"Flame, I swear to glob, you better open this door in three secon- Oh hey, Pheebs!" I was waiting impatiently at the family's door for Flame to answer, but instead his sister did. She had her cell phone in her hand and a sucker in her mouth. Her orange dyed hair was pulled back in a messy bun and her face showed no emotion besides moody-teenage-girl attitude. She didn't have any makeup on which made her freckles prominent and she was dressed in comfy clothes, which were the exact opposite of what she usually wore to school. Essentially, she looked like a completely different person. A person who was about to crawl into bed and sleep for 10 plus years, to be exact.

"What are you doing here?" She asked after looking me up and down and making a popping sound with her sucker.

"I was supposed to call Flame about something but I decided I'd just show up unannounced instead." I smiled. She gave me another glance up and down and walked back inside the foyer without shutting the door.

Less than a second later Phoebe was screaming up the stairs. "PHINEAS! YOUR EMO BOYFRIEND IS HERE!" I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that's me. Not much longer I heard footsteps running down the stairs.

"What the fuck are you on about?" A deep, unmistakable voice said to his sister before yanking the door completely open. "Oh, it's you! Come on in, man!" Flame smiled brightly and pulled me inside. I noticed Phoebe roll her eyes out of the corner of my eye. "Mom and the twins are taking a nap, let's go to the basement," Flame motioned with his hand before roughly shoving his sister's shoulder, who was scrolling on her phone. "That also means you should shut your big ass mouth before I shut it for you."

"Fuck you," she cursed. "I'll do what I want."

"You keep sayin' that. But don't come cryin' to me when Mom beats your ass for waking her and the babies up." Phoebe just rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs, her eyes oh her phone the entire time. Flame shook his head and walked further into the large, messy house, me following behind. We passed through the living room where three more tan, blonde haired boys of different ages were playing video games on a large screen.

"Hey, Marshall," they all greeted in unison, not taking their eyes off the TV.

"Hey, Phoenix. Hi, Phillip. Hi, Phoebus. Watcha playin'?" I asked, watching their gameplay.

"Call of Duty," the second oldest of the three, Phoenix, who was eight, said.

"And I'm winning!" The 11 year old Phoebus shouted proudly with a smile.

"No, I'm winning!" Little Phillip squeaked.

"Hush! You're not even playing!" Phoebus scolded the five year old who was pushing random buttons on an unplugged controller. Soon enough the three siblings were arguing.

I laughed to myself. "I'll see you guys later," I said and went to go find Flame. He was in the kitchen, hoarding a bunch of junk food in his arms.

"Get the door," he mumbled through a bag of chips between his teeth. I opened the door to the finished basement and followed behind Flame who kept cursing every time he dropped something down the carpeted stairs. Once we were down stairs, he threw all the snacks on the table by the couch and plopped himself down. I dove right next to him and grabbed a box of Girl Scout cookies.

"Sooo. What'd you wanna talk about?" I asked with a mouthful of thin mints. Flame let out an exasperated groan and rubbed his face with his hands. I gave him a questioning glance. He sat there for a moment just staring into space.

Flame stood suddenly. "I can't do this sober, man." He walked into another room and came back about a minute later holding a familiar tin box.

"Duuude. We really doin' this tonight?" I watched in slight amusement as Flame pushed all the snacks off the table and replaced them with the box.

"I sure as hell am. Fuck everything, man. I just need chill for a while." He opened the box and that familiar, potent smell wafted through the air.

"I get it, I get it. Roll me one too."

Before we knew it, Flame and I were sprawled out lazily on the floor, giggling like idiots about lord knows what while smoke drifted around us.

"Are you high enough to tell me whatever you were planning on telling me yet?" I asked before taking another hit.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I guess." Flame stood up from the cushy carpet and walked away. I couldn't see where he was going from my spot on the floor and didn't make an effort to look either. "Don't think I'm weird or a stalker, okay?"

"Whatever you say, man."

I heard him walk back over and sit next to me. I turned my head to pay attention to him. He had a joint in one hand and the other was holding something behind his back. "Do you remember when Fionna lost her hat last week?"

