Chapter 23: stay the night

Marshall never really locked his apartment door when he was home. He never felt the need to. Even if someone broke in when he was sleeping what would they take? His unfinished sketches? His cheap ass beer? Possibly the most expensive thing he owned was his shitty TV he never used. He should probably sell that sometime. The only thing his dad paid for was his phone and his shop, everything else was up to him. He wasn't complaining, but he knew his father had money to spare. It didn't matter though, he wouldn't really know what to do with that money anyways. He was happy where he was at, and didn't need anything particularly fancy to survive. All he needed was a place to crash and a place to eat.

It had now been two weeks since he had last seen Fionna. He had gotten to the point where he could avoid thinking about her most of the time, but when he did it wasn't terrible. Just memories of her laugh and smile when he was happy, and traces of her tears when he felt down. All he hoped was that she was doing okay. Cake was chatting with him on a regular basis and told him how she was doing every now and then. It sounded like she was doing fine. She was smiling and talking like normal, and business was booming for her. Last he heard she was preparing for the recession, but Cake was still concerned. It was almost as if she was too happy considering what had happened recently. She never mentioned him and told her she didn't remember that night two weeks ago. She told him that Fionna didn't even look like she had cried that morning. He did his best to push that thought out of his head whenever it came up. He didn't want to think about how she went unscathed while he was a broken mess.

The young artist stopped drinking after work, and had decided to order a pizza a couple days over two weeks since that night. It was a long day, and he felt the need for something easy. Thankfully, his father never let him starve either and sent him a monthly allowance for take out. He was busy counting the dollars in his wallet and trying to calculate the tip on his phone when there was a knock.

"Be right there!" He called and pulled out the right amount of cash. His fingers flipped through the bills once more as he walked over to the door and opened it.

"Okay…so like, $9.25 and a dollar thirty for the tip?" He asked before looking up. Once his hazel eyes met blue he instantly tensed up and flinched, surprised not to find the pizza delivery man at his door. The blond giggled.

"I didn't know I was so cheap, is that just for tonsil tennis?" Fionna teased. This time she held a bottle and didn't bother trying to be polite. She walked past him and in to his apartment, looking around as she took another sip of her poison. Marshall gaped at her as she walked past him, and couldn't do anything more but stare.

"It's nice to see you've cleaned up a little," she said as she noticed the lack of trash littered across the ground and over his coffee table. He still couldn't manage to speak. The blond turned around to face him and tipped the last of her beer.

"Got any more?" She asked. He shook his head.

"Something tells me you don't need more," he nearly growled. She giggled and came up closer to him.

"Oh, I know exactly what I need…" she purred and wrapped her arms around his neck. Marshall clenched the cash in his hand as she smiled up at him and tussled his hair.

"Fionna, what the hell are you doing here?" He asked through clenched teeth. She recognized the hostility in his voice and pouted.

"Awh, don't you want me here?" She asked.

"Not if you're gonna do what you did last time," he replied.

"What? I thought you liked one night stands," she challenged.

"Not with someone I…" he stopped himself and took a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to say that. "Not with someone I care about."

"That's cute, Marshall, but you can drop the act. I probably won't remember it in the morning," she sighed and nuzzled in to his neck. Marshall tried to stop her, but her lips were already stuck to his skin. He bit his lip as she kissed him and brought her hands to cup his face. He wanted more than anything to stop her, but he missed her too much to let her leave.

"Ah-hem." Marshall looked over to see the actually delivery guy at his door waiting patiently. He sighed and pulled himself away from Fionna to hand the kid the cash and retrieve his pizza.

"Thanks," he said. The boy nodded and Marshall shut the door politely.

"So that's what you ordered," Fionna hummed behind him as she hugged his waist. Marshall clenched his jaw and pulled her arms off so he could set his dinner on the counter.

"I'll allow you to stay for dinner, but if you get any ideas I'm kicking you out," he threatened. She followed him to his kitchen and leaned her head on his shoulder as he opened the box.

"What ever do you mean?" She asked innocently. He looked down at her with a stern glare.

"I mean I'm not gonna be you're sex buddy tonight. If you want that, you're gonna have to find someone else," he informed her. She frowned for real this time and crossed her arms.

"Well that's not gonna happen, you're the only person who would fuck me," she whined. Marshall rolled his eyes and got out some cheap plates he got from the dollar store from his cupboard.

"Oh please, I bet anyone would," he grumbled, displeased at the thought of someone else touching her like that.

"I mean someone I want," she replied. He frowned at her and handed her a plate with two slices of pizza on it. She accepted and turned to look through his fridge. He served himself and sat down on his old couch.

"You lied to me," she sang as she pulled out one of his remaining cans of beer.

"I lied for a reason."

"You weren't gonna drink it anyways," she slurred as she popped open the can and took a sip of the cold liquid. Marshall sighed and set his plate down on his coffee table. He went up to her and gently took away her can.

"No more for tonight, you've had enough," he scolded. She smiled and leaned closer to him.

"You don't even know how much I've had."

"I don't need to know. I can tell it's been too many," he said and went to sit back down with his pizza. Fionna rolled her eyes and walked over to sit next to him.

"Why are you picking off the pineapple?" He asked.

"I don't like pineapple."

"Nonsense, pineapple is great. It's the best on pizza."

"It's the worst on pizza," she said stubbornly, Marshall side eyed her and shook his head.

"You really are drunk," he said with a mouthful of pizza.

"I would be drunker if you gave me back my drink," she sassed.

"Actually, it's my drink, and there's no way I'm letting you but your liver through more torture," he retorted.

"Maybe it deserves it," she muttered. Marshall was silent for a while as she ate more pizza and glared away from him.

"What do you mean?" He spoke cautiously.

"Nothing," she sighed and finished off her first slice.

"Don't tell me that, I know there's something going on."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"I don't think we can. Because we haven't talked in two weeks, but I don't even know if you remember the last time we talked considering you were just as shit faced," he snapped. She glared over at him and set her plate down.

"Listen, Marshall, I only came here for one thing. You know why. If it doesn't happen, I'm leaving right now."

"Fionna, please-"

"Marshall…I'm serious," she took his plate and set it next to hers before straddling his lap.

"As much as I love arguing and fighting with you, I'd really rather be doing something else," she said seductively. Marshall bit his lip nervously as she stared down at him and placed her hands on his shoulders. He kept his hands to himself and waited for her to talk again.

"C'mon…I know you missed me," she whispered and pressed kisses against his cheek.

"It's not a crime to spend the night every now and then, is it?" She murmured against his jaw.

"You didn't spend the night last time," he reminded her. She paused above his pulse.

"My mistake," she said and resumed kissing his skin.

"So…if I sleep with you…you'll stay the rest of the night?"

"Yes."

"And you won't sneak out early in the morning?"

She hesitated.

"I can't promise anything," she whispered. Marshall frowned and thought while she continued to kiss and lick over the faded marks she had left last time. They had turned a light yellowish color by now, but they were easily re-bruised. He resisted the urge to touch her as long as he could, but the longer he waited the harder it was not to. She lead up to his ear again and giggled.

"Don't try and hold back, please…I need you…" she begged and pulled back to look at him. He looked sad, but Fionna didn't want to think about that now. Right now she wanted to think about how much she missed just the sight of his face. Marshall studied her glittering eyes before reaching up to cup her face and caressing her cheek with his thumb. He hated himself for it, then kissed her.