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Bubba felt more tears slide down his cheeks as Marshall sang. He had a deer caught in the headlights expression, and he was biting his lip so hard it was going to leave indentions probably for a few days. God, the song was so damn genuine. He sniffled harshly and began wiping at his face, getting frustrated when his hands started sticking to his face. He basically started flailing, the movements quickly turning angry until he let out a scream of frustration and began sobbing hard, strings of bubble gum connecting his hands which were held limply away from him to his cheeks.

His body trembled as he stood, forcing himself out of the beanbag chair, repeating that he needed to go home. He was sorry, he just needed to go home. He couldn't handle this right now. He needed to stabilize his molecules. He needed to get away from getting away. A harsh laugh as he stumbled down the ladder down from Marshall's room. He left a sticky trail behind on the ladder, yelling in frustration as there were more strings of gum left behind on big pink goopy patches on the climbing device. He ripped his hands away and ran out of the house, shoving past Fionna and Cake without batting a lash, the door pulling shut after him from the strings of gum on the doorknob. He whistled for Lord Monochromicorn as soon as he was out of the cave, but continued to run through the forest until his friend met him part-way to the castle.

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Fionna blinked after Bubba as he exited the cave. "PG?" she questioned, absolutely confused about what was happening and exchanging glances with Cake. She slowly reached forward and gripped the doorknob, opening up the house. "Marshall Lee?" she called into the house, Cake trailing behind her.

"No, Marshall's our friend, Cake. We need to make sure he's okay," she told her, a frown set on her face as she crept towards the ladder. She eyed the sticky globs of pink on the rungs and pulled herself up, working around them.

"Marshall? Are you okay?" she called as she got her feet on the floor. Her expression fell even more at the sight of Marshall hunched over his guitar, body shaking with sobs.

"Marshall... Hey, Man... I'm here," she comforted softly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. She was very wary. Marshall could be very volatile, being the vampire king, when he was unstable like this. One wrong move, and he could explode.

Fionna sank to her knees beside Marshall Lee and held back her own tears as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She pulled herself forward towards him and at the same time pulled him to her chest the best she could. She allowed him to hug his guitar, though. She didn't try to take that comfort away from him.

"Hey, Man. I'm here. You're not completely alone. You've got me. Fionna. Your friend," she comforted him, hugging the weeping vampire in her arms. She didn't know what else she could do to help him. "You may be a butt sometimes, but I'll always be your friend, Marshall Lee. You can count on me to be there when no one else will."

She was kind of wondering where Cake went, but she wasn't all too worried about it. Cake could take care of herself. Marshall, apparently, couldn't.

Weeks. It had been weeks since Bubba had seen Marshall Lee.

When he had reached home, he had gone straight to Doctor Prince and had gotten his molecules re-stabilized so he didn't stick to anything else. He refused to answer any questions thrown at him. In fact, he really didn't even speak other than to explain what he needed and to thank him before leaving and heading back up to his room. Where he let the dam break once again after making sure his door was locked. He cried for a good ten minutes and then pulled himself together again. He had gotten up and looked himself in the mirror before schooling his mask back into place.

Time to pretend again.

So for weeks he had been the perfect prince once more. He had thrown his parties, always with the small amount of hope that Marshall would just show up like he always did, to no avail. Every night he would get dressed for bed by stripping to his boxers and pulling on Marshall Lee's shirt, making sure to breathe in what little of his scent was left, the amount decreasing with each wear. Then he would lay in bed for an hour or so, trying to sleep, before giving up and standing out on his balcony in the cool night air, trembling just a bit from the temperature as he looked up at the sky with sad eyes. Tonight was one of those pseudo-ritualistic nights.

He knew he could always just go visit the Vampire King, but...he wondered if Marshall even wanted to see him again. Back at the vampire's house, Bubba was just so overwhelmed and confused that he freaked out. He was embarassed. God, was he embarassed. He wasn't sure he would know what to say if he ever did see Marshall again.

If.

The thought of not seeing him ever again made his heart drop into his stomach and shatter. His frown deepened, and his eyes welled up with tears, but they didn't fall. Glob, he'd donked up. His arms circled around himself, gripping at the sleeves of the shirt as he tried to hold himself together, eyes still searching the sky for any sign of Marshall Lee even going for a joy fly around town or above the trees. Any glimpse of him. He hadn't had any contact of any kind with him for nearly two months. Just one glimpse of his graceful silhouette from so far away...

He let out a soft sigh and finally noticed the sky's midnight blue was lightening. Great. Another night he got absolutely no sleep. Pretty soon the sun would be peeking over the horizon, and he would know that he wouldn't see Marshall Lee yet another day. Granted, he hadn't had much hope for proper sleep or seeing his...his friend. He hadn't really slept much since it all happened. He would get a grand total of about fifteen hours per week, and that was only if his body finally gave out on him and he passed the whiz out.

He was destroying himself, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. He brought this upon himself, and he knew it. He just didn't like it.

