Chapter 1: The Forgotten Earl of Castle Lemongrab
Summary:
Princess Bubblegum free from the crown's curse and well on track rebuilding her Candy Empire, minus a few minor issues... It doesn't matter in the long run.
As she files through her mail she finds an old letter from Lemongrab and needs to visit to clear some things up.
Notes:
i rewrote a lot of this chapter to better convey some of the ideas i have in mind both currently and later in the story.
sorry if you preferred the previous version, it should mostly be the same plot wise, just some minor character tweaks and better grammar i hope.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The aftermath of the Candy Queen's reign had resulted in the need for much repair that Princess Bubblegum spent the past eleven months working on.
While she feels forever grateful towards Fionna, the princess simultaneously despises her for the sheer number of candy citizens she'd left in disrepair. It was no quick and easy cleanup considering most of the work fell into Princess Bubblegum's hands. Fionna had disappeared since, the mess Fionna left was the true parting gift to the princess.
It has been a pain, but a welcomed one as it has kept her from actually processing what's happened. Princess Bubblegum busied herself with seemingly endless amounts of sticky repairs and messy disposals. All efforts and thoughts directed at the repairs, the kingdom, and its
future.
Still, the memory of the Candy Queen looms over her at all times. A constant static in her head. Fuzzy memories and feelings of mania flooding into her mind each time she closes her eyes.
It is only now all that remains of the Winter Kingdom is a shimmering lake, and the Candy Kingdom has fallen into somewhat normalcy is it she decides to reach out to other kingdoms again.
Princess Bubblegum spent weeks just trying to draft an adequate letter to each kingdom (A difficult task as it required addressing the past she was so desperately trying to abandon). Only to receive responses like: "Nice try, not falling for that again!" and "Write again if you still have your sanity in a month, not risking it."
Princess Bubblegum had expected bad.. just not this bad.
She groans and slumps her head on her desk. It's late and the sky outside her window is an inky void. With only the dim light of her lamp, she checks off the last kingdom of her list. She is beyond tired and ready to get her full three hours of sleep when she notices one letter left unopened. It sits alone in the pile of disregarded torn letters, this one seems older. Bubblegum picks it up gingerly, it isn't immediately recognizable. It smells faintly of citrus and as she turns it over she sees the lemon-shaped wax seal of Lemongrab.
Lemongrab... Truthfully Princess Bubblegum hasn't even thought of reaching out to him. In all fairness though, she has been dealing with a lot. She picks up her candycane letter opener and breaks through the wax seal with a satisfying snap.
"Princess Bubblegum,
I was at your kingdom. Don't ask why. Your citizens are beyond unacceptable, there is a deranged usurper. If you aren't dead fix this.
How Dare You, Earl of Lemongrab"
Bubblegum searches the letter for a date. No date. She rubs her eyes.
"What's he talking about?" She murmurs tiredly to herself.
"Kingdom's been fine," She pieces together what he must've seen. So it was an old letter. ah.
The princess tucks the letter back in its envelope. She sighs in resignation.
Time for a trip to the Earldom.
She slips on a jacket and hastily ties up her hair. She leaves a quick note explaining she'd be gone for time being and quick instructions to behave. She has little faith the instructions would be followed.
Princess Bubblegum arrives early in the morning, on a candy horse she whipped up in her lab earlier. The orange early morning clouds feel imposing as she journeys inside.
The earldom is emptier than she remembers, more colorless and lifeless. The thick scent of dust and citrus cling to her throat.
"Lemongrab, it's me," Bubblegum calls out nervously.
"Just checking in," She clarifies again and is met with an uncomfortably long silence. Peace in silence was on of the things the madness had taken. She lets another moment pass and with a sigh, continues her search.
She checks his bedroom next. He isn't there. She should leave but instead she decides to snoop around a bit. For clues.
The room is pretty bare, all she can find is a catchers mitt under one of his pillows. It shows no signs of use, not a single crease in it's shape. She hums in contemplation and moves on.
She passes several more rooms, many entirely empty, before finding him.
Lemongrab stands infront of another catcher mitt, propped up in a fancy display, this one in mint condition as well. Arms folded behind his back, leaned over it. He takes a sideways glance at her and returns his focus to the glove. Bubblegum lingers at the door for another moment, trying to gather her words.
"Hello Lemongrab," She awkwardly settles on. Lemongrab turns to face her with a contemplative hum.
"Mnn, Hello." He responds flatly.
"I was over here earlier, why didn't you say anything?" Princess Bubblegum asks.
"Hm. Didn't want to." He turns to face the catchers mitt again. The princess sighs and walks over to him.
"Listen we need to talk, I came here to talk to you about the letter you sent me.." Bubblegum hovers her hand over his shoulder then draws it back. He wasn't like her citizens, he didn't find comfort in the same things.
He directs his gaze toward her.
"...Are you upset?" He asks hesitantly.
"What? No," She responds in equal mixture of confusion and shock at his conclusion.
"I mean.. not at you," Bubblegum clarifies.
"You just visited to discuss?" Lemongrab narrows his eyes.
"I mean.. yeah, is that okay?" Princess Bubblegum asks with a half shrug, she can never understand what Lemongrab wants from her.
"hmmm," He considers the idea for a moment, gaze shifting between her and the glove.
"I suppose... this is acceptable." He settles on with an affirmative nod.
"We shall have this discussion at a table." He states and leaves the room without checking whether or not the princess followed.
He sits her at a table in one of the many empty rooms. It feels a bit like an interrogation but she obviously keeps it to herself. She waits for him to speak. The earl sits infront of her with a rigid posture and stare to match.
"Speak." He instructs her with a shrill voice.
"Uhh.. alright," She says in a half-cheerful, half-confused voice.
Princess Bubblegum explains the basic story to him, the crown, the curse transferred onto her, she skims over a lot she'd rather not dwell on. When she gets to the end of her explaination about finding the letter, Lemongrab interrupts her.
"How long has it been?" He asks plainly.
"What? Uh, what do you mean?" Princess Bubblegum processes the question before realizing what he had asked. How long have I ignored him, left him confused. She feels a small amount of guilt prickle in her stomach.
"Hmmm, the curse... How long since the curse has left?" He clarifies in a nervous tone as she stares at him with a slight frown. Lemongrab fidgets with one of his sleeves.
"Eleven months.." She admits, wincing at her own words as they come out. it hardly felt like much time, but then again she's been alive for a long time.
"I meant to check in, it just-" She tries to find good phrasing.
"There were more important things- I forgot," Bubblegum shrugs, she wanted to appear relaxed but realizes she probably comes off uncaring.
"Oh." Was all Lemongrab responds with. He smiles like he just understood some sort of hurtful joke. It was in a way.
"Listen.. Lemongrab, I didn't mean it like that, it's just-" She takes a deep breath.
"The whole candy kingdom, all the citizens, I have a duty to all my people," Princess Bubblegum offers a small smile but it just seems to hurt Lemongrab more.
"Hmmm.. I see, no, I understand." He solemnly nods.
"I get it.. I have much to attend to... here as the Earl of Castle Lemongrab," It's unclear to Bubblegum whether or not he's joking. She just nods and tries to figure out to handle the situation. She found him a bit too noisy and annoying at times, but she wouldn't leave him upset. He was her creation after all.
"I came here as soon as I read your letter, I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier," Lemongrab seems to accept this apology to some degree.
"Hm. Is that all?" Lemongrab asks, his eyes avoiding her. Princess Bubblegum isn't sure what else she can do. Lemongrab was always difficult. She lets the silence sit for a moment as she thinks. Letting herself be consumed by the awkward atmosphere of disappointment she created, who was disappointed in who was a debatable subject. It probably went both ways to an extent.
"I don't understand you Lemongrab," Princess Bubblegum admits.
"Hmm.. Nobody does," He stares at her with narrowed eyes,
one word away from sentencing her to his dungeon. The princess sighs and pinches between her brows.
"It's just.. what were you even doing in the candy kingdom?" She asks, waiting for his response.
"... I instructed you not to ask that." Lemongrab hums defensively and shifts further into his chair.
"I know, I know, It's just.. I feel like there's something I'm missing," And I need to know, there's already so much I've missed Princess Bubblegum finishes in her head.
"I thought you were happy here, you don't like the candy citizens," Princess Bubblegum reasons as Lemongrab fidgets again. He hums in a short note of agreement.
"I don't." He affirms with a short nod.
"Then why? Can you please tell me why?" Bubblegum asks sincerely. Lemongrab doesn't respond at first, maybe unsure about sharing.
"Mmn. I am alone." He confesses. Alone. Alone, Alone, Alone. Bubblegum repeats the word in her head. The Candy Queen was alone. An unwelcome thought says. But it's true, the memories are fuzzy but the emotions were still vividly painted in her mind. Clinging to her every breath she still felt the heaviness of a century's worth of misery. Lemongrab has been alone since I created him, longer than I was cursed. Bubblegum feels a twinge of sympathy, it was different. It was unknown how Lemongrab aged in comparison to her, and he was never made to carry traits that isolated him.... they were just already there. Thrown onto him and alienated with no explanation. She understands for a moment.
"You made me alone, you sent me away!" Lemongrab accuses in a shrill voice, pulling her out of her thoughts, for a moment she wonders if he knew what she'd been thinking.
"Wait, what? That's not-"
"-Mmn, even when you were cursed, I- I thought that was a usurper! But no! It was youuu!" Lemongrab gives accusatory point. Clearly between his confession of loneliness and now, he'd managed to spiral. She should've spoken after, she should probably talk now.
Princess Bubblegum resists the urge to plug her ears, yeah no, she needs to fix this, not make it worse.
"Even when cursed you still sent me away, you still didn't want me messing with your candy biz," Lemongrab says in a saddened yet awfully shrill voice. Princess Bubblegum shakes her head and sighs.
"Lemongrab, that's not fair-"
"No! You're not fair!" He interrupted. Now he's just being immature She waits to speak. Lemongrab blinks in response to her judgemental stare. He shifts in his chair, embarrassed.
"Look, I'm sorry, I thought I was doing what was best for you-" She sees Lemongrab open his mouth to respond but holds a hand up, gesturing him to wait.
"-but, that doesn't make it okay... I don't want to hurt anybody, not if I can help it." Not again, Not after Candy Queen hurt so many people. She offers him a gentle smile.
"I said I didn't understand you but... I never really made an effort to in the first place, I'd like to try now," Princess Bubblegum says cordially and folds her hands in her lap.
"Is that okay?" She asks, carefully monitoring his response.
"Oh.." He responses blankly, like he didn't expect to ever hear those words. Which to be fair, he probably didn't. He hums again, satisfied.
"That's... acceptable. Can I call you Mother Princess again?" Princess Bubblegum nods hesitantly. She doesn't quite remember him ever doing that, or telling him not to refer to her like that. She doesn't doubt it happened though.
"Yeah, uh sure.. that's cool," Princess Bubblegum rotates his previous request around in her head, making sense of the sentiment.
"Acceptable... you may leave now." Lemongrab informs her rather than suggests, and points at the door. He stares at her, unblinking.
"But, mnn... come visit soon, call first." He instructs plainly with a small smile. Not wanting to spoil it, Princess Bubblegum obliges and leaves. She'd be sure to visit. Perhaps visiting would benefit them both, maybe this wouldn't have to be an obligation.
Notes:
feel free to comment your opinions and thoughts so far! i'm open to helpful feedback!
Chapter 2: Princess Alliances... Must Be Nice.
Summary:
Princess Bubblegum visits Lemongrab again. It turns out he's doing better in trade alliances than she is. However, during her visit he is very guarded about a specific letter, she still isn't sure why.
Notes:
let me know if you find any grammar mistakes. i actually tried to be consistent in using the same tense this chapter, it should be easier to read. might go back and fix chapter one if i have time later.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Princess Bubblegum returns to the Candy Kingdom and is met with what appears to be a citizen uprising against the banana guards. She resolves the issue in about two minutes but spends the next couple days cleaning up the aftermath.
Running the Candy Kingdom was like this, a sisyphean task. An eternal game of jenga where just as you begin to take pride in the tower's structure, it collapses.
