Marshall barely noticed as the sun slowly snaked over the horizon, he was used to feeling time fall through his fingers like sand.
"Fionna?" Cake called from upstairs. Her paws pitter pattered down to the living room. "Fi- Oh." She said, spotting Fionna curled up on Marshall while he played video games.
"Shhhh" He said, pointing to Fionna sleeping, and kept playing as if Cake were not there.
"What are you doing here, Marshall?" She whispered, fur unfurled.
"She had some issues sleeping. So I offered to play video games with her until she conked off." He said. Cake's jaw dropped and gestured at his position with her little paws.
"Explain this!" She hissed.
"Does she look unhappy?" He asked, gloating that Fionna was conveniently laying across his chest. Part of him felt proud, and enjoyed rubbing it in Cake's face. Her furry face settled in a scowl.
"You and I will have a chat when she wakes up… and she will soon! I'm making bacon." With resolve, Cake turned to the kitchen and lit the stove. It didn't take five minutes for the smell of bacon to rouse Fionna.
Marshall pouted as he felt Fionna wiggle away from him, face flushed and mumbling apologies for falling asleep on him. He was too ticked off at Cake to really respond besides offering her a smile and an 'it's ok'.
It was clear her stomach came before her heart, as Fionna became completely distracted with breakfast. Personally, Marshall didn't see the appeal of bacon pancakes, and tried for a silent escape from Cake's imminent scolding. He softly opened the door.
"Oh, no you don't!" Cake said pushing him past the threshold into the morning air.
"Hey!" He screamed, jumping quickly into a patch of shade. He hadn't even gotten the chance to protect himself from the sun.
"Enjoy your eggs, Sugar!" Cake called upstairs to the kitchen, before shutting the door, cornering Marshall in the safety of his shade. He recoiled, and was for once a little scared of Cake. She shook a furry finger at him. "Now, explain."
"Really, I was just passing by when I saw she was playing video games, I thought I'd pop by…"
"Marshall, you're not as transparent as you think you are." She said frankly. He froze in the gaze of her cat eyes. "I'm not blind, and I'm not stupid. The thing that rubs my fur the wrong way is that the last time I saw her, she was on the way to your house, and she comes back a day later with little rings under her eyes. So, explain." She said waiting.
"We got stuck in a dungeon, and Fionna got a pretty bad scare, but she's okay now. I think." He said, a bit guiltily.
"You're not sucking her soul bit by bit behind her back?" Cake accused.
"What?!" He yelled, and looked up to the tree house to see the small face of Fionna from the upstairs window watching them. "No! Why would you think that?" Cake slanted her eyes at him.
"That weird vampire curse you put on her at Gumball's. Where you playing or was that real?"
"Uhh…"
Cake pulled out a book from her furry pockets and waved it in his face. "I've read up on your kind! You've got some weird seduction powers! You better not be taking advantage of my little girl, or I will stake you, bro!" She threatened. He threw his hands up in defense.
"I-I…" He saw Fionna's face shrink from the window in shame and he whispered to Cake. "I tried, okay. But she kept pushing me away. I swear we're just hanging out, now. I'm not trying anything." His confession did little to calm Cake, and she punched him square in the jaw. His face turned demonic, and his hands grew into claws as he struggled to calm himself.
"Go home, vampire boy. Don't come back here!" She said angrily. Marshall regained functional fingers and popped open his umbrella to take off for home.
"Reminder that you still live under my roof, kitty cat." He said, seething.
"Thank Glob he's gone." Cake said, slamming the door behind her. Fionna quietly resumed eating her breakfast, eyeing her sister all the while. It was strange, but even though Marshall had just left, Fionna yearned to be with him again. She was really starting to have legit feelings for him, and she sighed, pushing her food around.
"I like him, Cake." She said in a small voice.
"Yeah, I like him too. When he's not being a big turd!" Cake responded. "Cuddlin' up with my sister in the middle of the night… What was he thinking?"
"I think I like him, like him…" Fionna said a bit louder. Cake swiveled around to face her.
"Oh, no you don't! You've been hypnotized with his vampire eyes! Girl, you've been hanging around him too much. You're under his spell, and you don't even know it!"
"I'm not under a spell! He's been really nice to me and I think you're being a bit prejudiced right now."
Cake scoffed. "Me? Prejudiced? I'm involved with a unicorn man and you call me prejudiced?" Fionna scowled.
"What do I need to do to prove to you that I'm not under a spell?" Cake tapped her chin pensively.
"Try to seduce him back. If he reciprocates, you were under a spell. If he pushes you away, then obviously the boy actually has respect for you."
"I don't think that's going to work…" Fionna flushed.
"Well, then. You're just going to have to stay away from him for a while, see if it wears off." Cake said definitively. "Anyways, I'm so angry at him if I even smell him nearby, I will claw his face off."
Fionna sighed. It was beginning to feel impossible to keep away from him for very long. Even now, she could only think of the way it felt to be in his arms. How weird, that she should think of her old-time pal like this. Maybe he really had cursed her. She thought of how he had come through the window two weeks ago, with a flower in hand. How different that would have gone down if she had felt the way she felt about him now.