling her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see a certain waitress standing next to her.
"Hey, Phoebe," she greeted as a menu was slid in front of her. She looked the girl over. She was rather cute, even in the stupid uniform she had to wear. Her dark skin and dark wavy hair made her blue eyes look striking, and her chubby figure was easy on the eyes. She had a bit of an anger issue, but it wasn't hard to see why Finn had fallen for her.
"I haven't seen you around lately. How have you been?" Phoebe asked.
"I've been great, actually," Marceline replied. "But enough formalities, there's something I want to talk to you about. Do you have a minute?"
Phoebe raised an eyebrow, and then paused to look around the rest of the diner. After a moment she replied, "Well, I guess. It doesn't look like anyone else needs me right now," Then she seated herself across from Marceline in the booth.
"I'll cut to the chase. I've got a gig tomorrow night at The Comet, you know, the café on 6th street? I want you to come," Marceline grinned.
"You want me to come?" Phoebe asked, her eyes narrowing. "Why?"
"You're a pretty cool chick, and I know you'll like what I'm playing," Marceline replied, trying to sound completely innocent.
Phoebe wasn't buying it. "Is Finn going to be there?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Of course he is," Marceline replied, rolling her eyes at how fast she caught on. When Phoebe moved to get out of the booth, she quickly added, "He doesn't have a date for my show, either. And I know he'd love to hang out with you at the show, as friends. Jesus, you're practically all he talks about. Like… He'd really like to see you there, okay? He misses you and shit,"
Phoebe paused. Then she turned back to Marceline. "He told you he misses me?" she asked, trying hard to keep her face blank.
"Yes, repeatedly," she grinned. This was all going perfectly.
Phoebe blushed and turned to glare at the wall. She rubbed her dark arm nervously. She was quiet for a few moments before finally saying, "Okay, fine. I'll go to your show,"
"And?" Marceline was practically beaming with how well her plan had worked.
"And I'll hang out with Finn," Phoebe added, mumbling.
"Perfect. The concert starts at eight. Don't be late,"
"I already told you, I don't need a date!"
"It's a concert, Finn! Of course you do," Marceline stated, rolling her eyes.
"Well, I don't want one. And why do I need a date? I'm sure I'll enjoy your concert just as much without one," Finn sighed, scratching the back of his head. He really didn't understand what the big deal was. So what if he didn't have a date? It was just a concert…
"Have you ever gone to a concert by yourself before? It makes the whole thing boring and lonely. I know from experience," Marceline groaned.
"I'm not going to be by myself! Jake and Bonnie are going too!" Finn exclaimed, starting to get fed up with this whole conversation.
"But Jake is going with Lady, remember? They're going to be busy with each other. And Bonnie is going to be fussing over me back stage," she grinned at that last part. She enjoyed how big of a perfectionist her girlfriend was, it made it that much easier to mess with her.
"There is no 'back stage'. The concert is in one of those hipster cafés that has a make shift stage…" Finn mumbled. He frowned and stared out of his open bedroom window, the one Marceline oh so gracefully broke in from while Finn was on his laptop. That girl never bothered to use the front door like a normal person.
If Marceline heard his little stage comment, she ignored it. "Why don't you take one of those girls you were hooking up with a few months ago? Some of them were pretty cute. You could even take a boy. I don't really care about the details," she replied, already knowing he'd refuse.
"I don't hook up anymore, Marcy. You know that," he glared stubbornly out the window. He tried to ignore the blush that crept up his cheeks at the memory of his… 'Hooking up' days. That wasn't exactly his proudest moment.
"Then just take Phoebe," she said, crossing her arms under her chest. A mischievous smirk was on her face.
His head swiveled to glare at her. He could feel himself tense up at her name. God, Marceline really knew how to push his buttons.
"You know she wouldn't agree to go with me. You know that. Don't be a jerk," he said.
"Oh, I'm not so sure. You see, I've been talking to a certain little ex of yours," Marceline turned so she could avoid the heated glare that he was giving her. "She looks awfully cute in her little waitress uniform, you know,"
"What did you say to her, Marceline!?" Finn demanded as he jumped off of his bed.
She turned to look at him, and damn, he looked livid. Her smirk widened. "Chill out, weenie. I didn't say anything mean to her or anything embarrassing about you," she said, waving off his anger. "I just stopped by the diner while she was working and we had a little chat during her break. I invited her to my concert, of course. And she agreed to go,"
"So what makes you think she'll hang with me during it?" he asked, staring at her distrustfully.
"Well, she asked if you were going to be there before she said yes. And I said you were. I also mentioned that you weren't going to have a date, and that you'd love to hang out with her during the show, but just as friends,"
"Marceline!" Finn all but screeched. He was mortified. Why did she have to say that to Phoebe?!
"Oh, c'mon! I did you a favor! She's still into you; I know that for a fact!" Marceline exclaimed, huffing and putting her hands on her hips. How ungrateful could this boy get?
"How could you possibly know that?!" Finn hissed, his fist clenched.
"Because she made that face Bonnie always used to make when I would flirt with her! The one where she blushes and gets all pouty? And she agreed to go after that! She's definitely still into you," Marceline said.
Finn visibly deflated a bit after that. Phoebe didn't like him like that anymore and he knew it. She just wanted to be friends and she made it very clear. And it didn't even feel like that anymore. With the way they've been avoiding each other recently, he was pretty sure she didn't want anything to do with him at all.