She attempts to convince Lemongrab to visit the Candy Kingdom for their next visit but quickly recieces a letter in response stating "No."
Princess Bubblegum wakes up. Like most mornings where she expects to see the familiar interior of the castle she'd spent carefully designing, creating, tending to hundreds of years ago.
The castle she's spent much time and thought on when ensuring the design was structurely sound yet remained reminiscent of what she'd dreamt of in her younger years.
Instead she wakes up in the remodeled version. The castle of moutainous sharp sticky shards messily thrown together candy, the castle that had overtaken her version of the kingdom. The Candy Queen's creation.
Princess Bubblegum's kingdom was gone. She forced the memory of that hone away, a task made both easier and more difficult because there were no signs of its existence left. Including Neddy.
She sighs and rubs the sleep out her eyes. She changes into her everyday apparel. She holds her crown with both hands, runs her thumb over the gem, contemplates a moment longer. And puts it on. Princess Bubblegum walks over to her bedroom mirror.
"Nope, not feeling it," She mutters to herself and makes a sharp turn back to her closet. She slides her ten identical "everyday" dresses to the side and shuffles through her "seperate occasion" outfits. She decides on a more casual dress shirt and a flaired pair of dress pants to match.
It will do.
She makes her way to her study and sorts through the pile of old newspaper articles and books that her servents had brought at her request. surprisingly almost half were relevant or at the very least good additions to the new library.
She gets through about half a book all about the last half-century of Flame Kingdom political drama before giving up and snapping the book shut, letting out an exasperated groan.
She mumbles and glances outside the nearest window. It was nearly mid-day already going off the fact the sun burned straight into eyes as soon as she turned to the window. She stands up and shuffles her things together, makes a quick address to her subjects, and leaves for Castle Lemongrab.
She doubts the address will work considering half her subjects were asleep, but it was the routine of making the address that mattered. It was familiar and something she understood. Familiarity was something she always found comfort in, but especially in recent days.
Princess Bubblegum arrives in record time and knocks on the door firmly. Lemongrab doesn't answer so she lets herself in. He didn't care much last time. Out of precaution however, she purposefully steps audibly and narrates her actions.
"I'm here!" She calls out in a friendly voice.
"A bit late sorry, I'll try not to let it happen again!" She crosses her arms and peaks in some of the different rooms as she wanders down the hall.
"Time just.. slips away, y'know?" She cringes at her own wording. So much time.. in some cases.
She expected Lemongrab to aquire more things over the years but Castle Lemongrab has remained stubbornly bare. She thought it was just Lemongrab's general hate of Things. After her last visit she figures he just hasn't gotten out enough to fill the space. She checks upstairs next and spots him from the top of the stairs leaving a room anxiously.
"Hello Lemongrab!" She waves and makes her presence known. He glances at her but doesn't bother to pause whatever he is doing and continues walking. She considers following him but instead enters the room he'd previously left.
The room is small, grey, and contains only a single plain off-white table with a plain dark green chair to match. Princess Bubblegum inspects it closer, because she struggles with respecting the concept of an individual's right to privacy.
She notices the pile of neatly stacked envelopes. Lemongrab gets mail? She thinks as she skims through the envelopes. Bubblegum recognizes one as the royal seal of the Slime Kingdom, Fire Kingdom, a few others she couldn't recall. She settles on a pale purple envelope marked with the wax seal of Lumpy Space.
This is either a good step forward for re-establishing the Candy Kingdom's trade alliances... or a total dog water step back. She thinks as she grabs for her letter opener.
She moves to open it, she's interrupted. Behind her, Lemongrab stands in the doorway, pointing an accusatory finger with an offended gasp. He shrieks in a long shrill tone.
Busted.
Princess Bubblegum laughs awkwardly and sets the envelope and letter opener down for Lemongrab to quickly snatch away. He holds them close to his chest and makes a sour face (pun intended?) as she holds her hands up in the air.
"Guilty," She replies jokingly in an anxious tone. Lemongrab hums in frustration and puts the letter opener down, but draws the envelope closer, inspecting it for invisible damage. Princess Bubblegum sighs.
"Look, I was just curious about what kind of relationships and alliances you have with the kingdoms." Lemongrab draws the envelope against his chest and hunches his shoulders.
"Hmm..That's none of your business!" Lemongrab narrows his eyes in suspicion. Princess Bubblegum crosses her arms.
"That's exactly my issue, I don't have business in any kingdom!" Bubblegum emphasizes and spreads her arms to gesture. She immediately feels a bit childish for not apologizing. It's exactly the type of situation she'd catch one of the candy people in, she would be fed up with her own stubbornness prolonging the mild dispute.
"It's just.." She lets her arms fall limp by her side. She smiles softly but quickly gives it up as she continues. Lemongrab was generally... unskilled in recognizing social cues, he'd know something was off a mile away and immediately take it as a sign of suspicion.
"I'm way outta the loop, I don't even have my security cameras intact anymore," She explains and ignores the confused glance Lemongrab shot at her.
"I don't mean to throw my junk onto you, I can handle myself, I'm PB, always have," Princess Bubblegum runs her hands through her hair, she slides off her crown and holds it in one hand. Bonnibel places it on the table next to Lemongrab as a silent gesture she hopes he'll somehow understand. She inhales through her nose and adjust her hair again.
"Won't do it again," She smiles and attempts to laugh her unusual unguarded moment off.
"I promise not to look at your stuff," At least.. not now, this time is for socializing, bonding. The princess tells herself. She spoke sincerely though, because she was, mostly.
Lemongrab hums a note of acceptance and relaxes his posture slightly. She said the right thing, it should be good now.
"Six years Dungeon." Lemongrab states blankly. Princess Bubblegum's eyes widen.
"What?" She asks in pure exasperation as Lemongrab nods.
"Mmn, yes.. that will do," He smiles lightly while Bubblegum blinks, trying to figure out if he was serious. Knowing Lemongrab, he probably was.
"Follow, Dugeon's this way!" He exclaims excitedly. Princess Bubblegum freezes. Then sighs for probably the hundredth time.
"Lemongrab. I'm not going to the dungeon." She states in a tired monotone. Lemongrab seems appalled by the statement and whips around for an explanation.
"...People who want to have good... friendships with each other don't send each other to the dungeon." Princess Bubblegum explains carefully, hesitant to call their relationship a familial one. If he was family then Bonnibel feared she hadn't been much kinder to him than her own family was to her. She pushes that topic away.
Lemongrab frowns and mutters something that sounds a lot like unacceptable.
The more time she spends with the earl, the more she realizes she failed to ever properly socialize him.
Lemongrab rubs his fingers over the envelope like he's petting it, shooting her a defensive but ultimately defeated look to Bubblegum.
"Mnn. Fine, only because I have no jurisdiction.. tooo actually sentence you Dungeon." Lemongrab stares at his envelope. After a minute of contemplation he speaks again.
"You can look at some of the letters.. once I'm done.. that would be acceptable."
They eat plain rice and the most flavorless omelet Bonnibel had ever tasted. She compliments his consistent cooking and earns a small smile in response.
She watches as Lemongrab opens each letter but the one he'd been guarding. He reads the first one out loud. She's unsure if it's on purpose or not so she doesn't mention it.
"-I Slime Princess, will in turn provide you one month's supply of eggs, I hope this is okay... Sincerely, Slime Princess, Princess of the Slime Kingdom," Lemongrab finishes reading it and Bubblegum perks her head up.
"You... get along with others?" She promts and receives an unreadable look in turn.
"Only tolerate, still too.. unlemon... They fill me with neeaar-constant and immeasurable stress," Lemongrab explains while he writes a reply on a separate piece of paper. Bubblegum can read his reply from where she sits.
"Dear Slime Princess.
I accept. You can have 3 extra lemons because rounded numbers are unacceptable here in the earldom.
How Dare You Sincerely, Lemongrab."
Princess Bubblegum observes as he neatly tucks the letter in it's envelope and seals it shut. He hums as he opens the next one.
The next few letters were similar, princesses in need of lemons for whatever reason and offering Lemongrab some straight hot garbage trades in return.. but whatever, it's not her decision, nor business to know what Lemongrab plans to do with 46 meters of green fabric from Raggedy Princess.
Lemongrab gets to the last letter, the one he'd been so protective of. But now he seems hesitant. Bubblegum tilts her head.
"What's up?" She asks him with slight concern.
"...Should I leave?"
"NO!" Lemongrab interjects sharply and a bit frantically. He sets the letter down.
"I'll open it.. mmn.. just don't want to." He explains and clasp his hands together on the table. Princess Bubblegum isn't sure what to think.
"What if... I read it for you, outloud, is that cool?" Princess Bubblegum feels like she may soon regret the offer, but now she just desires a resolution to the (minuscule) conflict more than anything else. Lemongrab slides her the envelope and his own letter opener.
"...Acceptable," He then draws himself back into his chair and retains a rigid posture, eyes wide and waiting. Princess Bubblegum grabs her own letter opener, as it is what is more comfortable when a displeased hum comes from Lemongrab in response. Without a word she set hers aside and uses the one Lemongrab had provided. She clears her throat.
"Dear Lemongrab, "
"-That's not how she sounds," Lemongrab interrupts sharply. Bubblegum rolls her eyes.
"... You didn't do any voices when you read. I don't even know who this is." She counters with a shrug.
Honestly I think all the Princesses I knew are dead now... or super old. She thinks unseriously to herself but is sure to quickly weed the thought away.
"Lumpy Space Princess." Lemongrab informs her.
"Right," She nods then continues reading.
"I'm writing this to let you know you made the list! You're invited to my super fabulous party, yeah!" Princess Bubblegum lacked enthusiasm in her reading but received no grievances from Lemongrab. In fact he looked completely mortified at the mention of the word party.
"And then it says.. 'Actually, it's technically not a party it's the annual Princess Day Convention (Plus Winter King / Earl of Lemongrab) (Invitations Not Given Lightly) (Please Attend) whatever. I'm just hosting this year but since I'm still homeless soooo it's somewhere in the wilderness, I don't know where. Just find it, you got this. RSVP.'" Princess Bubblegum finishes reading and sets the letter down slowly.
She stares at Lemongrab who looks stressed by just about every word of that letter... there's something else in his expression too. Or maybe not.
"I want to go." Lemongrab admits and Princess Bubblegum feels mental whiplash as her understanding of the situation abandons her completely to buy lotto tickets at the corner store.
"What? Why?" She asks in an unfortunately increasingly familiar tone of confusion. Lemongrab blinks and hums again. He taps his pointer fingers on the table in a consistent rhythm.
"...I want... to..." He didn't finish the statement but seems satisfied with it after another bout of silence.
"I want to." He repeats. Bonnibel didn't completely understand but she decides she wantes to help. This would be good for him. I hope this goes good. She thinks
"Okay," She nods and hopes she conveys herself more put together than she feels.
"I've been to these things before... not since.. well, doesn't matter." She waves her hand in a dismissive gesture.
"Probably didn't change much, point it I've got the etiquette down," She says with a convincing amount of relaxed confidence.
Truth is she can't be sure it's the same. These days overwhelmed her, even then, mirroring the mannerisms of the other princesses had always made her feel like a fraud on some level. It felt like constant judgement, a secret test she hadn't studied for. She shakes the thought away.
"Practically owned the day, I bet I could win over all those new princesses," She continues with faux confidence.
Lemongrab smiles with a content hum.
"...I accept, you may attend... as my guest tomorrow!" Lemongrab says contently. What.
"What." She repeats outloud.
"It's tomorrow." Lemongrab informs her. Princess Bubblegum blinks. Tomorrow.
"We must locate the party's venue soon. hmmmnn.. We must leave now," Lemongrab decides.
"Also.. you musstt.. instruct me properly."
Tomorrow?
"Uh huh, yeah.. okay" She responds. Whatever... She decides. I'll just have to make the best of it. She begins her last minute mental preparations. She couldn't donk this up, for either of them.
Notes:
next chapter will have more of my own head canons for what the rest of the winter world au looks like, also some other princesses!! yay!!
Chapter 3: Princess Day
Summary:
Princess Day! Princess Bubblegum discovers the princess population has drastically decreased over the years as well as the organization among the princesses. The day generally is a let down but there is a silver lining in the form of both a new alliance and friendship.
