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Gumball takes a deep breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He shifts his weight from foot to foot, slowly shaking out his limbs. He takes another breath and shakes his head.

"Beau! Lets go, you're holding the boys' line up!" His teacher calls. With a final shake, he nods to his timer and takes off down the track.

He gets just a few seconds better than his last sprint time. He's been working on increasing his speed for the past couple weeks, but he doesn't seem to be going anywhere. He sighs, calling it a day and turning back to where most of his class has already gathered. He looks up in time to see Marshall take off towards him.

Rooming with Marshall the past few weeks has been awkward to say in the least. Gumball is still not sure if he should bring up his talk with Marceline, and he can tell that Marshall's been rather distant himself. Other than that, the boys have been getting along as usual, but its hard to ignore the elephant in the room when you share a dorm.

Gumball watches as Marshall sprints past him to the finish, shattering his record yet again. He whoops as he walks back, catching Gumball's eye and offering a small wave. Gumball smiles, desperately wishing he and Marshall could go back to normal. He returns the gesture before joining the rest of the class at the start of the track.

XxXxXxX

Marshall is going out of his freaking mind.

Gumball's been distant recently, and Marshall doesn't know what he did wrong, he just wants to fix it. But he doesn't know where to start, because he doesn't know what he did wrong.

It's been a constant cycle.

Marshall waits for Gumball outside of the school as it lets out, but Gumball smiles and nods his head in the other direction. Marshall shrugs, catching up to the boy and falling into a comfortable silence as they make their way away from the school.

They soon arrive at the bakery, and Marshall smiles as the memories from their last visit come back to him. Gumball leads them to their usual table with a smile, heading to the register while Marshall makes himself comfortable in his seat. Gumball brings back a slice of red velvet cake and two forks, sitting and placing it in the middle of the table with a smirk.

"We need to talk." He says, taking a piece of the cake and sliding it between his lips. "So lets talk." Marshall shrugs, taking a bite of his own. He's grateful Gumball took the first step in talking, and he's been wanting to talk for a while, but now that the opportunity has presented itself, he doesn't know where to begin. He's fumbling for words in his head, and he can tell Gumball's doing the same. He fiddles with his fork before randomly blurting out,

"Why do you stay at that school?"

at the same time Gumball asks,

"What made you come here?"

Both boys are equally taken aback, processing the question the other had asked of them. Marshall, realizing the question Gumball really wanted to ask, tenses, picking at the cake.

"Why do you want to know?"

Gumball gapes for a minute before shrugging. "Would like to know more about you, is all."

Marshall smiles at him, remembering the Gumball that would stammer and retract his statement as soon as he was met with resistance. That Gumball still comes out once in a while, but Marshall's glad he got to see him grow more confident in himself. Still smiling, he shrugs.

"I needed to get out of my old town." Is all he supplies. Gumball looks ready to push further, but decides against it. He nods, taking another bite of cake.

"Why do you still stay here?" Marshall asks again. Gumball shrugs.

"Don't have anywhere else."

"Why don't you go home to your family?"

Gumball gives him a flat look, spearing the cake again before waving his fork in the air.

"My parents don't know anything significant about me, and the parts I let slip, they detest. And when Bubblegum and I do go home, it's always me against them." He spits, popping the piece in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

"I'm not at home in my own home." He finishes. He stands quickly, throwing the now empty plate in the trash and grabbing his bag. Marshall hurries after him as they head back out into the autumn air.

"I'm sure your parents love you." Marshall offers. Gumball smiles sadly.

"I'm not."

Marshall's heart breaks. He truly does believe that Gumball's family loves him. They're just having a hard time showing it. People as kind and nice as him deserve all the love in the world, Marshall thinks, instantly rolling his eyes at the sappiness of it, but not disagreeing.

"It seems that everywhere I go, someone is going to hate me." Marshall blurts as they walk. Gumball just nods.

"Not everyone you come across is going to like you."

"I understand that, but why the harassment? Why take it so far? If you don't like me, fine, I don't care. But the constant hassling? Why cant people just seem to leave me alone?"

Gumball pauses mid-step. "Seems like you've been thinking about this."

"Well, yeah. Get your head knocked about a few dozen times really helps you start thinking." Marshall snorts, obliviously walking ahead.

"You what?" Gumball asks. Marshall winces, rubbing the back of his head, which is still a bit sore.

"They were just playing around with me." Marshall shrugs, walking at a more brisk pace. Gumball stumbles to catch up.

"If you got hurt, it's not just playing, Marsh." Gumball says, placing a hand on Marshall's arm and stopping him. "Was it those stupid boys? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

Gumballs eyebrows furrow. "What about me?"

"I told you why I've been so distant; I got the shit kicked out of me and I'm not proud of it. Your turn."

Gumball backs away, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets and turning away with a huff. "I'm fine."

Marshall instantly deflates, surprising both Gumball and himself. "What's so bad that you don't want to tell me, Bubs?" He asks. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course, Marsh. Everything's fine, I'm fine. I just...I've had some things on my mind, is all."

"And you're afraid of telling me?" Marshall asks. Gumball looks away again.

"You know I wont be mad, right?" Marshall says. "I swear, if it's something with your sister, or at school-"

"Marceline told me what happened to your family." Gumball blurts. Marshall instantly stiffens.

"She told me about your mom, your dad, her, and how rumors were spreading around your town and how everything was so hard for you there that you had to get away first chance you got, and that's what brought you here. I'm sorry, Marsh, I told her I wanted to hear everything from you, and that you'd tell me when you were ready, but she just told me." Gumball says. Marshall sighs.

"Well, I guess that's that."

"Really? You're not mad?"

"You didn't do anything wrong. It was her that was out of line, and I cant do anything about it now. I'm glad you told me."

Gumball smiles, continuing on the path back to the dorms. They fall into comfortable silence, each stewing in their own thoughts, when Gumball says,

"I know you've been harassed a lot of times before, but that doesn't make it okay. I'm sorry those boys are getting away with what they're doing. You're too nice of a person to deserve any of that."

Taken aback, Marshall looks over to see a small smile on Gumball's face. He's the kindest, most thoughtful person Marshall has ever met.

And he has completely fallen for him.

Hello~ Long time, no write, I know. I apologize immensely. The past couple months have been better than the summer has, but it still has been rough on me. I'm moving this weekend, though, so hopefully things will get better. :)

I hope you like the update. It's a bit short, but I think it came out better than I was planning for it to.

Until next time, Lovelies!

~Alix