I wasn't going to upload this but then a friend of mine convinced me to. This was the product of no sleep for over 30 hours and learning that Princess Bubblegum doesn't actually have ears. Enjoy. :)
Variants.
Every species had variants. There were good variants and bad variants. One would make someone an outcast, and the other would make someone an interesting addition to society, someone to be admired. A bad variant wasn't something a person wanted to have if they were part of the judgemental human race.
Bonnie was unlucky enough to have one of these bad variants.
Ever since she was born, she'd been different to others. Her mother liked to tell her that it was just a crappy hand she'd been dealt, and Bonnie wanted to believe that. Except she knew that she was disadvantaged, and she'd always hated it. She resented feeling inferior to others just because she was different.
Naturally, her high intelligence – beyond her years intelligence – made up for it. At least in her head. Bonnie took one of her good variants and made it the most noticeable thing about her. She signed up for as many academic competitions as she could, eventually favouring science fairs, and had won more than she could count by the time she turned sixteen.
Except winning them was never satisfying.
People would always pick up on her bad variant and treat her differently because of it. Other winners never had parties thrown for them when they won; if they did, Bonnie was never invited. People looked at her differently, told her parents how amazing it was that she was overcoming a barrier in her life.
She hated it.
She hated the way people looked at her. She hated the way that girls her age would sit by her in pity, never actually including her in their conversation. She despised how everything, no matter how microscopic, always came back to her bad variant.
And there was nothing she could do to change it.
She didn't always view it as a bad thing. Initially, she tried to look at it positively, thinking of it as a simple barrier that she could easily overcome. It wasn't like she'd known any different. Her opinion had soured over time, when it became more and more of an inconvenience. When she was old enough to tell that people looked at her differently. When she was old enough to understand vulnerability and how it was a bad thing.
Normalcy. Social acceptance. Friends. It all linked.
That was what she wanted. She wanted to be like all the girls who pitied her and allowed her so sit with them while they chatted with their friends, all bubbly smiles and enthusiasm. She wanted normalcy, the life she saw on stupid high school sitcoms. She'd turned a lot of those over in her mind after her difference became a bad variant.
Bonnibel had thought about it for years. She finally voiced her feelings to her parents one day, while her mother was home-schooling her. They were going over chemical equations – which Bonnie already knew so well she could balance them with her eyes closed – when she dropped her pencil on the desk with an upset frown.
"Bonnibel, have you finished already?" Her mother sent her a proud smile. "That's great. We can go over some more complicated things if you'd like, just let me find the worksheets."
Bonnie shook her head to stop her mother from turning away. She held up her hands and quickly signed, "Mom, I'd like to go to public high school."
Naturally, the first response was a confused blink. Then her mother's expression twisted into something sour and she shook her head. "No. It's too risky. Too many variables. I can't let you do that, honey."
Bonnie's frown deepened as she read her mother's lips. "I don't care about variables. I want to go."
Visibly, her mother sighed, and almost as if it was an automatic function, Bonnie's eyes rolled skyward. She hadn't expected a yes, of course. She was used to her mother's overprotectiveness after living through it for sixteen years.
(Yet another reason why she hated being different.)
"Bonnie, no," Another shake of the head, this time a lot more exaggerated, "I'm sorry. It's just- the teachers there might not know how to sign and I don't want you to get left behind in your education. And god knows what the students are like."
"I can lip read. I'm getting good at that." Bonnibel insisted. In fact, recently she'd instructed her mother to use as little sign language as possible. Learning to lip read more fluently was part of her plan. "I don't need to be sheltered. At least let me try it?"
Her mother huffed again. Bonnie supplied another eye roll. "Ask your dad. See what he thinks about it and then come back to me. Only if you're certain that this is what you want."
"Of course it's what I want." Bonnie shuffled from her seat and headed out of the room, in the general direction of her dad's study.
'Talk to your dad' was far better than a flat-out no, and it was more than she'd expected. Her dad was far more lax when it came to things like this. He was the one that allowed Bonnibel to enter science fairs in the first place. Her mother had insisted that she might feel 'inadequate'.
