(Author's note: Okay. So. I decided to make this story a little more interesting by adding Marshall Lee's point of view. Remember in the first chapter when Fionna said he kind of disappeared for a couple of weeks? Well despite saying he didn't, he actually did. He just decided not tell our little adventuress the WHOLE truth. I'm sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed. that's because it was lol I just feel like I need to keep my word about updating every week. If you decide to leave a comment regarding this chapter, please go easy on me! Again, I'm coming back after a seven year hiatus so my writing is still pretty rusty. But anyways- sorry for the long author's note. I hope you guys enjoy!!)

Despite his mischievous behavior, Marshall Lee is a realistic, sensible person. Living for a thousand years kinda has that affect on you- but despite his world weary wisdom, the vampire always somehow failed to understand the concept of time. Being immortal, it's honestly something that's hard to comprehend. Time's aways been this nasty thing that would sneak up on him unsuspecting. Like a monster lurking under the bed, it would show it's ugly face and confirm Marshall's worst fears:

That he truly was alone.

Over the years he's been careful to keep people an arm's length away. To him, it didn't make sense to let them any closer. Why would it? It's a silly thing to become attached to something when that thing was just going to die eventually. That would be like feeding a puppy, getting attached, and then having to return it back to its owner. It just creates unnecessary heartbreak.

Yes, time was a foreign concept indeed.

It wasn't until recently that he realized things were changing.

Marshall Lee hadn't noticed, but Fionna was no longer a little kid. She had grown, and he was slow to understand it until she came by to visit one day.

It was like any other day, really. They chilled, had a small jam session, went to the Squeez-E-Mart for some fries, and came back to his place to play some video games.

It wasn't until Fionna decided she was too warm that thing's became strange. Feeling the summer heat from their earlier trip to the store, Fionna took it upon herself to remove her outter blue shirt. He didn't know what came over him, (teenage boy senses, or just Glob deciding to hate him that day), but something pulled his gaze over to the blonde when she removed her shirt. Underneath she was wearing a white tank top, and the girl breathed a sigh of relief as her heated skin caught the coolness of what was Marshall Lee's house. (Being in a cave and all, it was hard to keep it otherwise).

But as soon as she had lifted her shirt, there it was...BAM! Cleavage.

Shocked by the discovery that Fionna, (yes, Fionna), had cleavage, Marshall Lee became paralyzed in a state of perplexity.

Despite just celebrating her birthday a few months ago, it really did FINALLY occur to him that the heroine was seventeen. She is only a year younger than he was when he died and will be eighteen next year. She was practically almost a young adult.

Fionna laughed at the stupid look on his face. She didn't understand or notice why he looked like that, but found it amusing all the same.

"What's with the dumb look?" She asked while playfully nudging his shoulder.

Marshall Lee jumped from the contact and snapped from his state of shock.

Trying hard, (not too hard he hoped), to play it off, he gave her a fanged smirk and averted his gaze.

"Sorry, I'm just still in shock that a little squirt like you can eat that much soft cheese without exploding."

Much to his amusement, Fionna's cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's at the word "squirt". It was easy to rile her up about the whole being a kid thing...despite the fact that she very much wasn't now.

Fionna crossed her arms in contempt and gave him a look of challenge.

"It was easy! I bet I could eat everything in your fridge if I wanted!" She pointed out.

Marshall Lee laughed at her eagerness to prove herself.

"You think you could eat more than me?" He asked her, trying to mask the mischievous tone that began to rise up in his voice. He had an idea for a prank, and it was going to be a good one.

Fionna's eyes narrowed and her lips pulled into a grin of unbridled confidence.

Trying to reel in her excitement, the adventuress eased back onto her hands.

"I don't think, I KNOW." She sniffed casually.

Marshall Lee rolled his eyes. He was trying so hard not to laugh at her lame attempt to keep "cool".

"Alright then bun-head, how about this: whoever eats the most red is undeniably the coolest most awesome person in this room."