Notes:
Feel free to comment if you see any spelling mistakes or bad grammar that needs fixed, i tried to catch everything but mistakes could still slip through.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Princess Bubblegum is ready to leave until she catches her reflection in one of the castle's tall windows. She stops abruptly and Lemongrab stops as well, pausing a rant about how he once fought an intruder (one cockroach that had found its way to Lemongrab's favorite table). She frowns at her reflection and tucks her hair out of her face. Her outfit has been good for this visit, but Princess Day? Yeah, no.. big mistake.
"Sorry Lemongrab but there is no way I'm going out like this, trust me, it wouldn't go over well," She sighs at her reflection. Last thing I need is to fall into Raggedy Princess territory... I might already be there.
Lemongrab speaks hesitantly.
"...I might have someething youu can wear," As he makes the suggestion, Bubblegum unfortunately can't hide the judgement on her face as she tries to picture herself dressed like him at formal event. An event her reputation, as well as his, may rely on. Lemongrab follows her gaze back to himself and his outfit.
"I meant soome dresses, in the guest room. hmmn, see if any fit." Lemongrab instructs her without elaborating and leaves, possibly to get changed himself after her comment. Princess Bubblegum is pretty sure all his outfits are identical, but maybe she's mistaken.
Princess Bubblegum finds the guest room and the dresses. However it's hardly an inviting guest room as it contains only an aged twin mattress left on the floor (no bedding or frame) and singular wooden chair propped up against the dull pale wall.
The dresses are stored in a dark wooden chest hidden deep inside the dusty closet. Whatever she expected hadn't been this. These... are all presumably used based on some of the minor tears and worns zippers she spots. The princess racks her brain for possible explanations but quickly drops it. Too late...still thinking about it.
She holds one up to inspect. The dress is too wide and definitely too short for her, she grabs another, same issue. There are eight dresses total and seven seem to belong to the same person. It doesn't help Bonnibel's suspicions... She will prioritize, besides, Lemongrab's personal life isn't her business.. Unless this somehow effects the Candy Kingdom at large. She had no reason to think that a the moment so she forces herself to let it go.
She tries the only dress her size, it fits her style and... oh it is hers. Right, it went missing long before any curse had taken ahold of her. The dress is comfortable but stylish, sharp, professional. It's perfect... except, too much purple. The other princesses wouldn't be too fixated on the color, right? Not the way she'd fixate on it. Bonnibel steps away from the mirror.
The other dresses are lined up on the floor. She folds them with neat precision, stacking each back into the chest. Careful to closely maintain the original arrangement and placement.
She opens the door and finds Lemongrab waiting for her, presumably in a different outfit. She isn't startled, instead she just finds herself contemplating him. Princess Bubblegum didn't know enough to even begin drawing conclusions about some of his recent behavior.. and yet..
"..We should leave now." Lemongrab says after what must've been a really awkward bout of silence.
Princess Bubblegum packs a majority of supplies for the trip while Lemongrab seems to be attempting to teach Lemon Camel how to track things by scent, pressing the invitation letter against the creature's nose.
Princess Bubblegum rereads the letter again for what must be the thousandth time. She's beginning to strain her eyes as the sky darkens into a murky dark purple, the strain is giving her a headache. She was hoping to find some hidden set of directions coded within the letter, that would've been cool. But no, they were actually just meant to find this place... She was beginning to doubt if Princess Day was even taken seriously anymore. She needs it to.
Lemongrab is still talking about difference between sage green and fern green when she folds the letter away and tucks in back into the pouch on Lemon Camel. Princess Bubblegum decides in the future it's best to generally label things 'green'.
"-Hmmnn.. in short it was a fern plant.. sooo it was clearly fern green. Not sage.. Mother Princess?" Lemongrab looks to her, perched on top of Lemon Camel. She nods weakly as they seem to pass the same small pond for the third time.
"Yeah, uh huh, fern plant equals fern green, got it," Lemongrab hums in approval. She rubs her eyes tiredly then comes to a hault. Lemon Camel follows suit.
"Let's just camp here for the night, we'll keep moving tomorrow," She begins setting up camp before Lemongrab responds. Bonnibel is beyond tired and willing to abuse her royal power to get sleep if necessary. Despited it being her own glob-awful sleep schedule to blame for this, she's too tired to take any accountability for it.
"In the meanwhile I'll tell you more about how to act n' junk, sound good?" She as she suggest this, whatever complaints Lemongrab had been formulating die down as he slides off of Lemon Camel. He feeds it some lemon candies as Princess Bubblegum clears the big rocks and twigs to make enough space for a tent. She lists the etiquette and some basic social cues as she sets up their small camp.
"-Also, if you're trying to be friends with someone, don't just talk about yourself-"
"-Why?" Lemongrab interrupts.
"I don't know, it's just rude and annoying, you have to get people to talk about themselves instead," Princess Bubblegum explains as she gathers a few broken off branches and twigs for a fire. Lemongrab looks displeased and hums defiantly.
"Hmmn.. I don't get it, why dooo.. do they get to talk, and not me?" Lemongrab narrows his eyes, waiting for another explanation. Bubblegum shrugs as she finishes setting up their small fire.
Truthfully she worries the way he speaks will put him at a disadvantage, alienate him further. His voice had always been nasally and shrill, with odd pauses between words, and drawn out words in the middle of his sentences. Princess Bubblegum never knew what caused this, initially categorizing this as part of her own failure. She now puts an effort to not call him a failed experiment but rather an unexpected outcome. Lemongrab was just different, not necessarily a failure. For a quick moment, Neddy comes to mind. Neddy, who she can only assume is gone now.
"Eh, beats me. I never claimed this stuff was fair or made sense," She finally answers. She sits back and looks around to inspect her work, she did pretty well all things considered.
"It's just.. you can talk, but like, it's easier to just listen and jump in with a quick comment or question," She tries to explain in a way that Lemongrab might listen to.
"because otherwise, if you're talking, there's a ton more biz you gotta pay attention too, it'd be wayyy harder," She explains conversationally while Lemongrab tilts his head.
"mmnn... biz like what?" He asks curiously. Princess Bubblegum chews on her cheek, gathering her thoughts.
"All sorts of junk really, like tones you use, conversational topics, relevance of a topic, how well different topics go over with different people, you want to speak clear enough, loud enough, pace your words right, time your words right, enouciate, y'know, all sorts of junk," She lists things on her hands while Lemongrab fidgets with the cuff of his sleeve, rubbing his thumb against the fabric in a repetitive motion.
"...hmmn, let's travel back to the castle," Lemongrab suggests and Princess Bubblegum sighs.
"It's a bit late for that and once you actually talk tomorrow it won't be that hard... probably," She reassures him and pats his shoulder once. He tolerates it, doesn't stiffen at the brief contact. Lemongrab hums a quick unconvinced note in response, now unsure. Maybe I intimidated him a bit much.. Princess Bubblegum deducts.
"Yeah... alright, sure," His nervous tone tell her he's still unsure.
"I think I still like the other thing better," He says with no elaboration, causing Bonnibel to pause her entire train of thought.
"...Sorry, Lemongrab. What do you mean the other thing?" She tilts her head and raise an eyebrow in light suspicion. Bonnibel thinks of the dresses...That couldn't...No, she'd let him explain. Lemongrab looks away. There's a pit in her stomach as a new fear forms.
"The princess of Lumpy Space...thinks Lemon Camel is me," He states plainly and Bonnibel shakes her head lightly, facepalming. Of course..
"Wait, wait, Hold up, Lemongrab... I think I need a bit more of an explanation," She tells him with a tone of tired confusion. One of her top three tones used lately. Lemongrab blinks then nods once.
"... She visited Lemon Camel.. whooo she thinks is the Earl of Lemongrab," He rephrases. She sighs and squeezes her eyes shut.
"Yeah, I got that... just how does this..? When..?" Bonnibel struggles to even settle on which question she should ask first as Lemongrab casually admits to... whatever this was.
"..Lemon Camel makes the journeys tooo.. to trade, so the princess thought Lemon Camel was me," Lemongrab folds his hands in his lap, messing with the hem of his sleeve as he darts his eyes away from her.
"...I didn't speak to her..mmn, it was difficult, so I ran away.." Lemongrab nods at his own explaination before continuing.
"..Then I hid her things around Castle Lemongrab..." He confesses and hums anxiously. Bonnibel absorbs everything she just heard and inhales deeply before deciding how to even handle it. Not as bad as she feared.. This is manageable.
"Okay.. I'm glad you shared this, it'll definitely spare me some confusion tomorrow," She starts slowly, unsure of what to make of it, speaking in a calming tone. She wonders if that's also why her dress had been there, if he just hid it.. for glob knows what reason. It also prompts the question of what else, and how much, has he hidden. One weird thing at a time. Lemongrab sits waiting for the rest of her response.
"Lemongrab.. Tomorrow you have to talk to her, just... I don't know, just don't let everyone believe you're the camel," She sighs in an utter tone of exasperation. Lemongrab stares blankly in turn, blinking.
"Look, I know talking is scary but this is just... weird, straight up, sorry. I don't get it," Bonnibel tells him truthfully. Lemongrab stares, always just staring. She didn't understand.
"...Nobody does," He states bitterly. Bonnibel second guesses herself for a moment.
But what was she supposed to say? What to say when nothing ever seemed to work with him... She said she'd try, she wanted to keep her promise to him. She weeds out her unhelpful thoughts.
It is just another problem, I'm good at problem solving. She rationalizes.
"It's.. You feel alone, right? You don't get many guests?" Bubblegum asks and he hums affirmatively. She connects the motive to his actions.
"..You were trying to make her stay longer, why didn't you just talk?" She asks casually. Lemongrab draws his knees to his chest.
"Too stressful," He answers simply and Bubblegum decides thats good enough for tonight. The conversation seemed to drain them both.
"Alright, if it happens tomorrow just.. come to me if you aren't sure how to handle something," She sighs and crawls inside her tent to sleep.
Lemongrab eventually sleeps against Lemon Camel outside. She thinks she can feel him watching her but quickly dismisses the feeling, blaming it on sleep deprivation induced paranoia.
The next morning Princess Bubblegum uses the reflection of a puddle to adjust her hair before they leave. One of the perks of being made of bubblegum is it doesn't need much adjusting and she's about as clean as she was the day before.
They break out of the loop they'd been trapped in the day before, apparently Lemongrab had been trying again with Lemon Camel's scent searching. Luckily it only takes about ten minutes before they find where the event is hosted.
A small clearing between the Candy Kingdom and melted remains of the Winter Kingdom. A lot must've went down in the past century because only twenty-ish, maybe less, princesses show up. She recognizes Raggedy Princess as the same but every other princess is new, some even come from kingdoms foreign to Princess Bubblegum despite her extensive knowledge. She watches Lemongrab hold an awkward conversation with Lumpy Space Princess for a few moments before deciding he's fine for the time being.
The general consensus is that Princess Bubblegum is to be avoided, so Bonnibel simply sighs with a familiar exhaustion and sits in one of the fold-out chairs to wait for the speech to start, officially beginning business.
The others sit away from her, a noticeable gap between her and well...everyone. Princess Bubblegum rolls her eyes.
"Childish, aren't they?" An unfimiliar voice speaks, Princess Bubblegum looks to her right and sees who must be the current Flame Princess sitting beside her on a sturdy rock. The grass smokes underneath her feet. Based on her appearance she must be running her kingdom. She seems fairly young, though she carries herself with a weight and sense of leadership that says otherwise.
"Yeah, I definitely should've expected it though, just thought maybe people would be understanding," That earns her an amused laugh. Bubblegum's unamused face only seems to elavate the humor of the comment.
"Trust me, they're more upset about the Winter King being dead than anything that happened while you were cursed," The Flame Princess reassures her, an underlying tone of resentment in her voice. Bubblegum tilts her head.
"I'm sure that my century's worth of mania has at least a little to do with it," Princess Bubblegum replies flatly. The Flame Princess shakes her head like Princess Bubblegum was the naive one, which perhaps she was. Regardless it's a little humiliating after the false confidence she'd brought to this thing.
