Had he scared her, was she sick? Before he even had the chance to ask, FIonna clumsily gathered her stuff and made a break for the door.
"Fi-"
"Bye-I-had-a-great-time-it's-getting-late-I-gotta-go-Cake's-probably-worried-and-I-need-a-shower-so-iI'll-catch-you-later-BYE!!
Slam!
...And that was that. Marshall Lee was left speechless.
He wracked his brain, his red eyes burning holes through the ceiling as he tried to think why on earth she left the way she did.
Her tone from earlier was eerily similar to how his ex Ashley would sound whenever he would talk about hanging out with anyone other than her. Pure jealousy. But that was impossible...right?
Fionna, jealous?
He had an ego, but even he was telling himself to get a life at this point. Jealousy, would mean she liked him, in more than a friend kind of way. Or, maybe he was being too hopeful, and thinking too much into it. Maybe she was just upset he went to go spend time with other friends instead. After all, it had been a while since they've hung out. Either way, it bothered him that she left so upset. He thought about just letting it go to see if maybe she'd come back and everything would turn back to normal. But as the weeks rolled by and there was no sign of her, he began to worry.
One afternoon, he sat by his phone in the kitchen, his fingers tapping on the counter in annoyance, debating on whether he should call or not. Normally she was theone to call him...would it be weird if he called her?
After nearly thirty minutes of pacing around, trying to figure out what to do, he snatched the phone off the counter and glared at it. Inhaling deeply, he dialed the numbers quickly and listened.
It rang and rang...and rang.
Then finally an answer.
"Hello!"
"H-Hello? Fionna-"
"This is Cake, and this is Fionna- *stiffled laughter* - we're not home right now so...Hehahahaha!! Leave a message!"
"..."
"Leave a message!"
Marshall Lee rolled his eyes at his friend's immaturity. Are they for real?
Before he could even open his mouth to speak, an automated message rang out "voicemail full" and then hung up.
Hmmmff.
Brows furrowed, he set the phone down on the counter, and rested his chin against his hand. Surely if they were in some kind of trouble they would let him know...right? Or would they've rather gone to Gumball for help?
For a mere second, he stood on the thought of calling Bartlby. Maybe he knew what was going on.
But after mulling it over and giving it serious consideration, he tossed the idea aside. No way was he going to gum-wad for help. He didn't want anyone to know that he was worried about Fionna...and that included his royal majesty.
After another two days of no word from his friend, he decided to finally swallow his pride and go check on her.
Marshall Lee soared through the sky, his hair ruffling gently in the breeze. The sky was clear and the moon was bright, it was the perfect night for flying. It was times like this the vampire king was secretly grateful for being a vampire and being able to wield such abilities. Despite the whole can't eat food and burning in the sun thing, it wasn't all bad. Flying made him feel free, and it was the closest thing he could imagine what being alive was like. It had been a long time since he was alive, but he remembered the exhilaration...the thrill...the pressure knowing that each day could be his last and that time was fleeting. Flying brought back the excitement. Sometimes he would fly close to ground, and he would fly so close that the blades of grass would graze his fingertips, or he would fly up high and do a loop de loop. Why? Because he could. Because he was Marshall Lee and he could simply do whatever he wanted. Yes, flying is truly an amazing experience.
It didn't take long before he finally reached the treehouse. Despite it being late in the night, the treehouse windows were lit, indicating that the house's inhabitants were still awake.
Floating down, Marshall felt the familiar cool tap of concrete beneath his shoes, indicating that he had landed on the first step.
Reaching out hesitantly, he knocked on the door.
After that, he then stood there awkwardly.
It felt weird...you know? Knocking on the treehouse's door. Normally he would just let himself in, or sneak through one of the windows upstairs, but something was stopping him this time. He couldn't quite put his finger on as to why, but maybe it had something to do with wanting to respect Fionna's privacy? After all, what if she had company over, or what if she was getting dressed?
Marshall Lee's eyes dropped to the ground and he shifted his feet, a look of irritation on his face. Man, what was taking her?
Impulse pushed by impatience, he reached out and knocked again, this time a little harder.
He waited once more, only this time, he could hear faint footsteps approaching the door.
The doorknob clicked, and a suspicious Fionna poked her head out wearily. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously, and her brows furrowed as she tried to register the figure in the dark. Marshall Lee could pinpoint the exact moment when she realized it was him, because as soon as she recognized the shady silhouette, the blonde's face relaxed and a surprised look appeared on her face.
"M-Marshall Lee?" Fionna squeaked.
Hearing her squeak out his name nearly brought the vampire to his knees. Internally, his mind was in hysterics. This is the same girl who's fought ogres, escaped the Nightosphere, and on multiple occasions took on the Lich? How could anyone think this girl was the "Heroine of Aaa?" She was such a complete dork...
It wasn't until he was staring at an interesting crack in the door, that he realized: wait a minute...she was fine. She was FINE.
Oh my Glob she's not in trouble, she was totally fine! Why did he come here?! Why was he here??
As the vampire wracked his brain as to what to even say, Fionna glanced nervously from him, back to the treehouse, and then back to him. Marshall was so busy trying to figure out what to say next that he was oblivious to the fact that Fionna was having an internal meltdown.
Before he even had the chance to say a word, he felt a warm (and sweaty) hand shove against his mouth. Next thing he knew, he's being bulldozed away from the door by a frantic Fionna. The sudden force took him completely by surprise. He was so surprised, in fact, that he offered no resistance.
It didn't take long though for his instincts to kick in. The first thing that came to his mind was to plant himself to the ground. He didn't even consider the fact that this would result in a painful collision with his friend.
