As Marshall pulled the black car into his long driveway, I couldn't help but be excited. This would be the first time we've hung out at his place since his graduation party. I glanced over at Marshall as he put the car in park once we had reached the end of the gravel trail. He met my eyes and smiled.

"Ready?" He asked. I nodded. We exited the car and retrieved our stuff from the backseat. There was a short stone path that led from his driveway to the front steps of his porch. It was quite cute; red and purple flowers around it. I stopped for a moment to look around the forest around us. The trees seemed to go on forever, the forest becoming denser and denser as you stared into it. The air was so clean around here and there was always a soothing melody of bird chirps, rustling leaves, and other noises created by the wildlife. It was very calming.

    "What're you doing, weirdo?" Marshall asked from his front porch, a smirk on his lips.

    "Just enjoying the scenery. Your place is a lot nicer than what I remembered. It's kind of serene out here." I glanced around me once more, smiling at Marshall's small white picket fence that separated his yard from the rest of the forest, and his homey looking lilac painted house. If I hadn't known any better, I would've thought an elderly woman was settled here. You don't see many guys like Marshall living in purple houses with white picket fences and cute little flower gardens.

    "You like it? I cleaned up a little out here while Simone was staying over. Who knew gardening could be so therapeutic? Anyways come on, I'm starving!" I walked up the steps to his porch as he unlocked the front door and stepped inside his living room, me following shortly behind.

    His house was small but cozy inside. The living room had a soft blue carpet, an old red couch, and various other types of furniture and decor splayed around the room. Marshall tossed his guitar on the couch on his way to the kitchen. I followed after him like a lost puppy, suddenly feeling like an awkward house guest. Which I technically was.

Marshall searched through his fridge, humming a random tune. I sat on the counter and watched him as he suddenly groaned in aggravation, shutting the fridge door loudly.

"Ugh! There's no food!" He complained like a whiny child in need of a bottle. I rolled my eyes at his childish behavior.

"I'm sure there's something in there you can eat. You're so overdramatic sometimes." I hopped off the counter and opened the fridge to see multiple containers of what I assumed were leftovers from Simone's cooking, typical condiments, fruits, veggies, lunch meats, sports drinks, and sodas. "Marshall there's plenty enough food in here. How old are these leftovers? Just eat those."

"Blegh! I don't want leftovers!" He stuck his tongue out and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Make a sandwich then."

"That's too much work."

"Fine. I'll make you one then."

"Ugh. I don't want a sandwich."

"Dear glob..." I sighed, "should we just get take out then?" He paused for a moment, thinking about it.

"Eh, I guess so." He shrugged.

"Fantastic, what do you want?"

"Ugh, I don't know."

"Here we go again..." I sighed. This man was ridiculous.

After minutes of arguing about food, he finally settled on Chinese. Which was now on its way. We were in the living room now, Marshall sifting through a pile of DVD's as I petted Schwable on my lap.

    "Okay, I narrowed it down to three. Heat Signature 3, Grease, or Poltergeist. What do you think?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow.

"What's Poltergeist about?" I asked.

"Ghosts, clowns, little girls being sucked into closets. All that jazz." He shrugged.

"That sounds terrifying. No thanks. Let's just watch Grease, I've seen Heat Signature way too many times." Marshall laughed, knowing fully well that Fionna was obsessed with the Heat Signature movies and always forced us to watch them. "By the way, I finished reading that book you gave me."

Marshall beamed in excitement. "Isn't it great? Only book I've ever read, for enjoyment."

    "I wouldn't be surprised," I laughed, "but yes, it is pretty great."

    "Glad you liked it." He put the movie in and plopped down next to me on the couch. "In case you were wondering, the movie isn't as good as the book."

    "Good to know," I said, making a mental note that I'd need to see the movie version of Warm Bodies.

                            >>>>><<<<<

    "Are you kidding me? Im way better looking than he is."

    "Hm... I dunno. Danny Zuko is pretty attractive." Marshall and I were arguing about who was hotter; him or the young John Travolta. We both paused, staring at him sing about Sandy at the drive-in.

    "Are you saying I'm not attractive?" Marshall glared at me after a while.

    "Well..." I started, making it sound like he was correct. He threw a noodle at me. "Hey! I was kidding!" I yelled, making Schwable perk her head up from beside me.

    "Oh, so you do think I'm attractive?" He raised his eyebrow and smirked.