She was aware that her mom was trying to protect her, but it got on her nerves when she was treated like she was a glass sculpture that would smash into pieces at any second. Bonnie had been different her whole life. It was safe to say that she was used to it after sixteen years.
She opened the door to her dad's study and beamed at him when he glanced up. She passed the time by picking at her fingernails until he'd finished his phone call. Probably talking about company sales with his business partner or something.
He smiled at her, signing, "Aren't you supposed to be studying?"
Bonnibel let out a soft giggle and sat down in the chair opposite to his desk. "I needed to talk to you about something."
He smiled, waving a hand in front of him. "Go ahead. Anything you need."
Bonnibel sucked in a deep breath and sent a collective prayer to any form of power she could conjure up before voicing her thoughts. Although her dad was much more lenient than her mom, he could still be strict about certain things.
"So, I've been thinking for almost a year now about how I'd like to branch out and gain new experiences." She carefully introduced her topic. "I've come to the conclusion that I'd like to go to high school. Public high school. I want to make friends with kids my age and meet a nice girl and have social interaction outside of the house. As much as I love talking to you and mom, I'd like someone else. A friend."
Her dad had a much better reaction. He positively beamed at her as if she'd just magically produced the cure to all diseases. "I think that's a great idea, honey. We could look for some schools for the deaf and-"
She interrupted with a shake of her head. "No. I'd like to try a regular high school. If it doesn't work out, then we can do that. I just want to be normal, dad."
"You are normal, Bonnibel," He reached over the desk and squeezed her hand reassuringly, "Not being able to hear doesn't make you abnormal."
"I want someone to talk to that's my age." Bonnibel brushed off his previous comment. "Not having friends is probably less common than having them. Statistically, that would be abnormal."
She saw him laugh, a warm smile lighting up his face. "See, you know what is abnormal about you? How you're smarter than every single kid your age. And how you use statistics to prove a point."
She flushed in embarrassment and looked down at her feet. Allowing herself a few breaths, she sent him a sarcastic smile and signed back. "Just get mom on board with the whole idea, okay? She's sceptical."
He sent her a look that she knew roughly translated into something like it'll be hard or it'll take a while. She knew that would be the case. She wasn't an idiot.
Sixteen years of being forever protected. It'd probably take a lot for her mom to loosen her grip.
It took two months for Bonnibel and her dad to convince her mom that she was ready to experience high school. At first, she'd agreed to her dad's initial assumption of a school for the deaf, and although it seemed practical and convenient, Bonnie wanted more. She wanted a challenge.
She wanted to show that she wasn't incapable of going to a normal school just because she was deaf.
It wasn't going to hold her back.
Naturally, when her mother finally agreed, Bonnie had been overjoyed. She was excited for days, jumpy when all of the forms she needed to fill in arrived, and positively terrified the night before her first day.
She'd never been to a school before. She'd never been the 'new girl' before. What if people didn't like her? What if she didn't gain the social experience she'd been hoping for?
What if. What if. What if.
That was what ran through her mind the whole night. Horrific scenarios, nightmarish things that could be a reality. But she wasn't going to back out. This was what she'd wanted. High school was what she wanted.
Both of her parents dropped her off at school. Her mom insisted on walking her in; Bonnie only allowed because they were exceptionally early. Naturally, her mom stuck by her until Bonnibel had received her timetable and map of the school, and then gave her the tightest hug she could muster before finally leaving.
It was kind of relieving when she left.
Bonnie easily found her way to her first class, careful not to bump into anyone, and took a seat in the middle of the room, towards the front of the classroom. She hoped that nobody was already supposed to be sitting there. A fight over a seat wasn't the way she wanted to go about her first day.
She pulled out the appropriate supplies and made her workspace as tidy as she could until she noted the classroom door swinging open in her peripheral vision. She assumed that the school bell had gone off and that it was time for class to start.
