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Chapter Text

This dungeon had been insanely easy, really, and the whole thing was beginning to be one big bore. By the time the two girls reached the end, Fionna was ready to go home and have a sandwich, tired of all of the walking.

A short 16 year old with blonde hair and a bunny-eared cap, she was accompanied by her best friend - a large white cat with tan spots and magical stretching powers - who went by the name Cake. They’d been friends for quite some time (in fact Fionna could barely remember a time before she’d met Cake,) and they were inseparable.

The dungeon had had a total of four bad guys in it, making it the most boring dungeon to date. She had half a mind to go home and forget about the treasure at the end, thinking that it was likely to be just as dull as the journey to get it had been. But she pressed on in hopes of finding something that could have made the entire trip worthwhile. After all, she had given up on a jam-session with the resident Vampire King to check this place out.

“There it is,” Cake muttered with about as much enthusiasm as Fionna had, pointing to a chest sitting atop a stone platform. “We’re finally done.”

“Thank glob,” Fionna sighed, reaching up to rub the frustration out of her neck. “I’m so ready to get home.”

They ascended the steps and approached the box, realizing it was smaller than it had appeared with pair of disappointed sighs.

“What do you want to bet there’s some tickets for Gumball’s latest get-together in there?” Fionna asked, earning a small chuckle from her companion. With a heavy sigh, the blonde grabbed the latch on the chest and pulled it open.

Inside there was naught but a small silver ring with a clear gem inside of it.

“Really?” The girl breathed, feeling her shoulders slump even more. “All this for a globbing ring!? Oh man, Cake, we got jipped!”

“I’m sorry, baby cakes,” Her companion offered as the blonde picked up the object. “At least we didn’t go through a whole lot?”

“I would have preferred that,” Fionna reminded with a goran as she slipped the ring onto the pinky of her left hand. It barely even fit, it was so small. “At least then we’d have fun. This was just boring all around!”

With a pair of defeated looks, the two girls made their way toward the exit, deciding to put the memory of the place behind them.

As the last bits of sun settled beneath the horizon, a knock came on the front door of the tree house where Fionna and Cake resided, earning a large smile from the blonde-haired girl. Cake didn’t share her friends enthusiasm as the teenager hopped downstairs to answer, but she was more than happy to see the other enjoying herself.

Fionna was all sorts of chatter as she climbed the latter back up, the young man that floated up behind her saying nothing as he grinned, content with just listening.

Marshall Lee Abadeer was the Vampire King, or so his title said. He had a paste-face, in Cake’s opinion, with his pale skin and his child-like features. He was over a thousand years old, but in appearances he was nothing more than Fionna’s age and he had the maturity to match it as well. Full of pranks and snarky remarks, there were very few times when she could say that she had exclusively enjoyed the man’s company, but at least her baby girl was happy.

“And all we got was this globbing ring!” The girl sighed, all but shoving her hand into the boy’s face. “It’s not even a pretty color or anything. I was just going to toss it in with the rest of the stuff, but I wanted to show you first.”

“It does look pretty boring,” He agreed, leaning in even further to get a closer look. “Usually rings like that are given to people who you’ve got the hots for, though.”

Her cheeks flushing, Fionna pulled her hand away. Immediately, a certain boy with flaming red hair came to mind. “Yeah, well…” She mumbled. “It’s stupid, anyways.”

“Well if you don’t want it, I’ll take it,” Marshall shrugged, earning a surprised look from the other’s blue eyes. “I mean, I could sell it or something.”

“Oh, yeah,” The girl hummed, taking the object off of her finger. “That’s fine, then.” She tossed it in his direction and he caught it with little effort.

As Fionna turned her back in order to go and retrieve BMO (since Marshall had come over for gaming time), the blonde-haired girl heard Cake gasp and she frowned, looking toward the feline. “What’s up?”

“M-Marshall!” The cat cried, pointing one clawed finger and catching her companion’s attention.

Marshall had begun to turn ashen white, the light in his eyes dimming. He suddenly and rather ungracefully dropped to the floor, landing heavily on his knees, only to fall forward. Reacting quickly, Fionna reached out to catch him before he could face-plant, a gasp leaving her as she felt just how hot he was against her.

“Cake…?” She whined, completely confused and unsure of what to do. Marshall had never been sick before… he was dead! Dead people didn’t get sick!

“Move him to the couch, sweetie,” Cake breathed and Fionna quickly moved to gather the young man in her arms, only to realize that instead of being completely light like he usually was, he’d suddenly become heavy. With a worried expression sent her best friend’s way, the young girl carried her vampire friend over to the plush, worn sofa and laid him out on it.

“He really is a paste-face now,” The feline tried to joke unsuccessfully as she placed a paw on Marshall’s forehead, only to pull it back when his skin nearly burned her. “Turkey tail-feathers, he’s burning up…”

“What do we do?” Fionna whispered, only to frown as Marshall let out a pained groan, his eyebrows scrunching together. “Cake! What do we do!?”

“Calm down, baby cakes!” Cake replied, placing a paw on the girl’s shoulder. “You go call Gumball, okay? Maybe he’ll know! I’ll try to figure out what’s wrong with him!”

Nodding quickly and glancing at her dark-haired friend with one last fearful glance, Fionna rushed out of the room to find their phone, before quickly punching in Prince Gumball’s number.

After a few moments the young man’s voice came over the speaker, surprise etched in it. “Fionna? What is it? I can’t really talk right now, I’m having a debate with the council about the honey-pool. The filter’s broken and they keep asking for the funds to fix it, but no one ever uses the pool, so-”

“Marshall’s sick!” She interrupted, panic evident in her voice.

The Prince’s let out a surprised noise. “Sick? Sick how? Marshall doesn’t get sick. He’s a vampire.”

“Well he’s sick now!” The girl cried, actually hearing her own voice crack. “He collapsed and now he’s got a fever and-”

“Fionna!” Came a gasp from the next room.

“I’m coming!” The blonde called, dropping the phone’s receiver as she rushed into the doorway, only to let out a heavy breath. “Oh glob… what in Ooo?”

“Fionna!?” The Prince yelled from the device behind her, but the young girl didn’t hear him. “What’s going on? Fionna? I’m coming over immediately, so stay right there!”

“Cake, what’s happening?” Fionna whispered as she slowly approached the sofa, her entire body on alert.

“I don’t know, babycakes,” The cat whispered, her hair on end as she stared in confusion at the sight before her, as well. “But I don’t like it.”

Before them, Marshall’s once pale blue skin had given way to white, only to flush with a light peach color. From his parted, gasping lips, they could see that where fangs had once been now sat a pair of slightly rounder canines. His ears, that had once pointed to a tip, now curved off like an average ear…

Marshall Lee had become human.

“Oh glob…” Fionna whispered in horror, throwing a hand over her mouth.

Clenched in the boy’s hand, the silver ring’s gem had now gone from colorless… to a deep shade of red.

Bubba Gumball had never been so lost in his life.

He was so used to seeing pale blue that he couldn’t even fathom how peach Marshall’s skin was. Was it supposed to be that color? Cake had said he was flushed with fever, but what did that mean, really? He’d never seen Fionna with a fever before, so it wasn’t like he knew what color she turned when she was sick…

Oh glob… sick.

How had this all happened!?

“I gave him the ring and he just… fell,” Fionna explained, eyeing the object that Marshall was still holding onto. Bubba could only somewhat comprehend that she was speaking. “Then he went white and was groaning in pain and then… this.”

“Have you tried taking the ring from him…?” The Prince breathed, tearing his eyes from the man’s face toward his hand, where the object in question was.

“I was gonna do it, ya know?” The girl replied with a frown. “I thought maybe it would fix him. But then Cake told me, what if it turns me into a vampire? Like, takes it from him and gives it to me? So I tried taking his hand and shaking it out of it, but it wouldn’t budge.”

Bubba let out a heavy breath and slowly reached out, laying his hands over Marshall’s fingers. They were so peach. He found himself frowning, then, as he wondered exactly what would happen if he removed the ring…

What if it was the only thing keeping Marshall safe? What if he took it and then the Vampire King was permanently human? Or worse… what if it killed him?

Beneath his fingers, the dark-haired boy let out a soft, choked groan. As Bubba pulled his hand back, the other sucked in a deep breath and forced his teal eyes open, blinking them heavily against the dim light of the room.

“Marshall?” The Prince called with a gasp, sitting forward on his knees to bring himself closer to the other. Half-lidded, dead eyes turned toward him, glazed with confusion. “Marshall, can you hear me?”

“Why are you… ughh… why are you so quiet?” The dark-haired man wheezed, before he lifted one shaky hand to reach for his ears. His fingers felt around for a moment before they grazed over the rounded tips and a look of confusion crossed his features. “W-what the beef, man…”

“Mar, man, this is gonna sound crazy…” Fionna began, but she wasn’t quick enough. Marshall’s eyes landed on his fingers as he put them in view of his face and he let out a pained wheeze. “…But we think you got turned into a human.”

“What the snot!?” The King cried, jerking forward, only to groan and grab his head in his hands as a wave of nausea hit him. “W-what’s going on!? Why am I- why can’t I hear!? Why can’t I see!? Why is my skin- why is… what-!?”

“Marshall, calm down!” Bubba called, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his back. He realized that through all of the shock, the dark-haired man was still grasping the ring tightly in one hand. “We don’t know what happened, okay? We’re still trying to figure it out.”

“I handed you that ring and you just like… hit the floor, man,” Fionna attempted to explain, motioning to the object. He frowned, opening up his grip and peering in shock at the red-jeweled item inside of it. “Then you started to pale and suddenly you were… well, this way.”

“W-what are you…” Marshall whispered, staring down at the jewelry in horror. “How do I fix it!? I can’t be this way- I can’t!” When the shining ring offered no response he let out a growl and tossed it across the room, only to let out a groan and collapse to the side, into Bubba’s hold.

“Marshall?” The Candy Prince gasped, reaching up and pushing his fingers beneath the other’s black bangs. A frown crossed his lips and he spared a glance toward Cake. “He’s burning up!”

“Well, if you think about it, PG,” The feline replied as she watched the King groan painfully in the younger man’s arms. “He’s been a vampire for almost a thousand years. That’s a long time…”

“And?” Fionna demanded, looking between the two. Bubba seemed to understand what she didn’t, however, a horrified look crossing his features. “And what, Cake!? Tell me!”

“And…” The candy-haired man whispered, turning his gaze down to the – now human – Vampire king in his hold. “That’s almost a thousand years that the world has had to spawn new types of sicknesses… stuff that his body has never had a chance to build up a tolerance to.”

“It’s like you just brought a newborn baby boy into a crib covered in germs,” Cake tried to tell her friend, wincing at the horrified look that crossed the young girl’s face.

“We need to take him to a doctor, like, yesterday!” The blonde declared, jumping to her feet. Bubba gasped as she reached down and scooped Marshall into her arms, cradling him like a child.

“What about the ring-?” He tried as Fionna made for the latter down to the door, getting up to follow her.

“No time!” The girl shrieked, opting to just jump down instead of trying to climb. “We don’t know how much longer he’s got, Peej!”

With a nervous glance toward the object lying seemingly harmless on the floor, Bubba slid down the latter as fast as he could and followed his friend as she headed toward his kingdom, where the closest hospital was.

Chapter Text

Doctor Prince had never regretted his choice to come and live in the Candy Kingdom. The inhabitants were all naïve and sweet (at least, for the most part) and it was in a good location. Most people on this side of Ooo would come to their hospital, so it was great for helping the maximum amount of people without Ice Queen knowing where his location was. (Because honestly, he was tired of being kidnapped by her.)

There weren’t ever real emergencies at the Candy Kingdom Hospital, however. Mostly just broken pieces off of fragile candy or bites taken out of the softer ones. They were all easily fixable, just simple things, which he had to admit was a little tiring. Sometimes he longed for the sort of action he’d had back at his old job, something to spice up his day to day life.

And sometimes, he really needed to think before wishing for things.

Fionna was in shambles as she all but dropped a pale form onto his desk, tears streaking down her rosy face. Behind her, the Prince looked panicked as well, Cake at his side, trying to gasp out exactly what had happened.

The Doctor didn’t make much sense of it but from what he gathered, the form on his desk was a human and they needed his help.

It was only when he and his nurses where wheeling the form back to the ER that he realized exactly who it was. Coughing violently and shaking on the stretcher, Marshall Lee was flushed with fever and breathing heavily, his eyes glazed over.

“Get me antibiotics, now!” He called and the nurse opposite him pulled away from the stretcher to do as she was told. The others beside him helped him to wheel Marshall into one of the rooms and place him on the bed, one of them shoving a thermometer under his tongue while the others tried to tug his black and grey plaid shirt off.

“He’s at 104.3, doctor!” The nurse with the thermometer cried as she looked up at him in a panic.

“Get an IV in him, now!” The doctor snapped and she made to do so as the other nurses finally managed to get Marshall’s shirt off. The forth entered the room with a few vials in hand and Doctor Prince immediately swept them from her, grabbing the syringe as she offered it.

