Bones Exposed - Eleven
Change is inevitable. No matter how hard one may try, they can't ever prevent it from occurring. Some things, or people, change for the best, while others do so for the worst.
In all his years of living, Bubba has never before seen someone somehow manage to do both at once.
Until now.
Marshall Lee has been acting different these past few days, yet also still the exact same as usual. He still looks at him with a lazy yet mischievous smile that matches the glints in his eyes. He still hangs around and bothers Bubba whenever he has the free time (which is entirely too often for someone who's supposed to be ruling over the vampires). His flirtatious and teasing remarks don't yield in the slightest, much to Bubba's chagrin. He laughs lightheartedly at the most ridiculous things all the same.
However, he's very clearly put up a shield. He's always present, but he doesn't always feel there. It's not abnormal for him to space out from disinterest, but it's very unlike him to not bother interrupting if he's bored. Marshall Lee is a very emotional man who always thinks with his feelings. He does not speak of or with them, nor does he often act with them, but he is always feeling. Because of their former closeness, even after all these years, Bubba has always been able to read him like a book, see right through his skin and muscle and into his very core.
He cannot see anything now, no matter how much flesh he tries to strip away.
It's uncomfortable.
A large smile appears in Bubba's line of sight, fangs bared in fabricated carefree humor. "Oi, Gumbutt. You can't chastise me for ignoring you then turn around and do the same thing to me, you hypocrite."
"I wasn't even aware you had shown up."
"You would have been if you weren't blankly staring at those empty test tubes. If you're gonna stare at anything here, it should be me."
Bubba rolls his eyes. He has no doubt he'd enjoy doing that, but he's not going to give Marshall Lee the satisfaction.
"Something on your mind?" The gentleness of Marshall Lee's voice makes Bubba feel a little nauseous.
He takes extra care to look directly into the vampire's eyes. "I should be the one asking you that."
Marshall Lee hesitates briefly before breaking out into another grin. "Aw, are you worried about me? All this distance you try to put between us, yet you still can't help but think of me every second of every day. Does this mean I've already managed to make you fall in love with me again?"
"Stop making things up."
His voice softens again, "I'm glad you're thinking of me, but you don't need to. I'm fine."
Bubba cannot bring himself to respond to that.
The facade continues. It wounds him deeper and deeper as the days go by, but he keeps holding his tongue. He's not entirely sure why he remains silent. He'd never had trouble prying information out of Marshall Lee in the past. Maybe.. there's a part of him that's simply unsure how to react to this new-found detachment and finds it pointless to try?
There are many other potential possibilities, but Bubba does not wish to explore them. He is afraid of what he might conclude, even if he doesn't actually think such a thing to be true. All of their conflicts from the past still bother him without fail, but he wouldn't say those have made him afraid of Marshall Lee.
Or, at least, that's what he'd like to believe.
Ah, darn it. He knew thinking too much about it would do this to him. The last thing he needs to do right now is place even more of his doubts on Marshall Lee's already heavily-burdened shoulders. Bubba put his faith into him; he must do everything in his power to retain it.
Ever-so-lightly chapped lips press against his. They feel good, for a nanosecond, until Bubba realizes that they shouldn't feel good because doing this for any longer is going to drive him mad with incredibly inappropriately-timed reignited infatuation.
He pushes Marshall Lee away. "What in Glob's name are you doing?"
"I wanted your attention," Marshall Lee says with a so not innocent tilt of his head.
"And you chose that method of getting it because..?"
"'Cause it was the first one that came to mind."
"You're unbelievable."
Marshall Lee's laugh borders a cackle, lively as usual, and it makes Bubba's heart sink. It's upsetting that he's still keeping up this charade, but it's also a bit ridiculous for Bubba to expect anything less from him.
He just wishes they were close enough again for Marshall Lee to desire to confide in him. They could have been, had Bubba not held a grudge for so long - or had this happened later on in their reconstructing friendship.
A silence falls between them. Marshall Lee gazes out the window. Bubba continues writing down his hypotheses for upcoming experiments. They are both calm on the outside. He has no doubt that, on the inside, either of them are anything but.
Two dramatic groans accompany the sound of footsteps entering his kitchen.
Bubba looks up as he's taking a cheesecake out of the oven. "Hello Fionna, Cake. What's the matter?"
"It's that jerk Marshall Lee," Fionna crosses her arms, "He's been blowing us off every day for the past two weeks."
Cake nods with narrowed eyes. "That boy is really starting to get on my last nerve."
"Seriously! Just last night, we ran into him after taking down the fire-breathing dragon that was trying to cook Hot Dog Prince , and not only did he not congratulate us for our awesome work, but he didn't even want to come over for celebratory burritos!"
Oh, dear. Passing up celebratory burritos is really serious. Just what is it that's been bothering him?
