Chapter 1- Tell Me It's Real.

Marceline knew the midnight breeze was cold. Not that she could feel it, her body had been unable to do that for centuries. But she had a sixth sense about such things, she could tell the temperature of the environment as easily as she could see the grass was green and the sky was blue. Plus, Bonnibel was beginning to shiver beside her. Barely, just barely, but it was there, the tiny little twitches, the hitches in breath, the tensing of her arms. Marcy studied her watch, 13 minutes, close enough.

"Yo, Peebs, you're freezing dude! You should go inside, get some real rest. I got this", Marcy suggested.

"Mmm I'm good here… just 5… mmaahh", came the muffled reply.

Marceline's jaw relaxed. Her face became soft. The right corner of her mouth twitched into a warm half smile. A smile reserved solely for Bonnibel Bubblegum. She watched the pink brow resting against her shoulder furrow, ever so slightly as she tried to find her way back to sleep. She found her mind starting to wonder to what Bonnibel might dreaming about. She thought back to the time when Bonnie would call her first thing in the morning to tell her about her dreams. On the nights Marceline spent at the castle, hidden away in Bonnie's room, she was subject to the odd elbow in her side at 4am if a dream had been particularly exciting.

On occasion, she reminisced, her own dreams had been of an entirely different but none the less exciting nature. Soft lips, barely touching the nape of her neck, breath caressing her ears, and delicate, nimble fingers, tracing a path down her spine. Tickling the small of her back before using her hips to pull her backwards into a wanton embrace.

"Marcy?"

Bonnie's voice brought Marceline out of her deepening trance.

"Wha- yeah, mhm?", came the choppy reply.

"I can feel you watching me", Bonnibel's voice came across agitated, but somehow emitting warmth.

Marcy's stifled her laugh, but her half smile widened into a half grin.

"You got me", she breathed out.

Bonnie opened one eye to shoot a look at Marcy, "you know what you should be watching?"

Confused, Marcy's brow knitted together, before her left eyebrow twitched upwards.

Bonnie sighed and sat up to look at Marcy directly.

"My pumpkins?"

"Oh, God Bonnie sorry! Yes, yes I got this. You really should go inside you know, it's pretty cold out here, and I mean that's coming from a Vampire".

This time it was Bonnie's turn to smile, but she didn't move. Marcy had turned her attention back to the pumpkin patch, avoiding Bonnie's gaze. PB studied Marceline's profile in silence, her eyes glided over every inch of her face, her strong jaw and stunningly dark eyes, ashen and black, perfectly matching her long mane of hair. She seemed to glow in the under the light of the stars. Bonnie always had thought she looked most beautiful set against the night sky. As she studied Marcy's features, she found herself increasingly drawn in. She remembered her own fingers raking through that hair, her arms draped around a slender but strong neck, and cold but gentle fingers holding her steady by the hips. She had felt safe. Safer than anywhere else. In Marceline's arms she didn't have to be Princess Bubblegum. She was just Bonnie, a teenage girl in love. And just Bonnie, was enough.

Sadness gripped her heart like a fist as the memories of letting Marceline go flooded back to her. Each time she remembered it was like poking a bruise the day after a fall. It happened in the past but it still hurt. And this bruise was permanent.

"So…" Marceline posed.

Flustered, Bonnie took a moment and returned "so…".

"So, Bonnie, I know we've been hanging out more lately, and I want you to know that, I've loved it. I really have, I've missed you and I know that I was… bad for you I guess? Bu-…"

"Whoa whoa, wait what? Is that what you think?"

"Well, you didn't have to say it but, I got the message pretty clear", something in Marcy's voice caught, her vision started to blur. God she hated feeling so vulnerable.

"Marcy, I never ever thought you were bad for me! You were the best part of my day for hundreds of years, you saw me grow up. You helped me grow up. We did almost everything together! I'm pretty sure you would have taught me how to get away with murder if Peppermint Butler hadn't been so keen!"

"Then why did you push me away Bonnie? Glob knows I didn't want to lose you! I…I…I was in love with you!"

Bonnie stared at Marceline awe stricken. Her mouth hung open like a door with a busted hinge. She could do nothing but stare at the Vampire who had started pacing during the former conversation, and was now standing stock still in front of her on the porch. She also looked paler than usual, if that were possible, almost as if she were going to vomit.

