Marceline settled back onto the pillows and glanced around her new – or old, technically – bedroom. There were no guitars on the wall, but instead in a rack she'd bought from work with her staff discount, and the bed was a little smaller. She'd brought her own TV with her, because there was no way in hell she was letting Marshall have the Xbox. It wasn't home, but she didn't mind.
It was sunny outside, the rays of light shining through the open blinds. Perhaps that was fitting for the last day of summer. School was tomorrow, and she knew she'd have to see her dad there, but it wasn't like he could do anything to her. She was still a little afraid that all of this was some kind of sick joke, and not just the product of Bonnie's quick thinking and Hunson's reluctance to get caught, but she tried to relax. For now, at least, she was okay.
"This is the last box from your car," Bonnie said as she brought it in and set it down. It was filled to the brim with clothes, and she set it down next to the dresser before slumping down onto the bed next to her. Bonnie looked her over and seemed to think that something was wrong. "Look, I know that you probably miss your own house, and your brother, but this-"
"No, no," Marceline quickly interrupted the oncoming apology, "I mean, I do miss my bed, and Marshall, but no. This is good, I think. It's just weird to not have to feel like I'm walking on eggshells all the time."
It was quite surreal. In the process of moving her boxes from her car to the bedroom, she'd knocked a picture of her younger self from the table and the glass had cracked. At home, that would've meant instant fear and guilt. She still felt it, despite not being at home, but Simon had merely waved it off, promised it was no big deal, and swept up the glass.
"I'm just glad that you're safe and that I don't have to worry about you being around your dad all the time anymore," Bonnie tangled their fingers together, and Marceline rested her head on her shoulder, "It still makes me mad that he's just going to get away with hurting you for nearly eight years. You don't know how much I want to see him suffer for that. But if him getting off scot free means that you stay safe… I guess that's just something I've got to accept."
"Well, I'm never going to talk to him again after graduation, and if he loves me like he claims, hopefully me cutting him out will be some form of suffering. A small revenge, anyway." Marceline shrugged. She was trying not to think about him. For now, at least, she was free of him. It felt imaginary, like this was a dream she was going to wake up from, and it would be a year ago, before she knew Bonnie, when she was just putting up with everything and hoping the people she cared about weren't secretly judging her on rumours.
"He'll regret ever even doubting you when you're a rockstar," Bonnie squeezed her hand, "and you can buy a really expensive guitar for the sole purpose of smashing it over his head."
Marceline laughed quietly, but she shook her head. She knew it was a joke, but it always made her a little uncomfortable, the idea of retaliating at all. Violence was like him, and if she retaliated, she'd be no better. "Nah. I'd never want to stoop to his level. And it physically pains me when people smash pretty guitars."
Bonnie's fingers started gently combing through her hair. "I know you wouldn't. You're nothing like him."
"Well, thank you for saying that," Marceline said quietly, because it did mean a lot that Bonnie thought that. It had legitimately brought her to tears when Bonnie had told her she had her mother's heart, and ever since she'd said it, she'd believed it. "Anyway, enough about all of that. Talk to me about something."
Bonnie hummed, "About what?"
Marceline looked up at her and frowned in thought. She tried to think of some sort of conversational topic, but all she could really think about was how cute Bonnie looked with her round glasses and her big blue eyes and the adorable little freckles dotted across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. "Tell me how you got so cute."
Bonnie laughed. "Shut up, you flirt."
"I'm serious," Marceline said, pushing herself up and flashing a smile that probably looked a little bit more like a smirk. "Like, is it the glasses? Is it your pretty blue eyes? Is it your cute little freckles? Is it your ginger genes?"
"I am strawberry blonde," Bonnie huffed, and Marceline laughed softly to herself. "There is a difference, you know."
Marceline grinned. "Okay, ginger."
"Oh my god," Bonnie rolled her eyes, "strawberry blonde."
"That's just a synonym for ginger," Marceline teased her, purely to see that adorable scrunched up offended look she got. When Bonnie gave her exactly what she wanted, she leaned in and pressed a kiss to a freckled nose. "It's cute, Bon-Bon. I like you anyway."
