Gumball had been looking forward to the end of the year. After all the craziness, it was be nice to relax with his friends and not do anything for a few days.
He was at the annual winter party and Fionna and Cake's treehouse. Everyone he knew was there, even the Ice Queen, who was surprisingly well behaved. He'd rejoin the crowd eventually, but for now, he was sitting on the couch reflecting.
The thing was that for all the mayhem of the year, he couldn't regret it. He could regret individual decisions (such as giving up his throne for months; why had he thought that was a good idea?), but given the way things had worked out, it might have been worth it.
That was especially true as he watched Marshall Lee laughing with Fionna. The vampire had only been mortal for a week, but he had clearly grown from the experience. He was less needlessly cruel, no matter how much he denied it.
Even better, they were finally on consistently good terms again. Even when Gumball had been forced to confront his feelings, he hadn't realized how much he missed Marshall. When they could manage to get along, his company was easy and natural. Had Gumball really thrown that away?
It didn't matter now. This was the end of the year, time to throw away the past and make new mistakes. Gumball was more confident, and Marshall was more mature. They could do this, whatever this was.
Gumball stood up. He was done waiting on other people. He was going to make his own mistakes, and if they meant he could keep what he had with Marshall, he couldn't bring himself to regret them.