Apparently, the princess led a very busy life. And she insisted on dragging Marceline with her everywhere. The vampire would roll her eyes and drift higher, but Bubblegum was a forceful person when she wanted to be. And… not a little defensive about her experiments. She wasn't afraid to use them as leverage.

"But what if there's snacks?" she would ask of her friend. "If you're not there to drain the colour what happens?"

Marceline's usual reply was, "You go hungry." But that wasn't good enough for Bubblegum. Oh no. Marceline wondered whether the other woman understood moderation. She didn't have to eat what was put in front of her. Yet she did. At every single meeting.

Which is why at about midday, Marceline was slouched in a chair next to Bubblegum at a table in the hall, surrounded by candy people. Every week Bubblegum hosted a lunch for all the candy nobility and they seemed a bit put out by Marceline's presence at this meeting. What Marceline couldn't understand was why it had to be every week.

She had one finger outstretched, pushing strawberries around on her plate, occasionally, she'd dip the finger in whatever that sauce was, and draw lines with it. A fellow with a pretzel moustache kept shooting her funny glances from across the table. Of course next to her, Bubblegum kept nudging her with her foot, trying to get her to stop fidgeting, but she was just so bored. Bubblegum had explained Marceline's presence at the start, but they still gave her curious glances every time she ate a colourless strawberry.

"Princess, we are concerned," muttered the cream puff woman on Bonnie's other side. Marceline supposed she wasn't meant to hear it and the puff leaned in closer to Bubblegum. "A vampire for a friend isn't something that's… well received by the public." She kept her voice low, but without meaning to Marceline picked up every word. She felt her ears warm and her stomach turn to lead. The puff was right.

Bonnie was quiet a long time and Marceline wondered what she was thinking. "I should think that maintaining good relations with the vampires would be something to praise," Bubblegum said in a regular tone. It sounded only a little bit defensive, but then, as princess, she shouldn't really have to explain things to these people. Marceline never explained herself.

The puff sat back, adjusting her fluffy hair. Her lips were pursed in an unsatisfied manner and she shot a glare at Marceline behind Bubblegum's back. The vampire couldn't help but smile, her heart warming. That was odd. Bubblegum didn't notice.

Lunch dragged on, as Marceline had known it would. She stopped paying attention, hearing only spatters of conversation, her name on whispers down the far end of the table once or twice, no more. Bonnie glanced at her a few times with a frown on her delicate features, but Marceline made it her mission to remain seemingly engrossed by the ever dwindling fruit on her plate.

It wasn't until a little pink hand wrapped itself around her wrist a few hours later that she realised anything had changed. She looked up; losing count of how many seeds adorned the last strawberry and was met by big green eyes. The table was empty, most of the plates cleared away.

"Are you alright, Marcy?" Bubblegum asked gently.

"Two hundred and fourteen," Marceline whispered, her brain taking overly long to understand the question. She sighed. "Yeah, just bored."

"What…?" Bonnie didn't finish the question, perhaps realising that it was a stupid thing to ask. "Sorry. They sure can waffle sometimes." She smiled slightly when it occurred to her that she'd just said something mildly amusing.

"Waffles," Marceline murmured. She looked up at the clock. Brittlesticks, no wonder she was tired, she'd been awake for way too many hours. Wait… no, that wasn't right. She shrugged off Bubblegum's hand and floated up to the ceiling. Living in the palace was hard, and being the royal food de-colourer was even more so.

"Marceline?" Bubblegum called from below her.

"Mmm?"

"Will you come back down?"

She shook her head, trying to regather whatever wit still rattled around inside. Why had she agreed to do this again? Marceline drifted with slightly less grace than usual, back down to sit mid-air beside Bubblegum. Her friend looked worried, pink brows knitted concernedly and a gentle downward curve to her mouth.

Marceline smiled. "What's up, Bonnie?"

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Course. Why wouldn't I be?" The expression on her face was gut wrenching, but Marceline just kept smiling at her. Eventually Bubblegum's face softened and she returned the smile. Oh yes, that's why she'd agreed. An ache formed in her chest, like her lungs were doing backflips or something.

"Good. I'm sorry that was so boring. They're awfully uninteresting people."

She laughed. "You can say that again." Marceline rolled back and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "That one cream puff really doesn't like me."