"Well, I no longer like you," Bonnie swatted her hand away when Marceline went to pull her in for a kiss, but when she pouted, she got what she wanted. Bonnie looked at her, sighed dramatically, and kissed her anyway. "I can't even pretend to be mad at you despite how much you insist upon annoying me."
She almost made a whipped joke, but Marceline was equally as whipped herself, and knew that Bonnie would say exactly that. Instead, she just smiled and curled up next to her, murmuring, "Seriously, tell me something. A story. Something I don't know."
Bonnie's fingers immediately went to playing with her hair, and Marceline was fairly confident that it was the most comforting thing in the universe. "About?"
"You, duh," Marceline rolled her eyes, "your life. Like, a good day you had as a kid or something. Even if it's something as dorky as winning a science fair."
"We didn't have science fairs. I was always so jealous of that when I'd watch American shows, because I knew I would win that easily." Bonnie laughed, "Recess was the one I remember being particularly jealous of, because Gretchen was just as much of a technical wonderchild as I am."
"Oh my god, I can totally see that," Marceline said, thinking about the cartoon character, "only difference is, Gretchen isn't ginger."
Bonnie muttered something that sounded a whole lot like 'insufferable arse', but replied at a normal volume, "I might be Gretchen, but you're Spinelli. You guys have that whole grumpy punk thing in common."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Marceline replied, "because she was my favourite one when I was a kid. Now tell me a story."
She accompanied that last sentence with a couple of pokes to Bonnie's side. Bonnibel pulled her a little closer and let out a breathy hum in thought. "Alright, give me a few minutes to think of something."
Marceline stayed quiet and let her think, occupying herself with finding a comfortable position. She sat up, frowned at Bonnie, looking at the way she was sat. She was reclined against the pillows, her knees pointed skyward and her feet on the duvet. Marceline had a brainwave and shuffled down, pushed her legs apart, and settled down in between them, laying back and resting her head under Bonnie's chin. "Is this okay?"
Bonnibel's arms found their way around her waist and she kissed the top of Marceline's head. Strawberry blonde hair tickled Marceline's cheek. "Very much okay, darling."
"Okay," Marceline hummed, "I'm going to stay like this forever, then."
"I think I'll be alright with that," Bonnie gave her a soft squeeze around the middle, "Okay, I've got a story. Are you sitting comfortably?"
"Mhm," Marceline replied, because she didn't think she'd ever get more comfortable she was in Bonnie's arms, "go ahead, Bon."
"Okay, so… I mentioned that when I was a child, I didn't have any friends, but I was really close to my little brother," Bonnie started, and Marceline frowned. Maybe she shouldn't have asked for a story if it was going to upset Bonnie. She knew that she didn't like talking about her family. "Ned is four years younger than me, and he was always an outcast from his peers, too. Not purposely, like I was. He was autistic and had trouble interacting with his peers, but he was always such a sweet kid. Not having friends never bothered him like it bothered me; Neddy was introverted and always preferred his own company. But we were always very close, and I looked out for him a lot. Kind of blows my mind that he'd be thirteen now."
Bonnie quietened, and Marceline quickly craned her neck around to apologise. "You don't have to talk about it, Bonnie. I know how much it hurts you, and I shouldn't have asked."
"No, it's okay. I love my brother, and I miss him very much, and I don't want to just… act like he never existed. I even feel that way about my parents, sometimes." Bonnie sighed and squeezed Marceline around the middle. "We had some good times together. It hurts to remember those times, because I know I'll never get that back, but… I can't just act like thirteen years of my life never happened."
"Yeah, but it's okay to not want to talk about things," Marceline said, "I don't want you to feel any pressure to talk to me about that. Obviously you can, because you can talk to me about anything, but… I don't want you to feel like you have to. You know?"
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, you never make me feel pressured to talk about anything," Bonnie assured her, kissing the top of her head. "Anyway, I was close with my brother. We would spend time watching documentaries together, I would help him build his Lego – he loved Lego, it was his special interest – and we'd just spend a lot of time together because neither of us really had anyone else. One day in the summer holidays, when I was… ten and he was six, we got bored of staying in. He asked me to take him to the park, and even though I wasn't allowed to go there by myself, I thought it would be okay because we'd be together, and I was pretty responsible and looked after him all the time at home. I thought that I'd be able to look after him just fine at the park too. We snuck out of the house and went to play at the park for a few hours."
