soooo i don't rly use it anymore but if anyone has any burning questions to ask about this fic my tumblr url is laurenjauregvii


Bonnie grinned when there was a knock on the front door. Only one person she knew just showed up unannounced. Usually, Marceline just waltzed right in if the door was unlocked, but Bonnie was left home alone, and she'd locked it after her uncle.

She grabbed the keys and unlocked it, a big smile on her face. It faded a little when it wasn't Marceline behind the door. It was Finn, stood there in his signature bear hat, grinning earnestly.

"Oh," Bonnie frowned in surprise. "Finn, hi. What brings you here?"

"I haven't seen you in forever," Finn said, and Bonnie had to admit that it had been a while since she spent time with Finn, Jake, Lady and everyone else. She'd stopped bothering to text them; they hardly invited her to things, and she was sick of asking to tag along. Frankly, she was better friends with Marceline. "Are you busy?"

"Not particularly," Bonnie said. She wondered if Marceline would show up at all, but she tended to wonder that every day. Maybe she was working. "Come in."

She opened the door wider to allow him in and he skipped over the threshold, kicking off his trainers. "So, how come you've been hiding out in your house all summer? Crazy studying again?"

Bonnie figured Lady must've told him about that. She wondered if she'd mentioned her 'Bonnie likes Marceline' theory to any of them. Hopefully not Elle. "Nah, I've hung with Marceline and video chatted with Bubba a couple times. Not completely antisocial, just… spending time with people who make the effort, you know?"

It was a not so subtle dig, and it wasn't directed towards him. He was here and making the effort, and Bonnie had always considered Finn to be a sweet kid. He seemed to notice the way she worded it, because his usual grin faded a little bit. "Oh, okay. Well, we were all gonna go to the beach on Saturday, if you want to come."

"Yeah, maybe. Just sometimes I feel like I end up sitting by myself because you're all talking about other things." Bonnie shrugged. It felt like a pity invite, and she knew that if Marceline asked her to do something, she'd definitely go with that. Not that Marceline ever made any advance plans. "Come on, we can sit down in the lounge. You want anything to drink?"

"Do you have any soda?" Finn asked, "I'll drink anything."

"Probably why you're always so bouncy," Bonnie replied, walking towards the kitchen, "must be all the bubbles. I've always wondered if you actually sleep."

Finn laughed, following behind her with his usual bounce in his step. "Nope. Danger never rests, and neither do I."

She opened up the fridge and passed him a can of coke, "Here you go. Let's sit down."

"Hey, Bonnie?" Finn asked as he followed her into the living room. "Do you really think we don't make the effort to spend time with you?"

"Well… yes," Bonnie admitted as she sat down. She hadn't expected him to ask. "I suppose it's understandable. Quieter people are more likely to be forgotten, and I'm the newest addition to your friend group, so I'm sure that plays a factor as well. More than likely, it'll be that the novelty of the 'new girl from abroad' merely wore off."

"Well… I like hanging with you," Finn said, pausing to sip his drink, "you're cool. And you don't go telling people things I say like the other girls do. I tried asking Lady for advice on asking Phoebe out when I had a crush on her, and she told her. Like, who does that?"

Bonnie chuckled, and appreciated the warning, even if it wasn't intended that way. "Some girls are like that. It's not necessarily a bad thing, they just like to gossip with their friends. Lady's been trying to get a few things out of me, but… she hasn't been successful."

"Don't tell her, because if you like someone, she'll probably tell him," Finn warned rather dramatically, "They always kept talking about you and Marshall, and that weird Braco guy."

"Braco wasn't weird. He was nice, just… not my type," Bonnie said, smiling a little knowingly. Nope. Not her type at all. "And Marshall is just a friend. I don't know why Elle and the others were so fixated on getting me a boyfriend, anyway. I made it rather clear I wasn't interested."

