•Marshall•

It turns out, it's a LOT HARDER to stop thinking about Fionna than I thought.

That night, after we all arrived home, I had immediately crashed in my bed and went into a deep sleep, thinking of nothing but Fionna.

I had a dream about Fionna before I woke up to find it morning and myself STILL thinking about Fionna. Then I got up and thought about Fionna. Then I went downstairs to make myself breakfast and thought about Fionna. Then I ate my breakfast and thought about Fionna. Then I went to my bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth and thought even more about Fionna.

She was all I could think about, day or night.

I couldn't stop thinking about her. Couldn't get her out of my head.

Even now, weeks later, I'm still thinking about Fionna.

I remember the last time I thought about Fionna this much; it was exactly one year ago.

---------------------------

The day before Thanksgiving.

October has come and gone, officially welcoming November.

One holiday ends, and you immediately move on to the next one.

Halloween's ended, and now it is time for Thanksgiving to begin.

The day of Thanksgiving is upon us, which only means one thing.

"Cake!" Fionna calls from inside the living room, her voice projecting into the kitchen. "You need any help?"

The response is immediate. "NO! Do NOT come in my kitchen! I don't need or want any help from anyone! I have to make sure EVERYTHING is PERFECT! Now, leave me alone! My food HAS to be better than Gumball's!"

Cake versus Gumbutt: the ultimate Thanksgiving battle of the foods.

It's the same thing every year.

Fionna sighs as she rolls her eyes and leans against the couch, refocusing her attention on the TV. "I don't know why I even keep asking to help when every year I get the same response..." she mumbles before she chuckles. I just shrug.

"Well, it is what you do every year; it's kind of become a tradition along with Cake's response," I point out. Fionna just shakes her head and keeps chuckling.

We all knew what Cake's response to Fionna's question would be, because it is the same every year. We all know the drill.

Thanksgiving for anyone else is about being thankful for all the blessings you've been granted in life and sharing them with your family and friends.

Thanksgiving for us, however, is a bit different.

And by a bit, I mean a whole lot.

Thanksgiving for us is about the food war between Cake and Gumbutt.

Whose food is better? That is the question they drill us with every year when Thanksgiving rolls around. Both Cake and Gumbutt are great cooks and make it a point to challenge each other to an intense cook-off every Thanksgiving when they would each make us all a Thanksgiving dinner.

After we eat the dinner we say whose was the best that year. Well, actually, Gumbutt and Cake would pester us for the answer even though year after year we never give it to them. We only ever say that they were both excellent cooks and that was that.

Both Cake and Gumbutt hate that we do that.

Now, usually the both of them aren't too competitive on many things, but during Thanksgiving, all bets are off and no one is safe from their cooking frenzy and Thanksgiving blood war.

They won't let anyone leave the table unless we had all practically cleaned our plates with our tongues.

This year will be no different. Cake is in the kitchen a day before Thanksgiving like she is every year, cooking up a storm and not letting anyone so much as breathe on the kitchen door, which is always closed and locked so no one can enter the kitchen. Gumbutt is at the Candy Kingdom also cooking up a storm and not letting anyone help him or go near his food, not even Bubblegum. Both Gumbutt and Cake make it very clear every year that they are solo chefs and are going to keep it that way, as if they were afraid we would ruin their perfect meals if we were to even blink at one of their appetizers.

"Oh, it's a tradition, alright," Finn's voice cuts me off from my train of thought. "One of the many crazy traditions Cake's forced upon the seemingly innocent holiday of Thanksgiving; I can name several."

Fionna and I look to him when he says that. Speaking of traditions, it is no surprise that Finn is currently a few feet away from us standing on a step ladder on his toes, two playing cards in his hands. He makes sure to hold the cards very carefully in his hands or else he'll drop them and possibly ruin all his progress.

And by progress, I mean the huge and gigantic card pyramid sitting next to his step ladder. The base is about three feet wide and the entire thing is so tall it almost hits the roof, which is Finn's goal—completing the card pyramid and having it touch the roof when he places the final card upon it. If, somewhere along the line, he messes up and accidentally causes his massive pyramid to crumble and fall (which he does every year), he'll start over from scratch and eventually give up after a couple more hours of failed attempts. This is what he does every Thanksgiving. He's been doing it for years now.

I remember the first time I ever saw him do it; it had been Thanksgiving, five years ago when both Finn and Fionna were twelve years old; my very first Thanksgiving with them. The first time he did it, Fionna told me, was Thanksgiving eleven years ago when he and Fionna were only six. According to Fi, Finn had been bored and had found some cards before he suddenly had started building a small card pyramid out of them and found it to be entertaining. He eventually finished his little card pyramid and decided to challenge himself by attempting to create and complete a giant card pyramid that touched the roof without him causing it to collapse.