"Time got away from us, as it does when you're a kid at the park," Bonnie said, "It was starting to get dark, so we set off home. Bear in mind, it was summer, so it didn't get dark until like, nine o'clock at night."
"Damn, Bonnie, you were a pretty badass ten year old," Marceline laughed, "staying out until nine o'clock. Wild."
Bonnie laughed. "Well, what can I say? I'm obviously hardcore. Anyway, we walk home, and there are police cars outside, and these policemen run over to us and ask if we're alright, and Ned is just like 'yeah, we were at the park all day, it was fun', casual as ever because he doesn't really understand what's going on. Turns out that mum had noticed we were missing, assumed we'd both been kidnapped, freaked out, and phoned the police. I hid under the kitchen table because I thought they were going to take me to jail for kidnapping my brother."
Marceline laughed. She could imagine that. "Dang, I didn't know my girlfriend was a felon."
"I might as well have gone to prison, mum grounded me for like six months," Bonnie rolled her eyes, but then admitted, "it wasn't a very effective punishment, though. I never really went anywhere, anyway."
A few moments of silence lapsed, and Marceline wondered if she should ask what she was going to. She did it anyway. "You don't have to answer this, but were you really close with your mom? Or your dad? You know, before…"
"I don't really know. Can you be close with people who pressure you and have conditions for their love?" Bonnie questioned aloud, but it was more rhetorical than anything. "I guess so. Even though I was never that interested, mum always took me shopping every other Saturday, but we rarely bought anything. I suppose I should say she took me browsing. She liked doing girly things. She was a hairdresser, so… she enjoyed styling my strawberry blonde hair."
Marceline laughed at the emphasis on strawberry blonde. "I can imagine you loved that."
"I made myself sit through it for her sake. They were both quite obsessed with traditional gender roles – probably another part of their homophobia – so we would cook together a lot too." Bonnie said. "Dad was quieter and kept to himself a lot, especially after cutting off Uncle Peter. They're brothers, you see, and they were close before Peter came out. It doesn't surprise me that I was so far repressed, because Peter didn't come out until he was in his late thirties. He had a wife and everything. I had zero education on straight sex ed, let alone LGBT matters. My parents were even weird about the puberty class we were given in year six, so LGBT issues were just… completely off the table. It was just like… be straight and don't have sex until you're married. I didn't even know that being gay was a thing until I reached secondary school, and even then, I was taught it was a bad thing."
"Oh, damn," Marceline frowned, "so it's like, generational homophobia. Even your parents' parents?"
"Mhm. Religious, conservative, traditionalist values passed down through the ages." Bonnie sighed, "I was taught that being anything other than a straight white man made you lesser. I was taught that as a woman, I was weaker. It was very hard and took a lot of conscious effort to unlearn that when I'd been indoctrinated from birth, essentially. Science helped, though."
"Well, I'm not straight, not white, and not a man, so I'd basically be their worst nightmare." Marceline joked, but in seriousness, she added, "Honestly, though, the fact that you made the effort to unlearn all that is just like, a testament to your true character, you know? They might have hate in their hearts, but you don't."
Bonnie squeezed her a little tighter and murmured, "You always know the right thing to say. And you check off all the boxes for me. Smart, beautiful, funny, understanding, thoughtful, extremely talented. I could go on, but we'd be here all night, and since we're back at school in the morning, I'd like to be well rested."
Marceline blushed. She always did any time Bonnie complimented her. "Are you sleeping over?"
"I have a personal rule about sleepovers on school nights," Bonnie said, "sorry to disappoint. But I'll stay for dinner, if you and Simon will have me."
Marceline sat up and turned around to kiss her. "Always."
Bonnie was already having a good day.
She was in her element. Being back at school, especially after such a long summer, felt amazing. Her day had started amazingly, too; though she'd fully expected to get the bus, she'd opened her front door to a beautiful musician stood on her doorstep, offering her a lift to school and a good morning kiss. Bonnie hadn't been expecting her, and Marceline had just scoffed and said, "Like I was going to make my girl get the bus."