    "I won't deny that you are appealing to the eye, yes." He smiled. "...But Danny Zuko is hot too." His smile quickly fell, expression changing into a blank stare. He threw more noodles at me. I laughed, making him crack a small smile.

    "What, are you jealous?" I said in a teasing tone, throwing the noodles back at him. He simply shrugged and continued stuffing his face with food.

    "Maybe." He mumbled. I smiled, turning my attention back to the movie.

>>>>><<<<<

The movie had ended a while later. Marshall was throwing away our empty takeout boxes. As the credits rolled on the screen, a random thought popped into my head. 'Should I tell Marshall about the Ricardio incident earlier?' I began to get uncomfortable just thinking about it. The way his tongue felt on my neck makes my skin crawl.

"Hey, Bubba? You alright?" Marshall sat down close to me, setting down two unopened pop cans on the coffee table. "You look a bit uneasy..."

"Uh, yeah. Can I... Tell you something?" I asked slowly.

"Of course, anything." He turned his body towards me.

"This morning... I accidentally fell asleep in homeroom and... Ricardio did something." I looked down at my hands.

"Something? What something? Did he touch you? I'll kill him if he touched you! Son of a bitch!" Marshall stood up suddenly, pacing around with anger. I walked up to him and put my hands on his shoulders.

"Calm down and listen to me." I walked him back to the couch and sat down. "Look, let me just explain what happened. And don't freak out okay? Please." He sighed and nodded. I took a deep breath before continuing. "Like I said, I fell asleep in homeroom, and Ricardio woke me up and was angry at first but then started acting creepy... It was just him and I in the room...He was threatening to "punish me" and was looking at so...sexually. I didn't know what to do." I closed my eyes recalling the memory and grimacing. "He even licked my neck. That's when I snapped out of it and ran." I opened my eyes again. Marshall was staring angrily into space, his hands balled into fists. He looked like he was about to kill someone, or was at least thinking about it.

    I gently grabbed his forearm in attempt to calm him down again. His features softened and his fists unclenched.  He looked up at me.

    "I'm sorry, Barnaby." He said softly, putting his other hand on top of mine, giving it a slight squeeze.

    "Don't be," I smiled. "I'm fine, everything is fine."

    "Did you tell anyone about this?"

    "I told Cake."

    "That's it? You didn't tell a teacher, or Simone?" He asked with concern.

    "I told you, didn't I?" I tried to joke. He rolled his eyes.

    "I don't count. Be serious, you need to tell her, or I will. Technically, I'm supposed to report this now."   He leaned back into the couch.

    "You're right. I'll tell her later, right now let's just talk about something else, okay?"

    "Alright... Just, promise me you'll tell her? What he did was wrong. No one should touch you like that, ever." He crossed his arms.

    "I promise, jeez. You and Cake both act like this is something way worse than it is. All he did was lick my neck." I sighed. Marshall sat up and looked at me bewildered.

    "Yeah, NOW, that's all he did. But what about the next time he tries to pull this? Or the next? He won't just be putting his filthy tongue on your neck and you know that." He paused and looked away. He was right, Ricardio was definitely going to try to do something like this again, but worse. "You don't deserve to be touched by him. Or by anyone. You're too perfect." I heard him mumble. I looked at him with wide eyes. He glanced at me and blushed, realizing what he just said. "Uh-"

    "Marshall..." I whispered. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever. We leaned in, eyes closing. "...I'm not perfect." I said against his lips and kissed him. His lips were as soft as I imagined, softer probably. I felt a million little fireworks explode in my stomach as he kissed back. After a moment he pulled away.

    "You're perfect to me" he whispered. His lips crashed onto mine again.

    Almost instinctively, my hands went to his shoulders, gripping the thin black sweater he wore over a button up. I felt his arm snake around my waist, pulling me even closer to him. He leaned his head over more and deepened the kiss. I felt his cold nose press against my cheek slightly, which sent tingles down my spine. We pulled away, taking deep breathes of air.

Marshall looked at me for a long time, like he was studying my face, which made me blush and want to look away. But when I tried to, he lifted my chin up with his finger, making me look at him again. I blushed more, his face was so close to mine, and the way he was looking at me was so loving, and peaceful. We stared into each other's eyes. I started to notice tiny details on Marshall's face, like his long, dark eyelashes that casted little shadows over his eyes when the lighting was right. Or the way his auburn eyes were way too inhumanly red. I've never seen eyes like his, not naturally at least. And for some odd reason, the way he blinked seemed so fascinating all of a sudden.

