Chapter four

It was two days after that night, and Gumball was worried. He hadn't seen Marshall at all during the two days, and no one had heard from the vampire.

After constantly telling himself that Marshall will turn up, that he will contact someone, the prince stopped lying to himself and began searching. He enlisted the help of the entire Kingdom, and after many days of nothing, Marshall was finally located.

The king had been hiding out in one of the many underground river channels in Aaa, staying with the fish people that resided there.

As soon as Gumball learned his location, he began following the vampire around, despite the desperate pleas to leave him be. Gumball was very concerned about him. The king hadn't eaten in days and was growing weaker and weaker by the hour. Gumball needed to find a way to help him.

The prince made sure to be there for Marshall during his nightmares, and his insecure moments, constantly hoping that Marshall would let him in, and let him fix things.

He finally got his wish on a cool evening at the palace. The prince had begged and pleaded for Marshall to stay with him for dinner, and to eat at least a little food. It took much persuading but Marshall finally agreed. While trying to get the vampire king to eat a strawberry, Marshall snapped.

"Will you cut it out? It's not like I'm going to die if I don't eat for a few days. Besides, you obviously wouldn't care if I did, so just stop pestering me!" Gumball had frozen at his outburst, but that didn't stop him. "We both know you don't care, that I'm not good enough for you. I mean, I'm one of the shortest vampires in Aaa, even though I'm the king, no one likes me because I'm such a jerk, and I really don't deserve you, but you gave me a chance and I appreciate that I really do-Mph!"

His rambling was cut short as Gumball desperately clashed their lips together. Tangling his hands in the pink prince's hair, Marshall clung to him like a lifeline. The prince wrapped his arms around Marshall's waist, and even after they separated they stayed in this position for a while.

"Don't talk like that. . ." Gumball finally whispered, pressing his face into ink black hair and murmuring words of comfort as Marshall started crying quietly into his shoulder. "Please don't cry, I love you, shh,shh. . ."

"If you love me," The vampire began, taking a deep breath while continuing to hide his face in Gumballs shoulder, "If you love me then why did you do this to me? Why did you hurt me so much?"

Gumball let out a sob at his broken words and tightened his hold on the pale boy. "I thought that the reason you were hanging around Fionna so much was because . . . because you might want to have a relationship with her, instead of . . . well me."

Marshall looked at Gumball then, finally noticing the prince's appearance for the first time in days. Dark circles rested under his eyes, his face was red and irritated from constant crying, and his nails had been bitten down to small nubs. His clothes were hastily thrown on, Purple trousers and boots, with a pink long sleeve shirt and grey vest. He looked awful.

"You've been hurting too," The king whispered looking into red rimmed eyes, while the prince glanced away sheepishly.

"Not nearly as much as you. . ." He replied hoarsely, voice laced with unshed tears. "I'm truly sorry Marshall, you have no idea how sorry I am."

Marshall simply nodded, leaning up and capturing the prince's lips with his own . For the first time in days he felt safe and loved, and he wouldn't let this go for the world.

The two made their way up to the prince's room, both dropping onto the bed tiredly. Marshall curled up to the prince's chest. Both soon fell asleep, listening to the others heartbeat.

The next morning, Gumball awoke to the feeling of someone shifting out of his bed, and opened his eyes to see Marshall standing up and stretching. Both had discarded their shirts sometime during the night, and Gumball stared at the taut muscles in his lovers back.

Marshall turned around and smiled shyly at his love, sliding back under the covers and curling back around Gumball. Gumball smiled and returned the embrace. Later they would talk about everything and figure out what to do about their fight, but for now, both were content to stay in each other's arms, simply being happy together.