Tap tap tap.
Silence.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
A whole lot more silence.
"Knock friggin' knock already, Bonnie!" The Vampire Queen pressed her face up against the cool glass of the balcony doors, peering through into the gloom inside. What the-? Her eyes scanned across the shadowed bedroom through a gap in the curtains. Was she not even in there? Now that was just downright insulting. Ugh, she was gonna have to do this the effort way.
With a grumble, Marceline swooped backwards and down past the balcony, flying or falling (she wasn't sure which) through the air and coming to a pause at the base of the castle. Gliding past some sickeningly bright flower patches (I mean grod, less is more) she arrived at a fairly uninteresting wall of candy brick on one of the castle's many towers. Typically, it was more than it appeared. Although Marceline figured the real 'secret' was a little less impressive than Bonnie thought it was.
A few painfully boring minutes later, the vampire had made an adequately sized hole in the wall by pulling the loose bricks out one at a time. (Wasn't that some kind of building hazard? Whatever.) She floated through into a dark cellar and went about the task of replacing all the dumb pink bricks again. Jeeeeez. Effort.
She rolled her eyes and headed towards where she could see a vague glow of light on the other side of the old room. She tilted her head to examine a few of the objects around: mostly some old machinery against the walls. There was also a person-length-table with some broken straps across the top, a contraption that resembled a baby's highchair, an old robot rusting away in the corner, some tubs and barrels filled with glob knows what crazy chemicals, and a variety of weird junk scattered around. She figured she was in the right place then, the basement below Bonnie's lab.
A few dim beams of light shone down from lines between the wooden planks of a trap door- Marceline could see little specs of dust in it, floating through the air almost as lazily as she was. Pressing her palm against the base, she pushed upwards and whatever lock had been there before easily gave out against the vampire. Raising her chin, she glided silently upwards into the bright white glare of a gleaming laboratory.
A couple of squints and maybe a very quiet hiss later, her eyes had adjusted and she could spot the candy princess sitting at a desk on the far side of the room. Pfffft. Knew it.
Marceline floated towards her, sticking high and close to the ceiling; the Princess was evidently way too wrapped up in her stupid test tubes and reports to notice. Going for the subtle approach, she waited till she was hovering over the desk and –lying on her side, head in her hand and a fanged grin across her face- she let herself sink gently through the air.
"Hi."
Marceline was pretty sure the scream than ensued would have sent shivers down the spine of the toughest rough-houser in the village, curdled the blood of any demon in the Night-O-Sphere and it had probably echoed its way to the denizens of mars itself.
"And good evening to you, Bonnibel."
"OH. MY. GLOB. MARCELINE!" The Princess leaned her elbows on the desk and ran her fingers through her sticky bubblegum hair, exhaling heavily. "That was, I thought I explicitly told you to stop doing that!"
"And I thought I explicitly told you, no." Marceline flicked her tongue, smiling, and leant back with her arms crossed behind her head. "What are you doing all shut down here anyways? I had to go to like, a whole bunch of effort to get in and everything."
Used to the scare-routine by now, it didn't take long for Bubblegum to return to her usual calm demeanour, "Oh, well... Just some more late night lab work really." She gathered up some of her papers ad shuffled them together idly, "I've been looking further into the candy bees of the Kingdom, you wouldn't believe-"
"Whaaat? Bees? This totally interrupts the usual-stealing-away-in-the-night-from-your-bedroom thing we had goin' on."
"Well," Bubblegum started with a huff, "I'll have you know that for the past... 3 weeks is it? I've been waiting for your supposed visit in from my room each and every evening. You might forgive me, Marceline, for trying to finally get some work done!" She crossed her arms and looked as if she wanted to pout, but restrained herself to just looking suitably irritated.
Not having thought this conversation through beforehand, Marceline glided around Bubblegum and scratched the back of her neck- knowing that the pink girl was right. She puffed out her cheeks and sighed a breath before starting, "Yeah, about that… it' not that- I wasn't trying to disappear or anything. I just kinda forget, like. A thousand years and the days all sort of blur together." The Princess' irked look became more of a frown, but before she could say anything, Marceline continued. "But! I have a pretty good reason for making my glorious return tonight."
