Bones Exposed - Ten

Bubba's working in his lab. As suspected, the chemicals he's working with don't smell good at all.

Marshall Lee doesn't see this as a deterrent. He's contemplating whether or not to sneak up on the gummy prince - or, to put it more precisely, whether or not he should wait for Bubba to finish pouring blue chemical into yellow chemical. On one hand, it'd be awesome if something exploded, but on the other hand, he'd hate if Bubba got hurt.

He chooses to wait once the green mixture thickens. It begins to harden, then does nothing afterwards, so Marshall Lee makes his move.

"Boo."

Bubba's shoulders jerk violently, causing him to drop his pen, and he snaps his head up from his clipboard. "Marshall Lee! Have you forgotten how to knock? And why on earth are you upside down?"

"Isn't knocking for people who're asking to come in somewhere? Why would I need to do that when I'm already here?"

The fondness in Bubba's sigh is evident no matter how hard he tries to hide it. "Silly me. I seem to have forgotten only well-mannered people do such things."

Marshall Lee grins. "Does 'well-mannered' mean 'boring' or 'pretentious'?"

That question does not get answered. Bubba moves to another table in the room. Marshall Lee corrects his posture and floats after him.

"So what exactly are you working on anyway? Adhesives? Weapons of mass destruction?"

"There's a new race of Candy People I'd like to create," Bubba grabs two test tubes full of red and yellow liquids before heading back to his experiment, "However, based on the research I've done thus far, their genome would lack certain chromosomes needed to ensure they're built properly for survival. I'm trying to see if I can find a way around that by creating potions that'd supplement the necessary functions before either resorting to crossbreeding or giving up altogether."

"Ohh, I see. You wanna make more dolls to play with."

Bubba shoots him a side-glare.

Marshall Lee holds up his hands in lazy defense. "Hey, hey, there's no need to look at me like that. I think your whole mad-scientist thing is pretty rad."

The prince gets back to his work with a humph. More of the yellow chemical is added to the green mixture, causing the density to decrease.

It's quiet for a moment.

"You knew that already, though, right? And that I think you look hot in your lab coat?"

"Yes, Marshall Lee."


Board games aren't Marshall Lee's favorite thing in the world, but he admittedly can get kinda competitive when playing them.

All of his challengers are also competitive as heck, so much so that he'd say he's the least competitive of the bunch; it's no doubt that tonight's definitely gonna be really interesting.

"House rules," Fionna says seriously as she shakes the dice in her cupped hands. "Winner takes all."

They're not actually gambling, so Marshall Lee has no idea why Fionna is saying such things, but he guesses it sounds pretty cool. Placing bets would increase the already roaring fires in Cake and Prince Gumball's eyes, which would make this night even more fun. It's too bad they're not doing it.

Oh well. At least they've got plenty of snacks.

Their game goes on for almost a full hour before Fionna is out. She sits quietly with her arms and legs crossed and a pout on her lips. After ten more minutes, Marshall Lee is out as well.

"Man," he says with a laugh. "You two are rough."

Cake and Prince Gumball's determined gazes are set directly on each other. They don't acknowledge his comment, or anything outside of the game for that matter.

"Looks like we've lost 'em," Marshall Lee looks at Fionna, "Wanna get some fresh air?"

She nods, and the two of them leave unnoticed.

Fionna takes a seat on the rooftop. She hugs her knees to her chest as she scans the surrounding area. Marshall Lee, floating on his back next to her, opts to look at the moon. Its pale light stretches across the sky, giving the dark background a subtle silver luminescence. When he looks down, he finds that every blade of grass in the field has the same glow. He's almost inclined to call the view romantic. He probably would if he were sharing it with someone he has genuine feelings for. Fionna is gorgeous, with a great personality to boot, but not the apple of his eye.

Making her blush is a lot of fun, though.

"Cake and Gumwad always like this?"

"Oh yeah, every game night. They go on for hours. I was hoping I'd last longer tonight, but they totally crushed me! Next time for sure! Maybe I'll even win!"

Marshall Lee smiles at her. "You sure sound eager. Tryin' to impress someone?"

There's that blush, bright even in the dim lighting. "No. I just want to win. Not everything I do is about boys, you know."

Of course Marshall Lee knows that, but teasing the crud out of her is just so entertaining.

"Really?" he moves closer to her, drawing their faces only two inches apart, "Coulda fooled me."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Knock it off, Marshall Lee."

"What? I'm just saying. There's no way a girl who's into dudes goes around saving a bunch of them without at least kind of hoping to steal a smooch every now and then."

Fionna rolls her eyes and shoves him away by his chest. "You're unbelievable."