And now, eleven years later, Finn still hasn't been able to achieve his goal.

It's been kind of sad to watch him fail over and over again each year for five whole years now, and I can tell he's absolutely sick of failing. Yet, he goes on and does it every Thanksgiving anyway.

"Yeah," Fionna comments as we watch her brother. "One of them being you and this obsession with completing the perfect card pyramid. You've been doing it for eleven years now, Finn."

"Yep," Finn says before he shakes his head. "But that's not the point! The point is I do it because I know one Thanksgiving it'll finally happen. It just hasn't happened yet..."

"Yeah, over the course of eleven years..." Fionna mumbles under her breath, but Finn hears her.

He glares. "Hey! I have a feeling about this year! I think I'm actually gonna do it!" he says excitedly before he carefully places the two cards on top of his tower, only one more to go before he finishes. He is beaming as he reaches for the last card.

"You said that last year too, yet you failed anyway. In fact, you say that every year, and every year we have this exact same conversation and every year you say 'This is the year! I'm finally gonna do it! I have a feeling about this year!', and every year you fail anyway," Fionna says as I snort, knowing for a fact she is right. "Are you detecting a pattern here, Finn?"

Finn ignores his sister as his hand wraps around the last card. The massive card pyramid is so close to touching the roof that there is really only enough room for one more card. Finn lifts the last card carefully to the top of the tower, making sure his hands aren't shaking, lest he cause the entire thing to come crashing down like he does every year.

Finn's hands holding the card are slowly inching toward the top of the pyramid. My eyes widen and I nudge Fionna.

"Fi, I think he might actually do it; he's so close," I whisper excitedly, because the last card is now only millimeters from its spot on the top.

Fionna nudges me back. "Just wait for it."

Suddenly, seconds before Finn would have placed the last card on top, the door to the tree house opens and in steps Gumbutt, holding a pan with tinfoil covering it, some food obviously on it.

Gumbutt smiles when he sees us. "Hello, all!" he says cheerfully before he uses his foot to push the door closed behind himself. The door shuts with a slam that echoes throughout the room.

The very second the door is slammed shut, Finn's pyramid of cards rattles and falls, hundreds of cards raining down on to the living room floor. Finn stands on the step ladder, frozen in place, his hands still prepared to place the last card.

A second later, he is on his knees on the ground, shouting in agony. "NOOOOOOO!" he groans miserably.

Fionna nudges me again. "Told you so."

I just sigh. "It's just so sad..." I mutter, and I'm not even kidding. Fionna nods in agreement.

"That it is, Marshall," she mumbles, shaking her head at the scene of her brother on the floor groaning in agony over the collapse of his card pyramid. "That it is."

"I was... I was so close..." Finn whimpers as he holds some of the cards in his hands pitifully. He then sits on the floor in a ball, just staring at his fallen masterpiece, one of his eyes twitching.

Gumbutt barely even acknowledges Finn as he steps past him and heads towards the kitchen. "Oh. Hello. So sorry, Finn," he says as he approaches the kitchen door and knocks. He knows what Finn had been doing, because like the rest of us, he knows Finn does it every year.

Gumbutt continues to knock. Cake's voice can be heard from a mile away. "WHO IS IT, AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"IT'S PRINCE GUMBALL," Gumbutt shouts at the door, purposefully making his voice as obnoxiously loud as Cake's. "AND I REQUEST THE PRESENCE OF ONE CAKE MERTENS."

I chuckle at his display. So does Fionna. I think Finn would have too, if he wasn't too busy still being curled up in a ball on the floor mourning the loss of his card pyramid. This isn't new to us, since he mourns this way every Thanksgiving after his pyramid somehow collapses.

Suddenly, we all hear the kitchen door unlock and open. Cake's head sticks out, but we can all also still hear cooking going on behind her. She must be using her stretchable limbs to do the cooking.

She groans, seeming merely annoyed at Gumbutt's presence. "What do you want, Gumball? I'm busy making food that will bring yours to shame."

Gumbutt's smile tightens. "Yes, well, I've come over here for you to get a sense of what you'll be going up against in the dessert portion," he says before he removes the layer of tinfoil to reveal a freshly made batch of heavenly-smelling cookies. He uses his free hand to tighten his apron proudly. "These are without a doubt the best Thanksgiving cookies I've ever made! And, once you taste them, you'll have no choice but to agree. Now, don't you want to sample the cookies that will be kicking your dessert's behind at tomorrow's feast?"

Cake's eyes narrow at the pink prince. "Listen here, Gumbutt," she says, and I beam with pride because she used my nickname for him, "the day your dessert beats mine on Thanksgiving, is the day you start being a man; both will never happen."

Gumbutt's face turns red. "I-I am a man! A very manly man...!" he stutters.

I scoff and roll my eyes. "Right. Because wearing pink and baking are manly..." I laugh.

