Distance was proving itself to be very, very hard.

The first step was making sure her phone was on do not disturb. Not too hard, though the temptation to pick it up and check her texts really was. The second step was locking her front door on the days she was home and staying in her room whenever there was a knock. The third step was ignoring every single instinct in her body and repressing every urge she had to talk to Marceline.

She was successful for a total of eight days. Eight days of zero contact with Marceline. Her heart hurt for it, but she was still slightly angry at the older girl for all of her inappropriate flirting. She knew that Marceline probably hadn't intended to lead her on, but she had, and Bonnie still hurt because of it. She was probably off galivanting with that boy she'd been kissing, and the reminder was enough to keep Bonnie's resolve strong.

But on the ninth day, Bonnie was relaxing in her back garden and doing a little bit of mathematics work when she heard that voice. The most beautiful voice she'd ever heard, so husky yet so soft, and as much as Marceline teased her for her accent, Bonnie thought Marceline's was pretty damn cute too.

"Yo, nerd!" Marceline hopped the back gate and flashed her a grin. "What's up? I haven't seen you in forever. I came over a couple times, but I guess you were out."

"You haven't seen me in eight days," Bonnibel corrected rather curtly, "nearly nine. Hardly forever."

Marceline's smile dropped into a frown, and Bonnie's insides felt heavy. "Uh… everything okay?"

Bonnie maintained her indifferent tone. It was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do. "Everything is fine."

"Uh… okay," Marceline was still frowning, but she accepted Bonnie's answer, "anyway, get up, I've got a surprise for you. But it's kind of a drive to get there. Not really long, only an hour, but I made a cool playlist-"

"I'm busy," Bonnie interrupted, even though she really wanted to go with her, "You should take Keila or that Tom guy or your brother. I've got things I need to do today."

Bonnie felt something suspiciously like guilt in her stomach when Marceline seemed to deflate. "Do you, like… not want to hang with me, or something?"

Dodging the question, Bonnie just said, "I'm just busy."

"I…" Marceline's mouth worked, and Bonnie couldn't bear to look at her. She looked hurt. Really hurt. And if Bonnie looked at her too long, she knew she'd cave. "Well, can I maybe hang here with you, then? While you do your stuff?"

"No, I wouldn't be able to focus on my work," Bonnie stared down at the page, already barely able to focus on it. And just to get her to leave, she muttered, "Maybe if you called first, we could've done something, but you can't expect me to just drop everything because you felt like showing up."

"I… what?" Marceline blinked, and when Bonnie looked up at her, she looked like she'd just been slapped. "I don't- I don't expect anything."

Bonnie bit down on her bottom lip to stop the apology from tumbling out. She stared intently down at her worksheet full of equations and was grateful that she was wearing sunglasses; Marceline wouldn't be able to see the guilt tears. She'd regretted saying what she'd said already. "Just go, Marceline. I don't have time for you right now."

Marceline stayed rooted to the spot, and Bonnie's mind poked her with all sorts of nasty thoughts. You've just blown your whole friendship up, it taunted her, you know how hard it is for her to open up to people, and you're pushing her away for no reason. She had a reason, she reminded herself, but it felt stupid and trivial when she saw the hurt on Marceline's face.

"Tell me the truth. Are you mad at me for something?"

Yes. No. I don't know. Bonnie swallowed the knot in her throat. She couldn't do this. Even when she remembered how hurt she'd been when she saw Marceline kissing that guy. Not even that could make her continue. Sighing, she ran her hand through her hair and looked up at Marceline guiltily. "No. I'm not mad at you."

"Then… why are you being all…" Marceline gestured in place of a word, like she was afraid of saying the wrong thing. "You know."

"I just… don't feel too good. Homesick." Bonnie said. It was only half a lie. She sure felt homesick, but for once, it wasn't for England. "I spoke with Bubba last night and I'm just really missing home."

"Oh," Marceline said, and then she lit up so much that it nearly blinded Bonnie, "actually, the thing I had planned can totally help with that. If you're up for it. You don't have to, though. No pressure. I can give you your alone time."

She looked nervous, and it was so foreign on her. Bonnie wondered if she'd hurt her more than she'd shown and felt doubly guilty. She put her worksheets back into their assigned folder and got up from the folding deck chair that she'd set up for herself, walking over and pulling Marceline in for a hug. She felt better instantly. She hoped that Marceline felt the same.

