Right and Wrong
By diav

Genre: Romance/Angst
Rating: T
Characters: Princess Bubblegum x Marceline the Vampire Queen
Story Type: one-shot
Summary: Marceline and Princess Bubblegum have a chat after the events of What Was Missing.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Adventure Time.

Marceline leaned against the tree as she watched the the lights in Candy Kingdom slowly dim. It was evening now, and most of the residents were retiring into their homes. She sighed and closed her eyes only to open them again when she heard footsteps approach her.

"Hi Marcie." The owner of the voice sat beside her, but maintained a comfortable distance between them.

"Hey Bonni." Marceline didn't need to look - she had the sound and pattern of Princess Bubblegum's footsteps memorised. But, for a moment, she did turn her head to give the princess a smile.

"I figured you'd be here," said the princess. "You always came here after we had a disagreement..."

"Ah, but this time, we didn't have one."

"You're wondering about the shirt."

"Yeah." They were on the outskirts of Candy Kingdom, sitting under a tree that created more memories for the two than they could both remember. "Why'd you keep it?"

"Like I said, it's special..." Princess Bubblegum shook her head and chuckled. "No, we were special... And you gave me the shirt, I couldn't toss it away in anger. Just like how you didn't toss away the things I gave you then." Marceline said nothing as Princess Bubblegum scooted closer.

The vampire queen felt Princess Bubblegum squeeze her hand. "Where'd we go wrong, Bonni? Things were great, but you have a kingdom to rule... It's not right for us to be together..."

"That's the same excuse you gave me when you broke up with me... Who's to say what's wrong and what's right?"

"You have duties. You're responsible. I'm not... People don't like me-"

"-I like you, don't you ever forget that, Marceline. I still do. I always will."

"But you're a princess-"

"-aren't you a vampire queen?"

"I have no subjects, no citizens, no responsibilities. The only thing there is for me is... me."

"No, there's also me, Finn, Jake, BMO, all of your friends-"

"-Bonni, please, I-"

"-I know you might not think of them as your friends, but they do care about you."

The vampire queen sighed. "Bonni, you know it won't-"

The princess placed a finger on Madeline's lips to silence her. When Marceline didn't continue her train of thought, Princess Bubblegum asked simply, "What am I to you, Marcie?"

"You... You're someone dear to me... But you have duties, Bonni. I'd just get in the way."

"You're someone dear to me too."

The vampire queen noted that the princess had said nothing about her getting in the way. Maybe it was just a silent agreement to do nothing about their 'relationship.' Maybe it was just how it was supposed to be.

The princess leaned on Marceline's shoulder. "Marcie, I know how... How difficult this is for both of us." She entwined her fingers with Marceline's and gave a squeeze. "Sometimes, responsibility demands sacrifice... But that doesn't mean we can't see each other every now and then, right?"

Marceline squeezed the princess' hand in response. "Yeah. I mean, you kept my shirt, that makes me happy enough already... I thought you hated me or something."

"I could never hate you, Marcie. Sure, sometimes you get on my nerves, sometimes you are crass, but that's what I like about you." Princess Bubblegum looked up and saw Marceline smiling back at her.

"You're too goody-two-shoes that it annoys me, Bubble Butt. But," the princess noted a darker shade of grey on Marceline's cheeks, "I like that about you."

"A-are we both ok then?" asked Princess Bubblegum hesitantly.

"Yeah, I think we are." The vampire queen kissed the princess on the forehead. "It's ok if I drop by, right? Like old times?"

"Just don't sneak up on me when I least expect it."

"That'll be taking the fun out of it," whined Marceline playfully.

"And don't hide in my closet! You gave me a fright that one time."

Marceline laughed. "Deal."

Princess Bubblegum smiled. "So..."

"So..."

"Do you still want to drink the red from my pretty pink face?"

Marceline turned a darker shade of grey. "Wha-"

"You totally do!" laughed Princess Bubblegum as she hovered her face in front of Marceline's. She eyed the vampire queen's fangs for a moment before kissing the lips in front of her.

While responsibility requires sacrifice, the two figured that they could worry about that the next day. Tonight was a night for them to remember and rediscover each other.