Bubblegum just raised an eyebrow at this, "Oh?"
"Mmm-hmm." She hummed, "And we gotta get moving, so come on. Tear yourself away from the oh-so-interesting test tubes... if you can."
This received a smile from the Princess- who had quickly forgotten all about being mad at the three (ahem, and a half) week disappearance. It would be a lie to say she hadn't been looking forward to Marceline's next visit- much as she'd rather not get worked up about these things, they were bringing back memories. Memories of the vampire's near nightly appearances at her balcony, there to whisk her away to some new adventure (probably not by Finn's definition) or perhaps just to join her inside for a cosy evening. Hmmph… maybe she was drifting into old habits.
She gave her experiment notes one last very important shuffle and set them aside in a neat pile on the desk, as she rose up from her seat to take her lab coat off- Marceline poked her shoulder and held a pale hand there.
"Aaaaactually Bonnibel, you might wanna keep that on for a while. Or something."
"What do you mean?"
"What?"
"Why would I need it now?"
"Hmm?"
"I- oh never mind." Bubblegum rolled her eyes at Marceline's smirk and obligingly pulled the lab coat back on over her shoulders. "I take it you'd rather not go back through the basement entrance?"
"Oh I dunno. It is kinda more my style."
"Forgive me. I somehow forgot cold and creepy basement was your style."
Marceline rolled over in the air with a sigh and pointed to her fangs. "Vampire. Queen."
"Who takes a Bubblegum Princess out on dates?"
"Okay fine, I dabble in you dumb pink cheeriness."
"The front door, for once, then?"
"Well if you're gonna get all snarky about it..." Marceline grumbled playfully, flying towards the entrance and waiting for Bubblegum to hurry over. "But I am not dealing with quivering candy servants who can't take a prank." she said as she floated out of view towards the ceiling. Bubblegum's footsteps clacked against the polished castle hallways as they made their way towards the front door.
"It was hardly just a playful prank, Marcy. Peppermint Butler nearly didn't make it after your exploits."
"How was I supposed to know he needed those red stripes to live or whatever!" groaned Marceline, floating above Bubblegum. "For the record, I don't regret it. They were delicious."
Shaking her head, the corner of the Princess's lips pulled up in a smile regardless. Speaking of Peppermint Butler-
Marceline held her head in her hands as Bonnie chatted away merrily with her little butler guy. They were gonna be late if she didn't shut her trap soon. With a devious grin, Marceline silently lowered herself down behind Peppermint, catching Bubblegum's narrowed eye as she did so. Dramatically raising her hands and growing her fangs out, she leaned down towards the unsuspecting butler's red stripes and…
"WELL- I'msorryPeppermintI'llhavetobeleavingnowdon'texpectmebacktilllateraufwie dersehen" Bubblegum shoved past him and knocked Marceline out of the way with a forceful elbow to the stomach. The Vampire girl hushed a laugh and turned herself invisible, allowing Bubblegum to drag her down the corridor and out of the open candy doors. "We are never taking the main entrance again."
"I told youuu" sang Marceline with a wicked smile, hooking her arms under Bubblegum's and lifting her into the crisp evening air.
The Princess watched the view thoughtfully as they skimmed just under the clouds, which were highlighted with a variety of pink and orange streaks now that the sun had almost set. This was probably about the earliest Marceline could be out in the day without a parasol or a hat or something. Bubblegum's thoughts were interrupted as she felt a shiver run down her, the area they flew through was a little too close to the Ice Kingdom's harsh winds for her liking- and she did only have a simple pink dress and a lab coat on for warmth (It's not like Marceline radiated out heat either, after all). The circumstances only made her curiosity grow stronger, "What are we doing so far out here anyway, Marcy?"
