Chapter Text
He had yet to return Bubba’s sweater but really, Marshall had no intention to. It smelled like the Candy Prince and he was more than happy to snuggle into it whenever they hung out.
Usually, they went somewhere to watch a show or have a picnic, regular romantic lovey-dovey stuff… but sometimes they would go to the Candy Kingdom’s palace and sneak into the game room, hanging out and gaming all night long.
Peppermint Maid would usually catch them and spend half an hour lecturing the Prince about how he needed to find a suitable girlfriend of royal status and marry her to continue the line. The vampire was always tempted to tell her that he was a King, just to see the horrified look on her face… but of course he hung back, not yet ready to face the repercussions of his actions.
This night was spent away from the castle, however, between the Rock Candy Mountains and the Ice Kingdom. There was a nice spot by the lake, under a large tree that the vampire had spent many nights at, singing or serenading some of the creatures that lived there.
Thankfully, that particular evening was free of interruption as they dined, chatting about the things going on in the kingdom. Bubba explained about a pool made of honey and how his council was pressing him to fix it, when he deemed the idea unworthy, as no one ever used it.
Occasionally, his date would chat about his own life, though he usually kept it very brief. Not that his boyfriend never asked… no, the Candy Prince was always pressing to learn more, but the pale man tried his best not to give too much away, very cautious of anything being linked back to him.
The older was wearing his partner’s wine-colored jacket, per usual, over a black halter mini-dress and a pair of sapphire blue leggings, pale blue cherry blossoms designed up the legs. He wasn’t usually a fan of things with flowers on them, but the color of these ones were very appealing and the way they hugged his legs made him feel good. His hair was styled up in the twin-tails that he’d taken as a typical look, since they were surprisingly easy to do (after a tutorial from Cake).
In response, his other wore a deep violet blazer over a white button-up, and (surprisingly) a pair of blue jeans. His own solid gum hair was swept to the side in an asymmetrical way that gave him a more laid-back appearance. It was a look that the pale man really liked on him.
They were deeply engrossed in a discussion about the younger’s latest scientific research on making sugar resistant to water, when it happened. One moment they were talking back and forth, the next a cloud of fog was rolling over and a loud shriek was filling the air.
“Ice Queen!” Marshall heard his date cry and he reached out, grabbing hold of the other’s hand before the woman in question could snatch him up. He really did not want to deal with a rescue attempt, especially not in a mini-dress.
To his surprise, however, when the fog began to clear it was not Bubba that the woman went for… but he himself. Suddenly, a deep blue fist came flying out and hit him square across the face, making him stumble backwards into the Prince.
“Michelle-!” The younger man cried as the vampire reached a hand up to touch his cheek in shock. “Ice Queen, what in Ooo…!?”
Letting out a shriek as the last of the fog fled away, the woman in question stood tall – taller than both of them, in fact, in her large heels. Her hair was stark white and hung down to her ankles in small waves, framing her face and falling into her pale eyes. A sneer was across her blue lips as she pulled them back, baring her teeth.
“Stay away from my Gumball, you poisonous insect!” She shrieked, before lifting up her hands and shooting off small shards of ice. The man in question gasped as he was suddenly shoved to the side, his partner pushing him to the ground.
“Back off, Ice Queen!” The ebony-haired man snapped, baring his own sharp teeth as she growled at him. “Glob, take a hint! He doesn’t want you!”
Instead of answering, the white-haired woman let out a shrill cry before she leapt forward. Sharp icicles formed to cover her fingers like claws and the next thing Marshall knew, the woman was swiping at him, scratching him across his cheek.
As he stumbled back, the small man reached up to touch his cheek, only to wince as he removed his hand and laid his eyes upon the blood that coated it.
“Y-you’re bleeding,” Bubba gasped in horror as the vampire gritted his teeth. “You… you can’t-!”
“She’s using magic,” His partner replied shortly, as if it answered everything.
In truth, the younger man was right. As a vampire, he was able to instantly heal from all sorts of wounds… things like a spear to the chest wouldn’t harm him, let alone a scratch on the face. But Ice Queen’s attacks were different. They used magic, which – for some reason – bypassed his vampire abilities and cut right into his demon side, allowing him to bleed and, ultimately, die.
The tall woman let out a feral call and flew forward, swiping at him again. This time, the ebony-haired man was ready, his own fingers formed into bat-like claws as he attempted to block her attacks. As the woman full-on assaulted him, his boyfriend stumbled away from the battle, watching on in horror.