Marceline hugged her back, and Bonnie felt the tension leave her body. The older girl murmured a quiet, "Hey, what's this for?" into her shoulder, and Bonnie laughed as she pulled away.

"A thank you and an apology," Bonnie said, and when Marceline looked adorably confused, she explained, "Thank you for not letting my bad mood push you away. And an apology for what I said. I actually really like it when you just show up."

"Oh," Marceline flashed her that soft smile, the one that made Bonnie's heart ache, "that's cool. Anyway, come on! We've got a drive ahead of us."

Bonnie let Marceline steal her away from her work. She could deal with the pain of a one-sided crush if it meant she'd never have to see Marceline look so hurt again. "Where are we going? And do I need money?"

"It's a surprise, and no," Marceline said, as she opened up the back gate, "I got it covered. Between the two of us, I'm the one with the job."

"Excuse you, I tutor people online," Bonnie retorted, though she hadn't done it for a little while, "I have plenty of money saved up."

"Wouldn't want you dipping into the royal savings, then," Marceline said, and Bonnie laughed, a light feeling in her chest that she hadn't realised how much she'd missed. "It's on me."

She followed Marceline to her car, feeling oddly naked without a handbag. All she had was her phone in her pocket. She buckled herself in and waited for Marceline to put her phone into the aux and start her playlist. "I really am sorry about my attitude before, Marcy."

"It's okay," Marceline said over the lead singer's crooning about the person she liked, "you were totally mad at me, though. Homesick, my ass. Do you want to tell me what I did so I can promise to never do it again?"

Uh-oh, Bonnie thought, kissed someone that wasn't me, that's what you did. "It's really not your fault. I'm homesick."

"I don't believe you," Marceline shrugged as she pulled out of the driveway, "You're kind of a bad liar. Is it because I let you run off at that party? Because I totally went to see if you were alright, and then I saw you with Lady and knew you were fine."

Bonnie paled. "You saw me with Lady? You didn't hear what we were talking about, did you?"

"No, dork," Marceline glanced over at her suspiciously, "Why, what were you talking about?"

"Nothing important," Bonnie quickly said, "and, uh, yeah. That's what it was. I didn't know you came to check up on me."

It made Bonnie feel even guiltier about how awful she'd been to her before. Why did Marceline have to be so stupidly, unexpectedly sweet?

"Alright, well, I apologise for the major best friend foul," Marceline flashed her a smile, "won't happen again."

"Still didn't give me a right to be so mean," Bonnie sighed, "if you weren't driving me to some mystery location right now, I'd definitely be hugging you for the next five hours. Maybe six."

Marceline laughed. "Don't be so lame. Gotta be at least eight hours to make up for it."

"I'll make sure to pencil you into my busy schedule," Bonnie said, and when Marceline just smiled in response, she finally let herself ask, "What does your tattoo mean? The one on your wrist. I don't know if you have any more."

"No, I just have that one. Keila keeps trying to talk me into getting matching tattoos with her, but she hasn't been successful yet," Marceline said, "It says everything stays. It's the title of this song my mom used to sing to me when I was a kid to help me sleep. And it's in her handwriting from one of the notes she'd write for me when she was away for a night with her friends. She used to go on these girl's trips with them occasionally and she'd always sign the note with everything stays because she couldn't be there to sing it to me."

Bonnie almost asked her to share the song but thought it might be too personal. Instead, she just said, "You were really close with her."

It was more of a question than a statement, and Marceline answered. "Yeah. She died a long time ago, but sometimes it still feels like yesterday. I don't know if I'll ever really get over it. I think it kinda messed me up."

Bonnie frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Like… remembering how much it hurt to lose her. I remember that pain so I never let anyone in because I don't wanna hurt that bad again," Marceline said, and Bonnie had suspected it was something like that, "I don't know what I would do if I lost Simon or Marshall, or Keila, or you. I guess the fear of losing people makes me keep them at arm's length or something. I just gotta worry about the four that managed to push through."

"Well," Bonnie reached over and squeezed Marceline's arm, "I'm honoured that I made the list."

"Of course you would," Marceline said, "you're the pushiest person I've ever met." She paused as she realised how that sounded. "Wait, that came out wrong."

Bonnie laughed, feigning offence. "Damn, tell me how you really feel, Marcy."

