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“Your problem is…?”
“Ugh! This is why I never try to ask you for help, Marshall Lee!”
Adventuring was serious business. One little mistake could make the difference between walking home at the end of the day or being carried away years later by the fortunate adventurer for a proper burial, in an unmarked grave. How you managed to become close to the vampire-demon youth is of little import, at least at this moment. No, at that time, you were quite sure you regretted becoming “whatevers” with him, considering how much trouble he was causing you in the middle of a flipping fight with the big-baddie that Prince Gumball had sent you after.
With an almighty battle cry, you leapt into the air and tackled the monster, driving your blade deep into the tough hide. The thing shrieked and tried to recoil, but your stubborn pride finally brought about its final destruction. Now that the monster was dead, you sighed to yourself and wiped the sweat from your brow. Marshall Lee floated your direction and commented blandly, “You know, I think you're losing your edge, babe. It took way longer than your usual to slay that thing.”
Your patience was wearing thin. “Well, maybe you could've, I don't know, helped me instead of just floating around, distracting me?!”
A smug smirk, worse than his usual, stuck on his face; his fangs poked through as he roguishly ran a hand through his wild, dark hair. “Oh, so you think I'm distracting? Which part is the most distracting? My demon eyes? Or my dark charm?~”
He was teasing you, you knew. And as much as it made your gut wobble and warmth flood your face, you were not in the mood to deal with the sassy vampire-demon. Almost-but-not-quite dying several times over, all thanks to him – the thorn in your side – was enough to off-put any of the nervous flutters you got when you spoke with him. “Quiet, you,” you huffed, brushing a stray lock out of your view, “I don't want anything to do with you, today. Go away!”
“Oh, I see. So if it was tomorrow, you'd be okay with it?” he questioned, hovering languidly near your face, watching you upside-down.
“Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm just tired of seeing your face.” That was a total lie. You really, really couldn't help yourself whenever he got this close to you, though. Even though all you wanted was for the vampire to stay close, you would only push him away.
“Catch ya later, then, blood rose.” And he was gone.
You ran a weary hand through your hair, sighing to yourself. How could you get anywhere close to him without trying to do the opposite? It was frustrating to do and watch, for all involved. Shaking your head, you returned to the Candy Kingdom with news of the destruction of the monster for Prince Gumball. The pink Prince smiled benevolently upon you, aware that your spacey attitude – when you'd usually be drunk upon your laurels after such an intense battle – was more than likely due to his unlikely best friend.
“Vampire got your mind again?” he wondered, a slight smirk flitting about his features.
Your groan of frustration was more than enough confirmation.
Gumball shook his head, chuckling to himself. “Were you not being honest with yourself, again? Come on, is it really all that hard to say 'I lo – !'”
Your hand whipped out to cover the Prince's mouth, your expression grim and deadly. “Don't even say it, Pinky. I've had enough antagonizing from him to last a lifetime. No way am I going to hear it from you.” Your exhaustion and frustration were the main reasons for your informal scolding to the Prince, which he identified and forgave silently with a knowing smile.
“Go home and rest for a while, Lady-Hero,” Gumball urged, directing you towards the doors by your shoulders. “You did great today. And you'll be the first to know if something big happens, ok?”
Too tired to protest, you allowed the pink Prince of Candy Kingdom lead you out of his castle and out into the world, once more. You let your feet carry you back to your little hide-away of a home, which was actually the skull of some gigantic monster that had died something like a bajillion years ago (but the grass had turned it into something like a cave) and had yet to rot away (the brains and gory stuff were gone, thankfully). Mindlessly, you wandered back to your home, a fair distance from the Candy Kingdom but not so close to anywhere else. In that time, you were passively pondering your feelings towards a certain vampire, not really examining them too closely for fear of changing the way you acted around the guy.
It was true, what he had said. You found him distracting in more ways than one. His hair, his face, his everything: Marshall Lee was the only entity that made your gut twist around and heart beat faster and faster – in the good way! In a way, it almost was sickening – the way he could cause your whole body to react with only his voice speaking directly in your ear. But your resistance to this attraction was ruining your chances, and you knew it. Lashing out at him, even when he was only being mildly annoying, wouldn't do anything to help you. Rather, it made you feel more ashamed of this attachment. If you couldn't react well to his advances when they were only made in jest, how would you fare if he were being serious?
