I missed writing this so I went on a spree of writing, I know you all wanted another chapter so here it is Thanks for all the reviews it seems like you all really like this story and I didn't know anyone would. I wanted to make this just for giggles but now I'm actually developing a plot for this and really getting into it. I must say I like where this is going. Also I didn't expect to make the chapter this long it just kind of transformed into it, I was trying to make each chapter like 3000 words long but nooooo this one wanted to be closer to 6000. :P
I hope you all like this chapter and I don't own adventure time or any of its characters.
There was one thing in the world that Marshall Lee treasured more than anything in the entire world.
And no it wasn't his car.
As much as he loved his car it was something that he knew would be replaced sooner or later, all cars broke down eventually, whether it was in a wreck or it just died all cars eventually stopped working. Sputtered out their last exhaust, smoked a little and gave that last click of life. He dreaded the moment when that happened but accepted the inevitable. No, the thing he cared about most was his monkey/teddy/bear it was the most important thing to him because it was his first ever puzzle piece, it was his corner, his link to innocence that he only had back when he was a child.
His innocence had been taken away. He could never get it back now but that bear, it was his only link.
His mom didn't take a lot of pictures and wasn't really around all that much to spend time with so it was just up to him to remember those times. He loved his teddy bear because it had always been there for him, before the friends, before the girlfriends, before everyone, there was just him and his sweet little teddy bear. He never cuddled it unfortunately, not anymore, ever since he woke up and it was ripped, stuffing all over his bed it was terrible! Nope he wouldn't be doing that again, now it was in his closet on the top shelf, out of sight but if you knew where you were looking, and he always did then he could pick him up. After waking up and not seeing Ashley for the second morning he just felt like he needed his teddy bear, he opened his closet and pulled it out, holding it close to him in his bed and smiling contently from the familiar smell. He remembered a lot from his childhood, he even remembered when his old teacher gave him the thing long before he would become her student. Now she was an insane principle but before she had been better, more tolerable than she was now. He would always have a soft spot for her.
It wasn't long before he was counting sheep and was awoken by someone shoving their cold hands in his shirt. He jumped back and pressed himself as close as he could to his wall. Trying to get away from whatever it was that tried assaulting him. His bleary eyes caught sight of Ashley with a grin that made him unconsciously cuddle closer to his bear.
"Aw, that's so cute, my boyfriend cuddling his little security bear, what did you wet the bed?" She was laughing at him now and if he wasn't tired he'd have half the mind to yell at her for it.
But instead he just yawned and dropped the bear, pushing it under his pillow for safe keeping. "Ashley, what are you doing here?" he kind of knew the answer but wanted to distract her with anything.
She wiped a tear from her eye and he wanted to yell at her again, but instead when he opened his mouth he yawned. She took that as a sign to speak.
"I came here to make sure you weren't getting into trouble, also to update you on my little excursion." She had a playful smile on her face but all of a sudden Marshall Lee just didn't mirror it.
A while ago he had but it was like he was putting on a new persona when she walked in the room. He watched as she sat down on his desk chair, there was a book on it that he had been studying, getting ready.
He was a tutor now.
She skipped over the book and looked over him instead, her eyes searching for a different person that wasn't in the room anymore. One that had run away, or was hiding under his pillow. He didn't know where that Marshall Lee was but he was gone, replaced by a more cynical man that shouldn't even be where he was right now. He was cold but she was ice, freezing and blowing everything in her way until it was buried ten feet under snow trying to breathe and suffocating on the beautiful sparkle of the white powder, which others walked over or took pictures of. He was currently above that snow, until the next flurry came, he wouldn't know until she turned on him. It could happen right now if he wasn't carful, the wind was blowing against his face, maybe it was finally his time.
He returned her gaze, lifting an eyebrow questioningly. "And that would be?" He hoped he dodged a bullet somehow, she was starting to think he was turning into the real him, especially after the book on his desk and the teddy bear.
She sat down, straddling the chair and leaning on the back of it like she was a cop looking over at him, trying to get an answer she wasn't going to get. This wasn't the first time this had happen, Cat had done it plenty of times he just gave her the same smile that he would give to the officer.