Marshall Lee is very glad she knows he's just picking on her.

He laughs. "Am I wrong? Are there not any handsome guys you wanna kiss?"

The blush spreads across Fionna's face, which she hides in her hands.

"I knew I was right. It's me, isn't it?"

She shakes her head.

That's a relief.

"Is it His Royal Pain-in-the-Butt?"

She shakes her head again, which is another relief.

"You gonna tell me who it is?"

One more head shake.

"Alright, alright. Keep your secrets."

In order to be chivalrous or whatever and let her regain her composure, Marshall Lee redirects his gaze back to the moon.

The nighttime is such an anomaly, managing to be so tranquil yet so frightful at the same time. Some of the worst occasions of his life have happened after dark. Some of the best have happened after dark, too. He's not really sure which sticks out most to him at this point in time.

"Is there anyone you like, Marshall Lee?" Fionna asks once she's mostly calmed down. Her tone is quiet and her cheeks are still a little pink, but she's back to normal otherwise.

Marshall Lee opens his mouth.

"Other than me," she says flatly.

"Yeah."

Her eyebrows rise. "Really? Who?"

He holds a finger to his lips. "You have your secrets, I have mine," he says before winking.


He's joining Bubba for tea. Marshall Lee doesn't plan on actually drinking any, though. All he intends on doing this afternoon is keeping the prince company.

And maybe steal some color from these delicious-looking cookies. They're only frosted pink, but that's close enough.

The two of them are being waited on by a butterscotch disc apparently aptly called Butterscotch Butler. When Marshall Lee asks what happened to the Peppermint Maid, Bubba tells him not question the continuity of his kingdom.

Now Bubba's talking about his experiments. There's a slight hint of excitement in his voice. Marshall Lee does his best to follow along for this reason alone, but he doesn't understand hardly any of the words coming from Bubba's mouth.

It's nice seeing him like this, though. Their first re-encounter was so hostile. How far they've come since then is really awesome to think about.

"Everything okay, Marshall Lee? You look distracted."

"Just thinkin' 'bout how cute you are when you're like this."

Bubba clears his throat as he turns his head to avoid Marshall Lee's gaze. The slight flush of his cheeks is still obvious anyway, though.

Marshall Lee laughs. "Such a small compliment embarrasses you?"

"Who said I'm embarrassed?"

"Your face, dude."

The glare directed towards Marshall Lee is followed up by a sigh. "Surely you don't expect me to get used to it again so suddenly."

"Huh, I guess I shouldn't. That's not gonna stop me from throwing them at you from every direction."

"Okay."

"I'm serious. I'm gonna make you feel so good about yourself you won't even believe it. You just might even fall in love with me again."

"Do as you wish," Bubba mumbles shyly as he picks up his teacup.


His path back to the humble place he calls home is gently illuminated by the stars in the sky. If he weren't so tired from an eventful day of helping Fionna and Cake collect natural ingredients from the woods for Bubba's experiments, he'd totally be out wreaking havoc. He's really pooped, though, so he's not out having the fun he wants to.

Instead, he chooses to enjoy the scenery and let his mind wander.

He likes to think he's making good progress towards befriending Bubba again. Plus he's made some extra friends in the process, which is a very cool bonus. Marshall Lee hasn't formed genuine connections with anyone in a really long time. This is a nice change.

Now that they're getting close again, Marshall Lee truly does hope he and Bubba can rekindle their flame sometime in the future. Preferably sooner, he's really impatient, but he knows it'll realistically take some time to develop that level of trust again. Their friendship is more important, of course; Marshall Lee is just a sap.

Maybe he should write Bubba a song.

It wouldn't be the first. Marshall Lee used to write a new one for him almost every other week. Bubba loved all of them (except the ones that made fun of him, which sucks because those were some of Marshall Lee's favorites).

Man, he was childish back then. He guesses he kinda still is sometimes. Maybe it's a result of his rough childhood. Or maybe he's just a jerk, who knows?

But.. now that he's thinking about it, he's gotten better.., hasn't he? A little more mature and responsible, a little more kind and understanding - and a lot more handsome, too.

Has he changed enough to earn Bubba's attention once more? Has he atoned for his horrible behavior in the past?

"Marshall Lee?"

He freezes at the sound of the voice. A chill runs down his spine. His hands feel clammy. Both fear and anger fill his chest as he looks over to the source.

"It's been a long time. You look so different now." Her voice is calm, irritatingly so, as if nothing's the matter. Her heels make little noise against the grass as she approaches him. The stars' glimmering makes her pantsuit look more grey than black.

"..Mom?"