Do you think she'll like it?
Marceline strummed her banjolele and floated through the balmy summer night. She did a small flip in the air and hummed some lullaby, floating upside down. She sighed contentedly and tugged on her duffel bag strap so that it hung more comfortably from her shoulder. One of her bat-like ears twitched at the sounds of laughter down below her.
She swooped down to get a closer look closer at the two boys roasting marshmallows. She chuckled to herself and felt the subtle shift as her skin became invisible. Slowly creeping up on the young boy and the magical dog, her arms and legs elongated. Hair grew all over her body and insectile legs sprouted from her back. Her fangs elongated and sharpened and her eyes became as sharp as razor blades. She positioned herself behind Jake and filled her lungs with air. Her claws loomed over his head and-
“Oh, hiya Marceline. Did you come out here to hang with us?” the Ice King said, landing next to the fire with a box of graham crackers and a bag of chocolate bars.
Marceline sighed in frustration and dispelled the magic keeping herself invisible. Jake screamed. Finn laughed. Ice King smiled.
“So, you two are hanging out with the Ice King now?” Marceline settled down next to Jake and leaned on his head with both arms propping up her chin.
“Yeah, I let these two nerds start rolling with me,” Ice King leaned in next to Marceline ear, “Between you and me, I feel kind of sorry for them.”
“Hey, Marceline you should join us,” Finn’s mouth and hands are covered in sticky marshmallow goop. He opens his backpack and starts digging around. “I think I have an apple in here somewhere.”
“Sure, why not. I’ve been working on a new song and I need a break,” Marceline propped up her banjolele on her knee. “I’ve been having some mad writer’s block.”
“Yeah, I know what you’re feeling Marceline,” Jake’s eyes looked up at Marceline, “it took me and Finn forever to come up with a good present for PB’s birthday.” Jake reached into some unseen pocket on his body and pulls out a blue sweater. There’s a crudely stitched heart on it that would probably have covered PB’s candy heart if Finn hadn’t accidentally sewn it on the wrong side. There’s also three sleeves: two as wide as the neck hole and one as narrow as Marceline’s index finger. A pair of daggers suddenly shoot out of the sleeves and a burst of fire erupts from the heart.
“What the stuff, man!” Jake yelled while flinging the sweater away from him, “I thought you said you wouldn’t use any magic nails.”
“Hey, be careful with it. I spent a long time knitting that thing.” Finn jumped up and carefully folded it into his backpack. “Anyways, this way PB is going to actually like it,” Finn laughed and leaned back against a log with his arms crossed behind his head, “Normal sweaters are lame, dude.”
“Oh yeah,” Jake’s face crumpled and narrowed into a smirk, “but you didn’t think the sweater Bubblegum gave you was lame.”
“Yeah, but that sweater’s special. It helped us defeat the Lich that one time,” Finn blushed. “It’s filled with the power of liking someone a lot.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it is,” Jake’s smirk becomes manic. Finn tackled him and the two roll around in the dirt, laughing and rough housing.
“Pfff, I was the one who froze the Lich after he took over Princess Bubblegum’s bod,” the Ice King pulls something out of his robes, “Look at the cool scrapbook I made for her.”
Most of the pictures of Bubblegum look like they’ve been taken by someone hiding inside bushes and without Bubblegum’s knowledge. Marceline smirked. Bubblegum hated taking candid photos. Marceline thumbed through several pages, carefully prying apart the ones where Simon didn’t wait long enough to dry. On one page, several of them appear to be of a fist getting progressively closer to the camera lens.
Then there’s one that Simon is actually in. He has his arm hooked around Bubblegum and a goofy smile on his face. They’re surrounded by medical equipment and hospital beds. Underneath the photo, Simon scrawled “Thanks for the New Heart” in crayon.
Finn pinned Jake underneath himself and looked up at Marceline with a silly smile on his face and his bear hat slightly askew.
“Do you think she’ll like it, Marceline?”