Fionna jumped to her feet, her blue eyes brightening with competitive spirit.

"You're so on, paste face!"

Without hesitation, she raced to the kitchen. Marshall Lee was hot on her heels. He was a little quicker though and began to effortlessly drain all the contents in his fridge. Fionna was manic, she gobbled strawberry upon strawberry as she tried oh so desperately to beat him. She wanted those bragging rights, and she wanted them bad.

As they both continued to devour everything that was in the fridge, a thought donned on Marshall Lee. This was a LOT of food, what if she gets sick? The thought was almost immediately pushed aside as he watched her move onto the next bowl of strawberries. The vampire decided he'd cross that bridge later. He was too dead-set on winning this challenge.

Marshall Lee reached for the last strawberry in the fridge. Before he could even come close to grabbing it, the berry was plucked from the bowl by a dainty hand.

He watched as Fionna gobbled it up greedily, her lips twisting into a victorious grin after nearly devouring the fruit whole.

"I win!" She exclaimed," In your face!"

Marshall watched smugly as the human reveled in her victory. She looked so happy, jumping around and hooting in triumph. She looked so happy in fact, that he actually began to have second thoughts about raining on her parade...But in the end, temptation always wins out.

"But did you?" The vampire crooned teasingly.

He reached for the bowl in the fridge. It was red, and it was what previously held the last batch of strawberries. Fionna watched in mute horror as he drained the bowl of color. The rules of the game replayed over and over in her head and she finally realized something...

She's been had!

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Fionna whined, "That's not fair!"

Marshall Lee snickered and the sulking human crossed her arms.

"Is so. I told you the rules: Whoever eats the most red wins."

The vampire king put his arms behind his head and began to float in a casual laid-back position. His voice was laced with smugness as he then regarded her with a sly smirk.

"I won fair-and-square, pip-squeak. I'm officially the coolest most awesome person."

Fionna's face burned red at the word "pip-squeak" and she threw daggers at him.

"Your a bleaping boso!" She fussed angrily," you did that on purpose, you knew you'd win!"

Before the adventuress could have time to react, Marshall Lee floated above her and snatched her bunny hat. His movement was swift, but he took care not to hurt her as he quickly tugged the hat off. He then watched appreciatively as blonde locks gently fell down the girl's back and shoulders.

"Hey!" Fionna snapped.

Knowing it was pointless to even try and jump for it, Fionna watched in annoyance as her friend held the hat out of reach.

By the sullen look on her face, Marshall Lee knew he was skating on thin ice. Fionna seemed absolutely done with his immature antics. If he wasn't careful, all of this pestering was going to result in a punch to the face or her walking out the door. Despite knowing this, the allure of riling the girl up was too hard to resist.

Observing her frustration was addicting. He loved how his taunting would make her face scrunch with anger. Her nose would do this thing were it would wrinkle and her cheeks would become flushed. The pink tinge made the bats in his stomach flutter, and he secretly wondered if her skin would be warm against his lips. The thing he loved most of all were her bright blue eyes. He had never recalled encountering a human who had such eyes. Depending on her mood, they would be as bright as the bright blue sky or as dark as the darkest depths of the ocean. There was so much life and energy in those eyes that it would sometimes overwhelm him. Being that he himself is undead, it was an odd experience to be around someone who was so alive.

Marshall Lee cackled as he continued to wave the hat out of reach. He would bring it just close enough for her to touch it, but then would quickly snatch it back. His impish behavior was ultimately awarded with an exasperated sigh.

That was his cue.

Aware that his friend's patience had run dry, the vampire chuckled and he finally offered the hat back.

"Alright, alright. Keep your skirt on."

Fionna's lips pouted at his remark. Hesitantly, almost like she was worried it was a trap, she extended her arm slowly...and that's when Marshall noticed it. Much to his frustration, his eyes locked on her lips. They were stained from the strawberries she had devoured only minutes ago, and the pout she was making made them seem ever so the more delicious.