As soon as the IV was in he pushed in some of the antibiotics, as well as a fever reducer. He then listed off what other medications he would need and sent two nurses this time, before giving the other two tasks as well. One of them ran off to get a bowl of cold water and a towel, while the other began to take Marshall’s vital signs.

Doctor Prince moved quickly as the dark-haired young man jerked, at his side in an instant. As gentle as possible, he rubbed the (once) vampire’s back as the other began to throw up into a bin, choking out what almost looked like blood. The man was wiser, however, well aware that the other consumed red and not vital liquid.

But he doubted humans had the ability to sustain colors.

Marshall continued to dry heave even as the nurse took his vitals, his entire form shaking. Tears were streaming down his eyes, either from the pain of choking, or from fear; the doctor didn’t know him well enough to know which.

Eventually he stopped and Doctor Prince pushed him down in the bed, letting the nurse take over as she began to dip a cloth into a bowl full of cold water. Careful not to get any on her own hand (as it was surely melt away her sugar), she began to dab at Marshall’s face, attempting to bring down his fever.

Quickly enough the two nurses he’d sent out returned with an arsenal of medications and with a nod of thanks, the brown-haired doctor instructed them on which ones to give the young man on the bed. Upon seeing the nurses readying army of needles, Marshall became pale and let out a child-like whine, but he didn’t fight as they began to prepare him.

Letting out a heavy breath, the doctor left his nurses to care for their charge for a bit as he exited in order to get the story from Fionna once again.

As he entered the waiting room, he found his highness, Prince Gumball pacing across the floor while Fionna bit at her fingernails and Cake rubbed the girl’s back gently. As soon as he pushed open the door the three were at attention, practically in his face with questions on their lips.

“His fever is dangerously high,” The man immediately began before they could speak. “I’ve given him something to bring it down, as well as several antibiotics. I had my nurses begin giving him various vaccinations to try and push away any sort of infection that might be settling.”

“Can I see him?” The Prince whispered and the doctor nodded, figuring the sick man could use a bit of comfort. Not needing to be told twice, Bubba was out of the room before his next breath.

“Needless to say, I require a bit of information,” Doctor Prince addressed Fionna, who gave a quiet nod. “Start from the beginning.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Abadeer, stay down!”

As Bubba pushed open the door he let out a sigh of what might have been relief. Marshall had his lips pulled back, giving a sort of pathetic hiss at the nurse who was trying in vain to vaccinate him, a syringe clenched in her tiny hands.

“Marshall Lee!” He addressed, making everyone in the room freeze. “You will let that woman do her job right this instant!”

“Math that!” Marshall declared, only to go still under the other’s gaze. He let out a huff of protest and turned his face away, clenching his eyes shut as the woman pushed the needle into his upper arm.

“I never thought you would be such a baby about needles,” Bubba found himself chuckling weakly as he approached, taking a seat beside the young nurse that was dabbing at Marshall’s face with a wet cloth.

“I haven’t exactly had the need for one being in me before!” The dark-haired boy snapped, before he let out a pained groan and closed his eyes. “The room keeps spinning…”

His amusement gone in an instant, the Prince reached out and took the other boy’s hand in his own. It was uncomfortably warm beneath his fingertips. “Probably the gloobs,” He informed, carefully. Best to not bring up the endless other things it could be. “Remember when Fionna had it? She was in bed for almost two weeks.”

“Dude, this is not the gloobs,” Marshall groaned, popping one eye open to look at the other, his gaze tired and weak. “We can’t deny the tree trunks in the room here, Bubs… I’m a sopping mortal now. I’m human.”

The Prince found himself frowning. “We’ll fix it,” He assured, gently, before he realized he was still grasping the other’s hand and immediately let it go. “I won’t let you die, Marshall.”

“Who gives two zags about dying!?” The other cried, before he let out a soft moan and reached up with the arm free of needles at that moment, burying it into his hair above his forehead. “I can’t… I can’t be mortal. I’ve never been mortal. This is like when I first became a Vampire- no, actually, its worse. I’m so used to my heightened senses now that I can barely hear anything, everything looks so… I don’t know, so globbing beef, and I felt like I was vomiting up paint. I feel so heavy now, dude, like you don’t even know.”

“I give two zags about you dying, that’s who,” Bubba whispered, earning a surprised gaze from the other man. “I’d rather have you mortal then dead, Marshall. Now stop being so dramatic, we’ll figure out a way to fix this. We always do, right?”

“And if we don’t… then what?” Came the other’s whisper, teal eyes suddenly very heavy and full of emotions that the Prince couldn’t begin to place. “Then I grow old and die…? Or maybe even die tomorrow from glob knows what infections Doctor Prince doesn’t have cures for…”

“It won’t come to that,” Bubba breathed almost silently.

“What if it does?” Marshall replied.

“It won’t,” Came the final response, one that left no room for debate.

This had to be some sort of deep, dark magic.

Most of his night was spent in a feverish haze, so a lot of what was going on didn’t make much sense to him. On top of that, it was nearly impossible to hear anything and the whole world seemed so… flat and lifeless now that his vision wasn’t hyped up.

The first thing he noticed when he was conscious once more was the form at his bedside, cheek pressed into his hip and face peaceful from deep slumber. Bubba was even snoring lightly, bed sheets clenched in one hand and Marshall’s fingers in the other. It was almost amusing, really, that this guy who he barely liked him had stayed at his side all night…

Then he noticed the open curtains.

His immediate reaction was to hiss and cringe away, covering his face. Instantly, Bubba was on his feet, looking around in alarm for the battle afoot, only to realize a few moments later what exactly had happened.

With a heavy breath, the Prince moved over to the window, reaching to pull the cloth closed. He stopped, however, when a soft voice mumbled, “Leave it.”

“Marshall?” The candy man breathed, turning to look at the form curled up on the bed.

Slowly turning to blink into the rising sunlight, the dark-haired boy lifted a hand to cover his eyes as he started to rise from the bed. Bubba was at his side in an instant, grabbing the IV and moving it so that the other could approach the window easier.

His hands shaking weakly, Marshall Lee reached forward and undid the lock, pulling the window open and letting the breeze in. He tried to uncover his sensitive eyes, but after a few moments he resorted to just leaving them closed, tilting his head back.

It was… warm. How long had it been since he had felt something warm? He couldn’t remember what the sun had felt like before, but he was sure it hadn’t felt this good. It was like gentle arms wrapping around him, relaxing him from the inside out, filling him with this feeling of… of…

Of life.

“I think you should try to eat something,” The Prince stated after a few moments, realizing suddenly how thin Marshall was. Maybe that was fine for a Vampire, but he hadn’t had any human nourishment in… well, almost a thousand years.

“…I could really go for some fries,” The dark-haired man admitted, before he let out a weak laugh.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Bubba sighed as he shooed him back to bed. “Now rest, you need sleep to fight off the gloobs.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not the gloobs,” The other muttered, but he didn’t argue any more than that as he crawled back onto the mattress.

With a heavy thought of no, it’s probably not, Bubba parted from his companion and made for the office of Doctor Prince, hoping the man would be awake enough to speak to him.

“Alright, so it’s some sort of… magic, that makes the person who touches it human.”

Bubba found himself nodding, staring at the innocent-looking object that lay between himself and Doctor Prince on an examining tray. They were together in the candy man’s lab, having carried the object there via medical tongs, in order to not touch it.

They were both men of science, not magic, but he had hopes that together they could figure out some sort of trick to fixing the mess. Two brilliant minds working hand in hand had to be able to put the pieces together, right?

“But why?” He replied, frowning as he leaned in closer, peering at the red gem. “What is the point in making them human?”

“Well, if it’s stripped them of everything not human about them…” Doctor Prince hummed, pulling his glasses off and starting to clean them with his tie. “Perhaps it gains the abilities that they had?”

“Even if that were the case…” The Prince mumbled. “What’s the point of a ring having powers like that?”

“Maybe it answers to a master,” The brunette replied, peering up at the bubblegum-haired man before him. “And when it’s returned to that master, they’re given those newfound abilities.”

With a frown, Bubba turned his gaze back down to the object. “That seems like a bit of a stretch to me.”

Sighing, the doctor replaced his glasses and pushed them back up his nose. “What else do we have to go on? Perchance, we should have Fionna and Cake explore where they found it once more.”

With a nod of agreement, the Prince used a pair of tongs to lift up the object, intent on putting it in a beaker so he could study it a bit more.

“Your Highness!”

Letting out a gasp, Bubba turned toward the doorway as Cinnamon Bun entered, looking frantic.

“What is it?” He cried, alarm bells going off. Was it Marshall? Had something happened at the hospital? He knew taking Doctor Prince away from there was a bad idea! Was he dying!? “What’s wrong!?”

“It’s-” Cinnamon Bun began, only to gasp as she tumbled over her own feet. The candy man let out a horrified gasp as the large woman began to roll toward him, hitting the desk he was standing in front of and causing it to scoot forward, right into his stomach.

The breath was knocked from his lungs and before he could manage to regain himself, he realized the ring had slipped from the grasp of the two tongs. As it fell he immediately began to panic, no other thoughts in his head other then don’t let it break! because if it did then there would be no way to fix this.

So he reached and moments later it was in his hands, seeming to burn his palms.

Try as he might, however, he couldn’t seem to release it even as a searing pain shot through him, blinding him momentarily.  He heard Doctor Prince call out to him as he fell to his knees and hit the floor, everything around him spinning.

“…ball? Pr-… -umball? Prin-… all? Prince? Prince Gumball?! Prince Gumball!”

His eyes managed to open, staring up at the worried face of Doctor Prince, who gazed at him with a concerned expression.

“W-what…?” Bubba choked, his tongue feeling foreign in his mouth. Wet. It seemed wet… and heavy. What on earth? And what was this taste?

“I’m so sorry, your highness!” Cinnamon Bun cried with a horrified expression. “But it’s the Vampire! His fever spiked again!”

“G-go-!” The Prince found himself gasping out and the doctor gave one nod before he disappeared from sight. With a heavy breath, the young man tried to pull himself to his feet, sparing a glance down at the ring still clenched in his fingers.

It hit the floor moments later.

Peach. That same peach that Marshall was, but a bit less flushed. That same skin-tone that Fionna had… that… that human color.

Not flecked with sugar or his normal baby-pink, with glossy fingernails and a sweet smell. No, this was… this was flesh, and certainly not candy flesh. A reach upward confirmed the feeling of hair instead of a solid chrome piece and from the weird taste in his mouth he could only imagine that his saliva wasn’t sugaryeither.

With a horrified sound, Bubba reached around for something, anything he could use. He finally grabbed a reflective tray and held it up, staring in horror at the gaze that met his own.

Strawberry-blonde hair and a pair of royal blue eyes behind dark lashes… peach skin and lips that were about the only pink left on him.

Human. He was human.

Chapter Text

Stupid thing. Stupid globbing thing!  

With a heavy breath, Bubba Gumball stalked through the halls of the CKH, his shoulders tense. He held the accursed ring tightly in one hand, his entire body shaking with rage, fear, and… and glob knew what else!

Just about the only light in this endlessly dark tunnel was that he’d already been vaccinated for the gloobs, the bleebs, and the gobble glumps. Just about anything Fionna could be sick with, he could too, so he’d already taken persuasions at a young age, taking his shots and preventing himself from ever coming down with them.

But that didn’t change anything, now!

“Jeeze, Peej!” Fionna gasped as he stormed up to her, a horrified expression on her face. “Look at you!”

“I’d rather not!” He snapped and immediately felt bad as she cringed away from him. “I’m sorry… I just… I’m sorry.”

“Nah, I get it, man,” She assured, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Did you figure out anything about the ring?”

“No,” He sighed, holding up the object to show her. The gem had gone from dark-red to a flushed rose. “I came rushing back here because I heard Marshall came down with a fever again.”

“Yeah,” Fionna sighed as she took a seat and he moved to sit beside her, feeling awkward in his own body. “DP thinks it’s the gloobs.”

“Knew it,” The Prince mumbled under his breath.

“But he thinks it’s treatable, for now,” Cake cut in, reaching out to place a gentle paw on the young man’s shoulder. “And that they’ll be able to get it under control. He probably just needs to stay in the hospital a little bit longer.”

“Well, hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” Bubba replied as he held up the ring, frowning. “We need to figure this out somehow.”

“We’ve got time for that,” Fionna assured as a nurse began to approach them. “For now, go spend some time with Marsh. I know when I had the gloobs I liked having someone at my side.”

A frown crossed the older’s features. “Why can’t you?”

“Fi and I were going to go back to the dungeon,” Cake explained as she and the blonde stood, a pout on her face. “To see if we could find out anything else.”

With a heavy nod, the Prince pocketed the ring once again and started off after the nurse.

