Bubblegum would like to think that she was a level-headed individual, and that "love" would be easy enough to understand, should she ever fall.
She was sowrong.
The thing is, for as much as she prepared herself to fall in love— because that's just what a logical person would do, is prepare— she wasn't ready when it showed up in the form of a vampire queen with an axe bass, soft grey skin, piercing cerulean eyes, and hair as black as ink floating around her.
Of course, this didn't just happen overnight, oh no.
It developed with such subtly, tender care, and long nights spent hanging out together, Bubblegum being lulled to sleep by Marceline's husky voice singing all her favorites songs from many eras before the Mushroom War.
They were comfortable with each other and though they had they're rocky moments, Bubblegum wouldn't change a damn memory.
Now, when exactly did the younger woman fall in love with Marceline? That's a question that even Bonnibel doesn't know how to answer, but she could tell you all the very day and moment she realized it.
The pair had just come back from movie night at Finn and Jake's tree house, and was laughing; talking about the movie they had seen called The Hangover. While Bubblegum found many parts of the video inappropriate for Finn's age, she also found it to be amusing as a whole. The stars winked in the vast sky, and the moon grinned lazily upon the two women as they got closer and closer to the Candy Kingdom.
Their giggles filtered through the air, and Marceline floated along, fingertips brushing randomly over Bubblegum's shoulder as they talked. Soon they were making their way through the Cotton Candy Forest, and Bubblegum turned to Marceline, cheeks flushed and hurt from laughing so much.
"Ah, thank you so much for walking with me, Marceline. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone tonight, I would hate for it to be ruined by the Ice King or something. So, it means a lot." Bubblegum chuckled and smiled, shifting from foot to foot.
The vampire grinned, reaching over and tucked a stray tuft of hair behind her friend's ear, and winked.
"Bleh, no worries, babe. It really was radical tonight." Cool grey fingers lingered against the younger girl's cheek, and Marceline's smile was absolutely dazzling.
And that's when it hit Bubblegum.
Hit her like an 8 foot spiked truffle troll, right in the chest.
Her breath caught, and Bubblegum blushed furiously, eyes flicking away, heart hammering in protest— wanting a chance to speak those words that threatened to bubble and spill from her lips. She was in love with Marceline.
The raven tilted her head curiously, noticing the blood rushing to the pink girls cheeks, her ear twitched, hearing her heart kick into over drive. "Yo, you okay, Bonni?" Marceline snapped her fingers in front of Bubblegum's face, and the younger girl blinked.
"O-oh! I, um. Pineapple Enchiladas?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, laughing and floated in a semi-circle around Bubblegum.
"Uh-huh… Interesting, princess."
After that day, Marceline teased Bubblegum relentlessly— and somehow, Bubblegum was sure the vampire queen knew what had happened that night, or at least had an inkling.