Gumbutt spins around and glares at me. "Only real men bake! It's badass!" he counters, looking smug. Everyone laughs and I laugh even harder. Even Fionna, who is usually the one to defend Gumbutt, laughs too.

"Do you even know what the words men and badass mean? Because I'm beginning to suspect you don't..." I mumble with a smirk. Gumbutt's eyes become more narrow at me before he turns back to Cake.

"Just you wait, Cake Mertens," he says, leaning close to her, a serious look on his face. "My food will totally and completely dominate yours tomorrow at the feast. Then, you'll owe me an apology for every time you called my food inferior to yours! Just you wait." He now wears a smug look on his face before he sticks his nose up in the air and walks back over to the front door. He then opens it, sticks his tongue out at Cake, and exits the tree house before he closes the door.

"Oh, yeah!" Cake calls out sarcastically as she runs up to the door and opens it. "Real mature, Gumball...!" Then she closes the door and heads back into the kitchen. "Gummy's going down..." The door slams shut and locks before anyone else gets another word in.

"Wow," Finn mutters, finally seeming to be done having his mini-meltdown over his card pyramid. "Gumball stuck his tongue out at Cake..."

"I know; I can't believe it either! I didn't know ol' Bubba had it in him..." I mumble, surprised at Gumbutt's childish behavior.

"Well, then again, it is Thanksgiving; you know how competitive Gumball and Cake get this time of year," Fionna points out as she keeps watching TV. As she turns her head, a stray of her golden hair falls in her face and she moves her fingers to push it back in place (oh, how I want to run my fingers through her golden curls, but of course I don't, and instead I mentally slap myself). "Ugh. Some times I wish I'd just cut all this hair off, but then I know if I did, I'd miss it."

"I don't think you should. I mean, your hair is amazing. It's beautiful, Fi. Most girls wish they could have hair like yours. Plus, it's one of the things that makes you you," I say. It takes me a second to realize what I had really said and how I said it. I turn my face away from Fionna so she can't see me blush.

Out of the corner of my eye, Fionna's cheeks turn pink. "Th-Thanks, Marsh... I didn't know you felt that way about my hair..."

Oh great. Good job, Marshall! You made it awkward!

I'm pretty sure my blush deepens. "Er... yeah! Your hair is awesome! It's great!" You're awesome. You're great.

I want to slap myself. Glob, Marshall, you can't go ONE DAY without thinking about Fionna that way, can you? You're pathetic when it comes to this girl.

You really are.

Fionna smiles and chuckles. "Cool! So my hair is officially Marshall Lee approved. I'll remember that," she says, still smiling, completely oblivious as to how much of a blushing mess I am. Then again, I'm always like that around her lately and she hasn't seemed to notice.

Suddenly, Finn makes a face and gags quietly. "Oh, for glob's sake, just shut up and make out already..." he mutters under his breath. I send him a withering glare. Luckily, Fionna doesn't seem to have heard him.

Ever since the stupid Boo Ball, I can't seem to get Fionna out of my head! Of course, it's all Finn's fault. I mean, if he hadn't kept on insisting that I don't give up on my feelings for his sister and that she likes me too (which she definitely does NOT), maybe I would be thinking about anything else right now! Maybe I would be thinking about the Thanksgiving feast, Gumbutt and Cake's feud, all of Finn's card pyramid fails--things I should be thinking about the day before Thanksgiving!

But no. Instead, I'm thinking about and barely suppressing my urge to kiss Fionna right here and now, something I've been thinking about and suppressing for awhile.

So I do what I always do--I avoid eye contact with Fionna and make sure to shove my urge deep, deep down. I keep my eyes trained and focused on the TV, pretending to be interested in whatever is on. I still feel my cheeks burning though, and I know no matter how much I try to ignore it, I won't be able to stop it.

Finn clears his throat. "Marshall."

I reluctantly tear my gaze away from the TV to glare at Finn once again. "What, Finn?" I ask.

He stands up. "Can I have a word with you real quick?" His eyes say something different; If you don't talk to me right now I swear I'll seriously hurt you.

So I stand up too. "Sure," I say through gritted teeth. Finn then motions for me to follow him as he exits the living room. I groan before I follow.

Finn keeps walking until I realize we are going outside as Finn has opened the back door and motions for me to follow again.

I reluctantly walk with him outside. He then closes the door the second we are outside alone.

I sigh, crossing my arms and waiting for Finn to say what he needs to say. "What?"

"Stop this."

I cock my head to the side, confused. "What?"

"You heard me. I said stop this," Finn says, looking entirely irritated with me. "Stop it all. This is utterly ridiculous, dude! You have feelings for Fionna and all you're doing is hiding them! Not only that, but you're trying to get rid of them by sleeping around with your ex. You shouldn't be trying to get rid of your feelings, you should be pursuing them and telling my sister how you feel about her! Because, honestly, something tells me she might feel the same way."