"Believe me, most of these princesses have been shoving blame on me too, you can probably guess why," She scoffs with frustration, staring at her own hand as her flames briefly spike up. Fascinating.. The scientist in Princess Bubblegum desires to learn more.
Lumpy Space Princess steps onto her podium (which happened to be a tree stump) and clears her throat, giving time for everyone to quiet down. She speaks into her microphone (connected to a karaoke machine, but a real microphone nonetheless).
"Hey guys, I know everyone's sad that the Winter King is dead or whatever but let's forget about that right now and enjoy this party!" Lumpy Space Princess exclaims. A princess raises her hand, Lumpy Space Princess looks over with a grin.
"Yes, you over there," She speaks with a casual confidence.
"Why do you even get to host when you don't even have somewhere to host?" Raggedy Princess asks. Raggedy Princess..? Dang...She got mean.
"It's not my fault! My parents are evil monsters!" LSP exclaims defensively, gesturing with her arms. She clears her throat.
"Anyone else?" She asks irritablely. A princess swiftly raises her hand, Slime Princess, she recognizes.
"Uh, LSP, isn't this supposed to be about trade.. or whatever?" Slime Princess asks awkwardly and a several others murmur in agreement. Lumpy Space Princess crosses her arms.
"Well.. Yeah, but that's like super boring and it's like, I don't even know how to do that, none of us do!" Lumpy Space Princess explains with a groan.
"I mean... what's even the point?" She adds and some more murmuring takes place. The general consensus seems to be an agreement it's pointless...Good to know how things managed in her absence.
"Okay great! Anyone who wants to talk about boring junk can eat it!" Lumpy Space Princess exclaims, Flame Princess facepalms. Bubblegum scans the rest of the crowd and Slime Princess catches her eyes for a moment, Slime Princess gives a quick glare. Great, one of the two princesses to express care towards the actual point of the day dislikes her. Princess Bubblegum just hopes she won't mess things up with the Flame Princess.
"Also by it, I meant that cake I borrowed from the Candy Kingdom," LSP points to the desert bar where the cake sat. What the flip man...
"Seriously, you mean you stole from the Candy Kingdom... Where everything is edible already?" Princess Bubblegum asks incredulously, not understanding the point of such an action. Lemongrab, who'd sat up front awkwardly darted his eyes around. He sinks back into his chair and almost looks embarrassed for some reason... Whatever.
"You couldn't just steal a piece of a wall or road or something? Couldn't be something free, just had to steal from my citizens.." She gestures vaguely and LSP blinks.
"Oh right, I forgot, I should probably start paying for junk now that you aren't all so lumpin' crazy," LSP jokes apologetically. Bubblegum cringes, right... She decides to let this one slide, not wanting to see the conversation through.
Princess Bubblegum stands off to the side afterwards with a small glass of punch she suspects is a bit more than punch. She swirls the liquid around in her cup, only taking the occasional sip. Flame Princess stands next her, because apparently parties aren't as enjoyable when everything in sight is flammable. Flame Princess by some miracle holds no resentment towards Princess Bubblegum, in fact she enjoys her company at the moment. They've spent a good majority of the party simply talking. Flame Princess listens as Bubblegum explains the expectations she had held for Princess Day, the way it used to be.
"Y'know, still sounds like a pain but at least a productive one...Now it's just a party, which is cool...for them." Flame Princess sighs heavily and crosses her arms. Her temperature spikes.
"All the years I've been here nobody's bothered to plan with me in mind, I'm lucky if I'm even an after thought...Honestly if next year looks anything like this, I'm skipping," Flame Princess gestures sharply with her hands as she speaks, the grass nearby shoots up into flames to just as quickly turn to ash. She doesn't acknowledge it so Princess Bubblegum doesn't either.
"Yeah... I thought maybe I could re-establish some of my old alliances, y'know, after I donked up those letters," Bubblegum sloshes the punch around in her cup again before taking another sip. She's embarrassed to even bring the letters up, the Flame Princess hadn't trusted the letter. She sent back a wordy response letting Bubblegum know her disdain for liars. Flame Princess watches her closely.
"...About the letters, I think a good chunk of the reason it failed was you put the wrong names on the letters, at least mine," She informs her hesitantly. Bubblegum furrows her brows.
"Huh? What you mean?" She racks her brain for a moment. Flame Princess gives her another moment before simply speaking.
"My first name is Phoebe,"
"What- oh...I really donked it up," Princess Bubblegum facepalms and groans.
"First names would've been great... if they hadn't been those of the princesses about a hundred years prior," Flame Princess poorly attempts to reassure her. Bonnibel just laughs though, she feels lighter now that she understands why it flopped so horrifically.
"I just can't believe I managed to forget.. I drafted each letter about four times," She shakes her head and Phoebe smiles lightly.
"I get what you mean, you wouldn't believe-"
"-Mother Princess," Lemongrab shifts his eyes to Flame Princess then anxiously back to Princess Bubblegum. She tries to think why he would come up to her... Oh right.
"I'll be right back, this should be quick.. probably," She tells Phoebe with a smile before walking away to a quieter area to speak with Lemongrab.
She sits down across from him in the grass. He sits with rigid straight posture.
"What's the issue?" She asks him curiously. He hums as he gathers his words. Bonnibel notices it's usually harder for him to communicate when he's distressed, which unfortunately proved helpful to nobody.
"Everything is acceptable," He reports matter-of-factly.
"...Oh, that's good?" She guesses is the appropriate response.
"Hmn, yes... that is the issue, too acceptable, it's overwhelming," Lemongrab fidgets with his hands. Bonnibel figured something being too good was one of the better problems for him to face today but... this was still hard.
"What makes it overwhelming?" She decides to ask. He hums for a moment and looks away.
"She.. she wants to go on a date," Princess Bubblegum has a lot of questions, but she isn't going to overhelm him with her prying. Instead she listens.
"Hmnn..Too different, It's all too different. I want to be alone again." Lemongrab glares at the grass. He grips his head tightly.
"...I thought being alone was the issue?" Bubblegum asks him curiously as Lemongrab hums in frustration. She still didn't understand.
"You wouldn't get it," He answers stubbornly and Princess Bubblegum stares at the grass between her fingers for a moment.
"Maybe I could...Or is that just you trying to say you don't want to talk?" Bonnibel guesses.
"I don't just...I never meant to mess you up like this," She abandons her original thought.
Something about the moment reminds her of the first few days after she created him. Bonnibel feels overwhelmed with guilt whenever she's thinks about herself then. Around that time she practiced cruelty worse than any harm the Candy Queen could even think to curate.
Lemongrab rocks slightly. He doesn't look at her. Bonnibel realizes a bit late how her words must've sounded to him.
"I meant me, like the way I treated you. I mean...I've hurt you to the point that just being okay is something foreign to you, let alone happiness," Bonnibel goes to rest her hand on his arm, he freezes in place then shudders. No touching right now, okay.
She doesn't say anything else, no. Bonnibel sits with Lemongrab silently until he feels ready to talk again. When he does he informs her awkwardly that he wanted to clear things up with someone else. He still seems a bit jittery as he leaves but Bonnibel doesn't mention it.
"So like...You're a mom?" Phoebe asks and skips another rock across the pond, the water steams at contact. The sun is beginning to set, the orange sky reflects in the pond.
"That's cool, I guess, I just hadn't pictured it when we first met, no offense," She skips another. Bonnibel shrugs.
"Eh, None taken.. To be honest I hadn't either, I've done some hurtful things because of it," Bonnibel admits truthfully. Phoebe tilts her head.
"..You weren't ready for a kid?" She inquires as she searches for another good skipping rock. She picks one up and inspects it.
"Nah, it wasn't like that. I just never saw him that way, To me he was a reflection of my own personal failure, I didn't even see him a person. Let alone my son." Bonnibel reflects with a wistful sorrow. Truthfully even now Bonnibel feels strange about being Lemongrab's mother. When she spoke about her citizens being her children it wasn't the same as Lemongrab, because with her citizens it's always been one-sided. Phoebe processes the words.
"It wasn't fair, I never gave him a chance, I couldn't even see all the ways I hurt him, not even sure I can now." Bonnibel folds her hands in her lap, watching a few fish circle each other in the pond. Phoebe sets her rock down.
"Sounds messy, it reminds me of my family... in a way, kind of," Phoebe clarifies and leans back, the rock sizzles underneath her. Bonnibel nods and shifts to face her.
"It's like...Nobody in my family really views me as family even, just a threat to their power," She explains bitterly and her flames flare up momentarily.
"The Winter King saw me as a threat too, had me imprisoned in a glass vase my whole life," Bonnibel nods but for a guilty moment she finds the idea rational and beneficial.
"He also put us in these terrible cold seasons, barely enough heat left for us to survive.. it was awful," Phoebe speaks distantly and trails off. Bonnibel reaches over to comfort her but quickly reminds herself why that's a bad idea. Phoebe catches this in her peripheral vision, more entertained by the attempted gesture than anything else.
"What I was trying to say is I see my family in you.. but not necessarily in a bad way, in a way that helps me understand them and my own past, if that makes sense." Phoebe runs her fingers through her hair. She looks up at Bonnibel and straightens her posture, flames spiking up as she attempts to appear cordial.
"You've been very open about yourself, Princess Bubblegum, your intentions, your past, it's something I respect and value in any alliances I make." Phoebe explains formally as she stands up. Bonnibel grins as she gets up.
"Bonnibel, feel free to call me Bonnibel," Phoebe hums an amused note.
"Only if you remember to call me Phoebe, If the Candy Kingdom ever needs anything I'll be sure my kingdom helps. I'd expect you to do same, in the meanwhile, we'll have to keep in touch," She crosses her arms and smiles softly. Despite her efforts, Phoebe was glad to befriend another princess again and Bonnibel could honestly say the same.
"I'll make sure of it, don't worry,"
Notes:
going to update tags but if there's something i should add go ahead and let me know!
next chapter i was thinking more pb and fp friendship/bonding or pb meeting lsp for the first time, i eventually plan for both but i just want to know which people would want to see first,
Chapter 4: A Regular Visit
Summary:
It's been two months and Bonnibel has been frequently visiting the Fire Kingdom to focus on improvements. Phoebe grows suspicion of her intentions.
Notes:
let me know what we think about more chapters from other characters POVs after you read this chapter. i'll probably continue either way but I'll take notes on how to improve if we don't like it rn.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Phoebe remembers the day she had finally broken free, how everyone's eyes were glued to her as she stood. Just stood as the melted glass pooled around her. Her first moments of freedom felt so fleeting yet each second felt like an eternity. The experience was jarring, improbable, feet fixed and head in a hazey dreamlike state. Fuzzy feelings still fluttering frantically in her mind but everything was so sharp, tangible, overwhelming but she knew what she had to do.
Phoebe had grown tired of watching as the the Flame King conspired, tharted, and schemed against every tiny perceived threat to his power. Even as their flames dimmed, as people were left dull and wilted, she watched as people petty and two-faced enough only concerned themselves with the status of the thrown.
Too distracted to see their own destruction, greedily guzzling their own poison stupidly and selfishly, every day, as the surrounding world decayed.
So yes, as her family fought, too absorbed in their own chaos, Phoebe had broken free, simply walked without sparing them another glance to sit on the empty thrown. And no, Phoebe didn't announce herself, she didn't make a public display of anger, people had seen that, she'd seen it. She simply gave her people orders and they listened. Because they were long overdue for a competent ruler, Phoebe would be that. She had to be.
Since then she'd done more for her people than her predecessors, her ancestors, but there was more, always more than she could carry. No matter the method, no matter how much she managed to complete, another bombardment of burdens were dumped outside her doorstep.
She needed help, she reached out dozens of times only to be dismissed and ignored or berated and blamed for the state of her kingdom, or glob forbid, calling out the precious Winter King. Something the others didn't want to admit was harm the Winter King brought them, the cold frost that ate away at the surrounding land, inching further and further each year. Nobody mentioned it and nobody knew how far it would've spread, what could've happened...
She still shivered at the memories, the helplessness of it all. Even as a leader she struggled to do much more than observe at times. She struggled to do more, and more was what was required. Frustrating was an understatement, Infuriating.. maybe.
