Festival Prizes

"Greetings, Marshall Lee!" Prince Gumball called out when he saw his friend floating by. It was around midnight and he stood on the walls surrounding his kingdom. The banana guards also waved towards the vampire king before resuming in their card games. Marshall flew towards the Prince Gumball and hovered next to him.

"Sup?"

"I am observing the kingdom for any strange biz- those not of the candy kind." The prince stared at the buildings, a majority of windows were dark. "It's a monthly ritual. What is up with you?"

"Just flyin'." he grinned and Gumball returned the gesture easily. The prince watched the candy kingdom intensely once more. It was quiet except for the banana guards dawdling around. Their chitter chatter sounded mushy like their insides. Then Marshall Lee began humming a familiar tune that reminded him of adventure.

"That sounds lovely." Prince Gumball commented, still looking forward to make sure he didn't miss anything. There was some loud rustling from an alleyway and the prince leaned forward with excitement and anticipation. Honestly, tonight had been so boring.

A garbage can rolled out but his high hopes were shot down when he heard the shrill giggling of the Pup Gang. They walked out with their tight shirts and low pants, the short one jamming out with her headphones.

"Hey, Pup Gang! It's past curfew!"

They looked up in surprised before their "leader" cursed, "Oh spit, girls, time to split!" They ran around a block and a building hid their small frames.

They ran off and Gumball sighed. "Honestly, you would think they'd be sweeter after the Lemongrab incident."

Marshall Lee laughed, "Or maybe it made 'em more sour."

Gumball rolled his eyes at the double pun and let out a sarcastic, "Har har."

"But, seriously, this is like, super not fun." Marshall began to drift around him, circling him at eye level even as he turned his body upside down. It must be great to be able to fly.

"It's not supposed to be fun." he pouted with his arms crossed. The night breeze tickled his corn-syrupy arms and made him shiver despite the pink hoodie and sweat pants encasing him.

"Well, we could do something fun." Marshall smiled teasingly though Gumball quickly waved him off.

"If something happens-"

Marshall Lee cut him off by grabbing his wrists and tugging him upwards until Bubblegum was on his toes. "Your Royal Glass Heads will take care of it! C'mon, every other day goes on fine, right?"

"Don't call them that!" he huffed before consenting, "And yes, I guess they do..."

"Let's get going! I was heading over to this festival-thing in Beautopia." He threw the candy prince up and caught him bridal style.

Gumball yelped, surprised by the throw, and glared, "Uncalled for, psycho." Nonetheless, he wrapped his arms around Marshall's shoulders as they flew threw across the kingdom. He looked down and smiled at the banana guards waving goodbye. It was different from flying with Lord Monochrome. It felt like they were moving extremely fast though Gumball knew for a fact Monochrome flies at least twice this speed.

"You're pretty calm about chilling with a psycho." Marshall commented as he landed on the grass near a sewer lid. At the prince's dignified look, he laughed, "Haven't you ever been to Beautopia?"

"No, but I had assumed it would be... above ground." Once Marshall flipped the lid open, Gumball leaned over to look down. It was quite dark and it smelled like socks. The railings were rusty and he wasn't all hopped up at the thought of climbing-

"Ahh!" A hand shoved him in. His eyes closed out of instinct but a hand grabbed his ankle and caused his innards to lurch. "Holy Fudge, Marsh! What the crackers, you dill pickle!"

He laughed loudly, "Calm down, pinky. It wasn't like I was actually gonna let you fall! Your reaction was hilarious, by the way." Gumball sputtered angrily as Marshall glided down and made sure to set Gumball right side up. "Are you scared of heights?" Marshall teased playfully as he headed towards a wooden boat.

"No, just falling." Gumball huffed as he followed the vampire into the boat. "Why are we taking a boat? Wouldn't it be more efficient to just have you fly us there?"

"You make it sound like you're doing some of the flying!" Gumball raised an eyebrow and he resigned, "Fine, yes, it would be. But boats are cool, dude. It's like the best part of Beautopia." He pushed them off the shore and they followed the stream of water. He took out two paddles and handed one two Gumball. He settled himself next to Gumball as they rowed the boat in unison.

"I wonder where all this water is going..." Prince Gumball wondered aloud.

"Prolly the ocean."

"Huh, that makes sense. I haven't been to the ocean in a while." Without thinking about his next words, Gumball said, "We should go to the beach one of these days."

"Oh, how romantic." Marshall snickered at Gumball's flustered face before adding, "I'd just melt in the sun. You know, vampire stuff." Gumball nodded understandingly but still held his light blush. "Why don't you just go with Fiona and her cat?"

"I would but Fiona's deathly afraid of the ocean."

"Hmm... I didn't know that." Marsh said thoughtfully, tugging at his chin as if he was actually planning something nefarious.