I tried to think back to it with not much luck. "I guess so. Why?"

Flame was quiet for a while. He took a long drag and held it in for a few seconds before slowly releasing the smoke from his lungs. "Well... I was the one who took it," he said with a frown. He pulled the white knitted beanie from behind his back and looked at it regretfully.

I sat up and gave him a confused look. "Why? You know that means the world to her."

"I know!" Flame sighed and rubbed his face. "I know it does..."

"...So, why'd you take it from her?" I asked confused. "You didn't do anything creepy with it, right?"

"What the fuck, man! Of course not!" He shoved my shoulder making me giggle in my medicated state. "My plan was to take it and pretend like it got stolen or lost, and then return it the next day and say that I found it. And she'd be really happy and hug me and thank me and..." he paused for a moment like he was imagining it in his mind. "And then I would have an excuse to... ask her out," he said shyly, his face as red a tomato.

"Awww! Look at you, dude! Makin a move on ya girl all smooth like!" I scooted over so that I was next to him and wrapped my arm around his shoulder and shook him a few times.

"That's the problem. I never gave it back because I was too nervous to ask her... But it's been too long and it'd be awkward to give it back now. Ugh! I don't even know if she likes me anyways!" He hunched over and covered his face with his tanned hands. "What if she finds out I stole it and thinks I'm a creep and hates me forever?" He mumbled.

I laid my head on his back and rubbed his shoulder. "It'll be okay, buddy. You just gotta man up and tell her your feelings. Even if she found out, I don't think she'd hate you for it. You'd just have to explain yourself and I bet she'd understand..."

"Yeah but how do I even know she likes me?" He mumbled. "I don't wanna get let down..."

"Hmm..." I thought for a moment. And then an idea popped into my clouded mind. "Hey! Let's FaceTime Gumball! He's best friends with her, he probably know if she likes you or not!" I got off of Flame to find my phone.

"...Okay... Just don't tell him I stole her hat!"

Once I found my phone, I went to FaceTime Bubba and sat back down next to my sulking friend. For a while it was just me watching myself take hits from the joint that I forgot I had while I waited for him to answer. Just when my body decided to have a random coughing fit, my boyfriend's luxurious deep voice started speaking.

"Uh, are you okay?" He asked.

I let out a few more coughs and wiped the tears from my eyes away. "Jeez... Yeah, I'm fine," I laughed and put the camera back on my face. I looked at my screen to see my handsome Bubba sitting at his desk. His pink hair was messy and he had his glasses on, which made him look 1,000 times hotter. He looked a bit stressed. "Are you studying or something? I'm sorry."

"Yeah, but I was in need of a break anyway. Don't worry about i- wait a sec." He pulled his phone closer to his face with squinty eyes. "Are you high right now?" He asked accusingly. Were the eyes that obvious?

"Possibly... Don't blame me, he made me do it!" I pointed my phone to Flame.

"What! I didn't do shit!" He yelled and went to smack me, but I blocked it with my arm and let out a few giggles. Bubba laughed too.

"So what are you calling about?" He stood up from his desk chair and walked around before plopping on some soft fabrics. His bed, I quickly discovered.

"What, can't I randomly FaceTime my super cute boyfriend?"

"Nope. Schedule ahead of time," He smiled. I don't know if it was the weed or what, but he looked especially good right now.

I blew raspberries at him. "Okay, but for real, Flamey boy is having girl problems and we need to ask you about something." Bubba scrunched up his face.

"Why does this involve me? I'm neither a girl nor do I associate myself with them."

"Well duh. It involves you because you're best friends with the girl he's having problems with." Bubba raised an eyebrow. "We just need to know one thing."

"Fionna? What about her?"

I looked at Flame. He was busy with his joint and didn't seem very interested in what we were talking about. But I knew he was. I turned back to Bubbs on my phone.

"Does she like anyone?" I said as casually as possible. From the corner of my eye I saw Flame perk up. Bubba was quiet for a moment, it looked like he was thinking about something. He was looking off into the distance and his fingers were picking at his perfectly pink, plump lips. He blinked a few times before turning his attention back to me.