I raise one of my eyebrows. "Is that something delusion? Because there's absolutely NO WAY she likes me back! For the last time, Finn, stop being annoyingly optimistic and start being realistic!" I shoot back. I am sick and tired of seeing him cling to the impossible hope that Fionna and I will ever be together and saying he has a feeling she feels the same way about me (which she absolutely DOES NOT, in case I haven't make that point clear enough).

Unfortunately, all the truths and facts in the world couldn't make me stop thinking about Fionna. Even though I know we will never happen, I still can't get myself to stop thinking about her, no matter how hardly I try.

Last Thanksgiving was the last time I thought about her this much, but that was because of a different reason.

Last Thanksgiving, exactly a year ago, something mortifying happened.

Namely, I saw Fionna naked.

Well, not actually naked, but she was stripped down to her bra and underwear, and to me that classifies as kind of naked.

I didn't mean to see her like that, nor did I want to; it was a complete accident.

Fionna was at the gym that day and she texted me saying that she forget her bag of clean clothes and asked me if I could bring them to her. I told her I could, so I did.

Fionna told me she was in the girls' locker room and that I should leave the bag right inside the door. When I arrived, I gingerly peeked inside and made sure there were no girls around to see me looking inside girls' locker room.

There weren't any girls, except for one that was in the middle of removing her clothes.

Fionna.

Which is when I saw her... um... assets.

I had nearly freaked out and panicked not just because I had seen one of my best friends in her underwear, but because of a different reason.

Fionna was hot.

Not just pretty hot, but holy-shit-oh-my-God-everything's-on-fire-crazy-smoking hot.

That, and I completely enjoyed the few seconds I got to check her out while she wasn't looking.

And that freaked me out.

I had checked out Fionna Mertens--the human, the heroine of Ooo, one of my best friends--and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And that really freaked me out.

The rest of the day, I couldn't think straight or about anything except Fionna and how really attractive she was, something I hadn't really, truly noticed before that day. And I even looked for more chances to check her out, which really, REALLY freaked me out.

Eventually I had gotten so freaked out I had pulled Finn aside and told him the whole story.

Surprisingly enough, he didn't beat me to a pulp for checking out his twin sister, but instead told me that it wasn't intentional and that it would never happen again and that I needed to simply calm down and stop thinking about it because, truthfully, there would NEVER AGAIN be a situation where I would see Fionna in her underwear; it wasn't like we were dating or I had any remote feelings for her besides those of a close friend. Finn was able to convince me of such.

At that, I now snort. Oh, the denial. I had completely denied my feelings, telling myself I didn't like Fionna like that. I had NO IDEA how wrong I was. It's almost funny.

"No, Marshall," Finn says, breaking my train of thought. "I will not! I won't stop because I know you and Fionna are meant to be and I ship you two too hard to just stand by watch you both be stupid! Believe me, you'll get together," He turns back to open the back door and enter the living room. "You'll see." Then he opens the door and disappears inside.

I've never wanted to smack him more, but at the same time, it's nice that he wants Fionna and I to get together that much; it means he cares and that he wants me to be happy.

Sighing, I open the door and let myself back inside before I close it and wander back into the living room.

---------------------------

"Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!" Gumbutt says happily as he raises his glass for a toast.

Everyone else raises their glasses as well. "Happy Thanksgiving!" we all shout in unison.

Once Gumbutt has finished his usual Thanksgiving speech/toast, he lowers his glass and sits back down, signaling that everyone can start eating.

Thanksgiving Day has arrived and everyone is more than a little excited to taste Cake's and Gumbutt's food. As expected, it is delicious as always. Also as expected, no one can decide whose is better at the end of the feast.

"Come on," Cake pleads with us, like she does every year. "Which one was better? You must have a favorite! So, whose is it?"

"Yeah! You have to have a favorite! So, who won?"
Gumbutt also presses.

We give them the same answer we give them every year: "We loved both of them. They're both our favorites. You both did great."

They groan upon hearing our answer, another thing they do every year.

"I don't know why you ask the same question every year when every year you get the same answer," Finn says.

"We make new foods every year!" Cake says.

"Yes, and we want to see once and for all who the absolute best is! That's why we ask the same question every year!" Gumbutt says.

"Yeah, well, too bad; you'll still be getting the same answer fifty years from now," I say. Everyone else nods in agreement, knowing it is true.

Both Cake's and Gumbutt's postures sag. "You all are impossible," they say together.

"Yeah, but you love us anyway," Fionna hums. The rest of us laugh at that because, again, it's true.

Cake and Gumbutt just give us all pissed off looks.

At that, Finn jokingly raises his glass again, as if to toast. "Well, happy Thanksgiving!" Then he tips it back and takes a long drink.

The same thing every year.