“Glob…” Marshall groaned as he approached the bed, taking a seat beside the candy cane woman who was pawing at the (ex-)vampire’s face with a cold cloth. “I must be beefed up if my eyes are seeing what I’m seeing right now…”

“Sadly, it’s not your eyes,” Bubba whispered, a heavy sigh leaving him. “You jerk. I’m a human now, too.”

“Nerd,” The other croaked automatically in response, before he seemed to realize exactly what had been said. “Wait- what? You too?!” He attempted to sit up, only to groan as Bubba easily pushed him back down. Not so strong now that he wasn’t weightless, the Prince supposed. “G-glob, man… what the snap is going on here…?”

“I don’t know, but we’re going to figure it out, so just… calm down,” His only-sort-of-but-not-really-friend sighed, reaching up to nervously touch his hair. Why was it so pokey? Was Fionna’s this sharp? He’d never had a chance to touch hers before (and really, he’d never had the desire to). Marshall’s certainly wasn’t pointed like this, from what he could tell. “You focus on getting better and I’ll focus on fixing things.”

“What, you gonna be my knight in florescent pink armor?” Marshall chuckled, earning an annoyed flush from the other boy. “Aww yeah, even sick with the gloobs I can make you blush. I’ve still got it.”

“Shut up, you lazy slob,” Bubba mumbled, turning his face away as the nurse beside him tried her best to hide her giggles.

“Pompous ass,” The other sighed with not nearly as much bite as he should have, a tired smile on his lips. “How do you deal with it…?”

With a frown, his companion turned. “Deal with what, Marshall?”

“Being so heavy…” The dark-haired man barely whispered, his eyes slipping closed even as he said this.

“…Marshall?” Bubba called, feeling panic flood his system. After a few moments he heard the other let out a sigh and saw that far too thin chest rising and falling. Letting out a breath of relief, the Prince leaned back in his chair. “Thank glob for small favors…”

“The doctor said to feed him when he wakes up again,” The nurse informed quietly. “Just something light to see if he holds it down.”

“That sounds good,” The man replied, before he thanked her for her services and leaned back, removing the ring from his pocket.

What was this thing? Why was it making them human? There had to be some reason behind it, some malicious thing going on behind the scenes. Maybe Doctor Prince was right and it did want their ‘abilities’, but for what? Marshall could float and stuff, sure, but Bubba’s only real power was growing out his candy hair at will.

He sent the object a frown, running a finger over the gem. It had changed from its ruby red to a more flushed rose. According to Fionna, it was clear originally, but after Marshall had held it the color had changed. Perhaps it changed depending on whom touched it last? But why hadn’t Fionna’s hold changed it?

With a heavy breath, the now-human young man let himself slump forward, face-planting into Marshall’s side none too gently. A groan of frustration left his lips and he shifted, trying to get used to all the ways his new body was uncomfortable.

That wet tongue and the itchy hair and… glob, how did Fionna do it? Having this human-like saliva in his mouth was nauseating! He felt like he was going to be sick!

At some point, the nurse must have left because the next thing Bubba knew, she was gone and Marshall was awake, staring openly at him.

“…What?” He offered, his cheeks flushing as he sat up, rubbing at his eyes. Had he fallen asleep at the other’s bedside again? How unflattering!

“Oh, nothin’,” The other replied, a grin on his pale lips. It was still uncomfortably weird, seeking that skin tone on him. “You’re just cute when you sleep, is all.”

Embarrassment flooding through him, the Prince turned his face away, a frown on his features. “Honestly!” He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

With a laugh that seemed almost in-character, Marshall leaned back against his pillows and breathed out a strained sigh. For a few moments the two of them sat there in an almost comfortable silence, before the dark-haired young man began to cough loudly into his fist.

With a heavy lump in his throat, Bubba moved closer, resting a comforting hand on the other’s back. He could only imagine how it felt, having gone so many years without the ability to be sick only to come down with the gloobs. It had to be like torture, he supposed.

“Why are you being so… so nice to me?” The vampire mumbled, casting a heavy frown his way. “This whole time, man… you keep, like-” He was cut off as another round of coughs left his lips, his entire back spasming as he did so.

As Marshall fell silent, the Prince felt the need to cut in before he could say anything more. So he quickly spit out, “Because you’re-” but that was as far as he could think. A frown crossed his lips and he stared dumbly at the young-looking man in front of him, finding his own vocabulary suddenly very small. “…Tolerable,” He finally managed, but it was definitely not what he had wanted to say.

The Vampire king looked insulted at best, turning his gaze away and tensing up beneath the other’s fingers. “Yeah,” He muttered, his voice seeming much darker than it had before. “Tolerable.”

“Marshall…” The younger man found himself whispering, but once again words eluded him. He slowly removed his hand from the other’s back as the paler boy turned even further away, a frown on his lips. “Look, I…”

“Yeah, man, its math,” his companion replied quickly, before he coughed a couple more times, his voice strained. “I tolerate you too. You can go now.”

An offended look crossed Bubba’s lips and he let out a sigh, getting to his feet. “You know, you could be a little more grateful.”

“Yeah, I’m so thankful you tolerate me,” The (ex)Vampire huffed, rolling his eyes.

“I mean- ugh!” Tossing his hands into the air, Bubba then reached into his pocket and removed the ring, waving it in the other’s face. “I became a victim of this too, trying to fix it for you!”

Turning to frown up at him, Marshall actually snarled, as if baring his teeth was threatening still. “I didn’t ask you to!” He replied, sitting up straight, despite how difficult it was to get used to the weight of his head on his shoulders. “So don’t go using it against me like it’s my fault!”

“I’m not- ugh! Glob!” The Prince cried, placing a hand on his hip in frustration. “I’m not using it against you, I just-! Gah!”

“You what!?” The older boy snapped, his cheeks flushing with anger. “You just want me to feel guilty for beefing up your life too!?”

“No!” The taller boy yelled, his fingers shaking as he held the ring in front of the other boy’s face, still. “Not that, I-”

“Well none of this is my fault, so if you want a mathing apology, you’d better look elsewhere!” Marshall finally cried, before he reached up and snatched the ring from the other boy’s hand. “Got that!?”

A sudden, searing pain brought Bubba’s attention away from the argument at hand, shooting up through his body and making him see white. He gasped, clenching at his chest as his heart protested, beating rapidly. He barely noticed as his knees gave out from under him and he slipped to the floor, leaning heavily against Marshall’s bed.

“-ubba?” A voice called somewhere in the background as his vision began to blur, his fingers clinging to the bed sheets. “Bubba-!”

His breath choked in his throat and he struggled to get air, pain crawling all over his body. It was intense, like no other pain he’d felt before, and it made all of his senses go fuzzy.

With one last wheeze, he saw Marshall reach out for him before the world went black.

“Well, that was a waste of time… again,” Fionna sighed as they made their way up to the now empty treasure box, her shoulders slumping. “There weren’t any bad guys this time… and the walk here seemed to take twice as long as it did before.”

“Come on, Fi,” Cake replied, turning around to glance at the room they were in. “We have to find something in here that might be able to tell us what’s going on with Marshall Lee. If we don’t, it could get pretty hazardous.”

With a deep frown, Fionna nodded and began descending the stairs, stepping down into the dirt floor that surrounded the platform like a ring.

She tried dusting at the floor with her feet, but she didn’t find any hidden scriptures or words. The walls were barren too, made of regular bricks with no hidden passages or rooms. The stairs were stone and the platform around them was as well, devoid of anything other than the pillar and the box atop it.

“This is getting us nowhere!” She cried, throwing her arms in the air. “What are we supposed to do, Cake!?”

“We can’t give up, baby girl!” The feline declared as her best friend climbed the stairs in a huff. “Paste-face needs us!”

“He’s not even a paste-face anymore!” Fionna groaned as she grabbed the box and threw it to the ground. “Stupid thing! Why are you doing this to- hey!”

Stretching up the steps, Cake placed herself beside her companion, peering down at the hidden compartment beneath the box. Inside was a scroll made of thin parchment, wrapped in a red ribbon.

“What’s it say?” The girl asked as her best friend pawed the roll open, her eyes running down it.

With a quick clear of her throat, the cat began to read. “Should you hate when there is naught but to love, I will make things clear. Should you love when there is naught to hate, I will disappear.”

“…What the glob does that mean?” Fionna breathed, a deep frown on her features. “And how is that supposed to help Marshall?”

“I don’t know, babycakes, but we need to get this to Gumball, stat!” Cake breathed, twisting up the scroll and pushing it into the girl’s pocket. “I don’t know what it is, but I have a feeling that things are about to go wrong, and go wrong fast!”

With a quick nod, the blonde-haired girl climbed onto her companion’s back and together they made toward the exit at three times the speed they had come, hoping they would make it before anything else went wrong.

The first thing he was aware of was how difficult it was to suck in a deep breath as he became conscious, the air literally refusing to go into his lungs. The second thing he realized was that he suddenly felt so light.

Forcing his eyes open, Bubba immediately snapped them shut as his senses were assaulted. He realized suddenly that he could not only hear two people beside him breathing, but also smell them and… if he tried hard enough, he could even taste them.

Sterilizer and sugar.

“Are you alright?” Someone said and it was as if he had put on a pair of headphones and turned them four times past maximum. A wince left his lips and he reached up to cover his ears, cringing deeper into the cushion.

“I told you, man,” A second voice said, this one much closer to a normal volume. “You have to whisper until he gets used to it.”

“Gets used to what?” Bubba found himself asking, his own voice sounding too loud as well. “What’s going on?”

“…Err…” was the response and he realized the second voice belonged to Marshall. It sounded… different, however. Pained.

When no other answer was offered up, the young man decided to try opening his eyes once more. He cranked one open and forced it to stay that way, glancing around as if to test.

There was a crack in the ceiling near the corner by the window… those curtains weren’t 1,000 thread count like the seller had stated… Doctor Prince actually had freckles close up and glob it all, Marshall Lee’s eyes were actually really attractive…

…But why was his hair made of black liquorish?

A pained gasp fell from the Prince’s lip and he sat up quickly, only to find himself tumbling forward, head over feet, flying through the air. In one quick movement, Marshall reached out and grabbed him before he could sail into the wall.

A shriek left his lips as he realized that his feet were, in fact, not touching the ground. The Prince immediately reached out to grab hold of Marshall’s arm, gazing around himself with a horrified expression.

He could smell the alarm coming from Doctor Prince, taste the sympathy that Marshall held. He couldn’t breathe and try as he might, he just couldn’t seem to make his feet hit the floor!

“It takes some getting used to,” The King beside him whispered, still too loud for him, and Bubba found himself finally taking a good look at the ex-Vampire, hoping that he had some sort of answers.

Strings of black liquorish hung limply into the older man’s eyes, brushing across his sugar-coated gray skin. It wasn’t its usual light blue, but it was certainly not human-flesh colored, either. He smelled sweet, so disgustingly sweet and Bubba had to wonder if this was what he smelled like when he was-

Oh glob… when he was-

“I’m a vampire, aren’t I?” He wheezed, before he dared to hold up a hand and gape at his pale blue skin in horror. “Oh glob, I’m a vampire!”

“He’s taking it better than I expected,” Marshall whispered to Doctor Prince, who only gave a much too loud hum of response.

“Perhaps,” The man whispered as he reached out, laying a gentle hand on Marshall’s back. “But you should be resting. You are still ill, after all.”

Sticking out his tongue at the man as he left, Marshall then turned toward the horrified Prince and laid one hand on his shoulder. “Relax,” He told him as he slowly moved them toward the bed. “Calm down, okay? First thing you need to know is that you don’t need to breathe. Your brain just thinks you do. Trying to will just make you uncomfortable, so try… well, not to.”

Giving the dark-haired man a frustrated look, Bubba then let out a gasp as Marshall pulled his arm from his grasp. He wildly reached out until his hands had wrapped around the bar at the end of the bed, afraid he would float away.

“Floating is really just… gleeble globs and stuff,” The other tried to explain, only to sigh at the pointed look he earned in response. “Like… Okay. Pretend you’re in water- well, not water. Honey, or whatever beef you guys swim in. Pretend it’s that and you’re trying to put your feet on the bottom in the deep end.”

Still fixing his companion with a pointed gaze, Bubba did as he was told, trying to move as if he were in a pool. Eventually he managed to get the hang of it, his feet touching the ground. His body still felt as if it would float away, however, so he didn’t release the bed.

“As for the senses thing, well…” Marshall breathed heavily and the Prince suddenly realized how flushed his gray cheeks was becoming. “You kind of have to get used to it… it was… it was hard for…”

Moving faster than he could ever remember doing, the pink-haired man reached out to catch his companion as the other fell forward. His feet gave out from under him and Bubba found himself floating on his back, the older man lying on his stomach.

“It’s… funny…” Marshall breathed, his voice not so much quiet by choice now as he faded in and out of consciousness. “I always wanted to try this… with you… But you know, like… opposite? …It’s weird how things work out, huh?”

“Marshall?” Bubba choked as the dark-haired boy passed out in his arms. “Marshall! Doctor Prince! Nurse! Someone!”

