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Chapter Text

After a near-death experience from exploring a dungeon packed to the brim with traps and dangerous monsters, you knew its time you made your feelings known to the young man. The dungeon itself wasn't a problem for you since you're an experienced scavenger, your collection of treasures and rare artifacts is proof of that. On a normal day you would share your findings with the brothers, but this time you're planning on giving Finn something with romantic intentions. Or not. You're still uncertain about the confession. It's like a huge dreadful hammer slammed down on you and turned you into a nervous wreck. What if he thinks it's a lame treasure and brushes you off like neptr? What if he rejects your feelings? You're mortified at the thought, halting on your tracks all together. "Maybe this is a bad idea..." you start to doubt yourself, before looking at the treasure itself and double thinking. "No, I almost died. I'm not gonna wait until I go through another near death experience I may or may not survive." you talk to yourself, trying to inspire courage from any part of your body, even your toes.

"Ugh-! I feel like an utter dweeb." you muttered under your breath, shaking your head to the sides as you keep walking. You couldn't help it. It's probably because of this damn little crush you have on him after all. You tighten your hold on the treasure, humming a tune for yourself as you wish for the best.

Inside the tree house Finn was nowhere to be seen except for Fern and Jake. The grass boy entertains himself by comfortably reading a comic book on the couch, trying to ignore the way Jake walked back and forth as he prepared to head out. "Are you sure you don't want to come?" The magical dog asked for the fifth time, grabbing a cloth bag with an outstretched hand while looking for his matching hat with the other.

"Yeah bro, it's fine. I don't really like going to the grocery kingdom, everyone looks at me weird and think I'm some sort of sentinent vegetable on sale." Fern shrugs. "I'll stay here and watch the fort until Finn comes back from visiting his wizard lady friend." Fern reassured Jake. Not fully convincing him, but there's not much he can do if Fern doesn't wanna tag along.

"Alright buddy if you say so, just do me a favor and turn that frown upside down~" the dog said with a playful tone, Jake has been worried about Fern ever since he calmed down and started living here, the least he wanted was for his grass brother to feel comfortable in his own home.

Fern wasn't really in the mood for smiling. But he pulls his attention from the comic book and ponders for a moment, suddenly lifting his legs over the couch headrest while keeping his torso on the bottom part. He kept the same expression but now that his body is upside down it looks like a smile. This small action pulled a chuckle from Jake, easing his worry for the boy. "Hah, nice one..." Jake finds his sun hat and places it on his round head, his stretchy body already halfway down the latter. "I'll be back soon, you want anything or-?" the grass boy responds by shaking his head, signaling Jake to continue on with his day. "Alright, see ya."

"Bye." Fern resumed reading his comic book as he's left alone in the tree house. Not a minute has passed and Fern already feels bothered by the silence, closing his comic and pushing it away. He removes himself from the couch with a sigh, turning to look at his hand, watching it change color before shedding and returning to his usual green. "What if...?" Fern dragged his feet to the bathroom mirror, frowning at the pasture of his normal skin before turning into colors more reminiscent of Finn's. He admires his reflection, using a hand to lift his chin and move his head in different angles for a better view. He's practically identical to the human boy, in fact he could even go pass him if given the chance. Fern furrowed his eyebrows at the thought. He technically still feels like himself, like Finn the Human, he doesn't feel any different except for others who view him differently... Maybe if he keeps this look...

"Finn! Jake! you guys home?" a familiar voice boomed through the silent tree house, causing Fern to jump in suprise.

"Coming!" he shouts back out of habit. Fern takes a step forward before pausing, maybe this is a good chance to experiment with his Finn disguise? All he has to do is play along, this could even be a fun prank later on.

"Ah, there you are Finn. Follow me to the living room, I've found something that you might like." you beam at the sight of who you think is Finn, happily settling your backpack on the couch. "Where's Jake?" you ask, removing the straps of your pack.

"Oh, he's out doing some grocery shopping." Finn, or should I say Fern responds, but then again you had no real way of knowing. You mentally sigh in relief, with Jake gone that means you can continue with your confession without any interruptions. "Well too bad for him, he's gonna miss seeing this rad beauty!" You grinned mischievously as you pull a sharp silver colored sword, it had pointy edges that were so sharp they could cut your eyesight by just looking at it. "Look at this bad boy right here~" you displayed with a hint of pride, raising it in your hands so 'Finn' could give it a peek.

"This looks mathematical!" the boy is easily impressed with the sharp metal, getting a good feel of the sword in his hands before returning it to it's owner "Where did you get it from?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Remember when I told you about that dungeon between Marceline's cave and the Candy Kingdom? well, I found a way inside and kicked everyone's butts just to get it." you said proudly. You carried a triumph smile on your face even though you had your butt kicked a few times, however that couldn't stop the swell of happiness coming from the other's approval. 

"Dang really? isn't that place like, super deadly with traps and whatever-? That's just rad... You're rad." the fake Finn smiled as he gave your shoulder a playful fist bump, it was an odd yet endearing action.

The small gesture made you stomach flutter and your cheeks feel warm, reminding you of your second goal.  "Thanks, but honestly, I want you to have it," You raised you hands to offer the sword to Finn, avoiding eye contact. "If it weren't for you I wouldn't have found the bravery to explore and become an adventurer like you, I've been to so many places and gained lots of experience thanks to you." you felt your heart pounding against your ribcage, why were you feeling shy all of the sudden?

Fern shifted in his seat, unsure how to respond to the praise.

"Uh... Thanks, but honestly you're the bravest and smarter one here, half of the times I make it through by being stupidly reckless." he chuckles sheepishly, taking the sword with a court nod and letting it lean on the wall next to the couch.

You made yourself smaller in your seat, hands sweating, heart pounding, it was obvious there was something else you've been meaning to say but couldn't find the bravery and confidence to say it. Maybe it was a bad idea after all, you don't want to risk anything changing between the two of you. It's good enough of an excuse to keep you back from confessing after all, oh well good luck next time. But this mental argument didn't coordinate well with your verbal conversation. "Oh i'm not that brave. If i was, I would've told you that i like you a long time ago." your eyes went wide, covering your mouth like a child who just said a bad word in front of their parents. You felt like time just stopped for you. With your stomach swirling in embarrassment, unable to stop your hands from shaking. Yet it was nice to let it out, and you couldn't stop now. "I mean- if I liked you, which isn't that hard cause you're attractive and good spirited and you do this cute thing when you sleep and... I uhh should, shut up now."

If Fern had a a drink in his hand he would have spat it out by now. What is he supposed to do? He can't just pop out of his disguise after that revelation, it would be embarrassing for both.
The boy feels like his stomach is having a somersault competition with butterflies, which is kind of plesant, but he also feels like crawling under the covers and hide.

"Finn are you alright? It's just a dumb little crush, nothing to over think about." you ask cautiously, fear clawing at your gut with every quiet second.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he was reminded that you didn't confess to Fern directly but instead to Finn. Sure Finn is a popular fella with many suitors but he never would've guessed that, one of his best friends of all people, also has a crush on him. It calms him down enough to think. 'What would Finn do?' Fern asked himself.  The young man crossed his arms over his chest, closing his eyes with a pensive hum. 'Easy, he'd let you down softly saying he only sees you as a friend' was the solution he came up with, but there's was another voice that has a another suggestion. "But you're not Finn, you can choose to do anything you want." the demonic voice has an interesting idea, tempting even. "No one has been romantically interested in you anyway, so why not get in Finn's shoes for once?" Slowly but surely the grass demon started to make sense for the lost boy. Finn has been getting all the attention lately, but now Fern has a chance to court someone and get all lovely dovey like in the movies. And what better chance to experiment than with you?

The boy reopened his eyes, not an inch of worry on his sweet face. "That's not dumb at all, it's completely normal." the boy reassured with a confident smile. 

A sense of relief washed over your body like a warm shower, relaxing your muscles and erasing any uneasiness from earlier, but not all of it. Cause a part of you knew that just because he isn't uncomfortable by your crush that doesn't mean he'll accept them. "Glob I thought you were gonna hate me. Look, I know it's all of a sudden and you don't have to respond now. I'll go away an travel for a month or two if you need space-" you looked away in shame, already accepting a rejection. But it never came. Instead Finn held your hands in his, giving you a soft look that matched his nice tone.

"Hey it's alright. It's true I didn't see you as nothing more of a friend before but I still want to take the time to get to know you on a different level, a more..." Fern paused for a moment to think of a fitting word. "Closer level." while saying this he scooted closer to you, charming you even further.

You can't believe your ears, it's not what you expected but you're more than happy to take it without a second doubt. "I'd love that! I mean, yeah I'm totally fine with that," you grip Finn's hands in your own, shrugging off the fact that they felt a bit odd. But who cares? You're too awestruck to realize that the flesh on his right hand faded into green with small grass blades poking out. Fern panics a little on the inside, distracting you with a captivating question as he immediately pulls his hand away but still holding one of your own.

"You wanna go out tomorrow? As in a date." Finn asks even though he already knows your answer.

"Yes~!"

"Great, I'll call you up once I think of a good place to meet. Until then, go get some rest, I bet all that dungeon crawling must've tired you out." Finn says emphatically, rubing the back of your hand with his thumb before placing a kiss on it.

You playfully fan your face with your free hand, feeling your cheeks grow hot. "I mean, I'm not that tired but if you say so then sure." you giggle.

The disguised boy is impressed by how easy he can persuade you like a cat with a toy mouse, already infatuated with the power he has over you. "Good, until we meet again." the young man guides you to the hatch on the floor, waving goodbye to you while you climb down the latter.

Chapter Text

The Scavenger's Outfit

"Wait... so you want to meet up near the dumb rock instead of the treefort?" you repeated through the phone device in your hand, just to make sure you heard right.

"Yeah, trust me the place was invaded by uh... giant slugs last night, so it's a mess not worth seeing" Fern lied through the phone, thinking up of any kind of believable excuse to keep you away from the tree house. "And make sure you haven't eaten anything yet, cause we'll be having a nice full course meal!" the stated excitingly, the thought of taking you somewhere made him pretty happy, especially after hearing you chuckle through the phone.

"Sure thing, just pack some trail mix and water until lunch" you nodded as you fetched your own stuff.

"Oh, and bring your baseball bat" the boy added without spoiling too much.

"Why? are you planning to get in trouble-?" you teased but didn't question anything, you already carry your baseball bat everywhere anyway, it was an everyday essential to you like your slingshot or chapstick.

"Maybe... it's a surprise" Fern spoke in a singsong matter.

"Alright, alright" you replied with a smile on your face, excitement bottling up inside your stomach "I'll see you in half an hour then!" you both agreed before hanging up at the same time, you swiftly went to grab your favorite colored cape and prepared to head out. You could only wonder what the adventurer had in store for both of you today.

Fern has been planning this all night, nothing can go wrong! He knew he had to keep you far away from the tree house thus far from the real Finn until he thought of a solution for his temporary problem, so for now his best bet was to just hang out. For today he decided to start off with something easy, having lunch together.

Pretty simple right?

Well it was supposed to be a simple idea, however being the kind of lad he is Fern wanted to make things a bit more exciting. After all, he felt it was something the real Finn would do.

You were the first to make it to the meeting spot, while you waited for Finn to show up you just did random things like look at the clouds or practice your swings with your baseball bat. By the time the adventurer arrived you were taking a seat on the dumb rock, deciding it was best to save your energies for whatever Finn had planned.

Fern was close by with his Finn disguise along with a backpack he 'borrowed' from said boy, his footsteps were fast and eager to see you however the closer he got to you the slower he got and the shyer he became, by the time he reached you it seemed that the imaginary cat snatched his tongue away.

"Hey-" he greeted, shuffling his feet a little, unable to look at you yet after that one make out session yesterday.

"Hi-" you replied just as shy as he was. You were unsure as to what make of the thing between you two, so for the time being you decided to keep things simple.

"So, you ready to go?" Finn asked, raising his eyes to look at you in the eye eventually.

"Sure, i have been wondering where you wanted to go" you stood up from the dumb rock, stretching your limbs a bit until feeling something pop.

"Oh right-!" Fern perked up when he remembered his plans for the day, it didn't take long for his upbeat and joyful attitude from earlier to come back "Just follow me, it's not that far i promise" he smiled, aiming to grab your hand to guide you before stopping himself midway since he was insecure about how it would make you feel.

You noticed Finn's hand reached out to yours but you didn't say anything about it, instead you directed your eyesight on his back where he carried his weapon of choice.

"Nice sword" you commented, a knowing smile stretching on your face as you playfully bumped his shoulder.

Fern was caught off guard by your statement until he looked behind him to check out what you meant since he was in a hurry, the light reflecting on the silver metal sword was a dead giveaway on why you were smiling all of a sudden.

It was the same sword you gave him yesterday after all.

Just like Finn said, it didn’t take long for you two to reach your destination, it was a forest like area that wasn’t was far from becoming a jungle due to the amount of foliage and plant life.

“Shh- try to not make much noise or you’ll scare it away” the boy hushed you as you two crouched behind a bush, you were somewhat confused on what he was referring to until you carefully looked through the bush. It was then that you understood why you had to be so quiet, on the other side of the bush you saw a huge bird like creature that closely resembled a chicken, but not quite.
“That’s our lunch-?” you whispered at Finn in a confused tone.

The expression on your face along with your tone made the boy worry for a second. “Yeah… I thought I’d be more fun to hunt our own food…” he looked down at his feet in shame, feeling that he messed up.

That was until you pipped up again.

“Ooohh, that’s a nice idea, I like it! Even though I don’t know much about cooking” your positive reaction made Fern feel better about his decision, he managed to look back at you with a sheepish smile.

“Neither do I- “he shrugged, but that didn’t stop him from smiling “Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out once we catch this fella” The adventurer said with a ting of hope in his voice, pulling out his sword the same time you pulled out your baseball bat.

“You’re right, we got this!” the look you gave him was a look that reflected your determination and hope, if you two tag together there was nothing you could accomplish.

However, things were easier said than done.

The current tactic you two had was one where you would chase after the creature and guide it to Finn so he could deliver the final blow, but it wasn’t giving any good results.
It has been two hours and the two adventurers were currently panting and covered in sweat (or atleast you were), unfortunately despite the effort, not a single chicken creature has been caught yet.

“That’s… a very sneaky chicken-” you wiped the sweat off your forehead with your arm, trying to regain your breath since you didn’t have the same condition and endurance as Finn.

“You wanna take a break?” Fern asked you quite attentively, offering you a bottle of water from his backpack since he felt you needed it more.

“Nah- I’m good” you tried to reassure him, plus you were starting to get hungry so you wanted to catch the chicken as soon as possible. You took the offered water bottle and popped the cap open to take a few sips. “You got any other plans? I think just chasing after it won’t work” you commented in all due honestly.

“Well… that’s mostly how F- I catch monsters with Jake” the boy shrugged, but he guessed you had a point. If you two are planning on preparing lunch then a different approach was necessary.

“No no, It’s a good plan. I just think we could add something different, like an extra step” you closed the bottle cap and returned it back to Finn.

“I’m open to suggestions” the grass boy offered, letting you come up with something since his current ‘Finn plan’ wasn’t going well.

You pondered about it for a moment as you took in the details of your surroundings, things like moss, mushrooms, trees, Finn looking back at you, dead leaves, more trees and a spider in it’s cute little spider web. However, that last thing gave you an idea. “What if we capture it in a trap-?” you offered, which seemed to catch Fern’s attention.

It took a while to tie it together, but eventually you and Finn made a resistant net out of tree vines, twigs and tall grass. It was a nice net if you said so yourself, with both you and Finn feeling somewhat achieved at making something together, but it was too early to declare any victories. It was time for you two to test out your creation.

You were currently stationed at you designated spot behind a few bushes, making sure the net was safely secured under a pile of dead tree leaves, it was a pretty basic trap but it was all you guys had for now.

Your ears perked up at the sound of footsteps coming your way.

“It’s show time.” You mused to yourself.

You poked you head over the bushes to see Finn chasing after the large chicken, his face was red and had a somewhat strained expression but the boy kept going after the chicken at a high speed, however instead of running in a straight line and towards the net, the chicken made a sharp turn to the left to get away from the adventurer who couldn’t seem to hit the brakes on time due to his speed.

“Oh no you don’t!” you popped up from the bushes and jumped in front of the chicken’s path with flailing arms and frenetic screaming, managing to scare it enough to turn around and run back to the direction it came from. Successfully running directly to the trap, once the chicken took a step on the net it made a quick ‘snap’ noise and captured the pesky thing.

“Yes finally!” you pumped your fist in the air when you saw the critter dangling from a tree branch like a punching bag, no matter how much it squirmed it wouldn’t be escaping anytime soon.

“Holy cow- you saved my neck there, I thought he would get away” Finn went up to you so both of you could admire your captured prey.

You were feeling pumped and happy, and hungry too, but happy nevertheless. Fern was feeling the happy vibes as well, sure he would’ve preferred to catch the critter on his own to prove to you how good of an adventurer he was, but he soon realized that managing things as a team was way more satisfying. He doesn’t have to prove anything to you that way.

After an accomplishment, there was a certain thing he wanted to do. He remembers from Finn’s memories that it’s usually a thing he does with Jake but the moment felt right to try it with you.

“Hey-” Finn called out your name to catch your attention, when you turned to face the boy you notice he had his hand shaped into a fist. “Good job you did there” he smiled.
You gladly returned the smile when you realized what he wanted to do, “Thanks, you too partner-“ you said as your fist connected with Finn’s in a short but satisfying fist bump.
It was a silly gesture but amusing nevertheless.

Fern couldn’t understand why, but the whole ‘partner’ thing got to him and made him blush a little. Mostly because he could interpret it in many ways, were you two lovers? Partners in crime? Just a tag along buddy? Sure, he could be overthinking but he still has been meaning to ask about the nature between you two…

“Alright! Now let’s cook this bad boy, I’m starving” you chimed in, interrupting the grass boy from his thoughts.

“Oh- right!” He pulled out his sword, more than ready to get things over with.

However, there was a certain noise coming from above the tree lines, neither you or the adventurer could pin point what it was until it dawned onto you.
“That sounds like a dr-“ before you could even finish your sentence, heavy gusts of wind knocked both you and Finn to the ground. A large dragon dropped from the skies and heard the cries of the chicken caught in the net, you could only look in horror at the larger creature open its mouth and swallowed not only yours but Finn’s efforts in one single bite.

Neither you nor the boy processed what happened until the dragon took off and was back in the skies. Anger was building up in Fern’s system, he didn’t know if it was due to the aggressive grass demon in him or the fact that the monster just left with your lunch, either way he stood up and couldn’t stop shouting at the dragon’s back.

