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Bubba Gumball had not slept in five entire days. He was running on sugar water and had all but gotten an IV of coffee hooked to his wrist as he worked on this assignment. The Ice Kingdom and Candy Kingdom were close to war and if he didn’t come up with something soon to resolve the tension, many innocent candy lives would be lost. It didn’t help that his grumbling stomach, sleep blurred eyes, and jumpy nerves were keeping him distracted. It didn’t help that he didn’t have time to resolve those issues until he was certain no one was in danger.
Peppermint Maid checked in every so often to take his notes and offer suggestions. She was always useful in times like these, offering a beneficial different point of view Gumball could never think of on his own. She also continuously tried to coax him to eat something, bringing him breads, cheeses, and other foods. However, by the time he got to a break and actually remembered that there was something for him to consume, it had gone bad. Every time. He would have to make something to remedy this when the more pressing matter was sorted.
He was ready to bash his face in. The Ice Queen had given her terms to keep peace and they were outlandish enough to keep Gumball from giving in. (It included a good portion of his own hair and several candy citizens.) He had already considered sending Fiona to knock a little sense into the woman (for the umpteemth time), but at this rate it would just worsen the situation.
He wrote several rough drafts of terms he would be willing to agree to, but none of them seemed satisfactory. Some kind of sacrifice was going to be unavoidable when it came down to it and he knew it. There was just no way he could ask any of his people to do that.
When Peppermint Maid came in with his sixteenth cup of coffee of the day he turned to her. “What if I just go talk to her for a little. I could spend like a week, and surely she’d settle.”
It was not the first time he had suggested this option. It would work, but it was too risky. He’d likely end up a prisoner of the Ice Queen and his people would be vulnerable without a suitable leader. (No one could trust Lemongrab. Lemongrab wanted to agree to the Queen’s terms.)
“Your Highness-” Peppermint began with a heavy sigh at having to have this argument once again.
However, Gumball cut her off before she could even get started. “No! Wait, I’ve got it.” He slammed his palms down on his desk, swiping his abandoned rough draft into the overflowing trash bin. “I’ve got it. Can you summon Lord Monochromicorn please? I have a trip I must take immediately.”
“With all due respect, sir, you really should ea-” Peppermint Maid began nervously.
He waved her off. “I will, as soon as I get him to agree.”
“Him?”
“Marshall Lee.”
Gumball knocked urgently at the Vampire King’s door. He wasn’t entirely certain it was so he could sit and not pass out or because he needed to convince Marshall right Globbing now.
“Who has come to be graced by my beau- Oh. It’s just you.” Marshall opened the door widely, speaking with a cocky smirk that quickly melted into an annoyed frown. “What do you want, your Highness?” Somehow he had a way of making the title sound incredibly disrespectful and setting Gumball on edge.
“Can I come in?” He asked, hating how his voice was lacking its usual confidence, sounding breathy and weak. It was not a voice that commanded respect.
Marshall’s brows furrowed and maybe it was the very fact that Gumball did not look himself that he let him with no further explanation.
Gumball collapsed onto Marshall’s dining room chair without invitation, rubbing at his temples, collecting himself. It felt so nice to get to rest for a moment, just a moment. “What’s wrong, Gumball?”
Gumball looked up at the addressal. “Yes, um. I hate to admit this but… I need your help.”
Marshall perked up a little and he could practically see this going straight to the vampire’s head. “Is that so?”
“Hold on, you aren’t going to like this. I wouldn’t be here if it was perilous. It’s the Ice Queen.” Gumball sighed.
“No.” Marshall replied instantly, arms crossed and face stony. “Absolutely not.”
“My people are in danger. She wants to take a few candy people and my hair… for Glob knows what or she’s going to war. I can’t agree to those terms and a buttkicking from Fiona won’t do any good either. She’s really enraged. You are the only one I think can solve this. I’ve been pouring over other options for almost a week. I’m… I’m at my wits end, Marshall.”