It's.. rather unusual that Marshall Lee has been keeping up regular visits to Bubba, but not to his other friends. He tries not to think too hard about it. After all, he's fairly certain he already knows the reason for that.
"We're thinking about going and calling him out," Cake's revelation draw Bubba's attention back to the duo, "Give him a real good talking to."
"And maybe beat him up a little." Fionna cracks her knuckles.
"...Oh," is all Bubba can manage.
"You should come with us, Prince Gumball."
"...What?"
"I want some of this cheesecake first," Cake says.
About an hour later, Bubba finds himself standing outside Marshall Lee's house with the two girls. Fionna's banging on the door. Bubba is questioning how he ended up in this position. He doesn't remember agreeing to this. Did they convince him to actually join them? Did they just drag him along? Or did he absentmindedly follow them?
It's likely for the best that he's here, though. Maybe this visit will finally put his mind at ease.
"Jeez, why are you guys being so loud?" Marshall Lee's rubbing his head as he opens the door. Judging by his squinted eyes, it looks like they've woken him up.
The girls do not seem nearly as fazed by his disheveled state as Bubba does.
Fionna jabs a finger against his chest. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Marshall Lee."
"Huh? About what?"
"Don't act like you don't know," Cake looks just as angry as she sounds, with furrowed brows and her hands on her hips, "You've been avoiding us, and we're tired of it."
"Do you suddenly think you're too cool to hang out with us now that you've made even more friends?"
"Hang on, you two are talking too fast-"
"Answer me."
"Look, I was cooler than before I made new friends, for one thing," Marshall Lee's words only seem to make the girls even angrier, "but I don't know what you mean about this this 'avoiding you' junk."
"Does refusing to hang out with someone not mean avoiding them in your book?" Cake asks. "What kind of dictionary do you read?"
"Do you not want to be our friend any more? Is that it?" Fionna's fists are balled and she has tears in her eyes.
"Hey, no, that's not it-"
"Marshall Lee."
Everyone looks at Bubba. Of course they do; not only is this his first contribution to the argument, but he's also using his perfected leader voice. A calm head and stern tone of voice are what's necessary to lead this conversation in the direction it needs to go in.
It's about time he stops walking on eggshells and grabs the demon by his horns.
"There is obviously something going on with you. Stop dodging the issue and talk to us."
Marshall Lee stares at him. The conflict in his eyes is subtle, but Bubba notices it immediately. After a range of mostly irritated expressions flash across his face during the span of what feels like several minutes, Marshall Lee sighs. He turns and retreats back inside his house.
The door is still open. Bubba, Fionna, and Cake all glace at each other before passing through it.
It's not very surprising to see the state of the living room. Not too messy but also not too clean, just the way Marshall Lee likes it.
Said homeowner is nowhere to be seen, but his voice is loud and clear, "Sit."
Cake joins Bubba on the sofa. Fionna remains standing.
Seconds pass before Marshall Lee emerges from elsewhere in the house, no longer wearing the pajamas he answered the door in.
A thick fog of silence fills the room.
There's a part of Bubba that wants to interrogate the heck out of him. His more polite half of his brain reprimands that idea, however, so he chooses to remain quiet, as deafening as this lack of noise is.
"We're your friends, Marshall Lee," Fionna says softly. "You can tell us anything. Please trust us."
Marshall Lee sighs again. He runs a hand through his hair (Bubba pretends he doesn't find that gesture attractive; now is so not the time for that). It takes him a second to start speaking, "Someone from my past showed up in my life again all of a sudden. Someone.. who I had an even bigger falling out with than this guy." Marshall Lee points a thumb at Bubba.
He does not take offense to being referring to as "this guy" - just this once - because he thinks he knows exactly who Marshall Lee is talking about.
Goodness, the circumstances are even worse than he thought.
"That.. really sucks, Marshall Lee, but.. you shouldn't just ignore us because of it."
Cake nods determinedly. "Fionna's right. Not only is that really rude, but we're your friends! You're supposed to rely on us to help cheer you up."
Marshall Lee gives them a lopsided smile and huffs out what's probably supposed to be a laugh. "I guess you're right."
"Who.. was it that you saw?" Fionna asks.
"My mom."
Bubba takes careful caution to make sure his gasp is silent.
It's just as he feared.
"Your mom?" Cake tilts her head, "You had a bad argument with your mom?"
"Yeah. A long time ago. It was rough," Marshall Lee averts his gaze, "I'd rather not talk about it."
It's quiet once more, until,
"That's okay! Too much sad junk is just gonna weigh you down even more," Fionna says enthusiastically; it sounds a tad forced. She smacks a fist against her palm. "I know! How about, since we're already here, we do something that'll make you happy again?"
Marshall Lee looks up at her. He stares for a moment. A smile quickly appears on his face and he laughs. "Sure, okay."