It has been two months since that changed. Two months and a lot more progress. The Candy Queen, Princess Bubblegum has been visiting frequently to inspect the kingdom and devise ways to heal damage left behind, help regain influence and livelihood. Phoebe initially still harbored suspicion towards Bonnibel when she first insisted on closer examination of the kingdom. Bonnibel has kept her word however, so Phoebe has decided to drop it...for now. Phoebe still isn't really sure why the other princess is so eager to visit. Not to complain, she works wonders for the kingdom.
Each new idea and device sparking and stoking the fire of the kingdom back to life. Phoebe is amzed to see her kingdom this way but mourns how long it took to redirect back to the right path. That so many have lived without knowing the kingdom's true beauty.
Phoebe sits down on a boulder while Princess Bubblegum preforms a variety of tests on the nearby river of lava.
Before it had been nothing but dull thick sludge, slow and sluggish. Now however, it's shaping back into a bright firey death stream long forgotten to the flame people.
Princess Bubblegum, dressed in her newest heat resistant suit, bends down and reaches to retrieve yet another sample. She drops her sample tube, it melts with a swift hiss. She stares at it then gets up, dusting herself off before facing Phoebe.
"I think it's safe to say the new counter-active systems are working," Bonnibel reports with dry humor in her delivery.
"Yeah," Phoebe grins and slides off the boulder.
"Thanks a ton, seriously, I'll be sure not to forget this in the future," Phoebe bends down to dip her hand into the lava, she immediately feels stronger as the lava's heat flows through her. Brightened and Refreshed, her color notably less dull.
"This'll be great for regulating well in the winter," Phoebe smiles but it falls flat. They've needed this for so long, why now? Why hadn't Phoebe acted sooner? Bonnibel notices and tilts her head to look at her.
"Hey.. what's up, you good?" Bonnibel's voice sounds fuzzy beneath the suit, distant almost.
"I'm good, I just wish that I personally could do more for my own kingdom I guess," She trails off and leans back against the boulder.
"Or should've.." She adds and Bonnibel nods attentively.
"Trust me I get it, it's been like... hundreds of years, I still have so much to improve," Bonnibel attempts to reassure with a light attitude. Phoebe cocks her head and raises an eyebrow.
"So.. what you're saying is I'll never feel like I'm doing enough?" Phoebe crosses her arms.
"Yeah, because nothing ever gets done at the speed it should," Bonnibel shrugs.
"So I'll never be efficient enough, is that it?" Phoebe lets her flames flare up, feigning offense. She watches as Bonnibel fumbles about, searching for her words, backtracking. Phoebe laughs lightly and Bonnibel squints in pure confusion.
"You're fine, I just like to mess around a bit," Phoebe reassures Bonnibel. She nods but still has a puzzled look her face Phoebe finds highly entertaining.
"Come on, we'll go have lunch before you leave," Phoebe leans away from the boulder, taking a few steps before gesturing for Bonnibel to follow her.
Bonnibel takes off her helmet but doesn't bother taking off the rest of her fire resistant suit, Phoebe personally theorizes Bonnibel wore nothing underneath it. She keeps this to herself.
Phoebe and Bonnibel always eat outside the Flame Kingdom, mainly for Bonnibel's safety but Phoebe also just developed a preference for the fresh crisp air and constant chattering noises of nature that accompany them there. They sit on a high cliff, with minimum fire hazards surrounding them, just beyond them, the sun blazes in the frosty blue sky.
The color reminds her of the Winter Kingdom, Phoebe doesn't let it dampen the view. She doesn't want to spend the rest of her life hating a color because of one bad moment in time.
Phoebe unwraps her food, it was wrapped in foil, Bonnibel brought food today as a silent apology for her frequent short notice visits. Silent tended to be how Bonnibel made her difficult apologies, Phoebe didn't always catch it at first, today it was obvious.
Phoebe sits cross-legged and takes a bite from the food. It's tangy, not as sugary as she'd expect. It burns easily, which is good, Bonnibel did her research preparing it.
Bonnibel sets her own food down after a few minutes.
"So, after this I was thinking about staying to finish setting up that new self-regulating heating system, is that cool?" Bonnibel asks with an undertone to her nervousness Phoebe couldn't properly identify. What Phoebe couldn't identify didn't feel safe. Which makes her a lot like her family.
"Uhh... sure, I guess," Phoebe feels hesitant, what is she missing? Phoebe knew scheming, she felt the presence of a lie, of hidden intentions. Is that what this is? Just an elaborate ruse?
"Just.. I thought you said your citizens don't do well... without your guidance," Phoebe was still careful to let any venom into her tone, she could be wrong, and she didn't want to be hasty with her accusations. Phoebe wasn't going to be her father. She isn't like him. She isn't.
"Oh yeah, actually I wanted to tell you, I made a new citizen," Bonnibel doesn't seem to pick up on Phoebe's shift in demeanor, or she's simply choosing not to mention it.
"He's my butler, he'll handle things while I'm gone from now on," Bonnibel says with too much confidence considering some of the story's Phoebe has heard.
Phoebe didn't look down on the candy people, she just figures leaving one of them in charge of everything was one of Bonnibel's lesser thought out plans.
Her doubt must've shown on her face because Bonnibel waves her hands dismissively.
"No, no.. It'll work this time, I made him different, he's built for these responsibilities. I've been gone for a week doing all kinds of junk and he hasn't called reporting anything wrong." Bonnibel explains casually, Phoebe's brain now supplies her with a plethora of bad scenarios.
Judging by the silence, Bonnibel's did too.
"...Not to tell you how to run your own kingdom or anything...but I would check in soon," Phoebe suggests while Bonnibel seems to be dialing the call, mumbling anxiously. Bonnibel makes the call and Phoebe pretends to be only mildly interested sitting on the sidelines. She can see the hologram of a green and white peppermint, weird, it's the only color Bonnibel's been using lately, Phoebe wonders if it means something. Like a secret code or regular fixation.
"Oh, Princess, this is a nice surprise," Peppermint Butler answers with a laughable attempt at normalcy. Phoebe watches as Bonnibel furrows her brows, beginning to piece together the simple puzzle that something was wrong. There's some indistict yelling off screen followed by loud crashing.
"Where are you? Is that even in the castle?" Bonnibel's puzzled expression was becoming an increasingly familiar sight. it becomes clear Peppermint Butler is way off task, what that task was, is unclear.
"Ha, what? No? No, of course not Princess." Phoebe can't see the screen but she can hear the shifty tone in his voice. Bonnibel sighs irritablely and begrudgingly. Forcing herself to release her own frustration before responding. Phoebe will need advice on that.
"It's fine, just hook me up so I can monitor the feed from the security cameras," Bonnibel ends the call grumbling indistinctly. Security cameras?
"I thought you said you didn't have cameras anymore?" Phoebe's words come out more paranoid than she wants. Bonnibel looks at her, tilting her head, fave plastered with an expression far too similar to pity. Phoebe crosses her arms and leans back. Bonnibel reads her too well, expression or pity worsening. Phoebe cringes back.
"I know I should've told you and it's probably wrong, it's just the Candy Kingdom, they require more surveillance, that's all," Bonnibel justifies, Phoebe can't let her suspicion go. Phoebe inhales deeply. She's angry.
"It's not like I'm creeping for fun or anything, I mean I only have one gumball gaurdian right now," Bonnibel exclaims with a nervous defensive tone.
"Shouldn't you be working on that then?" Phoebe replies sharply. She caught her, Bonnibel slipped up and she caught it.
"..What? I mean.. probably but-"
"-Do you think you can have my kingdom too? That I wouldn't notice when you're not honest, I can't believe you, I thought you understood!" Phoebe feels the familiar heat of betrayal and mistrust boiling in her chest, her flames spike up and she doesn't need to make herself look so tall now. Bonnibel steps back nervously, waving her hands as if she's innocent.
"Phoebe, trust me, I do not want to be running another kingdom." Her voice is exhausted and dazed in such messy sincerity Phoebe is momentarily thrown off. Phoebe blinks.
"Then...Why are you so insistent on being here, what are your real intentions?" Phoebe demands, it comes out softer than intended, her face furrows with frustration.
"I don't know, I'm just a good person..." Unfortunately, neither of them fully believe that. Bonnibel groans stubbornly after an awkward bout of silence, Phoebe just gives her an incredulous glare in return.
"Fine...I just wanted to distract myself, try to forget some junk momentarily, didn't work," Bonnibel looks at Phoebe and shrugs her shoulders.
"Everything's a reminder of something.." Bonnibel trails off. Phoebe keeps herself with the same still posture, however her anger has faded and with that any serious threat. She looks away, rocks weigh her down and keep her in place, Phoebe groans in frustration, well, it was more of a growl actually, she squeezes her eyes shut and drags her hands down her face. All she's left with is the gross feeling of shame that comes with mucking up a perfectly good lunch because of an easily resolveable misunderstanding.
"I can't believe myself," Phoebe grumbles.
"I finally find someone who listens to me, like a real friend.. But when I noticed something was off I didn't say anything, I just let everything snowball into one ugly mass of distrust," Phoebe falls to the ground with a thud, she wraps her arms around her knees, hugging herself closely. Bonnibel sits next to her, up close it's easy to see the mental wear and tear that hundreds of years worth of baggage forced her to carry. Yikes, Phoebe thinks instinctively, she wouldn't even know where to start with that. Something tells her Bonnibel didn't either.
"I know, trust is important, I should've dealt with it better, I wasn't trying to bring you into...everything I've been dealing with, well haven't dealt with," Bonnibel puts a hand on Phoebe's shoulder, it's so simple but Phoebe's throat feels tight and she finds herself swallowing down tears. It's so simple but nobody has ever comforted her like this, not her family, especially not her father, nobody. Bonnibel is hesitant and messy with her words.
"Trust me, I know bad, you aren't bad, just young. You really care, nothing's ruined. I royal promise," Bonnibel extends her pinky, Phoebe sniffles, letting out a short wet laugh. Relieved. Somehow Bonnibel knew the right thing to say, maybe she deserved a bit more credit.
"That's just a pinky promise," Phoebe retorts but accepts it anyways, returning the gesture, they shake pinkies.
"Nah it's real, trust me," Bonnibel says flatly. Phoebe hums doubtfully.
They hang out in Phoebe's room, Bonnibel agrees to chill out on her work at the Fire Kingdom. They entertain themselves watching the security feed from the Candy Kingdom. Phoebe's on her bed, laying on her stomach, kicking her feet idly. She laughs at the banana gaurds antics and Bonnibel shakes her head with a quiet giggle.
Phoebe looks down at Bonnibel, sitting on the floor by the foot of the bed.
"Are you sure this isn't wrong?" Phoebe asks, feeling a bit guilty. Bonnibel shrugs.
"Eh, not sure honestly," Bonnibel admits casually,
"It's techinically just work," Phoebe accepts the answer as good enough. She leans forward and smiles impishly at Bonnibel.
"Think it would be okay to rewind it to say.. I don't know, LSP stealing cakes for Princess Day?" Phoebe suggests, grin devilish as ever. Bonnibel raises an eyebrow but smiles with matching mischief.
"Oh definitely, for completely professional reasons of course," Bonnibel splits the screen to show several potential locations. She rewinds at a quick pace, images blur and zoom by, Phoebe quickly spots LSP however.
"There!" She points and Bonnibel freezes the frame. Except the date recorded is only a week ago and LSP isn't alone, she's on a date, with the Earl of Lemongrab. Phoebe's jaw drops and she points to screen in total shock.
"What! I'm sorry, what!? Are you seeing this?" Phoebe pushes herself up and crawls to the foot of the bed, dangling her head upside-down in front of Bonnibel, who seemed to be analyzing the situation with that familiar expression of pure puzzlement. Bonnibel drops it though and smirks with a heavy sigh.
"I knew," With Bonnibel's simple statement Phoebe's investment quadruples.
"I'm sorry, again, whaaat!" Bonnibel laughs tiredly and nods once.
"Yeah, it's been at least two months, LSP asked to meet me over dinner, I think she just wants dinner though," Bonnibel shares as Phoebe laughs a bit in shock.