"Yes. At least I assume she does. But I don't know if I'm allowed to say who."

"Just tell me! It's important that we know who she likes."

Bubba furrowed his eyebrows. They were thick and sandy blonde. Like fuzzy caterpillars above his eyes. He had nice caterpillars. They were sort of like Dave Franco's, or Joe Jonas's if I had to compare them.

"Listen," I interrupted his thoughts. "Don't bother asking her for permission. It'll ruin the whole plan!"

"What plan?" He lifted one of his caterpillars in suspicion.

I turned to Flame and asked if we should tell him. He just shrugged. I shrugged too and decided to take another drag. But first I nudged Flame and raised mine up. He gave me a questioning look and raised his too. I clinked them together, as if we were cheering wine glasses during a classy party before putting mine against my lips. Flame followed my actions and together we took a long drag. We stared at each other as we held in the smoke for as long as possible. Though, it was cut short due to another coughing fit of mine.

I fell to the floor, struggling to breath through my coughs and giggles. Flame was also dying of laughter next to me as he flopped over as well. We laid like this for the next five minutes or so, Flame and I giggling and cackling like idiots and Bubba waiting impatiently on my phone.

I heard a huff and Bubba started talking. "Are you done yet?"

"Yeah, yeah." I sat up normally and wiped the tears from my eyes, letting out a few breathy laughs. I sniffed and turned to Flame.

"Shit, that was fucking strong," he mumbled. I guess in my high state something about that was too funny because I instantly snorted out a laugh and toppled over.

Barnaby sighed after a few minutes. "As much as I love hearing you laugh, I have studying to do and since you won't tell me, I think I'm going to hang up."

"No!" I sat up quickly. "I'm done, I promise." I situated myself and put away whatever I had left of the joint. "Okay, so... whoa, look at that leaf outside!" On the other side of the little window of the basement was a huge, bright red leaf. "I didn't know leaves could be so red..." I stared at it for a while.

"Marshall!"

"Huh? Oh, right. The plan." Bubba rolled his pretty blue eyes and frowned. "We needed to know who Fionna likes because Flame wants to ask her out, and we don't want it to be awkward or waste our time if she doesn't like him back."

"Ohhh. I see," he says and a smile rose to his face. "How's he going to ask her?" Gumball took off his glasses and tossed them somewhere out of frame before laying on his side. Darn. He always looked so cute with those on.

I laid my head on Flame's muscly shoulder and moved my phone so we'd both show up on screen. "Wanna tell him, bud?"

Flame cleared his throat. "Well, for starters, I should probably just tell you that I kinda stole Fi's hat for this..." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You what!?" Bubba freaked.

"Shh! Babe, let my other babe finish!" I shushed him and petted Flame's chest sensually with a pout. Bubba rolled his eyes again and laid back down on his sheets with a grumble.

"So anyway, I uh, I took it. And I'm gonna give it back to her. 'Cuz I wanna be the one to make her happy... Plus that'd just be weird if I kept it." Flame trailed off. Gummy squinted his eyes accusingly.

"So you made her sad just so you could make her happy later on?" Bubba asked slowly.

"Hey man, I didn't exactly think it through that much before I did it." Bubbs shrugged it off. "But when I give it back, that'll give me a reason to ask her out. And she'll be so happy that she won't be able to say no!" I looked up him. There was a wide smile across his tanned face and the slightest blush dusted his freckled cheeks. And even though his eyes were red and and heavy from the weed, there was a certain sparkle to them. Aw, my little Flamey is in love.

"I still don't quite understand, I'm just going to blame that on your marijuana intake. But I think that's a good plan, you know, if you get over the fact that you stole the poor girl's most prized possession..." Flame looked down at his lap. Gumball moved to lay on his stomach and propped his chin up with his elbow. "Fionna really likes you, Phineas. I just pray that you treat her right. Because if you break her heart, I most definitely will not hesitate to snap your damn neck!" Bubba scolded, pointing an angry finger at the screen.