“Come back here you bastard-!” he felt frustrated, gripping the sword in his hands and not peeling his eyes from the sky; until he heard the grumbling sound coming from your stomach. It was then that he calmed down to look back at you with sorrow. Fern was internally beating himself up, sure he was a grass boy and didn’t necessarily need to eat, but he could only imagine how devastated you were feeling after working so hard without eating anything for hours-

“You wanna go get some burgers?” You suggested nonchalantly, standing up and dusting your pants without a care in the world.

Finn, well, Fern could only stand still and look back at you in disbelief for a solid minute.

“Yeah… I’d like that” he replied with a tired smile, tucking his sword in his backpack.

“And then I told her, how can you tell it’s the right gem if you’re color blind-? “you chatted mindlessly as you held your half-eaten burger in hand and using the other to pour ketchup on your third order of french fries.

Fern didn’t mind, he enjoyed listening to you talk about random topics. It helped him avoid feeling bad about how badly the day went. He thought he could make things work if he just did things ‘the Finn way’, that he could make anything seem fun and exciting just like the real Finn does. But eventually that didn’t seem to be the case. However, he did learn something out of it, he worked better when you were involved sorta like how Jake helped Finn, hence how he enjoyed your company when you two were trying to catch that chicken.

The memory occasionally brought a bittersweet smile to his face.

Although you were doing most of the talking you couldn’t help but noticed how the adventurer was probably still kicking himself for not stopping that dragon. You took a moment to pause your story and place your hand on Finn’s own hand, he looked back at you with surprised expression but you simply gave him a calm look.

“Hey, it’s okay. We had fun and manage to eat something at the end of the day, right?” you reassured him with a small smile.

Although your words helped ease his head today, he was still having trouble with the whole Finn/Fern identity thing, but for now the grass boy allowed himself to truly feel that things were okay.

“Right, thanks anyway” he smiled bashfully, enjoying the warmth emitting from your hand and onto his own, occasionally squeezing your hand in a tender matter despite the few ketchup stains on your hand, either way none of you made a movement to pull away.

“So, what were you saying about a gem again?” he returned to the topic, quietly enjoying the rest of the afternoon with you.

Chapter Text

Even though he insisted to walk you home first, you wanted to walk Finn home instead for no other reason than see the landscape during a sunset, it was much more breathtaking in comparison to the closed cramped area you lived in.

The walk back home was calm. After all, an entire day of chasing a giant chicken was enough to tire anyone out, except for this adventurer. He was just as chirpy and energetic since the day started.

Given that you did a lot of rambling back at the diner it was Finn's turn to talk to his heart's content, it was a simple conversation composed of a the boy talking about a certain topic and you would give your opinion. The activity was fitting for the soothing sunset surrounding them, the sun's array of orange and pink colors was beginning to hide under the night's dark blue and purple hues, similar to a nocturne blanket covering onto the grasslands and all of Ooo. Almost like a mother preparing her child for a night of slumber.

That was the kind of night both you and fern were expecting to have, a restful night of sleep in a comfy bed. However, if there is one thing that was learned today is that things don't always go to plan.

As you two reached the tree house you could hear a faint noise in the distance, something with a beat to it.

"What's that?" you asked, to which the fake Finn shrugged but deep down he had a small idea of what it could be.

The two adventurers ran up to the top of the hill where the noise became louder and clearer until your ears recognized it as music, it didn't take long for you and Finn to reach the top of the hill and notice how the tree house was more upbeat and active than usual. With fluorescent neon lights shining past the windows, people having dance offs in the yard with glow in the dark stick in their hands and just general laughter and music.

You were surprised to see the tree house turn into some sort of huge rave, but Fern on the other hand knew that Jake had a natural talent at organizing house parties.

"Well then. This is as far as I'll go" you took a step back with small laugh, digging your hands into your pocket. "I'm not one for parties" you explained.

"You sure?" the adventurer looked towards the party at the bottom of the hill, where he could see someone being held upside down as a barrel of cream soda was poured into his mouth. "Right... it's cool, I can head home from here" Finn sighed before lifting a hand in a small wave. "Catch you on the flip side" the young man said his goodbyes as he made his way down the hill.

"See ya later" you waved back in a simple gesture. Turning on your heel you were ready to head back home as well but without any company this time, at least you'd be able to enjoy the large skies covered in stars.

Or that's what you thought.

"Hey wait up!"

Your boots made a dry halt as you turned around to see who called out your name, their voice was... almost feminine? and somewhat familiar. You turned around to notice a floating purple cloud made their way up to you along with other three figures.

"Girl where are you going? the party is on the other side!" lumpy space princess snapped at you in the company of three other females you identified as breakfast princess, hot dog princess and slime princess.

You were visibly confused as to why these princesses approached you in the first place, that was until you remembered an incident where you and Finn rescued them from ice king's fionna and cake fanfic readings about a month ago.

"Yeah! all the good guys will be taken if we don't hurry" breakfast princess added.

"Oh I'm not here for the party, I'm heading home actually" you stated simply however it wasn't enough for the ladies.

"But why? The party just started and everyone knows Jake's parties are legendary" slime princess added her own to two cents, for a second you could've sworn they were trying to convince you to go with them.

But that couldn't be it.

You knew who they were but given to your lower class and lack of popularity you found it strange they wanted to hang out with you.

"But I'm not looking for guys-" you didn't even manage to finish your sentence when breakfast princess placed a hand on your shoulder.

"Ah that's right, you were hanging out with the hero of Ooo weren't you?" she asked with a knowing smile, almost as if she didn't need your confirmation. "Almost like a date"

You squirmed in your spot "I uh, don't know what you mean" you acted dumb, plus you weren't one for having your private life in the spotlight.

"Oh (y/n) don't be shy around us, we saw you two holding hands and walking together just a minute ago didn't we gals" hot dog princess said without a care in a world emitting a nod from all four princesses, she was a sweet one but she didn't know how nervous her words made you.

You simply stood there with a group of princesses you barley knew, unsure how to approach these gals or what to tell them considering how interested they were into gossip.

"Come on gurl, you can tell us all about it at the party-!" Lsp said happily, the princesses walking around you interested in you all of a sudden.

The hero of Ooo was a popular one among the ladies after all.

Once he was out of your sight Fern made sure to avoid the group of people dancing in the lawn and sneaked into the back of the tree house, removing his Finn disguise and going back as Fern the human. He looked at his reflection on the surface of an abandoned car window that was there for some reason, he couldn't help but sigh at his usual green appearance before heading back to the front of the house.

Like expected there was a good amount of people in the main entrance to the tree house, but Jake must've invited more people than usual given that inside was twice as much of guests than out in the lawn.

It was even beginning to make him feel claustrophobic.

Fern decided the best option was to just ignore everyone and head straight for the rooftop.

"Hey Fern buddy, over here!"

The grass boy sighs, he had his hand on the ladder but he couldn't find it in himself to ignore... well, himself. The real Finn was calling out to him in the living room, a big smile was on his face as he had Jake and a few party bears around him but he did his best to make his way to Fern anyway.

"Where have you been bro? Jake and I needed help settling things up in the afternoon" the adventurer didn't sound upset but more like he was curious to know his whereabouts since the grass boy rarely left the house.

"Oh, you know... just looking around to see what evil I could kill, trying to become a hero like you" he thought at the top of his head, sure it had a pinch of truth in it but still a lie nevertheless.

The response brought an understanding smile to Finn's face "Alright if you say so, just remember that killing stuff isn't the only thing that makes you a hero kay?" he patted Fern's shoulder with his robot hand before redirecting his attention to the party at hand. "Anyway, how about you hang around for a little while? Meet some new people and such" the adventurer's suggestion made Fern feel a little uneasy in his grassy stomach but he was willing to try nevertheless. Finn was such a great bro at trying to get him to socialize more, so he might as well try to run along with it.

Finn took Fern with the group of party bears he was previously with who were currently chit chatting among themselves until the two guys walked in.

"Hey there party bears, this is my friend Fern" Finn happily introduced his grassy counterpart to the gang.

Fern was a bit unsure about Finn's idea but spoke up with a small "Nice to meet you guys" feeling nervous under the bear's quiet stare.

"Ohh you're that grass Finn guy!" one of the bears spoke up, bringing a nod from the others.

"Whoa you look identical to him, but greener"

"I heard he's an evil one" one of the bears commented before taking a sip from his drink.

"That's true! aren't you the dude who sent Susan strong to the hospital?" another one asked, of course the question didn't make the grass feel any better. Not only was he just know as the grass Finn but it seems like it didn't take long for rumors to spread about him.

"Nah man, he's the dude who destroyed an old man's maze"

"I heard he steals motorbikes"

While the party bears continued to talk among themselves, Fern felt he had enough and left without excusing himself from the conversation. He was acting pretty harsh but it only worried Finn more.

"Come'on dude, they were just misinformed. I'm sure once the good stuff about you gets out, they'll view you differently" Finn followed Fern as he tried to reassure him, he knew he was going through a rough time so he wanted to help in any way possible.

But Fern knew better, people weren't going to accept him for who he is. Especially if he had people comparing him to Finn every single time.

"There's still a few people you could meet" the adventurer searched around the crowd to look for a familiar face.

The whole situation was just making Fern angrier and more upset, he was ready to drop out no matter how harsh he may seem. He just wanted to be left alone. "How about you just fu-"

"Oh, look there's a friend" Finn grinned happily as he didn't hear what Fern was about to say, instead he waved in direction to a certain group of princesses at the corner of the room "Hey (y/n) over here!"

When the name fell onto his ears it was enough to make Fern freeze on the spot, he felt his heart stop, whatever blood he had in his veins now felt cold as he took sight of you surrounded by the group of princesses.

You weren't supposed to be here. Why where you here!?

These questions were growing louder the closer Finn guided Fern to the group. Dear glob how is he going to handle this?

"Hey Finn! uh Jake is calling you from the kitchen..." Fern lied, mostly to distract him until he thought of a better plan "Something about the fridge breaking in half"

Finn pouted as he paused on his pace towards you with a sigh. "Oh man it's the third time this week" the young man separated himself from the grass and went off in the direction the kitchen would be at.

Fern took the opportunity to sneak past the crowd and into the bathroom, shifting into his Finn costume once more.

You were currently sitting at the couch with Lsp, Breakfast princess, Hot dog princess and Slime princess while they talked about the latest gossip in Ooo, making you feel out of place.

You didn't know how these princesses managed to drag you into this loud party against your will... well not exactly against your will, you just didn't want to look rude. Especially since they praised you for being so brave at saving them so many times, how skilled you were with your slingshot and baseball bat... curse them. They were pretty charming when they want to you'll give them credit for that.

So, you just sat there trying to understand the conversation until one of them nudged your shoulder.

"Look who's calling you" breakfast princess whispered in your way, catching a whiff of cooked eggs and bacon before directing your gaze to the direction she was pointing at.

You were both happy and relieved to see Finn emerge from the group of people, it was refreshing to see a familiar face among the crowd. You would be lying if you said you didn't also feel your heart skip a beat as well, which lead you to greet him with a hug.

"Heey, nice to see you here. But I thought you weren't one for parties?" the fake Finn smiled quite nervously but you didn't notice that.

"Yeah, about that... I was sorta dragged in here against my will" You said jokingly while your finger was pointing towards the group of princesses, however they were mostly just giggling among themselves and waving back almost innocently.

The fake Finn merely chuckled in sympathetic at you, however his smile began to falter when he caught sight of the real Finn making his way back into the living room area. The young man didn't skip a beat before he quickly urged you away into the next room by roughly grabbing your hand whilst trying to be gentle but quick as possible even though his nerves were making it difficult.

"Whoa- where's the fire?" you joked at the adventurer, however much to your surprise a cat sized flame approached you two like some sort of cheesy joke. (wink wonk)

"Someone called?" Flambo says causally, taking a sip of his beverage.

"Flambo! I uh, I believe you haven't met (y/n) yet" the fake Finn placed you in front of the cat shaped flame "I think this is a good moment for you two to talk. In the meantime, I... gotta go use the boy style room!" just as quick as he came he left, leaving you in company of this fire feline.

Fern took off towards the bathroom to remove his Finn disguise in private but all he met was a locked door and someone shouting "Busy!" which frustrated the grass even further. Not only that but the real Finn was just a few meters away. In a desperate attempt to go unrecognized Fern dropped down and crawled his way behind the couch, returning to his green skin without being noticed.

Finn was about to turn around until Fern popped up in front of him, blocking his view of (Y/N).

"Hey buddy-" Finn piped up at the sight of Fern "So good news, the fridge isn't broken, someone just thought it would be funny to fill it with canned bread that's all"

"That's great Finn, but uh..." the grass wracked his brain a little "You won't believe it! Cinnamon bun was talking shit about you, blabbering about how you can't break his record of drinking two barrels of root beer soda"

"Really-?"

"Yeah! You should go challenge him to a contest before it gets out of hand... but in the front yard!" Fern persuaded as he pushed Finn in the opposite direction to where (y/n) was.

Lucky for the young grass boy it was dumb enough excuse to work.

And that's basically how the rest of Fern's night went.

Going back and forth trying to keep Finn away from his crush and thus securing him lie long enough until he found a way out of the hole, he dug himself, but boy was it an exhausting task! Not only was he running out of excuses but he was also running out of hiding places to switch from his Fern skin to his Finn disguise to the point he was too tired to become aware of his surroundings.

Eventually the grass decided he needed to bring the party to a halt.

Fern, while still in his Finn disguise, went to a secluded area of the tree house as he dialed the number on the phone.

"Come'on..." the young man was impatient, tapping his foot as the other line rang until someone picked up.

"This is banana guard number 983 how may I help you... ? shhh, I said I would handle the night shift calls tonight" the banana guard sounded like he was arguing with someone offline but Fern had no time for that.

"Hello I'd like to anonymously report a loud disturbance at the Finn and Jake tree house in the grasslands" Fern lied, trying to huddle himself towards the wall to make sure no one caught him.

"Hmm, yeah I don't think that's- ohh can you pass me a slice of pizza?" the banana guard rambled one since he didn't seem to take the call seriously which only frustrated the grass.

"Sir, please they're making a lot of noise"

"Oh, sorry man it's probably just a small get together nothing to get mad about" the banana guard reassured from the other line as he was more focused on his pizza slice.

"Uh... but I can... hear screams- yeah! They're probably summoning an ancient demon god from the nightosphere"

"Probably just having fun"

"There could be injured people-!"

"Hey dude, relax. Maybe if you just go over there and have some fun yourself, you'll see they aren't so bad"

"Wait- They're pouring pineapple on pizza!"

Fern could hear a pair of hands slamming against the table as a voice boomed in the receiving end.

"THOSE MONSTERS-! We'll be there right away sir!" the banana guard hung up much to Fern's joy.

Did he feel guilty for ruining everyone's fun? not really.

All that mattered now was that he had to keep up this lie a little longer until the party ends... but truth was for how long?

Either way Fern sighed in relief as he shed his Finn disguise. "Atleast that'll buy me some time for now" the young man said out loud.

However what Fern didn't expect was the shocked starchy standing next to him, the candy person dropped his drink to the ground with a mouth agape as he caught Fern red handed.

"YOU-!" starchy pointed a threatening finger towards the grass boy, no doubt going to call him out, until Fern singlehandedly knocked out the poor guy out of instinct before he could say another word. The young man cautiously looked both ways before dropping the unconscious starchy inside a wooden plank within the treehouse's walls.

Okay, maybe he did feel guilty about that but what else could he do? After stealing his motor bike there's no doubt starchy would rat him out.

Just small details he can solve later.

"Fern there you are!" Finn called out from within the crowd, startling Fern as he tried to go unnoticed. "Where were you man? It's almost like you've been avoiding me all night!"

"What? Pfft No way" Fern tried to shrug off.

"Anyway, there's someone I want you to meet"

"Finn... I think I've met enough people for today-" however Fern's speech stopped the moment he laid eyes on you, anxiety and panic starting to build up.

You were having a reasonable conversation with Marceline the vampire queen if emotion eaters can eat hot dogs or not until you turned around when you felt a tap on your shoulder.

"Finn!" you spoke out gleefully.

"Hey (y/n), nice to see you too. It's been a while huh? Anyway, there's someone I haven't introduced you to" Finn smile rather sheepishly.

"A while?" you chuckled since you thought it was some kind of joke "Don't tell me you have a terrible memory"

"What do you mean?" the adventurer tilted his head to the side with a smile, just as amused and lost as you are.

"HimynameisFernthehuman!" Out of impulse Fern jumped in front of you as fast as he spoke, leaving behind an incomprehensible sentence on your ears.

"Pardon me?" your attention went to the green young man in front of you.

"Oh right, (y/n) this is my bro Fern who's been living on top of the tree house for a month, we're sorta like brothers but not actually because he's made of grass and..." Finn scratched the back of his neck as he tried to explain, no doubt resulting odder than he thought.

In the meantime, you took a moment to appreciate the similarities and differences between Fern and Finn. Besides the obvious fact one is made of flesh and the other is made out of grass, they were practically identical if it weren't for little details, like how Fern had the fairest hints of dark circles under his eyes, how Finn seemed to have a few blemishes on his face while Fern had a clean face- must be the pros of being made of grass. You also noticed Fern looked worried about something while Finn was cheery without a trouble in the world.

Fern was growing nervous and flustered under your gaze the more you studied them, while Finn waited patiently for your response.

"Hi Fern nice to meet you, I'm (y/n)" you greeted the boy with a friendly smile and an extended hand.

Fern tried to smile the best he could "I uh, know. We share the same memories him and i..." he pointed a thumb to Finn and himself for emphasis.

"Oh?" you tilted your head with a peak of interest "That's pretty cool in a way, so you're like clones?"

"Sort of-?" the grass was unsure himself, Finn giving him a shrug.

"(y/n) dear!"

You mentally groaned at breakfast princess's feminine voice, followed by a larger group of princesses behind her.

"We were just talking about you, weren't we girls?" one of the princesses spoke leading to a few giggles here and there. "We don't see you around often"

"Actually, we wanted to ask you and Finn how long have you two known each other?"

Although the question seemed innocent enough to have come out of no where for you, to Fern it was nerve wrecking since he's been trying to avoid this kind of conversation all night, he didn't know how to intervene without looking too suspicious.

However, it seemed Fern's silent prayers were answered when there was a loud ruckus coming from the front door.

"Doki doki, open up it's the fricken police!"

Apparently, the front door was flooded with banana guards flashing their blue and red lights everywhere.

