Hey Hi Hello Everyone! This chapter's a bit long. You're welcome.


Marshall Lee was having the most beautiful sleep. He was dreaming about Algebra and Pre-Calculus and how they'd both be way too easy for him and his teacher was just about to suggest switching his PE period for a Calculus class-

"I'M A BARBIE GIRL, IN A BARBIE WORLD!"

"GAHHHH!" Gumball screams, rolling of his bed and ungracefully onto the floor.

"WHAT THE FU- OW!" Marshall immediately sits up, knocking his head hard against the ceiling. He shakes it off to go check on Gumball, who is still lying on the ground.

"Gumball! Hey, you okay?" Marshall asks, poking Gumball with his toe. Gumball's leg is wrapped in his sheet, both legs directly up in the air, and his torso and head awkwardly on the ground. It looks very uncomfortable to Marshall. He lifts Gumball by his shoulders until his whole body is flat on the ground and Gumball's head is on Marshall's thighs. The blasted Barbie song is still playing on Gumball's alarm clock, and Gumball grunts before sitting up to turn it off. He sighs and lays back into Marshalls lap.

"Marshall?" Gumball asks sleepily.

"Hey, Gummy. You okay?" Marshall leans over the other's face. Gumball snaps his eyes open at the nickname, and quickly sits up, knocking his head against Marshall's chin. Marshall hisses and cups his chin, shakily rising to his feet.

"Marshall! I'm so, so sorry. My alarm clock always wakes me up an hour early, and I completely forgot about it and how it'd wake you up, and you hit your head again, sorry, and your chins now bruising because of me...or is that blood? Okay, yep, that's blood. Anyways, I was just being spazzy getting out of bed and I'm sorry I worried you, but I'm fine. If anything, we should worry about-"

"Gumball."

"Rambling. Sorry." Gumball apologizes before running into the bathroom. He comes out with a wet rag. "Here. Let me."

He gently pushes Marshall's hands away from his face and dabs at the cut on his chin. "Sorry." Gumball whispers when Marshall flinches at the hot rag. Gumball manages to clean up the cut well before going back into the bathroom. He comes out and holds up two bandages- a bright pink one with a crown on it, and a purple one with a pink cupcake on it. Marshall glances at both of them before raising his eyebrows at Gumball. He sighs in defeat.

"I guess you don't get a Band-Aid, then!" He huffs, returning the bandages to the bathroom. Gumball renters the main room and presses his lips up against Marshall's cut. Marshall stiffens as Gumball pulls away, patting him on the shoulder.

"There you go, you're all healed!" Gumball laughs before turning to make his bed up. He's straightening the sheets back out when he freezes and spins back around to the still stiff Marshall.

"Marshall, I didn't mean to do that. Well, I mean, of course I meant to, it's a force of habit that I was taught growing up, I just didn't mean to do it to you. Unless, you know, you liked it. No! Not-not that kind of like, just, you know, you weren't disgusted by it, or anything, I'll stop talking." Gumball folds and refolds his uniform shirt that was laid out the night before.

"It's okay. If it's a force of habit, you didn't really mean to." Marshall shrugs, even though his heart's pounding in his ears so loud he has to strain to hear Gumballs response.

"Really? Okay, good. That's a relief. I thought you hated me or-"

"Gumball."

"Sorry."

"I could never hate you." Marshall stares at Gumball, who is utterly taken aback.

"I-I-I, um, thanks? I could never hate you either, in all honesty. I mean, look at you! You cool little dieting math wizard." Gumball says, slightly punching Marshall in his arm. Marshall laughs at his comment, and all of the he-just-kind-of-kissed-me tension is gone.

XxXxXxX

Gumball is ready for school within the next 6 minutes.

"I have a thing I do after dinner and before breakfast every day. It's kind of my solitude thing I like to do. Anyways, I don't finish in time to come back here, so I just go from there to school. I'll see you in Homeroom!" was Gumball's answer when Marshall asked why he was rushing. Gumball quickly leaves to do his "solitude thing" and Marshall is once again left to himself in the room. He is up an hour and a half before school even starts, so he turns on his music and takes his sweet time getting dressed, all with a sugary, tingling feeling dancing on his chin.

XxXxXxX

Marshall was bored out of his right mind, and his left mind was getting pretty antsy as well. That's why he decided to leave the dorms and start the walk to school.

