The bedroom door opened, and Marceline ducked under her covers to shield herself from the inevitable.

"Don't turn the light on," she called out from her hiding place. She'd already told Simon three times, but he kept forgetting and frying her retinas any time he came to check on her. "Please."

"Okay," A voice that was definitely not Simon's spoke, and Marceline peeked out of her covers to see Bonnie stood there in the doorway. "Always knew you were secretly a vampire, Marcy."

"Very funny," Marceline rolled her eyes, and she eyed the backpack hanging off her girlfriend's shoulder. "You're not here to make me study, are you? Because I'm pretty sure there's some kind of law against torture."

"I'm here to check up on a certain ungrateful person," Bonnie shot her a stern look, and Marceline laughed, "You weren't in school, and neither was your dad. I worried in case he maybe found out about the record deal."

"Oh," Marceline realised. Obviously, she hadn't known her father had felt the need to take a day off, but she understood what that looked like. "Well, he hasn't shown his face around here. You don't need to worry. I'm just sick."

"Simon told me," Bonnie closed the bedroom door behind her, and she heard the backpack drop to the floor. The bed dipped under added weight, and Marceline found her girlfriend's hand in the dark. "He seems to think his chicken soup has fixed you right up. But as a future doctor, I wanted to double check."

"I'm okay," Marceline assured her, "It's kind of my own fault, anyway. I ate yoghurt that was two days out of date. It didn't taste out of date, but whatever. It didn't agree with me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Honestly, love, use-by dates exist for a reason."

"I know, I know, I'm stupid, whatever," Marceline pushed herself up onto her elbows, and after bracing herself for a few moments, flicked her bedside lamp on. "You didn't have to come over, though."

"Of course I did," Bonnie smiled, nudging her, "Come on, budge up. What kind of a girlfriend slash doctor would I be if I didn't personally give you your mandatory cuddle dose?"

Marceline moved up – she'd decided to spread out like a starfish under her blankets – and Bonnie climbed into bed, slipping under the covers. She made sure Hambo was still secure under her arm as she rolled over and cuddled into Bonnibel.

"So," Marceline yawned slightly; she hadn't slept very well amongst all the puking she'd done last night, "tell me about your day. How was school?"

"Didn't feel right without you. But I suppose I'm going to have to get used to that." Bonnie sighed, her fingers combing through Marceline's hair. "I spent time with Lady and everyone. They asked after you, if you were alright. I told them that you're annoying and hadn't responded to my texts."

Marceline looked over at her phone. She hadn't touched it all day, mostly just sleeping intermittently until about an hour ago, when she'd had a little bit of the chicken noodle soup that Simon made for her. "Oops. Sorry about that."

"Don't worry, darling," Bonnie kissed the top of her head, "I'm sure you were far too occupied with your yoghurt-induced illness."

Marceline snorted with laughter before she could help it, because the way Bonnie pronounced yoghurt was the most adorable thing she'd ever heard. "Oh my god, say that again."

(She'd done the same thing the first time Bonnie had said tomato in front of her, much to the redhead's chagrin.)

Bonnie got that adorable scrunched-up offended look, and she pushed her glasses up her nose in a huff. "I won't talk for your personal amusement."

"Yoghurt," Marceline mimicked her, "I love that."

Bonnie sulked, rolling her eyes. "Will you ever grow up?"

"Not a chance," Marceline laughed, slipping a hand up Bonnie's purple t-shirt to rest it on her warm stomach. As much as Bonnie liked to gush about her, Marceline thought Bonnie's body was basically perfect, and she traced I love you over flawless porcelain skin, "But you love it, so…"

"That's debatable," Bonnie said, but then laughed and added, "no, I can't even joke. I do. As annoying as you are, I wouldn't change it."

"Wow, thanks," Marceline said dryly, "I appreciate all the compliments, Bon."

"As you should." Bonnie only pulled her closer. "Can I tell you a story?"

Admittedly, it was a little bit of a surprise that she'd asked, but Marceline nodded. "Sure. Yeah. I'd like that a lot, actually. I like listening to you talk."

