Bones Exposed - Twelve
Bubba never met her himself, but he knows all the stories. The tension she and Marshall Lee shared during his youth. How she never expressed support, concern, or other necessary parental emotions to him. Countless arguments followed by long periods of strained silence. Her lack of apologies.
It's probably to be expected by a demon. They aren't known for their kindness, after all.
Things are different when it comes to parenthood, though. She was all Marshall Lee had, the only person there to help guide him through life, yet she hurt him so horribly. He's surely in so much pain right now.
This is why Bubba finds himself outside Marshall Lee's house once more the next night, by his own accord this time. He is not satisfied with the explanation he was given yesterday. There is so much more to the story. There needs to be. If Marshall Lee doesn't even feel like opening up about the past - something he usually has no trouble opening his mouth to complain about - to Fionna and Cake of all people, the present must be awful.
Bubba has every intention of squeezing every drop of information out of Marshall Lee this time around. No holds barred.
They must get back to normal as soon as they possibly can. Being left in the dark is driving him insane.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't His Royal Highness," Marshall Lee's tone is playfully condescending. He leans an arm against the door frame, "What can I do for ya?"
"Let me in."
Marshall Lee laughs. "Whoa, not even gonna ask politely? You mad at me or something?"
Bubba does not answer. He continues his authoritative glaring and even raises his chin a bit to silently announce his growing impatience.
"Whatever. I guess that doesn't matter anyway. You're bossy even when you aren't angry." Marshall Lee pushes himself up and heads into the house; Bubba follows.
Unsurprisingly, the living room looks no different than it did yesterday.
"So," Marshall Lee grabs his guitar and flops lazily onto his couch, "Did ya get lonely? Is that why you're here? You wanted to see me so badly?"
"I did, yes."
This catches Marshall Lee off guard. His eyes widen and he holds his mouth slightly agape.
Bubba uses this opportunity to present the finer details of his motive, "I'm still worried about you. You were really vague yesterday. Fionna and Cake may not fully understand why your mother being back hurts you so much, but I do. I'm not leaving until you talk to me."
A silence falls between them.
That's okay. He'll wait as long as he needs to.
Actually, that's a lie. If he doesn't get an answer within the next two minutes, he's gonna have to pull out the big guns. He doesn't really want to have to resort to that, though, so hopefully Marshall Lee will speak up.
It doesn't take that long, thankfully.
Marshall Lee does not look at him as he speaks, "I hate it."
"I'm sure," Bubba sits on the arm of the couch, down by Marshall Lee's feet, "Did she say how she escaped the Nightosphere?"
"Someone summoned her."
Bubba nods. "That makes sense."
"I hate them, whoever they are. How awful is my luck, man? Why couldn't someone far away from here summon her, huh? Actually, better yet, why couldn't they just not summon her at all?" Marshall Lee sits up and finally looks Bubba in the eye, "And do you know what sucks even more about this? She was acting like nothing happened, as if she was happy to see me or some crap. Then she had the nerve to act confused when I tried brushing her off."
Right. Marshall Lee probably hasn't told her all of the things he's told Bubba. Their communication was never good, clearly.
"Did you try speaking with her?"
"No. Why would I do that?"
It takes all of Bubba's self-control to suppress his sigh. "Talking about problems is the best way to help solve them."
"Yeah, for normal people. We're talking about my mom here, dude. You know, a demon? Strongest one ever? Reasoning with her won't work."
Bubba does not bother holding in his sigh this time. "You won't know that until you try, Marshall Lee."
Marshall Lee throws his head back with a dramatic groan. "Oh come on! Why should I even try? She isn't going to listen. Besides, it's not like I want to talk to her anyway. I'd rather she stay out of my life."
He's being a little childish, but.. it's not like his anger isn't justified. It is unfair for his mother to do so much damage to him then suddenly reappear and pretend everything is okay. Bubba would probably be rather petty in such a situation himself. He came here prepared to nag and maybe even argue a bit, but now that he's looking into Marshall Lee's conflicted yet obviously anguished eyes, he can't bring himself to oppose him.
So, he stays silent.
The springs in the couch creak slightly as Marshall Lee scoots over. He lazily throws his arms around Bubba's waist and rests his head in his lap.
Bubba hesitates briefly before running a hand through the vampire's hair. This action would help him relax in the past. Hopefully it still does.
