Forbidden Feelings

Chapter 15

"Pepper raised me, but I believe growing up has been the hardest part. For many obvious reasons, candy DNA and human DNA don't really mix that well. The King did a decent job for how hard it is, but there were so many flaws. As a child I had to be stretched out in order to grow. Candy bones don't do so on their own. It hurt so bad to be stretched out every two months. That doesn't affect me as badly now, but I still have to be stretched until I turn 22. The flaw that affects me the most today as it did then was my digestion. All my organs are a mix of candy and human flesh. I can eat little bits of food every now and then, but if I do that, I risk a belly ache. I thrive off the nutrition Pepper gives to me intravenously once a day at around lunch time. It's a clear white liquid chopped full of all the stuff I need to live. Vitamins and proteins and all that good stuff. I have never eaten a full meal of anything. It could kill me." He says sadly, eyes closed as he just sat back and let it out. Marshall was crying now, tears sliding down his cheeks one after another. He was silent though. He didn't want to make Bubba upset because he was. This poor kid didn't deserve any of the shit he had to deal with.

"I'm so sorry Bubba. You have such a brave heart."

"Thank you Marshall. As I was growing up, the King never paid much attention to me. Only to snap if I didn't answer a math question correctly or if I misspelled a word. He would hit me for being a dumb kid. 'I designed you to be smart, not stupid,' he'd say. Pepper couldn't stop him, because if she did she'd have been fired, and I would have been totally alone. He died before I turned five. As I grew and attended school I was miserable, being so feminine because of the color of my skin and the clothing I wore. I was a little out of proportion after being stretched so often. I was bullied relentlessly. I was always in pain and someone would rip on me for a limp. Oh Marshall, not one person left me alone in school. They either wanted me to do their homework or to bully me. I had no friends..." His voice trailed off. "At about fourteen I began to experience hormones and neediness. No girls were appealing though. I often found myself thinking about falling in love with a prince charming who could take all my pain away." Marshall squeezed Gumball's hand, reminding him he was still there, and that it was okay. "I felt though that I was beginning to believe all the mean things they told me. That I was a girly boy who wanted a boyfriend. As much as I hated to admit it, it was true. I wanted a boyfriend so badly. No one in my entire school was gay, and no one I had ever met was either until I met you. You hid it so well at first that I couldn't tell." Marshall blushed. He really didn't know that he was gay himself until an hour or so ago.

"Oh, Bubba..." Marshall wiped his own eyes, but Bubba wasn't finished yet. He kissed under Marshall's jaw simply and sighed.

"I was sure that I was going to be lonely my entire life. I knew I'd have a lovely wife and she would be wonderful, but I would never truly love her."

"What were you going to do about an heir?"

"Just... have one." Bubba blushed deeply and Marshall did the same. "Women's bodies aren't really attractive to me, and having sex with a girl doesn't sound good at all, but I would have just sucked it up and done it. People would get worried if I had no child, so..." He shrugged sadly, but was immensely relieved that it hadn't turned out that way.

"Oh." Marshall blushed softly.

"One time I practiced kissing for the perfect guy on my pillow." Bubba said suddenly, telling a random and sweet secret little secret, lightening the mood. Marshall chuckled.

"Oh yeah? You naughty boy..." He kissed his head and temple. "I've done worse things to pillows..."

"Oh glob... Like...?"

"Yeah. I was a lonely lonely guy for a long time. I eventually got a girlfriend but she wasn't... wasn't really my type. We never did it. I liked her a little at first, but I knew my heart wasn't in it, and she ended up being a horrible sicko. That was... a dark time in my life." He said with a soft chuckle. Bubba hugged him around the neck.

"That's alright big guy. Everybody has them. Everyone makes mistakes and gets in a sour situation." He smiled and cuddled up to Marshall. "Luckily I have you now, and we'll make this relationship go smooth and well. As scary as it is, we'll go public, and just hope they accept us. If they don't, then..."

"We'll figure that out when we get there, alright?"

"Alright." He relaxes into Marshall, feeling like the weight of the universe was off his shoulders. That secret was so hard to keep to himself. Now that someone else knew, it wasn't half as bad. "It's your turn to tell me about you, if you want. I'm a lot better now. Thank you for listening and being my rock."

"No problem kid. Now... where do I begin?"