She didn't return it. "Georgina, I don't think she'll get out anytime soon, it's looking like they want to keep her there for a little longer."
That caught his attention and his smile drops to a frown. "Damn, that shop keeper really wants heads to roll for what we did…" It didn't make any sense, he should be in there with her, helping her get through this but because she didn't tell the cops they're holding her there.
It's his fault.
"She'll be fine, Georgina's a big girl she can take care of herself, I still don't know if she'll snitch on us though." She sounds worried but more for herself than the person who is in actual trouble.
Of course she wouldn't know, she never gave anyone the time to get to know them and their tendencies, their personalities. Georgina wouldn't snitch, she was a good person and more strong willed and stubborn than even him.
She wouldn't snitch. Would she?
"We'll be fine Ashley, she isn't going to blab about us." He wanted to reassure himself more than her, now that she sounded so negative it was starting to get to him.
Ashley rolled her eyes and breathed out exasperatedly which annoyed him. He wondered why she came, was it just to make his life more stressful?
She got up and shook her head. "I don't know why you don't look at the real side of things babe, you have to be ready for the worst." She pointed at him, not exactly accusingly but it felt as if it was. "If she does talk we need an escape route."
Leaving would be rough, her words jumbled up in his head which was probably why he didn't freak out because it hadn't register all the way with him. "What you just want to grab Booboo and Wendell and run away?" He was joking of course, but the smile was there he was being more sarcastic.
"No, just us, we can't save them all."
Marshall Lee actually looked at her then, in that moment he was taken aback. He was special enough for her to just want to run away with. It was moments like this that made him fall for her all over again, it reminded him why he was still in a relationship with her. She made him feel special sometimes, and those times were what made what they had worth it.
Sometimes.
He smiled at her and got up, he shed the covers that clung to his body and took small steps towards her. She was angry which meant she could lash out at him, hurt him when he thought highly of her and was at his weakest. With every step he risked the pain, he wanted to touch her. Know that she was still with him and when he finally wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek softly he almost felt like he shouldn't have, like she was off limits to his touch. She didn't smell of alcohol which was comforting, he nuzzled into her neck and peppered it with kisses before she finally looked over at him, her arms trailing his abs. She slowly lifted them up his naked torso, her nails scratching against his skin and he kissed her, he held her waist with gentle hands, like he would break her if he squeezed too hard and she leaned into his kiss pressing herself closer to him and pushing her fingers through his hair. Her hands were cold and they gave him goosebumps, he opened his mouth and deepened the kiss, wanting more contact that before and receiving it from her.
Then he remembered what was going on, he was drowning his guilt in a flurry of kisses and contact. Georgina was still in prison, still being held up and here he was kissing his girlfriend.
She didn't stop him though, and when she pushed him on his bed and smiled at him in a way that made him gulp he knew he was too far gone to try and say something about it. He was in too deep and he could get out, but did he even want to?
Just as she leaned in to kiss him again his phone rang and they both stared at the glowing light and vibrating device that skid around his desk. He gave her a sheepish smile and she rolled her eyes at him, motioning with her hands wordlessly to pick it up. He slid past her and looked on the screen.
It was Fionna and all of a sudden all the guilt from before, emotions he had bottled up came rushing back to him and he felt again.
He didn't know if he liked that or not.
"Hello?" He answered, he felt Ashley's glare behind him but he didn't care anymore. She was distracting him enough.
"Hey, do you want to practice again later tonight, like at nine?" She sounded hopeful, maybe even a little happy and he couldn't help but smile.
"Ya, I'll see you then, don't take forever on your hair this time." A joke of course but he just wanted to hear her laugh, and he got the desired response.
"Well I'll wear by hat but you better show up on time or I'll beat you up…with my mitts." He could imagine her pretending to punch the air and he smiled.
"I think I'll be ready, ill c'ya." And he hung up, turning to see an angry Ashley trying to glare him to death.
"Who was that?" Her tone reminded him how out of the loop she had been lately.
He had totally forgot he hadn't informed her about any of this. He tried to answer as casually as possible. "It was Fionna, she wants to practice some lyrics today."