He reached out to place a shaky hand on the other’s forehead, only to realize a moment later that his attempts were futile.

After all… Vampires couldn’t feel things like warmth.

Chapter Text

As soon as the nurses came flying in he was roughly shoved to the side, his world spinning. Moments later he hit the wall some ways away from the bed with a heavy thud! and a groan left his lips as he hovered, reaching up to grab his head in his hands.

This was all just too much. How did things become so crazy in such a short amount of time? Only hours before he had been his normal self and then he’d become human… now this?

“Your highness!” A familiar voice called and Bubba lifted his eyes, letting out a breath of relief. He saw Doctor Prince pushing another medication into Marshall’s IV as a nurse pressed a frozen honey packet against his forehead. In the doorway, a large form appeared and moments later Peppermint Maid was slipping in, her expression worried.

“It’s alright,” Doctor Prince assured as Bubba grabbed hold of the wall and forced his feet to the ground once more. “He’s only passed out from fever, he should awaken soon.”

“Thank glob,” The Prince found himself breathing with a weak smile as he tip-toed across the floor, approaching the bed.

“No one asked you, Vampire!” Peppermint Maid cried with such distain that the strawberry-blonde let out a sharp gasp of surprise. She turned toward the bed, then, and laid a worried hand on Marshall’s.

“W-what?” The now-vampire choked, reaching up to lay a shocked hand on his chest. “Peppermint, it’s me… Bubba.”

“I can recognize your face just fine,” The woman informed, coldly. “His Highness doesn’t need you hanging around! And he doesn’t want you! So just… disappear!”

Completely horrified, Bubba found himself taking a step back. She sounded so… so disgusted with him. Like he was nothing but dirt beneath her feet! Where was this coming from?

“PG?” Came a gasp from the doorway and the young man turned to find Fionna standing there, a dumbstruck expression on her face. “What happened to you!?”

“I-it’s a long story,” He mumbled, feeling himself starting to float away again. Quickly he grabbed onto the end of the bed, forcing his feet to the floor. A painful hitch of non-existent breath left his lips and he swallowed roughly, his mouth feeling dry.

“Oh hello, Fionna,” Peppermint Maid addressed the girl with a kind smile. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you and Mr. Abadeer speak outside?” She seemed to miss the confused look the blonde-haired girl was fixing her with. “Prince Liquorish Rope needs his rest.”

“Prince… Liquorish Rope…?” Fionna repeated as Bubba flew forward, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the doorway.

A surprised noise left the blonde as her companion nearly slammed into the wall opposite the door, hearing it shut behind them.

“W-what the sleets is going on here!?” The younger cried, reaching out to steady him as he wobbled in mid-air. “Why are you- and why is he- and… Prince Liquorish Rope!?”

“I honestly couldn’t begin to tell you,” Came the response as the now-vampire choked in another unneeded breath of air. He reached down, grabbing hold of one of the provided chairs and forcing himself into it. “I’m not entirely sure what happened, I… we were arguing, then Marshall grabbed the ring and I lost consciousness. When I awoke, we were… like this.”

“His hair was made of candy,” Fionna wheezed, falling into a seat beside him. “Peej, this is really messed up.”

“It might just be a hunch, but…” Swallowing a lump that had somehow crawled its way up his throat, Bubba dropped his head into his hands, momentarily ignoring the fact that his body began to rise from the chair. “It seems that the ring has switched us… not only physically but… well…” He lifted his head, peering at the door with an empty expression. “Everything.”

“So, wait…” The other mumbled, lifting her gaze as well. “Pepps didn’t know it was you… so why can I remember who you are?”

Giving his mind a moment to process exactly what was going on, Bubba felt his shoulders slump. “Probably because you’ve touched the ring, too.” Suddenly, the realization hit him like a candy brick and he snapped his gaze toward her. “Wait! Were you and Cake able to find anything in the dungeon!?”

“Wha-? Oh. No.” Came the immediate response before girl seemed to remember something. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a roll of parchment. “Well, there was this.”

With a deep frown, the once-Prince grabbed the object and quickly unrolled it, letting his far-too-sensitive eyes roam over the script written there.

Should you hate when there is naught but to love, I will make things clear. Should you love when there is naught to hate, I will disappear.

His lips downturned even further, if possible, and he found himself sighing heavily. Of course, riddles… Why should anything about this whole situation be easy? But he was a scientific genius and if anyone could figure out exactly what it meant, it was him.

“Should you hate…” He muttered, his eyebrows furrowing. “When there is naught but to love… of course!” He jumped to his feet, so to speak, only to gasp as the world tumbled beneath him.

Fionna couldn’t help but laugh as the once-Prince was left dangling there, upside down, gaping up at her in surprise. He looked ridiculous, really, with that strawberry-blonde hair and pale blue skin. It really wasn’t all that flattering on him. His crown had disappeared somewhere, as well, probably back in Marshall’s room. “’Of course’… what?” She inquired as he tried to sort himself out.

Thankful as the girl reached forward to help him up-right, Bubba gathered his wits about him before he motioned to the paper. “Should you hate when there is naught but to love,” He repeated, as if it made sense to her. When the response was an empty stare, the young man cleared his throat. “It means that if you hate someone when you should love them. It’s saying that since I hate…” Suddenly, the realization hit him and the man found himself frowning, glancing down at the written words. “…Since I hate Marshall when I should love him, it will make things clear.”

“…But you don’t hate Marshall,” The blonde-haired girl whispered with a hint of heartbreak in her voice, blue eyes peering up at him, on the verge of tears. “Right, Peej? I mean, you guys don’t always get along, but…”

“Well…” He found himself muttering, only to wince as she immediately gasped. “I don’t! But, I mean… I don’t really like him. It’s probably just a loose term!” Quickly scanning the paper for something to change the subject, the young man’s eyes settled on the second part of the verse. “What about this, though? It’s saying I should love him. What’s that all about?”

“Maybe that you guys need to be friends!” Fionna snapped, earning a look of surprise. Her shoulders slummed and she gave a huff, falling back into her chair. “Sorry, I just… okay, so, I’m not all smarts and stuff like you are, but maybe it’s saying that you guys need to get along. Maybe you should stop ‘disliking’ each other so much, huh?” Her eyes lifted, catching his own violet ones. “Maybe, until you admit that you like him, this isn’t going to go away.”

A wave of anger filled the ex-Prince suddenly, his fists clenching the parchment. “That’s ridiculous!” He declared, throwing it to the ground. “What’s there to like about him!? He’s… he’s brash, and irritating! He beefs things up because he thinks it’s funny, he pushes people around and… and bullies them! And he-”

“-Really cares about you, you know?” The blonde-haired girl cut in, stopping Bubba’s rant immediately.

A frown crossed the now-Vampire’s face and he turned his gaze away, his shoulders tense. “Yeah, well…” He muttered, his fingers fumbling as he began to roll up the parchment. “He doesn’t exactly try to show it.”

“Or maybe you don’t try to see it,” Came the response as his companion got to her feet and approached the room, slipping inside.

With a heavy breath, the strawberry-blonde watched her go, letting his hands drop to his sides.

…He didn’t hate Marshall, but he certainly didn’t like him very much either. Still, this was all a bit ridiculous. If Fionna was right, then the whole point of this little fiasco was to make him realize that he cared about the Vampire King. How was making him into a blood-sucker supposed to do that? Really, the whole thing just seemed completely off the wall.

(He didn’t let himself think about the word love that was written on the parchment. Because there was absolutely no way he was going to fall in love with Marshall Lee.)

The door came open once again and Bubba found himself looking up at the disgusted face of Peppermint Maid, making his chest ache.

“Honestly, I don’t even know why you’re still here,” She informed rather coldly, dusting off her front as if the very sight of him made her hands feel dirty.

“…What do you have against me?” The young man found himself asking, inwardly wondering if this was how she treated Marshall when he wasn’t around.

Her lips pursing for a moment, the candy woman gave a small huff. “You may have been friends with the Queen, but the Prince is not his mother,” She practically hissed. “He does not want to be friends with you, in fact he doesn’t even like you. Whenever you are around, you are nothing but a burden. So be gone!”

With that said, the maid stormed down the hall, a few of the nurses gazing her way as she went. For a few moments, Bubba just stared after her, his un-beating heart feeling heavy in his chest. Was that the way Peppermint Maid really felt about Marshall? Had she had those types of conversations with the Vampire King before? He hadn’t expected that sort of thing from her… yes, she was protective of him, but verbally assaulting someone in his defense…?

“Peas, dude,” Marshall Lee was saying as Bubba hovered his way through the door, closing it behind himself. “They keep calling me Prince Liquorish Rope. It’s weird as math. Like, okay… I get that my hair is all candy now, but that joke got old fast.”

“It’s not a joke,” Bubba informed, moving to Fionna’s side and catching the young-looking man’s teal eyes as he frowned. “It seems that we not only switched physically, but we switched lives as well.”

The dark-haired man’s eyebrows shot up for a moment, before a frown crossed his gray lips. “Seriously…?” He breathed; the horror evident on his voice. “So, like… I’m a candy Prince now…?”

“And I’m a Vampire King,” the younger man replied, his shoulders slumping.

“Shit, son,” Marshall mumbled, finding himself using an old-world swear without meaning to. “I don’t know the first thing about being a Candy Prince. Do I have to, like, cuddle all the little candy-corns in town and fluff all the marshmallow trees?”

For a moment Bubba found his cheeks puffing up in distaste, before he let out an annoyed scoff. “As a matter of fact, yes!” He declared. “The candy people need constant love and the trees need to be fluffed at least once a month or they harden!” At the other’s horrified look, he found himself crossing his arms. “What about me, huh? Do I need to lay around all night playing music before I sleep all day?!”

“Hey, man, if you touch my bass then I will cut you!” The dark-haired young man growled, sitting up quickly and pointing a finger in the other’s face. “That thing is older than you and if you break a single string or scratch it-”

“Glob, I won’t touch your precious guitar!” The younger man cried, throwing his arms up as he turned his face away. “And you’d better not touch my oven mits-”

“Why would I? I’m not a priss!”

“Ugh-! You’re a jerk is what you are!”

“Well at least I’m not a pompous-”

Just as Fionna was about to cut in, Marshall’s voice was sharply stilled by a rather rough army of coughs. The ex-vampire leaned forward, grasping at his chest with one hand as he covered his mouth with the other, his gray features twisted up in pain.

A frown crossed Bubba’s face as the blonde-haired girl beside him reached forward to rub her friend’s back. Sympathy filled him once more as the older man groaned in pain and leaned back, a hand on his forehead.

“If you guys wouldn’t mind,” The girl between them sighed, casting a glance Bubba’s way. “Could you keep the fighting to a minimum while Marsh is healing?”

As her eyes remained on him, the now-Vampire found himself pursing his lips. “Why are you looking at me?”

“Because you’re the more mature one here,” Came the obvious answer, which earned a small hey! from the shaking form in the bed.  “And besides, Mar’s sick. He doesn’t know what he’d doing!”

Cheeks puffing up in distain, Bubba shot a glare toward the smug-looking ex-Vampire. Didn’t know… yeah right! What he wouldn’t give to wipe that sneaky grin off that globbing face!

“Anyway, you should be resting,” Fionna informed Marshall, who met her gaze with a fake, pathetic pout. “I’ll take Peej back to his place- er…” She frowned. “…Your place, I guess. So weird…”

“Don’t let him gunk up my stuff!” The dark-haired man cried as she grabbed hold of the ex-Prince and pulled him from the room. “And don’t mess with Schwabs!”

“Who’s Schwabs?” Bubba found himself asking as his friend pulled him through the halls of the hospital.

Turning to him, Fionna looked a bit surprised, her blue eyes wide. “You don’t know Schwabl?”

A moment of confusion clouded the strawberry blonde’s head. He recognized the name immediately from his childhood, but how did Fionna know it? “Marshall used to have a cat named that,” He recalled, remembering the fluffy white being. “But she died a while ago.”

To his bitter amusement, his best friend fixed him with a pointed look. “And Vampire Kings can raise the dead.”

Feeling disgusted by the idea of a cat-corpse walking through Marshall’s house, Bubba approached the front doors of the hospital. He hadn’t noticed Fionna stopping to grab an umbrella, only to turn and gasp at him. “Peej, no-!”

The intense burning as the first of the light hit him was blinding. Without really realizing, he parted his lips and let out a strained hiss, lifting his arms to try and unsuccessfully block the sun from his skin. All that he could feel was pain, his skin crackling and peeling immediately as if he were burning to pieces in an instant.

Then a hand grabbed the door and pushed it shut, cutting off the light and bringing him back into focus.

The ex-Prince found himself gaping up at the closed entrance in horror. It took him a few moments to regain his composure and once he had he realized he’d been knocked to the ground and all eyes around the room were on him.

“You okay?” Fionna called as he gazed around and the candy people all cringed, quickly looking away. Like they were afraid. Swallowing down the unpleasant feeling in his throat, the now-Vampire slowly nodded and climbed to his feet. “You gotta be careful, PG! Vampires can’t be in the sunlight, remember?”

