[CW: blood and major character death]

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Red wasn't a usual colour to see. Not in a normal home, no. But in the Abadeer residence, it was far too common than desired. Marshall Lee Abadeer, the owner of the house, was quite fond of the colour red; whether it be his clothing or his food, it had to have at least one red. A childish behaviour that his boyfriend had grown used too and frankly, did not mind. Blood, though, was far too uncommon in the two humans house.

Speaking of his boyfriend, Barnaby Gumball had just entered their house and had noticed red liquid all over the floor. It was clearly too dark and translucent for it to be paint but Gumball had given himself the benefit of the doubt. "Marshall. I swear if you're playing with the paint ball guns with Fionna inside the house again, I'm making you clean up the entire place with your toothbrush!" Though, the red 'paint' was nowhere like splotches, more like a smeared line on the floor, leading straight to the kitchen door and presumably continued further. On top of that, there was only one colour and one thick streak.

The worried man wearily looked around, glimpsing at his surroundings only to find that a few things had been toppled over but that could just be Marshall not cleaning up after himself. Gumball was too scared to move. He had just come home from an exhausting day of work and all he wanted to do was relax a bit with his love before getting a good nights' rest. Because of obvious reasons, that was not going to be possible.

Barnaby swallowed whatever remained in his dried mouth, letting his saliva go down as harshly as a ball of needles before finally getting the courage to examine what was actually on the ground. Kneeling down, he scooped up some of the cold substance on to his index finger before feeling it between his digit and thumb. Now, Gumball had dealt with blood times a many at work, a requirement for a neurosurgeon but it still made him sick to the stomach knowing that this might belong to the one he loved and with further inspection, he figured out it was slightly fresh from the dampness. With trembling hands, he pushed himself off the ground before swallowing harshly again. Never had he hesitated while operating on a live human; never had he been scared knowing someone's life was in his hands but now, now he was scared.

Barnaby Gumball was terrified.

He didn't want to move. He didn't want to know if what he thought was real. He didn't want to know that behind the closed kitchen door, might lie a limp, lifeless Marshall Lee that he will no longer be able to hold. He didn't want to know that he would wake up the next morning alone. He didn't want to know that no one would kiss him good bye when he went off to work. He didn't want to know that the usual little pranks that were played on him would just disappear. For once in his life, he wanted to be stupid. He wanted to run away with his tail between his legs and refuse he saw any of this. Refuse that his lover could potentially be, well, dead.

"Curiosity killed the cat..." He supposed but satisfaction will not bring it back this time. Speaking of cats, Schwabelles wasn't around either but Gumball had bigger things to worry about. It took another moment or so of reassuring himself that things are ok before his legs could move again and although he should be running to check on his lover, his legs refused to move any faster as though they would shatter if he stepped too fast. The suspense was killing him but the distance was decreasing at an unmovable rate, just like his dread.

Tears were yet to form in the others' violet eyes but terror was still evident. The male had no knowledge of how long it had been since he'd arrived, just presumed that it had been at least five minutes when in reality, he'd unknowingly had rushed and only taken a few seconds.

Once at the door, Barnaby reached out for the knob with a quivering hand, gripping the metallic handle as tight as he could before swinging it open right away, having wasted too much time already. Besides, if Lee was alive, he could still potentially save him! With that set in his mind, he followed the trail further to the dead centre of the room.

Red.

Red everywhere.

Copious amounts of blood pooled around a lifeless body, drowning the once perfect fabric with a tainted red. Lee lay before him, sprawled in a rather uncomfortable way but that didn't matter anymore. Gumball stood by the threshold for a second, violently trembling as his brain refused to accept what his eyes just witnessed. It didn't take long for the still alive male to collapse on to his knees and scurry to his lovers' side, panicking as he lightly ghosted his hands over his body in a reminiscing manner, recalling when the tan skin was lively and resonated with warmth.

Tears poured out in an excruciatingly fast rate as he noticed the large stab wound on Lee's stomach (Marshall's crop-top doing an excellent job of showcasing it well.) Gumball gently pulled the other into his lap, clutching his lifeless body tightly before doubling over and continuing to sob over Marshall's shoulder. Soft chants escaped his lips, repeating the phrases "I love you," "Please don't leave me," "No," and "You promised you'd stay by my side" were said in no specific order.

As the chant continued, the tighter Gumball's grip got and the harder he cried. It was all too much for the still young male to experience a death of a loved one (Having finished university recently, he'd planned to grow old with someone he loved; Marshall, specifically.) "I love you -hic- s-so so much..." His voice trembled, his chest constricted with pain. Each second that passed was a dead silent reminder of how much he could've done and had but was now to nought. His throat felt dry, his body felt numb, but the longer time drew out the more he wished he could have Marshall say those three words back to him for the last time. Reassure him, remind him that he too was loved just as much as Marshall was. That all the times he felt those butterflies in his stomach, the other felt them too. That... Even for a moment, he could have Marshall Lee Abadeer back, if only to say a proper goodbye, he would feel like the luckiest man alive.

