Princes and Kings

Floating towards the castle courtyard, Marshall Lee made no attempt to stop the stream of dark utterances leaving his mouth. This was just typical of Prince Gumball: host a "Royal Ball" and invite every prince, princess and noble around, and then start the thing in the middle of the day, when the only KING invited didn't have a chance of attending.

PG liked to pretend he was a kind, gentle soul who couldn't dislike anybody, but he was really bad at it.

Really, really bad.

Coming to a hover just a foot above the ground, Marshall's brooding was interrupted by a rhythmic clunking sound.

clunk clunk clunk CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK clunk clunk clunk

clunk clunk clunk CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK clunk clunk clunk

clunk clunk

Peering around a corner, he wasn't all that surprised to find that Fionna was the source of the noise. He was, however, surprised that she was sitting on the ground outside, pink fabric forming a pool around her as she absently banged a shoe against a wall.

"Since when do you know Morse code?" he asked, coming to float beside her.

"Cake's teaching me." Fionna didn't respond with any of her typical shouting and arm waving. Something was wrong.

"Why aren't you inside dancing? I thought you were really looking forward to the ball?" She hadn't shut up about it for the last week, at least.

At his question, Fionna drew her knees to her chest. "Prince Gumball refuses to dance with me," she muttered. "Why would he when there are so many princesses for him to choose from."

So that was it. Really, even youth was no excuse for being that stupid. Marshall leaned over, offering Fionna a hand up. "Well, you might not get your dance with the prince, but will a king make do?"

Fionna just glanced at the offered hand, up at his face, then back to the hand. "But... but... but why would you want to dance with me?" she stuttered, eyes wide.

"Well, I am a king. And doesn't a king deserve to dance with the prettiest girl at the ball?"

A blush crept up the blonde girl's face. Fionna, who was usually oblivious to his flirting because she was always daydreaming about Prince Gumball, was blushing.

Taking the offered hand, Fionna pulled herself to her feet, not bothering to brush off her skirt once she was standing.

"Let's do this!" she cheered, pumping her other hand in the air. "Let's show those stuffed shirts how to party!"

Most of her usual cheer was back in her voice, so Marshall allowed himself a small smile as she dragged him towards the ballroom entrance. His smile grew even bigger when he caught Fionna glancing back, only for her face to flush a brilliant chrimson.

Maybe he did stand a chance after all.

Gosh it's been a while since I've written anything.

Just a quick one-shot a threw together. It's pretty raw, and unbetad, so any mistakes are my own.

Review and let me know what you think.