09.10.2016

"And here we are. A real old school storybook arcade!" Finn said, enthusiastically.

Before the four of them was a store which had a big sign hanging over it. "Be More" was written in big blinking neon letters, and they could already hear sounds coming out of the arcade.

"I lost too much money here, but it was all worth it."

Bonnie quirked an eyebrow up. "You know you almost sound like an addict?"

"That' because he is." Jake pointed out. "But seriously, he is freaking good at video games."

"I'm okay." Finn blushed. He really didn't like to stand out, did he? It wasn't like Bonnie couldn't relate to that feeling. Being the focus of attention only brings trouble for oneself.

"Yeah? Okay as in 'I hold most records in racer and beat em up games' okay?" Jake said to his brother.

"Whoa, now I wanna challenge the king of the arcade!" Lady said as she started heading inside. Lady was so full of energy, it was incredible. The whole day instead of showing the girls the town, the three of them had been pulled along her shenanigans.

"A challenge it is then!" Jake announced, as he quickly followed the big blond girl.

"Oh, you gotta be flipping kidding me." Finn grumbled to himself.

"You really don't like to stand out, do you?"

"Na, not really. I become nervous and awkward real quick."

"Even more so than normal."

"H-Hey!" But Finn couldn't help but blush, hearing her chuckle.

"Let's go after them, shall we?" She said.

"Sure thing."

As the two of them entered the arcade they were hit by waves of music, explosions, and grunts. Bonnibel's green eyes needed to adjust for a few seconds because all those different lights were pretty intense, but then she started inspecting the games around her. Especially the beat em ups seemed interesting and exciting, but all of the machines needed money to let you play.

Duh, of course, they do. They would probably be fun to play, but...

As they slowly moved between walls of arcade cabinets, Finn and Bonnibel started searching for their friends, and eventually found them talking to a small curvy girl with short brown hair.

"... And the day after someone named Schwabi broke my new high score! I worked for ages on that one." Just then the new face saw the two of them coming and started waving at them. "Hey, Finn!" The girl greeted him.

"What was that about someone beating your scores, Beemo?"

"It was ridiculous! I wish I saw that Schwabi guy playing."

"Oh, by the way, this is Bonnibel. She just moved here." Finn said, pointing at the pink haired girl right next to him. It seemed like Lady had already been introduced.

The small girl smiled at her, "Welcome to my Dad's Arcade then!"

"Hey… To be honest I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this." She said, turning around to see the room full of blinking and loud games. "This is an amazing place."

"My Dad spent a lot of his time in here. And a lot of money."

"You don't say." Bonnie retorted, still stunned by the view.

"Hah! She's a smartass! I like her too." Beemo said.

Then, Jake clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "So, Lady said she thinks she can take our champion, Beemo."

"Did she now?" The new girl looked at Lady with a quirked eyebrow.

"I played my fair share of games. I think I can handle him."

"To make things more interesting how about we make a bet out of this. Whoever wins gets free food."

"I'm in." Bonnibel said, immediately. All her new friends turned around to look at her in surprise. "What? Think I never played a video game before?" She said, giving them a confident smile.

"Well, sure." Finn just shrugged. "We are here anyway, so why not play some."

"Alright!" Jake seemed excited.

Finn and the two girls sat down, got ready, and started their first round.

They lost.

Then they lost again.

And then, one time they were really close… and lost again.

"Wow. Jake didn't lie. You really are good." Lady said, giving finally up, not seeing a way to defeat Finn at all.

"I just played a lot. It's whatever really. What about you Bonnie?"

"Free food.." Bonnibel grumbled loudly, not thinking about everyone who could hear her thoughts.

"Someone likes food." Lady said, chuckling while standing up.

On that Bonnie furrowed. "Who doesn't? Enough talk. I just need to beat him once, right?"

But then Finn stood as well.

"Hey! No running away. We're gonna play till I win."

"How about I just buy you food."

She narrowed her eyes, staring at him. "...Just like that?"

"Sure. See it as a welcoming gift to Ooozten."

Bonnibel thought about for a moment, not wanting to repeat the drama from two days ago. Also, she really wanted to win once against him.

But free food… And also, Finn doesn't seem like a douche. Unlike a certain girl...

"Okay, but only if you're okay with it…" She said carefully.

"No problem. I wouldn't offer if I wasn't, would I?"

But as they prepared themselves to leave the store, Beemo stopped Finn. "Before you guys leave though, you still owe me a rematch for last week, Finn!"

"Oh, I nearly forgot about it." But then his eyes turned back to Bonnie, for just a second. "Let's do that later, okay, Be?"

"Oh, sure. Sorry for holding you guys up." The small girl smiled at him, before turning around heading back in the arcade…

"She could just join us." Lady suggested.

"Even if it didn't look like it, this is her part-time job." Jake clarified. "Probably the best job one could ever dream of having. Looking out for the store while gaming the whole day, and getting paid for it."

"Pff, Nerd." Lady teased the blonde boy who in return blushed.

"Whatever, let's get going. I could eat a food mountain right now." Bonnibel commanded.

…

"There is no way, you can eat all of this, Bonnibel." Lady looked shocked. "You literally meant a mountain?"

"Not even Jake can eat that much!" Finn agreed.

"Didn't you say it was okay? Everything I don't finish, I'll pay myself, that a deal?"

"Hey what was that about me eating much?." Jake asked.