But… If what Marceline said was true, then maybe she didn't hate him as much as he thought… Maybe they could even be friends!
"Okay, Marcy. I'll go to your concert," Finn sighed, walking back over to his bed.
"And?" she demanded, making her way over to the open window.
"And I'll hang out with Phoebe while I'm there," he deadpanned, flopping back onto his bed and heaving his laptop onto his lap with his good arm.
"Good boy," she called as she jumped out of his window.
Phoebe sighed nervously as she walked into The Comet. She was about fifteen minutes early, since she wasn't sure how packed the café would get. Besides, concerts never start on time, and she'd never hear the end of it if she missed even a minute of Marceline's playing.
She looked around. The Comet didn't look like any café she's ever been to. But it definitely looked like it was Marceline's style. It had a counter for ordering drinks and food, and a door behind it that she assumed led to the kitchen. Tables and chairs were scattered about the floor, but tonight all of the chairs were turned towards the small stage that was set against the leftmost wall of the place. The walls were plastered with posters from previous live acts the café had hosted, and there were even some of Marceline on them now.
She walked up to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate for herself. After getting her drink and paying, she looked around the slowly growing crowd for a certain blonde she agreed to sit with.
She found him fairly quickly, since he was sitting up front. He had his head in his hand, staring bored at the stage. He was wearing the same old white beanie he always wore. His brother was sitting next to him, chatting away with his girlfriend Lady. Finn's other side seemed to be vacant, though.
She walked up to the table hesitantly, stopping in front of the empty seat next to Finn. "Is this seat taken?" she asked after a moment.
Finn looked up at her, seemingly startled. But his face quickly brightened into a nervous smile. "No, not at all! I was saving it for you,"
"Really?" she asked, pulling the chair out for herself and sitting down. She set her hot chocolate on the table. "Did Marceline tell you I was coming?"
"Yeah, something like that," he replied. He leaned back into his chair, trying to look comfortable. "So, uh, how are you?"
"I'm alright. I've been pretty busy at work lately," she replied lamely, avoiding his gaze and staring at her hot chocolate instead.
"Yeah, I heard you got a job. You work at the Plaza Diner, right?" he asked. After she nodded, he continued. "I've been there a few times; it's not a bad place. Is the pay good?"
"Yeah," she responded, trying hard not to frown at her cup. Why did all of their conversations turn into this boring small talk? "What have you been doing with your summer?"
"Oh, nothing really," he replied lamely. "Like, actual nothing. My physical therapy takes up most of my schedule, so I don't have time to do much,"
"Oh," was her only reply. What was she supposed to say to that? She was always bad at small talk, and somehow asking about his physical therapy didn't seem like the best choice. "Finn, why don't we ever hang out anymore?" she asked after a minute of silence. She finally looked up at him, gauging his reaction.
He physically tensed up at the question. Then he frowned. "I don't know… It's not like I don't want to. Everything just got awkward after we broke up, y'know? And we started avoiding each other. Then after the accident I just… I stopped bothering you,"
At the mention of the accident, Phoebe's eyes flickered to Finn's right arm, or what was left of his right arm. It was gone, right below where his elbow should be. She heard about the accident only through gossip, so she didn't know how much of what she heard was true. But apparently Finn was in a car with his dad, not his adopted dad Joshua, but his biological dad and they got into some bad accident. She heard his dad was drunk from almost every person who told her the story, but she wasn't going to believe that unless she heard it from Finn himself. But there was no way she was going to ask him either. He lost his arm in that crash… There was no way she was bringing it up.
She looked back at her hot chocolate. "You wouldn't be bothering me, Finn. You're my best friend. I miss you," she paused, turning to look at him again.
He smiled at her sheepishly, trying to lighten the mood. "I miss you too, y'know,"
"Oh, I know," she grinned at him. "Marceline told me you did; she said that you told her you missed me. Repeatedly,"
He visibly paled. "She didn't…"
"She did," she laughed lightly, a light blush grazing her cheeks. "That's about the only embarrassing thing she told me though, so don't worry,"
"I'm not surprised she said that, honestly," Finn laughed a bit, rolling his eyes. "The only slightly surprising thing is that's all she said,"
Phoebe laughed lightly at that, making Finn grin. He missed making her laugh…
"Phoebe, do you wanna hang with me later this week?" he asked.
She smiled at him, "Of course I do! I have Monday off, are you busy?"
"Nah, that's perfect!" he replied, his grin widening slightly. How great was this? He was going to hang out with Phoebe again! He needed to thank Marceline after the show, even if she did say embarrassing stuff about him to Phoebe.
Finally, Marceline entered the café, with Bonnie right behind her. Finn also then noticed how crowded the place had become while he was talking to Phoebe.
It looked like Marceline and Bonnie were bickering with each other, as always. After Marceline laughed at something she said, they shared a short kiss and she made her way to the stage.
Bonnie walked back into the crowd and made her way over to their table. She took the empty seat next to Lady. She greeted everyone at the table, with the exception of Phoebe. Not that Phoebe minded much, not wanting to talk to the red head anyway.
Then Marceline began to play her set, and the entire club turned their attention to watching her preform.
I've been wanting to write an Adventure Time fanfic forever, so I'm happy to finally get around to doing it! This story is going to be very Finn/FP centric, but if I get enough requests for it I can make Bubbline a bigger part of it too.
Thank you for reading!