It took a herculean amount of effort for Marshall Lee to not lean down and capture them in a kiss. As a matter of fact, if it weren't Fionna, he would have probably done so already.

Feeling his throat become incredibly dry the, undead monarch swallowed hard.

He saw there was a small red juice trail that left her lips and traveled downward. Unable to stop himself, his eyes followed the trail. Sucking in a breath, (not that he needed to breathe), he noticed that it led straight to the valley between Fionna's breasts.

Marshall Lee stiffened.

Without so much as a word, the vampire's eyes narrowed and he looked shamefully away, his stomach churning in guilt.

Fionna was able to finally retrieve her hat, but she noticed the sudden change in her friend's demeanor. Concerned that he may have gotten sick from eating so much, she reached a hand out and gently touched his arm.

"You ok, Marsh?"

A fire erupted in the vampire's stomach as he felt the warmth of her hand transfer to his cool skin. Understanding this warm, nauseous feeling, the vampire flinched from her touch and drifted away so that he was out of her reach.

This obviously hurt Fionna's feelings, and Marshall Lee noticed.

Silently cursing himself for his strange behavior, he ran a hand through his hair and offered her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry Fi, I'm just tired."

He lied.

"It's been a long day and I need to catch up on my beauty sleep."

Marshall Lee thought this was a pretty lame excuse. For a moment he was worried that Fionna had grown suspicious, but despite the poor explanation, the girl returned his smile with a sympathetic one of her own.

"It's okay," she replied, giving him a sheepish grin. All of the worry in her voice had dissipated.

"We did have a pretty eventful day.. I guess I should go ahead and head home. Cake's probably worried and she's been craaaazy hormonal."

Marshall Lee snorted.

"Cake, moody? No surprise there."

His rude observation was rewarded with a small giggle and punch to the shoulder. Feeling that the tension from earlier was gone, the vampire king couldn't help but breathe an internal sigh of relief. This was one of those rare occurrences where he was grateful for his friend's naive and trusting nature.

After exchanging their farewells, Fionna left and started to make her way to the mouth of the cave. Marshall Lee was leaning against the door frame as he watched her from his house. He momentarily wondered to himself if he should fly her home, or at least walk her there. After contemplating, he ultimately decided against it. Knowing Fionna all too well, she would only take offense.

He could hear it now: 'I'm not a kid, I don't need a babysitter!''

Analyzing this internal dialog Marshall Lee's brows furrowed, and his red eyes fell from the cave entrance to study the wooden planks that made up his front porch. A frown pulled on the corners of his mouth, while his boney fingers gripped the door frame. The images of Fionna in his kitchen from earlier came back to haunt him.

She certainly was not a kid, and he was still trying to figure out when exactly that happened.

Despite the now well established fact that Fionna was almost an adult, Marshall Lee felt utterly repulsed upon discovering his newfound attraction to her. What gave him the right to assess her 'womanly endowments' like he did? It was wrong, immoral, and downright scummy.. Even for him.

Marshall Lee was not against admitting that his moral compass was skewed. When you live for a thousand years, the line between good and bad becomes blurred. It makes you see the world differently, and although he has no issues toying with people for amusement or to simply pass the time, Fionna was...well. Different.

He couldn't quite place a reason as to why, but he had decided long ago that she was absolutely off limits when it came to exploiting people.

Don't get him wrong. He very much enjoyed what he saw, but it was Fionna. That fact alone hurt his brain. How can someone he sees as a best friend, maybe even little sister, be attractive? He didn't want to accept it. He wasn't going to accept it.

After all, how could he?

A few weeks passed by. Tired of moping about and being a recluse, Marshall Lee decided perhaps it was time to go visit his old band mates. It had been a few years since he last hung out with them. Last time when they got together, they chatted about maybe doing a reunion tour. They always talk about it, but they never really go through with the idea.