The raven haired girl grinned and lowered them a little further, heading towards a pair of fairly small mountains at the edge of the adjacent rock Kingdom that were coming up close. "You're about to find out, Bonnie."
They touched to the ground with a thud that kicked up a little cloud of dust and Marceline lowered Bubblegum gently to the floor, taking her hand and quickly leading her down a winding dirt road- footsteps crunching in a fast rhythm. Not a deserted road though, the Princess noticed tyre tracks in the dirt and some clean and fairly new-looking little fences that ran alongside the path.
They rounded another corner and to Bubblegum's surprise, were greeted with the sight of a building carved into the side of the mountain, lined with neat square windows and a huge banner running across the top that read "Ooo Annual Science-a-thon!" Her face positively lit up in understanding to see a small crowd of people milling about outside, nearly all in lab coats and the majority in deep discussion with intrigued expressions. She turned to Marceline with what could only be described as a face of absolute genuine delight, "How did you know?!"
"Heh- I..uh, know what?"
"That I've never been able to come before! To the Science-a-thon! The Morrow can't navigate around the mountains and it's too long a trip for me to-"
"Oh yeah that!" Marceline interjected, "I totally knew, just from. Y'know, knowing you and stuff."
Bubblegum clasped her hands together and took in the sight once more with excitement, before grabbing hold of Marceline's arm and dragging her towards the building. The vampire girl just smirked- well that was kinda lucky. She hadn't even realised Bubblegum had heard of this science-ey thing before… score!
Not- score.
A couple of hours or so into the conference, and Marceline's mood had drastically changed.
This. Was. The. Dullest. Thing. EVER.
What had she been thinking? Sure, Bonnibel was in her freaking element, tugging her round from stand to stand, speech to speech, lectures… demonstrations... experiments... there was just so much to see, Marceline! But in the mean time the Vampire Queen was growing more and more tired of not understanding a word these dorks were saying, of the weird looks she was getting- looking so out of place- floating in an old baggy band T-shirt and torn jeans with her favourite red boots glaring out against the sea of white coats. She sighed grumpily; Bonnie wasn't even being any fun. Whenever she tried to poke a joke at one of the science nerds she just 'tsk'ed at her and got absorbed in some other chemical or machine or whatever.
It had reached the point where Marceline was becoming more and more visibly moody, following Bonnibel around reluctantly with a scowl on her face and her arms crossed sulkily- something that didn't go un-noticed by the candy Princess. She decided to ignore it for now, it was difficult enough to try and understand Marceline most of the time anyway- let alone when she was being distracted with the wonders of…science!
The line was drawn however, during a lecture, another hour later into the marathon conference.
"HEY DUDE!" Bubblegum's eyes widened and her mouth opened a little as Marceline stood up mid-speech and yelled across the rows of chairs to the lecturer. "THIS SCIENCE JUNK OR WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT IS REAL INTERESTING AND ALL- BUT I DON'T THINK YOU'RE AWARE OF HOW MUCH THAT BOW TIE LOOKS LIKE A BRA."
Well hey, Finn would have got it.
The sugary-sweet Princess, however, didn't seem amused. She deemed it appropriate to stand up (you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears), grab Marceline's arm as tight as her strength would allow and pull her out aggressively and angrily into the corridor.
The Vampire sighed, what was her problem with a little joke all of a sudden? She let her feet drop onto the red carpet and leant against one of the wall grumpily, waiting for her to start. "Yeah?"
"Marceline, what are you doing?!"
"Whaat? I just-"
"You're the one that brought me here anyway, I don't understand why you're acting like this!"
"Oh I'm acting like this?" challenged Marceline threateningly. "Jeez, since when is trying to have some fun in this science centre such a crime?"
"I was having fun!" Retorted Bubblegum, upset and with watery eyes- obviously Marceline's actions had been playing on her mind more than it appeared. "And you're being… you're being snarky and bad tempered and quite frankly, rude!"
By now their voices were getting louder and louder, the argument's volume very easily heard even through the rock walls of the building. There was an uncomfortable atmosphere in the room they'd just left as the lecturer made a feeble attempt to keep speaking even with the two girls' shouting match echoing through the corridors.