He was no knight in shining armor, that was for sure.
It seemed that Ice Queen was one to play dirty because the next thing Marshall knew, she was grabbing a fistful of one of his twin tails and tugging, forcing his head to one side. As he cried out in surprise, she sank her claws into his upper left shoulder… slicing straight through the pink-haired man’s jacket.
“Ice Queen,” The vampire growled, anger instantly rising. She didn’t back down, however, even as his eyes blackened and his pupils turning red, his fangs growing in size. With a snarl, the vampire jumped forward, tackling the woman and pinning her to the ground.
From there, claws were flying in an array of hair-pulling and scratching. Bubba watched on with an open mouth as his partner became victim to several more scratches, including one that came dangerously close to delicate parts.
Eventually, the dark-haired man managed to wrap one hand around the woman’s golden tiara and hauled it from atop her head. Instantly, her ice-like claws melted and with one powerful arm, he turned and tossed the item into the river.
“My tiara!” Ice Queen shrieked, pushing him off and rushing into the water.
Before anything more could be said, the vampire scooped up his shell-shocked boyfriend and began to float away as fast as the air currents would allow, not bothering to gather up their forgotten blanket or plates.
Blood was streaking down his legs by the time they reached the Prince’s balcony and he all but collapsed onto the tile, his clothes a mess and his hair coming loose from its neat tails.
The pink-haired man let out a single breath before he wrapped one of Marshall’s arms around his shoulders and helped the shorter to his feet, bending his knees to be able to do so.
The next thing the vampire knew he was being placed on the man’s plush bed and the Candy Prince was rushing into his bathroom, retrieving a first-aid kit. Bubba crossed the room and his partner flushed as the man bent down beside him, moving to address the wound on his leg.
A frown crossed both of their features, however, as the shreds of his black mini-dress blocked the path and both of them knew, in that moment, that treating the wound while he was wearing it was going to be impossible.
“I’ll, um… I’ll get you something to wear,” The younger murmured, getting to his feet, only to stop as the other reached up to touch his pink hand. As he looked down, his date could see that his rosy cheeks were flushed with embarrassment and nervousness.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find something,” The vampire assured as he lifted himself off of the bed and crossed the room to the massive walk-in closet, shutting the door behind himself.
After flicking on the light switch, he was met with an assault of pink. Numerous shades of the color were strung along the walls, as well as folded on shelves and stuffed into roll-out drawers. Dress shoes of every shade were stacked on a display near the back and amongst the massive amount of cloth was very little variation of color.
Too bad I look terrible in pink, Marshall mused as he painfully tugged his torn clothes from his body. The wounds were still sore and he was pretty sure they would take a few days to heal… but at least they wouldn’t scar.
It was with a bit of sadness that he dropped his boyfriend’s destroyed sweatshirt onto the floor. He’d been rather fond of it, but with a big rip on the shoulder and on the right arm it was of little use to him. Oh well, there was an army of other clothes in that closet that he could claim as his own, he supposed.
It was extremely difficult to find something to put on. He needed something that would reveal all of his wounds – his left shoulder, right arm, and the right side of his upper thigh – without showing his corset or… other parts.
Eventually, he settled on a white, pin-striped button up that hung about midway to his knees, leaving the top buttons undone. Thankful had he’d gone with a strapless bra that evening, the dark-haired man tugged the bands out of his hair and let his long locks fall down around him, running his fingers through them a bit to get rid of the awkward looseness.
With a nervous breath, the vampire flicked off the light and slipped out of the room with his torn clothes in hand, inwardly hoping that a slip-up wouldn’t happen that would reveal his secret.
As Bubba turned to look at him, his mouth dropped open for a few moments and he stared, his entire face turning a sugary sweet shade of red. Marshall made a point to sway his hips as much as possible as he approached, before taking a seat on the bed and crossing his right leg over his left, tugging up the shirt enough to reveal the wound.
After a few moments of silence passed, violet eyes staring openly at his lower half, the vampire cleared his throat. “Well?”
“Uh- wha?” The younger offered, finally managing to pull his eyes away.
A smirk crossed gloss-painted lips as the older leaned back on delicate wrists. “What do you think?”
Seeming at a loss for words for a moment, the Candy Prince cleared his throat, trying to force his eyes not to trail downward. “Good. You look good. Yes. Good. Nice, even. You… Good.”