"Wouldn't have guessed, with how much you make fun of it," Bonnie deadpanned. Marceline opened her mouth to apologise, but Bonnie just smiled and combed her fingers through her hair. "Relax, baby, I know you're only joking, and it doesn't actually bother me."

With that reassurance, Marceline snuggled her face into the side of Bonnie's neck and mumbled against soft skin, "Story, please."

"Okay," Bonnie hummed, and cleared her throat in a manner reminiscent of Marceline when she was about to sing, "Once upon a time, there was this rockstar girl. She was the most beautiful girl in the whole world, and everybody knew it. She was in a cool band with her friends, and everybody loved them. They had a lot of groupies but rockstar girl didn't care. She only had eyes for… scientist girl."

"They were in love, and they always had been. No matter how many cool punk groupies tried to get with rockstar girl, all she ever thought about was scientist girl. Scientist girl was the same. The only person she ever wanted to be with, the only person she could ever see herself with, was rockstar girl."

"Eventually, both of them got tired; scientist girl of all of her wacky experiments and bioengineering, and rockstar girl of the constant touring and songwriting. They bought a little cabin out by a lake and settled down together," Bonnie's fingers traced patterns against Marceline's waist, and she could feel herself smiling. "Because scientist girl was so smart, she whipped them up a baby in the lab. They called her… Elise. Even though rockstar girl thought she'd be an irresponsible parent, all of those doubts melted away when she held her little baby girl for the first time. They got into all sorts of trouble together, which scientist girl always had to tell them both off for, being as smart and responsible as she was. But they were partners in crime, and scientist girl loved her two little troublemakers."

Marceline sighed into her. That was everything she wanted right there, wrapped up into a little bow and presented to her in story form. She played with the ring that Bonnie had given her. A promise.

"They were a proper family," Bonnie said, her hand gripping Marceline tightly by the waist, "and they loved their little girl no matter what. Scientist girl and rockstar girl had both been through a lot, and they learned from their own pain to make sure she never felt it. And all three of them lived happily ever after."

They laid in a comfortable silence when Bonnie finished, both of them imagining the same thing. Marceline was the one to break it, her body full to the brim with happiness.

"I just have one question," She prefaced, glancing up at Bonnie, "I was totally scientist girl, right?"

Bonnie burst out laughing. "Oh, yeah, obviously."

"On a serious note, though," Marceline said, meeting gentle blue eyes, "You really want all of that with me?"

"I want everything with you," Bonnie smiled, "Thought you knew that?"

Marceline let out a soft laugh. "Damn. You must really love me, huh?"

"And you tell me that I miss the obvious?" Bonnie joked, fingers threading through her hair. "Okay. Your turn to tell a story."

"I don't know how I'm going to follow your New York Times bestseller there, Bon. Especially on such short notice." Marceline frowned to herself, trying to think of something, and eventually decided to just do what she always did and let her imagination run wild. "Okay. Once upon a time, in the majestic Candy Kingdom, lived a princess. Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum."

Bonnie's eyes rolled skyward. "Naturally."

"Shut up and let me tell my story, nerd," Marceline retorted, pushing herself up onto an elbow. Bonnie immediately pulled her back down and close up to her, and she found she didn't have the willpower to protest. "So, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum. She was pretty hardcore, for a princess, and definitely could take care of herself, because she scienced herself up all these sick weapons. All of her subjects thought she was the coolest princess ever. But Princess Bubblegum had a secret. She had a crush, and not on any of the princes who were lined up outside her door, just waiting for a chance to court her. No. She had a crush on Marceline… the vampire queen."

Bonnie scoffed. "Oh, so I'm a princess, but you get to be a queen?"

"Yeah," Marceline poked her in the side, tickling her, and laughing when Bonnie squirmed, "I do. Because someone can't keep her mouth shut when I'm trying to tell a story."

Bonnie rolled her eyes again. "Fine, fine. I'll be quiet."

"Good. You're still a princess, though." Marceline said, throwing an arm over Bonnie's stomach and snuggling into her. "Anyway, the vampire queen was a total badass. She could fly, and shape shift, and turn invisible, and had magical healing powers so she was basically unbeatable in a fight unless you chopped off her head, or staked her, or… all the other traditional vamp killing methods. Except garlic, she ate garlic bread for breakfast just to show how badass she was. I don't blame PB for crushing on her hard, because she was probably the hottest bitch in the entire universe."