"I love you too, Gum-Gum"

Gumball's eyes shot open at the familiar voice, frantically glancing at the lifeless body in his arms before gently cupping Lee's cheek, seeing no difference from before. Brushing it aside as his mind playing tricks, he slowly whipped away at his eyes, trying to get rid of the tears and as soon as he thought he was done, more started to pour out, starting slow before flooding out again but they didn't last as long this time. Dainty arms found their way around Gumball's waist and before Barnaby could fully render what was going on, hard laughter filled the air. The once 'dead' body now having the sobbing young-adult in a tight embrace whilst also cackling into his ear.

Marshall Lee Abadeer was pranking Barnaby Gumball this entire time.

It took a few seconds to dawn to Gumball, who was still aghast, to realize this was another one of Marshall's stupid pranks. He should've known. How could he have been so stupid! Why didn't he check for a pulse! He's a surgeon for God's sake! With a harsh shove, he tried ripping the other off as rage bubbled in his veins; all his love and sorrow replaced with hate and frustration. Marshall kept a tight grip around his lover, staining their already dirty clothes with fake blood and the fake wounds mould. "Babe, babe, haha! Calm down! You said you love me, now why the hate all of a sudden?" Lee inquired even though he knew exactly why. Everyone was afraid of losing the one they loved and Gumball was no special so as a world-renowned fucker, Marshall pulled this prank only to see how Gumball was to react to his death. Hey, you can't see how someone would react after you'd died. This was the best way. The only way, in fact.

After a little more shoving and pushing, Gumball gave up and ended up returning the embrace, burrowing his face into his un-dead lowers shoulders only to continue crying. He was so god damn relieved. He felt all the sorrow and over exaggerated thoughts were all simmering away to bliss and all his fears were becoming extinct. He knew it wasn't real. He knew that Marshall Lee was still alive. He knew he wouldn't have to wake up the next morning alone, but in fact, with the most charitable person in the world. He knew that Lee would still be there to kiss him goodbye when he left for work. He knew that he would be pranked again and for once, he was relieved that too was another one of Lee's mischievous acts. Nothing would disappear. Nothing would change.

Lee honestly felt really bad now. He just wanted a few laughs from Gumball getting mad but seeing the other only cry and not yell at him was rather unsettling and quite frankly, boring. Loosening his grip on the other, he softly placed tender kisses on the others' head, for once not bothered by the stiff gelled strands. He kept the kisses going until he could feel the other calm down and relax ever so softly. Gumball had run out of tears and his body could no longer make anymore but he was still in too much of an emotional jumble to speak. So, Lee took the honours and spoke instead. "Larry was trying out special effect junk and he wanted a test dummy so I was like, "Yo, I'm down."" Barnaby bit back the urge to push off the other from his lap, deciding on glaring at nothing in particular instead. "It looked sick and real as fuck so I decided it would be hella fun to scare the shit out of people but like, Fi was too ok with gore to react and Cake fainted before she could react. So like, you were left, and oh man... I didn't mean to scare you that bad, BG. I thought you would try and straight up try and call the cops or some shit and then I'd stop you but then you like, started crying, and then saying things and I just felt so bad. I'm just-... I'm sorry man... I'll make it up to you..." Marshall softly ran a hand through his silent lovers' hair, cringing at the stuck hair strand but with enough playing, they went back to being their normal softness. Moments passed and Barnaby still hadn't replied, slowly starting to scare Marshall that maybe he did cross the line with this. "Barnaby...? Talk to me, love..."

Gumball, again, hesitated but with a reluctant sigh, he pulled himself off the other's shoulders before shifting both of them into a more comfortable position. "I have never been this terrified, Lee." His voice was raspy from crying and it strained his throat to speak but he was glad he could actually hold a conversation with the other. "But I've also never been this happy to know that this was one of your shitty little pranks." With a stupidly proud grin on Marshall's lips, he leaned in and connected their lips in a much-needed form of affections, calming Gumball down every time they'd briefly part only to connect again. The more Barnaby tasted the other, the more certain he was that the Marshall before him was not his mind playing tricks. As soon as Lee started to get really into the kiss (get a little more out of the kiss too) Gumball pushed the other off before standing up, a coy grin on his lips. Marshall looked up at the other quizzically, a tiny bit upset he was deprived of his fun. "As punishment for this stupidly sick joke" Gumball whipped away of what remained of his tears on his cheeks before fixing his clothes and grimacing, appalled at the state of his clothes. "You're going to clean the entire kitchen, fix the mess by the entrance and go take a shower, all by yourself."

"Oh, come on! Let me at least shower with you!" Lee protested only to fall on to deaf ears. Gumball was not going to give the other satisfaction after making him live hell. Well, at least not until bed time. With a smirk, Gumball bid farewell so he could shower and clean up.

This may have been a shitty turn of events but at least Gumball was able to come to terms with the fact that he wasn't afraid to think that he loved Lee and wouldn't mind having him alive by his side, for the rest of his life.

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