After a prolonged silence thick with all manner of tension, Bonnibel found her voice once more.

"Marcy, why did you never tell me?", the question escaped in an almost inaudible whisper.

Marceline rubbed one hand across the back of her neck and into her midnight locks. She studied the ground, doing anything to distract herself from the other girl's eyes that were desperately boring into her face, searching for any hint of an answer.

Finally, a small mutter danced across purple lips and through the frigid night air to Bonnie's ears.

"I didn't think I needed to".

"Marcy, I knew that you cared about me, so much, and I care about you more than anyone else on Ooo", after a small pause, she looked down at her feet and scuffed the heel of her boots against the decrepit wooden beams underneath them, finally when bravery found its way to her, she could hold back no more "I didn't think I had to say it either".

Two sets of eye's locked, for the first time since the conversation began. It wasn't a stare, it wasn't uncomfortable, they were just gazing. Each pair of eyes filled with questions, seeking out the answers in the owner of the set.

"Bonnie, you, you don't get it, I know you love me, but I mean it as… Bonnie, you're hot and amazing and clever and funny. You make me feel, I don't know, but it's more than a friend thing, and you know that I'm Bisexual but I never ever told you this and I know it's a lot and Grod I can't stop thinking about you, the whole time I was away I couldn't stop I-".

"Marcy shut it".

"I know it's a lot and this will probably ruin everything and I'm sorry, I am, but I couldn't not say it anymore".

"Marcy sh-".

"And I know I should have kept my stupid ass mouth shut, bu-".

"MARCELINE".

"Shutting up".

"May I please, get a word in now?"

Marcy crossed her legs in mid-air and waited.

"When I told you I didn't have time for you anymore, it wasn't the whole truth. The Candy Kingdom was getting huge, it wasn't that I lied I just didn't tell you everything that was going on. I had so much to do I didn't have time to understand my feelings for you, I didn't have time to figure it out! And it was all so confusing. You made me feel things I's never felt, for anyone, not any guy, none of my other friends and I didn't know why."

Bonnie felt something on her cheeks. She hadn't noticed when the tears had started to come, she hadn't heard her voice start to break and squeak. But she was crying now, and fighting to get the rest of her confession out.

"I pushed you away because I was afraid Marceline. I was afraid that I was falling in love with you and you wouldn't love me back. Or that the hugs would stop or the fun would stop and you wouldn't want to-"

The dam finally burst, and tears that showed all the pain, the angst and the hurt came bursting forwards. Century's worth of loneliness and longing expressed in heaving breaths and water streaking down her face. Marceline had drifted over silently. She wrapped her arms firmly around Bonnibel, one clung to her waist pulling her in close as the other guided Bonnie's head to the padded shoulder of her jacket.

Eventually the breaths became less laboured, the tears subsided, leaving dried tracks from Bonnie's eyes down to her chin. But her shoulder was damp too. She softly leaned away from Marceline's embrace, and saw the usually invulnerable vampire had tracks down her own cheeks.

A cold thumb brushed over Bonnie's cheek and her body instinctively leaned into, instead of away from, the sensation.

"Bonnie I've loved you forever, I never knew you felt like that."

A weak smile dared to form on Bonnie's face, the corners twitching and pulling.

"Please tell me you aren't going to push me away again, please don't be scared any more", Marceline pleaded quietly, resting their foreheads together, urging Bonnie to let her in.

This time the smile was there in force, Bonnie beamed up at the vampire floating in front of her. Marcy returned the favour, fangs and all. Then there was something else, the smiles faded and faces were drawn closer together. There was purpose behind these movements. Their lips grazed against each other and there was a sharp intake of breath from both parties. Finally Marceline closed her lips softly guiding Bonnibel to do the same.

For some time lips connected and disconnected with tenderness. The kiss was gentle and perfect. Fingers laced together at first, but Bonnie detached them and walked her hands up Marceline's arms until they found their place under inky hair and around the slim, firm neck of the girl she was enamoured with. Marcy's hands moved around Bonnie's waist holding her close, as if she feared at any moment she would wake up, and be alone. She had to make sure Bonnie was really here, to feel her pressed up against her body, all of her was really here, in her arms. Lips to lips, ignoring time itself, it was just them.