… Maybe it was because you knew he was only joking now that you always blew up on him whenever he did it. You didn't want him to mess with your head or heart unless you knew for sure that he was one-hundred-percent interested in you – as more than a plaything.
You ducked in the door and locked yourself in, leaning against the frame for support. It had been a really long day… Your bag of essentials fell to the floor, and you shed your adventuring-outfit on your way to the bathroom. After a refreshing bath and a quick snack, you were ready to be done for the day, and so the pajamas came out before you snuggled up in bed. The plushy bass guitar was in your arms immediately upon lying down, having been a gift from your guardian/mother-figure about a year before her death. Now it had more meaning to you beyond honoring her memory, since it reminded you somewhat of Marshall Lee's bass-axe hybrid.
Ugh. Even in sleep, the guy wouldn't leave your head!
Scowling a bit, you fell into a fitful slumber, dreaming… Dreaming just a bit stranger than usual, too…
~Marshall Lee was in demon-batlike-vampire form, and he was going nuts, eating all the red coloring within sight. You were wearing a red, heart-shaped patch on your shoulder, and it was bright and prominent, despite your best efforts to hide it. And when the beast-like Marshall Lee spotted you and your “heart,” he latched onto you and drained that patch of all the red color it possessed. And when he was finished, he gave you an extremely creepy grin and fluttered off… ~
You woke with a start, hitting your head on something that cried out the same time you did. “Ouch!” you yelped, rubbing your forehead and blearily opening your eyes, “what in Ooo?!”
“Hey, dollface, watch it!” a familiar, fairly unwelcome (at this point in time, anyways) voice hissed angrily.
“Wha – Marshall Lee?!”
The vampire smirked and flipped so that, were he not hovering, he would have been lying on top of you. Honestly, this was the closest you had ever been to him, before. Usually, he was very picky over who he allowed into his personal space, but now you could see individual, surprisingly long eyelashes and the bite marks that gave him his vampirism on his neck.
“In the flesh,” he chuckled, watching your expression phase through many emotions before settling somewhere between annoyed and embarrassed. After all, you were clad in only your nightclothes, and you were mostly uncovered by the blanket because you were a restless sleeper.
You nabbed your pillow and roughly smacked the young demon upside the head. “You are so going to get it, Mister! You're lucky I don't sleep with my mace underneath my pillow anymore. Otherwise you'd be hurting far more, and I wouldn't feel an ounce of guilt.”
He flinched and mockingly placed a hand over his heart. “Ow, now that hurts, darling. Don't you care about me?”
“Maybe when you aren't scaring me half to death by creeping on me when I'm sleeping, you jerk!”
“Well, whatever. Scaring you isn't the reason why I'm here to see you.” He chuckled, but a strangely sober expression filled his face.
Suspicious, you stared at the young man. “… What is it?” you questioned belligerently.
The vampire sighed and half scowled to himself, “His Royal Pinkness got himself prince-napped. Again. By the usual suspect.”
“Ugh!” you groaned, flopping back onto your bed. “Doesn't Fionna usually handle stuff with Ice Queen? Why send for me?”
“Heck if I know, dollface,” Marshall Lee shrugged. “I only know he asked for you specifically before Ice Queen carried him off in some sort of ice-bubble.”
“… Wait a minute,” you pondered, grabbing onto the back of Marshall Lee's shirt as he floated by. “Why are you telling me this, and not a representative of the Candy Kingdom?”
Just as the vampire-demon opened his mouth to retort, someone knocked at your door. Shooting the young man a distrustful look, you hustled over to your front door and had to look down to see the candy messenger awaiting your arrival, his eyes shifting about in terror. “Lady Adventurer!” cried the purple gumdrop, whipping his sweet sweat from his brow. “You and the vampire Marshall Lee are being called upon by the specific behest of his Royal Highness of the Candy Kingdom, Prince Gumball, to rescue him from the clutches of the evil Ice Queen! I beg of you! On behalf of the entire Candy Kingdom, Please! Save our Prince!”