"What seems to be the problem officer?" Jake answered the door, just as confused as everyone in the room.

"We got a call about disturbance and worst offence of all..." The guard paused, holding a hand to his mouth as the mere idea caused him physical pain. "...pineapple pizza"

Jake raised an eye brow "But we don't have any neighbors or pizza-"

That was until Flambo walked in the room from the kitchen with a knife and a pineapple "Can anyone help me cut this? I don't have any thumbs" the poor flame asked in oblivion to the situation.

"HE'S GOT A KNIFE-!" a banana guard shouted in the little flame's direction

"AND A PINEAPPLE!"

Apparently, that was enough for the banana guards to end the party, sending everyone home and arresting a few along the way for possession of fairy dust, magic shrooms and 66 illegal copies of Heat Signature.

However, it was remembered as one of Jake's most memorable house parties.

After double checking everyone left Fern spread his arms and legs as he laid on the tree house's soft leafy roof, the entire fiasco was enough to tire him out.

He was glad it was all over though.

Even though he didn't think much of the topic, after tonight he was beginning to doubt for how longer he will be able to keep up the act since as long as the real Finn is around, he'll just risk his chance of being happy with (y/n). Fern raised his right hand into the night sky as he changed its color to match Finn's skin tone. It would much easier if he were Finn and not Fern the grass boy.

The young man's eyes begin to glow a sinister, almost demon liker bright yellow as he considered his options.

If only there was just one true Finn.

That was, until his ears perked up at the sound of soft steps heading towards his way, the grass was too tired to turn around so he assumed Finn went to bid him good night or ask about his unusual behavior, but truth be told he was surprised to see you standing next to him instead.

"Mind if I sit here with you?" you asked politely, to which the young boy merely nodded.

He was too exhausted to feel any form of embarrassment or nervousness so he just glued his view to the large star filled sky.

"Where's Finn?" he asked

To which you cracked a grin "He's downstairs helping Jake clean up the mess"

There was a moment where you raised your eyes towards the sky as well, enjoying the quiet presence the grass boy had to offer as a calm breeze picked up a few strands of hair and tree leaves.

"What brings you up here anyway?" the young man couldn't help but ask

"Oh I'm waiting for my ride, you?"

Fern blushed a little thankful there wasn't much light around "I... uh... pretty much sleep here" he put it simply.

"Doesn't it get lonely?"

Yes.

"Sometimes" he didn't admit fully since he tried to act tough "Gives me time to think about... stuff"

You pouted at his answer "Well, try to not overthink things too much. Might keep you from doing things"

"Like what-?" the young man turned towards your direction, curious at your answer.

"Hmm things like, I don't know, going out, trying out new things with friends" you suggested at the top of your head.

To which Fern look turned away with a frown, closing his eyes as he spoke out in a monotone voice "I don't have anything to worry about then, not many people wanna befriend me anyways" the thought hurt but it was the truth or so fern thought, especially after his encounter with others today.

"I could be your friend"

Fern's eyes shot open when he looked back at you in disbelief, quickly sitting up as he felt his heart race.

"Wha- why?" the grass could only ask.

"So I can take you somewhere instead of overthinking stuff up here all day silly" you smiled which left the young man still perplexed as to why you would hang out with him "You seem like a chill guy, plus if you're like, Finn's grass clone, brother of sorts then I guess we should get to know each other a little more right?" you explained more fully.

However, your explanation just left the grass all the more speechless. Of course, Fern didn't like being compared again but if it meant you were willing to give him a chance then he wouldn't mind in the slightest.

"I'd... like that" he spoke up after what seemed like an eternity, bringing a smile to your face.

"Great"

You noticed a giant bird with a taxi driver hat made his way towards the tree house's rooftop with a squawk, informing the both of you of its presence.

"Oh, that's my ride. Anyway, I'll call you later when I get some free time in my hands okay?" you stood up from your spot, brushing the dry leafs off your legs receiving a joyful "Sure!" from the grassy young man.

"Talk to you later Fern" you bid farewell as you hopped on the giant bird, watching Fern wave goodbye as he tried to hide the blush on his facial features when he heard you remembered his name.

After being sure he was certainly alone this time, Fern fell back on the tree rooftop, feeling it much softer than before.

If you were going to dedicate your time to hang out with him then he wouldn't mind being Fern a little longer.

Chapter Text

After everything that happened yesterday, Fern spent the entire morning in the living room instead of mopping on the rooftop. He would entertain himself with various activities like reading comics or playing Beemo as he waited for your call.

"You look like you're expecting something" Beemo eyed fern suspiciously as he analyzed him, most likely pretending to be a detective of sorts, you can't blame the little gaming console though, after the scare Fern gave him when he trashed the living room, Beemo has been keeping a close eye on the grassy fella.

"What-? Can't a guy spend his time indoors after sleeping outside for so long?" Fern said as he reached the final level to finish off the video game boss, however he tossed everything aside when he heard the phone ring.

"I'll get it!" Fern shouted almost immediately, hopping on his feet and answering the phone before it could ring a second time.

"Hello-?"

"Hello there young boy or girl, are you interested in buying king of Ooo merch~?"

Fern slumped on his shoulder as he groaned in obvious displeasure.

"For the last time NO!... and stop calling this number" the young man hanged up as he dragged his feet back to beemo, noticing how he didn't pause his game and was greeted with the Game Over screen.

So much for trying to beat Finn's record.

"You're clearly expecting a call, aren't you?" beemo asked once again, no doubt his amazing detective skills piecing everything together.

"Maybe" the young man said with a huff, he looked at the clock only to notice it was already 3 in the afternoon, might as well make himself some lunch. But while the grass was preparing himself to go out on the rooftop the phone ringed as it's noise echoed through the living room. While Fern scrambled to his feet to try and answer it was beemo who beat him to it this time.

"Hello?" Beemo pressed the phone against his screen, in the meanwhile he turned to look at Fern with a smug look "Oh hi (y/n), Yes Fern is right here- in fact his been waiting all day for your call!"

"Beemo!"

The gaming console passed the phone to Fern with a giggle as he ran off.

"Hey" Fern spoke sheepishly into the phone.

"Hi Fern-!" the young man felt he would melt at just hearing his name from your voice "I finished a few errands so I'm free for the rest of the day, do you wanna go somewhere or-?"

"Sure!... I mean, yeah I'd like that" Fern tried to lower down the excitement in his voice.

After agreeing on a time and place to meet up Fern ended the call only to have a smug beemo give him a look.

"Got plans for today~?" the little console teased.

"Shut up" Fern blush a little before getting ready to head out.

Fern made his way to a nearby market, making him wonder what you had in store. However, he was greeted to the sight of you with a few shopping bags in hand.

"Sorry for bringing you all the way here, apparently I was missing some stuff from my shopping list earlier" you apologized." But I'll make it up to you! once I get the ingredients I need"

Fern smiled sympathetically "Hey don't sweat about it you were busy I get it, I'm sure we'll finish things twice as fast" he stepped forward and took the bags from your hands "Here let me help you with those"

"Thanks, my hands were getting numb" you smiled back before pulling out your shopping list, guiding the way through the rest of the market.

Fern enjoyed being in your presence even if you two were just doing domestic things like shopping, you would pick out fruits and vegetables and teach him small things, like how to tell a good avocado from a bad one, the freshness of a lettuce by looking at the dark colored roots at the bottom among other things. The grass didn't mind being a pack mule if it meant small moments like these.

"Alright that should be everything for today, thanks for your help fern"

"Told ya we'd finish" The grass merely nodded trying to look cool and hold back a huge smile

"Yeah we sure did. Any way we still have time for an activity maybe we can go beat up bad guys if you like?"

"I'd... like that" 'goodbye peaceful moments' he thought, not that he minded beating up bad guys though.

"Great, let me go buy a sword at that weapon stand and we're good to go" you pointed towards a rather sketchy looking stand, but then again, it's the only shop in the market so they can't be that bad.

Later on, you and Fern went to invade a bandit campsite, teaching those bandits a lesson after they've been stealing from salesmen near the marketplace. Although thanks to the join forces between you and the grass boy Fern, the bandits were quickly dispatched of, it would've been a victory for you two if it weren't for one thing.

"ugh... these weapons are complete utter shit!" you yelled angrily as you tossed the hem of your now broken sword to a bandit running your way, giving him a black eye.

"No wonder that stand looked pretty sketchy-" Fern knock out the last two bandits by smacking them together out cold with his thorny arms. "What do we do now?"

"Well there's nothing to do about it" you crossed your arms with a huff "It was my fault for going there, and now that old hack has my money"

Fern was beginning to feel angry himself, making his way towards you "Hey now don't say that, he's the terrible person here not you. Let's go get a refund" he placed a hand on your shoulder trying to convince you to fight back.

"You think it would work?"

"If it doesn't, I'll punch him til he does!" Fern hand formed a fist for emphasis.

This made you laugh a little, placing your hand to lower down his angry fist "I don't think it'll go that far, let's try to talk it out with the old hack first"

Fern grumbled something under his breath before complying "Alright let's go!"

The sketchy salesman was sitting at his weapon booth until he was approached by two adventurers.

"Howdy!" he greeted happily until Fern smacked a hand to the booth's able.

"Cut out the slack old man, and give my friend her money back!" Fern came off strong as bad cop to intimidate the man, but the grass was quickly interrupted by you who seemed to fill in the role of the good cop.

"My apologies good sir, you see I bought a weapon from your shop but it seemed it was in bad shape since it broke in half in mid-battle so I come to thee and ask for a refund" you explained in your most positive voice possible, to which Fern didn't agree on but he back you up nevertheless.

"Yeah!"

"Ouch sorry to hear your misfortune fellow adventurers-" the man had an apologetic voice which raised your hopes at having your money back, but Fern knew better, he could smell the falseness coming from the guy "I'm afraid I have a strict no refunds policy"

"What? Where!?" you raised your voice.

To answer your question, the salesman proceeded to pull out a sign from under the booth's table that read in big bright red letters "no refunds"

This of course infuriated you and brought a frown on your face, but if you were this angry Fern was furious, hellbent on threatening the guy on the spot

"Listen here you little piece of shi-"

"Excuse me for a moment sir-!" you carefully tugged Fern away from the salesman before he could bring hell onto him and the entire market.

"What the flip (y/n)? I was about to smash that guy into pieces until he gave you your money back!" the idea sounded noble in his head, but it was much more violent when he worded it out loud.

You placed you hands on the young grass's shoulders to try and ease him.

"Hey, hey easy there buddy, as much as I want you to teach that guy a lesson it's not a good idea if it'll just send you to the slammer" to prove your point you nodded towards a nearby knight who was doing his duty of guarding and keeping peace in the market.

"Now, I like your enthusiasm-! But I feel we can use it in a less violent matter and in a more creative way, something more passive aggressive if you catch my drift" you rubbed your hands up and down Fern's forearms as a way to calm down his shakiness and unknowing thirst for violence.

Fern seemed to open his mind for your reasoning, not to mention the brief physical contact eased his nerves so he was willing to cooperate. "And how can i do that?" he genuinely inquired.

That was when you released him from your grasp and took a more thinking position, letting the inner gears of your brain work for a second.

It didn't take long for the two adventurers to go back to the sketchy salesman, but instead of sneering anger in their faces they received the man with suspiciously friendly smiles.

"Good day sir" you greeted once more "Thank you for teaching us a valuable lesson about sales and economy, in exchanged we'd like to give you a gift!"

Fern threw a good amount of seed around the entire salesman's booth, irking an eyebrow from him.

"We'll plant these lovely sweet-scented flowers around your booth so it can attract more customers, you'll see them flourish alongside your business in no time!" Fern added as he planted the last few seeds he produced from the palm of his hands.

Fern gave you a mischievous smirk and a thumbs up when he was done, getting a nod from yourself.

"Welp that's all for today, see you later good sir!" you waved with a fake smile, the grass boy following up behind you with a small "See ya" towards the salesman. In reality the two of you snuck behind another tent with small giggles like a pair of kids doing a prank "Now, all that's left is to wait"

True to your word, the seeds didn't take long to grow into lovely flowers with a rather strong sweet smell. The salesman didn't mind, in fact he was thrilled to have the new plants around, believing they will make his booth look better and attract more clients.

However with the surge of the flowers attracted more than just clients, soon enough the sweet scented flowers started to attract bugs, not only butterflies and ladybugs but also bees and wasps, scaring away any potential costumers the salesman could've made.

The said salesman was currently swapping away at the bugs with a rolled newspaper.

It was the perfect moment for you and fern to walk towards the weapon booth with the smuggest smile ever seen.

"What's wrong mr. salesman? looks like you're in a pickle"

The salesman gave you and fern a glare "You two!" he slammed his hands on his table.

"You didn't like our gift?" Fern placed a hand on his chest, pretending to be hurt.

"Gift?! You're so called 'gift' is scaring away my costumers!" he yelled, to which you simply just placed you hands behind your back.

"Hmm I don't think I like your tone. Come on Fern, let's go home where you can keep telling me about how your flowers are strong enough to survive anything" you turned on your heel, ready to leave until the salesman called out to you two with a defeated tone.

"Wait..." he sighed "What do you want in exchange to remove the flowers?"

You and Fern looked at each other before smiling at the same time.

"Wow, I can't believe it worked!"

"What? You didn't have faith in my plan-?" you raised an eyebrow rather playfully, counting the cash from the weapon refund in your hand.

"It's not that I didn't trust you, it's more like I didn't trust myself" Fern admitted, earning a sympatric look from you.

"How so?" you pocketed the cash, turning your attention towards the grass boy.

"Well..." he was a bit conscious but considering her already said too much, there was no backing out "I thought I was just good at punching and slicing things with a sword, so I never knew I was capable of doing something else" he tighten his grip on your grocery bags, until he felt your hand on his shoulder

"Fern, if today was proof of anything it's that you're more than capable of something else than violence, with your abilities you can do a whole bunch of cool stuff! Either by creative ideas of yours or someone else, hell, in fact I think we work pretty well together." you smiled.

The look on the young man changed, any trace of doubt turned into surprise and then flustered happiness, causing him to look away like a tsundere schoolgirl.

"To be honest I'm just good with a sword and blunt fists, but you're right about one thing, if you are there with me I think we can kick anyone's ass" he said rather cheeky, trying to avoid getting sappy, however it still didn't stop your words from tugging his heart strings.

"Well then, we should team up someday" you suggested

"I wouldn't mind tagging along with you in more adventures, but we'll need more ideas cause I don't think planting flowers is a good against monsters"

You responded by playfully bumping your shoulder against his.

 The sky was beginning to turn into a pinkish orange as Fern walked you home, the day that was originally planned to do some adventuring was instead spent at the market, it wasn't what you had in mind but you two agreed the day wasn't a waste.

"Sorry again, for the trouble" you apologized sheepishly, for the 3rd time, sticking your key into the door lock and helping fern place the grocery bags on the table.

"You're starting to sound like a disc stuck on repeat" the grass joked "It's okay, atleast we have your money back" Fern reassured you.

A sweet smell filled his nostrils, unlike the flowers he planted earlier, this sweet smell was sugar and... plant like?

"Did you left cooking something?" he asked.

The question brought a surprised expression to you face until it settled to a calm smile. "In fact, I do!" You dwelled into the kitchen for a second until you pulled a tray with something on it.

"was supposed to be a surprise for when we came back from adventuring, but I was short on ingredients" you rushed to the table and pulled out said ingredient from the grocery bag, making your way back into the kitchen to fumble around as you continued to explain "I notice you were pretty down. It I wanted to bake something for you, but Finn told me there are a few foods you can't eat so I decided to experiment my baking skills" after adding the last touch, you brought the tray towards a curious Fern with a smile.

"W-what's that?" the young man tilted his head to side, bringing a chuckle from you.

On the tray there were two rows of integral green colored cupcakes, but the most eye-catching detail of the cupcakes was that they were shaped like Fern.

"They're Fern cakes!" you exclaimed proudly. "I made them specially for you, they're made of integral, cinnamon and some of that dirt that's nutritional for house plants. Try one" you insisted. 

For a moment Fern thought his heart was going to burst out of his chest, he even thought his eyes were going to tear up from the sweet gesture. The grass couldn't help but feel the parallels from when Finn shared his Finn cakes with him, despite Finn's good intentions as accepting him as a Finn, they were still Finn cakes, a pair of shoes that didn't fit him no matter how much he struggled. Unlike these, they were his own cupcakes, made to his exact image and digestive needs. Although they were just simple cupcakes, Fern took it as a sign to separate himself from Finn, he can still make different path for himself.

Fern's surprised eyes met your as he took the cupcake and gave it a bite, shocked that he was able to chew on it so easily without any struggle like when he tried to eat meat loaf.

"Soo? What do you think?"

Fern swallowed the remains of his cupcake before a strong taste of cinnamon lingered in his tongue. 

"They're delicious" He responded by giving you an honest heartwarming smile.

Although it made him warm on the inside, it also just made the next action he had to do much more harder if he honestly wanted to be with you.

He needed Finn to break up with you.

He would have to break your heart.

Chapter Text

His thoughts were spiraling inside his head like a tornado, one chasing after another, lifting him up from his feet unable to let him settle on firm land and come to a reasonable conclusion. His knees were weak, palms were sweaty, like mom's spaghetti, but he was already set on the decision he made hours ago it was just a matter of time til he'd have (or Finn more specifically) broke up with you eventually.

Sure Fern didn't like the idea at first, but it was necessary.

"Finn are you alright-?"

Your voice snapped the grass boy out of his deep rooted thoughts, his eyes falling on the picnic basket in his hand and the worried look on your face, it took him a second to remember where he was and what he was doing.

"Oh yeah just wondering if we brought enough food, i'm starving" Fern replied to you in a nonchalantly manner as to ease your worry, he was in his Finn disguise once more but he hoped this would be the last time he'd use it in your presence.

You smiled innocently which only stirred his stomach even more.

"Hey it's alright, we brought enough sandwiches to live off in the wild for days" was your way of reassuring him although you could tell there was something else bothering him. Before you could bring up the topic again your eyes landed on the lovely flower beds you two pass by.

"This place is very pretty, don't you think?" You tried to change the conversation for the sake of making the walk uphill more smooth "Honey Bee hill looks it's best at this time of the year, flowers blooming bees minding their own business by pollinating-" this is why you wanted to come to this place specifically honey bee hill was

Fern blushed a bit a the memory he shared with Finn of Breezy 'pollinating' his flower arm.

He coughed into his fist to clear his throat before adding "So this is why you wanted to come and picnic here?" he asked you, tightening his grip on the picnic basket.