"Elle thinks every girl's life is incomplete if they don't have a guy," Finn shrugged, and Bonnie wanted to laugh at how wildly inaccurate that was for her. "She's kinda crazy. Fionna doesn't really care that much, and Lady and Phoebe are kinda like… middle of the gossip scale. Except for when you go to one of them in confidence about your crush on the other one, apparently."

He rolled his eyes, and Bonnie laughed, "Well, I'm quite good at keeping secrets, so…"

He smiled, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Bonnie said, "ask away."

"So… it's nearly been a year since I asked Phoebe out. And I want to do something nice for her, but I don't really know what to do." Finn said, frowning to himself, "And you know what girls like, so… maybe you'd have some ideas?"

Bonnie frowned, "What makes you think I know what girls like?"

That translated to what else has Lady been saying about me? But apparently, the answer was nothing.

"Because you are a girl?" Finn frowned, but it quickly dissolved into his usual childlike grin, "Duh."

"Oh, yeah," Bonnie laughed it off. To be honest, she had no idea what girls liked in a romantic way. God knows how she'd ever get a girlfriend. "Uh… hm. I'm not too sure, actually. You know I've never been in a relationship, right?"

"Yeah, but…" Finn paused in thought, "I figured maybe… you'd have stuff that you'd want, if you did have a boyfriend."

"I'd want to dump him," Bonnie retorted, and because Finn trusted her and had mentioned his aversion to gossip, she decided to trust him, "and get a girlfriend. Just don't tell Elle that. Don't want the whole world knowing yet."

Finn blinked in surprise, but he smiled again. "Oh. Well, if you had a girlfriend, then. What kind of thing would you want her to do for your anniversary?"

Bonnie frowned. Admittedly, the hypothetical girlfriend in her head had green eyes and long dark hair and happened to be holding a guitar. Specifically, a red bass guitar. Based on nobody in particular. "I don't know. Definitely something romantic."

Finn laughed, "Man, you're even worse than me. Something romantic. Well, yeah!"

"Like I said, I've never been in a relationship!" Bonnie defended herself. Maybe she'd have to make more observations or do a little research. "I don't know what I'd want a girl to-"

"Yo, loser, I got McDonald's and nothing else to do today, so-" Marceline had paused in the door frame the moment she laid eyes on Finn, a bag of McDonald's food in her hand and a guitar case in the other. Bonnie's stomach fluttered at the sight of her, but dropped when she turned on her heel, "Never mind, I'm out."

"Wait, Marcy," Bonnie jumped up and grabbed her hand, but she didn't need to. Marceline had stopped the moment she said wait. "Stay! We're just having a chat. Actually, you might be able to help."

Marceline laughed quietly, "You just want the McDonald's."

"Well, yes," Bonnie retorted, pulling her over to the sofa and gently pushing her down to sit, taking the bag of food, "but I also want your company. Stay. You know Finn, right?"

"Hardly," Marceline retorted, leaning over and opening the bag of food, getting out some fries and a burger, "but there's extra fries in there if you want them, kid."

"Okay," Finn was quieter than usual, but he smiled, and took them, "thanks."

Bonnie sat back down with her own fries and she guessed that the cheeseburger was for her too. "Anyway, Marcy, you've been in relationships. What would you do for an anniversary?"

"Depends on the anniversary," Marceline said through a mouthful of fries. Bonnie had to hold back a sarcastic comment about how ladylike she clearly was. "A monthly one, probably nothing. Just a text to acknowledge it. A yearly one… I don't know. Something romantic."

Bonnie laughed. Even Finn laughed, albeit quietly. "We already got that far. What have you done for anniversaries in past relationships?"

"Relationship, singular," Marceline replied, "and you met him. You really think he did anything romantic ever?"

"Okay. Fair point." Bonnie hummed, pausing to eat a few of her fries, "Alright. Hypothetically, say you were with a guy. Or a girl. It's your one-year anniversary, and it's down to you to organise everything. What do you do?"

