Chapter Text
Fionna's eyes moved across the room as she stared at the two men that sat before her. It was dark in the room but the warm glow from BMO's screen helped her to see them clearly. Prince Gumball, on her right, sat in the plush chair with his legs rested comfortably over an arm. He had shifted from his upright position about two hours ago, complaining that his neck was getting stiff. He held a plain purple mug in his lap with both palms around it. Marshall Lee, on the other hand, made himself completely at home. He was laid stretched out on a blanket across their wooden floor, an elbow propped up on Fionna's bed pillow so he could rest his head in the palm of his hand. Her eyes were torn from the vampire to the screen as a loud scream sounded throughout the room.
They were watching a movie, as this was the only way now for them all to be together without the other two arguing. Usually there were four for guy's night, but Lumpy Space Prince couldn't make it this night. He had ditched them for a late night party, but they didn't mind. It was better this way. He was always talking through the movie, complaining that there weren't enough lumps, or that he could've made the movie much better. Plus, Fionna enjoyed having the men's company to herself, even when they were fighting. They were always fighting now-a-days it seems, but Fionna's presence could make them stop at least for a little while. Fionna enjoyed it sometimes, she'd like to think that they were fighting over her, but she knew that it was much deeper and goes back way further than her time.
"You enjoying the movie Fifi?" Marshall asked turning onto his back so he could look at her. She was glad that her attention was on the screen and she had not been caught staring at the vampire king. He had a small smile on his face as he waited for her answer, and she returned it. "Hmm, yeah it's good."
He nodded at that, turning back over to face the gummy prince. His smile changed into a smirk as he looked at the now scowling prince. "Yeah, and how 'bout you Bubba? Is it good for you?" Fionna watched the interaction, gripping her own mug in her hands, hoping that the simple teasing question wouldn't set off another argument. The prince slowly removes his eyes from the screen and bore into the dark haired man. "It's fine, thank you." He quickly looked back to the screen, taking a small sip from his mug. It was Marshall's turn to bring a movie, so it was normal for him to be curious about their opinions. Fionna let out a small sigh as the room went quiet again. Marshall's eyes stayed on the prince for a moment and Fionna's stayed on him.
"Yeah, no problem." Marshall Lee responded putting his head down again, trying to hide the smile forming on his face in the pillow. 'Maybe all the positivity was getting to him.' Fionna thought. She turned her head to look at Gumball again. He looked as though he were struggling to keep his eyes on the screen, or maybe he was just uncomfortable sitting like that. When Gumball shifted in his seat, she decided that she had watched him enough. Turning her head, Fionna noticed that she wasn't the only one who was watching the prince. Marshall Lee had his head completely turned towards Gumball, his chin buried in the plush pillow. He was just flat out watching the pink prince, but his head turned quickly when Gumball looked over. The vampire king noiselessly began to float into the air, flipping over and moving into a full body stretch. He yawned, smacking his lips together, as his old bones creaked inside of his teenaged body. "Think I could get a refill Fi?" He asked grabbing the empty glass and shaking it in her direction.
"Sure thing Marshy." She smiled stretching herself as she stood up from the couch. She grabbed the glass and made her way to the kitchen area. Standing up from grabbing another can of Cake's tomato juice, she could hear the harsh whispers begin. "Could you do me a favor and not watch me during the film?" The coldness in Gumball's voice made Fionna pause. She put the can opener down so she could listen better without the noise of grating metal in the way. "I don't know what you mean Gummy." Marshall's voice dripped with false innocence, he was provoking of course.
"Oh, you know exactly what I am talking about."
"You can't tell me what I know, you're not in my head."
"Yes I can and yes I am. And I can tell you it is pretty empty in here."
"Oh yeah, well one thing I do know is-"
"And what's with you asking Fionna for a refill? Are you trying to get us alone?"
"Ooh, I am soo very sorry your highness. I was thirsty, I didn't realize that you were the only one allowed to have thirst." Fionna quickly opened the can as she heard rustling in the room. She poured the tomato juice carefully into the glass to avoid a mess that could make her waste more time. She wanted to prevent a physical fight, not that it has ever gotten that far. Though the two have shown that when it came to it, they were excellent fighters when it came to their friendship closed fist was a taboo. Sometimes the prince could get a bit hands-on when pushed far enough. He was mostly a 'shover' and 'face smusher' when he couldn't get his point across. The king would never punch the prince, he was a 'yeller' and a 'storm out of the roomer'.
Fionna picked up the glass when she was done and rushed back into the living room, handing the glass off to Marshall Lee. She flopped onto to the couch, her eyes darting between the two to take in what happened. Marshall was sitting up, his hand now wrapped around the glass of tomato juice, a smirk on his lips. Gumball was sitting correctly in his chair, pretending to stretch his arms as he avoided eye contact with both. "So what did I miss?" She asked sitting back onto the couch. She knew that they weren't paying attention, but she didn't want them knowing that she knew. Gumball sputters for an answer before looking to the vampire king for help. Marshall rolled his eyes at the prince and took a slow sip from his glass just to torture him a second more. "It was mostly dialogue Fi, no good action yet."
The room falls silent again as the eyes all turn back towards the screen. After a few minutes, and a handful of explosions, the door to the treehouse slams open and closed, then footsteps could be heard making their way up the trunk to the living area. "Why is it so darn dark in here?!" The light flickers on abruptly causing the vampire to hiss and turn burying his face in the pillow as his retinas burned. Everyone rolled their eyes at the king's theatrics, except Fionna who giggled. "Cake's home!" The teen cheered throwing her arms in the air.
