Hello! Please don't read my work if you ship incest or minor/adult, don't respect cannon representation (i.e ship lesbians with men) or if I've expressed discomfort with you personally.

Thank you! Other than that I hope you enjoy this, even the shortest review is greatly appreciated!

Cw brief mention of nonconsensual kissing and past toxic relationship

Everyone else was already at the Coronation party. The ceremony had gone smoothly and all according to the weird royal protocol of Lumpy Space. Lemongrab hadn't got a chance to see LSP before she appeared on the raised cloud with her parents. She'd been so high up, overlooking all of Lumpy Space and its inhabitants.

Lemongrab couldn't help but think she looked like an angel. She was so serene and beautiful as she daintily held the sceptre and took her vows- or she was until she saw him in the crowd and waved at him. The entire congregation turned to look at him and he was so embarrassed he nearly ran to the edge of the cloud and jumped off.

Fortunately LSP didn't seem to notice the bouquet he'd hidden behind his back. He'd read in books that you were supposed to get your girlfriend flowers, which was understandable, flowers were pretty and they smelled nice- he would like to get some too. But there were so many different types he hadn't known what to get. And LSP deserved the best, prettiest, nicest flower in existence.

Fortunately Treetrunks had found him glaring at a lily in a flower shop while the florist looked at him in terror and helped him. Apparently red roses were the best. A symbol of love. He'd wanted to get her something purple but according to Treetrunks the redder they were the more love they symbolised so he chose the reddest he could find. He pulled them out as he stood to wait for her near the food stands people had set up to make some money off the crowds. He touched one of the flowers, tracing a finger round the pattern of its velvety petals. Each one so red, red, red…

"Red red red-" Marceline flew over the crowd in a panic and cursed herself. How could she have left her apples at home! She was starving and if she got any hungry she'd turn into a feral beast for sure. And with all these innocent lumpy people around… she shuddered to think what she'd do if she didn't find some red soon.

Her eyes darted around. Every inch of Lumpy Space was purple- why was it so purple! Didn't these people get bored of looking at the same stupid colour all the time. The other Ooo royalty that had come to watch the coronation were standing in a group together and maybe it was possible to drink the red from Flame Princess? She thought about how badly Finn had burned his mouth kissing her and decided not to.

She looked down despairingly and then she saw it. A vibrant scarlet splash. She flew down to it and pulled up next to Lemongrab. He clutched his roses tighter and acknowledged her with a "Nnnngh… Stepmother."

"What's that you got there?" She pointed at his flowers, already salivating.

"This is myyyy precious gift… for myy princess. Though I suppose she is my queen now. Hm." Marceline felt almost bad drinking the red from his present, but it was that or massacre innocents.

She pointed at something over his shoulder. "Dude! Look! Some guy is selling lemonade isn't that like, sooooo offensive to you? You know since you're a lemon."

Lemongrab gullibly turned. "I like lemonade! Is there lemonade here?" There was a slurping sound next to him and when he turned back Marceline had sucked almost all of the red out of his roses.

He screamed. "EVIL! EVIL! UNACCEPTABLE! YOU WICKED VAMPIRE I WILL SMITE YOU FOR THIS-" Marceline flew back before he could take a swing at her.

"Sorry dude but a girl's gotta eat. Sorry about your roses I'll make it up to you later- I'll buy you like, idk, a goldfish or something. Bye!" With that she vanished.

Lemongrab looked down at what had been his bouquet in misery. The sucked out colour had left a dull monochrome grey behind, the only red left was around the edges where Marceline's hungry teeth hadn't reached. It had gone from something beautiful and deserving of her to something ugly.

He'd thought about how happy she'd be when he gave them to her but now she'd probably be weirded out, or even worse, upset.

"Heeey Lemmy~" oh no. He hadn't had time to get rid of them! LSP had taken her crown off and she floated over to him with a smile. He tried to stash the ruined flowers behind his back but wasn't fast enough. This time she did see them. "Wait are those like, flowers? For real."

Lemongrab sadly produced the black and white bouquet. "They were supposed to beeee red… my wicked stepmother ate all the colour."

LSP wordlessly took it from him and stared at it. He fidgeted anxiously to see her reaction but instead of getting upset she smiled. "They're pretty."

LSP buried her face in the bouquet. The petals were velvety and cool against her hot, blushing face and she smiled as she nuzzled them. They smelled really strongly so it felt like she'd submerged herself in a sweet scented world. She'd never smelled roses before. Because no boy had ever loved her strongly enough to gift her them. Ne had ever loved her as much as Lemongrab did. Tears pricked her eyes and she let out one small sob.

"AAAA! NOOOOO PRINCESS DON'T CRY! IF YOU HATE THEM THAT MUCH I WILL BURN THEM!" Lemongrab panicked and she quickly scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I like them. I like, lumping love them." She told him, "No one's ever gotten me flowers before… You're the first."

"Oh? Oh! Ha ha I see!" Lemongrab grinned, "I am… very happy to be theee first!"

"You don't have to be like, lumping cocky about it. You're also the first guy I've seen get knocked out by a manticore on a first date."

Lemongrab frowned and pouted at her. "I did not mean it in a cocky way… It's just, um, you're my first g-girlfriend.. And my first kiss, and-and thiiiiiings like that. You've showed me lots of new things but I haven't shown you anything. It hurts me a little bit sometimes. I'm not even the first Lemongrab. Everything I can give people… they've already seen..."

"I didn't know it felt so nice… to be the one who first shows someone something beautiful."

Lemongrab was smiling at her. She'd seen him happy before, even really happy. But now he was just glowing. He really had shown her something beautiful.

She couldn't take it anymore. LSP grabbed his tie and yanked. Lemongrab's eyes widened at being jerked towards her and widened even more when she kissed him. LSP gave him a soft kiss and teasingly ran her tongue over his bottom lip. She felt him shiver. She let go of his tie to touch his chest and felt the excited thumping of his heart as she slipped herself into his mouth.

His trembling hands traced the curves of her body and it was her turn to shiver as he wrapped an arm around to pull her close to him. They made out, and it wasn't like the nasty, wet, aggressive makeouts she'd had with Brad in the past that left her feeling wrong and objectified. It was soft and gentle, like the smell of roses. When they pulled away, breathless and smiling, Lemongrab cupped his hands around her face and lent in to kiss her soft and deep and good.

He kept his hands there as they looked at each other. "You know," she said eventually, "your flowers aren't the only thing changing colour around here."

"What?"

She poked his cheek. "You've gone bright green."

Lemongrab let go of her to cover his furiously blushing face and she couldn't help but laugh at how flustered he was.

"Maybe I should call you Limegrab I mean, you're literally the same green as your tie." she quipped and dug her elbow into his as she floated past him, "Anyway imma go put these in some water, you coming or what?"

"I-I need tooo go clear my head!" Lemongrab yelped and then practically ran away to go scream behind a food vendor.

LSP smiled at him and looked back down at her flowers. Despite the splashes of red on some of the petals they were mostly grey, and she hadn't told him this but they were the same colour as Lemongrab's normal work uniform. So she didn't mind the colour.

She touched the squishy petals again and thought about other similarities. A lot of people's might be put off by a rose's thorns. They might think that just because it could cut them or because they'd been hurt by one in the past that it would hurt them. People might even say that they took too much effort to look after and not bother with them. But thorns and flaws and all, roses and Lemongrabs were so beautiful to her.