"Yeup, plus i felt it would be nice to spend some time together other than fighting with others... or being asked weird questions at parties that you avoid" you

The boy raised an eyebrow when you brought up a party, noticing how you your body shifted away from him and your eyes looked in his oposite direction, where you referring to the one at the tree house a while ago?

"What do you mean?"

At first you were hesitant, like you didn't want to talk about it but eventually it was something you had to bring up, your footsteps becoming slower as Fern in his Finn disguise tried to keep up at your pace.

"Well, i feel i'm probably overreacting to things but... last week at Jake's party i couldn't help but feel like you were keeping your distance from me, as if that kiss and all the time we spent together didn't happen at all. It's like you were another person" Your face became a little upset at the thought but you continued nevertheless, halting your footsteps altogether as you faced the boy in front of you.

"I know it's only been a few weeks since we've been dating but it feels like we are just doing it secretly. Like, i'm not asking for you to shout to all of Ooo that we're dating but it just, hurts you know? the way you acted at the party, like i was just another one of your dude bros. Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"

Fern had a great respect for you as an adventurer and a person, you were unmovable and firm like a mountain, nothing ever got to you ranging from people's opinion of you or the most threatening of monsters. So the insecurity the felt from you right now was new to him, he felt empathetic towards you since he was a confident swordsman but not as a person in general, he wanted to comfort you, reassure you that he was happy and honored to have you by his side both romantically and as an adventuring comrade- however, he also saw this as his chance.

As Finn, Fern can't be able to express his true feelings. For now, he'll have to do the opposite.

"Oh yeah sorry about that y/n. But being the hero of Ooo is rather hard, expectations have to be met and all, i couldn't just say 'oh sorry ladies i'm taken' in front of all those princesses in the room. I save them daily and they give me kisses and presents all day, do you any idea how many hearts i would break if the news breaks out?" Fern puffed out his chest, trying to make the human boy look like a jerk on purpose.

Of course your reaction was anything but pleasant. The initial shock on your face was soon replaced with anger and hurt. "Are you serious? why are you even dating me?!"

"I dunno, I just wanted to get kisses and such while i wasn't saving princesses" The fake Finn had to look away just to make sure you wouldn't catch on his bluff, but when he looked back at you he felt a knot on his throat yet it didn't make him to loose his stance.

You were fuming and upset at feeling used, the color on your face was becoming reddish as you tried to focus your feelings on anger other than breaking down in tears. "Then i think it would be best if we break up-" you shut your eyes as you tried to keep yourself together "So you don't loose any of your precious princesses" you added with a snarky tone as you turned away from Finn.

Fern didn't feel good with himself in the slightest, but he managed to accomplish his goal and that had to be something. Soon he'll be able to shed his Finn skin forever and comfort you as his true self.

However before you could take another step away from Finn there was a buzzing noise heard from afar and it just kept getting closer.

"What's that-?"

"I think-" You tried to decipher the sound as it sounded familiar, once your memory clicked in you turned back towards Finn with a panicked voice "What day is it today? the beginning of summer right-?!"

Fern was rather confused at you meant and he assumed you were pulling his leg but he remembered checking the calendar today. "Yeah... why?"

You didn't answer him right away but instead you pointed for something behind him "Watch out!"

The adventurer turned around to figure out what got you freaked out only to see a giant hornet with it's stinger aimed directly at him , his reflexes allowed him to block out the attack just in time so the stinger stabbed the picnic basket instead.

Another hornet was heading your way leaving you to pull out your baseball bat to block another stinger as well, causing you to press your back to Finn as you two tried to fed off the insects. "Hornets invade honey bee hills for mating season at the end of spring, scaring off the bees, and let me tell ya- the get really aggressive when they don't find mates" you explained the best you could as you tried to hold back the hornet in front of you, eventually kicking the insect away while Finn pushed it off along with the picnic basket.

"Let's get out of here!" You shouted once there was an open window to leave the hill.

While you prepared to run downhill, the fake Finn stayed in his spot "Heck no, we can easily take these guys down" Fern replied rather cocky as he pulled out the sword you gave him.

You paused on your footing to look back at him with disbelief "Are you nuts-!? If we fight back it'll just get worst!"

Of course Finn didn't listen and once he took a swing at the hornet it didn't take long for more hornets to appear. You blocked out another hornet with your baseball bat trying to land a sting at you "Glob dammit Finn, drop the whole macho adventurer shit and get to the bottom of the hill already!" you shouted angrily, grabbing a hold of Finn's arm you tugged him away from another hornet and pushed him further down the hill, while you managed to get the adventurer away from the hornets to avoid more trouble you unfortunately got yourself surround instead.

"Y/N!" Fern called out to you, trying to get on his feet to save you but you just shouted back.

"I don't need you, I can handle this on my own!" You held your metal bat up to avoid the hornet's attacks "I was an idiot for falling for you, just go-!"

The bat was knocked out of your hands by another hornet, ambushed by the gang of insects as you threw yourself to your ground to avoid the swarm of stings falling upon you, you did your best to dodge the stingers by rolling and crawling on the dirt. Fern felt a wave of anger rush all over him as he saw you struggling in middle of the group of hornets, he caught up to the group to slash at one of them which emitted a negative reaction from you once again.

"I said don't fight back- arghhh!!" you shouted as one of the stingers landed onto your forearm, pain shooting up from your arm into your entire body, if a normal hornet was a pain then this giant one was twice as painful.

Fern gripped the sword in hand, trembling angrily at how he kept making things worse for you, he was soon swarmed by hornets himself, loosing sight of you within a sea of black and yellow, there was a split second where he made eye contact with you and tried to apologize but the only thing he could read from your own eyes was "don't fight back"

You did your best to protect your head with your arms as you thought of a way to escape, but among the buzzing noise and the pain from your arm, your mind managed to process something wrapping around your waist- the hornets were suddenly blasted away by an unknown force, you tried to get a good look of what was happening but whatever was holding your waist violently pulled you forward and away from the hornets. You rolled downhill in the grass and dirt until you bumped into whatever had a hold on you.

"Wha-?" you looked up to the figure standing above you, trying to make out who it was since the sunlight was straining your eyes.

Your eyes widen when you saw Finn, but it wasn't Finn, his usual robotic arm was replaced for a long vine that shifted back into a normal arm, and his skin looked like it was peeling only to reveal a layer of green.

"Come on let's get you out of here!"

You didn't have time to fully react when a hornet was flying towards both of you, but Fern held onto you and blocked the stinger with the sword, you got on your feet and prepared to make a run for it down hill where Fern would watch out from behind. It was imposible to outrun giant hornets, both of you knew that, so when a hornet aimed to sting you Fern protected you with his body by wrapping his arms around you and allowed gravity to do it's work by tumbling you two down hill.

Once the two of you stopped rolling and were out of the hornet's territory at the bottom of the hill, you were met face to face with the grass boy himself. He tried to crack an apologetic smile but all you gave him was a rude shove.

You refused to show your face, so had your back faced to him while you dusted yourself.

"How long have you been doing this?" was all you said, in a low and monotone voice.

"A few weeks ago, when you came with the sword" Fern looked down in shame, standing on his feet as well as he tried to walk towards you.

"But Y/N i can explain!" Fern placed a hand on your shoulder which you harshly slapped away.

"You really think you can explain why you lied and played with me?!" there were no words to describe how you felt, there was a swarm of emotions swimming within you but what you could identify the most was hurt. "I'd like to see you try-" you confronted the grass boy with hot tears threatening to run down you cheeks but you refuse to let them fall.

The grass felt like the guilt was physically tightening around his heart the moment he saw your pained expression. Fern felt a knot wrap tight around his throat, preventing him to speak until he just croaked out a brief "Because i... i fell in love with you..."

You couldn't believe what you were hearing, rubbing a hand across your red teary eyes. "Are you serious? even after everything you did-? how am i supposed to believe anything you say since you've been lying to me all this time!?" you raised your voice, shaking you head as you prepared to make your way.

Fern wanted to follow you, plead you to listen what he did have to say. But he knew it would be fruitless so he allowed you to leave on your own.

The grass boy looked around to search for his sword until eventually he caught glimpse of the shiny metal not too far from him, sadly said sword was broken in half, no doubt after blocking all those stings.

He picked up the pieces and contemplated on how it was imposible to repair.

Just like your heart.

Chapter Text

He didn't feel angry.

or upset.

He felt guilty.

Fern was aware of his actions, he knew that what he was doing was wrong, yet he continued on with his plan despite the consequences he had to face.

And here he was, paying the price of his actions. Currently laying sprawled across the tree top for over a week now, the grass boy didn't move an inch as the tragic day replay in his head over and over again questioning himself if there was a different outcome, regretting the decision he made on picking that specific hill, wondering what it would've been like if he was honest from the start.

Fern shook his head lightly.

He kept dwelling into those questions and imaginary scenarios but deep down he knew that slumbering in the past was pointless, whatever was done was done, he can't take back anything he said and did so all that was left was to let things flow their natural course.

No matter how much he wanted you two to be happy together, it wasn't something he could force onto you.

Finn and Jake took notice on Fern's behavior, especially since he has been in a rather good mood lately so seeing the grass boy grow gloomy all of a sudden was a drastic change. Finn being the kind heart he is, wanted to comfort Fern like an older brother would but Jake suggested otherwise.

"I've seen this kind of behavior before, it's best to leave him alone cause no matter what you say it'll just fall on deaf ears. Give him some time"

"I know but..." the human boy sighed in defeat "You're right man" Finn didn't want to admit it, but he remembered the feeling when princess bubblegum rejected the feelings he had for her.

Fern had his eyes closed as he released the 100th sigh that day

It wasn't until he felt a shadow cast over his face, blocking the sunlight from his already bright green face.

"I said i wanted to be left alone guys-" Fern spoke automatically without even opening his eyes, assuming Finn or Jake came up to check on him again.

"Ehem-" you coughed into your fist, trying to catch the other's attention.

Of course, once Fern heard your voice he immediately stood up from his spot, but not without stumbling a few times. "(Y/N)! uh... I... what brings you-?" the grass rubbed his shoulder ready to speak until you spoke out quicker than him.

"I'm sorry Fern, but I really need to talk to you first"

The grass boy was taken aback with the sternness in your voice, but he allows you to speak out first by giving you some space with a nod. It wasn't til now he noticed how different your clothing was to your usual attire, especially the large backpack on your shoulders. Where you planning to go somewhere?

"Listen, I've been thinking about this for a while. Even if i do forgive you, I can't just trust you all of a sudden, so after much consideration I've come with two options. I could either just leave Ooo and explore other islands without looking back-" you contemplated.

"Or...?" Fern added with a glimpse of hope.

"Or, you could try to gain my trust again" you said solemnly.

Fern was hopeful and determined with the second option however knowing you, he felt it wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Have you ever heard of a cave system called Wander's Grave?" you crossed your arms over your chest to see Fern shake his head to the sides.

"The place built up quite a reputation throughout the years. It's an area where only experienced adventurers and scavengers explore, like its name says anyone who just wander there unknowingly ends ups dead in less than a few days. It's a tough journey which requires more than one person to get out alive... It's hard for me to forgive you, but if you're determined to make things work then we can either learn to work together and rebuild what we had or we get injured in the process."

It wasn't like you were giving him high hopes but instead it felt more like a gamble.

A gamble Fern was more than ready to make.

"Then I'll do whatever it takes!"

You responded with a silent nod "Very well then, let's get going" you turned your back on him ready to walk away.

"Wait, you mean right now?" Fern followed suite right behind you.

"Yeah I'd like to solve this dilemma as soon as possible" you explained as you lowered yourself down the latter.

"Well, we could just talk it out-"

"I think actions can speak more than words this time" was your only dry response.

"hmm, okay just let me tell the boys first" Fern separated from you for a moment so he could poke his head into the living room where Finn and Jake were still playing video games.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go on a dangerous trip with (y/n)" Fern called out to the brothers who continued playing their video game.

"Have fun!" was all they said.

Fern was glad to have a pair of chill brothers, so he grabbed a random battle axe from the wall and headed out of the tree house with you.

The air between you two was rather tense and awkward. You could occasionally feel Fern try to walk a bit closer to you and make small talk but honestly you weren't in the mood for it, so every attempt he made was fruitless. But dang, was he persistent.

"Do you want to go and but some water before we reach the caves?" he asked.

"No, I already pack all my necessities in this backpack" you shot down his offer.

"Nice, nice..." Fern slumped his shoulders a bit, looking around to notice how the grasslands turned into a pine forest becoming denser the more they walked.

You looked at the grass boy through your side view, taking note on how his own equipment consisted of a simple weapon.

"What about yourself? Is that axe the only thing you're bringing?"

Fern eyed the weapon strapped on his back for a brief second before shrugging. "Yeah, I mean, I don't necessarily need to eat food to sustain myself that much"

"Yeah right" You rolled your eyes, continuing with your walk.

"So... what can you tell me about Wander's Grave?" the grass brought up, hoping to improve your mood.

You pursued your lips together, hands grasping the straps of your backpack.

"It's a huge underground environment with its own unique ecosystem and creatures, connected by a system of extensive caves like a deep hole, one way in and one way out or so they say. It's popular among scavengers since there's a rich amount of minerals, crystals and strange treasures, especially in the lower levels."

"Cool, do you go there often?"

"Not really since I don't like joining large raiding groups, like I said it's not suitable for one person only, anything can go wrong without some help, the environment is hostile the deeper you go, not just the area itself but there are also thieves and monsters crawling around. Sure, I might know how to get around in cave areas, but anything could happen, a misstep, poisoning, I could get attacked, eaten, etc. Hence why I have you here, I need you so i can stay alive and you need me to get out"

Fern found it hard to swallow, he understood the gravity of your words the more you talked about the caverns along the way, regretting not coming more prepared like you
Fern found it hard to swallow, he understood the gravity of your words the more you talked about the caverns along the way, regretting not coming more prepared like you. Eventually the both of you two reached a slope that was aimed downward, at the bottom of the slope there was what looked to be a cave entrance with a rock shaped like a tombstone that read "Wanderer's Grave"

"It's a 20-meter drop from here on" you explained, pulling out your own set of rope.

Fern offered a smile with his expanded vine like arms "I could lower us down in a gist!" he prepped.

You on the other hand just shook your head "I can lower myself down, you can jump after me once I check the coast is clear" your voice was stubborn and stern, but Fern accepted your terms nevertheless.

"Ohh... okay, I'll uh, just wait here till you tell me you reached there safely" the grass boy gave you a thumbs up. To which you replied with a dry "Sure"

While you tied your rope to a secure tree trunk, Fern took a moment to lean against the tree and watch you lower yourself down the cave.

The grass boy felt like you were starting to leave him out a lot during this trip, he didn't blame you since he messed up big time and he wasn't expecting you to forgive him anytime soon. So, for now Fern decided he would try his best to win your trust back, that's why he chooses this trip idea after all. He would do all in his power to keep you safe and hopefully work things out, either if you decide to be friends again or not. It didn't take long for the grass to realize it has been a whole 10 minutes since you left, he poked his head into the cave hole and called out "Y/N are you alright?" his voice echoed through the hole with no response.

10 minutes earlier while you were making the trip downwards, you couldn't stop thinking about how unfair you were acting towards Fern.

You can tell he's trying to talk to you more but you just found it difficult to even look at him.

You feel hurt, angry, betrayed and stupid for not realizing you were being tricked, those were strong feeling that just can't be ignored so easily- especially when you're with the person who's causing them. You reached the bottom of the cave with a sigh, the dirt was firm and the air felt moister than the surface level, nodding to yourself that it was a good call to bring different clothing.

The entrance is not dark that's for sure, since it's the closest to the surface level. So, everything was fairly well lit with sunlight peeking from the cave you just came in, the ambiance also felt a whole lot fresher, with green plant life still blooming here and there.

Once you unhooked the rope around you and gave a good look around, you were ready to call Fern until a noise caught your attention. Your hand automatically went for your baseball bat until something was smacked against your hand, dropping the bat in the process.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A newbie scavenger who got lost will looking for dumb rocks?" the owner of the voice soon appearing from behind a group of plants.

The voice wasn't alone since you were soon surrounded by bandits.

"But hey, good for us since you scavengers always carry objects of worth"

One of the bandits yanked your baseball bat away from you along with your backpack

"Give that back you low life oof-!" you were kicked in the stomach before you even had a chance to recover your things, forcing you to lower down on your knees.

"Hey boss, all that she's carrying is climbing gear and supplies" on of the minions informed after opening your backpack.

"Huh, well what do you know, you were actually planning to explore the grave?" the leader of the bandits taunted you "Aw, that's too bad. Looks like your adventure just ended before you could even start" the leader leaned closer to you. To which you took the advantage to land a punch on them, making them angrier but dang did it feel good.

After recovering from the punch, the leader looked back at you furiously "Why you little-!"

Before they could land a hand on you, one of the bandits was pulled upward by an unknown force, alerting the rest of the group "Uh boss, something isn't right-" one of them called out before they were taken as well.

You just cracked up a smirk "You forgot the basic rule of the grave bandit..." you stood up from your spot as the rest of the bandits were taken one by one, only to reveal Fern lowering himself from the ceiling with his vine like arms, standing confidently right behind the bandit.

"...Never wander alone" you kicked the bandit leader right in the stomach with enough force to send them back, only to be tossed way further thanks to Fern's vines.

You stood there triumphantly, your smile faltering when you faced Fern.

"You were taking long, so when I heard you shout, I came as soon as possible" he extended his arm to retrieve you backpack while you grabbed your fallen baseball bat.

"I..." you didn't even know what to say, unsure on how you're even supposed to feel. Fern scratched the back of his neck, but he stood firm and assertive.

"Look. I know you are mad at me; I don't blame you, I messed up, I hurt you bad. But I really want to fix things between us and I know a part of you wants that too since you came up with this trip idea. I'm going to try to do my part, but I need you to cooperate as well or we'll never come to an understanding- you need me and I need you, so, what do you say? Truce?" Fern offered his hand to you, which you doubt before accepting his hand shake, but not without looking at him in the eye.

"You're right about that, but understand that for now we're just exploration allies, not friends and especially nothing more. Got it?" you said just as firm, not breaking eye contact until he answered.

"Got it."

Chapter Text

After a brief trek through the tunnel entrance, the ground became grassy with

"Wait, did we go back outside? I could've sworn we just came out of that cave" the grass scratched the top of his head rather confused.