Prince Gumball looked appalled. "I didn't tell you anything!" He paused, "And even if I did tell you, it would not matter because you are not going to do anything with that kind of information!" He waggled his finger at him but stopped when Marshall nipped at its direction.

"I'm just kidding, Gums," At the faint sound of massive slamming doors, he smirked. "Time for the most exciting part!"

"Wait, what?" He was swooped up and they moved at least twice as fast as the boat. Then he saw the death traps and exclaimed, "What is even powering those!"

"You see a death trap and that's the first thing you think of?" Just when the doors were its widest, Marshall flew as close as possible without getting squashed by the door. Gumball watched with earnest curiosity when a small piece of his hair got caught in the closed doors. As soon as it was wide enough, he would fly through. It really wasn't that dangerous or exciting but it should be for the wad he had in his arms.

"Ready..." "Uhm," "Set-" he flew through, making sure to keep a tight grip on the prince although the other boy had that covered in terms of his neck. He swiftly flew through the two traps, letting one of the doors brush against Gumball's feet.

"Open your eyes."

He did and immediately soaked in the sight. The dark and dim sewer completely transformed beyond the walls. A single light shined from the top of a spire but there were more light hung around the other buildings. The name resembled it well. But then he recognized the creatures in horror, "Humans? Ritz crackers, they'll try to fudgin' eat me!"

Marshall couldn't help but laugh, "I guess they are humans, or at least what's left of them other than Fiona." As he flew over the confined area, several stared in wonder and fear, "Just make some loud noises and they'll just leave you alone."

The vampire settled Gumball on the sidewalk and some the fish people stared in confusion. Gumball noticed that the festival wasn't noisy at all. Everyone talked in jumbled, low voices although they appeared excited and happy. It was all muted underground.

Gumball moved forward towards a cluster of stands with a few other people gathered around them. Marshall followed, choosing to fly just because he relished in the looks of fear of the locals.

There were wooden stands with different game to play, as a festival should have. They threw plastic rings on to of bottles and breathed excitedly when they made the shot. Another stand featured cans with other participants attempting to knock it down, makeshift targets to throw sharp-enough screws at. A man would reward them with some rag with a stitched smile.

"What are they doing?" Gumball asked, watching this odd ritual.

"This is from a while back. Humans have always done this during festivals and parties. It's fun, come on."

Marshall Lee led him to the roughly made table. After giving a few shiny bottle caps and receiving a few tries, Prince Gumball figured out exactly how to flick his wrists to get the ring into place. A small group of people gathered around him, amazed as he tried to teach a small child how to toss the ring. He declined the prizes, though, finding it the game unfairly easy.

"Geez, Gumball. They love you." Marshall said in the background. Gumball turned around, confused by the stiff tone. Marshall seemed to be pushing himself further back in the crowd. The small, nearly invisible movements made Gumball unreasonably unhappy.

The prince excused himself from the crowd which quickly forgave him due to their short attention span. "Hey, dude, what's up with you?"

The vampire king still looked mopey as he dispassionately answered, "Huh?"

"Are you angry I'm not hanging out with you?"

"No, it's cool. I get it, you're a prince and you just naturally… lead people." he trailed off, at least he stopped backing away. The prince frowned.

"I guess you're right."

"Did you win anything cool?"

He lifted up a deformed plush toy that kind of resembled a little girl, "A doll." The stitches across her body were bold and uneven. Her hair was cut up shoe laces dyed a reddish-brown.

"Yeah, the rag dolls here are pretty rad," Marshall Lee hesitated, "if you're into that stuff."

"Are you?"

Marshall smiled as he watched at the raggedy thing, "Yeah, that's like my thing."

Gumball smiled brightly and thrust his arms out, the doll dangling from his hands, "That's candy-dandy because I want you to have this one."

"You didn't have to! I could have gotten one myself, I mean it's a pretty easy game."

"Nonsense, I wanted to get you one. And I did!" the prince smiled proudly to himself. He enjoyed the grin Marshall Lee had as he casually amused himself with the toy. He moved closer to the prince and gave him a half hug.

"You're legit too sweet."

"I know."

A/N: I'M SO SORRY! Holidays hit me like a semi truck and and and midterms f-ed me over. I also started playing Raiderz (I'm addicted!) and I'm settling into my new laptop (custom made cursor, backgrounds, configurations, programs, etc etc). This fic was supposed to be multi-chaptered but I messed around with it so it would kinda work as a oneshot, I wonder if anyone can see the hints that this was supposed to be an ongoing thing? I will be posting soon for that pledge thing again, sorry again! And this is really soft, I'm sorry for anyone who wants more out of these shots but I honestly don't like to think of this pairing outside of the PG rating...

For anyone who doesn't know why I'm apologizing: I made a pledge, one oneshot every week until enough people take it! Please join me! It'll be fun! This is the second one made under that pledge, please do check out the other one. If you did, see all the giving these two do! In the holiday spirit!

Happy New Years!