hopeless attraction

summary: over the years, the heroine of oo slowly takes up his world. surprisingly, he lets her.

i. glee

The first time Marshall Lee meets the esteemed heroine of Oo, he is more or less intrigued by the sight of the girl and her magical cat rolling around in the grass.

"Cake, c'mere!"

"Get your dirty hands off of me! Fionna, I just cleaned myself! Fionna, don't you dare-"

The Vampire King is downright amused.

He hoists his umbrella over his shoulder and descends from the safety of the foliage. "Hey there," he says silkily. Cake pauses in her grooming, tongue frozen mid-lick as the last of Fionna's giggles fade away.

"Uh, hi there. Could we help with you something?"

Marshall flashes his best smile and kicks his legs back as weaves around Fionna. "Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Marshall Lee. Perhaps you've heard of me." Fionna blinks. No, she hasn't. She tries to think of a polite way to tell him that she has no idea who he is, but Cake interrupts her.

"Fionna, get over here!"

The cat stretches her arms and plucks Fionna from the ground before depositing her to the side. Cake's fur is standing on end. "That's a vampire. You don't want to mess with those." Marshall cackles as Fionna squeals in excitement.

"A vampire? Oh, that's so cool! I've never met one before."

Marshall's grin stretches. He privately thinks that it was a good choice to leave the Nightosphere in the old crone's hands for the day. "Not just any vampire. Marshall Lee the Vampire King at your service." He adds a little bow for effect.

Fionna is impressed.

ii. red

"Fionna, I'm hungry."

The human girl ignores him as she expertly flips the frying pan like Cake taught her. Sunny side up eggs are her favorite next to bacon pancakes. "So? You should've eaten something before coming here. You don't eat human food."

"Au contraire," the demon purrs. "Pass me that tomato."

Fionna slides her breakfast onto a plate before tossing the requested fruit to her unexpected guest. She shovels down her eggs and nearly chokes when Marshall begins to suck the red out of the tomato.

"Whaaaat?"

"Pretty cool, right?"

"How did you do that?!"

"I can eat any shade of red."

"Cool."

Fionna nibbles on her eggs as a thought of darker nature takes ahold of her mind. "Well, what about blood? You're a vampire right? Don't vampires drink blood?"

Marshall pauses.

"Yeah. We do."

iii. tunes

Fionna would never tell Marshall Lee this, but she thinks that his licks are a hundred times better than his stupid pick up methods.

Her best friend is clearly enjoying herself. Cake is swishing her tail in time to the bass guitar's smooth as night rhythms, singing her soul out in harmony to Marshall's husky voice.

Candy Kingdom's best soldier studies the scene with a smile. Cake is still wary around Marshall, but she's grown to accept the demon trickster. And now that Marshall has finally toned down with the pranks, it's actually kind of fun being with him. Fionna hums along to the music, glad that her two friends can finally somewhat hang out with each other.

Cake screeches and claws Marshall Lee in the face when he pulls on her tail mid-chorus.

Well, one can hope.

iv. fight

"You suck at video games!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Fionna mashes the controls with expertise and crows a shout of delight as she claims victory for the nth time. Marshall Lee grumbles to himself and tosses his controller to the side.

"Stupid game. I bet you rigged it."

Fionna scoffs and pats the video game console on the head. "Beemo here can't be rigged," she explains patiently. "Her programming doesn't allow cheats. Isn't that right?"

Beemo flashes a thumbs up in affirmation.

"There you have it, Marshall Lee. It's all skill. Now are you going to be a sore loser or what-"

Two hours later, Cake returns from her date with Lord Monochromicorn and finds human and vampire bruised and passed out in the ruined remnants of the treehouse. After two hours of sassy lecturing, the magical cat huffs and swears to never leave them alone again.

v. feminine

It's a trick of the light. It has to be. Marshall hides his concerns by greeting Fiona with his customary sign of the horns. He sticks out his tongue playfully and the human girl nervously waves back in return. The vampire slinks off for refreshments while he watches Fionna out of the corner of his eye.

He notes the purse and the long, white dress, wondering where the thigh socks and short skirt have gone for the night. Fionna… kind of looks pretty. A blur of pink pushes past him towards the golden-haired human. Marshall Lee snorts into his drink at the sight of Candy Kingdom's ruler.

Well, if it isn't the almighty gumwad himself…

Wait.

Something clicks.

Oh.

He watches the scene unfold with newfound interest. So… Fionna and Gumball, huh?

vi. hangover

"Get up!"

"Ugh..."

"Marshall Lee, you get up this second!"

The vampire grunts as Fionna throws her body atop his. "Go away," he whines, trying to pull the blankets over his head. "Fionna, leave me alone!"

The girl flashes him a toothy smile and heartlessly yanks the blankets away. "Nope," she says cheerily. "You promised that you'd teach me how to play the bass."

"But- c'mon, Fi. I was going hard with the party gods last night. Give me a break. Please?" Fionna's eyes narrow.

"You freaking vampire promised."

Marshall Lee groans and buries his head in the pillow, desperately wishing he had the energy to fling her out of his home. "Fifteen minutes," he demands.

"Make that ten and you have yourself a deal."

"I swear to Glob that you are the most irritating human in all of existence today."

Fionna folds the blanket and whistles a happy tune with relish. "That's what you get for drinking so much. I told you to watch it last time, you dingus."

Marshall Lee only growls in reply.

author's notes: ermahgerd, marshall is the most delicious thing i've ever seen grace the cartoon universe. drop some prompts and i'll use them for the next chapter! feedback is most appreciated!