Fionna couldn't sleep that night. She kept thinking about Marshall Lee. How he had teased her into kissing him, and how it made her feel all wobbly. She thought about the little flower he had brought her that night. Why would he have done that? She was nervous about 'hashing it out' with him. What if their friendship was broken, and couldn't go back to what it used to be?
Tired and fuzzy in the brain, she made her way to Marshall Lee's house. It took forever on foot, and being so sleepy didn't help her pick up her feet.
"At least it's not raining…" She moaned, shlupping along. As if being heard by Glob, thunder crunched in the distance. "Aw, come on!" She groaned, breaking into a sprint.
She had tried to beat the rain, but the rain had won if only by a little, arriving at the vampire's house just a bit soggy. Usually she was excited to visit Marshall, but now she felt completely weird walking up to his porch, almost uninvited. She knocked on his door and rubbed down the goosefleshies on her arms.
He opened the door.
"Hey, man. Glad you made it okay. I got worried with the storm and all." Marshall gestured her inside, her goosefleshies wouldn't go away, but she wasn't really very cold.
"Take a load off, Fionna, you look all shivery." He said tossing a throw blanket at her. Usually there would be high fives, and teasing about warming her up with his bod, but today Marshall kept a physical distance from her, and kept looking into the corners of the room. Today was not going to be easy. He picked up his guitar and lazily began to tune it up. This Marshall Lee was a completely different Marshall Lee than she was used to. Indifferent and cold. For once, she yearned for him to sneak up behind her and squeeze her, to breath into her ear all creepy. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and hopped on the keyboard. Bopping and booping random keys in a tune.
Marshall strummed out a sad little thing, and it didn't mesh with Fionna's bopping and booping at all.
"Hey Fionna, wanna follow my vibes? I'm feeling blue, okay?" He said, his face turned away from her. She held the boops into long temperate notes and he settled into a rhythm. He began to hum a tune, and Fionna harmonized with him. She hummed with him for a while, but the melody seemed so strange. It was so down and sad that Fionna stopped playing.
"Marshall…" She began. "Do I make you sad?"
"I'm a thousand years old, girl. You can't make me feel anything." He said quickly, but resumed his melancholy humming. Fionna drew in a breath. She had never been treated this way by him. In response she began to play a familiarly bittersweet tune. He turned to watch her.
"Bad little boy… that's what you're acting like, I really don't buy that you're that kind of guy…" She sang. He scoffed.
"You don't know anything about me, Fionna. Your life is like a blip compared to my existence. Believe me, you've got nothing to do with how I feel." He turned up the gain, and the song turned angsty. Fionna felt a rush of unexplained anger, and pushed him. Her bump caused his fingers to slide off the frets and his guitar winced into the amp.
"Oh? Are you mad at me now?" He said laughing sinisterly and his face exploded into that of a demon's. "Why don't you catch these lyrics, Fionna?" Marshall rose into the air and slithered his tongue at her slapping a groaning rhythm into his guitar.
"Little girl, you're unaware
That I don't care
About your little life
Or your really blonde hair
I've got demonic power
I can see your feelings
Like I watch you shower
You're lying to me
And now I see
You didn't deserve my flower." He hissed the lyrics at her. Fionna ground her teeth.
"I thought you wanted to be my friend…" She said, her throat all clunky.
"You don't want to be friends!" Marshall Lee responded. "I've been telling you from day one how you feel about me, and you've done nothing but deny it. You don't want to like me? Then don't! Go ahead and lie to yourself. But don't get all mad when I don't treat you all special."
"Marshall for the last time I don't li-…" His hand flew to cover her mouth before she could finish her sentence.
"Don't. Just don't say it, okay?" He hissed. His face was crumpled and hurt and so, so close to hers.
That's when Fionna felt it. The ba-bump in her heart lump. She had felt it before, but had always thought it was just Marshall Lee playing games with her. He looked at her curiously, his bat ears twitching, and he smirked.
"I heard that…" He said cockily. Fionna turned red and pushed him away. She was embarrassed, upset, and glob brained. For the first time she admitted to herself that she probably really was in like-like with Marshall Lee.
"Whatever…" She said defensively. "I'm going home."
"Dude, it's like pouring…" He said chuckling. "Seriously? You're gonna leave?" Marshall floated to the door to block her but she pushed him aside. He saw that she was crying, and grimaced at the sight.
"I don't like it when you mess with my feelings!" She cried, hiding her teary cheeks from him. Fionna wrapped the blanket around herself and braved the weather outside.
"I'm not… I'm trying!" Marshall Lee howled after her. But she was gone already, and everything was terrible. He exploded privately into grotesque creatures before returning to his humanoid husk.
What the heck was up with that girl?