Ashley raised an eyebrow and he could feel her anger bouncing off the walls but he knew it was all directed towards him. "Why would you invite that goody two shoes to sing with us, did you forget that she is the sister of a cop?!" She stood up and the mood from their previous kissing session disappeared.
He wished he could see that girl again, the one that wanted to run away with him, it saddened him more than it made him mad that she stood in front of him now a different person. He wanted his girlfriend back. "The girls you sent to me before couldn't hold a note and by the way she tried to make out with me." He pointed at her with his eyes squinted. "Is this an open relationship because I didn't know you were trying to hook me up." He was making a joke of course, he wanted her to laugh.
She didn't and instead clenched her hands into fists. "She's more of a flirt than any girl I've ever met, but you still made a decision about the band without talking to me." She shook her hair and he saw a small red spot on his neck where his lips had been just a moment ago. "What the hell Marshall Lee, you can't just do that!"
He raised his hands in the air, fed up with her yelling at him already. "What did you want me to do? Keep teaching the girl how to sing and have her all over me?"
"You should have told me instead of pick some random girl who by the way could get all of us arrested!" She was accusing him for all the wrong reasons, she wouldn't do that.
Would she?
He shook his head, the thought bothered him in a way that could seriously hurt him. "Fionna isn't like that she doesn't even know, she just wants to help."
Ashley looked at him like he was growing two heads. "How do you even know that?" She looked at him for a little bit before she decided to speak. "She isn't like us, she would turn all of us in if she had the chance."
Marshall Lee didn't like where the conversation was going, it was giving him doubts, making him think about things that he shouldn't. "I don't think she will, anyways she's a good singer and she can hold a beat we kind of need her right now." He rolled his eyes, he didn't notice that his hands were balled up until he felt the pain in his palm and gently stretched them out.
She shook her head at him, obviously disappointed. "You should have just stayed with the girl I picked…at least then we wouldn't be in jail by the end of this."
And because she had been so willing to take him before he didn't respond to that.
Now he doubted she would even think about him if she left.
Fionna looked over her lyrics again and rubbed her head with her palm. It had been the fifth time she had done that in the last thirty minutes and she was sure she had a red blotch on her forehead. They were a little more difficult than she had initially thought, personally because Matial Lee had always made it look so easy making them, sometimes she would see him in class feverishly writing or smiling when he got the right words down and thought that it would be pretty simple. Even she would come up with witty lines that she thought could go into a verse or two but now that she was reading them and trying to match a tune with what she was saying she realized how difficult it was. She scratched her head under her hat and went back to singing again. It wasn't until long until Cat came in the room, her eyes wide.
"Girl are you singing?" She asked not all that shocked but interested. A long time ago Fionna and Cat would sing with each other, make up little songs and it looked like she missed those times, in a sense so did Fionna.
She smiled and pat the spot next to her on the bed. "Yuppers, it would be math if you sang with me too."
Cat didn't hesitate at all, jumping on the bed and scooting closer to her younger sister without any view at personal space. She was looking over her shoulder at the lyrics. She tried to feel out the words, singing them in a listless tune that didn't actually match the song but got her used to it. After some time she hummed it out with Fionna before they sang with each other, Fionna beatboxing after a while and Cat dancing around the room shaking her butt every now and again, they ended up cracking up on the bed. It had been a long time since they laughed like that, with Fionna being busy with school and Cat constantly doing rounds with her job they didn't meet up as much as they used to, which saddened them both. They weren't growing apart just spending less time with each other and that was hardest.
"So why are you learning these lyrics by the way?" Cat was scanning the paper again, tilting her head from side to side while she sung in her head.
Fionna didn't think twice before she answered. "I'm singing with Marshall Lee for a concert in exchange for him tutoring me." She shrugged it off like it was nothing but Cat raised her eyebrows in suspicion.
"You're going to a concert with him? I don't know if I like that, the places he goes to are bonkers." She was standing up now, walking on the line between ordering and giving her helpful advice.