"For grod's sake, Bonnie! Excuse me for thinking this was a date or some junk! Y'know where you actually talk to me in more than a murmur about some interesting piece of mould or whatever!"
"Well I thought you brought me here to enjoy the scientific wonders the conference had to offer! And that mould was extremelyinteresting, thank you very much!" Bubblegum yelled back fiercely, squaring up to the vampire girl.
"FINE! Why don't you go back to your stupid meeting about your stupid science and your stupid moulds and you can find your own STUPID ride back to the Candy Kingdom!" Marceline said as she turned her back and started floating away down the hall, deciding it was best to leave now before her eyes stung with the threat of crying any more than they already were.
"FINE! I will!" huffed Bubblegum, lifting her chin up as a tear rolled down her cheek and turning back to the double doors of the meeting room. Why did this always, always have to happen? Did Marceline hate being out with her that much? Should she be sorry for enjoying the conference she'd taken her to? UGH!
Red in the face, she slammed back into the room and marched over to her seat, sitting herself down with folded arms as the audience of scientists stared at her, alarmed. She may as well have slapped them all round the face as she went. "WELL?" She yelled up to the gaping lecturer.
"Oh- u-uhm, right!" He stuttered, "Well, as you can s-see in this specimen here…"
For the second time that evening, Bonnibel Bubblegum felt a shiver rattle down her spine. She gripped her arms and hugged herself as tightly as possible, trying to ward off the harsh cold that surrounded her in the night air. She clenched her jaw, partly to hold off the shivers for a little longer and party out of being stubborn. She refused to feel down, she refused to start worrying. Sure, she was standing alone outside the mountain building with the science-a-thon banner fluttering weakly in the dark behind her. Sure, she was twisting her foot anxiously into the ground as she looked down the pitch black, winding path that lay ahead of her. Sure she had no way of getting back to the Candy Kingdom- what was she supposed to do? She'd been offered lifts but…after enough incidents with characters like Ice King and Ricardio, she wasn't in the mood for travelling with strangers. So sure, she was a little bit lost right now.
Sure, she didn't think Marceline would have actually-really left her stranded here.
Pacing back to the building, Bubblegum leant her back against the wall and let herself slide down till she was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and burying her head behind them. Behind the knees was a blank expression, not crying (she was thankful for that) but…hopeless. She was stuck here. Too far away to walk back, she'd been careless enough not to bring a communication device. After all, what could go wrong when she was with Marceline?
Huh. She should have known better. Wasn't that always the problem?
Just as the Princess was contemplating making some kind of shelter to wait out the night, a pair of red boots landed with a thud in front of her- a certain Vampire Queen having given in at the sight of her sliding to the ground, all alone. Bubblegum looked up, sullen but with cold eyes. "I thought you'd left."
"Well do you want a lift home or not?" Asked Marceline impatiently, anger having ebbed only marginally from earlier.
Bubblegum's expression hardened and she rose to her feet "So this is like a favour, huh? Thanks for bringing me, only to leave me here alone Marceline- but oh how wonderful of you to finally offer me a way back home?"
"I tried to do something nice for you, y'know. That was the whole point." She growled.
"And it was!" sighed Bubblegum, "It was a wonderful idea! I don't understand why you had to spoil it with your attitude!"
Marceline's face contorted into a snarl at this, a hiss escaping her lips. She drew in a breath and leant forwards, about to scream Bubblegum's ears off at everything. Not some stupid drama about a lecture- but everything. The fact that for the past couple of hours, all their fight had done was remind her of why things ended so badly in the first place. It was… everything about them. Sometimes she just figured they didn't work. They had periods of happy-cheery-banter-no-problems times, but they were inevitably broken up with fights that left the pair of them seething for days, weeks, months. Years.
She drew back, letting her chest rise and fall, the tip of her tongue dipped in venomous words that were ready to fly out of her mouth. Instead, she felt her hands tug at her hair- desperate for what she said to mirror what she thought- and at the same time, not at all. She released another sigh, her voice coming out in a harsh whisper.