She'd had a pleasant journey to school, with Marceline beside her, singing along to the radio. Her day was less pleasant when she had to separate from Marceline upon arriving at school, because they were in different classes. It brightened again when she'd realised she had maths, because that was always a top tier class.
(At least in Bonnibel's opinion.)
She chose a seat at the front of the classroom, as usual, and was a little disappointed when none of her friends were in the same class. She checked her timetable again. Advanced placement, Calculus. She was also in advanced placement for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, Literature and History. Her other classes, like physical education, German and art (which she'd only chosen because she'd had to choose some creative elective, and there was no way she was going to choose music and embarrass herself in front of Marceline) were standard classes. She wondered which classes she shared with her friends.
After Calculus, she headed to German, where she still had Keila to sit with. The other girl definitely didn't look too pleased to be back at school, and it was probably the grumpiest that Bonnie had ever seen her.
"Guten Morgen," Bonnie greeted her as she sat down, and Keila just groaned and rested her head on the desk, "someone's in a good mood."
"Watch your sarcasm, you'll turn into Marceline, and one of her is trouble enough," Keila grumbled, "It's the first day back, nobody is in a good mood on the first day back."
"I suppose 'nobody' is my name now, then," Bonnie joked, flipping open her notepad to a fresh page and writing the date and class title. "Oh, cheer up, it's not so bad."
Keila shook her head. "My brain is still in summer mode."
After sitting with a grumpy Keila for an hour and watching her pretend to do German work when really, she was just doodling in her notebook, it was time for morning break. Bonnie declined Keila's offer to join her in the music room, because she supposed she ought to find her friends. Maybe they could compare timetables.
She found them outside on the football field, enjoying the shade under the bleachers. The weather was still summery, at least, though Bonnie had to admit that she was looking forward to colder weather. It reminded her of home.
"Bonnie," Finn bounded over to her when he saw her approaching, "hey! Marceline not with you?"
"No, she's playing music with her friends," Bonnie said, following him over to the rest of the group. She dropped down onto the grass next to Lady and asked, "Anybody in A.P. Literature next?"
"Should've known you'd be in all the smart people classes this year," Elle laughed, "We'll never see you again, you'll just bury yourself under a big pile of homework."
"Either that, or she'll ditch us for hickey boy," Phoebe sent a teasing wink Bonnie's way, "are we ever going to meet him, by the way?"
She swore she heard Lady mutter, you already have, so she elbowed her 'accidentally' and smiled a little too sweetly at Phoebe. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Phoebe smiled like she knew something more but went back to chatting with Fionna. Elle's phone rang loudly, and she answered it equally loudly. It covered up Lady saying, "I know it was Marceline," perfectly.
Bonnie raised her eyebrows, but she couldn't maintain the mystique. Admittedly, she'd kept everything to herself, aside from confirming it to Finn when he'd asked. "What gave it away?"
"You wouldn't stop talking about your feelings once you finally got them out, and then you two disappear off to New York together, and suddenly any time she's mentioned, you just sort of… smirk to yourself," Lady said, "I want details. Maybe not here, but I still want details."
"I suppose I owe you that much, because you did help," Bonnie relented, but she agreed with Lady. Not in present company. "Later. Since it's the first day, most classes are just about going over the syllabus, so," she dug out her timetable and spread it out, "are you in any of these?"
"Art, at the end of the day," Lady said and smirked teasingly, "oh, this will be fun to listen to."
Bonnie rolled her eyes, and admittedly, she was grateful for the bell signalling next class. Morning break was nice, only ten minutes long, but she was itching to get started on real schoolwork.
She made her way to literature class alone – she assumed that none of her friends were in it – but when she entered the classroom behind a few other students, she was given a lovely surprise.
Marceline was sat at the back of the classroom, leaning back on her chair casually, tapping her pen on the desk. She had her grumpy face on, and Bonnie found herself wanting to kiss it right off. Although she preferred a seat at the front, she justified that she had glasses for a reason, and weaved her way through tables to the back.
"You know, it's dangerous to lean back on your seat like that." Bonnie commented, and Marceline snapped out of whatever daydream she was in and looked up. In an instant, her cute little grumpy face melted away to reveal an even cuter smile.