"Oh, shut up," Marceline sighed, "You know what I meant. Just that… I'm glad you pushed back. You didn't let me scare you away."

"Yeah, well," Bonnie shrugged, "I realised you were a little softie."

It was kind of funny to her, the way her look contrasted with their personalities. Marceline wore all black and came off like the angry punk but between her and Bonnie with her pink dresses, she was probably the more sensitive. The aesthetics contrasted with the truth.

"Okay, I'm not little," Bonnie noted that Marceline only debated the little part of that. "I'm taller than you, princess."

"That means nothing when you're only like, an inch taller anyway. We're basically the same height." Bonnie said, "It's a general definition. You're all little and cute with your teddy bear and your journals and your songs."

Marceline groaned. "Oh my god, don't tell me you found my journal. That's embarrassing."

Bonnie smiled to herself. She'd suspected that the book she'd seen in Marceline's drawer was a journal, but it could've been song lyrics or something else. Marceline had merely confirmed. "I would never read it, but I did see it in your desk drawer."

"If anything happens to me, and I die before you," Marceline looked over quickly and sent her a serious gaze, "burn my journals. Please."

Bonnie laughed, "Of course I won't. I'll tell everyone you left them to me in your will and that your dying wish was to have them performed by me in a series of dramatic readings."

"I'd die twice," Marceline cringed, "first time of whatever, second time of embarrassment."

"It can't be that bad," Bonnie said, and Marceline just shook her head, "so, anyway, what have you done this week? I haven't seen you in forever, after all."

"Eight days, nearly nine. Hardly forever," Marceline sarcastically mimicked her from earlier. "Just… hung around. Went to work. Saw Keila a couple times. The usual."

And because Bonnie was so obvious, and because she couldn't help herself, she had to ask, "Didn't see that guy at all?"

Marceline frowned, again looking so adorably confused that Bonnie just wanted to kiss her. "What guy?"

"The guy from the party," Bonnie clarified, digging herself in deeper, "Keila told me her top-secret plan to get you and him together."

"Oh, that…" Marceline trailed off, "that didn't happen. He kissed me but I wasn't really into it so nothing else happened."

"Really?" Bonnie hoped she sounded indifferent, because on the inside, there was a mini-Bonnie having a dance party at that fabulous news. "Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you." No, I'm not. "Not your type or something?"

"I don't really have a type," Marceline said, and mini-Bonnie started happy dancing even more aggressively. "Okay, that's kind of a lie, I do. But it's not like… that's all I like. Not gonna limit myself based on something as trivial as aesthetics, you know?"

"I know," Bonnie felt like jumping up and down with joy, "I think I'm the same. But then I also think I like someone different to me. Someone who can balance me out."

Someone like you, Bonnie thought, as though the idea would plant itself in Marceline's mind, I like you. So, any time you want to turn around and kiss me, that would be stellar.

Marceline smiled to herself. Bonnie wasn't sure she was supposed to notice. "Really. That's interesting."

"Well… opposites attract and all that," Bonnie shrugged, aware that she was staring holes into the side of Marceline's head, yelling at her telepathically, get the hint.

"To a certain point," Marceline agreed, "but you can't be too different, then you'd just argue all the time. Gotta be able to grok each other, you know?"

Bonnie snorted with laughter, any attempt at flirting or sending another hint forgotten in favour of asking, "Okay, grok? And you make fun of the way I talk?"

"I don't make fun of it," Marceline said, and before Bonnie could dispute that complete lie, she continued, "I think your accent and your little British slang terms are really cute. And it's even cuter when you get that scrunched up, offended look on behalf of the entirety of England."

Bonnie's heart stuttered. Instead of forcing out a jumbled joke about how Marceline used to claim it made her sound posh and pretentious, she just mumbled, "Oh. Well. That's okay, then."

Marceline laughed softly. "I'd never make fun of you for real, Bonnie. Thought you knew that."

"I- yeah, I know," Bonnie leaned over and kissed Marceline's cheek. Now that she'd somewhat recovered from Marceline calling her cute, she added, "You know how I know? Because you're a softie."

Marceline groaned. "Tell anyone, and there will be serious consequences."

"What are you going to do, set your teddy bear on me?" Bonnie said, feeling pleased with herself when that elicited a blush. "I'm so scared of Hambo's wrath."

