"You're staring again, Lee."
Blinking rapidly, Marshall turns back to Fionna. She's got her coffee raised to her lips, but it does little to hide her mischievous expression.
"I was not."
"Oh Marshall Lee," Cake rolls her eyes, sipping her own hot drink. "Don't you lie to us. Whatever happened to meeting here to talk shop about our next paired assignment?"
Rolling his eyes, Marshall goes back to the process of sneaking very stealthy peeks over his teacup at the guy currently manning the front counter of Ooo Café.
Marshall watches the counter boy move to tuck pink curls back behind his ear as he serves an elderly couple, white teeth flashing in smile that can't be described as anything but 'painfully sincere'.
"Marshall." Fionna's voice.
"Hm?"
"He's coming this way."
"He – what?" Marshall jerks back with a start, chin slipping from where it had slumped in to his hand at some point.
"Hello," the waiter's soft smile is polite as he approaches the trio, blue eyes passing over the two women before settling on Marshall.
"I noticed you looked like you were trying to grab my attention just now, was there anything you needed?"
But before Marshall can politely send him off, Cake is glancing up from her smartphone with a drawling "Oh yeah, our friend Marshall here is just dying to ask you something, sugar."
Fiona snorts in to her coffee mug, and Marshall really does feel like he might be dying. The waiter boy – Gumball, because of course his fucking name is Gumball – fixes Marshall with a smile that is entirely oblivious to the underlying sarcasm in Cake's tone.
"Yes?" Gumball prompts, readying pen to paper.
Flustered beyond belief, Marshall orders the first thing he sees on the menu and buries his head in his hands as Gumball thanks him for his order and totters off to tend a nearby table.
"Well that was painful," Fionna sighs, almost but not quite apologetic, while Cake merely snickers in to her phone screen as she types away at whatever it is she's doing. Probably tattling to Mono, the snitch.
It's not long before Gumball is back, presenting the chocolate sundae that Marshall had haphazardly ordered. Fionna offers to pay for the spur of the moment order, an offer that Marshall begrudgingly waves off.
They sit a while longer, idle chatter bouncing between the ever-encroaching exam period and personal life stuff before the three of them are packing up and heading their separate ways for the evening.
The next time they meet at Ooo, Gumball greets Marshall by name. It's been two weeks since their last visit, the time between long enough that Marshall is surprised he even remembers them at all, let alone his name specifically. Of course Cake notices this, and he spends the rest of the afternoon dodging meaningful looks and flirtatious barbs from both girls. Afternoons spent at Ooo quickly become a week-by-week event, Friday afternoons dedicated to assessment planning and gossip with Gumball, familiar enough now that he's begun actively taking part in their conversations, and not just coming over to ask if their mugs need refilling.
One particularly rainy afternoon, almost two months after their first visit to Ooo, Marshall is uncharacteristically late. Almost half an hour after their designated meet up time, Marshall finally shows, his arrival drawing the attention of all three friends waiting at the usual table – Mono included tonight.
"Oh my Glob," Fionna leans in to tug playfully at the ends of Marshall's loose hair as he sits, "I love it."
"Holy shit, Lee. Could you be more obvious?" Mono's sigh is exaggerated, dark eyes rolling when Cake shoots Marshall a thumbs-up.
"Think he'll be weird-ed out?" Marshall asks, suddenly self-conscious as he examines the carnation pink tips of his hair, wondering in hindsight if this was a bad idea. He'd been considering dying it for several months now, and somewhere along the way, pink had become a new favourite of his.
"Only one way to find out," Fionna shrugs, nodding in the general direction of the front door as the bell overhead rings, and Gumball walks in. His eyes immediately draw to their usual table, but when Marshall moves to wave him down, Gumball is already looking away, head down as he passes them without a word. The table is silent, three of the four friends glancing confusedly between one another while Marshall stares wide-eyed at Gumball's retreating back as he disappears in to the staff bathroom. By the time he comes back out, another waitress has taken their orders and Gumball is glued behind the counter. Not twenty minutes pass before both Cake and Mono awkwardly motion to leave, followed not long after by an apologetic Fionna.
Time drags while he's alone, but Marshall just can't bring himself to get up and leave. Thankful he's brought his laptop, Marshall distracts himself with one of his too-many portfolio assessments, nursing his third chai latte by the time he realises the café is almost entirely empty, and it's dark out.
"We close up in fifteen," Gumball murmurs as he approaches Marshall. Awkward is an understatement, and Marshall raises a single brow as Gumball slides in to Fionna's seat beside him, a tired sigh whistling through his teeth.
"Rough day?" Marshall offers after a moment, and Gumball laughs without humor.
"You could say that. I like your hair."
It's belated, but Marshall can't deny the ever-present sincerity in Gumball's strained tone.
"Thanks, I guess."
It's a crummy response – Marshall knows it – the apologetic look Gumball gives him all but confirming it.
"Can I show you something?"
Leaning back in his seat, head tilted toward Gumball, Marshall nods in consent. Carefully, Gumball rolls up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal—
"Oh shit," Marshall breathes, leaning forward and moving to ghost his fingertips over Gumball's forearm. There, inked in to Gumball's skin, is a gorgeously mapped red-purple tangle of dahlia flowers. The skin around the tattoo is slightly reddened – a sign of fresh ink, and Marshall looks back up at Gumball confusedly.
"My first tattoo ever," Gumball offers with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Inspired by you, actually."
Oh.
"Oh," Marshall repeats the thought aloud, fingers moving subconsciously to curl in the pink tips of his hair. Gumball notices, and his sheepish smile turns soft as he laughs quietly.
"I had intended to surprise you all, but instead it looks like I gave everyone the wrong idea. I'm sorry, Marshall."
"They'll understand," Marshall ducks his head, eyes drawing back to Gumball's tattoo. It really is beautiful.