She stopped leaning back on her chair and sat properly, "Hey, Bon-Bon. I didn't know you were in this class."
"Likewise," Bonnie said, and pointed at the seat next to her, "that seat taken?"
"Mhm, by you," Marceline answered, and Bonnie took that as her cue to sit down. As she got her notepad out, Bonnie thought to herself how adorable it was, the way Marceline had seemed to light up when she saw her. "Good day so far?"
"Oh, yes," Bonnie said, pulling herself closer to the desk, "first, a pretty girl gave me a lift to school, and second, I find out I get to sit next to said pretty girl in this class for the rest of the year. Give me your timetable, I want to see which other classes we share, so I can claim you as my partner."
"So demanding," Marceline said, but she did as she was asked and put the already crumpled paper on the desk, "There you go, your majesty."
Bonnie let that princess joke slide in favour of scanning over Marceline's timetable, "Oh, wonderful. We share all of the sciences. My two favourite things at once. Unfortunately, we also share physical education, which means I will inevitably embarrass myself by falling flat on my face in front of you."
"Yeah, we probably won't share all the sciences for long, I'm going to change that. I didn't sign up to do A.P. I've got my money on dad pulling that one," Marceline took her schedule back and crammed it into her backpack. "I can't do A.P. science. I can barely do regular science."
"Don't worry," Bonnie said, taking her hand under the table, "I'll help you with the work if it's too complicated."
Marceline shook her head. "Unless you're offering to let me copy, I think I'm going to have to switch classes."
"Don't say that," Bonnie bumped against her as their teacher entered the classroom and started getting the big computer screen ready, "You're smarter than you know."
Bonnie didn't like to talk in class – she never had, unless she'd finished her work – but when the teacher started her presentation, she kept hold of Marceline's hand under the desk. Having a left-handed girlfriend had that major perk, apparently.
After lunch, which she spent mostly just enjoying the weather and listening to her friends' conversations, she arrived at art class and sat down at a table with Lady. It was just the two of them, so when the teacher set them off on an exercise on still life, Bonnibel awkwardly stared down at the blank page and then did something very uncharacteristic; she ignored her work in favour of chatting.
"What did you want to know, then?"
"Who told who?" Lady asked, "First date, first kiss, all the other firsts that may have happened. How she treats you. Because I don't care about her 'scary reputation', I will get her if she hurts you."
"Okay, that's a lot," Bonnie said, and started with, "We both sort of admitted it at the same time, but then I had to ask her if she meant it in that way, because she can be annoyingly vague. First date was our New York trip and the first kiss happened outside of the science museum. She surprised me by taking me there and for once, I didn't overthink things and just kissed her."
"I was expecting it the other way around," Lady admitted, "that she'd kiss you first. But that's just the kind of vibe she gives off, like she'd be the one to wear the pants."
Bonnie laughed. "I'm probably not supposed to tell you this, but no, she's really not. And on the treating me right thing, she does. She's so thoughtful and considerate. She actually bought a kettle and some Yorkshire tea for me even though the prices for it over here are crazy, just because she knew I'd be at her house more. She sings for me whenever I ask, and she makes me smile and laugh even when I'm not at my best. She showed up this morning unexpectedly to give me a lift to school. She's so sweet, and she's so patient, and listens to me when I'm going on about my interests even though it's probably boring for her. She's just… she's perfect for me."
Lady laughed, and Bonnie wondered what was funny. "It's just- I never would've expected any of that from the girl who walks around shooting everyone death glares. She doesn't come off as a romantic."
Bonnie just smiled. "She's full of surprises."
Marceline proved her point at the end of class, which happened to be the end of the day. She was waiting outside the art room, car keys already in hand. "Sup, dork. Want a ride home?"
"Yes, please," Bonnie said, and glanced at Lady, trying to telepathically communicate, see? Evidence. Out loud, however, she said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Lady."
"See you tomorrow. You two have fun." Lady said, and then smirked and added, "But not too much fun."
Bonnie rolled her eyes in her friend's direction, but the expression melted her away when Marceline looked at her all softly like she did. "Good day?"
After a few moments of thought, Bonnibel smiled. "Oh, it was the best."