"No, we're still in the cave" you pointed a finger upwards, or more specifically to the cavern ceiling where the rock was still visible where sunlight escaped through the cracks. "Since this is still the top area, or the first level, things look just like the surface area with plants and everything" you explained, flipping a rock with the tip of your foot to show some weird looking bugs before they scattered away. "But there is still some stuff you don't usually see in the surface"

"Do you think we might find some monsters along the way?" Fern was genuinely excited at the prospect of encountering new thing he's never seen before; you could tell how it looked like he was ready to run towards danger.

"We might encounter one or two." you shrugged, looking for a path that will take you two to the lower levels.

"It's fine with me, we can definitely take any monster!"

You stopped to look back at fern "Just remember this is an underground area, so the species are completely different since they learned to live in dark areas with low pressure" you tried to get fern to understand the new dangers ahead but he didn't to mind.

The area you two were at was quite lovely, it looked like something pulled out from a fairy tale, the green foliage allowed you to collect some edible herbs and Fern to grab a sunlight snack. The grass smiled to himself 'this isn't so bad as (y/n) described it to be' he thought rejoicing the few rays of sunlight that seeped through the underground cracks. The creatures weren't as bad either, they were mostly harmless bugs and herbivores.

"We'll be out in no time" Fern convinced himself rather confidently the more he saw.

Yet, there was a rumbling sound that caught his attention, he was still waiting for you to finish collecting herbs so he had some time to kill, he went to investigate the strange noise which lead him to a couple of bushes.

"Hello?" he approached the bushes, a faint scent reaching his nostrils becoming stronger the closer he got "Ah geez, what's that? it reeks-" the grass covered his nose, imminently pulling himself away from the bush.

But it only fueled his curiosity even further.

It was making his skin crawl.

He used his free hand to reach out towards the bush, moving the foliage aside to see what's behind.

"What are you doing?"

"GaH-!" The young man jumped back at your sudden voice. "Oh, it's you" the grass signed in relief.

Sure, his odd attitude made you raise an eyebrow but it was nothing out of the ordinary so you were quick to dismiss it. "Anyway, I found a path that will take us to the lower levels so let's get going" you pointed a finger to the direction, going ahead as Fern looked back at the bush.

"Ah screw it-" he casually moved the bush aside to satisfy his curiosity, that was until he was hit with an awful stench. The look of shock was splattered on his features, an uncomfortable sensation running down his body the more he looked behind the bush, yet he couldn't peel his eyes away from the sight.

His eyes fell on the sight of a rabbit's dead body, or what he assumed was a rabbit since whatever was left of the animal was a pile of gooey meat with weird swirly purple mushrooms growing it out of it.

"Fern come on!" you shouted from afar, catching Fern's attention away from the body behind the bush.

"Coming!" he replied, stepping away from the bushes and running towards the direction you headed off to.

Which was a good idea, since if he stayed any longer, he would've met the perilous creature that caused the rabbit's demise.

The path towards the second layer was a rather tight and claustrophobic one. At first it was a comfortable walk downwards, the area was becoming dim, the atmosphere was becoming rather humid, the common bright green plant life was slowly being replaced by darker toned plants, roots and mushrooms. Walls of dirt and stone were growing higher the deeper you two went. Before you knew it, the path had turned into a dirt corridor, pushing you closer to the grassy young man whenever you liked it or not.

"You sure you wanna keep going through here?" Fern asked.

"We've already gone this far. We would just be losing time if we go back" you explained with a sigh.

"You wanna change spots? that way you'll be able to guide the way" the adventurer offered.

The path was too narrow for the two of you to walk side by side so he was in the front while you were in the back.

"It won't change much since we're heading in one direction, but sure I guess"

While Fern stopped on his tracks you made an attempt to squeeze past him, but when you tried to do that, your front was facing his front so there was an awkward moment where your chest was pressed against his. Fern grew flustered, his cheeks toning a darker tone of green when he felt your breath against his face, your heart thumping in a steady beat while his was spiraling out of control. For that brief moment you would've loved to stay just as close to him, but your pride didn't allow it.

Squeezing yourself away from Fern after snapping back into reality.

That's what this trip was for after all.

Fortunately, the path did begin to change, but not in the way you were expecting.

The ground felt soft and mushy as if you two walked into a swamp. It was enough to make you doubt the path you choose.

"Something feels off-"

The soggy dirt you and Fern were stepping on didn't take much to give out due to the weight and caused the both of you to fall into a dark hole. You may have not been quick enough to react when gravity pulled you down but Fern was the first to call out your name, a vine wrapping itself around your waist successfully keeping you suspended in midair.

"(y/n)! are you alright?" the grass boy shouted rather concerned, he must've managed to grab onto something with his other arm which explains why you weren't falling into the dark abyss below you.

"Yeah I'm fine" you reassured the boy, but you mentally cursed yourself at the lack of a path. How are you supposed to reach the lower levels now?

"Guess we can only go down from, here right?" Fern chuckled in an attempt to hide his growing anxiety, slowly raising you with his stretched-out arm until you were safely in his hold. Although you didn't want to admit it, you were grateful to have Fern to hold onto since darkness was the only thing enveloping around you, in a way the plant boy's presence offered you some comfort.

"We're already here so... onward my fellow grassy companion"

At your approval, Fern begin lowering you two into the unknown abyss with the vine like arm that served as a rope. It was actually, pretty useful.

"How long can you stretch your arms like that?" you questioned him, wrapping your arms around the nape of his neck

"Hmm... last time I checked, about 20 meters" he said with a hum, using his free arm to wrapped around your waist to keep you from slipping. You raised an eyebrow at him but you dismissed it for now since it was just another safety measure for your current situation.

The smell of wet dirt filling your nostrils.

There was a moment of silence between the adventurer and the scavenger as he lowered you two at a slow pace, even if there was elevator music playing in the background it wouldn't make the tension between you two any less awkward.

"It's pretty dark" Fern noted. When the ground made a hole at least there was some light going through, but now that Fern lowered you two for a couple of minutes now it became so dark that you couldn't even see his face.

"It's creeping me out honestly- well that, and the fact we don't know how deep this hole is" you made an attempt to reach a glow in the dark stick from your backpack but the fear of letting go from Fern was too much to allow you to move.

"Here, let me try something" the grass offered before shutting his eyes, not like you could see him, humming while his brows furrowed in concentration.

"What do you mea-" you cut off mid-sentence the second Fern was beginning to emit a soft green glow, your eyes widening in surprise. "Whoa, how are you doing that?"

"It's something I accidentally found out when there was a black out at the tree house during a storm" he said bashfully, as if it were something that embarrassed him.

"Accidentally?" you tilted your head to the side.

"I... uh. Involuntarily got scared when everything became dark and may have... yelled in panic" Fern looked away "and before I knew it, I started glowing"

You nodded, it made sense to you a little bit since there are plants and living beings that naturally transform their animal or chloroplast cells into something luminescent. Like those mushrooms that can glow in the dark and even some worms.

A smile threatened itself to appear on your face, the thought of this plant boy getting caught off guard and glowing all of a sudden sparked something inside you. "That's cute" you chuckled.

Fern's eyes widen as he looked back at you. "I-I'm not cute! I'm a manly man" he frowned with a blush "I could be a sexy beast if I wanted to-" he shut his mouth after realizing he was saying too much.

Fern's reaction was enough to pull a laugh from you, throwing your head back as your laughter echoed through the dirt walls. He blew some hot air from his nose, relishing how long it has been since he heard you laugh. And how much he missed hearing it.

After your laughter died down, silence began to fall between you two again. But unlike the previous times when you were walking together, it felt more comfortable and less tense. You realized the green hue emitting from the grass was quite comforting, unconsciously finding yourself adjusting closer in his grasp, dipping your head in the crook between his shoulder and his neck. Fern was soon feeling affected by your close presence as well. He took notice on how the warmth from your skin was seeping onto him through your clothes, how it made his heart beat faster, sending a pleasant coziness through his body.

"Fern..."

"Hmm?" the grass closed his eyes, the warmth coming from you making him sleepy.

"...How long were you, pretending to be him?" your voice wasn't angry or upset, since you learned to not let your emotions get the best of you after bursting at him all day, giving him the cold shoulder and all.

Although you didn't give a name, the grass knew who you were referring to. "Ever since I separated from the sword within his arm" Fern opened his eyes with a sad glint, thankful you couldn't see the trouble stir within him. "Ever since then I became lost, without a name or an identity"

Your own eyes widen. You were expecting to know how long he was tricking you, but knowing he has been trying to imitate the adventurer even before that made your heart sink. Conflicting emotions growing inside you, causing your hold on him to become tighter.

"Is that why you looked like him that day?"

Fern didn't reply, he stayed quite before responding "Yes"

"Then if you knew my feelings were for Finn, why you did you keep on tricking me-?" your voice cracked a little, no doubt it was something that still pained you.

"(y/n) It wasn't my intention to trick you." Fern felt his chest tighten in guilt, he removed you from his neck so he could look at you face

"It probably wasn't your intention, but you did it anyway-" you closed your eyes, refusing to look at his face.

Soon enough Fern's feet touched the ground, but you didn't let go of him. Fern drew back his vine arm back into a normal arm so he could grab your face with both of his hands, forcing you to look at him.

"Look at me." he told you, where you shook your head to the sides. "I know you won't want to hear this, but I need you to look at me first"

You were stubborn at first until you begrudgingly opened your eyes.

"We knew. All this time" there was a pained expression in his eyes, yet he tried to stay firm, it was something you needed to hear. "He knew. I knew that your feelings for Finn are beyond friendship. But he doesn't see you in that light, he cares for you like a little sister so he never brought it up because he didn't want to hurt you. I wanted to respect his wishes and treat you the same way, but that day when you kissed me for the first time- I knew I wouldn't be able to."

You looked back at the grass boy with wide eyes. You gripped his wrists while he kept holding your face. You wanted him to be lying, but deep down there was something telling you what he was saying was the truth.

There was so much more that Fern wanted to say and do, but he was interrupted by the screeching on an unknown animal not too far from the both of you.

You shook your head to the side "We need to go. This isn't the place to be talking about this" you let go of his wrists where Fern in exchange released your face. "Let's just keep on moving"

"You're right"

Thanks to the help of your compass you were able to pinpoint in which direction to head. The area was extremely humid, if it wasn't for the glowing mushrooms and other plants illuminating the lower level you wouldn't be able to see a thing.

"This place is steaming hot" you shook your shirt in hopes the ventilation could stop you from sweating.

"It's not all bad" Fern in the meantime, being a grass/plant boy, himself was content with the atmosphere, but what did worry him was the lack of sunlight. He eyed the large mushroom like structures made of stone and moss along with actual mushrooms "If you want, I could raise you to the high ground" he offered kindly.

"I understand where you're coming from, but it's not a good idea." you pursued your lips together. "The lower we go the more pressure it places on us; we haven't experienced any of the bad side effects since we reached the lower level slowly, but if we go up in rush without letting our bodies adapt- it wouldn't be pretty"

Fern raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?"

"Well, have you ever gone scuba diving?"

Fern shook his head.

"Well, when the divers go deep into the ocean they have to resurface slowly or else the quick change in pressure would crush their bodies. I don't think it would affect you that badly since you're mostly made of grass, but if it were me..." you trailed off once Fern looked at you with wide eyes, understanding what you meant.

"So how will we be able to leave these caves without you getting hurt?"

You showed him your compass, noticing you guys were heading in the opposite direction to where the needle is pointing "Wanderer's grave is rich in minerals, so if we head to the opposite direction of where the needle is pointing we should be able to reach an area where there isn't any more plant life and the ground raises up and find the way out" you mused.

Fern released a sigh in relief, seeing how you seemed to have things under control.

He caught a whiff of something which made his face scrunch in disgust.

"Bleh- there's that gross smell again" he waved a hand in front of his nose.

"What gross smell?" you halted on your steps.

"Earlier when we were in the higher level there was this weird smell coming from a dead animal" he explained much to your worry.

"D-did it have mushrooms poking out of it?" you stuttered, something akin to fear in your face as you grew pale.

"Yeah... they were purple with swirl designs on them" Fern was beginning to worry due to the way you reacted.

You gripped Fern's wrist, tugging him as you practically jogged. "We have to leave from the mushroom and plant life as soon as possible!" there was an urge in your voice, which only made the grass all the more confused.

"Why? (y/n) what's going on?"

"That dead body you found with the weird mushroom, there's only one creature I know who does that to its prey from word of other scavengers." you didn't have time to explain since a large shadow jumped in front of you, blocking your path.

The large animal closely resembled a wild boar, but it had purple mushrooms growing from its back and six eyes that looked down at you, as if it was eyeing its next meal.

You were frozen on the spot where Fern gently pushed you behind him, pulling out his battle axe. "Don't worry (y/n) I'll turn this sucker into a nice loaf of pig meat" Fern tossed the axe towards the boar who was running direct towards you two but the creature predicts where the axe was heading and dodged it.

The shock on Fern's face was evident, you grabbed his arm and started running. "LET'S GO!" you shouted.

"This isn't your ordinary wild animal, I heard this thing can predict things with its six eyes" As you tried to create distance from the boar you tried to zigzag your way through the plant life but the boar was faster, catching up from behind. It jumped in the air in an attempt to capture Fern in its maw but he made a motion to blocked the attack with his sword. "DON'T!" you picked up a rock and smash it against off of its eyes. The attack left an opening where the boar stomped its legs angrily, attacking with its tucks all over the place.

Fern called out your name gaining some distance before pulling you towards him with his vine like arm.

"Don't let it touch you, it's tusks are poisonous-" you panted, feeling a rush go through your body. Could it be adrenaline mixed with fear?

Fern could only eye you with an unreadable expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Y-your... your arm..." the grass pointed to your exposed forearm, there was a visible cut that didn't look too deep but it was leaking a clear purple liquid nonstop.

You cursed under your breath as Fern picked you up in his arms making a run for it, however the creature had other plans, blocking any route of escape the grass took.

"...go up!" you pointed to the stone mushroom structures, each one becoming higher than the other "it won't be able to reach us with its stubby legs" you gripped Fern's arms, suddenly a wave of nausea falling over you.

Fern looked back and forth between you and the creature. He was obviously torn in worry due to the conversation from earlier stuck on his mind. "B-but, what about the pressure?" fern asked out loud, dodging an attack from the mushroom boar's front legs.

"There's no time to think this through, we don't have another way out since it predicts which direction we'll run to-"

The grass boy held you close, he tried one last attempt to run in the opposite direction but the boar was quick and blocked him, preparing to stab him with its tusk.

"JUST DO IT" you cried out desperately, Fern's body reacting on his own and against his subconscious as his free arm turned into a vine and grabbed onto the mushroom shaped rock, raising the both of you upwards. Once he reached the top, the boar was still making an effort to reach you so Fern jumped up a few more rocks until he reached a stone cliff, making his way to land on one of the ledges.

Although they managed to escape the mushroom creature you weren't safe yet. Fern carefully placed you on the ground of the cliff ledge, it wasn't too big but it was spacious enough for the both of you.

"(y/n), are you okay? how are you feeling?" the grass asked worryingly, noticing how you were heaving while you tried to sit up.

"My vision's getting blur-" you couldn't finish your sentence since the nausea got worse, forcing you to empty the contents in your stomach, Fern carefully got closer to you, rubbing your back in comfort as you finished. You tried to look back at your hands but you couldn't see a thing, what you did feel was a drip of something wet on your palm.

"Fern-?" you called out to the grass.

But Fern couldn't speak, his features morphed into fear and anguish at the sight of blood dripping down your nose and ears. Your eyes teared up at the jolt of pain burning inside you, letting a bloodcurdling scream rip through your throat as you passed out- your body unable to cope with the sensations you're going through.

"(y/n)!?" Fern shot out to grab your fallen body, calling your name in vain as he teared up as well. "(Y/N)?" he laid your body down again, rushing to pour water on a ripped piece of cloth to soak up the blood. "no, no, no..." he tended you the best he could, wrapping another piece of cloth on your arm to avoid the poison from spreading. However, it didn't stop the skin around the cut to gain a purplish tint, images of the dead animal he saw earlier haunted his mind.

Is that what the poison will do to you?

The grass shakes his head to the sides as he closed his eyes shut. No, he didn't even want to find out.

Without giving it a second thought, he lowered himself to suck the poison from your forearm, spitting it out as he squeezed the wound with his thumbs. Once the purple substance stopped gushing from your forearm and started dripping blood instead, Fern grabbed a first aid kit from your backpack, disinfecting and wrapping the wound the best he could.

"Please..." he muttered "...don't go..." tears pricked at the edge of his eyes, wiping them after they landed on your unconscious face. "...I need you"

Chapter Text

Fern dragged his feet against the rough terrain with exhausted pants. The boy looked back at your unconscious body behind his back, carrying you in a piggyback with a few vines to keep you from slipping. Normally he wouldn't have trouble considering his tip-top condition, unfortunately the lack of rest, water and sunlight for the past 36 hours was finally taking a toll on him, causing this trek up a 45 degree higher ground to feel like going up a literal mountain. His footing felt like it was getting heavier with each step the more he walked upwards. The area lacked any plant life whatsoever, the humid dirt was replaced for a gray sand that served to tire him out even more, volcanic rock encapsulated around him like a tunnel, trapping the dry and dusty air inside this long tunnel due to the lack of wind.

Fern took a moment to catch his breath, leaning against the rocky wall for support since he felt he was becoming dizzy the second white spots started appearing in the edge of his side view. He has walked for hours and he still couldn't see the end of the tunnel, just an endless darkness illuminated by the natural bio-luminescence of his grass body.

"How long does this cave go on?" Fern's ears strained at the sound of his own voice, he was so used to the dead silence that any minimal sound felt alien to him.

The obstacles were nothing to laugh at, he underestimated Wanderer's Grave when they first arrived. Wondering if this place was truly his grave.

[A few hours earlier]

Back at the cliff Fern tended your wound the best he could, producing medicinal herbs from his body to either feed you, rub them on your cuts and changing your bandages ever so often. He's a fighter, not a healer so he didn't trust his own work that much. The grass boy simply sat at the ledge of the cliff, looking down at the dark greenery below him.

All he could do now was wait.

But waiting was making him anxious. Maybe you had some internal organ damage he wasn't aware of? What if your arm developed gangrene? would he have the guts to amputate your arm? Fern didn't want to think of these questions, but it wasn't something he had control over. The worried boy decided to stand up from his seat, opting to summon his grass blade and practice his swings to try and clear his mind.

"It's better than sitting around." he reasoned with himself, warming up his wrists before preparing his weapon.

The grass boy's movements were flawless like normal. However the more his eyes trailed back to your unconscious body, the more furious he was becoming. Swiping and slashing at an invisible enemy which was slowly resembling the monstrous boar more and more, he could feel his anger bubbling inside him. Yet, that wasn't the only thing inside him.