Although there was still a good half hour before they let the students in the building, tons of kids were already walking down the narrow sidewalk. Some were even walking in the street, rebellious bastards. Marshall sighed and slipped his headphones on, trying to drown out the other's loud chatter. Didn't the kids know that it was too early to be talking so loud? Just because they had to be at school bright and early didn't mean everyone was a morning person.

Except Marshall is. He just isn't a people person.

So when he gets to the school, he sits against the metal fence running all around the parking lot and pulls out his Pre-Cal book. He would like to read as much as he can of the book so he can stay in pace with the Sophomores.

Although he has his music blaring in his ears, he can still hear the tiny whispers around him. It's mostly the girls talking about his relationship status and his build, while few guys are standing around calling him stupid names. He looks up to see a group of girls glancing at him. Most of them blush and look away, while one girl just looks him over and smirks.

"And what exactly are you looking at?" Marshall can't help but mutter as he packs his book into his backpack. He looks back up again and that same girl is walking towards him. Great.

"Hey." She smiles. Way to be original.

"Hiya." Marshall waves a hand.

"So, uh, how come I've never seen you around before?" The girl has a sort of purple hue to her and all of her makeup has a purple base to it. Her hair's pastel purple and falls down in big curls. She's wearing nothing but purple and she kind of looks to Marshall like a walking grape.

"Maybe because I'm a new student?" He says and she laughs.

"You're really funny." She says, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Um, not really-"

"Hey, Marshall!" Gumball yells as he jogs over, and Marshall cant help but smile.

"Ugh. You're friends with him?"

"Um, yeah. He kind of is my roommate."

"Ohh, so you're the unlucky one who got stuck with him."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing." She rolls her eyes as Gumball approaches. His face drops when he sees the girl.

"Luna." Gumball mutters. The girl flashes a fake smile at Gumball.

"Pinkie." She turns her attention to Marshall, who instantly doesn't like her.

"Watch out." She mouths to him before turning to leave.

"That's Luna, but everyone calls her Lumpy Space." Gumball explains once she's out of hearing range.

"Why?"

"Because she's attracted to a guy's "lumps," whatever that means, and she invades people's personal space, like a lot."

"Okay then. Has she ever done anything to you-"

"Oh, look at that, they're opening the doors. Let's just get to class, okay?" Gumball says, pushing passed Marshall and into the crowd.

XxXxXxX

The first class of the day is Algebra 2. "Okay class, we have a new student. Please, tell us your name, where you're from, and what's your favorite subject." The teacher orders, ushering Marshall to the front of the class. He sighs before beginning:

"Hello. My name is Marshall Lee, and my favorite subject is math." He glances around the room and back at the teacher. Marshall knows he skipped over the 'where you're from' section, but he didn't want to talk about it. When the teacher looks at him like he needs to finish the required greeting, he shoots him a look that says 'I'd rather not.'

"Okay." The teacher sighs. "The only seat available is the one in the back next to Beau." The teacher nods towards the back where Gumball is nose deep in his biology textbook. Kids start giggling at the mention of Gumball's name. Marshall huffs, walking to the back of the room. He sits down with a soft "Hey." Gumball just stares at his biology textbook.

"Gumball?" Marshall asks, waving a hand in front of the other's face. Gumball blinks and pushes up his glasses. "What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh nothing. It's just...I never really liked my real name." Gumball shrugs before a dry erase marker comes flying and hits him in the forehead.

"No talking, Beau." The teacher orders.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Now come walk the marker back up here." Gumball slowly gets up before walking the pen to the front of the class. The students break out into a fit of giggles as Gumball quickly goes back to his seat.

Marshall cant figure out what's so damn funny.

XxXxXxX

"So, how'd you like Algebra?" Gumball asks Marshall as they walk to their next class.

"I don't really like the teacher's teaching methods, but it's okay. I already know it all so I'll be fine."

"Like I said, math wizard."

"Not really. And wasn't he kind of a dick?" Marshall asks.

"N-not really. It's like that in all my classes."

"Really? Why don't you ask them to call you Gumball?"

"I do, they all think its unnecessary- Hi, BP!" Gumball says as he passes his sister. She smiles and waves at the boys.

"BP? I thought it was Bubblegum?"

"Oh, that's right! I forgot to tell you. All the other kids like to call the AP students Royals. They give us titles like Prince or Princess, and we just go along with it."

"That's...kind of stupid."