“You of all people…” Marshall stammered and shaking, face turning a dark blue-grey, “know why… know better -”
“Marshall…” Gumball took a deep breath, hating to resort to pleading. He had no choice. “ Please.”
Something in the way Gumball’s voice shook must have caught Marshall off guard because he deflated, sitting across from the Candy prince. “You look awful.”
Gumball let out a dry laugh, running a hand through his messy hair. “Yeah, I haven’t really had time for… much of anything.”
“You still need to sleep.” Marshall snorted with a shake of his head. “Here’s my conditions. You provide me with a month’s worth of red goodies and you take a nap right now.”
“Deal. I’ll go home and write up the agreement and go straight to bed.” Gumball was relieved at Marshall’s sudden change in willingness.
“No. Right now. You’ll never make it home in your state. And if I’m going to do this, you better be fit to rule or whatever.” Marshall insisted, gesturing at the hallway leading to his tiny bedroom.
“You’re already doing enough, I’ll be fine.” Gumball disagreed.
“Either you go sleep right now, right here or I won’t do this. I’m mean it.” Marshall’s voice had gone hard, and Gumball wasn’t in much of a state to really fight with him.
He stood slowly, wobbly, giving the dark-haired vampire a curious glance. “Why do you care?”
“I told you, dummy. Now go to bed before I change my mind. When you wake up it will be all sorted.” Marshall shrugged, his cocky, overconfident demeanor returned in full force.
Gumball nodded slowly, brain turning to gooey mush with his exhaustion. He stumbled down the hall and into Marshall’s messy room. Clothes and wrinkled posters that had been replaced on the walls were scattered across the floor. Shwarbelle was curled up at the foot of Marshall’s bed. Gumball smiled at the white cat and fell bonelessly into the lumpy bed with her. She opened a bleary eye at him before falling back asleep. Dark blackness soon took over Gumball’s sight as he fell into the dream realm.
He woke up unable to see much but dark red. He blinked several times to clear out the clinging remnants of sleep. Even then it took him a few to recognize what he was looking at was a far too-close Marshall face. The demon-vampire King cackled maliciously when Gumball jolted violently. The dark-haired boy somersaulted in the air, clutching his stomach with his laughter.
“What is wrong with you?”
“Haha, sorry. You’ve been asleep for almost two whole days now. I wanted to see your reaction. Priceless.” Marshall informed him between his laughter.
“Two days? Why would you let me sleep that long?” Gumball demanded in frustration, throwing the sheets off his body.
“Uh… Not my fault, dude. Couldn’t wake you. Monochromicorn came to take you home and I had to drag you outside. It was pretty funny actually. You’re pretty light.” Marshall shrugged.
Gumball looked around, realizing for the first time he had not originally fallen asleep in his palace bedroom. Marshall once again interrupted his thoughts with his slurping at a red drink, draining every drop of color from the liquid. “Speaking of which, when was the last time you ate? ‘Cuz you still look like… me… but way less hot.”
Gumball glared. “Nice. I suppose I could do with something to eat… How did you get Peppermint to let you stay, by the way?”
“I just turn invisible whenever she checks on you.” Marshall grinned. Classy. The vampire was floating towards the door, supposedly to call the Maid when Gumball called out to him suddenly.
“Wait! What about Simone?”
That froze Marshall like Simone herself had struck him with her powers. He didn’t turn to look at Gumball as he spoke. “Suffice to say that she won’t bother you for a while, okay? I don’t want to talk about it.
Relief pricked with guilt flooded over him and he fell back into bed, staring at his ceiling. “Thank Glob.” He shouldn’t have made Marshall do that, and he knew it, but at least everyone was safe.
Marshall shrugged again. “So do you want food or…?”
“Um, yes. And have her bring something for you too. You deserve it.”
Marshall kept trying to tell himself that he didn’t care about the idiotic Candy Kingdom ruler. He was usually pretty good about it too. He could wave away most everything with excuses like “the room was just too hot.”