Marceline frowned in thought, finishing off her burger before announcing, "Break up with them to avoid that responsibility, probably."

"Seriously?" Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Okay, never mind, you're less help than I was. Text Keila and ask her, maybe she's got some tips."

Marceline snorted with laughter, "Like Keila knows how to be romantic. She's just crazy."

"I'm never going to get this right," Finn sighed, laying back on the couch he had all to himself, "Phoebe's gonna break up with me. Oh no. Not good."

"Well, what did you do for your first date?" Marceline asked. Bonnie was surprised she'd asked, or even acknowledged Finn in the first place.

Finn seemed surprised too. He glanced up with a confused frown and asked, "Why?"

"Because the whole point of a first date is tricking the other person into liking you back enough to have a second date," Marceline retorted, "That's where you pull out all the stops and act like you're the most perfect, romantic person ever. So what did you do?"

"We went out to her favourite Chinese restaurant and grabbed dinner," Finn said it like he still wasn't sure where this was going, "and then I walked her home. It was pretty casual."

"Recreate it. But do it all fancy. Dress up, act like her knight in shining armour," Marceline said, and Bonnie had to admit that it was a good idea, "Or something. I don't know."

"That's actually pretty good," Finn replied, his usual excitable grin back in place, "Thanks, Marceline. You're good with the advice stuff."

"Yeah, she is, actually," Bonnie sent her a knowing smile, "really good with it. You should start a column."

Marceline snorted, "And go around wrecking everyone's lives? Dear Marceline, should I get Beyonce's face tattooed onto my face? Yeah, sounds sick, dude, go for it!"

Bonnie laughed, "Okay, nobody would think that was a good idea."

Marceline raised her eyebrows, "You'd be surprised, Bonnie. There are some crazy people out there."

"Do you want to come to the beach on Saturday?" Finn asked, and Bonnie went to tell him that he'd already asked her, but realised he was inviting Marceline. She smiled to herself. Sweet kid. "Bonnie's going."

"Um, I said I might go," Bonnie quickly corrected him, but then looked at Marceline and added, "I'll go if you will?"

Marceline hummed in thought, and when Bonnie sent her a pleading look, she caved. "Alright then. My dumb brother is probably going to want a ride there anyway, so… might as well hang with you. And I might have to drag Keila along for the ride."

"You say that like it's a chore," Bonnie retorted, "yet you show up here every other day of your own volition."

"You're not the chore," Marceline said, "Your friends are the chore. You're okay, though, Finn. But Elle? Yeah, I'm gonna need around twenty bucks hourly to deal with her. I'll sneeze and she'll send out a mass text about how she just saw me polluting the earth."

Finn seemed pleased that he was deemed okay in Marceline's book. "Yeah, Elle can be kinda crazy. You're cool too, Marceline. Your band were really good at prom, apparently. I wasn't there, 'cause I'm a sophomore, but that's what Jake said. He said she's scary, but she can sing."

"Jake's right about one thing. She can sing," Bonnie snorted with laughter, "but I'm scarier than Marceline."

"Hey, shut up," Marceline elbowed her, "You're not supposed to tell people about that."

Bonnie smiled teasingly, "What are you going to do, pout at me until I drop dead?"

"God, you're so annoying," Marceline's smile was bleeding through the faux-annoyed expression. "Like, the actual worst. That's you. And you're welcome for the free food, you big jerk."

"Shut up, you like me," Bonnie said, and wished she meant it in the other way, "I have it on good authority that I'm one of your favourite people."

"Who told you that?" Marceline retorted, "Some crazy person, no doubt. Definitely not me."

"Must've been your secret identical twin, then." Bonnie said, "She's the one I like. You're the mean one."

"Do you two always bicker like this?" Finn asked, and Bonnie laughed to herself, because yeah, pretty much. "Do you just hang out and argue with each other?"

At the exact same time, both of them told him, "Yeah," then met each other's gaze and laughed.

