"Finn," Bonnibel breathes, not bothering to glance up at the boy who was not only standing there, but was also giving her a tentative look.
"Yes, Peebles?" Finn mumbled, ignoring that the fact that this was the tenth time today that the princess had mentioned his name. In fact, he had somehow taken into notice how troublesome the princess looked.
Bundled up with sweat, the princess wasn't looking like she always did.
Her crown sat on the edge of the table, leaving pink strands of hair to appear somewhat disheveled. Along the side of her face bore stains of glob knows what
"About you and Flame Princess--"
Finn was quick to interject, "No, Princess. We are not talking about that, hear me? Jake told me some stuff I didn't know you felt--"
"No, Finn. Not that," Bonnibel reiterates, watching as Finn's expression begins to soften. "Things have been going pretty-er--stagnant between my robot and Braco. I was wondering whether you could help me out on this research. Love"
Finn's eyes gradually widen, but nonetheless, he understands. He looks her briefly, not knowing as to where this was going.
"I dunno, man. Love is complicated bizz. We could ask Jake, but he's off somewhere with Lady," Finn sighs. "--but I know someone who does"
There's a moment of hesitation that crosses his face, his mind wandering to whether or not his idea would work. Furthermore, Finn had no other choice.
"Well spit it out, Finn!"
"Princess, I--"
"Whoever this is, they must be bad"
"Marceline," Finn breathes.
"What?" Bonnibel asks, not understanding as to why the boy's face had suddenly froze. "What has Marcy got to do with any of this?"
"No, PB! She's h--"
" 'Sup, Finn!," a voice greets. "Oh--uh--hey there, Bonnie"
Bonnibel turns around, only to find Marceline Abadeer standing there.
Marceline looked absolutely stunning. From the way her raven-dark hair fell upon the sleeves of her letterman jacket, Bonnie could only stare. She didn't know if it were the ambience of the room that did it, but she could see Marceline's eye flashing a dim shade of red.
Heck, she was thankful she hadn't fell over by just looking at her.
But of course, Bonnibel wouldn't let her know that. Even if it meant holding her breath at the way Marceline seemed to enjoy showing off that snarky grin of hers.
"Hi, Marcy," she greeted, now looking at Finn who had an unmistakably wide grin on his face.
"The Princess needs your help with an experiment!" He gladly announces, to which Marceline acknowledges knowingly.
"Finn, I don't think that's such a great idea--" Bonnibel tries, only to be cut short by none other than the vampire queen herself.
"Let him speak, Bonnie," she chuckles.
"She's doing this science-y thing with love. Since Jake isn't here, I thought maybe you could help"
Marceline lets out a small laugh followed by a pat on Bonnie's shoulder.
"Why you acting so strange, Bonnie?" She says. "If anything, it's weird that you are researching on love"
Bonnibel's eyebrows furrowed at Marceline's comment. It was almost as if she had been implying on Bonnibel's lack of romantic knowledge compared to her lack of manners.
But nonetheless managed to get a small blush off the bridge of her nose.
"I don't know what you're implying, Marcy," she tries, watching as Marceline's face had twisted into a crooked smile.
She's enjoying this.
With a sigh, the princess had averted her gaze to the vampire's red axe bass guitar that hung on the girl's back.
"Why are you here anyway, Marceline?"
The vampire shook her head and smiled. Bonnibel looked at her, confused.
The vampire turned towards Finn.
"Hey, dude, can you give me and Bonnie a few minutes?"
Finn eyed the floating girl inconspicuously, his eyebrow raised slightly.
"What for?"
"She and I have a lot to talk about," Marceline explains, pretending not to see how the princess began to fidget in place.
"Alright, Marcy. Just don't try anything funny," the boy warned, turning to leave the princess's lab.
With a click, the lab door had been shut. Leaving Bonnie and Marcy all alone.
"Soo, Bonnibel," Marceline starts. "Love, huh?"
The princess remains collected, mustering enough courage to reply.
"I--uh need to program my robot self," she replies a little bit too quickly.
"It's still hanging around with that Braco guy?" Marceline inquires, the words floating mindlessly through the air.
"After the whole King of Ooo bizz, I kinda got sidetracked," Bonnie replies sheepishly.
"What, so you like Braco now?"
Bonnibel could've sworn there was jealousy there.
"Marcy, I d--"
"It's this prickly feeling you get when you look at someone and feel all light. It allows you to let go of all your insecurities, only for them. When you feel so strongly for someone that it makes your stomach feel all weird. That no matter how hard you try to forget, you never really do. And even when you're close to forgetting, it hits you right where you don't want it to be. Despite all the mushiness, it hurts," Marcy mutters.
"What?"
"Love, Bonnie," She explains. "You needed it for your research, right?"
Bonnibel stands there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. The flow of words had surprised her, nonetheless. She hadn't expected such an answer.
Much more from Marceline.
"Why are you really here, Marceline?" The princess mumbles, not bothering to look at the fiery red eyes that fell upon her.
"I know what you did"
"I-I don't understand," Bonnibel says, wondering as to why the vampire's voice had lowered.
Marceline clenches her fists and shuts her eyes firmly.
"I know you traded the shirt I gave you for Hambo. I didn't--If I had known that it took that much, I wouldn't have asked for your help"
"Marceline, it's fine," Bonnibel tried to say, only to be cut off.
"You helped me with the whole human transformation. You helped hunt all those vampires with Finn and Jake, when you coulda easily backed out. Y-You even offered me a place in your castle," Marcy exhales. "I want to say thank you"
Bonnibel was stunned. She wasn't used to seeing the vampire drift away so sadly like this, not towards her anyway.
Yet, the princess knew she couldn't do anything but accept the girl's thanks.
"No problem, Marce," she whispered, unsure of whether or not the girl had heard her.
"Hey, PB, doesn't this whole science thing have steps?" Marceline sniffed.
"Yes, that would be the Scientific Method. Why?"
"Say, I've already completed step two, right? The hypo..The hypoo…?"
"Hypothesis," Bubblegum finished, stifling a laugh at the vampire's cluelessness.
"That leaves us with the Experimentation, now," Marceline stated, her voice now heavy and flat.
Much to Bonnie's liking, she furrowed her eyebrows.
"You gotta trust me on this, bad little girl"
Before Bonnibel could ask what she meant, she widened her eyes in shock as the vampire pressed her lips against hers.
Her eyes began to lower, meaning she had completely let herself in on the kiss.
Gasping for breath, the two began to laugh as soon as it had ended.
"I love you, Marcy"
Smirking, Marceline leaned down to kiss the princess of the candy kingdom.
"Love ya too, Bon"
With that, Finn smiled.
Jake's plan had worked all along.