Marshall stood still as Gumball fitted a space suit over him.
"So, your plan is to go into space, and blast this thing into smithereens?" Marshall asked behind the veil of a space helmet.
"Yes, precisely."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
Marshall pulled the visor of the helmet up over his face to breath.
"The same way the humans blasted that chunk from the Earth. A nuclear bomb."
A bomb to blast an asteroid out of space. That's what humans had always done in movies, and Gumball actually found the idea wasn't half bad, regardless if there was no actual record of it working. What had happened for sure was humans had built a bomb powerful enough to blow a chunk of Earth into outer space. Logically, the amount of force it had taken to cause such a thing should be enough to at least divert the meteor.
"You know how to build a bomb?" Marshall asked.
"No." Gumball replied, with small embarrassment in his voice. He hated admitting when he didn't know something. "I don't need to build one. I've found one."
"Oh shi-" Marshall said, not before the visor fell back down over his face. He pulled it up again, with growing annoyance.
"Stay still." Gumball said, measuring the pressure inside of the suit with a tire pressure gauge.
Marshall stayed quiet and watched his genius friend at work, a knot of concentration gathering on his forehead.
"Damn, it's still not holding pressure." Gumball mumbled. It wasn't often that he cursed, but when he did it was only with serious disappointment. Marshall suspected space travel was not Gumball's forte.
"Did you find this, too?" Marshall asked, gesturing to the suit. Gumball nodded, growing tired of questions from Marshall.
"The parts are so old that they have disintegrated. Same with the spaceship it came with. I'm going to have to build that from scrap."
Gumball sighed, and finally reached his peak in frustration.
"Screw this, it's time for tea." He said, slapping his hands on his knees, and standing from the small stool he had occupied while working on the suit. Without even looking back at Marshall, Gumball made his way out the door, already preoccupied with some science mumbo jumbo thoughts.
"Wait!" Cried Marshall, stuck in the suit. He hobbled over to the door to beg relief from the outfit. Gumball smacked his forehead with his palm, remembering his friend was still in the suit, before helping Marshall to disrobe.
"Sorry, buddy." He said, finding some small amusement in the situation.
"Red oolong tea, please."
Gumball smiled at Marshall, despite the panicked emotion gathering in the wrinkles of his gummy forehead.
"For sure."
By winter time, Marshall had gotten roped into Gumballs experiments so often that he barely had time to spend with his friends. It annoyed him greatly, as all Marshall cared about was being with his buddies as much as he could before the asteroid Gumball obsessed over ended the world.
"I think today we can break out into the atmosphere." Gumball said, trying to entice his friend to stay. "Please? If it blows, you can just float back down like before."
"No. I'm hanging out with Fionna, I told you!"
"You can hang out with her all you like, after I save the world!" Gumball begged. Marshall gave his friend a reproving look.
"What after?" Marshall mumbled under his breath. The comment stung Gumball and he seethed with hurt.
"You don't think I can do it, do you?" Gumball asked.
"It's not about if you can, Gumbutt… It's… You're just one person against this giant gargantuan rock."
"We'd be two people if you would help me out."
Marshall placed an apologetic hand on his friend's shoulder with a tight-lipped smile.
"I think the odds are against us. I'm going to go spend the rest of my life with the ones I love."
Gumball rolled his eyes, annoyed at Marshall's uncooperative attitude.
"Oh, yeah, because smothering Fionna even more than you already have will surely win her over."
Marshall shrugged, a small bit embarrassed that Gumball had voiced Marshall's secret feelings out loud.
"It might." He said. "All I can do is try, right?"
Gumball was pissed, but more than that he was sad. Marshall was usurping his plans to save the world just to flirt with some girl. His feelings showed plainly on his face, and Marshall felt remorse at abandoning his friend.
"I'll help you tomorrow, Gumbutt. This is important to me."
Gumball turned away from Marshall in a way that showed he was finished with the conversation, and Marshall left him there to simmer.
He wouldn't let his sourpuss of a friend ruin his Christmas fun.
Marshall hung about twenty mistletoes around the house. Surely, Fionna was bound to walk underneath one of them, and perhaps then he could… he sighed sadly. Then he could, what? Get pushed away again? Be reminded that she didn't like him like that? What a time to put his heart out on the line. But it was now or never, after all.
A knock happened at the door, and Marshall floated over in his best holiday sweater. Skeletons were embroidered into it, and with cute cross-stitching it read 'I don't need no body'. It was a gag, and he loved it. He hoped it would make Fionna laugh. He opened the door, and was sad to find that Cake had come.
"Hi, Cake." He said, quickly plucking the mistletoe from the doorframe, and hiding it behind his back.
"Hello to you too, Vampire Boy. What is that, a mistletoe? Hmph" She glared at Marshall and pushed her way inside, Fionna following after.
"See, I told you he would try something funny. Aren't you glad I came, too?" Cake whispered to Fionna.
Fionna chuckled, and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Ever since her birthday in November, Fionna had abandoned her bunny hat, and cut her hair into a bob. It revealed the smooth back of her neck, and it made Marshall mad with want to kiss her.
She glanced back at him, and he saw that she was underneath another mistletoe which hung from the ceiling light. She followed his gaze, and looked up, then quickly looked at her shoes. Fionna brushed her hair behind her ear again.
"I made hot choc." Marshall said, trying not to show the disappointment in his voice. He had truly prepared for only Fionna.
"I would love some!" Cake said happily, slumping into the sofa. Marshall disappeared into the kitchen, plucking various mistletoes from the ceiling on the way.