I smiled at my sassy boyfriend and Flame chuckled. "Don't worry, I have no intentions on ever hurting her. And if I do, I 100% give you full permission to snap my neck."

"Good. Glad that's settled. Well I wish you the best of luck, and I promise not to tell her anything about it. I better get back to studying, I have a stupid AP calculus BC test tomorrow," Bubba groaned and rubbed his face tiredly.

"Blegh. I always hated calculus. Glad I never have to do that shit again." I stuck my tongue out in disgust.

"Wasn't that one of the few classes you did well in?"

"I mean, yeah. Just because it's easy doesn't mean I have to enjoy it," I argued. "And it's not that any of my classes were hard or anything. All my teachers always gave too much homework and I never did it."

"Well that's what you get for taking mostly all AP classes," Flame countered. I just shrugged.

A lot of people assume that I'm an idiot, and I guess they wouldn't be that far off. I hung out with the wrong crowd, partied a lot for most of my high school career, and often made bad decisions. But even though I skipped a lot of my classes and barely did my homework, I did know what was going on and it wasn't that hard to catch back up to the rest of the class. I always did pretty well on tests, but I guess that wasn't enough to make up for my missing assignments. In no way shape or form am I trying to call myself a genius or anything, nor could I ever compare to Barney's intelligence, I'm just saying I'm not a complete dumbass.

"You should go study. School's important and shit," I yawned and snuggled up more on Flame's shoulder. "Also, I'm tired. And hungry!"

Bubba let out one of his cute laughs and got up from his bed. He put his adorable black, thick-rimmed glasses back on and sat at his desk again. "You're right, I should probably get back to this. These polynomial approximations aren't going to do themselves!" Barnaby said with mock cheer. "You guys have fun, and stay safe please!"

"You too, Bubbs. Text me later, kay?" I finally lifted my head off of Flame's shoulder and ran a hand through my hair a few times.

"Sure," he said simply. He flashed a charming smile. Glob, he was so handsome. What did I do to deserve such a wonderful guy?

"Cool. Bye, Bubby. I-" I cut myself off. Was I just about to say what I think I was about to say? Oh lord, it's way to soon to say that... Bubba raised one of his thick well-groomed eyebrows when I didn't continue speaking. "Uh..." My face felt hot. How the hell do I play this off? "I-uh. I think you look super hot in those glasses. You should wear them more often." I winked. Good enough.

Gumball smiled with a roll of his eyes and his cheeks were dusted with a rosy hue. "I'll keep that in mind. I'll talk to you later, bye guys!" And just like that, his lovely face vanished from my phone screen. I stared at my phone for a few moments, trying to distract myself from Flame, who was eyeing me down like a hawk with a stupid know-it-all smirk. Slowly, I turned to face him.

"Were you about to say-"

"NO! SHUT UP! NO!" I quickly pulled my shirt over my face and hid under it, embarrassed that he knew what I almost accidentally said.

"Oh my glob! You totally were!" He pinched my bare side that was exposed.

"Ow! No I wasn't! No no no no!" I tried swatting his hands away while still trying to keep my face covered.

"Aww, Marshy's in wuv wif his boyfwend!" Flame said in baby-talk and made kissy noises. I let out a muffled scream. "Marshy wuvs Gummy, Marshy wuvs Gummy!" He chanted over and over again, hugging me around the shoulders and rocking me. I continued to yell and make fake sobbing sounds from under my shirt. "Aww, is wittle Marshy embawassed?"

I tried to blindly squirm away but Flame had a death grip on me. "Get off me, weirdo!" I flailed. Flame proceeded to laugh maniacally and tickle my stomach and sides, which made me flail around more. Instead of muffled yells, I let out uncontrollable bursts of laughter, cackling as Flame tortured me.

"Stop stop! I'm gonna pee!" I wheezed through my laughs, trying my best to push his hands away. It was getting too hard to breath under my shirt so I pulled it back down. Eventually, I was able to defend myself from Flame's attacks. I gripped his wrists and yanked them off of me, pushing him down on his back and trapping his arms so he couldn't touch me. I was breathing heavily, a few breathy laughs still escaping my lips, and my hair was a mess by now. I stared at Flame under me, daring him to make a move. He had a smirk on his thin lips, his emerald eyes staring back at mine dangerously.