(She'd noted down the bell times on her phone.)
The last thing she expected was for a blonde girl in all purple to sit down next to her. Bonnibel blinked in confusion – maybe she was sat in the girl's seat – but apparently not.
The girl started talking, a little too fast for Bonnibel to lip read effectively. Out of habit, she signed back "could you slow down please?" but she realised that it'd be no use after she'd done it.
Maybe things would be harder than she'd initially thought.
Unsure of what to do, Bonnibel watched helplessly as the girl rambled on, completely unaware of what she was actually talking about. She caught a few words of the girl's speech, one of them 'new' and the other 'drama'.
Drama didn't sound good. That was the last thing she wanted to get involved with.
She blinked in confusion when she noted that the girl had stopped talking and was looking at her expectantly. Maybe she'd asked a question that Bonnie hadn't quite caught.
Awkwardly, she stared back at the girl until she spoke again. "Why aren't you answering me?"
Finally, the girl had spoken slowly enough for Bonnie to read. Unsure of how to respond properly, Bonnie picked up her pen and wrote her answer in her notebook. She doubted that the girl could understand sign language.
I can't answer you.
She saw the girl frown down at her answer. "Why not?"
Bonnibel clicked her pen again and scribbled down something else.
I didn't get what you asked. You were speaking too quickly.
She glanced back up at the girl, who was curling a lock of her blonde hair around her finger. Apparently she didn't quite understand Bonnie's answer, and was presumably about to ask about it.
At least, until she noticed something past Bonnie and beamed, completely distracted.
Bonnie leaned back to see what the other girl was looking at. A Korean girl had sat on Bonnie's right and was talking to the girl in purple. "Who is this in your seat?"
So she was in the other girl's seat. Fantastic.
"I don't know. I asked her for her name but she won't tell me." At that, Bonnibel leaned over her notebook again and scrawled another message.
My name is Bonnibel. I'm sixteen and I didn't move to town from anywhere. I've lived here my whole life but I was homeschooled until today.
Both girls looked it over with a frown. The Korean girl, who seemed a lot friendlier, sent Bonnibel a warm smile and introduced herself. "I'm Lady Rayner. The girl who's being really loud and asking why you won't talk is Elle Smith-Parker. I apologise in advance for any headaches."
Bonnibel smiled back. It's nice to meet you. It's alright, no apology necessary because I won't get headaches from whatever loud noises she's making. I'm deaf.
Both of them seemed a little surprised, which was enough to stun Bonnie. Elle was the one to speak first, tapping Bonnie on the shoulder to get her attention. "You're deaf? But then how are you replying to what we're saying on there."
Bonnie watched as Elle nodded down to her notebook. She shrugged easily and wrote, lip reading. :)
"That must be hard, right?" Lady's smile went from welcoming to sympathetic within seconds. It was enough to make Bonnie's stomach churn.
No. She knew she was lying as she wrote that, but the last thing she wanted was pity. I've been deaf my whole life. I don't know anything else. Situations like this can be awkward, but they don't happen all that often.
The sympathy still didn't leave Lady's face. "Well, I could help you around school if you'd like?"
A few pointers and directions might be nice, but Bonnie had wanted independence. She didn't want pity friendships or to be helped just because she was deaf. No. She was going to get through her first day independently.
No, that's alright. I'd appreciate someone to sit with at lunch, though.
"Yeah, no worries," Thankfully, Elle wasn't looking at her in the same way Lady was. There was mild fascination, confusion, but no sympathy. "We'll introduce you to our friends."
Bonnie hadn't expected to be included in the conversation at the lunch table. She hadn't expected her new acquaintances to chat with her. The first time she sat with them, they included her. And the second time.
By the time she'd been around for about a month, they stopped. It was like she wasn't even there.
Most people assumed that because she couldn't hear, she wasn't much of a conversationalist, which wasn't the case at all. Bonnie liked mild conversation. Yet another instance of her being held back, which was exactly what she was trying to fight against.