It was about an hour's flight to his friend Gal's. He didn't care to call ahead, but it was a mutual thing. He and Gal go way back, so they're friendship is at that comfortable level to where either person will randomly show up at each other's house.

Gal lived in an old car garage on the outskirts of Breakfast Kingdom. The garage was located in the desert, situated underneath a canyon cliff. The place was very well hidden, and it was easy to accidentally pass by if you weren't too careful. It was kind of a dump on the outside, but the inside was admittingly cozy.

Marshall Lee didn't even bother to enter through the front door. He just morphed into a bat and slipped through one of the top broken windows.

The inside of the building was pretty well lit. There were strings of bulbs hanging from the ceiling and there was an old car suspended in the air on a platform. The car's interior lights were on and it provided the room with a low ambient lighting. Being that the garage was in a canyon, light was kind of hard thing to come by. Marshall Lee, however, was secretly grateful for that.

"Yo Gal, what's shakin?" Marshall called.

His eyes settled on a humanoid figure who was bent over the front side of a car on the other side of the room. It looked like the person was working on an old car, their hands gripping a wrench as they struggled to tighten a screw on the engine.

Marshall Lee floated closer and gave his friend a fanged smirk as she turned around.

Gal at first looked suprised to see him there, but her startlement soon melted away into happy disbelief. Flashing him a sideways grin, the changeling wiped her hands on a cloth and chuckled.

"Well if it ain't the king of brooding himself," She announced jokingly.

Marshall Lee, who was used to his friend's teasing, quickly whipped out his bass and played a tune in reply. The quick melody was similar to something one would play at a funeral. After his sarcastic response, Gal erupted into laughter.

"I see you haven't changed at all," she remarked cheerfully," always the jokester."

Marshall Lee cocked his head to the side to get a better look at the car behind her.

"I see you haven't changed either. Still working on cars?"

Gal followed the vampire's gaze. Looking back at the rusty car, she placed her hands on her hips and grunted in response.

"Yeah- just picked this rust bucket up today. It was a pain to get it here. Humans should've designed these things to be lighter, I had to bear back it all the way here." Gal shape-shifted into a bear to emphasize her point. "Like literally."

Marshall Lee laughed appreciatively at her pun and floated closer to get a better look. His red eyes scanned the vehicle curiously. If his memory served him right, he recalled seeing these contraptions zoom back and forth on the road. They were everywhere before the Great Mushroom War. He remembered his dad warning him about the dangers of crossing the road.

'Always look both ways, and hold my hand'' His father's voice echoed in his mind.

It was crazy to think that this machine was once a part of that time. It would really be something to see it come alive again.

Gal, who had now morphed back into her humanoid form, came up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay, old man?"

Marshall Lee rolled his eyes at her calling him "old man" and nodded. "

"Yeah, I'm good."

Snapping back to reality, he glanced around the garage questioningly.

"Where's Keel and Bunga? Don't they normally crash at your place?"

Gal blew a raspberry at his question and made her way over to a desk where there was an old coffee maker.

Pressing a red button on the front, the appliance made a small beep before gurgling angrily. Marshall Lee was impressed to see the little machine, it had been decades since he last saw one in working order.

Leave it to Gal to fix just about anything.

"Those two knuckle-heads have been gone all day. They were supposed to go by Junkyard Kingdom to pick up a part for me, but it's been seven hours and they're still gone..."

Marshall Lee, who was half-listening, had his hands shoved in his pockets. He rocked back and forth on his heels awkwardly as his friend droned on and on. Drama between his three friends wasn't anything new. He honestly didn't know what possessed them to think that being roommates would be a good idea. It just didn't make sense.

"-I don't care if they go and goof off, but they could've at least brought me that part first."

The coffee machine let out a loud splurge and gave a loud beep. Gal grabbed a dingey coffee mug and began to fill it.

"You want a cup? Keel keeps a stash of red food dye in the cupboard."

Marshall Lee's eyes settled on the spare mug next to Gal's. Noticing the dirt stains on the rim, his brows furrowed and he politely declined.