'Find that boar, cut it into pieces.'

Fern rubbed the side of his head, feeling a headache rise whenever that damn grass demon spoke to him. Which didn't make the situation any better.

'It did this to her. Don't you think it needs to suffer just like your beloved is currently suffering?'

The grass boy could feel himself persuaded by the demon. His eyes unknowingly glowing a sinister yellow green the more it spoke and the more he found himself agreeing with it. "Yeah... It deserves to suffer. Just like (y/n)." he gripped his grass blade.

The grass demon felt satisfied with it's influence on Fern, watching it's host embrace his anger and violent ways. But it's spell was broken the moment Fern's eyes landed on you. He stared at your sleeping face with a sense of longing, feeling his anger diminish as he came to his senses.

"No." Was all Fern said, retrieving his sword back into his grass body. "It's not just the boar's fault, it's my fault too." the boy kneel beside you, tucking a strand of hair from your face.

'What? Don't you want to spill blood? i can clearly sense vengeance from you!'

"In that case i should spill my own blood too. It's because of my carelessness that monster managed to infect her!" the grass boy shouted as he broke down for a moment coming into terms with the whole situation. The anger he redirected back to himself turned into guilt. A strong emotion he hasn't felt in a while.

Did he feel guilty for stealing starchy's motorbike and locking him in a closet?

No.

Did he feel guilty for wrecking Finn and Jake's house party for his own benefit?

Not a single bit.

But, did he feel guilty for causing you to get physically hurt by that boar?

Absolutely. And now both of you are paying the price.

'Then what do you want?'

He furiously wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I want to improve and become a better man, someone (y/n) deserves." the boy sob, silently pledging he'll improve as a person for you and for his own well being.

Fern dedicated the rest of his time and energy to watch over you. Making sure you weren't too hot or too cold, letting droplets of water fall on your lips to keep you hydrated and simply keeping an eye around the area. The lack of proper sunlight for himself was getting to him as well, feeling his energy drain and exhaustion take over his body, there was even a moment where he was unconsciously drifting asleep until he heard a group of birds peck at you.

"Get away from her!" he yelled, barely finding the energy to scare them off.

Fern was torn between the idea of leaving you to find water and food many times, but each time he found himself going against the idea. He even considered drinking from your water canteen, but he preferred to keep it for you exclusively.

"It's yours. You came prepared after all, where all i brought was a flimsy axe." he sadly chuckled to himself, dropping water drops on your parted lips.

He didn't feel anything besides exhaustion, worry and stress. That was until he saw you budge from your sleep, a sense of excitement and relief washed over him. Rushing to kneel next to you as you came back to consciousness.

"(y/n)!" he called out.

"Fern? where are we?" it was hard for you to find your voice , feeling your throat to be dry and scratchy.

"We're on a cliff, the same cliff where I kept you away from the boar." he spoke softly, afraid he would scare you or anything.

"T-That's no good." you coughed. "You need to keep moving, we're like sitting ducks if we just stay here." you explained to the grass boy, the urgency in your voice didn't go unnoticed by him.

"Are you sure? what if you're not in condition to move?" he questioned.

"If we stay here until i recover, we'll run out of supplies eventually. By then we'll just as good as dead." you raised a hand to grab onto Fern's shoulder, feeling a wave of nausea hit you and drag you back into slumber. You had to deliver your message as clear and quick as possible. "Listen, there's a rough map with some notes i made based on the terrain of this place, you need to head deeper in the caves until you stop seeing plant life, by then you should be able to reach a dry valley." you felt your sight going blurry. "You'll be alright if you... follow... the roli polies..." your speech slurred a bit before falling unconscious once again.

Fern held onto your limp body, calling out your name a few times in worry before gently placing you on the ground.

"Don't worry (y/n), get some rest. I'll handle things from here."

After finding the map you talked about, Fern packed your things and placed your backpack over his shoulders in front of his body, while on his back he carefully carried you in a piggyback. Securing your lower body around his torso to keep you from accidentally falling, that way he would be able to use his both hands.

Fern followed your notes and walked deeper and deeper into the cave system, the lack of plant and mushroom life was becoming evident as minutes passed, light was becoming even more dim and the heat rose exaggeratedly. He came to understand by the hard way why you called the area dry valley, the once humid soil was drying up and turned into a coarse sand that got everywhere and only made walking harder, plants and mushrooms alike also dried up, evident by the amount of dead twigs scattered everywhere. He lost track of the times he counted more than one skeleton, either humanoid or feral, pursuing Fern to walk faster.

"I'm not going to end up like them." he repeated inside his head, almost like a mantra.

After dodging quicksand and perilous insects. Fern eventually reached a cave opening that matched the note on your map, you described it as a steep tunnel which served as a short cut that connected the dry valley to a supposed volcanic area. There wasn't nothing else written on your notes besides something about geysers. Fern trusted your ability to navigate in subterranean areas, so he followed your instructions without a doubt.

Leaving him in the current situation he's in.

Fern was beginning to feel his movements become sluggish, his condition worsening the more he pushed himself forward. Not only was the endless tunnel a test to his physical strength, but his mental strength as well.

"Who's there?!" Fern called out behind him, swearing he thought he heard someone behind him.

"You're not Finn!"

Fern saw Beemo pointing a finger at him. "Beemo, what are you talking about?" he couldn't help but back up away from the small gaming device accusing him. However he jumped in surprise as he heard someone else behind him.

"You're nothing but a demon!"

The paranoid grass boy whipped his head in various directions. "Jake?" he asked, recognizing the voice to belong to the magical dog.

"You're a monster!"

"We don't want you here!"

"Go away!"

Fern felt himself cornered against the rocky wall by the visions of everyone he knew, no longer hearing the voices echoing from the cave but within his head instead.

"I'm not Finn or a monster or a demon! I'M JUST TRYING TO BE A NORMAL BOY, WITH DREAMS AND DATES AND STUFF." he cried out from the bottom of his heart. "So what if I'm not outstanding like Finn! I deserve to love and be loved for what I am... don't I?" Fern's voice cracks in a sob. His eyes became humid, however he was physically incapable of spilling any actually tears for he was too dehydrated.

"You thought about replacing Finn."

"Monsters don't deserve love."

He heard one of the visions say in your voice.

Feeling too overwhelmed at the accusations, whenever they were real or not, Fern pushed through the crowd and ran. Blindly run deeper into the tunnel without questioning if he was heading the right way or not. Unfortunately the flooring beneath him crumbled under his feet, tumbling both the grass boy and your unconscious body into a hole.

From there on the visions became worse.

Fern saw many things.

He saw his past memories from when he was Finn. He also saw his current memories as Fern, but there was something distorted about them, it was like someone grabbed a mix of images and sounds with a hint of tv static and just tossed them in a blender. Then he saw his memories of you, how your hurt and broken expression slowly turned into a limp body on the floor.

"(y/n)?" Fern carefully approached you, reaching out to turn you around only to see, much to his horror, swirly mushrooms growing out of your lifeless body like that dead rabbit he saw earlier.

"(y/n)?" Fern carefully approached you, reaching out to turn you around only to see, much to his horror, swirly mushrooms growing out of your lifeless body like that dead rabbit he saw earlier
Fern jumped awake at the vision. Finding it to only be a nightmare.

A horrible nightmare.

He found himself lying on the ground still surrounded by darkness, but within the range of his bio luminescence he saw you, the real you. Still sound asleep and just a few inches from him.

"I'm sorry (y/n)..." He apologized, using whatever energy he had left to raise his hand and squeeze your own. "I-I'm sorry for everything, i don't know if i have the willpower to continue." Fern shut his eyes close, hoping this was all just a dream as well.

"Don't say that..." you whispered softly.

Fern immediately opened his eyes at the sound of your voice. Surprised to see you looking back at him with a sympathetic look.

"Of course you do." you pulled the grass boy in a hug, using one of your hands to rub his back as he trembled. "I've seen the amazing things you're capable of Fern, just have more faith in yourself." you comforted the young man in a calm voice, despite your dry throat.

Fern allowed himself to become vulnerable just this once, breaking down in front of you no matter how embarrassing it would be for him later on. "I-I'm so sorry for everything (y/n)." he said from between your shoulder, clinging to your shirt .

"The boar incident wasn't your fault." you tried to ease Fern.

"No, not just the boar thing. I'm sorry for tricking you, I'm sorry for breaking your heart and I'm especially sorry for lying to you. I really want to make it up to you, but look at where that took us now." he shot himself down, believing he didn't deserve forgiveness and even less to have you comfort him.

"I accept your apology Fern, that's all i wanted to hear. That you regret what you did, but I can tell you're trying, I mean, you managed to take us all the way here without my help and I should at least give credit where credit is due." you rubbed his back a little more before separating from the young man.

He wanted to cry once more at his incompetence, but there was something that caught his eye, something small walking past him.

Upon focusing his eyesight, Fern small a roli poli walking between you two. The grass boy lifted his tired upper body to see a trail of roli polies' walking up in a straight line towards a little hole in a specific spot on the wall, Fern slowly made his way towards the wall, placing his palm against its surface.

"It feels fresh." he exclaimed in surprise considering the cave felt like an oven.

Fern connected the dots in his head before digging his hand into your backpack to recover a small pick-axe, using the tool to break into the rocky wall until a stream of water shot from the small hole he made. "It's water!" he said happily, using his hands to cup the water and take a sip from it, thankful to find it drinkable.

"Must be an underground water current. The rocks and minerals in the ground must have purified and make it drinkable" you explained, attempting to lean you back against the rocky wall. "Dig deeper, maybe you can find some edible roots." you said as you rubbed your eyes.

Fern broke more into the hole until it was big enough for him to fit his hand inside and pull out what looked like a beetroot but longer and paler.

"What is this?" he asked, grabbing a few more before tossing you one.

"I think it's called a jicama, but who cares? as long as it's edible." you catch the root in your hands, brushing off some dirt off the root before taking a bite from it, finding it juicy and watery. "They always grow near an area with tons of water, in this case, along side underwater currents." you gladly explain, taking more bites out of the root, realizing how hungry and thirsty you are.

"This is why I'm glad to have you along, there's no way I would've figure something like that out." Fern complemented you, happy to hear your voice again.

After refilling your water canteen, Fern plumped down to sit right next to you, handing you more roots and your canteen.

"Thanks." you said to the grass boy who fell silent all of a sudden.

"I uh, really did mean what i said earlier." he scratch the back of his neck, feeling embarrassed at his little moment.

"It's all behind us now." you swallowed the last remains of the root, reflecting on your memories of you and Finn and how he never acted back on your flirting. "Though I should have expected something was odd the moment 'Finn' accepted my feelings after so long, it was too good to be true." you said with a hint of melancholy, drawing invisible patterns on the ground.

"We... i mean, he does have a special spot for you, it's just that he doesn't see you in that way." Fern brought up in hopes of making you feel better, noticing that sad look in your eyes. "You're fun to hang out with, plus you're smarter than you give yourself credit for. Sure, you miscalculated some things here and there but you make up for it by working on it until you get it fixed. If he couldn't see that in you, then that's his loss." the grass boy expressed happily, without a doubt.

You however, blinked a few times before rubbing your nose with a shy smile. "You think so? uh, Thanks." you responded sheepishly.

Fern was thankful it was dark, cause he was sure you would've been able to see the blush on his face. "Sorry if that made you uncomfortable." he apologized, taking a bite from the root in his hand. "I really did enjoy spending time with you." Fern expressed in all due honesty.

"No, no it's fine. It's just that no one has told me that much before." you said with a wave of your hand, trying to disperse the heat in your face. "We can talk about that later, for now let's focus on getting out of this cave, it's really hot in here." you noted, looking up at the hole Fern fell through earlier.

"Right, right." Fern agreed with a nod. "Can you stand?" he asked, getting on his feet but not without offering you his hand.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure i can walk far." your legs trembled slightly, mostly due because you've rested for a while.

"Don't worry, just hop on my back." Fern offered with a grin, turning around and crouching at a reasonable height.

"You sure?" you asked. Grabbing his shoulders while wrapping your legs around his midriff.

"Heck yeah, I feel better after refreshing up." he chimed, extending his arms just like vines up the hole in the ceiling "Just hold on tight. Though I'm not planning on leaving your side anytime soon." Fern said confidently as he pulled the two of you out of the hole.

Chapter Text

Fern felt thankfully he was out of the tight cavern, and so did you.

Although you were now awake and hydrated, your condition wasn't still at tip-top shape, so Dr. Fern diagnosed he should carry you piggyback style for the time being. At least you weren't unconscious. You could make yourself useful at providing a sense of direction to the team instead of feeling like a dead weight.

Speaking of direction.

You raised you head from Fern's shoulder, curiously sniffing the air. It confused Fern, but he simply looked at you without saying a word.

"You smell that?" you asked, nudging Fern's shoulder to grab his attention.

Fern closed his eyes as he took a moment to concentrate, a small flower popping on the tip of his nose before smelling the air himself. The scent was dry and dusty, but there was also a hint of something rotten, causing him to wince in disgust.

"Yeah, it's gross." He laughed, waving a hand in front of his face to disperse the awful smell. "What is it?" he wondered.

"It's sulfur. Judging by the smell, there could be a volcanic area nearby." you smiled, unconsciously tapping your fingertips on his shoulders happily.

Unlike your enthusiasm, the topic of volcanoes caused Fern to become visibly distressed.

"Umm, it won't result in me drying up and dying right?" he joked, but not without a hint of worry hidden underneath.

You respond by softly patting the top of his head, understanding his concerns with heat.

"No need to worry my grassy companion, if there are volcanoes, it means there should be geysers nearby and just a step closer to the surface itself." you explained, hoping that it was enough to comfort the poor boy.

You two were standing on top of a sand dune. The sight in front of him was just as sandy as when he entered the desert area, but it no longer felt devoid of life. If he looked closely, he could see small plants resembling daffodils, growing from between the cracked dirt.

He mentally groaned at the idea of walking through sand again since it can become tedious and tiring very quickly, like hiking though knee-deep snow. He tapped a finger against his chin, looking down at his inhuman shaped feet before he thought of an alternate idea.

"Y/N..." he called out. "Hold on tight."

"Why?" you asked all of a sudden, automatically gripping on his shoulders with your hands while your legs wrapped around his torso.

"Trust me." Fern said. Tensing his muscles as he started to sprint towards the edge of the hill, continuously gaining speed before eventually taking a jump over the dune and sliding down the sandy hills like a surfer without a board.

Your hold on Fern faltered, but you learned to loosen up a bit after realizing he wasn't attempting a dangerous stunt like you originally thought, in fact, it was quite fun. Air flew past your sweaty hair strands, drying out the humidity that built up in your cranium after spending hours inside the hot cave.

You could feel your stomach sink due to the speed fern was sliding down, just like when you ride a roller coaster!

Although he has never done this before, Fern attempted to keep his balance on his feet just like a surfer would do on his board. As he tried to concentrate, he could faintly hear you giggle gleefully right behind him. The grass could feel warmth bloom inside his chest. Especially after everything you went through, he's honored that he's slowly able to improve your mood.

'I want to make her feel like this more often!' he thought to himself, feeling a wave of newfound responsibility wash over him.

Fern's speed gradually lowered the closer he reached the bottom of the sandy dune until eventually he came to a halt. You removed your face from behind his neck with a large smile.

"That was really fun! Great idea fern." You giggle, unwrapping your arms from his neck.

Fern quickly turned his face forward, trying to make sure you wouldn't see the growing blush on his face.

"It was nothing." He shook his head nervously. "I just wanted to get down as quick as possible." He insisted.

You smiled knowingly, surprising him by patting the top of his head. "It's okay to accept compliments you know?" you said sympathetically.

"Just not used to them... that's all." Fern said slightly embarrassed.

"Then I'll make sure you get used to them." You said honestly, much to the grass boy's delight.

Even though you weren't familiar with this area, that didn't stop you from guiding the young man towards the scent you picked up earlier. Of course, you would've preferred to hold a map in your hands, but it was a luxury you couldn't afford. There isn't a good number of adventurers, biologists or scavengers creating cave maps or guides for Scavenger's Grave per see, so you, just like many before you, were dwelling into this subterranean maze completely blind. All you have is the knowledge and experience you gained over the years and the help of Fern and his grassy abilities.

The sandy dunes were becoming less frequent as the ground slowly turned into a firm cracked dirt valley, in fact you could see a bright orange glow not too far from the both of you.

"That should be the place, if we're lucky we should find a geyser in no time!" you said thrillingly.

Fern stood still as he felt something dim in the bottom of his feet. Amplifying his senses before he felt the ground rumble again but tougher this time.

"Y/n, can there be earthquakes underground?" he asked in all due seriousness.

"I'm not sure, why...?" you wondered until you felt the ground rumble as well.

Fern felt the thin grass hairs on his body prickle up in danger by instinct, instantly jumping a few feet back just in time as a large maw comped down on the area, leaving nothing behind but a huge hole in the dirt.

The maw rose itself from the ground to show its full body as a large sand worm, its circular mouth covering the entirety of its face to the point it lacked eyes, just a cave of layers and layers of sharp needle like teeth.

Although you are wrapped tight to his body with vines and rope. Fern placed one of his hands on you, as a way to mentally say 'It's okay, I got you'

"You know, I don't usually hate worms..." Fern's hand turned into a spiky fist, ready to punch the daylights out of this worm. "You got me in a good mood dilweed, you have 3 seconds to get out of my sight before I bust your face in" Fern threatened, mostly because he didn't want to fight while you were right behind him.

Maybe there was a possibility that this is just a wild animal that will go away if you leave it alone.

"One..." the boy counted, backing away slowly to gain some space.

You felt fear puddle in your stomach, but you still found it in yourself to pull out your slingshot in hopes of becoming more useful.

"Two..." he added, watching the worm hiss at the both of you.

Fern raised his spiky fist, ready to launch at any second if the worm decides to move in any direction that isn't opposite to his.

"Three-!" he shouted.

But before Fern could punch the sand worm, the grass boy was overwhelmed by the smell of rotten flesh, it wasn't like the sulfur smell from before. This was much more familiar.

His eyes went wide, fear consuming his facial features before turning his giant fist into a normal hand, protectively grabbing your legs around his torso. The worm hiss even louder but its attention wasn't aimed towards you two, instead it had a larger opponent to fight with.

Fern rolled away a few feet as a pair of large tusks dug into the ground he was standing on a second ago, belonging to the mushroom boar that attacked them earlier. You immediately felt the color drain from your face at the sight of the boar, the memories of what you went through from its poison still fresh in your mind and body. Feeling your stomach become sick.