Bonnie snorted. "And the hottest bitch in the entire universe just happens to have the same name as you?"

"So much for being quiet, huh?" Marceline nudged her and rolled her eyes. "Listen, it's totally up for interpretation. She could be me. Who knows? But anyway… PB worshiped the vampire queen. Like, for reals, she totally wanted to get with her. But she knew that her citizens wouldn't approve of her being with a big scary vampire. The vampire didn't know she existed, because like, duh. She figured that the Candy Kingdom was full of a bunch of nerds, so she basically ignored it. Gotta write loads of cool punk songs for her concerts, anyway."

"But one day, disaster struck. The vampire queen's evil father was summoned from the Nightosphere, where he reigned as ruler. He started sucking up all of the souls in the land, and he was headed right for the Candy Kingdom. Even though the vampire queen didn't really care about the kingdom, he was her dad, so she had to be the one to stop him. She flew to the Candy Kingdom with her super cool axe, which also doubled as a bass guitar, because let's not forget that she's basically a rock goddess."

"The vampire queen got to the kingdom just as her demon father broke into the princess' castle. She pulled out her axe and attacked. And remember, she was basically unbeatable in a fight, but her dad had mad power, since he basically ruled over hell. Even though the vampire queen was fighting hard, she couldn't beat him. He was too strong. He overpowered her, and took her cool axe, and the vampire queen knew it was the end."

"But right when he was about to make the final strike, and take off the vampire queen's head with her own axe, there was a huge blast. Princess Bubblegum came to the rescue and damned the evil demon lord back to hell where he belonged. The vampire queen was stunned, because there was this pretty pink princess, made of literal candy, and she'd just beaten the lord of all evil."

"The princess looked at the vampire queen and helped her up. After noticing her, like, really noticing her, the vampire queen fell. And she fell hard, like, as hard as PB was already crushing on her. Even though she was usually super cool and real smooth with the ladies-" Bonnie punctuated Marceline's sentence with a snort of laughter, and she elbowed her lightly under the covers, "she was! But she couldn't get a word out around the princess. She was so pretty, and she'd just kicked some major ass, which is a pretty hardcore combination."

"The princess just smiled and asked her out for dinner, and the vampire queen could do nothing but accept," Marceline said, "and they lived happily ever after, two queens ruling over their kingdom, because with their combined badassery, nothing could get in their way. The end."

"You know, I wasn't into it at first, but I like the ending," Bonnie laughed, "Though the vampire queen definitely wasn't smooth with the ladies. I don't know where you got that from, but I admire your creativity."

Marceline rolled her eyes and slapped Bonnie's arm lightly. "Yes I am. I got you to be my girlfriend, didn't I?"

Bonnie snorted. "I didn't even know you were flirting with me, Marcy."

"That's on you for being an oblivious dumbass," Marceline retorted, because she wasn't going to let her girlfriend tell her she wasn't smooth. "I was being so obvious. Like… I sang to you about wanting to slow dance with you. And I literally almost said fuck it and went in for the kiss that day you asked me to teach you a little guitar. But yeah, that's totally subtle. Between the two of us, I actually tried to make you notice I liked you. You just sat and drooled over me."

Bonnie scoffed, and that's how Marceline knew she was right. "I did not. I… um… I kissed your cheek."

"Yeah, real smooth, Bon-Bon," Marceline snorted, "I'm sure you're going to win the award for best flirter."

"Oh, shut up," Bonnie rolled her eyes, but there was a little smile on her face, and her finger was tracing little love hearts against Marceline's waist underneath her shirt. Since they'd gotten together, and even a little bit before that, Marceline had noticed that Bonnie liked to touch her. Whether it was holding her hand or running her fingers along her arm, or just sitting close so their sides pressed together. Bonnie seemed to love that physical contact, which was interesting, because she seemed a little averse to it when it came to anyone else. Marceline didn't know which one of them it reassured more. Maybe that was the point.