Naturally, after eating her sandwich and then not being acknowledged once in nearly half an hour, she wrote down an excuse to leave and scurried away to find somewhere isolated to finish off her lunch. She wound up sitting on a soft grass area around the back of the music room.
She rested her back against the music building, smiling when she felt it shake, vibrate against her. Although she couldn't listen to music, she liked to feel it. She liked the vibrations from her dad's stereo, flowing up her fingertips, through her arms and into her heart. She loved the way it felt when her parents would play their music so loudly that the floors would shake, the basslines pounding in Bonnibel's chest. It was comforting, the soft buzz against her back. She closed her eyes and finished off her lunch with a smile.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt something cold brush against her arm.
Her eyes snapped open and she turned to her right to see a dark haired girl. Her green eyes pierced straight through Bonnie as though they already knew each and every one of her secrets, but her easy smile was a lot less intimidating. Thank god.
Out of habit, Bonnibel signed out a quick apology. One of the girl's perfectly plucked eyebrows raised and Bonnie allowed herself a small cringe before unzipping her backpack. Notebook communication seemed best.
She stopped in her tracks when the girl signed back. "It's okay. You're not in my spot. We can share it."
The signing was a little shaky, but still good enough to make Bonnie look twice. "You can sign?"
The girl smiled, and Bonnie guessed that it was accompanied by a laugh. "Yeah. I took a class in it last year as a language elective. Ditched French for it. I didn't see you in class, though."
"I'm new." Bonnibel explained, apparently unable to wipe the smile off her face. She was grinning like an idiot. Someone who could sign? Talk about the best gift she'd ever gotten. "I've been deaf since I was born and that's why I use sign language."
She waited for the look of sympathy, for the girl's eyes to soften, but nothing changed in her expression. "I kind of figured, from the way you did it automatically when you noticed me. Also, sorry if I screw up with the signing. I'm kind of rusty."
"You're doing great. I can lip read fluently, though. If you get tired of signing you can just talk to me." Bonnie assured her, nervously fiddling with her fingers when she considered asking something else. "Can I get your name?"
"Marceline," The girl- Marceline –said it and signed it simultaneously, "What about you?"
"Bonnibel. Family and friends call me Bonnie." Bonnibel flashed a gentle smile at her acquaintance. "It's nice to meet you, Marceline."
"You too, Bonnie." Marceline stuck out a hand and Bonnie shook it, keeping a gentle grip on the cool, pale skin. "You're in my art class, aren't you? You sit with Lady Rayner."
Bonnibel couldn't recall seeing Marceline in there before. "I'm guessing so. I usually zone out in that class. Art isn't my thing but I had to do a creative subject."
"What would you say is 'your thing' then?" Marceline asked her. It was then that Bonnibel noted the guitar bag next to her, but didn't plan on saying anything. "Math? English? Science?"
"I don't know why you looked particularly repulsed at the thought of science." Bonnibel sent Marceline an indignant glare, but it was only half serious. "I love science. That's my thing. I'm guessing yours is music?"
Marceline looked over to the guitar bag next to her and nodded. "Yeah. Been playing since I was tiny."
"This might sound weird, but I like music. I like the feel." Admitting that to a virtual stranger sounded a little strange, but Bonnie didn't think that Marceline would take it the wrong way. She seemed sweet and easy-going, nice enough to make Bonnie's stomach flutter. "It's essentially just vibrations, right? I like the way it feels."
Marceline scrunched her nose up in thought and Bonnie felt a little pang in her chest. It was tiny, but there. "Maybe I'll play for you some time."
Although it was cryptic, Bonnie managed to pull one thing from it. "Some time? You mean you'd talk to me again?"
Marceline nodded, favouring sign again. "Of course. I like you."
Bonnibel just smiled in response.
Bonnie favoured going behind the music room to eat her lunch. That wasn't because of the solitude it provided. It was because usually once she'd finished her sandwiches, Marceline showed up. She'd pop up out of nowhere and sit down next to Bonnibel, backpack and guitar slung over one shoulder as casually as ever.