"Let's get out of here!" Fern raised his voice in worry. Holding to your legs as he made a run for it.

You couldn't turn around to see what was happening, but judging by the sounds, you can tell the boar and the sand worm were fighting for their next meal.

And the boar is winning.

"I thought we lost that sucker kilometers away!" Fern grind his teeth in anger, feeling the grass demon speak to him again.

"Turn around, kill him" the demon whispered to Fern, causing a headache to hurt in the side of his head. 'Now isn't the time!' he thought to himself.

"He's persistent. Maybe... Maybe he followed our scent. Just like komodo dragons! They tend to bite their prey and track them down later since they know their bite would kill them sooner or later..." you unconsciously looked down to your bandaged wound, shaking the thought of death from your head.

The more Fern ran, the more you noticed the scenery change. The atmosphere turned reddish, the climate more hot and humid, and you could even see cracks of lava in the ground.

"I fear. Even if we keep running, he'll just follow us to the ends of the Ooo." you admitted with a hint of fear in your voice, but your eyes, they spoke of determination.

Just like you theorized, it didn't take long for the smell of sulfur to become overwhelming.

"We're here." You observed the area.

The valley reminded you of the fire kingdom, lava pits causing the area to glow in a menacing reddish tint accompanied by the smell of sulfur and danger in the air.

"Now what?" Fern asked in annoyance, fanning himself since he didn't take volcanic areas too kindly.

"We'll have to kill him." you said firmly. Much to both Fern and even his demon's surprise.

"... Huh, I like her" the demon hums.

"But (y/n)... " Fern looked at you speechless.

"Fern we can't keep running forever. This place is going to hurt you if we stay here for too long, and we don't have time to focus on both looking for a geyser and avoiding the boar." you explained, your hands heading to untie the vines that kept you tied to Fern's back.

Unexpectedly, Fern went to grab your hand to stop you from untying them. You looked at him dead in the eye, but all you saw was fear and worry reflected in his eyes.

"I don't want to lose you. Please, let me do this instead." he pleaded.

You placed your hand on his. Looking back at him with all due tenderness.

"We're stronger if we do this together." you smiled.

Fern felt an invisible force clench his heart at the sight of your smile, he wants to protect it at all costs. There is a reason he's so scared of losing you, but if you had faith in him then he would believe in you as much. It was hard for Fern to come in terms that you two were really going to face the poisonous boar no matter how dangerous it was, he gripped your hand before eventually slowly letting it go.

"What's the plan then?" he asked before adding "I'm not letting you run towards that monstrosity unless you have a plan." Fern said in all due seriousness.

"Remember when we hunted that huge chicken?" you grinned.

Fern cursed internally. "I was afraid you'd suggest that."

After defeating the sand worm in a 1 on 1 fight, the purple mushroom boar sniffed the ground below him, catching a whiff of a specific scent belonging to a pair of humanoid footprints. His feet stomping aggressively into the hot terrain despite the harsh weather, he stubbornly trailed after his next meal until eventually catching sight of you standing just a few feet from him.

"Hey dilweed!" you shouted from afar, earning the boar's attention "You didn't finish the job, I'm still living and kicking." you teased, preparing to make a run for it once the boar saw you.

You hated to admit you weren't in tip-top condition, feeling your legs give a slight limp for every couple of meters you ran. But the plan was already set into motion the moment the boar noticed you. Your feet guided you through the rough terrain, jumping over deep lava cracks, stomping through coarse dirt and avoiding blazing fire pits as the boar slowly closed in on you. Your eyes began to itch, your tired legs started to tremble making the run all the more difficult, but you pushed yourself forward nevertheless, even if your chest began to hurt due to the effort you were pulling off. It was all wort it when you saw Fern's visible tracks on the ground, signaling that the destined route was close by.

You took a rough turn inside the crack between two huge boulders, the tight space enough for you to cross through but not enough for the burly boar to fit right away. Specs of rock and dirt flew everywhere as the animal clashed against the rock in an attempt to squeeze through the gaps, finding it to be a difficult task due to his large tusks. You felt relived for a second. Taking a moment to catch your breath but when he started to climb over the rocks instead, you knew you weren't in the clear yet.

You ran out from the other side of the crack, having the boar jump down from the boulders to give you chase once more. You made another sharp turn between another pair of boulders which were much more spacious this time, having the boar follow you right through them. He was so busy chasing after you that he failed to realize that Fern blocked the exit you two came from with multiple rocks from above the boulders. But the boar didn't pay mind to it, it just meant you were stuck with him now. However, what the boar didn't know was that at the end of the path between the boulders was a huge cliff, the boar didn't have time to stop on his tracks once he reached the edge of the cliff, falling alongside you as you jumped off the cliff without a second doubt.

You would be terrified at the sight of lava rocks under your feet, but fortunately you had Fern to catch you with his vine arms at the last second.

"That was a close one." He pants, sign that he was running around as well.

"Luckily I have you to catch me." You breath out, no doubt tired from all that running.

You crawled on Fern's back in piggyback again as he raised the both of you to higher ground, using both of his extended arms to suspend the both of you in the air and between the cliff ledges like a rope bridge.

"Did we do it? Did we kill the boar?" you asked with enthusiasm, trying to get a better look over Fern's shoulder.

Fern narrowed his eyes, looking over the deep trench in hopes of catching a glimpse of the boar's remains. Fern didn't respond right away, instead he groaned in annoyance before speaking.

"Not really. The stubborn sucker refuses to give up." He tsk the tip of his tongue.

You raised your head over Fern's shoulder to take a look for yourself. In the bottom of the trench there was nothing but cracked stone with lava seeping from between the cracks, similar to a frozen lake, yet the boar skillfully managed to jump from rock to rock across the lava pool and landed on cracked stone just a few inches above the lava. No matter how much the heat from the rocks burned him, he kept running on the cracked stone and headed after you two.

"If we don't do something quick, he'll reach us anytime soon!" you gasped, holding onto Fern's shoulders.

Fern keep a straight face, his mind searching for a solution as he looked around the area. He caught sight another boulder but at the other side of the trench, an idea building up in his head as he looked back at the cracked stone. It's strong enough to hold the boar's weight, but maybe with something heavier...

"I have an idea! Let's go to the other side of the trench though." Fern suggested, using his right arm to pull the both of you towards the direction opposite from where you had jumped off.

Fern couldn't tell if his face was warm due to the heat, or because of the fact that you had your hands wrapped around his neck and your body pressed against his. Fern shook his head. This wasn't the time to feel like a love-struck school boy.

"You doing okay Fern?" you asked.

"Just drying up a little if I'm being honest." he admitted, feeling his mouth go dry the more he talked.

"Don't worry I got your back..." you pulled out your water canteen and a piece of cloth while giggling "Literally." using the wet cloth to drape it over his forehead.

Fern couldn't help but sigh at the humidity on his forehead, letting his skin absorb the water droplets before pulling himself towards a ledge and dropping you off on your feet. You noticed the side of the cliff you two are on is packed with gravel, boulders and rocks varying in shapes and sizes.

"Is he still following us?" the grass boy asked worryingly.

You ran up to the side of the trench, having a clear view of the boar heading in your way. "Yeah. Though i gotta admit he's quite persistent." You nod, noticing the boar covered in burnt marks, most likely due to the lava underneath the stone he is running on, burning him like a stove.

You looked back to see Fern pushing a boulder in direction to the trench.

"Fern! What are you doing? Can't you see all those rocks leaning behind that boulder you're pushing?" you pointed out "You'll could cause a domino effect." You said worryingly.

But Fern didn't stop his efforts, keeping his eyes shut closed as he continued pushing the boulder towards the edge of the cliff despite the tumbling rocks.

"We can worry about rocks later. We have the boar trapped; we won't get another opportunity like this!" the grass boy yelled.

You looked back and forth between Fern, the tumbling pile of rocks and the boar who now reached the end of the trench and was now looking for a way to climb up the cliff. Fern had pushed the boulder towards the edge now, but there was a bump in the way that prevented him from pushing it any further.

"(Y/N)! give me a hand." Fern pleaded, but your eyes remained glued on the pile of rocks that could squish both Fern and the boar anytime soon. "We have to do this together right!?" he said desperately now, snapping you out of your panic trance.

Your hand went straight to your backpack, pulling out your metal baseball bat as you ran up to Fern, you jammed your bat underneath the side of the boulder and pushed your entire body weight on it, causing the force to double thanks to the bat.Just like a lever.

The boulder became unstuck and rolled down the cliff thanks to the force Fern was pushing it. But just like the boulder fell down the trench, so did the many rocks that were on top of it.

It was instant.

The way your body automatically pulled Fern towards you and out of the way of the boulder and the cascade of rocks and gravel.

The grass boy landed on top of you with a thud, accidentally bumping his forehead against yours.

"Ow..." Fern hissed.

"Ouch..." you groaned "So that's what I get for giving you a hand-" you wanted to complain, however you stopped when you opened your eyes to see a pair of blue green looking back at you.

It was brief, but you felt glad to see the grass boy fine and well, forgetting that you would probably develop a headache later. "Sorry." The grass boy smiled apologetically, his breath mixing with yours as he inched closer to your face, eventually placing a kiss on your forehead.

"There, that should make it feel better for now." He said, moving off you to help you stand up.

You didn't have time to react to the gesture once you heard the cries of a wild animal. Both you and Fern took a peek over the ledge of the cliff and down the trench, only to see that the rocks and boulder broke the stone ground the boar was running on like thin ice, causing the boar to fall into the lava pool below. It was a gruesome sight, but it wasn't until you no longer saw the boar where you finally felt at peace.

The boar wasn't the only thing burning in the lava, since not too far from him you could see your trusty and unfortunate baseball bat melting away in the lava. Fern felt sympathetic to you, remembering how he lost his favorite sword too, since you saved him in exchange for losing your bat. And yet, there was no sadness on your face, quite the opposite really.

"Finally, we got that stubborn butt off our backs!" you cheered, feeling a burst of energy come back to you, jumping up and down while holding onto Fern's hands.

"Yeah, it's about time we got rid of that dillweed." Fern nodded, trying to contain the excitement inside himself as well.

Your moment of victory was cut short when you heard a couple more of rocks and boulders fall in the distance, shortly followed by a hissing noise.

You held your mouth in an intrigued expression, narrowing your eyes as grabbed your backpack and headed to the direction where the strange noise came from. Fern followed behind you, climbing over a small pile of rocks before reaching the bottom. The area was full of rocks and gravel too, but what made the are more interesting was the sight of craters in the ground. Feeling curious, Fern walked up to one of those craters to get a good look inside them but his investigation was cut short when you held him back.

"Careful." You said with an ecstatic grin.

Before the grass boy could ask, the ground shook for a second until a blast of how water and steam erupted from the crater.

"Woah!" Fern said in amazement. "How is this a thing??" he asked.

"Remember the underground river I talked about in the cave? It must have made contact with the lava at some point and evaporates it into these geysers." You said, carefully walking around the craters before looking for the right one.

"This one!" you pointed to a specific carter right under a cave in on the ceiling. "Looks like this one is strong enough that it goes to the higher levels. Now we just need something to use as a raft." You ponder for a second.

"Let me handle this." Fern said confidently, using the lasts of his energy to create a huge amazon lily pad, big enough for the both of you to sit on.

"Perfect!" you clapped your hands together.

Fern placed the lily pad over the crater, picking you up in his arms before carefully jumping on top of it.

"Having fun?" you asked the grass boy in a taunt.

"What? The lily pad isn't that big for the both of us to sit side by side." Fern said playfully, mostly just as an excuse so he could carry you in a different way that isn't piggyback.

"Sure... just do me a favor and smack the side of the crater with your giant fist, it should be enough force to cause it to erupt." You explain just as playfully, missing this kind of banter you had with the young man.

"Aye, aye captain." Fern pretended to salute as he followed your instructions, using his hand to turn it into a giant fist and landing a blow on the side of the crater. It didn't take long for the crater to shake after that.

"Any idea on where we're heading next?" he asked, holding you tight against his body for protection.

"No idea." You smiled sheepishly. "But when you're at the lowest point, the only place you can go is up." You said confidently before the geyser erupt, it's steaming water shooting the both of you upwards and into the hole in the ceiling above you two. Sending you two off to the unknown.

Chapter Text

The force of the geyser shot you two through a tunnel at a high speed, you held tight onto Fern as he wrapped his arms protectively around you. It was dark, although you kept your eyes shut you could feel water droplets splatter on your face. Fern shut his eyes as well, but he kept one open in case anything comes up.

Fortunately for him he saw a light at the end of the tunnel, mostly likely the exit.

"Hold on." Fern said, as he held you bridal style, making and effort to stand on the lily pad. Embracing his legs to jump once they reach the end of the tunnel.

Fern didn't let the geyser take them any higher one they were out of the tunnel, jumping off the lily pad and rolling alongside the muddy ground with you in his arms.

You wiped the mud and water off yours eyes to get a good view of your surroundings. The first thing you noticed was that the ground under you was wet, no doubt because of the water sprayed by the geyser, but it was the familiar sensation of dirt and grass. Meaning that wherever you two were, it must be close to the surface level!

Fern still had his arms around you. You grinned at the grass boy, wrapping your arms over his shoulders in glee. Fern was surprised to see you return the gesture, although he meant it more as a way to  protect your fall.

"We did it!" you cheered optimistically.

"We're not dead!" Fern celebrated himself just as happy.

You looked around the new place you two were at, finding your legs to cooperate in sync despite the running you did earlier. The area was tropical in a way, there was plant life and tons of puddles of water, most likely from the constant geysers eruptions. The plant life had great variety, from purple to reds hues, but what stuck out to you the most was when you saw the occasional green plant which stuck out between the odd fauna. You calculated two plus two in your head, snapping your fingers together when you realized.

"Fern! Look at these plants. They're green, which means they have chlorophyll cells." you rambled unconsciously at a group of green plant, just confusing Fern.

"Which means...?" he added on, knowing you were up to something.

"Which means there should be sunlight nearby!" you held onto Ferns arm, pulling him in a direction where more plants are huddled together.

You two were still underground, there's no doubt about that. But the high spacious cavern ceiling provided space which didn't make you feel claustrophobic unlike the previous areas you two were in. You tried to look up and find a hole in the ceiling that can guide you two out of this level of the cavern, but you couldn't distinguish it from the amount of cracks.

"Dang it. I know there should be sunlight for you around here somewhere." you said desperately.

Fern placed a hand on your shoulder, pulling your attention from the ceiling to him.

"(y/n), you've already done so much for me, but now, you deserve a rest." the plant boy said sympathetically.

You were torn between the grass boy and the green plants you saw earlier. You wanted to help him out by finding a stable source of food for him, but the more you thought about it the more you started to realize how tired your body is and how much your legs ache.

"You're right. I feel beat after the whole boar thing." you admitted. "Where can we sit down for a few minutes?" you asked Fern for his opinion to which he held a hand to his chin, deep in thought.

"I have an idea." he said, carefully grabbing your hand and guiding you to the wetlands were you two popped up. "What is the boiling point for water?" he asked you, giving you a slight idea of what his idea was.

"Water starts boiling around 100 celsius." you respond, raising an eyebrow. "Don't tell me it's what i believe you are thinking?"

Fern nodded. "You'll see." He said. Guiding you to a pond that was a safe distance away from the main geyser, the pond was more like a puddle, deep enough like a kiddie pool but surrounded by dirt, rock, moss and steam emitting from it. Fern dipped the tip of his foot into the water to test it's temperature before looking back at you with a nod.

"It's safe enough." he said, heading to grab your backpack. "I'll be there over there while you bathe." Fern was making his way towards the opposite direction of the hot springs before you grabbed his shoulder.

"Fern wait. You're tired you aren't you? You deserve to relax too!" you defended but the thought made Fern blush. You weren't naive to his reasoning, but you also weren't greedy.

"It's cool (y/n), it's more of a p-privacy thing." he stuttered, noticing you were removing your pants in front of him.

Fern was quick to turn around, to which you respond.

"Come'on, Just don't turn around, as easy as that." you said casually "Plus, we smell all gross and sweaty." you joked, hoping to make light of the whole situation.

The both of you have been through hell, so the least you two deserve was to bath in a hot spring. No matter if it meant bathing at the same time and in the same space, you two are considerably mature young adults after all.

You can't remember the last time you bathe in warm waters. There was this is one time when the princesses invited you to a spa, but that felt like ages ago. Even though it was a mossy pond thousands of miles underground, the hot springs you currently shared with Fern felt like a 5 star luxury. You were back to back with Fern while you rinsed your dirty hair, caked with dirt and grime, not to mention the dried blood and sweat that stuck to your body. Just like you two promised, neither you or the grass turned around or take a peep, but due to the promise there was an air of silence between you two. Just the sound of water splashes and delightful sighs.

"How are you doing Fern?" you asked the grass boy out of the blue, unable to turn around to face him directly.

You could hear Fern raise himself from the shallow water as he gasps for air, most likely going underwater to clean his hair entirely.

"Fresh as a lettuce!" he chimed pleasantly.

You smiled to your yourself, guessing that he's the happiest of you two to be summerge in water.

"How's your wound?" he asked, scrubbing some dirt off his chest.

You looked to your side, noticing the tissue that started to patch itself up, your fingers danced lightly over the wound before responding.

"It stopped bleeding a while ago, must be because of the hot springs." you theorized.

"That's a relief." Fern commented.

You turned your head to look at your clothing, realizing how blood stained it was before you washed it a while ago. You didn't have much recollection of what happened when you passed out, but something that you could sense even when you slept was Fern's presence, you can't understand why but you were able to feel he was nearby. It wasn't until now that you have a clear mind that you realize it now.

"Fern." you said mindlessly.

"Hmm?" the grass boy hums as he continued to wash himself. It was until he felt your nude back press against his back, stopping him from making a single movement as he sucked in air and held his breath.

"Thank you, for well... Practically babysitting me while I was unconscious and all." you said sheepishly, enjoying the physical contact, it had a calming effect on you.

"Oh that." Fern breathed out, relaxing to the contact. "You're welcome, though honestly I wouldn't have done it without you so, thanks to you too." he said, leaning back his head against yours.

You leaned your head against his as well, shutting your eyes in serenity.

"I feel like, I can trust you again." you said truthfully, slowly placing your hand ontop of Fern's.

"I'll treasure it more than any wealth in all the dungeons in the world." he admits, turning his palm upwards to lightly grab your hand.

You two stayed back to back for a minute, not speaking to each other but just enjoying the contact, you've spend so long holding onto Fern one way or another that you just grew used to the young man. You knew eventually bath time would be over so you took the opportunity to ask an intimate thing.