Bonnie's heart felt warm.


"Woo, beach day!"

"Are you always in a good mood or something?" Bonnie asked Keila. She was sat in the back seat because Keila had called shotgun. "I don't think I've ever seen you not happy."

"I'm unhappy in German class because that makes my brain feel like it's about to explode," Keila supplied, "but I guess not. I gotta be positive to make up for my grumpy best friend."

"Hey, I'm only grumpy when people are annoying," Marceline retorted, "right, Bonnie?"

Like it was an automatic function, Bonnie said, "Right."

She heard Marshall whisper whipped next to her and she scowled at him. It was nothing compared to Marceline's famous glare, clearly, because he just laughed. When Marceline parked the car, Bonnie grabbed the beach bag she'd brought with her. She'd told Marceline they could share, so it consisted of two towels, some sunscreen, two water bottles, two books, and some spare clothes.

"I can carry the bag," Marceline offered as they walked towards the beach. Jake had told Marshall where they were. "It's no problem."

"I got it," Bonnie shrugged, "Are you going to go in the sea?"

"Nah. The ocean kinda freaks me out," Marceline shrugged, pulling her sunglasses down, "I'm just gonna laze around, listen to music and ignore your weird friends."

Bonnie frowned. "Why did you bring spare clothes, then?"

"I didn't," Marceline said, "you just grabbed some and stuffed them in your bag."

"Well, you have your swimming stuff on," Bonnie nodded to the bikini strap poking out of the shoulder of Marceline's t-shirt. "Why wear a bikini if you're not going to go in the sea?"

Marceline rolled her eyes like she'd just asked the dumbest question on the planet. "For tanning? Duh."

"You're already tan," Bonnie stated the obvious, because Marceline and her brother were naturally olive and golden, "but alright, I guess. You still need some sunscreen, though. I've already put so much on I'd probably be good to visit the sun. I burn easily."

Marceline laughed, "It's your ginger genes."

"I'm strawberry blonde," Bonnie smacked her lightly on the arm and Marceline mock pouted, "there's a difference."

"Sure, sure," Marceline didn't sound like she believed her, and her easy smile half faded when she saw Bonnie's friends, already sprawled out on their towels in one section of the sand. "The nightmare begins, I guess."

Keila jumped in between them and threw one arm around Marceline's shoulder, the other around Bonnie's. "Hey, cheer up, grumpy. Put a smile on. I'm here, you should be the happiest person ever."

Marceline raised her eyebrows and watched as her brother rushed ahead and flopped down next to Finn and Jake. "Thought that was you."

"Fine, second happiest, then," Keila said, and when she assumed Bonnie wasn't positively ecstatic, she frowned, "Damn, even you're being grumpy. They're your friends."

"Not sure they are, really," Bonnie admitted, but she put a smile on anyway, "but you guys are, so…"

"You bet we are," Keila smiled and announced, "The three musketeers!"

That got a laugh out of Marceline, and Bonnie noted the way they sat down on the sand next to Finn, Jake, and everyone, but a little bit distant. Like they were with them, but they weren't at the same time.

Bonnie got her own towel and Marceline's out and stretched them out next to each other. When she looked up from laying them out, Marceline had already taken off her t-shirt and shorts and was standing there in a skimpy black bikini. Bonnie had to make a physical effort to tear her gaze away from her toned stomach and the curve of her thighs and how positively mouthwatering the sight in front of her was. She had a nasty looking bruise on her hip, and another fading one on her knee, but Bonnie didn't really notice because she was too busy trying not to stare.

God, Bonnie thought, all I ever needed to do to figure out I'm gay was to look at Marceline in a bikini. That would've made things extremely clear.

Marceline sent her an appreciative smile and flopped down onto her towel, stretching out, seemingly oblivious to the way Bonnie was having a mental break at the sight of her. "Thanks, Bon."

