Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time.
"Marceline?"
Her voice was soft, almost a whisper to the bat that clung to the eaves of the attic, her wings wrapped tight around her eyes to block the sudden intrusion of light. Although the sun had set a long while ago, the vampire queen had refused to move, her warm, dark chocolate perch just too inviting to leave. It didn't help that the ventilation system built into the Candy Castle had brought her the voices of those within the main hall, one of them being the woman's who held the lantern before her.
Just listening to Bubblegum talk normally was often times more than enough to make the vampire drowsy, her voice soothing enough to calm her normally overactive instincts. But listening to the candy princess discuss science and politics and something about nut balls had been more than enough to put Marceline to sleep for the day, and she was reluctant to awaken so early.
"Marceline?"
For a long moment, Marceline thought about ignoring the princess wandering below, allowing her to leave the attic without a prize, if it would let her sleep just a little bit longer. Bon-bon could keep herself entertained for a few more hours; though, knowing Finn and Jake, a few hours she wouldn't have. The two would burst any moment now, ranting about the newest adventure they had or problem they needed their princess' help with, and Marceline would be left to sleep.
"Marceline? Are you in here?"
Just as the vampire queen was about to stretch her wings, Bubblegum huffed and disappeared, taking with her the irritating lantern that had stung her eyes, finally leaving Marceline once alone in the darkness.
A pang went through her as she watched the princess disappear, and she quickly followed after her.
"Hey Bonnie," Marceline said, shifting into her human form right behind her, biting her tongue to keep from laughing as Bonnie started, twirling on her toes and landing in a fighting position, ready to take on whoever had come up behind her. Blinking at the vampire, Bonnie quickly sighed and gave a little laugh, shaking her head at her before straightening up, her fists dropping to her side. "What yah up to?"
"I was looking for you," Bonnie said, reaching out to take her hand. Intertwining their fingers, Bonnie began to walk again, pulling the floating vampire queen after her as she did. "I thought it would be nice if we had dinner, or, rather, breakfast for you, in the gardens today. I had PB put something together- it should be set up by now."
"Don't you have more important things to be doing?" It wasn't a blow off, more an actual, genuine question- normally Princess Bubblegum, after the day of political discussions, crisis aversion, and plan making on how to expand the Candy Kingdom, would spend most of the night working in her lab on some important research project or new citizen she was planning on releasing into the kingdom soon, just something that would keep her busy until the wee hours of the morning. She would then collapse into bed, utterly exhausted, only to wake up two, maybe three hours later to do it all again.
Meaning she generally had very little time for anyone not essential to running the kingdom and keeping it safe. Meaning, mostly, her.
Marceline wasn't bothered by it anymore, not really- she had come to recognize that was just was it was. Their lives had taken very different paths, and while she wished there was more time for them to just hang, she was ok with what she could get. So, she asked her question, confused on if Bubblegum had forgotten something she was supposed to be doing.
Bonnie just shook her head and laughed, looking over her shoulder at the confused vampire's face.
"Nope," Bonnie said, heading down a flight of stairs. "All of my experiments are in the growing stages, all political things are done for now, and I sent Finn and Jake off on a three day mission- they won't be coming home any time soon. So, it's just you and me for dinner." Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she took a quick turn, holding the door open for Marceline to float through.
Marceline, shaking her head slowly as Bubblegum ran through her list, floated through, stopping on the other side to offer her hand. Smiling as Bonnie took it, their fingers intertwining together, Marceline continued to let her lead, happy to just float behind her as they made their way through the castle, out into the shaded gardens that waited for them.
It was rare they were able to relax together, both their duties and their conflicting schedules blocking more time than they would like. But it was worth it, really, when it came to them. When it came to these quite moments as she pulled out a chair for Bonnie, pushing it in so the feet didn't catch on her overly poufy gown before returning to her own side, floating there as dinner was brought to them on the shoulders of candy servants. When it came to the boring drone as Bubblegum told her about her newest inventions and plans for the kingdom- Marceline could have told her that she knew, she had heard it all in the rafters of the attic, but she didn't.
Because Bubblegum always got this little smile on her face as she spoke about these things, and that smile was worth it.
Worth it when she fussed over Marceline's eating habits, insisting on her draining an apple along with the candy they had been brought ("Your physiology still requires some healthy source of red, Marceline."), worth it when she began to rant about the state of the world and the things she wanted to change but couldn't. Worth it for when she calmed down and gave that sheepish little smile as the peace returned to their table, and worth it when, with a single, well placed word, Marceline could set her off again.
Flicking a gray pebble of candy off her forehead, Marceline chuckled as Bonnie stopped and looked at her, her eyes wide and surprised someone would date to do something so heinous as attach her with her own food.
And it was worth it for the lecture and temporary banishment after dinner while Bonnie took care of some last minute things, because it was precious in its limited existence. And so, so worth it.