And then his Royal Prettiness showed up at Marshall’s door looking like he was about to drop dead and it caused him so much internal distress that he couldn’t figure out how to dismiss it. Not to mention the fact he had started calling him ‘his Royal Prettiness’ mentally. That wasn’t helping. It’d be better if it was pettiness.
And then he just… got two uninterrupted days of getting to see Gumball so at peace, and he fell harder every damn minute. He was just doing it so he could scare him when he woke up, obviously. And, of course, he didn’t stay the whole time. He didn’t want be banned from the Kingdom again and not get to report that everything was fine after all his hard work. Just report. Not to see Bubba again… right.
And now, once again, he was left alone. His Royal Prettiness only turned up when he wanted something, never to just say ‘hey.’ Marshall got his promised red goodies, but he was still alone. He could have bothered Fiona, but she’d probably have seen straight through him. She had a knack for that. She’d see that Marshall was head over heels for the nerdy prince and she’d run straight to him to tell him the news. Fiona was a brilliant fighter, but she was just a kid. A kid with a very big mouth. And Cake would tell Gumball that Marshall was no good for him and he’d never have a chance.
Not that he had a chance now.
So he stayed home for the most part. And then that got really boring. He gave up his avoidance of his only friend and went out searching for her. He found her thrusting her sword at invisible monsters and talking animatedly to Cake outside his old treehouse. He pulled his wide sun hat further down, worried about the Sun, and flew over to the pair. “How are my two favorite ladies doing today?”
“You are alive!” Fiona grinned, dropping her sword to her side when she spotted him. “I was getting worried. You usually show up more often.”
“I’ve been busy, darling.” A quick wink at her, act normal. “Having fun with the Breakfast Kingdom.”
“So you were terrorizing them again? How much of a mess are we going to have to clean up?” Cake demanded.
“I certainly was not! There is surprisingly little red breakfast foods… Mostly jams…” He trailed off with a nonchalant shrug.
Fiona rolled her eyes. “He’s lying, Cake. PG was just there this week and said nothing about him.”
“I’m wounded you would think I was lying,” Marshall said dramatically, floating over her head and clutching his heart, “to my favorite human in Aaa. You know I can be invisible when I don’t want to be seen.”
“You’re a darn right pest.” Cake sighed.
“Yes you are, and you never miss an opportunity to torture PG when he’s anywhere near you. What’s up?” Fiona frowned, crossing her arms.
This was going exactly like he thought it would. Damn. He was saved by having to answer by Prince Gumball himself, who had wandered up down from the house.
“Marshall,” Gumball nodded politely at him and turned to Fiona. “It’s time.”
She nodded solemnly, hooking her sword up to her belt and latching onto Cake as the cat grew remarkably in size and loped away. Well that was disappointing, now Marshall had no entertainment. “What do you have them doing this time?” Marshall asked boredly.
“Breakfast Prince is being bothered by some bears around his kingdom. Finn has been so kind as to help out with it.” Gumball shrugged.
“Why are you involved?” Marshall frowned in confusion. Gumball was looking bad again, his bags heavy under his eyes and hair sticking up in unusual places.
“We were concerned the disappearances had something to do with Simone.” Gumball sighed, tugging on his hair nervously.
“Are you Globbing kidding me? I told you I took care of her.” Marshall growled in his annoyance.
“Breakfast was worried she had moved on to his kingdom and as she had started with me-” Gumball began defensively.
“She won’t be bothering anyone for a while, let her go.” Marshall huffed.
“We really do appreciate your help, Marshall.”
“I didn’t do it for any ‘we.’” Marshall snapped, looking for anything to pick a fight over. Gumball really rubbed him wrong. He lost his brain around the prince.
Gumball blinked. “What?”
“Do you always talk in the plural, your majesty?” Marshall taunted, floating around him, not yet realizing his mistake.
“You did it for food, didn’t you?” Gumball was clearly having a hard time following the conversation.
Marshall’s eyes widened, hearing his slip up finally. “Of course.”
Gumball squinted at him, a strange emotion on his face. “You’re acting weird.”