"See- this. This is why we broke up, Princess." Marceline shut her eyes, resisting the urge to hiss the words. "I just… I just go and ruin everything every time, don't I? I'm just a total screw up- right?"
Bonnibel, fuming, opened and closed her mouth, taken back at her reply.
"That's what I thought." Affirmed Marceline, eyes turned towards the ground. "You've still got that lift back if you wa-"
"You are not, a screw up." Interrupted the Princess, the emotion behind her words was more angry than it was consoling. "Why don't you ever believe me when I tell you that?! Of course I'm going to get mad at you sometimes, for glob's sake Marceline!" She was talking faster now, her thoughts beginning to tumble out unfiltered. "Just because I get angry when you interrupt an important lecture or you assault a guest at one of the most important dinner parties of my life- that doesn't mean…ugh! That doesn't mean I suddenly hate you! I mean, what do you expect? All of those things were important to me, Marcy! And I just- even though sometimes you do this to me- and you do this to me so much, but I know that I also hurt you but- I… I wouldn't change you! Not ever." She breathed out the last words, heart thudding inside her chest. "Do you understand me? I don't care! This happens all the time and I just- I don't care! And no matter what you seem to do I still want to see you again at my window the next night anyway!"
The currently far-from-bubbly Princess took a pause to catch her breath, but she wasn't done yet. "I don't care, that you ruin a dinner party. I care, Marceline, when you talk about yourself like that!" Bubblegum pointed at her accusingly. "And it's why we keep going through this in the first place! Silly scientists at a conference or silly royals at a party give you those funny looks and you take it out on yourself. And then you get moody and you get angry and you take it out on everyone else. But I will not have you calling yourself a screw up- not talking about yourself that way. That is forbidden, alright? And I'm a royal too so that's a real thing I can do. You are probably the... you are probably the most important person in my life, Marcy. Fighting, friends, dating- whatever! And do you know how much it pains me to know what thoughts you're thinking when I see you get that expression on your face? Sometimes you make me…so… angry! And I- you are not a screw up and I wouldn't change you for Ooo- alright?"
Marceline stood there, having looked up at the Princess with her eyes wide and a brow furrowed at the speech; currently, she was feeling a little dumbstruck. Some of the things the Princess was yelling at her…was that true? Maybe the candy girl understood her insecurities better than she did herself. Not that she had insecurities of course; Vampire Queens were too cool for that.
Another few moments of silence passed between the two, Bubblegum still with that fiery expression and a heavy breath and Marceline still hearing the words echo round again in her head.
"Now.. I.. I would very much like and appreciate that lift back. Please." Said Bubblegum, her eyes darting to the ground, then back up to meet the vampire's intense gaze.
"Sure, Bonnie." Marceline replied a little distantly, closing the gap between them to lift the Princess into her arms. In a matter of seconds they were gliding upwards silently with the building disappearing into the darkness behind them, to be replaced by a silhouetted landscape dotted with stars.
Not unlike the occasional journey from the past, it was a quiet flight.
After a long while of hearing the wind whistle past them, Bubblegum was alerted by this quiet being interrupted suddenly.
"I'm sorry." Came Marceline's small voice out of the night.
Bonnibel waited patiently for her continue, knowing she wasn't finished.
"I knew how I was acting and I'm sorry. It was dumb." She shut her eyes, Marceline wasn't and would never be a fan of drawn out apologies. "I dunno, I just… it's been a while since we got to hang out and I guess I was kinda jealous that the science was more interesting than I was. And you were right. It… gets to me. A little. The looks and stuff. Like oh-here-comes-the-fearsome-vampire-lady-everyone-hide-your-children-grab-the-pitchforks. "She mocked in a heavy voice before breathing out a sigh, "And I'm sorry I made you upset and stuff. And thank you anyways for…y'know. What you said. For the record, I am sorry about the dinner party too." This was stupid. Look how many 'sorry's she'd just said. She might as well start apologising to herself for being useless at apologising too. Ugh- stupid stupid stupid…ness.