Except for one day.
One day, Bonnibel finished her lunch and spent her time straightening out her dress, confused when her friend didn't show up. They'd been sitting together every day for just over three months and Bonnibel didn't like changes in routine. It was unnerving.
She waited until two o'clock for Marceline to show up, but she never did. Upset, Bonnibel trudged to science class with a frown on her face. The only thing that perked her up was the fact that she had art afterwards, which was a class she shared with Marceline. If her friend was in school, she'd be there.
Thankfully, when Bonnibel made her way into the art room after her class, Marceline was sat in her usual spot.
Rather than walking straight over to her seat next to Lady, Bonnibel sat herself down in a seat she knew was usually empty. She tapped Marceline's shoulder to get her attention, relieved when she turned around and smiled at her. That ruled out the possibility that Marceline was mad at her.
"Hey, Bonnie," Marceline dropped her pencil and signed, "Sorry that I wasn't in our spot this lunchtime. Had an impromptu meeting with my music teacher."
So there was a perfectly logical explanation. Thank god. "Oh, that's alright. I was just a little worried that maybe you'd stopped wanting to spend lunchtime with me. I know that you have other friends."
Marceline frowned and shook her head, which elicited a sigh of relief from Bonnie. "Nope, not at all. I'll make it up to you. Are you busy after school?"
It was Bonnie's turn to frown. "No, I'm not busy. Why?"
"Want to hang out?" Marceline picked up her pencil again and began sketching. "We could chill. Watch a movie or something. If you want."
Bonnibel blinked at her. "You want to hang out with me? Outside of school?"
"Well, yeah," Marceline turned to her with an amused smirk. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."
"Yeah!" Bonnibel signed back, hoping that her excited smile would convey her enthusiasm in the way that sign couldn't. "I'd love to hang out with you! Is it alright if we go to my house? My mother doesn't take her phone into the room she works in at home because she sees it as a distraction, so I can't get hold of her. She'll worry if I'm not home at my usual time."
"Yeah, that's fine." Marceline flashed her a smile. "I have to go to the music room to pick up my guitar before we leave, though."
"Okay." Bonnie nodded, "That's alright. I'll come over here at the end of class and then we can walk to my house together."
With that, Bonnibel made her way over to her seat, where she spent the rest of class casting occasional glances over at her friend, a weird, unexplainable feeling in her stomach.
It happened again.
Bonnie was unlocking her front door to let Marceline in, when she'd turned around to see her friend sending her that beautiful smile of hers. And her stomach squirmed.
Again.
She'd shaken the first time off easily enough. The second time it happened was when they were walking home together, Marceline recounting a story about the time her band went on a two week tour across the state.
And now it was happening again.
She didn't know what was wrong with her. She'd never felt that way around Marceline before, at least not that she could remember. What was so different about her now?
Eventually, as she watched Marceline walk into her house and kick off her shoes, she decided that there wasn't anything different. It was obviously just late relief about how Marceline still wanted to hang out with her.
Bonnibel untied her shoes and then gripped Marceline by the wrist. She pulled her friend up the stairs and towards her bedroom, carefully sitting her down on the bed. Bonnibel leaned down and grabbed a few DVDs – her collection was rather sparse – and dropped them on the bed in front of Marceline.
"Pick whichever one you'd like to watch. I don't have a very extensive DVD collection." Bonnie apologised and then nodded down at the DVDs in a prompt.
Marceline scanned them over, and eventually picked up Big Hero 6. "We'll watch this one. Are you going to put the subtitles on?"
Bonnie nodded quickly and slid the DVD into the player. "Yes. I'm too lazy to lip read the entire movie. And it's animated, so usually the things I infer aren't what the characters are actually saying. Unless the subtitles would be a distraction…"
"Of course not." Marceline smiled at her and her stomach lurched. "Subtitles are fine. I want you to be as comfortable as possible."