Unexpecting the sudden force, Fionna plowed into him, her blonde hair spewing everywhere as the force of impact hit her.
Marshall Lee wasn't expecting how strong she was...nor did he realize she had such a hard head (that explained a LOT of things actually). Despite his supernatural strength, the vampire felt all of the air in his lungs vacate as her noggin came in contact with his diaphragm.
"Oof!!"
The force of the resulting impact forced him and the human to the ground.
It had been a long time since Marshall Lee had actually fell. Having the ability to just float everywhere, he never really came across a situation where gravity was an issue. As he was slammed unceremoniously onto his back and buttocks, he felt a choking sensation hit his throat and his body began to throb angrily. The pain, which lumping hurt by the way, sparked his hair trigger temper, and he sat up just enough to where he could glare at her.
Fionna's eyelashes fluttered as she came to, a small groan of pain emitting from her lips as she raised her head off his chest.
Despite her delirious state, Marshall Lee continued to glare and he let out an angry growl.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?"
Fionna snapped from her delirium, her eyes widening with what looked like fear. Marshall Lee's lips thinned and his jaw became taught. Did he scare her just now?
Much to his surprise though, and alarm, she slapped her hand over his mouth, her face drawing close to his as she gave him a desperate look.
"SHHHH!" She hissed, her blue eyes wide and pleading.
Marshall watched her, completely transfixed. Despite the urgency in her voice, the high pitched hiss was muffled to a soft breath as his vision and senses became enveloped by a fog.
Time stood still.
For some reason, he was just realizing that she had her hair up, and her normal attire was replaced by a long sleeve shirt and pajama shorts. Much to his chagrin, when she moved closer he could see the dip of her collarbone and the slight swell of her chest that was exposed from the hanging neckline of her shirt. He felt his mouth run dry and his palms grow sweaty as he noticed that all of her weight was settled on him, particularly on his lower half. Herhand dropped from his mouth and settled over his free wrist, pinning it in place as she looked over shoulder at the treehouse.
Marshall swallowed.
He could feel her thighs grip his hips, and it sent shockwaves thoughout his entire body. The heat from her body transmitted to his, and every brush against him him caused his cold curdled blood to thrum against the walls of his veins. Even though they were both fully dressed, she was so warm. It was like he was enveloped by the sun itself.
He watched, still in a perplexed haze as she turned to meet his stare. It wasn't until he heard a small squeak that he was able to snap from his frozen state. All of his muscles, which had been previously been numb, jumped in unison. They contracted and became hard and tense.
"I...um." The girl began, her face turning crimson.
Embarrassment...confusion...panic. All of these emotions began to fight for dominance. The intensity of the internal battle caused Marshall Lee to become nauseous, and before even had time to think, his body reacted for him.
He shot up to a sitting position. This caused Fionna to fall back onto the ground with a thud. The girl grimaced in pain when she made contact with the ground. Marshall could only stare at her, completely stunned.
"Oh glob, Marshall you idiot...you idiot...why did you freeze??"
He was so focused on slandering himself in his mind that he did not notice that there was a look of absolute terror on his face. His body felt heavy as wave after wave of guilt and panic slammed against him. The feeling had such an effect that his back somewhat curled in as he put his hands in his hair and stared at the ground with furrowed brows. His face became stone as he tried to form an coherent sentence.
Say something. SAY SOMETHING.
"I-I didn't-" he began suddenly.
"I wasn't..."
Swallowing hard, his dark eyes glanced up and he noticed that Fionna was watching him with a startled expression. Her cheeks were flushed. Much to his surprise, she didn't looked scared.
Quite the contrary actually.
Instead she looked...worried? Maybe even curious perhaps?
Paranoid that his perception was warped by hopefulness, he decided that she was just worried from his reaction and he decided to try and play Mr. Cool guy in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. Afterall, HE was supposed to be the mature one in this awkward situation.
"Look," Marshall Lee began, biting the nervousness out of his voice," I came here to talk to you."
Fionna blinked, her face expressionless. She opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly cut off.
"-Also, do you mind telling me what all that was about?"
Feeling a bit more grounded now, Marshall flashed her a mildly annoyed expression. He then gestured his hand wildly at the tree house for added effect.
His onset of annoyance stemmed from the fact that this whole painful (and ego destroying) experience could have been avoided if she hadn't acted like a spaz.
Next, it was Fionna's turn to look nervous. Swallowing a hard lump in her throat, she fiddled with her fingers. Her sudden fidgeting and the guilty expression on her face piqued the vampire's interest.
"I've-been-sneaking-out-" She blurted.
This time, it was Marshall Lee's turn to blink.
"...And Cake doesn't know..." the girl added while biting her lip.
Well well well. It looks like Fionna isn't a goodie little two shoes afterall.
It took all of Marshall's strength not to double over in laughter. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed the most sincere laugh he's had in a while.
"You, sneaking out?" He added while he continued to chuckle.
"When did you become such a bad little girl?"
This girl...despite knowing her for years, continued to surprise him...What else was she hiding?
Fionna at first shot him a look of irritation, but as laughter continued to escape him, Marshall Lee noticed the adventuress smile and blush. It wasn't an embarrassed blush, nor was it one brought on by anger...it was something entirely different. It made the bats in his stomach flutter, and his fit of laughter began to subside as he began to subconsciously understand something.
Maybe...
just maybe...
He wasn't the only one who had a crush.
author's note: So sorry for the long update guys, I've been busy with life. You know how it goes. Anyways, I know how I said this next chapter was supposed to be in Fionna's poiny of view, well, I forgot I had to catch up to this point. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer than this one.