All of a sudden, stomps were coming from the stairs. "Holy shit, it smells like ass down here- What the hell is going on down here?" Our eyes shot to the bottom of the stairs were Phoebe stood, a moody hand on her hip and a cocked eyebrow. Flame shoved me off of him harshly and stood up, brushing his clothes off. I hissed and stood up as well, pushing my sweaty hair out of my eyes. "I'm not even gonna ask... Mom just made dinner, it's ready when you're done with, whatever the fuck..." she made a motion with her hand and climbed back up the stairs. "Glob, straight boys are the gayest people I've ever met." A door slammed.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You fucking fag, don't touch me ever again!" I yelled jokingly and shoved Flame to the ground.

"Says you!" He laughed and went to kick me. I dodged him and ran towards the stairs, picking up a random bottle of cologne and spraying it all over me to try and get rid of the skunky smell.

"How bad do my eyes look, dude?" I asked Flame as we walked towards me.

"Eh. You're good. What about me?" He widened his eyes, allowing me to see more of his bloodshot eyes.

"You look fucked, bro." I laughed and sprayed him down with the cheap cologne.

"Oh well, she don't give a shit." He referred to his mom. "Come on, I got the munchies, man, I'm ready for some dins!" He slapped my arm and jogged up the stairs, me following behind. Once we were up we were greeted by Flame's mom, his noisy siblings, and a lot of good ass food.

"Marshall, honey, what a lovely surprise! So good to see you! Sit, sit, grab a plate, there's plenty of food to go around!" She quickly hugged me and ushered me towards the dining room table where six out of the seven children were already sitting. Phoebe, was usual, was typing away on her overpriced cellphone; the three boys from the couch were all huddled around a DS now; and the one-year-old twins, Philander and Philemon, sat in their high chairs, speaking gibberish to each other.

Their mother was a somewhat short lady, with curvy hips and short blonde hair. She was a housewife and mother of seven kids, while their father was a hard working man who was usually never home due to his work and other suspicious reasons. But they were a cute family. Loud and chaotic. But still cute.

Flame sat next to one of the twins and I sat in between him and Phillip at the crowded table. The five-year-old looked up from the game and smiled at me. "Marshy, are you eating dinner with us?" He beamed, hugging onto my arm. I nodded and smiled. "Yay!" He hugged my arm tighter and began telling me a story about something I didn't quite understand due to his rapid, gibberish kid-talk. But I just smiled and nodded.

Their mother walked in and made her youngest children's plates while the rest of us made our own. She sprinkled some bite sized bits of food on the toddler's high-chairs and finally sat at the head of the table. "Phineas, please watch the babies. Boys, enough with the games, it's dinner time, you can wait ten minutes. And Phoebe, put that damn phone away before I take it!" She scolded everyone. Everyone sighed and did as they were told before digging in.

We finished dinner some time later and now everyone was back to focusing on their technology. Flame and I stood in the kitchen while I helped him with the dishes.

"So about earlier, were you really about to say 'I love you' to him?" Flame asked while rinsing off a plate.

"I think I really almost did. That's kind of scary..."

"So do you love him though? Like for reals?" He passed the plate to me and I loaded it in the dish washer.

I sighed and flicked my hair out of my eyes. "I dunno, man. I mean, obviously I love him like a close friend, I love all you guys, duh. But he's like, a step above that, know what I mean?" I said awkwardly, not really sure what I meant myself. Flame gave me a weird look and handed me another plate. I was quiet for a while, trying to make sense of the many thoughts bouncing around in my brain. "Forget it. I think I love him. Like for reals. But I'm just not sure I'm in love with him, yet... It feels like there's something blocking that still... Ugh, I don't even know anymore, forget I said anything."

"No, dude. Now we gotta figure this out." He turned off the faucet and wiped his strong hands rid of water. I finished loading the dishwasher and closed it, pressing some buttons to turn it on.