“Right…” The older strained as she handed him the umbrella and he popped it open. He had a feeling he was going to forget that a few times more. “Will this really protect me?”

“Mar always told me that it stings a little to be out under something, but it’s much better than nothing,” The blonde replied and he gave a numb nod, cringing as she pushed open the door.

It was ten times better as he slipped into the sunlight, hiding beneath the umbrella (and feeling lucky for his long pants), but it still hurt. It was like tiny little bites all over his skin and by the time they reached Marshall Lee’s cave, he was more than happy to slink into its dark depths.

“I never realized how far of a walk this was,” The strawberry-blonde admitted, stretching out his body, only to nearly topple over. As Fionna laughed, he managed to straight himself out, closing the umbrella to try and cover for his embarrassment. “Well… float, I should say.”

“Far?” Fionna replied, sounding a bit surprised. “It’s not that far at all! You should see how long it is to go see Flame Prince!”

A huff leaving him, Bubba turned toward Marshall’s blue house, feeling his heart sink.

This was really happening… he was really being forced to stay in the house of the Vampire King. People really thought that he was a blood-sucker and his kingdom was really in the hands of the most childish, egotistical jerk…

Slowly, the ex-Prince let out a sigh. No, there was no need to get worked up. He was rather tired and he supposed just sleeping in the dark-haired man’s bed wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t as if Marshall had done unspeakable things there or anything, right…?

Oh glob, he had to sleep in the ex-Vampire’s bed! Who knew what had gone on there!

“Can’t I stay at your place?” He found himself blurting and instantly Fionna’s face became red. Her only response was a grumpy breath before she pushed him up to the front door and stormed off.

What did I say? The pink-haired man wondered as he pushed open the entrance and stepped inside, only to jerk back in surprise.

He had expected an array of musical interments, but in their place was a simple living room with his axe-bass against a single amp in the corner. The sofa looked incredibly uncomfortable and grey, while the upstairs had little more than an open doorway with no latter leading up to the bedroom.

A noise caught his attention and Bubba dragged his eyes down, only to jump in surprise as a fluffy, white creature rubbed against his leg. Slowly, he leaned down, lifting up the cat and gazing into her dark eyes.

Schwabl was as lively as he remembered… there wasn’t a single hint of death on her face, but he knew for a fact she’d passed away decades before. He’d been around, then, when the feline his mother had given to Marshall had fallen ill… she’d consoled the Vampire King behind closed doors and it was the only time that the ex-Prince could remember seeing the older man upset.

With a heavy sigh, the strawberry-blonde closed the door behind himself and sulked in, gazing around the small house with distain. It was cleaner then he’d expected, finely dusted and not a single out-of-place item on the floor. The only thing he could see that irked him was a counter full of dishes, but upon further inspection he realized they were only drying on a rack.

There was nothing to hate about this place and that itself made him hate it.

Making his way into the kitchen, the now-Vampire spotted a note posted to the refrigerator, written in his own writing (which he supposed made sense, since this was apparently his place). He glanced at it, finding himself frowning at the words.

Sundawn Market, 9:00.

It had that day’s date scratched beside it and he sighed, glancing up at the clock on the wall. There were hours before then and the sun was still up, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to get there early. At the very least, the walk (float, he told himself) would take a good half an hour and perhaps the burning ball in the sky would retreat soon.

Grabbing a jacket from the closet (and inwardly scoffing at the disgustingly casual wardrobe), Bubba grabbed ‘his’ Umbrella and made for the door.

It wasn’t like there was anything else to do.

Chapter Text

The candy people were just as sugary as he’d always assumed, now that they weren’t gazing upon him in fear. They were all polite and curious, with your majesties here and your highnesses there. Without Fionna there it was unbearable, the way they gazed upon him like he was a globsend or something, all excited and happy.

“Doctor Prince said that you’re well enough to move back to the palace,” Pepermint Maid informed Marshall as she pulled open the curtains, showing the night sky. The moonlight was a little bit comforting to his feverish mind.

“Of course he did,” The dark-haired man found himself muttering as the woman grabbed his gray plaid shirt and peered at it in open disgust. It was a look he was used to seeing on her face when the real Candy Prince wasn’t around.

She forced a smile after a moment, however, and turned to look at him. “What an… interesting choice in clothing, Your Highness.”

“It was casual Friday,” He found himself replying sarcastically. If she’d heard it, she didn’t react, instead moving over to hand the cloth to him. Doctor Prince had already come by to remove his IV, before giving him a bottle full of pills to take.

With a flustered breath, he shrugged on his shirt, his arms feeling far too heavy as he did so. Even his hair felt heavy, thick strips of candy hanging into his face despite his best efforts to push them away from his eyes. His skin itched and every time he ran his nails over it flecks of sugar came flying off.

The nurses insisted he sit in a wheel-chair and he didn’t argue much, not sure if he could remain on his feet for long. If it weren’t for how unsteady he felt now that his body weighed five times as much as normal (if not more), then his light-headedness was an added ingredient to a recipe of disaster.

Man, breathing was weird.

It was rather natural for his body, it seemed, because he hadn’t really noticed himself doing it up to that point. But for some reason thoughts of Oh yeah, I need to breathe popped into his head as he was wheeled into the night air, which felt nice and cool against his skin.

Forcing himself to suck in a deep breath, the candy-haired man closed his eyes as a wave of dizziness set in. It felt weird yet… nice. Soothing in his lungs like he’d always imagined fresh air would be. Like he’d always been told it was.

Sadly, the moment had to end and he was pushed into the palace, feeling a wave of tension crawl over his shoulders. Thankfully, the moments between the entrance and Bubba’s room were clouded and the next thing he knew he was being placed in a plush pink bed.

“Here, Your Majesty,” A Marshmallow woman addressed as he leaned back against the extravagant headboard. “We brought some soup to help you feel better.”

Marshall felt his stomach drop at the very thought of food. He felt nauseous and this time it wasn’t just the gloobs talking… how long had it been since he’d eaten something other than red and blood? Hell, he hadn’t even eaten blood in decades, but it had been a millennium since his last ‘actual’ meal.

His hands shaking, the ex-Vampire took the offered bowl and placed it on a pillow in his lap, staring down into its light yellow depths silently. What was it even made of? He had no way of knowing. Probably honey, knowing the candy people, and it was probably disgusting…

Not that he would know.

As she peered up at him with a smile, he slowly lifted the silver spoon to his lips and gave a difficult blow on the steaming liquid, before putting it up against his mouth. Before he’d even swallowed the flavor was on his tongue, assaulting all of his senses and causing him to choke in surprise.

“Is it too salty, Your Majesty?” She gasped as he gripped at his chest, his throat burning. “I told them to go easy on it!”

“N-no, i-it’s math,” He responded, only to earn an openly surprised stare. Slowly, the dark haired man lowered his hand, feeling his cheeks grow warm. “Err… It’s… perfectly wonderful. Thank you.”

“Are you feeling alright, Your Majesty?” Peppermint Maid asked as she fluffed up his pillows behind him. “You seem to be acting rather… peculiar.”

Quickly clearing his throat and choking down another spoonful of the hot liquid, he choked out, “I-I’m fine! Just the gloobs, you know. I’ll be just fine in no time!”

She gave a nod – more of a bow, really – before she shooed the Marshmallow woman from the room and left him to his food.

Eyeing the liquid with a distasteful sigh, the dark-haired man placed it beside the bed and rolled onto his side, curling up around the pillow that had been in his lap.

He wanted his own room, with his bed and his photographs and… and Shwabs! His bass, his food, his taste buds and glob it all, his own beefing body!

Why had this all happened? He’d heard Fionna and Bubba talking outside his room about the ring, but he hadn’t been able to understand much of what they said through the closed door. For all he knew, the globbing thing had done it for fun and he was going to be stuck that way for the rest of his life!

Groaning, the dark-haired man curled closer around the wine-colored pillow. He couldn’t remember having ever felt this much pain, save for being out in the sunlight. His stomach was cramping and twisting, his entire body cold, yet hot and sweaty. How did people deal with this kind of thing on a regular basis? He couldn’t wait to be dead again, free of sickness and (most) pain.

After a few moments of just lying there pathetically, he let his eyes drift open and look around the ex-Prince’s bedroom. It was just as pink as he’d always imagined, with wine and maroon thrown in… really, it was nicely decorated, but the color was very off-putting in his opinion.

A frown crossed Marshall’s lips as he spotted a photograph sitting beside the bed, almost mocking him. Slowly, he reached out, grabbing hold of it and gazing at it as his stomach twisted.

Queen Gumball had been the most beautiful candy woman to ever live, in his opinion. She was pink-skinned, like her son, with long bubblegum hair and kind violet eyes. But it was not only her looks that were amazing… she had a loving heart that had opened up to him all those years ago and a gentle smile that always eased him when he was sad.

He’d taken this photograph, at least in actuality he had. It was supposed to be of the woman with Bubba in her arms as a small child, holding him up and laughing with him. But instead, in this picture she held a little boy with hair made of black liquorish, whose skin was a pale grey.

Feeling disgusted, the ex-Vampire placed the photograph down, before knocking it forward so that it was no longer seeable. He didn’t want to think about how the kind woman was supposedly his mother now… the thought was unsettling.  Instead, the dark-haired man closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep, wondering when things were going to be right again.

Pushing open the door to his mother’s room, the little candy boy felt himself pausing in surprise. Seated on her bed was not only herself, but a dark-haired man that the child had seen around a lot. He didn’t really care for the man, who was always making jokes and pulling pranks, but he seemed to be a close friend of his mother so he tried to put up with him.

The man wasn’t making jokes now, though, as he cried into the Queen’s shoulder openly. She had an arm wrapped around him and she gave the young Prince a sad smile, holding up a finger to her lips.

“I’m so sorry,” She then whispered to the dark-haired boy, who let out another strained sob as she reached up to gently stroke his hair. “I know you loved her, Marshall Lee. She was very important to you and I know that she loved you too.”

Turning his eyes downward, Prince Bubba realized that clutched in the vampire’s hand was a tiny red collar.

Shaking his head to clear it, Bubba gave a heavy sigh as his feet metaphorically carried him up to the beginnings of Sundawn Market.

Why had he been thinking about that? His mind had somehow drifted to the first (and only) time he’d seen Marshall cry, though how he was unsure.

Was that darn cat really that important to him? Well, he supposed she had to be, since he’d risen her from the dead after only a few days and kept her as a zombie-cat, somehow completely preserved. There had to be some sort of magic there, but the ex-Prince wasn’t about to start thinking about what it was.

“Ah, Bubba,” a voice called and the strawberry-blonde was thankful for the direction as he turned to see an older gentlemen with greyish purple skin and dark violet hair. “You’re early. Let me wrap up some stuff and then we can get started.”

The man then motioned him to follow and Bubba trailed after him nervously, wondering why on earth Marshall would have made an appointment for at a market. He couldn’t begin to fathom what it was, especially as the man led him into a seemingly empty shed.

Pushing the door close behind the now-Vampire as he entered, the violet-haired man was still for a moment as Bubba looked around, before he suddenly grabbed hold of the floating man and roughly shoved him against the wall of the shed.

“What the glob-!” The blue-skinned boy found himself crying before lips were roughly pressed to his own, making him choke in surprise. Fingers were suddenly on his body in places they should definitely not be and he let out a surprised hiss as he shoved the man off of him. “What in Ooo do you think you’re doing!?”

“What?” The man inquired, his eyebrows knitted in frustration. “You like it rough, usually. At least, that’s what you always say.”

“I-I what now!?” Bubba found himself spitting in disgust. He had certainly not expected this of Marshall Lee! This was… this was so distasteful! It left a sick feeling in his stomach and he quickly wiped at his mouth, snapping, “Well this isn’t going to happen any longer!”

Now the purple-skinned man seemed surprised, before he let out an annoyed huff. “So what, you don’t want to eat anymore?”

“I-… excuse me?” The now-Vampire broke into a frown. What was that supposed to mean?

“You know… our deal? You do this for me in exchange for money. So you can buy food.”

The strawberry blonde felt furious. Marshall Lee was whoring himself!? That was… that was disgusting, not to mention immoral and completely… completely wrong! “I’ll find a respectable job and make my own money!” He snapped, but it only seemed to amuse the man as he began to laugh.

Wiping at his eyes as tears began to form in them, the violet-haired figure fixed him with a look of disbelief. “Have you forgotten what you are?” He inquired, a grin crossing his lips. “A vampire. You think anyone around here is going to hire you? They’re all terrified of you!”

…And then it all made sense.

Bubba felt ill, crossing his arms over his stomach. His feet touched the ground and he stood there for a few moments, completely shocked by the words that had just assaulted him.

People were terrified of Marshall, weren’t they? Usually the Vampire King would brag about it, as if the idea of people running away from him in fright was nothing but amusing, but… it certainly made it hard to interact with the real world. And if they really were all that afraid, no one was going to give the dark-haired man a job, which meant he had to find some way to earn money to feed himself.