Bubblegum shifted uncomfortably. "Yes well… They'll just have to get over it." Backflips… more like her insides were trying to contort themselves into shapes they weren't supposed to.

"So what other tedium do you have planned for your afternoon?" Marceline queried. "I can probably take anything now. I've counted seeds on strawberries, I defy boredom."

The princess tapped two fingers against her lips, eyes unfocused as she thought. "Hum… nothing I don't think. Although I do have to take down the notes on this new eating arrangement. It was simply fascinating…" She trailed off, her fingers absently tracing patterns on the table.

Marceline opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a single word out the doors banged open. A stream of late afternoon sunlight crashed across the room and Marceline hissed, curling into a smoky puddle and vanishing into a dark crevice in the ceiling. She clutched her little bat paws to the strut, shivering, her fur smoking. Bubblegum looked up at her, that painful expression on her face once more making Marceline feel awful. She looked about to scold someone and storm off, but then Finn and Jake appeared through the glare.

"Hey P-Bubs!" Finn exclaimed, skipping over to her. Bubblegum was still watching Marceline and Finn had to wave a hand in front of her face before she tore her gaze away. "Whatcha doing?"

"Oh, hello Finn," she muttered distractedly. "Hey Jake. I was just going to work on an experiment I'm conducting."

"Cool. Let's not do that. LSP is having a party, wanna come?"

Marceline knew exactly what Bubblegum would say before the words were even thought of. Bonnie used Flame Princess like a cudgel when it came to Finn. She might not be cruel by nature – most of the time anyway – but she was very bad at handling her little… conundrum. Let Finn down? Yes, she'd done that. Made him understand to keep a little more distance? Not so much.

But that's not what Bubblegum said.

"Hmm, I really would like to," she said slowly, tapping her lip again. "But this experiment is rather important. And… it makes going to anything less than a controlled environment rather difficult. Too many variables."

"What the hey?" Finn asked. "What kind of experiment are you running, Prubs?"

"It's got to do with food." Bubblegum looked lost in thought. That didn't bode well for Marceline, still smoking in the rafters.

She shifted slightly, thinking to shut the doors. But the light was globdamn everywhere and it blinded her, setting her eyebrows smouldering. She croaked and hid behind the post again, grumbling. Daywalkers!

"Hey I'm a big fan of food," Jake said, his head morphing into a sandwich shaped blob. His hands became a knife and fork and a napkin grew from his neck. "What are we eating?"

"Mmm," was all Bubblegum said. Her eyes roved across the hall, but not really seeing anything. They landed on Marceline, quivering above her and snapped back to her current dimension. She smiled softly. "Oh… just something I've wanted to try for a long time." Marceline blinked. She was definitely reading too much into that. "You'd probably find it very boring." The vampire doubted that. Finn at least would find it horribly entertaining.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Jake's body resumed its regular form. "I don't like being told what to eat." Finn shuddered at the thought.

"LSP will be devastated if you don't come though," Finn pressed. "Are you sure your experiment can't wait just one night? It'll be fun!"

Bubblegum shook her head, resolve firming. "No, tell her I'm sorry, but I couldn't make it." Something in her tone made Marceline think… what? She shook her head; Bubblegum wasn't the kind of girl to leave things unsaid.

Jake snatched at his friend's sleeve. "C'mon buddy," he said. "Leave Bubblegum to her tests and papers." Finn sighed, his shoulders slumped in defeat, but let Jake tug him towards the doors. Jake murmured something to him, however, and he perked up, his pace increasing as he bolted out the doors.

"Shut them behind you please!" Bubblegum called after them. Long golden arms stretched from the bottom of the stairs to wrench the double doors closed with a bang. The light in the room disappeared, sliced off. Eyes strained slightly, she stood there for a moment before sinking into her chair, hands folded in the lap of her powder pink dress.

Marceline shifted back into her usual shape and flopped from the ceiling. She put her elbows on Bubblegum's knees and peered up at her. "Hey, Bon… what's up?"

Bonnie took a deep breath. Very deep. "Nothing Marcy, let's go. I want to get this information down before I forget."

Marceline tilted her head. Something in the way Bubblegum had spoken made her think something was amiss. Then she shrugged, not really wanting to read into whatever it was. Probably nothing anyway. "Sure, whatever." Wrapping her fingers around her friend's wrists, Marceline dragged the other woman from her seat. "Let's get to it. Ain't got all afternoon you know."