"Just not sure why he'd want to be at the Candy Kingdom... Keep this between us, okay, I think they're trying to keep it on the down-low," Bonnibel tells Phoebe and Phoebe just snorts.
"LSP? Good luck, it's only a matter of time if she hasn't spilled already," Phoebe slides off the bed next to Bonnibel.
"We aren't even friends but she once managed to get my phone number just to tell me some good gossip she heard about her ex boyfriend Brad," It was Phoebe's watches Bonnibel pretend not to be interested.
"Yeah, don't know the guy but he sounded like a real jerk," Phoebe adds then idly taps her feet against the ground.
"So...think we should watch the footage.. make sure there's no secret threat lurking in the background," Phoebe suggests a little less confidently when Bonnibel straightens her face and gives an annoyed glare.
"Phoebe, he doesn't like it when I snoop around his personal biz," Bonnibel must sense her next idea because just as Phoebe opens her mouth to make the suggestion she's shut down.
"No, that doesn't mean you can watch it while I cover my eyes,"
"...Fine." Phoebe slumps back and droops her head down, she gives puppy eyes but they're wasted because Bonnibel purposely (and very cruelly) keeps her gaze fized on the screen. Phoebe stares at the screen as well. She really looks at the image, trying to pick up the details available.
"Wow, Lemongrab looks like a nervous wreck," Phoebe comments aloud and watches as Bonnibel frowns. Phoebe shifts herself toward Bonnibel.
"I mean..Would if something happened, something big... think about the political implications, I mean-"
"-Fine, you can watch it, I'll just leave the room, because I'm serious about leaving people's personal biz alone," Bonnibel caves in and leaves Phoebe with the paused screen. Phoebe watches as Bonnibel awkwardly strides back in, presses play. Phoebe gasps and Bonnibel freezes by the doorway as they hear the first five words.
"I'm breaking up with you,"
Bonnibel pauses the footage again. They both heard LSP speak. Phoebe felt guilt prickling in her stomach, as if her intruding had somehow caused things to play out that way. Most of all she feels bad knowing Bonnibel would be trying to explain this soon or pretending she never saw it, and Bonnibel not getting involved. Good luck.
Notes:
cliffhanger!! (but it's more so to motivate me to right the next chapter than anything else, sorry for doing this to you guys)
let me know if any grammar mistakes slipped through and feel free to share any other thoughts as well!
oh yeah, there's an actual plot outline now but i'm just not sure how many chapters it'll add up to yet. it's nothing super long so there's that little inkling to go off of.
Chapter 5: Blackmail and Quality Bonding
Summary:
Bonnibel tries to do the right thing but now she's breaking and entering with her son's ex girlfriend.
Notes:
hey guys, originally i wanted this chapter to be longer but the idea for it is now broken into two chapters because that'll just work better. sorry for the wait!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Bonnibel mulls over the correct course of action in her head the entire trip back the castle, ultimately deciding to wait for Lemongrab to come to her. It's reasonable, logical, she won't have to worry about intruding. In theory it's a flawless plan.
Until then the only mess she has to worry about is that of the endless pile of papers sprawled across her desk. She attempts to organize her desk but gives up once there's enough space for her to continue with her lastest project. She was trying to create something to counter the candy citizen's night terrors (and maybe her own) after those who survived the Candy Queen's reign came to her saying they dreamt awful dreams, dreaming they were monsters. So far her project was still in the research phase, now it's ready for brainstorming ideas but she finds herself fighting sleep halfway through. She loses the fight against sleep.
She sleeps long enough that she dreams.
She's on a pillar, overviewing her kingdom, she can see the ice kingdom in the distance. She's holding a bouquet of candy flowers in one arm, taffy flowers. (Taffodils?) Her citizens are cheering, she blows them a couple kisses.
"Thank you, thank you!" She calls out, overjoyed. It's perfect and everything she could hope for.
Then everything falls silent, the sky freezes. Everything still. In the distance she watches as her citizens transform, slowly at first, but quicker approaching her. They mutate into monsters, they cry out in distress but Bonnibel's feet are glued to her podium when she tries to act. She's stuck. She can't move, she's helpless. She's trapped, all her citizens are monsters. The taffodils grow monstrous faces with gross oozing eyes and maws. They snap their teeth at her and she instinctively drops them. Her head feels fuzzy and foggy. Everything is distant and disorienting.
"Yeesh, what kinda party is this?" She hears herself speak, she hears the Candy Queen's voice. Hers but so unlike herself it's nauseating.
"Time to redecorate, amiright?" Everything in her sight is melting away, bright colors mixing into a gross dull brown. She sees a face begin to emerge from the muck-
-She's startled awake by the loud thrashing of someone barging in past the banana gaurds. She lifts her sleeping mask not expecting what she sees. It takes a moment for the shape to come into focus but when it does she has to do a double take, maybe her eyes were tricking her?
Nope, this is real. It's LSP. Her son's now ex girlfriend, of course, why wouldn't it be?
Bonnibel begrudgingly pushes her self out of bed and rubs her eyes, as if her eyebags might be rubbed away in the process and provide her with enough energy to deal with the situation, or even make sense of it. This does not happen.
"Oh thank Glob! Princess Bubblegum, we need to talk!" LSP exclaims while the banana guards hold her back, loosely keeping her arms in place. Bonnibel just blinks blankly.
"Why?" Her words come out in a bitter grumble, LSP chooses to ignore this.
"It's a long story, you're the only one I can trust!" LSP seems serious and she can't help but bark out a shocked laugh. Truthworthy Princess Bubblegum, that's new. She gestures for the guards to release LSP. She decides whatever the matter it was worth hearing out, at the very least it might be entertaining.
"Thank you! I promise it's important!" LSP says with sincerity and immediately makes herself at home, sitting down a nearby coffee table. Bonnibel sits across from her without a word. LSP leans forward, and cuts to the chase.
"I'm being blackmailed." She emphasizes sharply. She stops there. After a long moment it becomes clear Bonnibel was meant to react to this so she nods once.
"Mhm," She hums affirmatively for extra flare.
LSP is both offended and unimpressed.
"That..that's it? seriously?" She groans and Princess Bubblegum nods again.
"I haven't slept in seventy two hours," She states numbly, leaning against the coffee table. it was cold and hard, and slightly sticky because of the candy it was constructed out of but Bonnibel could've passed out right there and then. LSP stares her up and down, narrowing her eyes.
"Okay, whatever, fine. Just promise me you'll listen, it'll make sense in a minute I swear," LSP clears her throat, staring at the ceiling while she recounts her tale.
"It all started like.. a really long time ago I don't know," She waves her hand dismissively.
"But yeah, like a couple of years ago. I was dating this guy Brad. He was a total jerk, I know that now but back then I thought he was just cool hot guy..."
She continues to recount way too many details of her on and off relationship with her toxic ex Brad. Bonnibel nods but feels her patience running short forty minutes in.
"..And so I couldn't say no, not to him, with his sparkling dark eyes.. But little did I know-"
"-How's this relevant?" Bonnibel cuts her off and receives a sharp pointed glare in response. LSP clears her throat.
"As I was saying, Little did I know the dark intentions behind his sparkling eyes. You see I was young and naive back then, like a small little birdie.. off on it's own, nothing to fall back on.."
Bonnibel groans, burying her face into her hands. LSP rolls her eyes.
"Can you please get to the point?" Bonnibel asks irritablely, resting her head on her hands.
"But we haven't gotten past the fifth first date.." LSP glares then blinks, face softening in somber defeat.
"Fine, basically we broke up forever ago but I guess he finally realized what he was missing out on so now he's been trying to blackmail me back into a relationship with him, right as I'm finally moving on," Bonnibel raises an eyebrow in response. LSP nods solemnly.
"Woah, seriously? That's messed up.. Why are you telling me though?" Bonnibel says with genuine concern, she squints in confusion.
"Why me?" Bonnibel asks incredulously, shrugging her shoulders.
"Because!" She hits her fist against the table, then speaks softly.
"Because..I have nobody, my parents are monsters and my friends all like Brad," Her tone shifts to something more frustration.
"Just! Nobody gets me, nobody else would understand." LSP pauses once again for dramatic effect. Bonnibel blinks with boredom now. The dramatic pauses were taking their toll on her. A bit overkill.
"Not like you, weren't you blackmailed by the Winter King or whatever and that's why you acted crazy for all those years," She explains absentmindedly but her tone edges on empathetic towards the end.
Bonnibel's face contorts in confusion.
"That's not remotely-"
"-Whatever! Point is you're all that I have, I need you to help me...If not for me, for your son," LSP rest her hand on her chest, eyes sparking as she tries her best to appeal to Princess Bubblegum.
Bonnibel taps her fingers against her head absentmindedly.
"Yeah sure, not sure I understand where you got the idea I was blackmailed from, but yeah, sure." Bonnibel nods and pushes herself up out of the chair. LSP attempts to silently celebrate but she isn't as silent as she thinks. She can see her pumping her fist in the air in celebration and hears her enthusiastic whispers.
Bonnibel waits until she's done.
"I promise, I won't let you down." She answers seriously, Bonnibel nods slowly.
"..Okay? Good, We'll figure this out more in the morning, meet me back here in the morning, I'll have one my banana guards provide you with a guest room while you stay here, is that cool?" Bonnibel instructs LSP with the same voice she used on her distressed subjects.
Once LSP leaves Bonnibel shuts the door and slumps down against it. She buries her head in her hands.
The following morning they sit at the same coffee table. LSP stuffs her face with pastries before Bonnibel can even see what Peppermint Butler brought them... She wasn't that hungry anyways. Bonnibel sips her coffee (deadly caffeine levels, beyond bitter, absolutely dog water flavor) and crosses her legs.
"So.." Bonnibel speaks, gathering her thoughts now that she has some semblance of energy. This gets LSP's attention.
"The blackmail, what is it?" She asks bluntly and receives the reaction you'd expect.
"None of your business!" She points a cream puff in Bonnibel's face. Bonnibel pushes it down with a finger.
"Actually I'd argue you made it my business when you barged in here last night," Bonnibel retorts, expression sour, still sore about loosing her full four hours of sleep.
LSP just crosses her arms, leaning down awkwardly to eat the last bite of the cream puff she'd been holding. She maintains eye contact the whole time. Bonnibel looks off the the side.
"That's not why I asked though, trust me, I don't think I want to know exact details...But I'll need to know something if you want me to help get rid of it," Bonnibel explains dryly, LSP glances off to the side shyly. She eats a pastry puff for strength. She swallows it with a gulp.
"Okay..I just didn't want to make a bad impression-"
Bit late.
"-because you're gonna be my future mom in law or whatever, just promise not to judge," LSP crosses her arms, hunching her shoulders stiffly. Bonnibel narrows her eyes, maybe she needs more caffeine (anymore caffeine and only death awaits her).
"...But you broke up with him," Bonnibel states hesitantly. LSP blinks at her like she's the one not making sense.
"Yeah, blackmail, remember?" LSP rolls her eyes and Bonnibel scrunches her face in a sour expression.
"You didn't say that was because of the blackmail," Bonnibel grumbles, feeling a bit childish as well as dense for not piecing that together before.
She was a scientist. Theoretically she should've pieced that together quickly, maybe she would've had it been an equation or part of novel. Something where each detail exists to be tangible, purposeful by design. Reality doesn't work that way, Reality contains countless outliers and variables. People are similar, needlessly complex with the construction of their fallible social structures. Bonnibel takes a slow sip of her coffee.
LSP sinks into her chair, reluctant to share, her silence spoke volumes unfortunately.
"..Promise not to judge?" LSP asks in a quiet voice. Bonnibel hums affirmatively, she start solely at the nearly empty dessert tray, taps her finger idly for another beat.
"Photos, it's photos of me, and it's super embarrassing!," She blurts out, shame dripping from the confession.
"Are they sentimental to you?" Princess Bubblegum asks out of obligation, this could determine their course of action.
"I'm okay with burning them," LSP states with a shrug, bored expression. Bonnibel shakes her head.
"Nah, we don't have to burn them, not the physical objects themselves.." Bonnibel rests her chin in her hand, deep in thought.