“What, me too?” Marshall Lee grumbled, assuming a floating position near your side. “Ugh,” he growled, “this bites.” Oh, the irony. “I was hoping to hangout with some of the Undead today, but I guess I'll just have to make some room in my busy schedule…”
You frowned. “If you were so busy, why'd you come to my place?”
“To let you know His Gumminess wanted your help, bitter-sweetness. Why else?”
You shook your head as you watched the vampire-demon drift off towards your kitchen. You knew he'd eat all of the red coloring you had if you didn't get in there soon. Turning to the panicking candy-person, you placatingly replied, “We'll go after him as soon as I'm ready to go. Expect to have your Prince home, safe and sound, by dinner time, tonight.”
“The Candy Kingdom thanks you,” the gumdrop bowed graciously, a relieved smile brightening his candy features. And with that, you nodded and closed your door.
With a deep sigh, you slid along your door to the floor. Well, there was your messenger, but it still didn't explain why Marshall Lee was currently gorging on your red food coloring. He couldn't have come over just to annoy you, right? He had said he'd heard about Gumball asking for your assistance, but maybe he had actually seen the Candy Prince being taken away? What a jerk move! Weren't he and Gumball friends?!
A growl echoing deep in your throat, you marched into your kitchen and shooed the vampire out of your house. “Wait out here till I'm ready, you idiot,” you demanded roughly. “If you're going with me, I need to prepare myself for your constant need for being an annoying jerk.” You slammed your front door shut and quickly slipped back into your bedroom before the guy could give you a proper response.
You dressed quickly, denying yourself the temptation to dress-up for this adventure in anticipation of Marshall Lee's reaction. If your hunch was right, this would get ugly before you could snatch the pink Prince back for his kingdom…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sneaking into the Ice Queen's castle was somehow easy enough. This, of course, was suspicious, and something you pointed out to Marshall Lee in a hushed whisper. His nod of affirmation and narrowed eyes confirmed your own suspicions and hunch. Getting into Ice Queen's palace shouldn't be so easy – especially after she's kidnapped a prince, again.
A slight creaking noise from above set all of your senses on alert, but it wasn't enough. With a clattering clang, both you and Marshall Lee were trapped in some sort of cage. The Ice Queen's chilling cackle resounded in the room as she and a similarly trapped Prince Gumball (though he was in some sort of bubble) descended from the ceiling with the help of her penguin minions. Günter made that weird noise that penguins make and waved at you.
You sighed and hung your head. Why that penguin seemed to like you was a mystery.
“Alright, you two, I'm getting a sweet date out of this with this piece of pink Princely sweetness for this, so get to the good part, already!” Ice Queen cried. And with that, she sent a spell flying your direction. The spell bounced off the walls before engulfing both you and Marshall Lee entirely in a blue, ticklish light. And as the two of you giggled uncontrollably, Ice Queen cackled and released Prince Gumball from his bubble with a faint pop.
“What the what?!” you shrieked, holding your gut to minimize the pain caused by your laughter.
All of a sudden, Marshall Lee stood up straight, his face expressionless, as he stated, “I've always liked your laugh. It makes you sound so cute and huggable that I can't help but insult you to distract you from how uncomfortably happy it makes me.”
You stiffened, and before you knew what was happening, words poured from your lips faster than you could process their meaning. “What? You hot hunk of handsomeness, I only retort to your quips because I don't want you to think that I'm weak – which is the only way my brain will let me acknowledge that I want you to think I'm interesting…”
Your eyes wide in horror, you looked to each other, then roared as one, “GUMBALL!”
The pink Prince shrugged and smirked. “Well, what did you want me to do? You two weren't going to be honest with each other any time soon, and I got sick of listening to you two love-sick gumdrops complaining about how you can't be together! I tried to find a proper, scientific method to sort this all out, but all of my potions turned out poisonous.”
You piped, “So that's why some of the Peppermint Children went missing!”