Snickering now as the other became flustered, the pale man rolled his teal eyes. “I meant about the wound, Your Majesty.”
“Huh?” His boyfriend wheezed, before he let out a nervous laugh. “Oh, right! Of course that’s what you meant. I, um… let me take a look.”
“Thanks,” Marshall chuckled as Bubba began to address the wound, his entire face red. Once it was properly bandaged (after a bit of flushed embarrassment as the other wrapped the material around his thigh), the dark-haired man shrugged off one shoulder of the shirt to reveal the scratch wound on his left.
The Candy Prince was practically in his lap as he cleaned and bandaged this one, the close proximity of their bodies making the vampire’s cheeks light up. He was pretty sure that if it were possible, certain parts of his body would be heating up in that moment.
“T-there we go,” The younger squeaked as he finished bandaging the rather nasty scratch on the other man’s arm and the thin one on his cheek, before pulling away and sitting back, his legs crossed and his body turned slightly away.
A slow, devious smirk spread its way across pale lips and the shorter man turned toward his boyfriend, knowing exactly what his flushed face and tense shoulders meant.
“Are you alright?” He addressed, reaching out to place a gentle hand on the other’s leg. Instantly, the candy-man froze and stared openly at the lithe hand, his violet eyes wide. “You seem really… tense.”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine!” The other declared, turning his red face away, only to let out a gasp as thin fingers began to trail up his leg. “M-Michelle, what are you-”
Instead of answering, the older leaned in, capturing his boyfriend’s lips in a kiss. As Bubba gasped, his partner grabbed hold of shaking shoulders and pushed the Prince onto the bed, climbing onto his middle.
As their lips broke apart, the younger man let out a shaky breath, his eyes half-lidded and full of desire. Immediately they filled with shock, however, as a pair of torn blue stockings were suddenly wrapped around his arms, before they were being pinned above his head, fastened to his headboard.
“W-what in Ooo-!?" The startled Prince cried, only to be cut off as lips were pressed to his once more.
Pulling his lips from the other’s, the vampire’s hands slipped out suddenly to wrap a rolled up, torn sweat-shirt across the younger man’s eyes. Instantly, the man’s vision was cut off and he cried out in alarm.
“Shhh,” Marshall breathed, pressing a finger against gasping lips. “Just… trust me, okay?”
“M-Michelle, I hardly think-” Bubba began, only to fall silent as he was kissed once more. As his partner pulled away once more, he let out a slow whine and fell silent.
For a few moments, Marshall just watched him breathe, cheeks flushed and body hot. He wondered, in those seconds, what he had gotten himself into…
There was no going back from this. In his (much) younger days, the vampire was very casual about who he slept with and yet at that moment, he knew how very intimate such an act was going to be. Their relationship was going to reach a new level and as much as it scared him to think about it… he still found himself undoing the other’s jeans.
It was over before it had really began, which was probably a dual combination of his experienced tongue and the younger man’s inexperienced body. Still, it brought forth a feeling in his chest that left his entire body stiff even as he kissed the other once more and untied him.
An ache. A deep, twisting pain that made his throat burn. And it was for that reason that before his partner had even removed his blindfold, the dark-haired man was already out the balcony door.
After returning to his home, he’d practically torn his façade off, discarding the corset and underwear in a rush of desperate movement. He couldn’t bring himself to part with Bubba’s shirt, however, and found himself curling up in bed with it still wrapped around his thin body.
He’d screwed up. In fact, he’d royally screwed up. There was no going back from what he’d just done and as painful as it was, he knew that it was impossible to ever let the truth out.
Their relationship had been rocky at the best of times before this situation, but if the Candy Prince were to ever find out about this lie… he would likely discover a way to banish him from Ooo completely, or send him to the Nightosphere for the rest of eternity.
Before, they could have repaired things. He could have apologized, made up for misleading the other man and admitted that he had deep feelings for him, but now… No amount of I’m sorry’s were going to be enough. He’d crossed the line… or, rather, he’d bypassed the line in a split second and gone straight into man, you beefed up.
He needed time to process this change. To come up with some way of making things right again… he needed a bit of a break from his boyfriend while he gathered his thoughts and as much as he knew it was going to wound the pink-haired man, he didn’t have time to let him know.
Feeling extremely uneasy, Marshall fell into a restless slumber, long hair spilling around him and arms wrapped defensively around his middle.