"Anything digital will be easy for me, trust.. We just need to find where he has your pictures," Bonnibel shifts her gaze to LSP, who blinks blankly in turn. Bonnibel narrows her eyes expectantly.
"What? I don't know where he hiding it!" LSP crosses her arms, she turns away with an exaggerated pout. Bonnibel sighs, sighing is becoming more of a routine reaction nowadays.
"LSP, you memorized the exact details of every date, word for word, moment by moment." Bonnibel gestures vaguely with a hand. LSP deflates a bit, misunderstanding what she meant.
"I mean I think you have enough brains to at least guess, it's not like Brad is some super genius," LSP glances over then sharply tears her gaze away, trying (and failing) to maintain the impression she doesn't care.
Bonnibel crosses her legs.
"Listen, you came to me, you want help or not?" Bonnibel points accusingly before crossing her arms casually. LSP groans with frustrated defeat as she turns back to Princess Bubblegum.
"Fine! I'm pretty sure I have an idea actually," LSP admits, annoyed for some reason.
"I just...It's in Lumpy Space, I haven't been there since I ran away, I just don't wanna see my parents," She explains, hunching her shoulders.
"They're the lumpin' worst! guess I've just been avoiding it," LSP's hard glare softens, Bonnibel gets up and places a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll make sure you don't have to do anything you're not ready for while we're there, we'll go when you're ready," Bonnibel reassures her with a small grin. LSP looks up at her with comically large shiny eyes.
"Really? You mean it?" She doesn't wait for an answer.
"Okay! I'll do it, let's go!" She shoots out of her chair, hands above her head.
"Now?-" Bonnibel questions.
"-Now!" She quips back, already by the door.
Lumpy Space is.. actually no, it's pretty much what Bonnibel expected. She was glad she made sure to finish up her hover boots earlier, she was sure to slip them on, they weren't good for super long distances but they helped.
She made another leap down, landing slowly and softly onto the next cloud. LSP shushs her, checks both ways for people, then rolls dramatically before straightening against an apartment building wall. A pink cloud floats by, speaking on the phone, she waves at LSP.
"Hey girl, what're you doing here?" the stranger asks curiously, LSP rolls her eyes in response.
"Nothing! I'm trying to be a spy right now, you're blowing my cover!" LSP exclaims, throwing her arms up. The pink cloud looks unimpressed, she scoffs.
"Whatever girl, you have fun playing pretend, I was just being nice," The girl mutters angrily on the phone as she floats away.
Bonnibel grumbles quietly, facepalming. She walks over to the painfully visible building to speak to LSP, no theatrics.
"Ugh, can you believe her, that was Monica," LSP waves a hand dismissively, filling her in.
"She dated Brad too, she can never keep a steady relationship," LSP shares casually,
"I mean.. who'd even want to date her, she's seriously obnoxious, so high maintenance, she thinks she's the center of attention or something,"
Bonnibel bites back a response.
"It's different!" LSP turns back to quickly reply, Bonnibel wonders if her own face gave away her thoughts or if LSP heard her own words.
Brad's apartment is short and cramped, the search shouldn't be difficult at all. She kneels down to shuffle through some kitchen cabinets, LSP poorly trails behind her, pretending to search while she murmurs and narrates unconvincingly. Bonnibel glances to the side swiftly but quickly refocuses.
The cabinets are wet and humid, with closer inspection there is also some type of fungus too. That hopefully explained the smell. The more she sees of Brad's apartment the more she wants to leave.
In her peripheral vision she sees LSP staring at her, non-discreetly scooting closer into her space. LSP darts her eyes from the messy cabinets to Bonnibel a couple of times. Bonnibel shifts toward her, giving up.
"Oh hey," LSP answers casually.
"Didn't even see you there," She adds, Bonnibel stares blankly, unimpressed.
"Yes you did." She states factually.
"Whatever, anyways I just wanted to check in, incase you found something, or want to talk..." LSP trails off expectantly. Bonnibel scrunches her face in confusion.
"Like about, I don't know...Your mysterious past," LSP suggests with dramatic flair, Bonnibel scoffs and shifts away, refocusing on her fruitless task.
"My past isn't mysterious, everyone knows what happened," She finds a box, a fluffy cloud-like texture (perhaps an actual cloud, it wad hard to tell). She brushes some dirt off of it and holds it in her lap.
"Well sure, but I wanna hear your story, not theirs," LSP shrugs then crosses her arms, her stance firm.
Bonnibel considers the words. Her story? Despite everything she wasn't sure how she'd frame her explaination, where would she even start, what could she even share? The thoughts are dizzying and each word feels heavy. Bonnibel inhales.
"Sure, after we get out of here, I think I just found your pictures," Bonnibel lifts the box and shakes it around. She can here something shuffling inside, it sounds like it could be photos. She hands it to LSP.
"Uh Princess Bubblegum-"
"-The box is locked, unless you have a key we might just need to leave and I'll figure out the lock in my lab, maybe just melt the lock with acid," Bonnibel awkwardly jokes, looking at the box with careful inspection.
"Uh Princess-"
"-Heh, just kidding... maybe," She squints considering it, it would save a lot of time...
"Princess Bubblegum!" LSP shakes her arm and Bonnibel looks up at her.
"Fine, I won't do it," Bonnibel caves in with disappointment.
"No, not that, I saw Brad outside!" LSP exclaims and shakes her arm again. Bonnibel turns her head to look.
"Don't look! we just need to get out of here, quickly before-" The door creaks open and they both freeze.
"-LSP?" A new voice answers.
Notes:
i definitely overuse em dash but you can pry em dash from my cold dead hands. comments are much appreciated! also chat lemme know if you'd be interested in the next chapter being LSP's point of view, i'm currently very undecided.
on one hand writing how others perceive Bonnibel is very fun but on the other hand i'm scared it might come off like i'm sidelining her in her own story, trust it's not the intention it's just her main junk comes a bit later.anyways let me know what you think!
Chapter 6: Brad Sucks
Summary:
LSP humbles (argues with) Brad to distract him from the breaking and entering. Also PB is there.
Notes:
this chapter is a bit short but i didn't want to drag things out too much, i hope you guys still like it!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"-LSP?" Oh Glob no, it's Brad. LSP turns around slowly to face him.
"Hey Brad, Braddy, Brad..." LSP laughs nervously. Brad stands stiffly in the doorway mildly displeased and very confused. LSP puts a hand on her hip.
"How's it going? Heard you.. heard you uh, got a new dog?" LSP floats toward him, she sharply turns to Bubblegum in what she assumes is discreetly to preform a series of vague gestures, Bubblegum blinks in turn.
"What?" Bubblegum squints and tilts her head. LSP groans, crossing her arms.
"It's our secret code-" She whispers sharply
"-We never had a secret code!" Bubblegum retorts defensively. LSP waves her hand dismissively.
"Whatever, just get out of here while I distract Brad," LSP bites back.
"You know I can hear you... right, and I already saw her," Brad awkwardly gestures to Bubblegum, clutching the box to her chest with both hands. LSP shifts her eyes back to him.
"Okay, and?" Brad sighs and hovers toward her, he looks concerned.. for her. It's uncomfortable. She feels the sudden urge to squirm away from everything.
"LSP, I'm just worried about you, we all are, the last time I saw you.. it's just been so long," He reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder but LSP shrugs it away, backing up an inch. Her discomfort morphs into something angry.
"I'm done with your sick mind games, Brad!" LSP exclaims and Brad frowns.
"Look I know I messed up.. a lot, but your friends, your parents-"
"-Don't need to know I'm here, I'm taking your blackmail and leaving! That's that." LSP can't manage to look him in the eye. She sighs.
"Look you know how my parents were, and I know I'm lumpin' gorgeous but I've moved on, I finally have my own life now, I'm not letting any of you haters take that away from me," Sincerity sneaks it's way into her tone, but she still manages to sound firm.
More sure of herself than she feels. The people she left behind here always made her doubt herself, leaving her unsure whether or not she was in the right. Feeling it again now just leaves her with a jumbled mess of emotions overall translating to resentment. Who that resentment is directed at and why were questions reserved to her therapist (currently a random fox in the woods, don't ask).
Brad nods solemnly than freezes.
"Fine, fine, whatever.. but what do you mean blackmail?" He furrows his brows in confusion. LSP scoffs, dramatically shifting away.
"You haven't changed a bit Brad, never willing to admit to your mistakes," LSP doesn't let herself display anything other than annoyance. Annoyance, not anger because he doesn't deserve it, so no disappointment or sadness either. She's done with him, with everyone here. It's nothing worth her time.
"No, no, LSP, I mean it this time," He gestures soothingly while she rolls her eyes.
"I mean, Glob I've been a jerk.. but blackmail? Really?" He has the audacity to look hurt.
LSP chews the inside of her cheek. Brad huffs irritablely and turns to Bubblegum.
"You.. whoever you are," He gestures weakly to her. Bubblegum stands awkwardly, shifting the weight between her feet, eyes fized on the floor and LSP honestly can't blame her at the moment. She looks up and her eyes widen, she mumbles something LSP doesn't understand.
"You really think I'm that kind of guy?" He asks in pleading tone. LSP almost finds in laughable now, the exact same tone he used during break up #4.
"Uh.. I don't really know you man," Her eyes are shifting around like she's looking for a way out and honestly LSP relates. LSP floats to block her from his view.
"This isn't about her, this about us!" LSP redirects the conversation. She glances at Bubblegum quickly, who's visibly relieved to be excluded from the situation.
"Eyes on me!" She directs Brad as his eyes drift away, she quickly waves a hand to Bubblegum dismissively. The action successfully unnoticed for a change. She nods hesitantly but seems to get the memo this time and slowly inches away toward the back door.
"I wasn't trying to blackmail you, honest!" He explains frantically.
"It's embarrassing, but I just missed you, I thought sending you those old photos and letters might remind you it wasn't all so bad," He states, sounding unsure himself. LSP shakes her head in disaproval.
"It wasn't, but you ruined it Brad, you had your chance... chances actually, it's over now." LSP gestures swiftly with her hand.
"Cut off! For good this time!" She adds. Brad winces and backs away.
"Yeah, yeah, I get that now... you really thought I'd blackmail you though?" LSP sighs, the topic growing a bit redundant.
"Yes Brad, that's why I'm here, obviously," She floats over to the kitchen counter, taking a seat.
"Still not totally unconvinced, actually," She admits, looking up at Brad. He remains still, he's about to say something but she interrupts.
"I mean, 'Dear LSP, I know you think you're happy but deep down you know things were better off when you were with me-"
"That's out of context-"
"-Continue with your life on Ooo and soon you'll realize it's not very safe, it's a dangerous place and anything could happen,'" She finishes, raising her eyebrows. Brad cringes and rubs the back of his head.
"Okay, yeah, that sounds bad... but the photos were sweet, I thought-"
"You never think Brad,"
"I thought those photos from our dates would make you nostalgic," Brad explains sheepishly.
"For what? The times you dated my friends to make me jealous, make it so I had nobody to talk to, or maybe the countless times you lied to me and made me feel dumb," LSP's voice wavered. No, oh Glob no. She swallowed and felt a painful lump in her throat (not the good kind of lump). He looked guilty, no worse, pitiful. Towards her.
"And those photos had all my bad angles! Fine, let's say you weren't trying to blackmail me, you're still crazy to think I'd ever let you back into my life!" She swiftly makes her way to the door, Brad catches her arm.
"Wait, I'm not done talking,"
"Well I am!" She tears away from him and leaves. For good. She promises herself this time.
Once she's far enough away she settles down, taking deep breaths and shakey exhales.
"It's fine, it's cool, you're LSP and you're lumps are just too irresistible, they either want me or want to be me," She mumbles to herself and wipes away any remaining tears. Positive reinforcement or whatever. Brad isn't worth it anyways. He never was.
LSP find Bubblegum waiting for her at the spot they entered from. Bubblegum waves and smiles softly, which is how LSP can tell there must still be evidence of her breakdown earlier.