Seeing the first of the sun beginning to rise over the horizon, he gave one more sad glance to the sky with worn eyes then turned back and slowly dragged himself inside, closing the balcony doors behind him, but not locking them. Just in case. Then he got dressed for the day, gently folding the t-shirt and placing it on its own shelf in his closet. He proceeded to get dressed and fixed his hair in the mirror. He frowned at the bags beneath his eyes, and then forced the mask onto his face, a polite smile on his lips that didn't quite reach his eyes. As he looked in the mirror, he couldn't help but think if he thought he looked so sad and pathetic, he could only imagine what it looked like from an outside point of view if someone had watched him do his new daily routine.

He shook his head and turned to walk out of his room and perform his duties for the day. And bake like crazy while having music playing, because times like those were the closest he got to not thinking about Marshall Lee.

Bubba was having another s**t day. They were basically constant at this point, and he'd resigned that after he stepped out of his room this morning thay he'd probably just have to live like this. He'd just have to deal and wear an even stronger mask than he had been before he started getting better with Marshall.

Globdamnit, why did he have to junk everything up?

He was throwing yet another party. They had been about every other night for the past weeks, just in hopes that Marshall Lee would show to crash it. He wanted to see him. ********, just a glance. If he got to actually speak to him, he would consider it a miracle, if not a globbing dream.

He had told himself that tonight was the last party he was going to have for a while. At this point, he was basically having them in silent honour to Marshall Lee, and the vampire didn't even know it. He had officially accepted that Marshall would never show to the parties on his own free will, so why even try anymore?

He wished he could use the same logic on the rest of his life right now, but unfortunately he still had a kingdom to keep together, even if he was falling apart.

He was roaming around the party with his fake-as-Nightosphere mask on, greeting people, making sure everything was running smoothly and politely turning down any offers to dance. He just really wasn't in the mood, and he was trying his best not to look hopefully around the ballroom to see Marshall Lee's wicked grin floating around the room in plaid. To no avail. Always to no avail. He did spot a flash of bunny ears, though. Looked like Fionna and Cake were here again. They never did miss a chance to party.

He let them have their fun and walked over to sit by the stage, speakers on either side. All he could do was imagine Marshall Lee up on that stage playing a song, and it hurt his heart to think about. He swiftly stood back up and made to move away from the stage when the two friends he spotted earlier popped up in front of him, startling the mess out of his when they announced they had a present for him. What? "Fionna, this isn't my birthday," he tried to remind her, but she didn't seem to notice. She just threw a sack down at his feet, and he stared down at it in slight fear. Hopefully it wasn't a hugwolf pup again. Glob, was that a day.

And then Fionna started beatboxing, and the prince was more confused, but a smile slid onto his lips anyway. He always liked it when those two performed together. They were always sure to entertain.

His attention was brought back to the sack at his feet when he saw it shifting. His eyes suddenly grew wide, and he took a step back as it shifted again. It went still, then and Bubba slowly kneeled down beside the bag as he caught a few words of the song they were singing. Love? What? He shook his head as he reached down and unknotted the tie on the bag. Slowly, he opened the sack and jumped as a red sneaker kicked out at him, followed by a leg clothed in denim. Wait... "Marshall?" he asked, heart beating rapidly in his chest now. After weeks, weeks of not seeing him and finally giving up, he literally drops right in front of him. His mask had cracked slightly as he watched the vampire crawl out of the bed. The sorrow and despair and hope shone in his eyes as he looked upon the vampire righting himself. Hell, tears almost welled up in his eyes as he finally laid sight on the face he had thought about constantly every day since he ran out of Marshall Lee's house confused and frustrated with himself. But over those weeks he had had more practice hiding his emotions than he had his whole life, for he had never fully experienced heartache like this before, so he schooled his mask back into place as soon as he realized he was coming undone just at the sight of the vampire.

A thought crossed his mind, however, that Marshall might try to run away as soon as he saw where he was, and his arm shot out to grasp onto Marshall's wrist, mask still in place but eyes wide and desperate. He couldn't ignore the electricity that flowed from the spot where they touched. "Marshall. Please can we talk. Please," he pleaded with him in a calm voice though there was a storm rolling just beneath the surface, Fionna and Cake's music fading into the background.

Bubba felt relief wash over him when Marshall basically agreed to talk to him. Just when he had given up hope, he came barrelling back in, and gave Bubba a chance to make the other night up to him. He could apologize and try to explain himself and fix their relationship. They might be okay. He could be happy again. Just the thought almost had him welling up with tears, but he was still in public. He still needed to keep himself together for his kingdom. He would have to wait until they were safely in his room so he could show his true self to Marshall.

Finally, after weeks of crushing guilt and loneliness, Bubba let a little smile twitch onto his lips, though there was still obvious stress behind his eyes. "Glob, no, I don't hate you," he breathed out, barely audible over Fionna and Cake's performance. He glanced up at the stage and then looked back at Marshall and nodded towards the stairs. He leaned in to Marshall's ear and mumbled, "Let's go to my room to talk."

He gently tugged on Marshall's wrist, urging him to follow him up to his bedroom. Really, honestly, he couldn't wait to get up there so he could give Marshall a huge hug. He had missed him so much, and he really just...he needed a hug. Especially from Marshall. He didn't want to live in depression like he had been doing, but he was prepared to do so if Marshall didn't want to see him again. Now that he knew he wasn't mad at him, he was so happy.

However, that begged the question of...why wasn't he mad? Why did he seem like Bubba would be mad at him? Maybe they both had a lot to say.