Bubblegum lifted one eyebrow, the corners of her mouth quirking with a smile she tried not to let out. "Why? Got a date or something?"

The vampire let her go hastily and scrubbed the backs of her hands across her face, turning, trying to hide the expression she knew was painted there. If her heart could beat it would be going three times the usual rate. "Or something," she growled, floating off, out the room and up the hall. Bubblegum had to trot to catch up.

"Hey!" the princess called, hiking up her skirts to stay at Marceline's side. "What? Your mood went sour quickly."

Marceline huffed. "Yeah well… it's nothing." She flashed her teeth. "Just uh… heard you wrong. That's all."

Placated, Bubblegum reduced her pace and Marceline, not wanting to float off without her – she didn't want to be accosted by the damn staff – slowed too. They wound through the palace side by side, Marceline ignoring the glances Bubblegum shot her. So… maybe she hadn't fooled her after all.

Marceline opened the door to the princess's rooms with a mock bow, thinking perhaps a little obnoxious flair would convince the other woman she was fine. She was, really. There was nothing wrong with her. It was probably just after effects of having the sun shining in her eyes. Yeah, that was it.

It didn't take long before Bonnie was nose deep in ink and paper, her pen skritch-skrching across the parchment. Her tongue was caught between her teeth as she worked. There was even a blot of ink on the end of her nose. Marceline didn't believe it would really take that long for her to make a few notes, but before she'd finished a maid had brought up a tray of food, all of which was red, per the princess's request. The kitchen staff had been somewhat perplexed by her wishes that morning, yet they were all practiced at dealing with Bonnie's strange behaviour, and, just as Marceline had predicted, took it in their stride. In fact, Bubblegum took so long to complete her notes that Marceline had drained the platter and gotten bored again. She almost took out her bass, but figured Bonnie couldn't be too much longer, surely.

"C'mon, Bon," Marceline pleaded. The clock read nearly eight as she hovered over her friend's shoulder. Her hands rested lightly on the princess's shoulders and Bubblegum shivered. "Sorry. I always forget that…" Her temperature was lower than Bonnie's and with the window open she must feel like ice. "Can we go now?"

Bonnie seemed to wake up instantly, her eyes meeting Marceline's not without a little surprise. She'd forgotten where she was. Typical.

"Oh," she said seeing the clock. "Will we eat first?" Her green eyes blinked innocently, but Marceline had a suspicion that Bubblegum just didn't want to leave her tower.

"I've already eaten," Marceline informed her flatly. "We're taking your dinner with us. You're not going to wiggle out of this so easily, Bon."

It defied belief; Bubblegum pouted. A most unladylike face to pull. "Fine," she sighed. "What torture have you lined up for me this evening?"

Marceline chuckled. While she'd had plenty of time to think of something to do, she'd admit only to herself having expended little brain power on the subject. "Oh… I don't know. Probably something else mysterious." Bubblegum set about gathering some blank parchment and slipped her pencil behind her ear. "Oh no," Marceline laughed, gently removing the paper from her friend's hands. "Leave it. Tonight your brain stays here." She leaned in and plucked the pencil from the gum of her hair and dropped it in the tray on her desk. "Your science stays here. Tonight you're just going to enjoy it," Marceline whispered.

Mauve flooded Bubblegum's cheeks and she spun away, bounding from her chair and sliding past Marceline. She busied herself by putting the food in a container and placing it in her bag. Following that she pulled a jumper from her closet and threw it on without even looking at it. Consequently she didn't understand Marceline's amusement: she'd put it on inside out.

"Let's get going then," she said no doubt a little more harshly than she intended. But Marceline's smile didn't waver, she just held out her hands. Bubblegum paused only a moment before taking them, shivering slightly again.

"Are you cold?" Marceline asked her gently. "Do you want gloves?"

Bubblegum shook her head. "I'm not cold. Let's go already. You did insist." The way she said it made it seem there was something she'd like to add to that and Marceline's smile turned impish.

"I did at that." She knocked the princess off her feet, sweeping her up, arms around knees and shoulders. "Hold on tight, Bonnibel." In response, Bubblegum wrapped her arms around Marceline's neck and did just that.