"No thanks, I'm good. I had a cherry soda on the way here."

Gal shrugged before mumbling a small 'suit yourself'.

After fixing herself a cup, she strolled over to a row of damaged passenger seats. It looked like the chairs were being used as a make-shift couch. Selecting the seat that seemed the least damaged, she sat down and propped her legs up on a table.

Marshall Lee had followed her, but instead of finding a seat for himself, he simply kicked off the ground and floated lazily in the air.

"So what's new with you?" Gal began.

The changeling seemed more mellowed out now. Marshall could only guess her earlier ranting about Keel and Bunga was somewhat therapeutic for her. Taking a sip of her coffee, she awaited his answer with a relaxed smile and half-lidded eyes.

"Not much really, just been practicing bass and writing new songs, same ol', same ol'."

The two friends sat there like that for nearly an hour. They laughed and talked, catching up on what was new. Apparently Gal had a run in with some mutants the other day. She admitted to having seen them in the canyon before, but this time she had awoken to a group of them trying to break in the building. She, Keel, and Bunga were able to take care of them, but ever since then, she wondered if it was a sign to move. Marshall Lee could see the sadness in her face as she mentioned moving. He knew this place was special to her and there was a lot of memories made here. He could understand that. After all, he was reluctant to reliquish ownership over the tree house. It took a certain blonde and an annoying cat to convince him he no longer needed it.

"So how's that little human friend of your's been?" Gal asked curiously.

Marshall Lee blinked.

The question took him by complete surprise, and he could only stare at her as he tried to think of how to answer that.

His most recent visit with Fionna came to mind, but he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to go into detail about that night. He didn't want to explain how he recently discovered that Fionna is no longer an annoying kid, and that she in fact had become very attractive. It was just something he wasn't sure if he was readily open to admit.

Knowing that his silence would definitely bring upon suspicion, Marshall Lee wracked his brain and tried to come up with some sort of lie.

Gal noticed her friend's uncomfortable silence and she looked up from her coffee. She watched curiously as he seemed to shuffle nervously in the air. Finding his unnerved behaviour intriguing, the changeling cocked a brow.

"You okay?"

Marshall Lee swallowed hard. There was a lump in his throat that wouldn't go down, and he could feel his mouth suddenly become unbearably dry.

"Yep." He rasped.

Feeling his cold blood curdle in his veins, the vampire's stomach churned with dread as Gal gave him the most evil smirk. It was so diabolically evil that it could've put his mother's evil smiles to shame.

"Oh my Glob, it finally happened didn't it? You've got a thing for her don't you?"

Trying to fight the heavy blush that now burned up his face and neck, Marshall Lee shot her a look that was best described as detest. Not even sure how to answer her accusation, he threw back his head and let out a frustrated noise that was a mixture between a sigh and growl.

Not one who was comfortable with openly discussing his feelings, he quickly whipped around and made a break for the front door.

"Wait, wait!" Gal yelled in both amusement and alarm. Morphing into a bird, she quickly flew past him and landed in front of the door. She changed back into her humanoid form to block his exit and held her hands up defensively.

Marshall Lee stopped, his expression angry.

"Look, "Gal panted, trying to catch her breath. She had overexerted herself from flying so fast. "I wasn't trying to make you upset, I'm sorry. I was just surprised. That's all."

Marshall Lee stared at her, his expression hardened.

"Come on, let's sit back down. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Gal offered. Closing the space between them, she waffed her arms gently like she was trying to herd him away from the door. Although reluctant, the vampire king silently gave in and started to float back to where they were.

After sitting back down, Gal let out a sigh of relief and picked her coffee mug back up.

"Sheesh, you are such a drama-queen."

Marshall Lee ignored her teasing, his red eyes fixated on a crack in the floor.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two, but Gal being the notoriously nosy person she was, couldn't help but start to poke for information.

"Soooooo-" she began. She playfully clicked her tongue and wiggled her eyebrows

"How long?"

