Acceleration Pt. 1

Ash tried to hold her hand again, but Marceline kept moving it away.

It wasn't as if she really detested him that bad; it was just really awkward and uncomfortable. His palms were sweaty and his cologne was too off-putting. He was nice enough to lend her his jacket whenever she got cold, and he even bought her pizza (even though it was really oily and pretty much tasted like cardboard). He wasn't a bad guy… It's just that he didn't quite have the charm that she thought a boyfriend would've needed. Maybe that's what she sort of liked about him though… The fact that he tried at all. Maybe it was just tolerance, but hey, he was really nice.

"Hey, uh, MarMar…" Ash said, sliding his hands into his pockets.

Marceline snapped to attention, looking at the boy in question.

"What's up?"

"Why is it that you never hold my hand?"

Marceline rolled her eyes and kept walking, heading off to her house, not stopping until she reached the gates that held the words ABADEER'S RESIDENCE in some swirly and elegant design up high.

"Marceline!"

"What?!" She said, almost screeching. She didn't want this discussion again.

"Why?" Ash pleaded. "You never even let me do anything. No kisses, no hugs. Heck, you won't even let me hold your hand. I'm barely a boyfriend to you."

Frustrated, Marceline pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking what she was about to say through.

"You knew very well that despite the fact that you feel very strongly for me, I cannot quite reciprocate it. I thought I said to give it time. You know I'm not good with dates."

"You dated Grey, though." Ash muttered bitterly. "That turned out fine."

"Yes, but he and I never did much too. And he didn't act like this, and we ended up as friends just fine without any hostility."

"Are you just outright afraid to be intimate or something? Is there something I'm missing in all of this?" He snarled, as if challenging her.

Marceline hissed, and just turned to knock at the gates, pressing by the receiver, addressing the guard. "Bongo, let me in."

The gates opened, and as Ash tried to follow Marceline into the property, she aimed to just shut it in front of his face. Confused as he was, he still tried to counter it by holding his hand against it, pushing it open. The guard did not like what was happening, suddenly being alert at the alarming action.

"Marceline, what are you, some dyke? Won't put out? Can't you take a hint? I want to do something with you, and not just be some placeholder—"

"Goddammit, Ash! Can't you take a hint?!"

Ash froze in place, clenching his fists by his side.

"I don't want to be with you. I'm really not comfortable and you're really pushing it. So please stop, and leave me alone. It's over."

"You fucking dyke!"

Pushing past the gate, Ash pulled onto Marceline, attempting to smother her in some sort of kiss. Sadly for him, Marceline was able to kick him where it counts, sending him sprawling byon the ground.

Bongo "assisted" him into his departure, and though in the beginning Ash was angrier and couldn't care less, when Bongo warned him that Marceline's father would very well hear about his rotten behavior, the boy started sweating bullets.

Marceline just wanted to rest. It was way too emotionally draining having to deal with him.

"Marceline, are you alright?" Bongo said, as he returned to her aide.

"Just… It's so exhausting dealing with boys, Bongo." Marceline sighed.

"Then just tell them you're not interested."

"What makes you think I haven't?"

Bongo remained silent, probably preparing himself for whatever Marceline might be letting out.

"I mean— Ash was just a step too far, you know? I told him I'm not interested in that shit. But maybe there is something wrong with me." She grunted. "I've kissed girls before. Heck, Grey was kind of okay, and it was sweet for a while until we settled that platonic love was actually a great denominator in it. But then here comes someone pushing it is so annoyingly… argh!"

Bongo just nodded to opening the door for Marceline.

"Your dad will hear about this, right?"

"Yeah. I might as well tell."


Marceline woke up with guilt weighing down on her shoulders.

Well. That wasn't exactly new, but it was also not the same kind of guilt that caught her by the throat in the morning. Rather than the ominous guilt she had every morning (cue: existential angst for breakfast, with a side of chocolate milk), she knew there was an add-on with a specific redhead in mind.

/

bubblegumbites sent a message to suckstolovered:

"Hey Red. c:

My first debate is today, and I'm so excited. Nervous too, of course, but you get me. I've been raving about it for a while now, haven't I? But my partner was actually really good with it, so that's cool. She's been really nice—"

/

Marceline smiled at that.

Yeah, she's been "nice," meaning Marceline towards Bonnibel lets out her romantic (and/or probably sexual) frustration for Red towards her. Because that's what friends do, right?

Yeah, totally; if being a friend began with essentially catfishing the other which in turn, the other girl – by some strange luck (whatever kind she is yet to know) – turns her into some sort physical outlet for… whatever it was. Whatever Bonnibel's logic was, it really wasn't clear to Marceline. It was probably her fear of unresolved issues or something. What she did know was that it was totally unhealthy.