"No problem," Bonnie answered, flustered, and concentrated extremely hard on searching through the bag for everything she needed. She dug out the sunscreen, and when she looked back up, Keila was in her bikini too. Somehow, she managed to keep a straight face and say, "Both of you, sunscreen. Now."

"We got ourselves a mom friend, Marce," Keila said as she took the sunscreen, "You don't drink, do you, Bonnie?"

"I've never tried it," Bonnie admitted, as Keila covered herself in the sunscreen, "why?"

"Chaperone!" Keila exclaimed, passing the bottle of sunscreen over to Marceline, "You're coming over and looking after us next time we decide to get fucked up. You can stop us doing stupid stuff, and by us, I mean Marceline."

Marceline scoffed in offence, and Bonnie stared intently at the floral pattern on her towel. Better that than staring at Marceline as she lathered sunscreen onto her legs. "Hey! Drunk Keila is just as dumb as drunk me."

Keila rolled her eyes. "Last time you got really drunk is when you got back together with Ash, we're not risking that happening again."

Bonnie quickly agreed. That was the last thing she wanted. Well, the last thing she wanted was Marceline getting together with anyone except Bonnibel, but still. "I have to agree. Drunk Marcy sounds like an idiot."

"If you guys are just going to bully me, then I'll put my earbuds in and ignore you." Marceline dramatically announced, holding the bottle of sunscreen out to Bonnie and flipping her incredibly soft, wavy hair over her shoulder, "Get my back, please?"

Bonnie's mouth worked and she took the bottle in silence, squeezing some sunscreen onto her palms. Thankfully, Keila spoke, so Bonnie could focus on remembering how to breathe.

"We all know you're going to do that anyway," Keila responded, "might as well tease you while we've got the chance."

"You're both the worst," Marceline retorted, and then turned around to frown at Bonnie, who was still struggling to process a little, "You gonna do it or what?"

"Oh, um. Yeah, sorry. Zoned out." Bonnie excused, and touched her hands to Marceline's shoulders, rubbing the sunscreen in. Bonnie's fingers ran over a scar on the side of Marceline's neck, and despite herself and her company, she stroked over it gently with her thumb. She found another just above her left shoulder blade, and another on the small of her back, and had the stupid but fleeting thought to kiss them. In an attempt to distract herself from that, she said, "And don't call me the worst. I didn't tease you."

Marceline laughed, and Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief when she finished rubbing the sunscreen in, "You called me an idiot, so…"

"For dating Ash. I think the whole planet would agree you're an idiot for that." Bonnie nudged her playfully, slightly recovered now that her only thought wasn't oh my god. "Even you can agree."

"Maybe you have a point," Marceline admitted, and Keila let out a loud yes and pumped a fist into the air in victory. Marceline shoved her. "Doesn't mean you have to get all told you so about it."

"I'm your best friend," Keila shrugged, "It's my legal duty to get all told you so about it."

Marceline opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Elle loudly announcing, "Oh my god, Bonnibel, you actually left the house!"

Instead, all Marceline said was, "That's my cue to check out of this conversation," and flashed Bonnie a small smile before putting her earphones in.

Bonnie's smile faltered a little – between Elle and Marceline, she'd much rather talk to the latter – but she turned around to pay attention to her friends. Lady sent her a knowing smile as her gaze flicked to where Marceline was lazing next to her. "Wonder what made you decide to come?"

"I did," Finn flashed a proud grin, and since Phoebe was still sat next to him, holding his hand, Bonnie assumed their date went well.

Lady smirked at Bonnie. "Sure you did, Finn."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at Lady. "I know what you're thinking."

"Well, what I'm thinking," Elle interrupted before Lady could accuse her of liking Marceline again, "is that you have no excuse not to meet this really cool guy who's coming today."

Does being gay count as an excuse? Bonnie thought to herself. Finn shot her an exasperated glance and shook his head at Elle, and Bonnie grinned back at him knowingly. All she said to Elle as she leaned back on her towel and pushed her sunglasses back over her eyes was, "I have plenty of excuses not to."

