Marshall Lee can't help but already feel excruciatingly bored (and maybe a smidgen nervous) at the prospect of helping Bubba—of all people—make cupcakes. He doesn't even eat cupcakes. And that's not to mention how awful a cook he is. He tried once to make cookies for Ashley back when they were still together, and ended up turning her kitchen into a black smoldering mess. Maybe that was why she sold Hambie.

"Why am I doing this again?" Marshall Lee asks, leaving behind his thoughts of his horrible ex. He floats alongside Fionna as she walks, lazily spinning the umbrella in his hands. It was starting to get dark, but he didn't want to chance being burned. "Don't you have anybody else that can help? What about Cake?"

"Cake's busy. Lord Monochromicorn's parents came to visit again, so she's over at his house for dinner," Fionna says, glancing over at him. She hitches her backpack up higher on her back. "Besides, it's not like it'd kill you to help out for once."

Marshall Lee finds the glance suspicious, but decides not to question it. He realizes that they're snaking their way through candy houses and are getting close to the castle now. When did that happen? "I could die from the boredom, for all you know."

"What are you, scared?" Fionna says, sticking her tongue out at him. "Gumball doesn't bite, Marshall. You'll be fine."

Marshall Lee hisses at her and stops at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the castle entrance. Fionna goes up a couple steps before realizing he isn't following. She turns around and puts her hands on her hips. Marshall Lee glares at her, and Fionna stares right back at him, hard. Like hell he's scared. Ha! Why would he ever be scared of making cupcakes with…

Marshall Lee turns abruptly, saying, "I change my mind. I ain't going." Okay, maybe he is, but only a little. We all have the things we'd rather avoid, right? He starts to float the opposite direction, but Fionna catches the bottom of his pants leg and pulls him back. Marshall Lee pulls his leg away and Fionna lets go. He turns to her again. "And why not? It's not like you need more than two people to make some stupid cupcakes," he spits, "Or one, for that matter. Why does he need the help at all? Are his smarts not enough for the job?"

Fionna punches Marshall Lee in the arm, and he growls at her. "Come on Mar, you don't mean that. You're just nervous."

Marshall Lee turns away. How could she know what he feels like? If anything, he feels slightly pathetic. He's over a thousand years old, and he can't handle the idea of being close to a gumbutt who's more than nine hundred and eighty-two years his junior. Scratch the slightly part—Marshall Lee just feels pathetic.

Fionna grabs onto his sweatshirt sleeve and gently tugs him up the stairs. "It'll be okay," she says and smiles. "I promise."

Marshall Lee doesn't fight her when she pulls him up the steps, into the castle, and eventually to the door of a small kitchen. He's just hoping she's right.

Author's Note: This fanfiction can also found on tumblr! It's the spiffy "official" version, if you'd like to read it there.
post/30177412869/red-velvet-cupcakes