It started with that one kiss. And then it kept on progressing, every goddamn visit.

She still had a hickey on her neck, and her thoughts revolved on how it wasn't even cold enough to wear a fucking scarf. If the weather got bad, or if she got too sweaty, then the make-up wouldn't hold.

Anyway, she went on to resume with reading Bonnie's message to Red.

The one true recipient that this whole fiasco was meant for. Oh dear.

/

"—we've been keeping up with work lately—"

/

Work. Right.

Marceline wondered if this was some sort of emotional cheating conflict, but it's not like Bonnie was actually dating Red. Red shouldn't even know. Whatever, not like she wasn't being amoral.

/

"—we're going to ace this, I know it!"

/

Everything else that Bonnibel wrote didn't make Marceline feel any better, though they were the more technical setting of the whole partner thing, and the mood hovered around her as she moved into the dining area where her father was somehow reading up on some papers.

Hunson was so into what he was reading that he didn't even register that Marceline had entered the room.

"Dad?"

"Hm?" Hunson said, with a slight jolt. "Marceline, you're up early."

Looking at her watch, Marceline felt a little confused.

"Dad, it's like, peering close to school time. I figured you might've had some stuff to do? You're buried in paper."

Hunson blinked slowly and rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes. "Right… Whoa, I really should've kept track of time."

"You seem really stressed."

"It's nothing, Marceline… Just, a lot of overwhelming things, I suppose."

Seeing that the table was mostly filled with papers and the sink was spotless, Marceline decided to prepare some breakfast for the both of them, only finding peace once she was certain that her father would be eating the food that she left him.

"Bye dad. Don't forget to eat."

He nodded her way, taking his plate closer, and smiling a little. "Thank you. Bye sweetheart…"


Marceline figured it was probably a bad idea to not take a scarf, because Keila was somehow caught up looking at her by the neck, and probably subjecting her to her scrutiny.

Keila narrowed her eyes and focused on her. "Marceline, why do you have some sort of cover-up by your neck?" she whispered, reaching out to wipe it off.

Marceline tried to swat away the hand, but the damage had been done as Keila was able to wipe away a portion of what was poorly covered.

"Oh my God, girl, you've been holding out on us." Keila laughed. "I know your make-up skills are horrible and all, but damn, to think… To think you'd be hiding… that, I would've thought it was some sort of weird cut, or a huge pimple."

"Shut up," Marceline grouched, obviously antsy. "I don't know how else to hide it, and it is way too warm for a scarf."

The red was immensely creeping up her neck. Marceline really didn't like where this was going.

"What? Is the highly unshakeable Marceline Abadeer flustered?" Keila teased. "C'mon, spill, who is your new romance fancy?"

"No one."

"Oh dear, you know I won't tell?"

"And I promised them I wouldn't tell."

"Whatever you say, sweetie pie," Keila hummed. "Just let me fix the little mess on your neck. I'm sure I can do better than dabbing some random skin tone on you."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Yes."

"Thanks."

"No pressure." And she winks again.

Oh brother.


Marceline was starting to have the urge to vomit right before third period began, but she was trying to calm herself down as it really would not help if she suddenly puked mid-debate. Anxiety? What the fuck even was that? She was not an anxious person, nope. She was fine, and despite the constant terribly crude statements thrown her way, she was above mere Neanderthal mumblings. She was Marceline Everett Abadeer and she was going to kill it… probably with a lot of help with her partner. But that's a given. Who would ever win against the ever fair, ever elusive, ever wonderful Bonnibel Park?

Okay, that statement was probably loaded and encouraged by their recent debauched behavior, but the more Marceline thought of it, the better she got a hold of herself.

Fuck.

For the meanwhile, as Bonnibel walked in, Marceline couldn't really take her eyes off of her. She looked pretty stable, but the way she smiled at Marceline was definitely with some sort of edge that made Marceline a bit wary. Bonnibel had her own hickey on her collarbone, covered up by her shirt but… It wasn't necessarily of any help in Marceline's concentration.

"Good morning, Marce." Bonnibel said, giving her a once over. "You look good today. You wore make-up?"

"I had to…" Marceline grumbled. "Someone here definitely has a bite kink."

"More than just one someone." The redhead laughed. Marceline felt a little annoyed at the teasing, but she was caving. Just a little bit. What did hurt though, was the fact that she knew it was all play.

"You seem to be up and at it," Marceline sighed. "Don't you think RED is going to freak out about how you used some girl to be your stress ball?" Your sexual stress ball.