They spend some time in silence; five full minutes, according to the ticks of the wall clock. During this period, Marshall Lee's shoulders lose some of their tension.
"She ruined my life," Marshall Lee's voice is muffled, "and I hate that."
"I know."
"I don't know what to do about it. I need to fix that somehow, but I don't know what I should do."
"You need to talk to her, Marshall Lee."
It takes Marshall Lee a while to respond, "I know, but I don't want to. All of the awful things I've done trace back to her somehow. Facing her, even with good intentions.. it's gonna bring out the worst in me. I might do something terrible again."
Bubba isn't sure how to respond to that.
"Every time I get close to getting over it, something happens and totally ruins everything," Marshall Lee looks up at him, "That day I went bonkers? I was going to propose to you."
Bubba's heart flutters and he pauses. "...What?"
"I'm serious. I had this whole cheesy romantic thing set up. I'd finally found someone who could put up with my shit, call me out on it when needed, and even helped me with a lot of it. I had to make you mine forever. But then we overheard that one mother berate her daughter and her boyfriend for wanting to get married, and it just.. it reminded me so much of her and it totally set me off."
"Marshall Lee..."
"I'm sorry. I know I should have told you all of this before. Our problems would be way worse if I had."
"It's okay, Marshall Lee. I understand." He is, admittedly, still a little annoyed about it, but he doesn't think he should let Marshall Lee know this information.
"I just..," Marshall Lee sighs and lays his head back down, "I feel like there's no escaping it. Even if I work things out with her, that's not going to magically reverse all the things I did back then. Not only did I destroy a bunch of people's lives, I hurt the person most important to me. There's no point in it."
Oh, dear.
Well, Bubba was hoping to avoid this, but what must be done must be done.
"Does that not imply our agreement was pointless, too?"
Marshall Lee looks up again, this time with a quirked brow. "What are you talking about?"
"I remember you saying you were going to make it your life's mission to make it up to me. We've been working on resolving our differences, haven't we?"
"Yeah, but I told you already, it's different with her. She's a demon."
"You are, too, Marshall Lee. There was a period in my life where I did truly think I could never forgive you, yet here we are. We're regaining our friendship, and..," Bubba's cheeks heat up and he looks away, "and I'm even looking forward to you making good on your promise to make me fall in love with you again."
"...Really?"
"Anyway-"
"Hey, don't just say something that then pretend you didn't!"
"-my point here, Marshall Lee, is that you do need to try," Bubba gains the courage to look back at Marshall Lee. He needs to, or else his words won't be as effective, "I understand she hurt you a lot more than you hurt me, but people can change in hundreds of years. You're the perfect example of that."
Marshall Lee searches his eyes. Presumably seeing the honesty within them, his head is back on Bubba's thighs once more. "Okay. I'll try to talking her. Only because you asked me to."
"Thank you."
He nods.
Another silence passes over them. One minute.
"Did you mean what you said?"
"I did, yes."
Marshall Lee's signature sly grin returns to his face. It feels nice (but also a little annoying) to see. "Oh, yeah? I knew it. No matter what, you can't resist me."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
Using most of his strength, Bubba pulls his hair.
"Ow! Hey! I was hoping for a kiss, you jerk!"
Bubba sports a slight smile of his own and honors Marshall Lee with a chaste peck. Then he gives him two more, because he really missed the way Marshall Lee's lips feel.
"Fuck, Baby, I almost forgot how good you taste." Marshall Lee's comment threatens to bring another blush to Bubba's cheeks.
He does not let it succeed.
"You'll get a lot more of those later. You need to focus on resolving things with your mother before trying to woo me over again."
"Whaat? I woo you every day, don't I?"
"Marshall Lee."
The vampire flinches slightly and averts his gaze. He's quiet for a few seconds. "I don't know if I can promise that much, in case it doesn't work out and all," he looks back into Bubba's eyes, "but.. I'll do my best. I don't want to let you down. Never again."
Bubba's heart swells a little. "I appreciate it, Marshall Lee. I really do."
He stays the night with Marshall Lee. They talk more and kiss a few extra times. Half asleep in Marshall Lee's arms, Bubba confirms to himself that he does not want this to get ruined again.
Yet, he can't help but also be a little pessimistic.