"Hey, Finn may be a little bit better than me, if it comes to video games, but we're in my world now." And with that declaration, she started working on the huge pile of burgers in front of her.

At first, Bonnie hadn't planned to order so much but once they had entered the fast food restaurant, she could smell the food.

There is nothing worse than smelling tasty food when you are hungry. That just isn't fair! She tried to tell herself that while chewing her second hamburger.

You can't just fill the air with the scent of meat and fries, that's just not okay! By now the fourth burger had disappeared.

"It's not my fault. They forced me to order so much." The pink haired girl thought out loud while finishing the last one.

The other three students just stared at her for quite a moment, before bursting into laughter. "What was that about, Bonnibel?" Lady asked under her breath.

She crossed her arms, and her cheeks grew a shade of pink. "I-I don't know. Who cares anyway... You gonna finish this?" She pointed with her chin at Lady's french fries.

"How can you even… Help yourself if you want." The colorfully dressed girl shrugged, giving up on asking just how much the other girl could eat.

…

"Hey, I'm home." Bonnibel yelled as she entered their small apartment. She could hear a show running on the TV. Ned was probably watching one of his cartoons right now. She took her shoes off and walking into the living room, which was connected to their kitchen. And as she had already assumed, her little brother was sitting on the sofa, waving halfheartedly at her, before turning back to the television.

"That's not how you greet the person that will make you food today, Ned."

After hearing the word food the boy's head quickly spun around again. "S-Sorry. Didn't mean it, but the show is at it's best part right now." She could see how the small kid was visibly struggling, so instead of rebuking him, she just rolled her eyes.

"It's fine."

"... Please don't poison my food."

"I would never do that, silly. I love you way too much for that... But maybe mom bought broccoli again."

On that, her little brother grimaced in disgust. "Please, I really am sorry!" He begged her.

Without even looking at him she simply said: "Maybe." Then she fully turned away and went into the kitchen. It didn't take long for her to hear hasty toddles coming from the living room.

"Sis, are you really…" But then he saw her crooked smile, she had tried to hide until now. "You're evil, sis." He sulked and went back to his cartoon.

Bonnibel chuckled for quite a while to herself, while starting to prepare dinner. Today mom had taken the night shift again. So, the plan was to cook something that would taste good, even if she put it in the fridge for several hours.

Curry maybe? Or a stew? Either way, it was a good thing that she had eaten already, meant less work for her. Some people would have started to complain about all the work Bonnibel had to do if they were in her place. But the young pink haired girl was different. Those moments were special for her. When she was just to herself, and nobody could disturb her. There was only the droning of the TV in the background, and the bubbling of the water she was preparing. The only light source was a single bulb, emitting a weak yellow.

Cutting some vegetables was something she had done so many times already, her hands knew what to do, even when her mind wasn't fully there. She knew that. So, instead of focusing to cut a paprika the right way, her thoughts wandered back to the evening with her three colleges. Friends? No, not friends… Not yet at least.

The day had been exhausting, and she would have spent money on nothing more than pointless entertainment if nobody had invited her. That would have been ridiculous. She had been lucky that someone always offered to pay today, but that didn't mean it would always be like that. Also, her legs were tired from all the walking. Her hands were exhausted from all the gaming. Her jaw was heavy, she hadn't talked with other people so much in a long time.

But despite all that, today had been fun. The truth scared her somewhat. If this continued, she would let people get close again. You choose who can hurt you, by letting them in. She knew that for a fact.

...

Today had been such a pain. Going from school right back to work in her office, Marceline had literally no time to relax for a moment. She had already asked her father for permission to take a break from work during exam time. Weirdly enough, she was already excited for that little bit of time she would have for herself.

"But of course, I don't want your results to suffer. Taking a few days off to learn seems reasonable."

"Thanks, father." He just wanted what was best for her, she knew that.

"You are doing good. All the employees are speaking highly of you, daughter." He added, after a long pause. And for a brief moment, there was a hint of a smile on his face. Then her father turned around and walked out of the room.

Why wasn't she happy, after getting praised for her hard work?

Because it's nothing I wanted to do in the first place. A dangerous thought shot in her head. This was not about what she wanted, but what was best for her. Those could be very different things, Marceline knew that. Someone needed to inherit the company and continue what her father had built. Like that she would have a safe future, lots of influence and even more money. One day she would have kids and then she would be thankful for her father. This was all for the family, she needed to stop being so fucking egoistic. Dreams were only that. Dreams.

Not being able to bear the voices inside of her head any longer, she put her headphones in a bit early than usual, while walking towards her bench. She would relax, take a breather like usual, and be her disciplined self again. That's what the company needed. That's what the family needed.

And then she saw Boonibel again, sitting on the bench near the lake… again. Should she buy the pink haired girl off again? Should she start a scene? Naa, Marceline just sat herself down, without a comment and enjoyed her music. She wouldn't let her special place be ruined by some weird cute girl. Not without a fight!

Bonnibel just now looked up from her book and froze. She stared at Marceline for a long moment, but the black haired girl refused to meet her gaze. Instead, the black haired girl watched how the water was moving right next to them.

After waiting for a mean comment for quite some time, Bonnibel shrugged and started reading again. She didn't need to make conversation with such an impolite person.

And like that the two girls, one reading her book, the other listening to her music, sat there for quite some time. Neither of them would break the silence, which was at first awkward, but soon both of them were minding their own business, completely forgetting that the other one was there.