The next evening he was awoken by a soft knocking at the front door, very different from the pounding that Fionna usually did. At first, he tried desperately to ignore it, but when an all-too familiar voice called out his name he found himself flying ungracefully from his bed.
“Hold on a minute!” The pale man snapped as Prince Bubba Gumball knocked once more, calling to him a second time. “I need to… put on some clothes?”
He heard the other scoff, but didn’t bother to think about it as he stumbled into his closet.
Something quick to put on, something quick… glob it all, all of his pants took effort! With a frustrated groan, the vampire grabbed a pair of loose boxers and pulled them over his legs, before carefully removing his boyfriend’s shirt and replacing it with one of his own.
The sudden realization of the length of his hair hit him as he was about to go downstairs and he let out a string of curses, before looking for the scissors. Finding them in the bathroom, it was only after moving to quickly snip off the long locks that he remembered the scratch across his face with a loud groan.
“Marshall Lee, I haven’t got all evening!” The Candy Prince cried and the dark-haired man grumbled as he began to style and cut his hair to cover one side of his face.
“Hold on, dude, glob!” The older called, before he spared a glance in the mirror for old-time’s sake and realized that he still had a ton of makeup – now smeared from sleep – across his features. “Beef.”
A quick scrub – which only made the smears worse – and one messed-up hair style later he was downstairs, pulling open the front door and shooting the man fake daggers.
“…You look awful,” The taller man offered as he stepped in, uninvited.
Immediately a lie popped into the vampire’s head and he spit it out before he could think it over. “Lumpy Space Prince had a party last night. It was nasty.”
“…I see,” Came the response and the other didn’t press it, obviously wanting to be none the wiser.
A moment of tense silence passed between them, before Marshall crossed his arms, unconsciously cocking one hip and forcing himself not to flip his hair from his face. “Can I help you?”
Bubba obviously had something else on his mind, because he lifted his head in surprise as his companion spoke. “With what?”
Resisting the urge to smugly smile at the fact that he had completely rocked the candy-man’s world, the vampire instead rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. You’re the one in my living room, you tell me.”
Sucking in a confused breath, the other shook his head to seemingly clear it. “Oh, right,” He fell onto the insanely uncomfortable sofa suddenly, with a huff. “I… wanted to ask you about Michelle.”
Instantly, panic rose in the older man’s throat. Why was he here to ask him about her!? Did he know?! Had he figured it out!? As far as he’d let on from either side they knew nothing of each other, so why was he suddenly asking questions!?
“Who?” He forced out, not letting his voice crack even as it attempted to.
A look of frustration crossed a pink face as the taller let out a strained breath. “My girlfriend, Marshall.” A bit of the panic in the older’s chest was erased, solely by the annoyed look in those violet eyes. “I assumed Fionna had mentioned her?”
After the appropriate time for a pause, Marshall shrugged one shoulder, before rolling his eyes again. “She might have. It’s that vampire girl, right?” He supposed offering that much information wasn’t linking them, so it was a safe thing to say. As his unknowing boyfriend nodded, the pale man switched to a more comfortable floating position. “What about her?”
“Well…” The Prince breathed, his eyebrows knitting. “I actually wanted to, uh… ask your advice.”
Genuine surprise etched itself over the shorter man’s features for a moment. “My advice… about your girlfriend?”
“Uh, well…” Bubba mumbled, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck – a nervous habit of his. “It’s… it’s guy stuff and you’re really the only male ‘friend’ I have.”
Deciding not to comment on the obvious quotation marks around the word friend, the vampire moved himself over to sit beside his companion on the sofa. “Well, I can try to help, man, but… I don’t really get girls.”
Instantly, the other’s shoulders fell and the ebony-haired man felt a little bad for letting him down. “Well, I just… can’t really go to Fionna about this because it’s, well… I mean…”
As he struggled for a moment, the older boy resisted the urge to reach out a hand and place it on his shoulder. Instead, he pushed out a, “Just… ask, dude,” while beginning to worry what exactly his boyfriend had in mind.
Did he… want to break up? Had the night before gone too fast? Was he trying to figure out the right way to do it…? Feeling his heart in his chest, Marshall listened closely as the pink-haired man let out another strained breath.
Then he hit him with what felt like a ton of bricks as he dropped his pink face into his hands and whispered, “I think she hates me.”