"Another movie night?" The magical cat asked, "This is the third time this month. I thought 'guys' night' was once a month?" She stood on her two back legs, an arm propped on the spot where her hip would be if she weren't rectangular. She looked to the grown men with a stern look for keeping her sister up so late. Marshall Lee shrugged and drained the red color from the tomato juice instead of drinking it this time. Prince Gumball, on the other, shrunk under the cat's gaze and opened his mouth to apologize but was interrupted. "Yeah well, it's also the third night of you ditching me for Monochrome, but I'm not complaining." The girl shrugged her eyes on the screen so she doesn't seem immature when she pouts. Cake's cheeks went red under her fur as smothered giggles came from the vampire. She coughed and placed both hands on her hips and puffed out her chest before beginning to climb up to their shared bedroom. "Well you just make sure you clean up after your guests."
"Goodnight Cake."
"Night"
It was quiet again, but it was an awkward silence. They hadn't noticed how late it had gotten, and Fionna was beginning to realize how tired she actually was. Marshall began to float again, this time moving into an upright position. "You know what, I think I'm gonna call it a night too. I promised LSP that I would play at his party and I can't put it off any longer." Fionna looked to him slight confusion on her face, he had said that he didn't want to go to the party. Plus, they still had one more movie left. Could he see how tired she was? Or did he really need to go? She just nodded and stood so she could walk him to the door. "Me as well. Well not the party, but I've got to check on the sentient cookies I left in the incubator. It would be best not to leave them with no one to imprint upon. Or worse they imprint on Cinnamon Bun!" Fionna gave a quiet laugh as the prince stood from his seat as well.
"Alright well, don't forget next time is your place PG." Fionna said walking the two royal men down to the treehouse's door
"I still have not found any films Fionna, at least none that would hold your interest." The gummy prince frowned
"It doesn't have to movie related fun-"
"Yeah right! It's ok Fi, we can have it at my place again." Marshall said patting the prince's shoulder
"Great! Ok, Peeg, you have to bring snacks." Fionna said fiddling with the doorknob hesitant to let the men go.
"That I can do! Thank you for another great night Fionna. You are such a great hostess." Gumball said causing the girl's cheeks to flush. She always enjoyed praise from the men, and they were always quick to offer it. She slaps her cheeks to cover up the red before giving an energetic thumbs up. "Alright see you guys later!" They did their farewells and Fionna watched them leave. Gumball called his giant hawk-like bird, while Marshall morphed into a giant bat. Fionna waved her friends goodbye once more as they flew off. She closed the wooden door up before heading back up to the living area to clean up the small mess they had left. She picked up the glass Marshall Lee had and her own mug, taking them to the sink, telling herself that she'd clean them in the morning. She goes over to the small blue-green robot ejecting the tape and placing the sleeping game down on the couch.
She sighs bending down to grab her plush pillow from the ground, hesitantly raising it up to her nose and sniffing. The scent of the vampire king still lingers there, and something about it feels comforting. He smells like matches, vanilla, and a slight hint of death. The warmth of her cheeks brings her out of her trance and she shakes her head trying to shake out all the weird thoughts. She moves the pillow to her elbow and bends again to pick up the blanket. When she tugs it up something drops from the folds. It was small and square, it was a dark color so it was hard to see in the dark room. Fionna puts the blanket and pillow back down so she could pick the object up. She goes over and lights a couple candles hoping the light wouldn't wake the sleeping cat upstairs. Turning it in her hands over and over and then opening it, she sees that it is Marshall Lee's. It held many pictures of Marshall's favorite band and Marshall jamming out. There was a small blue button and few golden coins that Fionna had probably given him. She took a closer look at the pictures and saw that there was a recent picture of the three.
In fact, that's what most of the pictures consisted of, except the last three. One was of Marshall Lee and Gumball dressed in old timey, yet still fashionable clothes. Marshall's arm was wrapped around the prince's shoulders. They wore matching goofy grins on their faces, not even looking towards the camera. The next one was of a baby with big blue eyes and little swirls of golden blonde hair. She was dressed in pale blue stripped overalls, cuddling with Marshall's beloved stuffed creature Hambo. The third picture was of the brightly smiling baby girl in between the two men. The men were smiling too, just not as brightly as the previous pictures. Fionna scrunched her eyebrows together as she studied the picture. "Fionna come on, turn off the light!" Cake yelled rustling in her drawer bed. Fionna was quick to tuck the thick rectangle in her hat and blow out the candles. "Coming!"
The next day, Fionna sat on the couch polishing her sword and ignoring all the moving her sister did. She could feel the cat's eyes on her and she already knew what was going to happen. "Fi, I'm-uh-I'm going out again." Cake called making her way to the window. She opened the window, and watched her younger sister. "Yeah alright, have fun."
"Usually do." Cake mumbled to herself grinning as she stretched her first two paws out of the window. Fionna looked over questioningly, too distracted to have heard her sister's mumbles. "What was that?"
"Uh-I said, 'you too'! As in you have fun too." Cake said rushing to stretch the rest of herself out of the window to stop herself from furthering this awkward conversation. Fionna nodded, looking back at her sword making sure she got every stain. "Alright, see you later."
"Yes I will be seeing you later, also." Fionna could still feel her sister's presence at the window even after her farewell. She put her sword down and stared into her sister's eyes. The two sat like this for a minute, just watching each other. The air was awkward between them and Fionna couldn't stand it anymore. "Scat cat!" Fionna said jumping up from her spot and closing the window on her sister. She waited until she knew Cake was gone away from the treehouse before she considers leaving. She knew that Marshall Lee would probably be sleeping, and PG would be up to something sciency. She shrugged as she decided on the Candy Kingdom, knowing she would get yelled at less for bothering the prince. Before she left she made sure to grab the wallet from underneath her pillow because if she met up with Peeg, they would most likely meet with Marshall Lee again.