Gumball shrugs. "It's fun to have a title." Gumball says before pushing Marshall up against the lockers.

"Hey, what's the big-"

"Shh!" Gumball covers Marshall's mouth with his hand, and the strong scent of bubblegum overwhelms his senses. He takes a deep breath just as Gumball pulls away.

"Dude. Did you just sniff my hand?"

"Maybe. What was that for?"

"It was just Ice Queen."

"Who?" Gumball sighs as he leads Marshall into the Biology room.

"Isabella. She's a freshman this year, and has been for the past 3 years. She's supposed to be graduating this year, but she sticks around because of the Princes."

Marshall groans from all the Princes and Queens talk. "Dude, what?"

"She stays a freshman because she's a cougar." Gumball says as the bell rings, and most of the students rush to their seats. Marshall walks to the front desk, awaiting a seat assignment. The teacher appears from a back room.

"Well?" She spits.

"Um...what?"

"Did you introduce yourself yet?"

"Um...no?"

"Well, go on!"

"Hi everyone." Marshall turns to the class to see a lot of girls. They're all looking at him expectantly. "My name is Marshall Lee, and I came from a city called None of Your Business." He wasn't trying to be funny, but most the girls lose their shit. He can make out purple curls in the back of the room. Dammit.

"Have you got a title yet?" One of the boys chirp up.

"Um, no, and I don't-"

"Did you get held back?" A girl squeaks.

"No, I don't really see why-"

"I heard he's taking two maths." another girl from the back shouts, and the room fills with ooooo's.

"Is that true?" someone else asks.

"Yes, I take Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus."

"So he's a King!" Somebody shouts. Everyone gasps.

"We've never had a King before!"

"What's he the King of?"

"He's very pale, like a vampire."

"Thanks. That was rude and unnecess-"

"MARSHALL LEE, KING OF THE VAMPIRES!" the class roars in unison, freaking Marshall out the tiniest bit.

"Everyone, settle down!" The teacher finally speaks up, silencing everyone.

"Marshall. Take a seat next to Beau." Marshall looks up to see Gumball flinch at the use of his real name. People around him, including Luna, laugh. Marshall leans over the desk at the teacher.

"Um...he doesn't like being called that, he'd much rather go by Gumball." Marshall explains as politely as possible.

"Oh yeah? I don't care. I'm here until the local Uni accepts my application, then I'm out of here. I don't get paid enough to call kids by their nicknames."

"Yeah, and I bet with your attitude, you're a shooin!" Marshall says with utmost sarcasm before walking back to his seat.

"You did not just do that." Gumball mutters as he writes down notes.

"Oh, I think I just did." Marshall sees Gumball cut him a look, but smiles as he continues to scribble on the page.

XxXxXxX

The rest of Marshall's classes go by just like the first two: Marshall introduces himself, teacher directs him to sit next to Gumball, Marshall tries to kindly correct Gumball's name, teachers don't care, and he ends up getting snappy.

When the final bell of the day rings, he puts his head on the desk instead of following the rest of the bustling crowd trying to get to dorms or rides. Gumball stands.

"Come on, Marshall. Even the teacher left already." Gumball says, laughing as he pokes Marshall.

"I cant do this."

"Do what?"

Marshall picks his head up to look at Gumball. "All the teachers here are shit."

Gumball sighs, stroking Marshall's hair slowly. "I know."

"I don't know if I can put up with another day."

"Are you leaving?" Gumball mutters quietly. His hand stops moving in Marshall's hair and Marshall looks up at him.

"I-I mean, it's totally okay if you are, I mean, tons of my roommates have left before, it's no big deal. Actually it is, for me, because you were a lot cooler than my other roommates, but then again I haven't had any for a while, but you really are cool and I thought we were just becoming good friends and-"

"Gumball."

"Sorry."

"I'm not leaving. So what if the teachers are shit and you have stupid titles? I like being away from home, I like the whole dorm room experience, and I've made a real special friend."

Gumball smiles. "Really?"

"Yeah, Bubblegum!" Marshall laughs as he blocks the halfhearted punches thrown at him. "Alright, alright. I guess you're my friend too."

"Gee, thanks." Gumball rolls his eyes and laughs. "I've always wanted to be friends with a math wizard."

"I am NOT a WIZARD!"


Random ending. There ya go.

If you're liking it, make sure to review and all that fun stuff!

Until next time, Darlings!

~Alix