Fionna was a little shocked but understanding of where Cat was coming from, Marshall Lee's hang out spots weren't usually the best of places but then again it wasn't like they were dangerous she had never heard of him getting in a fight. If he had the whole city would have known and talked about it seeing as he was a hot topic from his status already. It was kind of a bummer for the city to have somewhat of a giant magnifying glass on Marshall Lee at all times, maybe that's why he hid away so often, stuck to himself and did things his way.
"I don't think it'll be that bonkers, I've never heard of anything going wrong there." She pointed to herself confidently. "And even if it does I'll beat'em with my mitts!"
Cat didn't really deny that, over the years she had taught Fionna how to fight and she had learned the styles very quickly, if there was one thing she was a natural at, it was fighting. She still didn't like the idea, she gave her a worried look. Fionna took it and smiled, she was confident, she wanted to help Marshall Lee because he wanted to help her. Or maybe it was because he was slowly transitioning back to being her friend and she wanted to keep it that way, but she threw that excuse to the side it wasn't true.
Cat bit her lip and shrugged. "Do you want me to come? Just in case."
Fionna appreciated the worried tone. "You have work to do, you can't miss it because of me." She put a finger up knowingly. "Hero's don't miss their jobs."
Cat looked from the lyrics to her, and back as she focused in on the particular piece of paper that now seemed like it was what stood between them instead of brought them closer. She hummed to herself until she finally lamented and nodded. "Ok, just be careful and if Marshall Lee doesn't bring you back I'll butter his corn!" She raised a fist amusingly just to show what she actually meant and Fionna rolled her eyes.
She had been hanging out with Marshall Lee too much, now she felt like she was taking everything in a perverted way. She picked the lyrics back up and went back to reading them, while Cat went back to cooking downstairs and leaving for her job. Fionna could smell the bacon pancakes from where she was in her room and they made her stomach growl in anticipation for when she could eat them, she just needed to get this one lyric down and…
Her phone went off, alarming her slightly until she fumbled with it and answered it, not even looking at who it was.
"Hey, do you want to hang out for a while?" It was Flint, and all the times she had forgotten to text him or fallen asleep came flooding back to her. She hadent hung out with him for a while now and he must have been worried, she had spread herself way too thin with these past couple of days, but that was an excuse, if anything she knew the reason why she had been so busy and lost in thought.
"Of course I would!" She panicked and basically yelled through the phone at him, she could imagine him covering his cell phone. She hoped she didn't sound too rushed but he didn't seem to notice.
"Alright great! I've…missed you." It was cute the way he stuttered over that sweet phrase and it made her blush.
She was already putting her shoes on, her heart fluttering slightly. "Ya, I'll meet you by the old playground."
He didn't hesitate to respond this time. "Ok, I'll see you there."
She was out of her house in a flash, leaving the lyrics on her desk and feeling a sense of abandonment towards them, like she was choosing one over the other, but it was the right choice. Going to hang out with her boyfriend compared to studying lyrics before school even started. She opened the door and then stopped in her tracks, almost falling. She stared over at the bacon pancakes that were basically screaming for her to ditch the date and eat them. Her hand stayed on the doorknob but the rest of her body moved towards them, lurching when her arm didn't go with her. She bid a sad farewell to them and shut the door.
The old playground wasn't that far and it didn't take all that long for her to get there, Flint was waiting for her by a tree that was off towards the side of the playground. Before she reached him her eyes wandered towards the swing set where she had met Marshall Lee, she didn't know why her gaze lingered for such a long time but it did and it distracted her slightly when she finally got over to her boyfriend.
He pat the grass next to him and she took the invitation, sitting close enough to him to warrant his arm being around her. She could feel his warmth spread over her, it always amazed her how he was always so warm and cozy. She snuggled into him closer and closed her eyes, already feeling dreary from the day when she was close to his warmth.
"Hey, why haven't I seen you as much?" He didn't sound worried, it was a legitimate question but his voice was soft and tickled the top of her head.
She didn't want to lie to him but she also didn't want to tell the truth. "I'm helping Marshall Lee with his concert and it's just…taking a lot of my time for right now." She cursed her heroic nature and morals to always tell the truth, but now that they were dating she felt obliged to tell the truth.