Gumball gave you a sour look, but continued, “So when Ice Queen scheduled a kidnapping with my staff, I decided I'd go a step further. I made sure that Fionna and Cake would be on another quest while this happened, and Ice Queen agreed to cast the spell if I go on a single date with her. It's genius, is it not?”
“Totally not cool, bro,” Marshall Lee scowled. “Which I only say because this is an invasion of my privacy and I wasn't expecting this from you.”
“I agree with the smexy vampire-demon, and not just because I find him physically appealing!”
“You think I'm hot?” Marshall Lee began to smirk.
Heat flooded your face. Even so, despite the spell, your sharp tongue would not be denied. “I think Flame Prince is hot.” Marshall Lee visibly drooped. “… You are attractive.” That perked him right back up with a sly smile.
“The feeling is mutual, babe,” Marshall Lee purred.
“Will you let us out now?!”you demanded of the Prince, trying to avoid the gaze of the vampire-demon-boy standing right next to you.
Gumball – for some unknown reason – exchanged a look with Ice Queen. He shrugged and she shook her head. “That was no confession!” she declared. “Better get some confessing up in here before I let you dimbos out! Good thing I made that deal with that weirdo ages ago to make a vampire-proof cage!~”
You watched Marshall Lee from the corner of your eyes, your forehead resting on the bars of the cage in despair. You found him watching you just as intently, though more boldly, right back. You closed your eyes, trying to will away your embarrassment.
His whispering of your name and the cool touch of his fingers guiding your face towards himself startled your eyes open wide. He rarely said your name. And the times he used it were on the rare occasions when he was trying to be serious with you…
He brushed some stray hairs away from your face to smile at you. “Why can't I tell you just how beautiful you are, normally?” His smile turned bitter. “Why does His Gumminess have to step in for us to make us be honest to each other? Girl, I like you. Probably more than an immortal should.”
Those red eyes drew you in, and you read the certainty there. Not just because of the spell, or because he was a particularly powerful being, but because that was what he wanted to convey. It was something that he wanted you to know, all teasing aside. Your lips parted with a soft sigh. Your fingers reached for Marshall Lee's jawline and stroked his cheekbones. And he did much the same, with butterfly-like gentle touches that warmed you up from the inside out.
“I like you, too, Marshall Lee,” you breathed. “I can't say why or how or when it happened, but I like you so much that I can hardly stand myself. I don't like to admit to myself because I feel all weak when you look at me like this, when you're so close that I can hardly breathe, and I'm sure you can hear my heart racing. I've always tried to hide behind this wall of anger to keep you away, so you wouldn't see me like this…”
The young vampire pulled you close, and you wrapped your arms around him, relishing this closeness, this warmth despite his cool exterior. “… And I can't help feeling that you deserve someone better, but I can't stand the thought of you being with anyone else… Would you do me the honor of being my girl?”
Your breathing hitched. But the smile on your face nearly pulled tears from your eyes. Marshall Lee lit up, too, though he still waited for your response. “… I think I can do that, you troublemaker,” you grinned.
“Well, then I guess I'm just your problem now, aren't I?”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“… Ready?” He looked at you, his fangs poking out from between his lips.
“Let's go!” you snickered.
The two of you took off running, leaving behind Gumball and a sappy Ice Queen sitting alone at the romantically decorated ice table. Some of the penguin-waiters squawked in protest, but Günter merely waved you off with a satisfied noise that you assumed was a “good luck” phrase. Gumball's cry of dismay and Ice Queen's shriek of simultaneous victory and dismay began to fade. Marshall Lee swooped you up into his arms to fly off as the Prince called, “This was supposed to be a double date, you jerks! Get back here!!”
The two of you laughed as you left the Ice Kingdom far behind, the chill of the air diminishing with every mile Marshall Lee flew.
“Want to join me for a concert at the cemetery?” the vampire-demon offered cheekily.
You paused, tapping a finger on your lips as though you had to think it over. When the urge became too much, you burst out giggling. “Why not? It's not like we have anything better to do!”
And that's when a sly smirk found its way to his lips. “Well, I can think of a couple things we could do instead… ~”
“Marshall Lee!”
“What? Scaring people and treasure hunting are good sport!”