"What's there to figure out, man? I just told you."

"Then why didn't you tell him?"

"Cuz we just started dating? It's waay too soon to be saying that. Plus I doubt he loves me back, like I said, it's too soon."

"I dunno, man, I see the way he looks at you sometimes. He's got that little gleam in his eyes. You have it too." He poked in between my eyes and walked to the fridge to get a drink. I felt my face heat up at his words.

I leaned against the counter. "Well, what the fuck do you want me to do? Call him up right now and yell 'I love you' at him? Ask him if he loves me back?"

Flame rolled his eyes. "No. I'm just saying I can tell you both love each other, and that it wouldn't be as awkward as you think it's gonna be if one of you says those three little words soon. I mean, you've known each other for... how long? I think you both have had enough time to figure out how you feel about each other. Right?" I nodded, taking in what he said. "You've clearly had strong feelings for each other for a while now, and just because you all of a sudden put a label on yourselves doesn't mean you have to wait a certain time until you say it. A timer doesn't magically go off and then you know you love someone."

I sighed. "I know. I just don't want to rush anything. Bubba isn't Ashley. He's patient and thorough... I just feel like I should just wait until I know I'm absolutely in love with him first. Or maybe... Fuck, man, I don't know. Whatever." I rubbed my face. "Every time I think about being in love, I feel like there's something else there, something blocking me from loving Gumball as much I should. Maybe it's the timing issue?" I furrowed my eyebrows, thinking hard.

"Maybe it's Ashley." I froze. My stomach was tied in knots just from the mention of her name.

"What do you mean..." I said carefully, watching Flame. He took a swig of his orange soda.

"Maybe she's what's blocking you from loving Gumball. Because you still love her." I instantly made a face.

There's no way I still love her after all this time! She was abusive and careless, nothing like Bubba! Then again she was my first love, and you can't just change that. Even so, I've moved on, clearly!

"Okay, maybe not that," Flame said when he saw my frown. He was quiet for a moment. "Maybe you haven't gotten the closure you needed from her. You're break up with her was pretty bad, and remember, she kinda just left without giving you good reason? Maybe you two need to talk it out, now that you've both are older and y'know, over it." He took another sip from his can. I groaned dramatically.

I really didn't want to see her anytime soon after all the shit she put me through for years. And I just moved on, I don't want any feelings coming back. I don't want to think too much about her right now. But if I can forgive my evil mother for what she did, than I can forgive her too. It's for the good anyway.

"We'll see..."

                              >>>>><<<<<

Not soon after that I said goodbye to the family went back to my house for the night. I unlocked the front door and was greeted by a sleeping Bonnie snuggling up with Schwabble. My fluffy white cat perked her head up and instantly rested it again when she saw it was just me. It was funny, Schwabbs usually hated other females and was extremely jealous of them, but I guess she sensed that the red head was hurting and wanted to comfort her. What a little sweetie.

I carefully took Bonnie up the stairs without waking her as Schwabble followed closely behind. Once she was comfortable in my bed, my kitty snuggled up right beside her. I kissed both of their heads and left to shower and get ready for bed myself, all the while thinking about way too many things that made my head hurt. And my cheek, which by the way, still hurt from Fionna's fucking Hulk punch.

I frowned and hid under the blankets on the couch, texting Barnaby until one of us fell asleep first.

                              >>>>><<<<<

How cute, another Flame and Marshy bromance chapter! Lol I think they make pretty cute buds.
Btw, I totally forgot about Fionna's hat issue that I randomly decided to put in many chapters ago. But it's coming full circle now! It all makes sense! (Not really) God, I wish this story had a plot.

Happy Holidays everyone! Christmas and the first day of Hanukkah are on the same day this year which is pretty cool. Well, Christmas Eve, but still... Winter! Wow amazing!

I have so many plans for this story and have no idea how to execute any of them correctly. I'm just so slowww on writing! I'd say that should be my New Years resolution, to update quicker, but nah. Lol

Once again, Happy Holidays! And I'll see you in the next chapter! 🎄☃️❤️