“And you aren’t sleeping. Everything is weird to you.”
“Why do you care so much?” Gumball demanded, rotating to so he could continue to look Marshall in the face. “Would you knock it off, you’re making me dizzy.”
“I don’t care. Why don’t you care?” Marshall asked quizzically, still floating around him because it was funny to watch how off balance he was getting.
“I do. I just… I can’t… think.” Gumball shook his head, wobbling on his feet, almost falling over.
“Am I distracting you?”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Gumball snapped, losing his temper as the conversation grew more confusing for him.
Marshall shrugged. He didn’t have any plans, so long as Gumball didn’t realize he had almost said that he would basically do anything for that pink annoyance.
“Fine than!” Gumball grabbed Marshall’s face, forcing him to abruptly stop his orbit, and pressing their lips together hard. After a few startled seconds of Marshall spluttering against him, Gumball pulled away with a whispered,“How’s that for a distraction?”
Marshall stared at him, jaw slack and eyes bulging. If he had a pulse or a heartbeat, it’d be going wild. He was certain he was shaking. He wanted to kiss him again so badly, he thought he might start drooling. Which was gross. He touched his face to make sure he wasn’t doing that.
Gumball seemed to snap to his senses when Marshall moved. “Oh my Glob. I don’t know what came over me. I just..”
“You need sleep.” Marshall spat out the first thing to come to his head, not sure if it made any contextual sense.
Gumball nodded. “Uh, yeah.”
And then Marshall or Gumball initiated the next kiss (Marshall wasn’t sure who) but their hands were in each other’s hair and their eyes were closed, both kissing like they’d never get to ever again. Which, Marshall didn’t think he would. He wasn’t even sure this day was real. Maybe he was daydreaming above his bed again. But Gumball was radiating heat, a kind of warmth he never felt on his own and he wanted to bury himself in it, pressing closer to the candy human.
Marshall pulled away this time, even though he didn’t really need to. He knew Gumball needed the air and the boy was panting like a dying man. “What’d you do that for?”
Gumball blinked blearily at him, seeming to have a hard time processing the question. “I… I don’t know, I just wanted to.”
That stung, a little jab to his chest. “I see.”
Gumball appear to read the emotion he was feeling quite perceptively, taking Marshall’s hands. “No, no. I mean… I mean… I don’t know how to say it.”
“It’s really easy, Gumball. I like you. See? Now tell me you don’t feel the same so we can move on.”
“I can’t stop thinking about how I want to kiss you.” Gumball made a face that Marshall couldn’t read.
“That doesn’t mean you like me. I like actual things about you. Like the way you kiss,” Quick wink, “and talk, and smile. How your crown is always a little crooked, and you wear an obscene amount of pink, that sometimes you need to be reminded to sleep, and your annoying intelligence... And the fact that you actually are gullible enough to believe I like you.” He doubled over, clutching his stomach, really trying to sell this as a joke even though it hurt so badly.
Gumball glared, grabbing his arms. “I’m not gullible.”Marshall rolled his eyes, but Gumball wasn’t done. “Your hair.”
“Excuse me?” Marshall asked, trying to pull away because Gumball was staring into his eyes so intensely it was nerve-wracking.
“And your eyes. I like your flannel too, when you sing, and the way you’re making my stomach feel all sorts of weird. But you know what I don’t like? I hate that you keep pretending you don’t have feelings because you’re so scared of rejection. Marshall Lee, I like you. So there.”
Was he smiling? He was. That sucked, but it wouldn’t turn from the dopey grin to a smirk so he had to deal with it. “Yeah?”
Gumball nodded, going up to reach his forehead because Marshall was taller when he was floating, kissing him there. Marshall, despite being in such a close vicinity already, launched himself at Gumball, embracing him tightly as he locked their lips. Bubba began laughing at the ferocity at which he was being kissed, drawing the boy closer. Marshall pulled away, foreheads still touching. “Okay. I like you, Bubba. No joke.”
“I know.”