It was impossible to tell through the blackness of the night, but a small smile was tugging at Princess Bubblegum's lips- Marceline was the same as always. And so was she, it seemed. The very fact they still fought like they always had was enough to prove that. Maybe the fact that they remained drawn to each other regardless of this proved something else as well. Hmm. That was something to muse on…not right now.
"I forgive you." Said the Princess simply and calmly, "And I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have ignored you like that, it was incredibly rude and unfair of me…especially after you went to all the trouble to take me there. To somewhere you probably hated, in fact..." Bubblegum realised this fact as she spoke the words. "I- thank you, Marcy." She said, a little slower and more sincerely. She didn't want to bring up the insecurities thing again. It wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a comfortable topic for Marceline, and they'd argued enough for one night.
"It was nothing."
"No it wasn't, it was actually really rather considerate and kind of you to do. Something I shouldn't still be impressed by each time you go to the trouble for me."
"Yeah well, impressive person." Marceline pointed to herself and arched her neck to raise an eyebrow at Bonnibel.
"I'm not sure tonight could have been more interesting if we'd tried."
"Pfft, it probably woulda gone a whole lot better if I hadn't talked about that guy's bra-tie." Smirked the vampire.
The memory made the Princess release a giggle despite herself. "Yeah well- it did look a lot like a bra." She conceded.
"Speaking of bras…" trailed Marceline, prodding the pink girl in the small of her back and receiving a little squirm in return.
"Marceline!"
"Too soon?" the vampire stuck her tongue out mischievously- yep, the tone had already comfortably changed once again.
A grumble and a firm poke to the nose was all she achieved out of that. Eh, she could do patience.
"Another night, another balcony-drop-off..." smiled Marceline, laying back in the night air and raising her head ever so slightly to meet Bonnibel's gaze.
"It certainly seems that way." Nodded Bubblegum sleepily and leaning against the little railing that surrounded the terrace. She turned to tug down the handle of the glass door behind her; it opened with a familiar click and glided out to meet her hand, as always. A muffled tap as she stepped onto the stone floors of her bedroom, another raised eyebrow met with two fangs poking out in a grin, and another goodbye that left them both with the promise of more.
"You're it won't be nigh on four weeks next time?"
"Scout's honour- or something. Cross my heart and hope to die…again."
A roll of the eyes.
"And hopefully things'll go a little smoother this time, eh?" Marceline shut one eye in an almost-wince as she drifted backwards.
"I wouldn't say we've ever been 'smooth' Marc y." Bubblegum tilted her head, a subtle smile showing in her expression.
"That's…probably true. Alright, prepare yourself for like, full on brawls then. I'm talking crazy fights here."
"Taking no prisoners." Added the Princess resolutely.
"I'll get a spot set up in the Night-O-Sphere ready for when I kick you outta my sight, yeah?"
"I think I have a spare pair of shackles set up in the dungeons waiting for you already."
"Shackles, eh? Well when you put it like that…" Marceline winked.
A muffled laugh and the shake of a head before the balcony door slammed on her. Now, maybe she was just imagining things but she was pretty sure she'd heard a 'We'll see' before they'd shut.
Score.
A/N: Right- so I have an apology to make myself! . I'm so sorry it's taken this long to update! Holy crud, I got distracted with a couple of big side projects to start with… and then suddenly school and work and no time and- agh. D: It might still be difficult for me to find time to write, but I don't want to leave an update that long again, sorry sorry sorry for the delay dudes! (And the reviews did spur me to get my butt on to the computer, heh, thanks guys ;3)
Other than that- hope you enjoyed the chapter! I tried to show a little of the other side of their relationship- I get the feeling that they're pretty dysfunctional- varying from happy-fluffy-banter times to some seriously angry arguing moments. I dunno, what do you guys think? :)
In any case- thank you for reading and reviews of any kind are hugely appreciated! :D