"I totally told Brad off, he's emotionally shattered now," She exaggerates. Bubblegum sighs, smiling still like something's funny. LSP decides to let it slide, surprisingly she's had enough drama for the day. She still has a lot to deal with and think about.
"I was thinking I should probably get to know you, assuming things work out." Bubblegum offers with a weak grin. LSP hums in consideration.
"Why?" LSP asks curiously.
"I mean besides my super lumpin' looks, what's the appeal?" She backtracks, more confident. Bubblegum stares for a moment, thoughtfully. It doesn't feel like she's pitying LSP, it isn't judgmental or whatever.
"I guess I've misjudged you, I want to learn more about you, especially because of your interest in Lemongrab," Princess Bubblegum pauses.
"I think I'm beginning to see why Lemongrab likes you," LSP immediately lets the approval get to her head, she doesn't bother fighting off a smile or sounding overzealous.
"It's okay, most people misjudge me, it's not my problem, besides they're totally missing out," LSP responds reassuringly.
LSP decides she doesn't care for the pictures but she still wants to preserve them. Bubblegum is understanding, she doesn't ask too many questions, LSP suspects Bubblegum must relate to the feeling in some aspect. Which is a strange thought. It only takes about ten minutes for Princess Bubblegum to whip up a key for the box.
"Oh my Glob! it's lumpin' beautiful, this is art!" LSP turns the key over in her hands. The center is a yellow star, the surrounding colors shift resembling the skies of Lumpy Space. Tiny stars sparkling too.
Bubblegum flushes with embarrassment, waving a hand dismissively.
"Ah, it's nothing trust me, I just figured a regular key wouldn't suit you," LSP's train of thought abruptly stops.
"Uh.. Princess Bubblegum, since Brad claimed this wasn't blackmail did we like, steal for real?" She questions.
"Oh definitely, I wouldn't go back for at least a solid month," LSP wasn't even thinking about it. She looks back at Bubblegum puzzled.
"...And you aren't worried?" LSP asks curiously.
"Won't this mess up your royal business or whatever?"
"Eh, I've done worse," LSP adds that to the mental list of ominous and mysterious things Bubblegum has said.
Notes:
hey guys, it's been another hot minute. i promise i have no plans of abandoning this fic anytime soon though.
trust i have things all planned out, and lemongrab fans be on the look out next chapter, he's coming back i pinky promise! i just wanted to focus on some other characters for a moment.
anyways, everyone who leaves kudos and has bookmarked this fic just know i think you're awesome and you've inspired me to keep writing, <3
Chapter 7: Lemongrab's First Date/Breakup
Summary:
Lemongrab is in a slump, did not take the breakup well. Bonnibel decides to check in.
Notes:
i try to write different character's perspectives in a way that suits them but if it reads like hot garbo lmk.
but also writing this chapter i'm realizing (in this au at least) lemongrab literally only socializes with his mom and camel so reading social cues (and going on a date) is definitely unmarked territory.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Lemongrab feels numb, he is directionless, there's nothing for him. So logically he's spent the past week laying in the dirt, he would've dug a hole but he is not servile. This is his life now, waiting to decompose.
In fact as soon as he returned to the Castle he wrote this into Lemon Law. All citizens must abide. It appears however Lemon Camel is a treasonous and traitorous beast, uncaring and uncooperative for the 1000 year dungeon sentence. The betrayal stung but not as badly as LSP's betrayal. Fortunately for Lemon Camel, Lemongrab feels unmotivated to enforce the law. He rests his eyes.
Lemongrab remembers that day, about a week ago. Poor naive Lemongrab, stupid past Lemongrab. He wore his best sash, deep lemon grass green. A noble color of the upmost quality. The color wouldn't save him from this cruel awful fate.
He decided to surprise Lumpy Space Princess with the date's location, he wanted to make her happy. He would take her to eat in the Candy Kingdom, she wouldn't have to steal.
However he quickly remembered why he refrained from visitations to Mother Princess' kingdom. There were too many unlemon citizens, buzzing around, noisy, worse than attention seeking. Affection seeking. Lemongrab was just expected to oblige and reciprocate their demands. He shudders at the mere thought.
LSP say across from him, she wore a yellow cheetah print fur coat. Lemongrab wasn't a huge fan of yellow.
"Are you okay? You've been quiet," She commented and drew Lemongrab away from his thoughts.
"No, I hate it here and you're coat is hideous," Lemongrab stated dryly. LSP turns away.
"Then why did you even bring me here?!" She asked. He made her upset. He wanted to sentence himself to the dungeon.
"I'm surprising you byyy choosing a location of your liking," Lemongrab hummed. She was still upset.
"Yeah, but you shouldn't bring me if you're just going to insult me, it's lumpin' rude," LSP grumbled.
"Hm. I only despise theee.. the coat, hmmm It's not my intention to insult you," Lemongrab explained. LSP frowned.
"Mnn.. Youu should hire a new servant." Lemongrab suggested, LSP's frown deepened.
"Lemongrab, I'm homeless," Lemongrab nodded. He knew this, he made an effort to remember the things she said.
"...Which means I have no servants, and I like choosing my own outfits, " She adds. Lemongrab blinked.
"Oh... Apologies, You should appoint a servant." Lemongrab advised. LSP tilted her head. She was confused.
"Sure, I'll do that..." She trailed off.
Lemongrab stared at her.
"You talk about servants a lot.. have any favorites?" LSP asked. Her voice was nervous. Lemongrab hummed.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Confidential,"
"...Do you even have servants? I've only seen you and Lemon Camel at the castle,"
"..."
Lemongrab looked away.
"New subject," He stated.
LSP nodded and folded her hands over the table.
"Alright, sure, you can choose," LSP said. Lemongrab blinked, he needed to choose well. The silence dragged on.
"It's... it's okay if you don't want to choose, I can choose," She suggested. Lemongrab shook his head.
"No, I have decided," Lemongrab informed her.
"What things do you like?"
"Like a hobby?" LSP asked.
"No,"
"Okay.. Well I've been very into lemons lately," She smiled and her voice was different. He wasn't sure what this meant, there was something hiding in her tone.
"Oh... Good, I haave many lemons," Lemongrab smiled and LSP sighed.
"That's not... Lemongrab.." LSP continued to struggle with whatever she wanted to say but a fox ran up to her. The fox stood up and handed her a letter.
"That guy left another letter.." The fox stated. LSP looked upset. She quickly snatched it, she tore it open and read it. She then shoved it back in the foxes hand.
"...Burn it." LSP stated.
"I don't know how to start a fire, I'm very incompetent."
"Ugh, fine whatever, just get rid of it!" LSP exclaimed and waved the fox away. The fox nodded and began walking away.
"Faster, Hurry! I don't want anyone to see it!" She instructed and the fox scurried away.
"Glob, literally cannot with him, it's too much,"
"Mnn...Who was that?" Lemongrab asked.
"My assistant/therapist, I pay him in bottle caps," She explained. She crossed her arms.
"It's different than a servant," She explained defensively.
"What.. mnn.. what was the letter?" Lemongrab asked. She furrowed her brows.
"None of your business," Lemongrab frowned and hummed, displeased. Disappointed.
"It was just.. a boring piece of blank paper," She smiled. It was off. They ate their food. Lemongrab thought it was too sweet, too much texture. LSP was very happy though, so it was acceptable. LSP talked about her life in the woods and filled him in on the latest forest gossip.
"I enjoyed this, this...mn, this was acceptable," Lemongrab looked away and fidgetted nervously. He didn't see her face in that moment, he couldn't have.
"We should break up," She said. Before he cam react she says more.
"Forever, it's what's best. I know you don't understand-"
"-Mnn.. I think I do. Okay, goodbye." He got up and left for the castle. The worst day in Lemongrab history.
He opens his eyes after dreamless sleep. Ah yes, the miserable present. Lemongrab spots a worm. It jumps and jolts up.
"Ah man, this dudes alive," It shouts to the other bugs crawling on him. They momentarily stop and chatter in mutual confusion.
"We better bounce," A jukebug decides.
"What's he even doing then?" The bugs murmur amongst each other.
"Waiting to decompose and... anddd rot away," Lemongrab informs the bugs. The worm frowns.
"That's like.. mad depressing, now I'm sad," The worm says.
"Yeah, everyone's sad now, you made all of us sad," The jukebug agrees and the bugs all murmur and nod in agreement.
"...Sorry,"
"It's chill, wanna talk.. or something?" The worm offers blankly.
"Mnn. No."
"Okay... Should we do something or..?" The bugs murmur again.
"Nah, this is like way above our pay grade, and I see someone coming, let's bounce," The bugs squirm and scatter away. Lemongrab hears the footsteps approaching.
"Lemongrab?" Mother Princess. He stares at her while she settles onto the grass next to him.
"Wanna talk?" She offers. She's pitying him, like she wasn't the one to make him this way. Unsuitable for an uncaring unlemon world.
"Hmn...No," He looks away, unmoving. She sighs.
"What if I talk?" She suggests softly.
"Hmn.. Do as you wish," His tone is very defeated, this shocks Mother Princess. It might've shocked him too if he had the energy.
"I know you and LSP broke up.. She broke into my room actually and told me everything," Lemongrab groans. Mother Princess stares at him like she expects him to speak. He makes no such effort.
"Trust me, I feel that way too... I care about you but personally it's all been hot garbo," She explains, she stares at the clouds as she speaks.
"In theory this should be enough to distract me and keep me occupied with moving forward, with progress... But I'm just tired, and lost," She looks back down at Lemongrab.
"Anyways, LSP wanted to see you soon.. like today, soon as possible but I figured I should talk to you first," She explains and leaves room for him to speak if he feels up to it.
"It's a lot, or maybe I'm assuming it's a lot for you... you had an uncle, you remind me of him," She casually drops on him. Lemongrab blinks and something about his face must've been funny because she laughs.
"Yeah, uhm... There's a lot I've kept from you... well, everyone really," She holds her knees to her chest.
"He was like you but he wasn't is what I'm finally realizing... I've gotten off topic," Mother Princess looks down at him again. She hesitates before placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I looked for you inside first... saw your new Lemon Legislation and knew to find you out here," She admits and Lemongrab looks away.
"Lemon Law," He corrects her and she nods.
"Right, sorry, I knew that.." Mother Princess rubs small circles into his shoulder. It's acceptable.
"...Why must she see me?" Lemongrab hums and doesn't elaborate. Mother Princess understands though and answers after a moment.
"...She didn't mean the things she said, she wants to explain it in person," She states carefully. Lemongrab processes this, he moves his hands and fidgets absentmindedly.
"I'm still miserable," He states.
"I know," She nods. Lemongrab groans.
"Hmn.. no, you don't understand," He accuses her and she stares blankly.
"Maybe not, but I got dumped big time once... never got to talk it out," She explains and Lemongrab frowns.
"Hmn.. That's mad depressing... I'm sad now, you made everyyyone sad," Mother Princess tilts her head, puzzled by his response.
"You were already sad..." She mumbles.
"But uh... you don't have to talk to her, it's your choice, do whatever you want," She states then pauses.
"Well, you should probably get out of the dirt sometime soon, I haven't said anything but it's actually pretty nasty," She looks around.
"There's a vulture picking apart a dead... something, a few feet away," She shares with him and he turns to look.
"River Otter," He informs her.
"Huh," She squints.
That's enough to convince him his days in the dirt are over. He amends Lemon Law and pardons Lemon Camel's crimes and acts of treason. Lemon Camel doesn't express much at this act of great mercy but Lemongrab pardons this as well. Mother Princess linger around a bit longer than Lemongrab would like but she receives the memo shortly and leaves him to his own devices.
After another week Lemongrab feels ready. He drafts a letter.
"Dear Lumpy Space Princess,
Explain.
How Dare You, Lemongrab"
He reads it over. He hums in approval. It's perfect.
Notes:
this chapter might also seem short but honestly i just am excited to write some of the upcoming chapters so definitely keep yourself on the lookout for updates because i'm excited to share these chapters!!
also expect more frequent updates because i'm less busy now.
(Previous comment deleted.)
not_lizzard33 on Chapter 1 Mon 12 May 2025 03:42AM UTC
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Fhinni on Chapter 4 Mon 12 May 2025 07:43PM UTC
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