He seemed to be studying my face the same way. Until he spoke.

"...you're really pretty, you know that?"

I laughed, "Me? Pretty?"

"Yes. You're like... Gorgeous. You should be a prince or something. Princes are always extremely good looking."

I blushed and rolled my eyes. "I don't think Im cut out to rule a whole country. That seems awfully stressful. The people would probably want to overthrow me anyways."

"Oh please. Who wouldn't want to stay in a country ruled by someone with a face like yours? I know I'd never want to leave if I got to see that everyday." He smirked.

"Knock it off! You're making me blush!" I hid my reddening face in my hands.

"What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic." A smirk appeared on his lips. I rolled my eyes again. "What, you don't think so?" I shrugged as a response. "Fine. I'll show you I can be the most romantic person you've ever met."

    "Uh huh..." I nodded slowly, "How do you plan on doing that, hm?" I was starting to get interested in what he was planning here. Marshall paused for a moment, tapping his chin in thought. Suddenly his face lit up.

    "I have an idea," he smiled brightly, his perfectly white teeth shining. "Go on a date with me. This Saturday. I'll show you how romantic I can be." He winked. My eyes widened as I felt my cheeks heat up. A date? With Marshall Lee? My teacher!?

    "A-are you serious? A real date? With me?" I didn't know if I heard him correctly. He was joking, right?

    "Yes, I'm serious. A real date. With you," he said. "I like you a lot, Barnaby. And I have for a while. I just want to try this. If it doesn't work out, we can still be friends, right? It's just one date, what's the worst that could happen?"

    I stayed quiet for a while. Was I really going to do this? What if it doesn't work out? Wouldn't that be awkward at school? And what if it did work out... How would we pull that off at school? And what would our friends think about us starting to date? They're understanding people, right? I'm sure they'd be fine with it. Honestly, what do I even want out of this? I know for sure I like Marshall a lot, and the thought of being in a committing relationship with him made me feel warm and fluffy inside. But, what does he want?

    "So? What do you say?" He asked.

    I paused for a moment and said, "Why not? Let's see where this goes." His smile grew bigger and I smiled back.

"Perfect... What do you want to do now? It's gonna be getting dark soon, should I take you home?" He suggested. But I didn't want to leave so soon. Not after he just kissed me and asked me out.

"No, I wanna stay with you longer," I pouted. He laughed lowly.

"You're so damn cute." He kissed my cheek. I blushed. "Watch another movie with me, a scary one this time." Marshall stood up, walking to his movie collection.

"Ugh, really? A scary movie? You know I hate those." I complained.

"I know," he said bluntly. "You get really scared easily and I think it's adorable... So, Poltergeist, The Shining, or Psycho?" He smiled evilly.

>>>>><<<<<

"AH! MARSHALL I SAID TURN THIS OFF!" I screamed, burying myself under his arm and clenching his shirt for dear life. He decided to play the 1998 remake of Psycho, and we were watching the iconic shower scene. As I was trying to hide behind Marshall, all he was doing was laughing.

"Bubba, come on. It's so fake! How are you even scared by this?" He laughed, trying to face me towards the screen. Instead, I hugged his torso tightly. He gave in after a while and wrapped his arms around me. "Do you really want me to turn it off?" He asked. I nodded in his chest. "Well you'll have to get off me in order to do that, you know." I shook my head and squeezed him even tighter, not wanting to let go. He sighed and kissed my head. "You're too cute," Marshall sighed before struggling to lean over and grab the remote on the coffee table with me wrapped around him.

"Is it off?" I mumbled into his shirt.

"It's off," he confirmed and tossed the remote next to us. I lifted my head up. Marshall laughed at me in his deep voice. I blushed at the sound and got off him. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while before he spoke again.

    "Should I take you home now? It's dark out. Pepper is probably worried about you." He turned towards me.

    "But-... Alright," I sighed dramatically.

    "I mean... Unless you want to spend the night..." He mumbled. I blushed.

    "Really? Is that okay with you?"

    "Of course! If it wasn't then why would I offer it?"

