I Lost Everything For You (Gumlee / Marball)

Coming Home Late and Bad Influences

A few weeks later, Marshall and Bubba fell into routine of small talk and awkward silences that stretched longer than they should have, along with doing most of their activities in separate rooms, or at least when Marshall was actually there. Nowadays he spent most of his time at Ash’s and hanging out with her friends, leaving Bubba mostly alone in his apartment, with the quiet but comforting company of Hana. Bubba pretended not to mind it and Hana pretended not to notice how strained their friendship was, and how Marshall seemed to become more and more distant everyday. She worried over how much time he seemed to be spending with Ash as well; she didn’t seem like a good influence on him.

 

One Friday night, at around 2 or 3 a.m., he came home from some party he snuck out to, trying to enter as quietly as he could, but was stopped in his tracks when he felt another presence in the room. He looked around into the dimly lit living room and saw a figure behind the kitchen counter huddled over a cup of coffee. Oh shit, he thought, as he saw the figure, who could only be his beloved mother look over at him. “Marshall,” Hana began harshly, rising from her seat, “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you!”

 

He draped himself over the couch and said, “It’s okay, no need to get so worked up! I wasn’t even anywhere.”

 

“No Marshall, you were somewhere. Where were you?” She asked, a dangerous edge in her voice.

 

“I-I was just at Ash’s! Me and her friends hung out and stuff, ate some stuff, drank some stuff, I dunno...” He huffed out, feeling suddenly irritated.

 

“Well what kinda ‘stuff’?”

 

“I dunno mom, some stuff. It tasted good, that’s all I know.”

 

“Oh my god,” Hana gasped, “You’re not drunk or high are you?”

 

He shook his head and with a laugh said, “C’mon mom! I’m not drunk! And I’m definitely not high! Give me some credit!” He laughed some more and closed his eyes.

 

“Come over here then, let me smell your breath.” He complied easily and got up and walked over to her, bumping into the edge of a table and hissing in pain along the way.

 

“Stop being so dramatic. Now open your mouth,” she ordered, crossing her arms.

 

“Where’s Bubba? He wouldn’t be as mean to me as you’re being,” he whined, slumping into the side of the counter.

 

“Didn’t he tell you? He’s at Fionna’s,” she muttered, leaning forward and frowning as she smelled his breath. “Damn it Marshall, you are drunk!”

 

He shrugged and said, “C’mon is it that big of a deal? It’s not like it matters anyways.” He watched her carefully as she sighed heavily, suddenly looking much older under the small fluorescent light of the kitchen.

 

“It does matter Marshall,” she said through gritted teeth, “You have a whole future ahead of you. Don’t ruin it with stupidity like this.”

 

He shrugged and said, “Whatever mom, it’s not like I have to rush either. I might not ever have the chance to die thanks to what happened 7 years ago so it doesn’t exactly matter. Might as well have fun.”

 

She looked up at him, a motherly curiosity in her eyes,  “This doesn’t have to do with Bubba does it? All this recklessness? Because I’ve noticed you two don’t really talk or hang out anymore, and I just...” She trailed off, waiting for an answer.

 

He felt his breath hitch in his throat, and looked away. Why did she have to bring him up? “I’m not being reckless. I’m just having fun. And yeah, Bubba and I aren’t really talking but that happens doesn’t it?” He knew it was his fault in the first place they weren’t talking, but what was he supposed to say? Hey I know you like me and we kissed but can we just be friends? Pretend it never happened? Pretend I didn’t like the kiss too?

 

“Well whatever’s going on you know you can talk to me right? I promise I’d lend an ear and be there for you,” Hana said, bringing him in for a hug. He groaned and hugged her back.

 

“Thanks mom, but I’m really tired so if you’d excuse me,” he muttered, easily separating from her. He walked to his room in silence, feeling her eyes on him, and felt the buzz of his phone to match.

 

Once he reached his room and shut the door behind him, he flipped open his phone and saw it was a message from Ash;

    

       < From: Ash >

        <  To: Marshall >

<Hey Marshy!! Jsut wanted to let u know I l<3ve you a lot!!!

Hope I get to see u again baby! U were really sexy tnoght! Loveee u ;) >>

 

Marshall sighed and shut his phone, not in the mood to reply. He was pretty sure Ash just got home since he had asked her to text him once she did, and was probably still high and drunk or whatever else. It irked him a little how she was already saying that she loved him after only being together a few weeks, but he excused it as one of her quirks, and decided not to think about it too much. He scrolled through his messages and smiled a little when he saw a 2 week old message from Bubba asking if he had all his notes for some test they took. He felt an ache in his chest, wondering what could’ve happened if the two of them actually did get together, instead of he and Ash. Would they have been happy?

 

He groaned into his pillow and tried to shake his mind of the ridiculous thoughts, because it wasn’t like he actually liked Bubba that way, he was probably just lamenting or was too drunk or something. Besides, he was already in a relationship, so it’s not like his thoughts were going to take him anywhere anyways. But still, he remembered the way their kiss felt, and how sweet and soft Bubba was, the way it scorched his lips. How he wanted more.

 

“Damn it, what am I thinking?” He mumbled, a blush marring his cheeks. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, trying not to think about anything anymore. Soon enough, exhaustion hit him, and he fell asleep in the darkness of his room, unaware of the several urgent buzzes of his phone throughout the night, too deep in his sleep to notice.

 

A/N

Hey, sorry to keep you all waiting! I’ve been kind of in a slump lately and just haven’t really been up to writing... Also thank you for all the reads omg, I can’t believe I’m actually almost to 8,000 reads! In the beginning I never thought this story was going to get past 1,000, so I'm just really thankful to all of you for this :)!! Anyways, sorry if this chapter isn’t the best, I just really needed to find a way to move the story back in the right direction. Please remember to vote, it’d really mean a lot <3