"You better be," Marceline said, "He'd mess you up hardcore, Bon. Hambo has some serious guns. Don't diss him."

Bonnie just smiled, "I'm not. I think it's cute. Like you."

"I…" Marceline's mouth worked, and eventually settled into a smile. "Shut up."


When Marceline parked the car, Bonnie turned to her with a frown. "Are you going to tell me what we're doing here?"

It was a shopping district in the next town over. Compared to the limited selection in Glassrock, the place was basically a city. There were even a couple of taller buildings touching the horizon; they probably still wouldn't count as skyscrapers, though. "Nope. You'll wait and see."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but got out of the car, and beat her to the machine to pay for parking. Marceline scowled at her as she put numerous coins in. She should've checked Bonnie's pockets before they left.

"Don't look at me like that," Bonnie said, "You'd never let me give you petrol money, and you're paying for whatever we're here for."

Marceline had a retort, but instead she just laughed. "Petrol."

"Shut up," Bonnie pushed her lightly and she used the fact that they were in the next town over to pout publicly. "It's the English language, Marcy."

"Oh, whatever," Marceline rolled her eyes, "come on, we have a reservation to make."

"A reservation?" Bonnie questioned as Marceline grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down the street. She had her phone in one hand, glancing at the directions. "For what?"

"Late lunch slash early dinner," Marceline said, and wondered if Bonnie would get the vibe she wanted her to without her having to say it. Because saying it would be a little awkward. Especially if certain feelings weren't reciprocated. But if they were, then she hoped Bonnie would ask. Marceline had never been one to take control when it came to romance. "Just down here."

Bonnie frowned but let her lead her down the next street. "Do you have to be so mysterious about it?"

"That's part of my charm too, Bon. Punk rock mystery." Marceline joked, and stopped in her tracks when her phone told her she'd reached the destination. Bonnie thudded into her in surprise and Marceline looked up at the restaurant to confirm it was definitely the one she'd seen on Google before saying, "We're here."

Bonnie followed her gaze and blinked up at the restaurant's sign. Marceline then had the sudden, horrible realisation that maybe Bonnie was allergic to fish or something. "British fish and chips?"

Though she was internally freaking out, because she'd never asked if Bonnie even liked it, she put on a casual grin and said, "Yeah. Figured you probably hadn't had it since you moved, since it's not really a thing here. I did a couple google searches and this place had the best reviews, and it's owned by your British brethren, so they'll know what they're doing."

Bonnie didn't laugh at her joke, but instead practically jumped on her in a hug. Marceline's shoulder ached, but she ignored it, hugging Bonnie back tightly. She savoured moments like these.

"Oh my god, you're so sweet," Bonnie mumbled into her shoulder, "I can't believe you'd think of something like this."

Marceline was grateful that Bonnie couldn't see the way she was blushing right now. "It's not a big deal."

Bonnie pulled away with a bright smile, "It's definitely a big deal, because I haven't had fish and chips since last November, Marcy. That's basically a travesty. I didn't know you could get it at all over here."

"I figured you were probably breaking some kind of secret British law and I wouldn't want you to lose your citizenship or something, so…" Marceline shrugged, "I booked a table. Hopefully it doesn't suck."

Bonnie hugged her again, and when she kissed her cheek, Marceline wondered if she'd ever get used to that. She was still processing the first time Bonnie had done it, after prom. "Thank you so much."

All she managed to mumble out was, "You're welcome," before Bonnie pulled her inside and enthusiastically announced that they had a table booked. As they were led to their table, Marceline regrettably had to let go of her hand, but Bonnie took it again across the table when they were sat down. It was alarming.

"This makes me feel extra guilty about how I spoke to you earlier, because you're actually the sweetest person on the planet," Bonnie prefaced, "so if I ever even look at you the wrong way ever again, you have full permission to smash my microscope with a hammer."

Marceline couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing; if there was one thing she thought Bonnie would say, it definitely wasn't smash my microscope. "You actually own a microscope?"

Bonnie blushed. "Uh… possibly."

Marceline raised her eyebrows. "Only possibly?"

"Fine," Bonnie admitted, "I do. It felt like a necessary purchase as a scientist."

"Eh, I guess it's not that different from me and my guitars," Marceline shrugged, "Honestly, Bonnie, it's all good. I didn't get why you were mad, but you explained and apologised. Water under the bridge. I wasn't even mad about it."