    "Oh, right. I was just making sure... I'll call Pepper then, I guess." I stood up and grabbed my phone out of my bag. 7 missed calls and 10 unread messages from Pepper... Oops. Just as I was about to call her, my phone started ringing. It was Pepper again. I answered it.

    "Pepper?"

    "Barnaby Gumball I called you 7 times! Why didn't you answer!? Where are you!? Why didn't you come home from school!? I even went to the school to pick you up but you weren't there! Answer me this instant!" She screamed into the phone.

    "Pepper calm down, I'm at Marshall Lee's house, he gave me a ride from school-"

    "Did you two have sex!? Is that why you didn't answer!?" She interrupted. I face heated up.

    "N-no! Pepper, what the hell! We just watched movies and ate food! We didn't do that, I swear!" I panicked. I could hear Marshall was giggling behind me.

    "Good. I just had to ask... I know you two have a thing for each other." I blushed more. She continued, "anyways. I want you home right now mister!"

    "Can I just sleep over here tonight? He offered."

    "No, Barnaby. Not after you didn't tell me where you were and ignored me. I said I want you home. Now."

    "But pleeease. We won't do anything," I pleaded. Pepper was silent for a while.

    "For Christ's sake..." She sighed. "Fine! I guess you can spend the night. But you don't have any clothes or anything."

    "I'll borrow Marshall's."

    "Whatever. Have fun, twerp. Tell Marshall I said hello."

    "Thank you so much, Pepper! Love you!" I hung up the phone, not waiting for a response. I jumped up and plopped on the couch with a big smile plastered on my face. Marshall laughed.

    "So I take it you can stay?"

    "Mhm." I nodded.

    "Cool." Is all he replied.

    For a few hours we just talked about random things and watched T.V. not really doing much. We were starting to get tired so Marshall offered that I take his bed and he sleep on the couch. But I knew how uncomfortable his couch was to sleep on so I tried to be nice and offer that I sleep on it instead, but he also knew how uncomfortable it was.

    I asked about the guest bedroom down the hall from Marshall's but he informed me that it was more of a storage room now. "Too packed to walk in" he had claimed.

    We were both tired and now cranky so I offered, "You know what? Why don't we both just sleep in your bed?" He blushed slightly and rolled his eyes.

    "Whatever, I'm too tired to care. Lead the way, princess." I scoffed and walked up the stairs anyway, him following me. Once we got to his surprisingly very clean room, he rummaged through his drawers and handed me a black t-shirt with a strange band logo. I thanked him and walked to his personal bathroom attached to his room to change.

    I stripped of my shirt and pants and put on the band tee. It was a little big on me, but who cares. I sniffed the collar deeply, it smelled just like Marshall. I smiled and walked out of the bathroom. Just as I did, I saw Marshall undressing. I continued watching him and crossed my arms, leaning against the doorway. His back was towards me and he was taking off his white button up. Quite sexily, might I add. His back muscles flexed and moved in marvelous ways as he shimmied the sleeves off his arms. He tossed the shirt in his clothes basket and ran a tired hand through his dark hair.

   Marshall stood in only his black boxers now. He huffed out a breath and turned slightly, suddenly noticing me and perking up.

   "I didn't notice you standing there..." He nervously laughed.

    "Sorry for creeping on you. I was just casted by your sexy spell," I laughed, until I realized what I just said. My eyes widened as a blush spread across my cheeks. Marshall thought it was hilarious.

    "Come one, let's get some sleep, we have school in the morning." He smiled as he walked over and pulled me towards his bed. We laid down under his sheets and said our 'goodnight's'. We turned away from each other and I closed my eyes, ready for sleep to take over.

And just as I was about to fall asleep, an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me against a warm chest. I smiled snuggled closer.

>>>>><<<<<

Hellooo there! How is everyone? I'd say I'm doing well. But omg, they finally kissed! For those who wanted a sexy, tongue-involved, slobbery one, I'm sorry to disappoint. It was their first kiss, I wanted it to be sweet (: And for those who thought they were gonna do the ol sexaroo, I also apologize.

Anyways, I'm trying out for my school's softball team soon so if I do make it that means I'll be even busier. So I apologize in advanced for even more delayed updates.

And another thing! I didn't feel like revising this, so if there's mistakes, oops.

Well that's it for me... As always, thank you for reading this story and don't forget to vote for this chapter and leave a comment! You guys are adorable and I appreciate all the support.

See you in the next chapter! ❤️😌