"Back at honey bee hills, remember when I asked you why did you pretend to be Finn?" you brought out of the blue.

"I wish I didn't, but yeah." Fern sighs. Internally cringing at himself for his behavior that day.

"You said you loved me. Did you really mean it?" you asked curiously, tilting your head to get a good view of the side of Fern's face.

You could tell there was a darker tone on his cheeks, but he fought hard to make it go unnoticed.

"I... Meant every word I said." he said firmly. "I'm just sorry it wasn't the right moment to express my feelings at the time." he scratched the tip of his nose in embarrassment.

You perked up in interest at Fern's response. "And what do you feel?" you pressed on.

This caused the grass boy to blush even harder, keeping his mouth shut. You imagined he was having a hard time opening it up. You looked at Fern with a confused expression.

"Come'on, we've been through alot together, you can tell me." you reassured him but he refused to speak up.

Confused at his change of demener all of a sudden, you turned around to face him but Fern strongly refused to look at you in the eye.

"Fern..." you said slowly.

The young boy sighs in defeat.

"(y/n), I like and respect you but this really isn't the time for me to open up the feels vault." Fern stated bashfully.

"But why??" you asked.

"I-I'd rather tell you under different circumstances, and not while we're washing in knee deep water." he explained. Reminding you where you are and your lack of clothing.

"Ooh, right..." you deadpan, turning around to have your back against his, but not without unconsciously sinking deeper into the water. "We'll talk about this some other time." you nod.

"Yeaahh." Fern breathed out through his nostrils, passing a hand through his wet hair with a grin "I'd prefer to talk with a clear head... and not with a hard one." he joked.

Earning a chuckle from you, smacking him lightly on the shoulder.

_________

After that well earned bath, your clothes were nice and dry for you and Fern to continue out of Wanderers Grave.

You two headed upwards and out of the hot humid temperature. But there was a point where you reached a dead end, you sketched out maps, tried to deduce location with a compass and other tools but it was proving to be a frustrating job.

While you were about to blow up, Fern turned his head upwards and noticed a shining light coming from a tunnel above him.

"I'm no expert but, how about we go that way? It looks promising." Fern suggested.

You looked down at your mess of paper and ink, realizing that Fern's idea wasn't too far fetched.

"Sure. Why not?" you said casually.

You held onto Fern's back just like you are used to. He stretched his vine like arms towards the tunnel, grabbing onto something hard and stone like. You took a closer look at the walls before realizing the stones that stuck out from the tunnel.

"Quart?" you said in surprise. "No, not just quarts, there also sapphire and rubies up here."

"Like the ones found in chests?" Fern asked, grabbing onto one quartz onto another to lift himself upwards, like those climbing walls made for children.

"Yeah sorta, but these are natural minerals, a bunch of rocks mixed with other rocks." you explain.

The higher Fern climbed upwards the more visible the light became, sooner or later the light beam reflected on the gems and bounced off each other creating a spectacular light show like no other. Although it was an amazing view, what Fern was more excited for was when he saw the exit.

"It's sunlight!" he exclaimed, motivating him to climb faster.

Fern crawled out of the tunnel and onto the dirt ground with a pant, rolling on his stomach to enjoying the sunlight dancing on his skin.

"We made it?" he asked.

"We made it!" you cheered, falling on top of Fern's stomach. "You did it, I'm proud of you Fern." you expressed your gratitude to the young man with a hug, Fern wrapped his arms around you as well. It wasn't until you heard someone cough that you looked up from the young man.

"Oh, it's nice to see someone finally made it out of Wanderers' Grave." said a content voice.

You saw a male humanoid near the exit you two came from, he was smiling at you two whilst sitting at a make shift wooden booth surrounded by cheap t shirts and souvenirs you would see at a souvenir shop.

"Who are you?" you asked the elder man, removing yourself from Fern.

"Oh, I'm just a salesman. I thought settling shop outside of a dangerous cave system would make a good tourist attraction." the man says happily.

To which Fern responds. "That's a terrible idea." he said. Much to the man's misfortune.

"I know. Not a good investment if I say so myself." the man laments, looking thoughtful. "Honestly you two are the only adventurers I've seen make it out alive in years." he said in amazement, leaning his chin on his hand.

You and Fern looked at each other fondly, knowing that neither of you two couldn't have made it without the other. Truly an accomplishment thanks to team work, communication and of course trust in one another.

"But hey! Now that you two are here, why not buy something to remember your trip?" the man insisted.

"Being alive is good enough." you said,  covered in bruises, scratch marks and scars but Fern on the other hand shrugged.

"I can go for a shirt or something." he said casually.

While Fern looked at the odd knick-knacks, you took a moment to look around. The tunnel you two came from wasn't the only cavern filled with rocks and minerals, there were many more tunnels one could exit from, the area you two are now in was like a cove of sorts with the exit a few meters away. Judging by the smells of salt water, the sound of ocean waves and the sandy ground, it was safe to assume the exit of the coven lead to the beach.

You passed your fingers across a lovely stack of cuartz. Remembering how you lost your precious baseball bat, deciding this would make a great replacement and souvenir.

"Ready to go Fern?" you walked up to the young man who was now wearing a T shirt with the text 'I made it out of Wanderer's Grave and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt'

"Yeup, let's get out of here." he pointed a thumb towards the exit.

"Come again! And don't forget to tell your friends." the salesman waved you two goodbye.

Fern lowered you two onto the beach and in the outside world, thankful to see the extensive blue sky. While you two walked against the shoreline Fern caught attention of the block of quartz in your backpack.

"Nice rock." he teased.

"Nice shirt." you reply, earning a chuckle from the young man.

"You think I should've gotten a cap too?" he said sarcastically.

"Of course, if you wanted to look like a dweeb. Pfft it looks terrible, why did you buy it?" you laugh, noticing how the letters on the shirt were written with a sharpie marker.

"Thought it make a good reminder of the time a boar almost killed us... Or I could give it to Finn." he shrugs. "What's with the quarts by the way?" he asked.

"I want to find a weapon smith who can give it the shape of a baseball bat, you know, to replace the one that fell in lava?" you explained.

"Huh, sounds like a cool idea... Unlike this shirt." Fern said light heartedly.

______

Back at the tree house Finn and Jake were still playing Beemo like usual, in fact they were still in the same spots as where you two just left them.

"I'm home!" Fern announced, walking into the living room to find the brothers glued to their video-game.

"Yo." you said simply.

"Fern, (y/n) nice to hear from you two." Finn said happily despite his focus was stuck on the game.

"How are you two doing by the way?" Jake asked mindlessly, he just like Finn was too concentrated on the game to notice how battered up and exhausted both you and Fern were.

"Oh you know, same old same old." Fern shrug, answering for the two of you.

"I'm kinda tired so, mind if I crash here for a few days?" you asked Finn, mostly out of courtesy since this was their place.

"Sure. You can take the guest room upstairs." Finn waved without pulling his attention from the screen.

"Cool. Come'on Fern." you tugged the young grass man with you, feeling he was just as tired as you are.

As you two walked out of the living room, Jake couldn't help but ask Finn.
"Did you notice something different about Fern?" he asked half heartily.

"Not really, why?" Finn asked, not really caring for anything right now other than beating the boss in the game.

"Oh, nothing..." Jake smiled to himself.

Although Finn didn't notice it, Jake was more than aware with how you and Fern were holding hands.

No doubt sharing the same bed without a care in the world as you two sleep peacefully in each other's arms. Especially Fern, who no longer has to pretend to be someone else, where he can finally be himself with you.

Chapter Text

The marketplace is bursting with life like always. And with life comes longer lines of people waiting for their turn at buying something specific.

You impatiently tap your foot against the ground, your eyes going back and forth to the front of the line.

"Come' on man... I'm gonna be late." you murmur to yourself.

Choose goose reemerged from his stall with what appeared to be a haunted piece of armor.

"This one is perfect for haunted houses, it's also good protection against ghosts!" the goose exclaimed.

You smack your hand against your forehead with a desperate sigh. "Choose goose for the last time, I didn't come for armor I just wanted to know if you had a picnic cloth or something."

"Oh, oh, of course, I have picnic mantel... it's uh..." Choose Goose says nervously. He looked around everywhere except directly looking at you, his behavior was suspicious there was no doubt about it but you didn't have time for this. You are needed elsewhere.

"Forget it, I'll just improvise!" you said out loud, grabbing your backpack and a picnic basket.

"Wait, don't leave yet." The goose tried to call you back but you were already jogging away.

This was a mess. Not only were you late to your first official date with Fern, but you were lacking the main objects for a picnic. After coming back from the underground caves you and Fern blacked out due to exhaustion.

[Flashback.]

You groggily opened your eyes after sleeping for what felt like centuries, your head throbbing painfully due to just sleeping too much. Every muscle in your body was sore, and you were sure your bandages needed to be changed. However, there was one thing that made all of those things go away for a second.

Fern was currently curled into a ball next to you, sleeping peacefully like a child. You felt your heart skip a beat and your breath hitch. He looked adorable.

Fern's sleepy face twitched, his eyes slowly opening in confusion. "This isn't the top of the treehouse..." he mumbles unconsciously.

His eyes widen at the sight of you, his face darkening upon realizing your intertwined hands.

"No its not." you chuckle.

"This is better though." Fern yawns, scratching the tip of his nose with his free hand.

After the incident at Honeybee Hill, most of your picnic stuff was destroyed so by the time you realized you didn't have any proper picnic stuff you made a quick trip to the marketplace.

Your eyes scanned the remaining stalls, trying to look for one that sold cloth.

While you jogged past each stall, there was a new one that caught your eye.

"What the-? hey! aren't you the old man from the caves?" you approached the salesman, recognizing him in an instant.

"Yup that's me, and you're friends with the nice grass boy who bought my merch last time." the old man greeted you with a smile.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"Ahh, business at the caves wasn't a wise investment, so I decided to move here," he explained, leaning towards you. "By the way, you mentioned you made a map of the underground tunnels, didn't you? We could make a deal, you let me make copies of your map, I sell them to other adventurers and we'll divide the earnings 20%" the old man offered you.

"Make it 50% and you got yourself a deal!" you grin at the salesman.

"Deal!" he eagerly shook your hand.

"By the way, you wouldn't happen to sell any picnic mantels?" you plead to the old man, a frown falling on your face when you saw him shake his head.

"Ugh! It's like everything is a conspiracy against me today." you groan, bidding the old man goodbye.

You continue jogging, eyes looking back and forth until you saw a tall man dressed in a gladiator outfit. Using the momentum of your running, you jump over the man but not without grabbing the base of his cape. Ripping it off as you land on your feet, picking up the jogging from earlier.

"My cape!" the man shouted.

"Sorry, I need it for my date!" you apologize.

You were already far away from the man, but you didn't get a chance to hear him mumble. "Aw, anything for a couple of love birds." he coos, raising a hand to his heart.

You felt tall grass caress against your bare legs as you ran through a large field, feeling your heartbeat in your ear and your legs starting to ache.

"Need a ride?" you heard someone say besides you.

You turned your head to see Finn on top of Jake's back while the magical dog ran on all fours.

"You bet I do!" you respond happily. Jumping towards the human boy, he caught your arm just in time and pulled you up, sitting right behind him.

"What a coincidence, what are you guys doing here?" you question the brothers.

"Oh you know, we were just wandering around..." Finn trailed off innocently, that was until you gave him a skeptical look. "Okay, we heard about your date with fern and we just wanted to help out." the adventurer admitted.

"What-? how did you know?"

Finn and Jake looked at each other knowingly, before turning back at you. "Beemo," they said in unison.

The confusion on your face didn't last long before it was replaced by a carefree laugh, shaking your head to the sides. "I should've known, he's always hiding behind Fern whenever I call." you chuckle.

You felt thankful at having the brothers pick up up midday to honeybee hills, all that jogging was tiring you up, not to mention the aching it caused to your legs. But you couldn't help yourself, you just wanted to arrive as quickly as possible. It already bruised your score

"Soo, how long have you two been dating~?" Jake asks in a sing-song voice.

"For a couple of weeks now."

"What?" Finn exclaimed in surprise. "That's a long time! And you didn't tell us?"

"I figured you two weren't interested in romance stuff and all that jazz."

Finn crossed his arms over his chest, pouting in the opposite direction from you. "... A heads up would've been nice," he grumbles under his breath.

"Ohhh, I know what's going on. Finn is jealous~!" Jake teased, causing the human boy to lit up in bright red.

"No, I'm not!"

Feeling sympathy for the boy, you pat his shoulder. "Aww, don't worry Finn you'll find someone your age instead of falling for girls older than you." you poke fun at the boy, enjoying his flush expression.

It was kind of weird. You had a huge crush on Finn only to eventually have it die down when you realized he didn't feel the same way for you, but now seeing that you are taken made him jealous all of a sudden? Guys are tricky to understand. Then again, maybe it's because he's jealous of how you and Fern kicked it off so easily? You felt pity for the boy, knowing his history of crushing over Bubblegum and Marceline that didn't go anywhere.

"But really, maybe we can take a day to search for someone your age. We could even have triple dates with you, me, Fern, Jake, and Rainicorn." you kept the boy hopeful. "Isn't that right Jake?"

Jake nods, smiling whole-heartedly at his brother. "Of course! I could go even out and ask Flambo for some help."

"See Finn?"

"... I guess that would be nice."

"That's the spirit!" you smile.

Jake's running slowed down to a light jog before eventually walking into a flower field filled with buzzing bees.

"We're here," Jake announced. He lowered the height of his legs so you could jump off his back without a problem, using one hand to hold on the cape you stole and the other to wave the boys.

"Thanks a lot, guys!"

"No problem, have fun!" Jake waved, turning around to head back.

"Tell Fern we said hi!" Finn says.

"Will do!"

By the time Finn and Jake were a good distance from you and out of ear reach, did they start talking about you?

"You are jealous cause (y/n) is specifically taken, isn't that right~?" Jake teased his brother once more.

"Shut up," Finn replied immediately.

The sweet aroma of flowers invaded your sense of smell, similar to walking through a soap aisle, but instead of chemicals, it's natural scented plants. Climbing up the hill certainly brings back memories, like the fight with those giant wasps, Fern's identity reveals, and even your breakdown at the moment. They aren't good memories but you moved on, and that's why you wanted to come here again. To build new memories.

Speaking of which.

You look at the ripped cape you brought to the picnic. "Great, now everything is ruined." you sigh, almost reaching the top.

You're taken aback by the sight in front of you. Having to rub your eyes just to make sure you weren't dreaming.

"Hey, look who's late now." Fern taunts you. Laying on his side atop an extended picnic blanket, surrounded by a few snacks and drinks. "Thought you wouldn't show up." he pretends to look at his nails.

You close your mouth.

"Well done Mr. Fern, very cool. You've impressed me," you say with a giggle, clapping your hands.

He's always late when you two met up, but now, he's completely made up for it and it's impressive.

"Why, thank you (y/n). Now, may I offer you a glass of soda or juice?" he asks, raising either beverage in hand.

"Your pick," you say, sitting down on the picnic mantle.

"What's with that ripped cloth by the way?" he points to the cape you dropped.

"Oh, it's a cape I stole from someone," you said casually.

"Wow, and I thought I was the bad guy here," he said sarcastically, earning a chuckle from you.

"You're not that bad. I'd say your badness level has lower over the past few weeks."

"How can you tell?" Fern passes you a cup, finding out he combined both the juice and the soda.

It doesn't taste that bad.

"I just do. I keep a good eye on ya." you lean forward to pinch his cheek.

Fern playfully smacks your hand away from his face, cracking a grin at the gesture.

"Anyway, let's eat. All that jogging has me starving." you pat your stomach.

Fern dug a hand through the picnic basket for he could hand you a sub sandwich, unconsciously licking your lips before taking a bite. The grass boy, on the other hand, grabbed a water canteen and took a few sips from it.

While you devoured the sandwich you could feel Fern's stare on you, whenever you turned to look at him he would quickly find the ground to look rather interesting. It didn't bother you, but it was a clear sign that there was something in his mind.

After swallowing your food, you cleared your throat to speak up. "I'll make it up to next time and bring more of those Fern cakes." you assume. He can't eat normal food, so maybe he wants to join you while you eat?

"Oh? No, no it's just..." his eyes trailed in your face before landing on your mouth. His face growing a dark shade of green.

Ooh, this must be good.

"I... Uh..." he scratched the back of his neck. "We've been dating for a while now," he mentions, looking away.

"We have." you nod in agreement.

"But um, we haven't... I mean, I wanted to ask if I could, uh... Kiss you?" Fern asks bashfully.

You broke into a small laughing fit.

"Sure. Though I'll most likely taste like a sandwich." you lower your food.

"I have terrible timing." Fern chuckles.

"You do. But it's fine Fern, yes you can kiss me."

Fern inched closer to you, trying to keep himself steady no matter how hard the heart was beating. Was it his heart? That isn't important right now. But before he could come closer to you, you placed your palm on his face.

"You gotta catch me first," you said playfully.

Shooting up to run downhill only to have fern blink for a moment, before chasing after you.

Flower petals flew in the wind whenever you ran past them, creating a lovely scene where you giggled each time Fern's hand brushed against your shoulder until you roll out of the way and out his reach.

Fern paused his running, thinking of a better plan. He placed his hand over his forehead, pretending to act like a frail maiden.

"Oh no, all this running has made me lightheaded. I think I'm gonna faint." he abruptly fell back against the flower beds.

You turn back to look at the boy with a knowing smile. Already catching on with his games.

"Oh no, you poor young man." you follow along.

You crouched in front of Fern, noticing how he had a few flowers in his head. Comically looking like some sleeping beauty or something. "Oh woo is me, whatever can I do to bring him back~?" you jest.

"You could try giving him a smooch." Fern cracks an eye open before going back to play dead.

"Ah yes, a kiss from the coolest maiden in the land will save him." you chuckle, leaning towards the young man to place a chaste kiss on his lips.

You pulled back to look at him, reopening his eyes so he can admire you from up close. The smile on his face was the most wholesome expression you'd ever seen from Fern, wanting nothing but to protect and keep that smile forever.

"Thanks for saving me."

"No problem. Happy now?" you ask, returning the gesture with a warm smile of your own.

Fern replies with a lighthearted laugh.

He pulled you in a hug, rolling you around flower bed until you had petals and leaves in your hair. You giggle at the motion, laying on your back next to Fern as both of you look up at the peach-colored sky, swarming with cute little honey bees and butterflies.

"Happier than I have ever been." he sighs contently.