Marshall Lee's eyebrows narrowed. Although he didn't take off like he did earlier, he was still reluctant to give in.

"How long what?" He growled in response.

Gal wasn't intimidated by his venomous reply. If anything, his defensive behavior only fueled her intrigue.

"How long have you liked her?"

The vampire folded his arms and averted his gaze. His red eyes glared at the wall as he debated on an answer.

A few quiet minutes passed by, and Gal's persistence finally paid off. Marshall Lee explained everything. Although he left out some minor details, (like the fact that he had noticed Fionna's cleavage not only once, but TWICE), he told her all about his last visit with the human.

After he was done, Gal could only sit there and laugh at the situation.

"You, a crush on a human?" She laughed at this almost hysterically. "Dude, that's awesome!"

The vampire shot her an annoyed look. Gal's eyes cartwheeled in their sockets and she raised her hands defensively.

"Calm down, Mr. Seriousness. I was only laughing because you seem so bothered by it. So what if you have a crush? So what if she's human? You're acting like it's the end of the world..."

Marshall Lee shot her another annoyed look, but this time he decided to cut her off.

"It's not a crush!"

Gal gave him a skeptical look before the vampire threw his hands in the air and let out an exasperated sigh.

" ..It's not a crush," he affirmed, though the reassuring statement seemed mostly for himself.

"Its just...it's just...Arggh!" He hissed in frustration.

The Vampire King's eyes glowered as he avoided the changeling's surprised gaze.

"Okay..." he admitted," so maybe it is..."

"-and a bad one at that." Gal added with an 'I told you so' smirk.

Marshall Lee ignored the smugness in his friend's voice and floated across the building. He folded his arms and stared out the window with a worried expression.

"I just don't know what to do. Like...it's Fionna."

Gal cocked an eyebrow. "And?"

Marshall Lee turned around so he could look at her.

"And that's it..It's Fionna!"

Gal laughed at his reasoning and took a sip of her coffee.

"Look man, I don't know what to tell yah. The heart wants what it wants." Gal stirred her coffee with her finger thoughtfully.

"So what if you two are close friends? Maybe she feels the same way. After all, weren't you and Gumball friends before you two had that fling?"

Marshall Lee felt a needle prick his heart as Gal brought up he and Gumball's past. It was a painful reminder of how friendships turned into relationships can ruin a friendship. Sure, he and Bartleby get along for Fionna's sake, but their separation had left their ties to each other on a sour note.

Gal noticed the saddened look on Marshall Lee's face as she brought up Gumball. Her brows twisted upward as she mentally kicked herself for bringing up such a touchy subject.

"I mean..." Marshall Lee began, as he pushed down his rising emotions," that's actually kind of a good reason why I shouldn't. It messed things up between B. and me, we still don't really talk about that night. What if the same thing happens with Fionna?"

Gal frowned and she scratched her chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm. That is a good point." She nodded in agreement.

"Not only that, but I'm immortal. What happens when she starts to age? What if she wants a family and I can't give her that-"

Gal spat her coffee out.

"Whoa, Mar Mar! Hold the phone-" she laughed nervously.

"You just found out you have a crush on this chick, slow down."

Marshall Lee ran a hand through his hair, his expression tired.

"I know, I know.. I just... Argh!" he groaned in annoyance.

"There's more things that could go wrong than there are things that could go right. Not only that, but she's my best friend. It's just...weird."

Gal propped her head on her hand and gave him an irritated look.

"You're the only one who's making it weird. She's an attractive girl, Marshall. What are you so scared of? Just go for it!"

Marshall Lee stared at his friend, both of their gazes serious as they tried to get their point across.

The vampire king couldn't help but feel like his friend was delusional. He and Fionna, in a relationship? The thought was asinine.

It could NEVER work...

Could it?

Okay, so I feel bad ending the chapter here.. but hopefully the next chapter will be better. I hope you guys enjoyed, please leave a review if you can!