The ex-Prince had never really thought about it before. Was this how the other earned all of his money…? By… by whoring himself out to whoever would toss a few coins his way? The idea was preposterous to the pink-haired man, who had always grown up with an arsenal of food to fill his empty stomach.

…How long had Marshall been doing this?

“I need to go,” He barely managed to mumble before he was throwing himself from the room, not bothering to grab the umbrella he had dropped at some point.

He had to get out of there. Away from that man, away from that place… away from those thoughts and away from the feeling that perhaps there was a bit more to the Vampire King then he had ever realized.

Thoughts like that were dangerous.

“Your Majesty?”

Jumping in surprise, Marshall turned to look at Peppermint Maid as she gazed at him with an expression of worry, a stack of papers in her hands.

“Are you alright?” The woman inquired, reaching out to place a hand against his forehead only to let out a sigh. “Your fever is horrible… I’m so sorry, your Highness, but these matters need attending to!”

“Yeah, right. Of course,” The dark-haired man found himself responding as he turned his gaze to the front, sitting back against the headboard.

“About the honey-pool…” The candy woman went on, holding up the paper and gazing at it. “The council really hopes you will re-think your decision to fix the filters.”

“Alright,” Came the timid response and she gazed upon him in surprise, her mouth open.

“Your Majesty?” Peppermint Maid called again, her gasp turning into a frown. “You stated originally that the money would be wasted since no one really uses the pool…”

A frown crossing his lips, the now-Prince let out a slow breath. “Did I?” He inquired idly, his head spinning a bit. “Okay, well… stick to that, then.”

Best not to upset Bubba by beefing up his princely plans or whatever.

“Of course, Your Highness,” The woman replied, before she pulled out the next piece of paper and began to read.

The words were lost on Marshall, however, who found it rather annoying that he was being bothered about stupid things when he was so sick he could barely sit up straight. Did they always treat Bubba like this when he was ill? He let out a sigh as he realized that they probably did… after all, they had pretty much harassed his mother for answers to dumb questions even when she was on her death bed.

“My Prince, please,” Came Peppermint Maid’s pleading voice, cutting into his hazy mind once more. “These matters-”

“-Have to be attended to, I know,” The ex-vampire found himself sighing as he let out a strained breath. “Alright, I got it… What were you saying?”

The candy woman went on to talk about funding for the hospital and the dark-haired boy tried his best to pay attention, inwardly wishing he had Bubba there to give him some sort of direction. How was he supposed to know what places deserved more funding then others? Which ones had been given more funding in the past?

This was all too much. He tried his best to make educated guesses, but he knew he had messed up somewhere. No doubt the ex-Prince would be upset when he returned to find his kingdom in shambles…

Marshall Lee wasn’t fit to run a kingdom. Sure, he was a King, but being king of the Vampires was little more than a flashy title. He hadn’t even seen another Vampire in decades, so the idea of trying to run a kingdom full of them was ridiculous.

Eventually the woman left and he sighed, curling up in the blankets once again. Hopefully the sickness would pass soon and then… he found himself frowning. And then what? He’d have to cuddle candy people and run royal events all of the time? The idea was about as appealing as eating another bowl of that horrible soup.

Letting out a strained breath, the young-looking man glanced to the bedside table, where a plate full of rolls had been placed for him to try and choke down. He had yet to try, afraid of an experience like last time, but he knew that this strained body needed nourishment if he was going to fight off the infection.

And so, with a lump in his throat, the ex-Vampire slowly took a roll from the pile and slipped it into his mouth, taking a bite.

The dry texture was someone unpleasant, but the taste was… enjoyable. Certainly better than the soup had been. To his surprise, one bite left his tongue watering (metaphorically) for more and he soon found himself finishing off three rolls before curling up beneath the heavy blankets.

There was a knock on his door suddenly and he was tempted to let out a string of old-world curses, but managed to hold it back. To his (rather pleasant) shock, however, it was a human girl with a head of blonde hair that came through the entrance, a smile on her face.

“Hey, Mar!” She called, pushing the door shut behind herself, before she smirked a little. “Or should I say, PLR?”

“Please!” He groaned, rolling back over and sitting up against the headboard. “I am so sick of being a Prince! I don’t know how Bubs does it. This beef is ridiculous!”

“They bothered you about the pool yet?” Fionna asked and as he nodded, she let out a laugh. “Yeah, PG complains about that all the time. They’ve been trying to get him to fix it for months. You didn’t tell them to, did you?” As Marshall grinned, but shook his head, she returned his smile. “Good. He’d throw a hissy!”

“Oh, I know,” The dark-haired boy laughed before he let out a slow, content sigh. It was nice to see his best friend again, especially after being bombarded with questions all morning. “Can you imagine?”

The blonde let out another chuckle, before she hummed and looked around the room. After a moment of silence between them, the ex-Vampire addressed her once more.

“What did you find out about the ring?” He asked, feeling his chest tighten. He hoped it was good news, because if the other was about to tell him he was going to be stuck like this forever he was prepared to force Bubba to bite him and turn him back into the dead.

“What?” The girl breathed, before she seemed to remember. “Oh. It came with a scroll that said you guys need to stop hating each other and start getting along to fix it.”

The words made Marshall frown as they lulled over in his head. Stop hating each other? He had never hated the ex-Prince… sure, he thought the younger man was way too stuck up some times, but he felt nothing but affection for the boy he had watched grow. “I don’t hate him,” He informed Fionna, who puffed up her cheeks in response. “He’s my friend.”

“Well, it’s probably just him, then,” The blonde said casually and the now-Prince felt his heart sink.

Bubba… hated him? The thought made him ill. He’d been around pretty much the man’s entire life, always hanging around his mother and after she’d died, sticking around the Prince like glue… so why did the pink-haired man dislike him so much?

“He said he doesn’t hate you either,” Fionna informed, a frown on her features as she seemed to see the heartbreak in his eyes. “But the paper said you guys need to like, love each other or some junk. He seemed really confused.”

“…Love each other?” Marshall found himself choking, his teal eyes going wide. Now that was a ridiculous notion… there was no way Bubba was ever going to fall in love with him. The now-Vampire was too stuck in his own ways to ever fall in love with someone so… unlike himself. Not to mention he probably wanted to run off and marry a Princess or some other royal thing.

No… as much as Marshall had come to fall for the Candy Prince, there was no way the opposite was going to be true.

“I thought that part was odd,” The blonde-haired girl admitted, running a hand through the blonde bangs that hung in her face. “I mean, because you already love him, but… I think it just means you have to be friends.”

Completely caught off-guard, the dark-haired man burst into a series of shocked coughs, choking over himself for a moment before he managed to wheeze out, “What did you say?!”

A grin crossed Fionna’s lips and she spun around, kneeling on the bed in front of him, her blue eyes sparkling with wonder. “I knew it!” The girl declared, pumping a fist in the air. “Oh yeah, in your face! I told Cake you totally had the hots for Gumball, but she didn’t believe me!”

“W-what makes you say that!?” The ex-Vampire found himself crying, his voice cracking as he did so, giving him away.

Letting out a laugh, the human girl leaned back, lifting a hand to her chin and looking him up and down. Slowly, a devious grin crossed her lips, before she pushed her hair from her eyes. “Because,” she declared after a moment. “The way you tease him is totally different from the way you tease me.”

Marshall swallowed down a lump forming in his throat as he reached up, mimicking her actions as he shoved a lock of liquorish from his eyes. “How so…?”

“With me, you’re all… funny and stuff,” Fionna offered as she slammed a fist into an open palm. “Rough! You like, play-fight with me and junk, which is totally math! But with him…” A thoughtful look crossed her peach face. “You never touch him, like, ever. Sometimes you throw things at him but your hands never go near him. And when you talk to him you’re always nice. Well, okay… you tease him, yeah, but you’re never mean about it.”

The older found himself frowning at her words. Had she really noticed those types of things about him? Perhaps the girl was a bit more observant then he’d thought…

He didn’t like touching Bubba, that much was true. It reminded him not only of the past, but of everything he wanted and couldn’t have. And yeah, he did tease the man, but… he was pretty nice about it, save for the times when he’d get annoyed enough to toss a cream puff at him or whatever.

Giving a heavy sigh, the now-Prince let his shoulders slump. “Okay,” he mumbled, defeated. “I admit… I like him, alright? I have for a while.”

“I knew it!” Fionna declared, pumping a fist into the air again while the fever-flushed boy sighed heavily. Admitted it had been hard, yes, but it wasn’t like there was another step to the process. He and Bubba were never going to be together, so as happy as Fionna was about the whole thing, he knew that would be the end of it.

And if the ring really did mean for them to fall in love… well, he was going to be a candy Prince for a very, very long time.

Chapter Text

Silently, Bubba stared up at the ceiling of Marshall’s bedroom, his back pressed against the extremely uncomfortable bed and a purring ball of fluff on his chest.

He had tried desperately not to think since the market and had even managed to fall into a troubled sleep during the night, but the thoughts were becoming unavoidable as he lay there, fingers idly petting the cat that rested upon him.

His entire life, he’d assumed Marshall just spent his time joking around and playing pranks on people. He’d never even fathomed that the dark-haired man had troubles, let alone ones so…  so terrible.

With a heavy sigh, the now-Vampire plucked Schwabl off of his chest and placed her down, before he lifted himself off of the bed. He had finally begun to get the hang of the whole ‘floating’ thing and crossing the room to the doorway was much easier than it had originally been.

Schwabl meowed in protest and followed him downstairs (how had she even gotten up there in the first place?), watching as he fell into the chair in front of the amp, his gaze downcast.

After a few moments, the ex-Prince realized that beside the amp there was actually a rather nice looking keyboard (how many men had Marshall slept with to get that?) with a stack of books on top of it.

There was a tape-recorder there as well and from what he could see it was nearly full. With a deep frown, Bubba reached forward, pressing the rewind button before stopping the track about halfway back.

For some time he let his finger hover over the play button as he considered the consequences to his actions. There could be some rather personal stuff recorded on this, for all he knew, and listening to it meant getting into the mind of the dark-haired man like never before.

…Then again, that was the whole point of the ring switching them, wasn’t it? To make him understand the other a little more?

Swallowing thickly, Bubba let his finger press the button before he sat back and listened.

For a few moments there was nothing but the scratchy sound of static, before he heard a bass strum and his own voice hummed quietly.

This one’s for Marshall Lee, he heard the recording say (to his surprise), before the ‘him’ on the tape began to play and picked up the lyrics a few moments later.

It was… beautiful. He could tell the words were straight from the heart, a story weaved within their depths that left him feeling light and airy. He could only imagine what the real thing was like, with Marshall himself singing it, and he had to wonder if the dark-haired man’s voice sounded just as wistful as his own did.

It was a song about how Marshall had tried to always be there for him, only to be turned away time and time again. It then went on to explain how he’d closed off because of it, how he’d resorted to just teasing him because he couldn’t seem to befriend him.

There was one line, however, that made Bubba’s chest tighten. He found himself wishing it wasn’t true, because the intensity behind his own voice seemed to speak volumes… if the dark-haired man’s sounded the same, then…

I don’t care if you know that I love you, I just want to be beside you.

Slowly, the ex-Prince reached up to stop the tape, his entire body numb.

From the sound of the rest of the song, there was no doubt what he’d meant by that word. That single, simple word, which held so much meaning behind it…

…Marshall was in love with him.

In the days that followed, Marshall found himself wondering how much more he could beef up in the kingdom before Glob himself would throw him out of the palace. He’d been given at least a hundred more tasks to complete before he was able to get out of bed and once he was on his feet again, fever finally gone, Peppermint Maid was forcing him into a formal gray outfit and pushing him down the halls.

From there he was shoved all over town, holding orphans and visiting with hospital patients. He was forced to thank every one of the nurses and Doctor Prince for their help, before leaving for the school to coddle the teachers and students alike.

By the time it was all done he was exhausted, the sun going down behind a thick layer of clouds, leaving him uncomfortably cold. Bubba’s room was a comfort and he collapsed onto the bed, curling up on top of the plush comforter.

It was ridiculous, really, how much they expected him to do in one day. And according to Peppermint Maid, there was still quite a bit that needed to be done the day after, which he was not looking forward to.

About ready to pass out, the now-Prince found himself groaning as a knock echoed through the room. For a few moments he decided to ignore it, only to lift his head as he realized it had come not from the bedroom door… but from the balcony. A bit confused, the dark-haired man got to his feet and crossed the room, slowly pushing open the doors and finding himself utterly shocked at the form standing in front of the dying, cloud-covered sun.

The look on the other’s face was one that Marshall couldn’t read. It was empty, yet so full of intensity that the dark-haired man found himself taking a step back. Bubba seemed to think it was an invitation, however, as he slipped inside and pulled the door closed behind himself.

“Has my room always smelled this stale?” The pink-haired man wondered idly, before he slowly turned to look at the older and quickly looked away, his eyes downcast.