"Because you already like someone," she heard Lady mutter under her breath. She was grateful that Elle didn't hear. "You're never going to hook her up with anyone, Elle. Give up."

"No way, I love a challenge," Elle said, looking Bonnie up and down, and then glancing behind her at Marceline and Keila with a scrunched-up look of distaste. Bonnie instantly felt defensive. "Why did you invite them?"

"Because they're my friends," Bonnie snapped, "is there a problem with that?"

"Um, yeah," Elle stared at her like she'd lost her mind, "because you know what they're like."

"Oh, really," Keila sat up, mocking interest on her face. She even rested her hand on her chin like she was deep in thought. "And what are we like, Elle?"

Bonnie blinked in surprise; she'd never seen Keila annoyed before, aside from her dramatics when she didn't know what was going on in German class.

Elle floundered, "Well, it's not so much you, it's-"

"If you're going to insult my best friend, then I wouldn't finish that sentence, if I were you and I valued my life," Keila said with a cheery overtone that was way too exaggerated to be genuine, "Do you really not have anything better to do than bitch about people you don't know?"

With that rhetorical question, Keila laid back down on her towel and picked up her book again, flipping the page a little too aggressively. Elle gawked at her, like she couldn't believe she'd just been spoken to like that. She soon recovered and scoffed loudly, "Well, you just proved my point."

Keila just flicked the page in her book like she hadn't heard, and Marceline legitimately hadn't, because she was reading her own book and bopping her head lightly to whatever song she was listening to. Elle scoffed again – probably annoyed that she didn't get a rise out of either of them – and then launched into a story about how her ex-best-friend Melissa had gotten back with her ex-boyfriend Brad. Again.

Bonnie sighed, laying back completely and looking up at the bright blue sky. It was tinted darker from her sunglasses, and the birds flying around reminded her of the birds on the frets of one of Marceline's guitars. She felt someone nudge her ankle and she sat up to see Finn smiling at her. "Hey."

"Hi, Finn," Bonnie pushed herself up onto her elbows, "What's up?"

He was holding a little ice cream tub, and he glanced down at Marceline a little warily. She was still oblivious to the world, her fingers drumming along to her music against her thigh. "I brought this for her, as a thank you for giving me advice on the whole one year anniversary thing. But I don't wanna like, bug her. If she's trying to get some peace and quiet, you know?"

"You want me to poke her for you?" Bonnie asked, an eyebrow quirking up in amusement. "Really, Finn, she doesn't bite. Look."

She licked her finger and poked Marceline in the face, and the older girl jumped, ripping an earbud out and scowling at her. She wiped at her face with a disgusted expression. "Jeez, Bonnie, really? You're gross."

Bonnie laughed. "Consider it revenge for that time you licked my hand. And all the other times you've stuck your smelly feet in my face."

"My feet smell like roses, Bon," Marceline stuck her tongue out at her and then asked, "any reason you decided to be annoying, then?"

Bonnie nodded over at Finn, "Finn has a present for you."

Marceline blinked in confusion. "What?"

"For giving me the whole 'recreate your first date' idea," Finn explained, holding out the tub of ice cream, "She really loved it, and I looked like a total romantic god. So, thanks, man!"

"Oh," Marceline took the ice cream, still looking a little confused, "Well, uh, thanks for this," she waved the ice cream, "you didn't have to."

"I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to," Finn smiled, "I would say if you ever needed advice, you could ask me, but I'm not that good at that stuff. Anyway, I'm gonna go kick Jake's ass at tug of war. Later, guys!"

They watched as he ran off, and Marceline popped the lid on the ice cream and grinned, "Perfect, strawberry."

As Marceline dug in, Keila sat up and looked in the direction that Finn ran in. "Does he remind anyone else of a really hyper puppy?"

Bonnie met Marceline's gaze, and on the same beat, they both burst out laughing.