Bonnie smiled and pressed 'play' on the remote, her DVD player set up to automatically use subtitles. She then walked over to her bed and sat down next to Marceline, keeping a respectable distance between the two of them.
Apparently, Marceline didn't like that; she slung an arm around Bonnie's shoulders and pulled her close. Bravely, Bonnie rested her head on Marceline's shoulder and her arm on her friend's torso, smiling when she felt Marceline's chest shake with the language she couldn't hear.
Eventually, Bonnie grew tired of the movie, and looked up and signed, "Play your guitar for me."
Marceline nodded over to the television. "What about the movie?"
Bonnie just shrugged. "I want to feel you playing."
Watching as Marceline unzipped her guitar case, Bonnie waited patiently for her friend to start playing. Marceline readied her guitar, shifting so she was in a comfortable playing position, and then Bonnie held up a hand to stop her from starting.
Bonnibel rested a hand on the body of the guitar, a solitary nod the only indication for her friend to start playing. Marceline looked at her for a moment, uncertain, but Bonnie nodded again and tapped the guitar with her free hand.
Marceline strummed the first chord, the wood of the acoustic guitar shaking under Bonnie's hand. As she played, Bonnibel closed her eyes and felt the music flow through her fingertips, through her bones and into her chest. It felt as though she was the stereo, Marceline's music running through her and being amplified by her entire being, rooted into her heart.
Bonnibel didn't open her eyes until the vibrations stopped.
"Did you like it?" Marceline seemed uncertain, and Bonnibel didn't know how she couldn't tell.
"I loved it." Bonnie hoped her smile would convey her enthusiasm. "It was amazing."
Marceline bowed her head and Bonnibel only just caught the red that was creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. She said something, but Bonnie failed to lip read it – she was too busy marvelling at her friend's talents.
Finally, Marceline looked up and met her gaze, her usual lopsided grin quiet and reserved. "You're sure you liked it?"
"Positive. It was amazing, Marcy." Bonnibel dropped her hands to her lap and watched as Marceline rested her guitar against the bed. Then, she reached in front of her and grabbed her friend by the wrists, shuffling forwards. "Can I try something?"
Marceline frowned, but nodded, so Bonnie took that as a good sign. Carefully, she shuffled up between her friend's legs and rested her hands on Marceline's shoulders, gently pulling her forwards.
Kissing Marceline felt even better than hearing her play music, which Bonnie hadn't thought she'd be able to top. Her lips were so soft and contrasted perfectly with her fingers, calloused from years of guitar playing, callouses that were sending shivers down Bonnie's spine and tracing fire across her skin. Bonnibel's fingers traced Marceline's sharp jawline, disappeared into thick onyx locks and then met at the base of her friend's neck, pulling her closer.
Marceline's hands favoured resting on her waist, holding Bonnie in front of her as they kissed, her grip both gentle and firm. Bonnie tried not to think about what Marceline's tongue was doing as she tugged on her friend's bottom lip with her teeth, staying tentative in fear of going too far.
Bonnie was the one to pull away first. Shyly, she held up her hands and signed, "Was that okay?"
Marceline smiled again, but it was that same reserved smile that had appeared before. "That was better than okay."
"Really?" Bonnie had been uncertain as to whether or not Marceline had wanted to kiss her in the first place. For all she knew, Marceline was straight.
Although, after what they'd just done, it was highly unlikely.
"Really." Marceline confirmed. Then, she signed out something else that made Bonnibel flush bright red and look away, her stomach squirming in happiness and nervousness and something else underneath everything that made the jitters in her stomach worth it.
It took her a few moments to compose herself, before she beamed and signed back. "Yeah. Me too."
Variants.
Every species had variants. Good ones and bad ones.
Bonnibel had a lot of good variants. And although it took her a while to realise it, it turned out that she didn't have any bad ones, either. She'd noticed that ever since she'd met Marceline, someone that could sign and didn't treat her any differently, that it wasn't her that had the problem. The people that had sat with her out of pity were the ones with the bad variants.
She was just glad she'd finally met someone with good ones.