“…What’s up, Bubs?” The ex-Vampire asked, his shoulders tense. He could tell that something was bothering the other – he could always tell – but he wasn’t sure what exactly. There were a dozen things it could be and he didn’t have the energy to start guessing.

For a few moments they stood in absolute stillness, before Bubba let out a sudden breath and turned to look at him. “I… met your purple friend.”

A moment of clouded confusion passed through the teal-eyed man’s head, before the realization hit him and he sucked in a painful wheeze. Oh. Oh. He had made an appointment to go to the market, hadn’t he? He’d forgotten all about it. Of courseBubba would see that and go there… and no doubt he was completely disgustedby what he saw.

Marshall found himself turning away in shame, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he squeezed his eyes closed. No words came from him – no words would, really – and he felt the other’s violet eyes bearing into him… judging.

“…How long?” The younger finally whispered after what seemed like years of silence.

Swallowing painfully, the dark-haired man turned away completely, his back to the other. For some time he didn’t respond and his guest didn’t push, simply waiting for his answer. Eventually, he managed to force himself to speak in nothing but a whisper; “…Right after your mother died.”

“…Why?” Came the next inquiry and he felt his shoulders slump. Leave it to the pink-haired man to ask the hard questions.

With a deep, choked sigh, Marshall felt his feet carry him to Bubba’s bed without his guidance. He took a seat on the edge, turning his shoulder toward the other, feeling extremely vulnerable.

“Your mother was so kind to me…” He found himself saying, remembering the woman like they’d just spoken the day before.  “So when she asked me to stop drinking blood, I promised her I would. In return, she always made sure I had food to eat, but…” Letting out a heavy breath, he wrapped his arms around his waist. “After she died, well… that stopped. I’m not the kind of guy to break a promise, either, so blood was out of the question… I had to figure out a way to get money for food somehow.”

The man behind him was silent for a few moments, every second making the ex-Vampire’s stomach twist harder. Then, forcefully, Bubba let out a slow, “If you’d told me-”

“You would have what, Bubba!?” The older man found himself snapping a little more intensely then he’d meant to, turning to gaze at the other with a pained expression. “Given me money for food?” There was no response, the pale blue face before him completely emotionless. “Yeah… I didn’t think so.”

“…There had to be some other way,” The pink-haired man wheezed and a wave of anger washed over Marshall as he did so. What right did Bubba have, coming into his room (well, not so much, but that wasn’t the point) and telling himwhat to do? It wasn’t as if the younger cared about him at any other point, so why was he all of the sudden worried about what the other boy did in his free time!?

“There wasn’t,” He replied, coldly, as he turned his back toward the pale man once more. “I tried.”

There was another stretch of intense, suffocating silence, before the guest let out a heavy breath and mumbled, “Look, I heard-”

A sudden blast of cold air filled the room, cutting their conversation short as Bubba was knocked away from the balcony door and a large block of ice came flying through it, shattering the glass all over.

“No!” Bubba shrieked in horror, but it wasn’t going to stop the woman who stepped into the room, laughing shrilly and peering upon them with colorless eyes.

“Liquorish Rope!” Ice Queen shrieked and Marshall stared at her in horror from his hiding spot behind Bubba’s bed. “Come see your wifey!”

“You are not my- er… his wife!” The strawberry blonde cried as he finally managed to get to his feet, his fists clenched. “Let lost, Ice Queen!”

As if suddenly realizing he was there, the white-haired woman turned to look at him in surprise. After a few moments her deep blue features twisted up in distain and she spat out, “What are you doing here!?”

Letting out a growl of disgust, Bubba let his feet lift off the ground, hovering above in the air as if it were natural for him. “I have more right to be here then you!” He declared, pointing one elegant blue finger in her direction. “So get out!”

The older let out a shriek of anger as she lifted her hands towards him. “Stay away from my Liquorish Rope!” Bubba tried to jump to the side, but didn’t manage to avoid the large blocks of ice that came flying towards him, slamming him into the wall and keeping him there.

Marshall let out a horrified gasp as the crazed woman suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt, dragging him to his feet. Before he could even fathom what was going on she was holding him around the waist under one arm, carrying him toward the broken balcony doors.

“What the beef, Ice Queen!?” The dark-haired boy gasped as he tried to escape from her iron grip, only to realize that no matter how much he struggled, she just wouldn’t let go! “Put me down!”

“Of course not, my love!” Came the laughed response. “We’re about to get married!”

“We’re what!?” The ex-vampire shrieked as he began to struggle wildly. She moved onto the balcony and began to rise from the floor. As she did, the candy-boy lifted his head and met the eyes of Bubba, who was still attempting to get free of the ice blocks.

He said nothing, but there was a pleading look in his teal eyes. Begging the other to come save him, to send Fionna, to do something.

Then Ice Queen took off, carrying Marshall Lee away.

He was freezing.

She’d shoved him in a cell made of ice, before proceeding to sit down and go on and on about her life like she was writing in a diary. Every time he’d offer no response she would blast him with a ball of slush and within twenty minutes he was soaked to the brim, not to mention freezing.

On top of that, she seemed to not realize that his body was made of sugar, and water melted candy. Not only was the dark-haired young man shivering from cold, but his hair and skin were dripping off globs of the sweet stuff, stinging slightly and making his teeth ache.

Ice Queen got up after a few moments and left for the kitchen, declaring that she was going to make him a ‘feast made for a king!’ Deciding not to tell the woman he’d already eaten, Marshall forced himself up and over to the bars, trying to see if there was a way out from them.

To his surprise (and delight), they were wide enough that he could slip through with ease. Never more thankful for his slender body then at this moment, the dark-haired man pushed his wet form through and started toward the exit in a rush.

He forgot, momentarily, that footsteps made noise. The next thing he knew he was being thrown back, a block of ice surrounding him and pinning him against a wall made of the same solid, effectively capturing him in what would no doubt be a death trap if he didn’t escape soon.

“Why so eager to leave, my Prince?” Ice Queen practically hissed as she approached, her face inches from his. “Don’t you want to stay for dinner?”

“I really don’t,” Marshall replied, trying his best not to struggle after finding that it only caused the sugar to melt faster.

The woman seemed furious, her eyes narrowing and her lips pilled back in a growl. She spun around, then and threw her arms into the air. “I try to do something nice for you and you treat me like this!?”

“Hey, Ice Queen!”

Two pairs of eyes turned to gasp as Bubba came floating through the door, flying through the air and slamming into the woman. Before she could react, he’d grabbed hold of her Tiara and tossed it through an entrance way which seemed to lead down a flight of stairs.

As the Queen shrieked in horror and rushed after it, stumbling down the steps, the now-Vampire smugly wiped his hands off and turned toward the captive man. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Aren’t you lucky?” The older spat, before he wigged for emphasis. “Now get me out of here before I melt away!”

Finally taking a good look at him, the pink-haired man let out a strained breath and began to frantically look around for something he could use to break the ice. Finally, his eyes settled on a crystal sword (it looked vaguely familiar, but there was no time to think about it) and he grabbed it, slamming the hilt in to the ice.

The frozen liquid shattered instantly and Bubba reached out to steady Marshall as he stumbled forward. Instantly his worried expression became horrified as he pulled his hands away to see the sticky candy on his fingers.

“I never melted this fast!” The pink-haired man cried. “We need to get you dry, now!”

The older man didn’t have a chance to respond as he was suddenly scooped up into pale blue arms and carried off.

Cheeks flushed with embarrassment, the dark-haired boy wrapped his arms tightly around his companion’s neck and held on for dear life as Bubba began to float them back to the Candy Kingdom.

“Why not just use my bat form?” Marshall inquired and he felt Bubba’s shoulders tense beneath his hold.

“No thanks,” The strawberry-blonde stated, stiffly, as they made their way through the Ice Kingdom. He held the older a bit tighter as a gust of wind set in.

Just as they were making their way toward the edges of the snow-covered mountains, Marshall let out a horrified gasp and cringed as a wave of rain suddenly began to pour over them. Above him, Bubba shrank in horror and made a run for it, bolting into a small cave and cringing up against the wall.

“Why are you scared?” The older man snapped as he tried to wipe the water from his skin, only to groan as more globs of skin came off. “The water won’t hurt you.”

For a moment it seemed as if his companion would argue, but then the other slowly pulled himself away from the wall and approached the entrance, cautiously sticking his hand out into the rain.

It felt… cold, yet for some reason it was almost comforting. Swallowing a deep breath, the younger slowly slipped out into the water, letting the pouring rain wash over his body and hit his pale blue face. For a few moments he stood there, his eyes closed and his head tilted back, enjoying the feeling of water against his skin for once in his life.

Was this why Fionna always said she liked to play in the rain? The feeling was actually rather… incredible. He felt… fresh, like the sins of his past were being washed away, leaving him pure once more.

Slowly he turned toward Marshall to see how he was fairing, only to let out a horrified gasp.

“What!?” The grey-skinned man cried, jerking back as Bubba rushed over to him and grabbed his face in his hands.

“No!” Came the confounded response as violet eyes met teal. “No, no, no! This is too fast! You’re melting too fast!”

The face before him stared up at him in confusion… not the 16-year-old face of the ancient Vampire King, but a 14-year-old young boy, perhaps even younger. For a few moments the pink-haired man could only stare openly at the older man’s features, feeling ill, before he suddenly reached out and began to unbutton Marshall’s shirt.

“W-what the peas are you doing, dude!?” The ex-Vampire cried as the other pushed his shirt off of his shoulders. “Now isn’t the time!”

“Now is the perfect time!” Came the snapped response as the younger man removed his own wet shirt and scooped his companion into his arms, pressing their bodies together. He could feel, rather than see, the pink flush that fell over the other’s cheeks. “You’re melting too quickly! The de-aging process has already started!”

“De… aging process?” The candy-haired man wheezed, his voice strained. He seemed to realize, after a moment, and his entire body jolted. “You mean I’m getting younger!?”

“Some time ago, I discovered the ability to make myself de-age when I remove candy flesh from my body,” Bubba explained, hugging the other as tightly as he could against his chest. “Obviously, it remained even when you became the Prince. Whenever you lose candy flesh, you lose years… the only way to get them back is to wait a few years, or add candy flesh back.”

“So what, I’m… how old now?” Marshall’s voice had calmed, sounding almost meek as he pressed his forehead into the other’s neck, his cheeks hot against the light blue skin.

“Too young…” The pink-haired boy mumbled, though the older man didn’t catch the irony in his words. “You’re… maybe 14 now, tops?”

“Great,” came the heavy response as the other tensed in his hold. “So not only am I made of candy, but now I’m younger. And, according to Fionna, the only way to fix this is for you to fall in love with me.”

The now-vampire felt his entire body go stiff, his hold tightening around his companion’s body. For him to fall in love… Just him.

…Because Marshall already was in love with him.

Chapter Text

A few moments of tense silence fell between them as the once proud Candy Prince found words impossible. He knew what he wanted to say, but try as he might, he just couldn’t seem to choke the words out.

What were you supposed to say to someone who you knew loved you? Who you’d only felt feelings of distain for before? Not to mention the fact that Marshall didn’t know that Bubba was aware of his feelings. The whole thing was just… awkward and it left a bad taste in the younger man’s mouth.

Thankfully – or not, depending on how you looked at it – the dark-haired man managed to say what he couldn’t, his own voice barely a whisper in the dark cave. “…You know about my feelings, don’t you?”

Swallowing down a lump in his throat, the now-Vampire found himself slowly nodding into his companion’s shoulder. “…I do.”

There was a painful breath from the boy in his arms as he shifted, his entire form tense and his eyes shut tightly. “Did Fionna tell you?”

“What?” Bubba found himself asking. Fionna knew about this? How long had she known?! He wanted to voice these thoughts, to demand answers, but his feelings of anger only sparked for a moment before they were gone. “No… she didn’t. I heard a song you sang about me. Well… I sang it, but…”

“Man, I told you not to gunk with my stuff…” Marshall strained, obviously trying to avoid the subject. “Oh, look. The rain stopped.”

“Marshall…” The ex-Prince found himself breathing as the other pulled away and turned his back to him, quickly trying to pull his wet shirt back on. “I… I think we should talk about-”

“About what?” Came the snapped response, making the pale-skinned man jump back in surprise. “There’s nothing more to say. Now let’s head back before I turn into a ten year old.”

Hoping that it didn’t come down to that, Bubba gave a heavy sigh and carefully replaced his own casual maroon button-up. He scooped the other back into his arms after a moment and continued carrying him toward the Candy Kingdom, silence stretching between them.

Soon enough they reached fields of cotton-candy trees and it seemed like only moments later the pink-haired man was metaphorically scaling the large wall that lead up to the Prince’s quarters.

After setting Marshall down, Bubba moved over to the fireplace and lit it up, moving away as the dark-haired man came to sit beside the warmth. He noticed the other’s skin immediately begin to cool and cease its melting as the other smoothed it down, a disgusted look on his grey face.

