The wind was a little too harsh for her liking. The princess was trying her hardest to work - really, she was- but the howling and the whistling coming from outside was just one of those noises that made her brain itch. The door to her lab was rattling too.
Every single time it seemed to calm down and come to somewhat of a rest, Bonnibel would try to continue with her experiments before it picked up once more. It was sort of infuriating.
Still, though, Bonnibel supposed it could have been much worse. There could have been rain, or sleet, or snow. Something else more cold and dreary. She went back to her chemical formulas and equations, trying her very best to shut out the loud noises and the way the weather was chilling her down to her figurative bones.
Could have been so much worse.
"Princess?" The voice of peppermint butler cut through what was left of the silence, under the blanket of the wind. The lab door had been opened, cascading light and shadows across her lab equipment and making her notice just how messy everything was. "Princess? You told me to come and get you at midnight."
A heavy sigh ripped through Bonnibel's throat when she realised she hadn't gotten much done. However, sleep did sound rather nice. Her queen sized bed was probably warm, cosy, soft and the princess could feel her eyelids start to droop already. "Thanks pep," She whispered in passing, leaving everything as it was and heading up to her tower.
The lab coat was discarded to the floor, something she'd pick up in the morning and put on again, goggles wrapped around her door handle. She was already peeling off her day clothes when the balcony doors buckled under the wind, slamming against her wall and leaving a nasty mark there.
She'd have to close them tonight, then. Lock them up.
The princess' head collided softly with her pillows. Another sigh slipped past her lips as her eyelids closed involuntarily. For a while, she thought sleep had already taken her; the darkness behind her eyelids growing somewhat heavier, and her brain drifting into the space between awake and asleep. But then a cold, shaking finger trailed down her cheek and she realised that, no, she wasn't drifting off just yet.
"Marceline," Her room was still empty when she peeked through the darkness and Bonnibel almost forgot that her friend could turn invisible. Experimentally - because this still could have been imagined by some sick part of her brain that just wanted Marceline to be there - she reached a warm hand to where she thought Marceline's face would be. She hit muscle, cold and hard, and yet still soft in ways that the scientist would never be able to understand, and skimmed upwards.
Her fingers met her friends jawline, a place that she'd always wanted to skirt her fingers against just to make sure it was real, and then inched that little bit further.
A vampire presented itself, hand drooped to the bed, fangs glinting under a smile. "'Sup, brainiac?"
She couldn't really help the smile that presented itself on her face, all teeth and scientifically engineered rosy cheeks. "Get down here, you butt. I'm cold."
"I'm a human slushie, BonBon." Marceline muttered through bouts of musical laughter. Despite this, she still lowered herself down beside the princess, still got under the covers and threw an arm over her waist. "I'm just gonna make you colder." She whispered, feeling Bonnibel shiver and shuffle closer.
"Nonsense," Bonnibel soothed. "I already feel a hundred times better."
The vampire snorted and rested a chin on her head. "You're early, tonight. I only got here ten minutes before you."
"That's because-," She cut herself off with a yawn. "The scientific research I'm conducting won't get itself done if I'm constantly too tired. And I sometimes get a night time visitor or just so happens to be nocturnal."
Marceline grinned into her hair. "I told you, I don't mind staying here while you sleep."
Bonnibel just hummed, remembering the conversation they'd once had about their nightly arrangements. Marceline had let slip that she quite enjoyed watching the princess sleep, content with making sure she was safe and having pleasant dreams.
"I know, I just feel rude if you come all this way just for me to go to sleep." Not like she didn't do that anyway, but she at least wanted to talk and make Marceline feel like she didn't have to leave before sunrise.
The hem of her shirt was being played with, cold fingers briefing over the warmth of her stomach. Not that she minded much at all. It was so oddly soothing, to be reminded that someone was next to her, awake and humming almost inaudibly.
Then again, Bonnibel had always been a little lonely.