She didn't have to look at him to know he was frowning, the feud between him and Marshall Lee and Bobby Gumball was obvious to the school but the one between him and Flint wasn't. No one really knew what they felt about each other and that wasn't exactly a bad thing. Marshall Lee was a very complicated person but also very black and white, either someone liked him or they didn't, there really wasn't an in between and she was still trying to figure out what she felt towards him when it came to a friendship.
He hugged her closer in a possessive way that both made her a little frightened but also protected.
"Just be careful, the kind of people that Marshall Lee hangs out with aren't trustworthy people." She could feel his gaze on the top of her head and she tried to squirm out of it. "Like his friend Georgina got arrested for spray painting a house."
She looked up at him, her eyes not leaving his. "It was them who did that?!" She had heard Cat talking about it before but never thought it was them. Then again it did sound like something they would do, except only Georgina had been caught and blamed for it.
Marshall Lee and her were definitely different, where he caused trouble she wanted to save people from it. She wanted to be a cop when she was older and take people like Marshall Lee off the streets, but there was a wild side that he unlocked from her that didn't mind all the fun playful stuff he did. When he did things with her it never seemed wrong, just natural fun. She would never say this but her laugh was most pure when she hung out with him during a night sky, running about causing mischief, and when she was helping someone out or saving someone from something. She would have to ask him about it sooner or later and she chose the next time she saw him as an opportune moment to do so.
Flint shrugged, his arm still over her shoulders bounced on her. "That's what I heard at least, I don't want you to flip about it though, I don't know for sure."
Fionna didn't know she had gotten so worked up, her body already set to move and confront Marshall Lee. She leveled herself and went back to leaning against her boyfriend, the person she was supposed to be with. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head and it somewhat surprised her when he did it, she looked up, stared at the calm face that stared back at her and leaned in.
Marshall Lee walked around the prison, sitting down on a rickety chair and picking up the phone, Georgina was on the other side fondly looking at him like she hadn't seen him in years. If it was up to him he would have preferred that, but the guilt kept eating away at him and he couldn't just leave a friend there all alone. He scratched his head and smiled at her, pointing to the phone next to her and she picked it up.
"Hey, how'ya been?" She asked, speaking first, her voice sounded less secure than before but she still had the same hard eyes from before.
He didn't want to sound awkward but he felt like he was in a really bad situation. "Fine so far, not doing much now that you're gone, any idea when you get out?" He wanted to get straight to business, his heart sunk when he saw her sad face.
"Ashley asked the same question when she visited, I really don't know. It's all up to the lawyers now." It wasn't meant to be a dig at him but it was. He didn't want to be anything like her when it came to this."
"I also came here to see if you've gone all butch yet, are you…into girls now?" He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes at him in a comedic way.
"When I get out of here you better watch out, all I do is work out I'll be able to break you in half." She flexed in front of him, the guard looked over her real quick before turning away to focus on another conversation.
"Pfft, I've been in and out of jail my whole life I'm ripped too."
"Oh you must be hiding that muscle under all that skin and bones."
They laughed together, he missed Georgina's laugh as of right now they were friends again just talking with no Ashley or band in the way. Just a plastic glass wall that separated them, it was kind of the elephant in the room but they dodged it, talking about old times, that time that he wrote a love song and how bad it was. He realized that he hadn't talked one on one with his friends in a while and he wanted to change that. Not with her taking all the blame though.
He leaned forward and whispered to her. "Hey, so I was thinking of talking to Catherine about the spray paint thing, about coming clean with it." He looked at her, taking the conversation to a serious note because it needed to, the guilt wouldn't stop until he did. "I'll see if I can take some of the blame off of you, that way you won't have to take all the woman in prison." His smile was genuine, he wasn't as scared admitting this as he was before.
She looked at him for a while before she shook his head, holding the phone closer to her mouth. "If anyone else said that to me I might have taken that offer, but not you." She leaned back to get in a more comfortable position. "You actually have potential to do something with your life, you're a good singer, good bass player, and you're smart." She pointed at him. "Don't think I haven't seen those books in your room."
He leaned forward, trying to get closer to her even though there was no way to. He didn't know what to say, he just wanted her out of the prison.