“I always felt lucky that it never rains in the Candy Kingdom,” The ex-Prince admitted, earning a sour look from the other, but no response. “Water can be really dangerous…”

The dark-haired man was silent, turning his young face away. It seemed he didn’t want to speak anymore, his back stiff and his wet shoulder facing the violet-eyed form behind him.

After a few moments, the now-vampire gave a heavy sigh. “…I don’t hate you,” He stated, earning a slight cringe from his companion. “I never have. You… you irritate me, you frustrate me, but… I don’t hate you.”

“Lucky me,” Came the bitter response, but the older man still kept his back turned to him.

His lips curved downward, Bubba inched a bit forward, causing the other to tense even more. “I… I do think this experience has been good-”

“What!?” Marshall snapped instantly, cutting him off as he turned to glare at him. “You think forcing me to become… become sugar was a good thing!?”

“-Because,” The pink-haired man strained, a scolding look on his face that instantly made the other turn away once more with a pout. “…Because it’s taught me more about you then I could have ever known. Because I’ve come to realize that you’re not just the annoying, frustrating man that I thought you were… there’s a lot more to you than I expected.”

Slowly, the candy-man let out a strained breath. “Yeah,” He shrugged, staring sourly into the warm fire. “I guess. And I found out you’re only stuck up because people expect you to be.”

Deciding not to grace that with a response, the younger man crossed his arms over his chest. “So yes, this was all for a good reason. I think that from now on, we’ll understand each other a little bit more.”

“Great,” Came the snapped retort before the other was on his feet, his back straight. “You can go now.”

“Marshall!” Bubba cried, his fists clenching as he glared openly at his companion. “Honestly! I think we need to talk about this!”

“About what, Bubba!?” Was the shrieked reply he got as the dark-haired man finally turned completely towards him, sugary tears slipping down his cheeks. The now-Vampire jerked back in surprise, his mouth agape. “About how I’ve loved you since before your mother died!? About how I promised her I would stay by your side, no matter what? About how…” He sucked in a strained breath, his fists clenched at his sides. “How you treat me like I’m worthless. How my friendship means nothing to you. How you look at me in distain all of the time… How you apparently hated me, because how else did we end up in this mess?” He motioned to himself, before doing the same to the younger man. “We didn’t switch lives for beef, man. That ring messed with us for some reason. It left Fionna alone, but screwed with us… You can’t tell me it’s because you don’t hate me.”

The light-haired man stood still, silently talking on the verbal assault with an unreadable expression. He was quiet even after the other had finished talking, wiping at his tear-stained face and turning his gaze away. After all was said and done, Bubba pushed himself forward and approached. He came within inches of the older man, reaching out to cup his young face in his hands and forcing their eyes to meet.

“I don’t hate you,” The younger whispered, tapping the grey skin beneath his fingers as Marshall moved to interrupt him. “I think that… that this whole time I’ve just been…” He frowned, finding the words very hard to say. He was about to bare his heart to someone he’d never really gotten along with. “…I’ve been jealous of you.”

Marshall’s eyebrows shot up, his sugar-flecked lashes fluttering in surprise for a moment. “Jealous?” He breathed. “…Of me?”

Bubba let his shoulders fall as he let the other’s face go. He almost towered over Marshall now – he’d been about half a head taller before, but with the dark-haired boy a good two years younger, he was nearly a foot above him. On top of that, his soles were off the ground, putting a few more inches between them.

“…You’re always so carefree,” He mumbled, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, the hair there poking at his skin. “At least, you always seemed that way to me, even when I was little. You were always joking around with mother, always making her laugh… I…” His lips turned down as he remembered the woman, always at the side of the dark-haired man. “I wanted her to enjoy time with me as much as she did with you.”

“Bubs, she-” Marshall started, only to fall silent as Bubba put a finger against his lips.

“I was always taking lessons for this or that,” The now-vampire went on, not meeting the older man’s eyes. “Always busy, busy, busy… I barely had time to enjoy myself. But you were always doing whatever you wanted, with no responsibilities. I didn’t think it was fair. And as we both got older and mother passed away, it just got worse! I had to run the kingdom and you…” The younger frowned, his shoulders deflating. “It seemed like all you did was hang around and bother me. I realize now that you were struggling, but you were always so up-beat about it… You were always teasing me and what not. I was just…” He huffed, suddenly, and let his hand drop from Marshall’s lips as he turned away. “I was jealous, okay!? I wanted to be as carefree as you!”

A long pause stretched on between them as Bubba crossed his arms over his chest and just hovered there, not really sure if he even wanteda response.

Then, suddenly, the dark-haired man let out a heavy breath and crossed his own arms, turning his face the opposite direction. With tense shoulders, he mumbled something that caught the pink-haired man completely off guard… shocking him to his very core.

Marshall Lee Abadeer, hater of responsibility, whispered… “I was always jealous of you, too.”

“…Excuse me?”

Gaping openly at the dark-haired man before him, Bubba found himself gazing upon the older man in a new light.

Jealous? The Vampire King had always been… jealous of him? That was… that was ridiculous! What was there to be jealous of? He was always busy, always being rushed around, being kidnapped by Ice Queen and saved by Fionna. He’d had to deal with random cookies trying to overthrow his throne, and Lemondrop trying to do the same… Not to mention the pressure that Peppermint Maid keep putting on him to get married!

“You were always so… liked,” The older man mumbled, reaching up with his right hand to rub the upper part of his left arm, almost nervously. “People… flock to you. They look at you with friendly looks and happiness and…” He let out a slow breath, his shoulders slumping, the other and remembered what the purple-skinned man had said about everyone running in fear from the ex-Vampire. “…And you know.”

“…You’re lonely,” Came the heavy reply as the realization hit Bubba like a flying rock. Of course Marshall was lonely… up until Fionna had met him, he hadn’t had a single friend in all of Ooo and even though the girl enjoyed his company they didn’t spend thatmuch time together. He was usually shut away in his house in his dark cave... with no one else around.

“Yeah, that,” Marshall replied, his cheeks flushing a bit from embarrassment. “You always like… have people around. So I was jealous. Plus… well, you thought your mom always liked being around me more but, dude- she adored you. All she ever talked about was you! I wasn’t jealous over that though, man, that was totally beef, I-”

He was cut off suddenly as Bubba pressed a finger against his mouth once more, dragging teal eyes to violet ones. As the older man gaped up at him in awe, the once-Prince leaned in, pushing his pale blue lips against the other’s sugary grey ones.

For a split moment, Marshall let out a surprised noise, before he reacted suddenly in a way the strawberry blonde-haired man would have never expected. The other grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pushed him to the floor, seating himself in his lap and kissing him intensely.

Hands tugged open his shirt and the now-Vampire let out a heavy breath as sugary fingers ran across his chest, making his skin (metaphorically) heat up instantly. His body hovered off of the ground, Marshall still across his waist, as he reached up and grabbed at the other boy’s shoulders. Their lips were still locked in a heated kiss even as he rolled, Marshall’s body hitting the floor roughly as the younger man pinned him down.

He didn’t bother to stop and see if he’d hurt the other boy as he tugged at the collar of the now-Prince’s formal shirt, struggling to get it open and cursing under his breath. Finally, he gave in to irritation and just pulled it open, letting the buttons fly as he leaned in and began to nip at the other’s throat.

The older was left panting beneath him, fingers burring themselves into spiked hair. His sounds of pleasure gave way to a sudden intake of breath, however, when sharp fangs suddenly sunk down into his skin.

Oh glob… the flavor! It flooded Bubba’s senses, suffocating him and nearly making him choke. He’d tried drinking red like the other always did, but it really just tasted like paint… but this. Grod it all, this! It was sweet, silky, and satisfying like nothing he’d ever tasted before. He couldn’t help but want more!

Then the hand in his hair dropped and the younger man realized suddenly exactly what he’d been doing. Jerking back in surprise, he stared down in horror at Marshall’s paled face, the bite mark on his throat coated in the sugary blood of the candy people.

“M…Marshall…” The strawberry-blonde choked, feeling tears of disgust well up in his eyes. What had he done!? He could have killed him!

Slowly, the dark-haired boy reached up, wrapping his arms around the horrified man before him. Weakly, he pulled the other down, resting his head against the uninjured side of his neck. “It’s okay…” The older mumbled, his voice drained as he reached up to run his fingers through strawberry blonde locks. Bubba felt his body relax as he gripped at the frail man’s open shirt, his shoulders shaking. “It was an accident… I’m not mad…”

“I’m so…” Choking a bit on the words, the taller boy realized that tears were filling his violet eyes. “I’m so sorry…”

“I told you, man… its math…” Came the quiet response and immediately, the strawberry blonde shot up, gaping down at his companion as he lost consciousness. “It was… an… acci…”

Dumbstruck for a moment as teal eyes slipped shut, the ex-Prince quickly grabbed ahold of small shoulders and began to shake the young-looking man beneath him. “Marshall!” He shrieked, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. “Wake up, glob it! Wake up!”

There was no response, even as he scooped the smaller man into his arms and cradled his head against his neck. Marshall’s breathing was shallow, his pulse weak (which his vampire hearing made clear), and his body chilled.

“I’m sorry!” Bubba shrieked, his shoulders shaking as he openly sobbed into the older man’s skin. “Okay!? I’m sorry for treating you like dirt! I’m sorry for all the years I spent, hating you for no reason! I… I’m sorry for…” He swallowed, his grip wavering as the other boy’s breathing slowed. “I’m sorry for never realizing how much I appreciate you… You were always there for me, always around, even when I didn’t ask you to be… I’m sorry for hating you, Marshall Lee, when what I should have done was love you this entire time…”

There was a sudden, sharp flash of light and Bubba jerked back, gaping down at the other. He realized after a moment that the light was coming from the other’s hand, where a silver ring with a clear gem was firmly wrapped around one thin finger.

Suddenly, the gem became that same flushed-rose color from days ago and a wave of intense pain spread through Bubba like wildfire. He could feel the rush in his body as blood began to coarse through his veins, his pulse deafening his ears. His entire body felt heavy and he barely managed to catch himself as he nearly toppled on top of Marshall Lee.

The ring flashed red unexpectedly and before him, the grey-skinned man flushed with color, globs of liquorish hair untwisting into silken black locks. His sugar-flecked skin gave way to human flesh once more, but despite all this, his breathing was still shallow.

Swallowing down his nerves – for he knew that after this moment, there was no going back on the feelings he was admitting – Bubba leaned in and pressed his lips to Marshall Lee’s once more, letting his own eyes slip closed.

The world went black around him, but as he heard the man beneath him give a surprised wheeze, he knew everything would be right once more.

“And all we got was this globbing ring!”

Choking heavily, Marshall Lee nearly crashed into the ground, trying to steady himself. Before him, Fionna gazed at him in confusion, lowering her hand and frowning deeply.

“You okay, dude?” The blonde-haired girl whispered as he wheezed painfully, gripping at his chest. When he didn’t let up, she became alarmed and she rushed over, reaching up to touch his shoulder. “Hey! Why are you trying to breathe!? You know you don’t have to!”

For a few moments the dark-haired man stared at her in open surprise, before his eyes drifted downward and he gazed upon his hands, the pale blue skin a surprising, yet welcome sight. Teal eyes going wide, he reached up to grip his hair in his hands, before running his fingers over his pointed ears.

“I’m me!” The Vampire King declared, grabbing Fionna’s shoulders as she gazed at him in concern. “I’m me again, Fionna!”

“…Why wouldn’t you be, dude?” The girl responded, but he was already flying out of the room. “Hey, wait-! Weren’t we gonna play BMO?!”

“No time!” The other declared, throwing open the tree house door and starting off toward the Candy Kingdom.

Bubba must have done something… something to put them back to the way they were! Right…? Because this whole thing couldn’t have been a crazed dream, or something… no, it had to have happened… and if everything had been set right, then it meant the other man must have…

The candy people were cowering with fear as he flew through their tiny town, but he didn’t pay them any mind. Instead, he rushed up to the castle, scaling the walls quickly and climbing over the balcony rail.

To his surprise – and delight – a head of bubblegum hair atop a light-pink head was there to greet him. Bubba threw his arms open and immediately, Marshall tackled him, burring his face into the other’s neck.

“You’re alive…” The younger man wheezed, before he choked out a laugh. “Well… you know what I mean…”

“And I’m me!” Came the tear-filled response as the dark-haired boy jerked back and locked teal eyes with violet ones. “And you’re you and… and…”

“And I love you, Marshall Lee.” The words were pushed out carefully, as if the other man was nervous to say them. “I know I’ve treated you poorly all of these years, but… can you find it in your heart to forgi-”

Before he could even get the words out, lips were upon his, kissing him more intensely than ever before. Hands cupped his sugary cheeks, the other man shaking as he floated half a foot above the ground.

“Already forgiven,” Marshall informed once he’d pulled away, before a smirk crawled over his mouth. “You nerd.”

“Jerk,” Bubba laughed in response as he took the other’s hand and led him into the room, closing the door behind them.