Bonnie smiled softly. "Okay. Good. So… learned or written any new songs lately?"

Marceline shrugged, and glanced over the menu. She had no idea what she should order. "Learned, no, written, yes. Top secret, though. For now."

"Again with the mystery," Bonnie said, and held out her pinky, "promise me you'll play them for me when they're ready?"

"Promise." Marceline linked pinkies with her. "So, what the hell should I order?"

"I recommend haddock on principle. Always preferred it to cod. Actually, I'll just order for the both of us." Bonnie said, and then her eyes widened adorably and she exclaimed, "Ooh, I hope they have scraps! I doubt it, they're barely even a thing down south. They were one of the positives of moving to York."

Marceline stared at her. She might as well have been speaking a foreign language. "Um… what the fuck are scraps?"

"Language," Bonnie commented, "they're the little bits of batter that drop off the fish while it's frying. You put them on your chips and it takes them from a ten to a ten thousand. I suppose I'll have to ask. Oh, I'm so excited. Thank you again, Marcy."

Seeing her so visibly happy made those annoying butterflies in Marceline's tummy act up. She wanted Bonnie to ask the question. To ask her if this was a date. Because if she asked, Marceline would probably say yes. Because Marceline had remembered what Tom had said, and she'd done a little text message scrolling. He was right. She was still with Ash when Bonnie had mentioned that her crush had a boyfriend.

(Granted, that meant that they weren't very good friends at the time, but Marceline was choosing to ignore that little detail.)

"You're welcome," Marceline managed to get out, "Maybe I'll have to look up more weird British activities if it'll get you this happy."

"If it's nice, just bringing me back here will be good enough," Bonnie said, and paused while she gave their waitress the order. Once the waitress walked away, she smiled rather deviously. "Oh, Uncle Peter will be so jealous."

"Would've invited him, but I feel like that would be awkward," Marceline laughed. She'd rather not try and fail to do something with slight romantic undertones with Bonnie with her uncle present. "And he probably doesn't like me. Authority figures see ripped black jeans and run for the hills."

Bonnie laughed, but she shook her head. "He likes you. He told me so. Well, he said that you seem like a lovely girl. Don't know where he got that crazy idea from."

At Bonnie's playful smirk, Marceline rolled her eyes, "Shut up, loser. I am lovely."

"Yeah, okay," was Bonnie's sarcastic response, but she quickly shook her head and admitted, "actually, you are rather lovely. Bringing me here is definitive proof."

Marceline felt herself blushing and ducked her head to hide it. "Stop it, it isn't a big deal."

"Considering you have yet to taste the culinary delicacy that is classic fish and chips, you can't say how big of a deal it is." Bonnie said, and then her gaze softened and she added, "And the fact that you even thought of this. That's so considerate."

She did that cute thing where she pushed her adorably round glasses up her nose, and Marceline found it took a lot of willpower to refrain from jumping across the table to kiss her. "Well, you know. Just thought it'd be nice."

"It's amazing," Bonnie said, and her blue eyes widened comically as she spotted something over Marceline's shoulder, "Oh my god, it's here!"

Their waitress left the food and Marceline grabbed her knife and fork, but Bonnie smacked her hands away. Marceline raised her eyebrows. "You're not so desperate for it that you're going to eat mine too, are you? Because I'm actually pretty hungry."

"No, just hang on, you have to get some salt and vinegar," Bonnie put ample amounts of both on. "Now try it. Get ready to have your mind blown."

Marceline raised her eyebrows, but she tried it, and was actually quite surprised. Bonnie watched her expression carefully, and once she'd swallowed her bite, Marceline admitted, "Okay, that's really good. England wins again."

Bonnie sent her the brightest smile. "There's this amazing place just outside of York for fish and chips, I'll take you there one day. They're the best fish and chips I've ever had."

"I'd like that," Marceline replied, and she watched as Bonnie tried her own meal and looked like she was about to explode into a big happiness firework. "As good as you'd hoped?"

"Oh my god, yes," Bonnie said, and Marceline's stomach fluttered. "Thank you so much. For the five millionth time. We're so coming here again. Next time it's my treat."

Marceline hummed in thought. "I think I'd be okay with that."

That extra shift at work was definitely worth it, Marceline thought, when she saw Bonnie's elated smile. Anything would be worth it for her.