He wouldn't say it to them but he missed how they used to be before the band, before Ashley. He needed to change the subject. "Hey we should definitely watch heat signature after you get out, I heard it was mad real."
"So obviously its rated R then, those are the only movies you like." Georgina looked happy, and he didn't know if it was real or if he was just imagining it.
He nodded, he actually wanted to see the movie, at first it had been with just Ashley but now he wanted his friends there too. "Of course." His smile was a mixture of playful and wicked.
They continued to talk until the guard pulled her away and she gave him one last sad smile, and in that moment he knew she hadn't snitched on them. It wasn't her, she was trust worthy.
She was his friend.
He walked outside and drove back in his car, Finn. When he got to his house he felt like something was wrong, like he had forgotten something and then snapped his hand and cursed when he realized what it was. He hadn't talked with Fionna about the lyrics at all. He checked his phone but there weren't any messages and he wondered if she had actually done it or not, her moral code wouldn't allow her not to but maybe she hadn't retained what she read.
He walked and put his hands in his pockets, savoring the cold he now found himself in. When he got to her house he saw Flint with his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. He didn't know what to do so he stopped and leaned against a tree that the neighbors had. He waited until Flint walked away and then slowly presented himself to Fionna, who say down on the porch.
He didn't want to be there anymore.
She looked a little shocked when she saw him and then checked her watch, it was nine thirty and she gulped.
"Sorry my hair was all frizzy today, had to condition it." He smiled, breaking the tension and silence all at the same time.
The smile that came to her face didn't look forced but she tried to hold it back, he could tell.
"What's up Fi?" He had the urge to just run away, he really just wanted to run.
She looked like she was conflicted but spoke up in a quiet voice. "I heard what happened to Georgina…" Was all she could said, that's all that needed to really be said.
He wanted to get on the defensive, snap at her to mind her own business or change the subject, but he knew he was trapped. He couldn't lie here, not to her. "Ya, she's in a holding cell right now trying to get out." He didn't know where exactly this was going but it was nowhere good.
"Where you…apart of it too?" She didn't pause because she was scared, she paused because she basically knew the answer.
He wanted to be angry at the accusation but instead sighed, after seeing Georgina he was tired of hiding. "I was, the guy had it comin' to him though." Ashleys words from before clung to him, she could tell and get him arrested if she wanted to, but he didn't want to believe in that Fionna, the old one would have kept his secrets. He didn't want to think that she had changed.
The fact that he didn't lie gave her a sense of comfort, he trusted her not to tell, but now she had to figure out what she would do with the information. That wasn't the problem though. "How could you just leave her like that? You let her take the blame for something you guys did too." She was getting angry now, only the worst of the worst turned their back on friends, and that wasn't Marshall Lee, who was he becoming?
She was surprised to see a sad smile spread across his face. "We did, I visited her today though and she doesn't want me to confess, she doesn't think I belong in there I guess, for some odd reason."
She didn't know why but her heart tightened by what he said. He had actually asked to help someone else out and it reminded her of the old Marshall Lee, the one that had been her friend all those years before. The one who had stood up for her and helped her try to get a date with Bobby when she had a huge crush on him.
The one she had secretly liked.
She got up to do something…but stopped herself because it wouldn't have been right. Instead she played with her hands which were dying to hold him. "Sorry…" She mumbled.
He looked up at her and scratched his head. "You don't need to be sorry bunny, you didn't do anything, let's just study the lyrics tomorrow…"
"No!" She interrupted, a lot louder than she should have. "I…let's do it now." She didn't know what she was feeling, didn't want to know what it was. She wanted him close by though because the Marshall Lee that was in front of her now brought back feeling of nostalgia and she wanted to remember him like he was now.
He smiled, and a cold wind blew that felt more comforting than anything else she had experienced that day.
So before I continue I just want to let you all know that as the author I am sad that I just don't have them kiss already! I'm sitting here writing and I just want her to run and kiss him but that isn't how it works :P I'm starting to like Flint too though ugh I need to make up my mind haha I didn't review this chapter all that much so there are probably mistakes sorry for that, if there are I'll see if I can fix them.