She sighed into Bonnie's shoulder, just feeling her there. It was basically bliss, to be held like that by her. Marceline had always been a cuddler, even when she was little, and for the longest time, she couldn't sleep alone. Stuff like the dark or nightmares never bothered her, what bothered her was sleeping alone. It was another reason why Hambo was so important to her. She squeezed the stuffed animal close to her chest and closed her eyes, and she'd almost fallen back to sleep when Bonnie spoke.

"Hey, Marcy?" The redhead's fingers combed gently through her hair, and she blinked a little tiredly. "I just realised you never actually told me how you figured out you liked girls. Even back when we were texting."

"Hard not to like girls when Hayley Williams exists," Marceline joked tiredly, "duh."

"Oh, sorry, did I wake you?" Bonnie apologised, "Never mind, you don't have to tell me. You get your rest."

"To be honest, I always kind of knew, I just didn't like, know. You know?" Marceline said, and then wondered if she was sleepier than she felt, because that didn't make much sense. "When I was a kid, I always thought girls were really pretty, I just didn't know I was thinking it in that way. The realisation happened when I was nine and watching Kim Possible. I had more than a little bit of a crush on Shego."

Bonnie laughed in agreement. "You have a point. For a cartoon character."

"Mhm, she had it going on." Marceline conceded, "Anyway, it wasn't until I was like thirteen when I found out what bisexuality meant, and I was like oh hey, that's me. It was actually pretty painless. And I guess it helped that all of my friends are somewhere in the community. Except Guy, he's the token heterosexual."

Bonnie hummed. "Even Bongo?"

"Yeah, he's bi too," Marceline said, remembering the day he came out to her and Keila. They'd both just laughed and said another one? Did we sniff each other out? "We're just a band of gays. If you ever feel like picking up piano again, we can boot Guy out for you and actually make that a reality."

Bonnibel let out a quiet laugh, her fingers winding through Marceline's hair. "Sweet of you, but I don't think so. I was never interested in it, I just did it because my parents told me. It's not my thing, you know?"

"Fair enough," Marceline said, but then realised, "hey, wait, why did you want me to teach you a little bit of guitar, then?"

"Because it would make you happy," Bonnie shrugged easily, and Marceline felt her stomach flip, "and you sat behind me and put my hands in the right place and I kind of liked that."

Marceline flashed her a grin. "Another case of you missing the obvious there, Bon. That's a classic musician flirt technique."

"Wait, what?" Bonnie frowned at her. "Seriously?"

"Mhm, it's one of the first things they teach you," Marceline joked, "before you learn any of the chords, you get the flirt techniques. It's how we're all so sexy."

Bonnibel laughed, but it almost morphed into a thoughtful hum. "I wonder if there's some sort of science behind that, because I've got to admit, a lot of people are attracted to more creative people. Like musicians and actors."

She leaned away, and Marceline pouted at the sudden lack of warmth. "Hey, come back. I'm sick, I deserve snuggles."

"In a minute," Bonnie said rather dismissively, and Marceline knew that voice. It was the voice she used when she was on some scientific question she wanted to answer. She watched her girlfriend with an eyebrow raised as she quickly typed something into her phone and waited until… "Aha! I knew it. There was a study conducted on which types of creativity are more attractive. They had three separate categories, ornamental/aesthetic which denoted stuff like music and art, applied/technological which was for things like science and engineering, and everyday/domestic, for stuff like decorating or making up a recipe."

Marceline watched as excited blue eyes flicked fast over the screen, reading the article. She felt the corner of her mouth tilt up in a smile, and acknowledged Bonnie's preface with an amused, "Uh-huh."

"The general results from the participants revealed that overall, people thought that the ornamental/aesthetic – so, music or art – was the sexiest form of creativity," Bonnie said, and tilted her head to the side as she read the next part, "but participants who considered themselves more scientific tended to find the applied/technological creativity more attractive. So, I suppose I'm an anomaly."

Bonnie put her phone onto Marceline's bedside table and rolled over again. She smiled, and it was filled with so much warmth.

"You done with your research, then?" Marceline laughed, but plastered on a pout with the puppy dog eyes she knew would get her anything she wanted. "Because your ailing, sick girlfriend needs cuddles. As my doctor, I think it's basically your duty."

Bonnie pulled her in close with a smile.