Every night, without fail, he appeared on Gumball's balcony.

The Prince used to hate it. He would be thoroughly freaked out and shout for his guards, quite upset at the intrusion. The King of Vampires wasn't a very inviting title, after all. The boy himself was fairly unapproachable, what with his choice in clothing and the way he floated around pulling that "vampire face" of his to scare people. His obsession with pranking people and messing with them, his complete lack of common sense, the fact that he followed Fiona and Gumball around and appeared on his balcony every night—Gumball was irked by the whole thing. And who wouldn't be?

Over time, he stopped calling for the guards. Over time, he stopped fearing the vampire and he stopped putting up so many walls when he approached. In fact, over time, he grew to be comfortable. Every night when he'd appear, Gumball would let him climb over the edge and they'd talk. Gumball, mostly, about his day or his worries or Fiona—meanwhile Marshall Lee would just watch him and listen. Patient, understanding, quiet…he didn't interrupt or make fun of his secrets, which was why Gumball felt he was capable of telling Marshall so much.

But Nighttime Marshall Lee was different from Daytime Marshall Lee. At night, Marshall was kind and gentle, floating kindly near Gumball and teasing him sweetly, almost like flirting, listening to his troubles without judging him. But during the day he was the Vampire King, ruthless and eager to scare and prank and cause trouble. He'd follow Fiona around and touch her intimately then grin at Gumball, making it obvious that he was doing it on purpose.

Gumball didn't like The Vampire King, but he might have fallen in love with Nighttime Marshall. But, he wondered, was it possible to love only one side of somebody? Why wasn't it possible to love both? No, during the day Marshall wasn't somebody Gumball could love. But…at night, the way Marshall looked at him and spoke to him…who wouldn't fall for him?

He didn't know what this attachment was, but Marshall Lee—the night him, at least—was somebody Gumball wanted in his life. So when Marshall was the one to speak that cold night on Gumball's balcony, the Prince didn't hesitate to listen. He returned the favor Marshall had given him all that time, to just sit and listen.

Marshall talked about his father and his fries, about how lonely it was traveling through Ooo without a purpose. He talked about how sad it was to watch people you loved die, about how he thought about how one day Gumball and Fiona would die and he had to stand there and watch, alive and young and strong, about how guilty he felt—

"That's why I seize the day," he said with a wistful smile. "If I don't act on impulse, if I don't do what I want when I want, then where will it go? One day, it'll be gone, and I would have missed my chance."

It was true, and maybe that was why Gumball didn't pull away when Marshall leaned forward to kiss him. Their lips brushed for a brief moment, Marshall's cold and Gumball's hot. It was soft and short, but somehow it was warm and dazzling. Gumball blinked a few times when Marshall pulled away and licked his lips, grinning ear to ear. "Why didn't you push me away?" he asked, and Gumball didn't know what to say. He didn't even know why he kissed Marshall, why he actually liked it, why he felt that his love wasn't the love he originally assumed it to be—

Was it love for The Vampire King or for Marshall Lee? Gumball didn't know, he just didn't. All he knew was that he wanted Marshall by his side, even if it meant kissing and loving and telling him every little secret—he just wanted to be with him, together.

Every night, without fail, he appeared on Gumball's balcony. And every night, without fail, Gumball waited for him.

A/N: Just a short (drabble) one shot on Marshall Lee and Gumball. I was very dissapointed to see that nobody else has written about these two yet. D:
I might make a rated M fic on these two in the future. :3