"I'll help you." Fionna said, following him into the kitchen. Marshall reached to grab two cups from the cupboard, distracted with his feelings of disappointment. When he turned around, Fionna was there, and she cupped his face with her hands, and stood on her toes in one quick motion before giving him a chaste kiss. On the cheek. Marshall hadn't had time to react. He just stared at her, baffled. If he had seen the kiss coming, he surely would have turned his face to meet her mouth.
What a horrible missed opportunity for the Vampire King.
"Just a little one." Fionna whispered, wringing her hands. "Merry Christmas."
Marshall glanced at Cake in the living room through the pass-through window, and saw that she was distracted by the bowl of leftover Halloween candy on the coffee table.
Marshall smiled, and leaned back down, to try to steal a real kiss from Fionna, but she dodged him.
"My roof, at midnight?" She whispered before dashing back into the living room. He needn't answer. There was no way he was going to deny the invitation. He smirked, and continued to make the hot chocolate. His night had just gotten significantly better, despite Cake's meddling.
They all sat in their cozy sweaters, sipping on cocoa as they watched the same three movies that they watched every year. Except for Love Actually, which was scratched so badly it only worked until the middle bit, leaving all the strings of relationships to fray. Every year, they argued about how it actually ended, and Marshall being the only one old enough to know, wallowed in the glory of leaving them hanging.
After the movie, he saw them both off, knowing in secret that he would be seeing Fionna in a mere hour or two. He hugged Cake, wished her a Merry Christmas, and did the same for Fionna, whispering "I'll see you later" in her ear.
He didn't know why Fionna wanted to meet alone at night, but it set his nerves on fire. She acted as if he had said nothing at all, and waved him goodbye with Cake.
Marshall flew in the clear, cold night to meet with Fionna, his heart bounding in his chest. The small speck of her silhouette on the roof among the stars grew larger as he approached. Her head turned towards him as he landed softly next to her. Fionna was wrapped in a blanket, and he couldn't help thinking how beautiful she looked, hair waving in the winter breeze, encapsulated in the softness of a quilt.
"Aren't you cold?" He asked, immune to the effects of the weather himself.
"A bit." She said, her voice quaking in the slightest. He was in his band hoodie, immune to the colder weather, and although he didn't have much warmth to offer, wanted to show an attempt at keeping her from the cold. Marshall extended his arm to wrap around her shoulders, and paused before pulling her towards him. So far, she hadn't slapped him.
"Do you mind?" He asked, squeezing her shoulder. She shook her head and smiled at him, then turned her eyes to the sky.
"There have been beautiful meteor showers lately." She said. Whatever romantic notions Marshall had been fantasizing evaporated at the mention of meteors, and he looked up at the sky to see that indeed, it sparkled with shooting stars.
He wasn't as enchanted with them as Fionna seemed to be.
"I have a present for you." She said. Crap, he hadn't even thought about presents. He looked at her with apologetic eyes, and she held up her hands as if to say it was no big deal. He scanned around to spy for the gift, but saw none.
"What is it?" He asked, chuckling, his curiosity growing. Fionna turned her face away from him. Was it the coldness of the air or had her cheeks always been that red? He'd never been nervous around her. No matter what he did, she would reject him in the end anyways, so really there was never much to be nervous about, but tonight felt different.
"Well, you're always trying to kiss me. So, if you want to so bad, just go ahead and do it." She leaned towards him, eyes closed tightly shut. He looked at her face, and it all felt wrong. He wanted more than just a kiss, he wanted the meaning behind it, and judging by how tightly she shut her eyes, Fionna didn't seem very receptive. What was she playing at?
"I'm sorry." He said softly. Fionna relaxed and opened her eyes.
"See? I knew it." She huffed.
"Knew what?"
"You do all that embarrassing stuff to get a rise out of me, but you don't really like me like that."
Marshall was speechless. This was not how he had expected tonight to go.
"You think I'm just playing with you?"
"Cake said that once you get what you want from me, you'll just laugh and walk away."
"Oh? And what is it that I seem to want from you?" He said, his emotions rising. She must have heard that he was growing angry, as she shrunk in her blanket.
"To tell you that I like you more than a friend." She said in a small voice.
"So, let me get this straight. You think that I just want to get you to admit that you like me as a trick or a prank?"
Marshall never liked Cake, but this revelation of what garbage she had stuffed Fionna's head with really pissed him off.
"Why do you keep trying to kiss me, then?"
Marshall stood, casting a moonlight shadow over Fionna.
"Forgive me if I haven't been forward enough before." He began. Fionna stared up at him, and the streaking meteors reflected in her big blue eyes. "But let me make this crystal clear for you. I like you."
Fionna did not know what to say, so she just looked down at her feet. Marshall, despite being immune to the weather, felt cold. He had just said his feelings out loud to her, and she was silent.
"I'm sorry." She said. The apology was bittersweet.
"It's fine, Fionna. I think you've made your point. I won't try to kiss you anymore, or whatever." He stepped off of the roof, letting free fall take him down, before he eased his descent to the ground. He felt much too heavy to float home.
Marshall listened with small hope that she would call out to him, to tell him to turn around. Anything to make this moment not final.
The last bit of hope he had dissolved when he got home. This was not like all the other times he had broken boundaries with Fionna. He had told her straight up how he felt, and there was no pretending it was a joke this time.
He had ruined everything. There would be no teasing her, no more flirting with her. He found that his life had very little meaning without the prospect of bugging her. But what was he to do? He couldn't very well let Fionna think he was just trying to get a rise out of her.