"I…" Bonnibel blushed. "I don't know. The whole kissing thing was intriguing. So, think of this as an experiment. Once RED is in the picture, we'll completely forget about this."

"Right, right." Marceline laughed. "She'll definitely be thrilled."

"It's just some practice."

"Practice that you enjoy?"

"Shush."

"I don't get you, Bonnibel."

That brought Bonnibel to look straight at Marceline. "Well, I dunno. I enjoy it. Don't you?"

Marceline just sighed. "I guess I do. But don't come crying to me when karma comes fucking you up."

"Oh, as if you won't."

Coming close to her irritation going against her infatuation, she spoke up, "Bonnibel, I have—"

Betty spoke over them, completely oblivious of the current situation between the two girls, probably trying to fix the chaos ensuing among the college students. "Guys, please fix the tables so we'll be able to start today's round."

Bonnibel got into some sort of alert mode, coming close to focusing more than really wanting to argue any further with her teammate.

With a black marker, Betty scribbled down the motion for that day.

"THBT promoting gender diversity in commercials is damaging to the society."

Marceline looked a bit confused, but Bonnie was really onto it. Betty handed them a paper that had the letters "OO" written on it.

"I'm confused… oh." Marceline said, as she looked at the tear of paper. "Opening opposition."

"I'll be the Leader of the Opposition. You'll be the Assistant Leader, if you may." Bonnie said, organizing some papers on desk as they began. Whatever resolve Bonnie had on the previous discussion they had was somehow directed into a different form, immediately prompting Marceline to follow after and assist her partner into the work at hand.

"Fifteen minutes, okay? And then we'll begin."


As everyone finally settled into their seats, Marceline and Bonnie had their speeches ready.

The opening government's first was so boring, that Bonnie was even close to falling asleep. Marceline was actually taking down notes, and was directing Bonnie into it again. It was working for a bit until they both got a little distracted, concentrating more on each other's lips than anything else.

Goddamn it, Bonnibel. Look at my eyes and focus.

"Bonnibel."

"Yes?"

"It's your turn to speak." Marceline muttered, prodding her to go up to podium.

That got Bonnibel to blink a bit and to rise and take her position.

"My side of the house encourages the idea of gender diversity in commercials, and more so highly applauding those who endorse it…

Quite frankly, it is thus found that we are then exposing and derailing certain aspects of conforming to gender stereotypes and we focus greatly on the deconstruction of which eventually we attain a form of equality among them."

The speech went on, and Marceline was stuck there, taking down as much as she can.

After the one with Bonnibel, came some other person not-worthy-of-mentioning. He didn't even do shit, he just stared down into nothingness, as if thinking the words will pop out of his mouth if ever he concentrated hard enough.

Bonnibel was probably way to effective in this case.

The boy puked, though. His nervousness taking some sort of advantage over him. Marceline just looked at him, horrified, thinking that would probably been her if she took that turn already.

"Okay, okay. That's enough…" Betty said, jumping into the situation. "Everybody we'll have to close the match for now," she said with a frown. "It appears you'll still have to take some medical check on that, right?"

The boy nodded weakly.

"Everyone, time to leave the room. We'll have this mess cleaned up."

"But ma'am, the rest of the round…" Bonnie interjected. "We're not supposed to end debates like this.

"Bonnibel, I think it's time to rest." Betty sighed, obviously in a bit torn with the situation. "We'll have to let this boy be…"

Bonnie backed off, and just agreed. Her concern for the boy went up, but she just paused to call the clinic services and had him lifted off of the classroom.

"Well. That was fun," Marceline said. "I'd honestly have passed out too, but… You did well, Bonnie."

"Thanks. I can't believe I obliterated a match that the guy after me had to be brought to the clinic before he could say anything."

She gave Marceline a peck on the cheek before going her own way. Stunning.


Marceline couldn't think straight. Even with everything, with the slight implication of "friends-with-benefits" thing, she couldn't really find it in her to not do things with Bonnibel. She couldn't even get her head out into a proper thinking process with all that's going on.

Keila didn't comment, but merely smiled to herself. Oh if only she knew.

"Marceline?" Grey said, waving a hand her way. "Spacing out again?"

"What?" She said, tripping on her own words. "What is it?"

"Are you not going to eat that?"

She looked at her food. Mashed potatoes. Good shit, but she wasn't feeling it.

Breathe in, breathe out. She thought of this. Might as well let it out.

"Hey guys… How do you stop a lie?"


A/N: Hey guys! Part 2 will be posted soon. I tried to take this apart as I could, but this was really tricky. It is... yeah. HAHAHAHA