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The moon hung full and high in the sky above the Candy Kingdom, its citizens tucked safely in their beds with their sweet little dreams, save for one: its princess. She wasn’t in her bed or in her lab or in the castle at all. No, Princess Bubblegum was somewhere else entirely. The cave that held Marceline’s house was faintly lit; a few errant rays and the faintest sound of laughter were carried through its mouth and gently over the waters. Inside the little house, two bodies relaxed and leaned into the other on a red couch liberally covered with pillows and quilts.
“Oh my Glob Marceline you didn’t!” A fit of giggles and an unregal snort enclosed the exclamation. The vampire smirked, an expression practiced and honed over many a decade, “Oh, you know I did. You should’ve seen the look on their faces. Priceless.” “No wonder you got banned.”“You can’t ban someone who can turn invisible Peebs, not really. I’ll be back when they chill out a little. And anyway, before they kicked me out I managed to snag this.”Marceline stretched sideways over the arm of the couch, not quite willing it leave it now that it was made comfortable with cushions and company. Hands batted at the handle of a plastic bag before changing, elongating into something a little more inhuman than normal. Finally acquiring her prize, the vampire grinned again and handed it over.Bonnibel flipped it and read aloud, “Murder Truck 5: The Murdening?” The cardboard sleeve over the tape showed the silhouette of a figure, lying on the pavement and reaching one hand towards the viewer, their face marred by the passage of time save the mouth, preserved in a rictus as they crawled from the blinding lights of a massive semi-truck. Marceline leaned over to take a look.“Huh. Not exactly what I intended…”“Its fine,” the princess shrugged. In truth, she didn’t particularly care what they watched. Time spent with Marceline was good and time alone together was to be savoured. Bonnibel believed the movie could be nothing more than static and the popcorn could all burn and it would still be worth it. Their relationship wasn’t a secret by any means but they were both busy people. Both wanted to do right by the recently rekindled relationship; they had all the time in the world to take things slow, after all. “I’m down if you are,” Marceline said.“Oh, I am dooown,” came the retort, pitch dropping as low as Bonnibel could go for the last drawn out vowel. The vampire queen let out a breath of laughter and pressed a soft kiss to her once-again-girlfriend’s cheek. “Dork.” The weak insult had no real bite and was rendered completely toothless by the rosy fingers intertwining with her own, keeping her wonderfully captive for a few moments longer. Bonnibel couldn’t hide her smile even if she wanted. They simply stayed like that for a while until Marceline moved to leave. “I’m gonna get us some snacks, kay?”Bonnibel yawned and shifted over so the older woman could get up. “Hey, you like your popcorn burnt right?”The princess rolled her eyes. “About as much as you like drinking purple.” “That stuff is tainted.”Marceline shuddered at the thought and went into the kitchen. She hummed as she riffled through the cupboards, grabbing bowls and one of those weird aluminium pans of stovetop popcorn as well as some cherries for herself from the fridge. By the time she returned, the princess was slumped against the side of the couch, her head buried in her arms.She placed a hand on her shoulder and shook it gently. “Bonnie. Hey.” The younger woman grumbled but she sat up and half-heartedly rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand. “Too tired for non-stop vehicular homicide?”“Never. But don’t blame me if I happen to fall asleep though.”Marceline felt a pang of guilt. They had such different schedules one of them was usually pulled out of sync.“Sure you’re not too tired? I can take you back the castle or you could crash here if you want?”“Marcy, I’m sure. I want to be here – with you.”She said it so openly, so surely that there could be no further protest, not that Marceline wanted to. The older woman turned to the VCR to hide the blush that crept up her neck and burned on her cheeks. But the princess must have noticed because when she turned back there was a smile quirking up the corners of her mouth.“What’s so funny Bonnibel?” she asked, the syllables of the other woman’s name all but dancing off her tongue. “You are.”“Oh, thanks,” she said in mock indignation, “That’s just what a girl wants to hear. You really know how to woo ‘em.”Bonnibel reached for her and Marceline let herself be pulled down and onto the princess’s lap. A soft hand cupped her cheek and she leaned into the contact.“I mean,” the princess murmured between peppering a series of feather light pecks. “You’re cute.”Gentle kisses gained purpose as they trailed down her jawline, becoming open-mouthed with the occasional nip, bringing a bit of colour to grey skin. Marceline suppressed a shiver as Bonnibel brushed the black river of hair from her neck for better access. Scant centimeters from her ear, voice breathy and low, Bonnibel whispered, “And, who knows, maybe I was looking at your butt too.”Marceline pulled away to look at her girlfriend. An impish grin coloured her sweet features. Laughter well up between the two of them and Marceline made sure to kiss her properly.“Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.” Her unapologetic smile corroborated only the second part of the sentence. “I must be a worse influence than I thought.”The soft, anachronistic sound of synth announced the opening credits. Marceline slid to her own seat, pulling one of the blankets and adjusting it to cover both of them. The screen turned near blinding with the cheesy dripping letters of the title screen. Bonnibel snuggled in close, resting her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder.Ten minutes in and the body count was already up to four.“Ok, that one definitely doesn’t make any sense! I mean look at him!” the princess protested.Said him was lying on the asphalt, blood oozing its way to the center line of the highway. “He looks human and I know for a fact that an adult male doesn’t have that blood volume – that’s like what…9 liters?”“I dunno.” This was the reason they didn’t usually watch horror movies together: her scientist brain wouldn’t shut up and just let her enjoy it for what it was; mindless entertainment and perhaps the backdrop for something more stimulating. That wasn’t to say, of course, that Marceline didn’t enjoy dissecting a bad film or two. “Maybe that’s the twist – the semi spins out on the blood puddles.” The princess snorted, “I hope not.” She shifted her attention to the popcorn.The body count reached ten before the main character, a young stunt driver with a heart of gold, even realized he was being stalked by a rogue vehicle. Bonnibel’s hand found the vampire's thigh under the covers and Marceline covered it with her own.“I wonder what tipped him off: the blinding headlights through his window every midnight, the bloody tire tracks or the actual bodies?”“It was probably when it starting honking the Sharks! theme song,” Marceline said. By the seventeenth, Bonnibel was less resting on her shoulder and more slumped against it. “Bonnie?”No response but a soft snore. She snagged a few cherries and waited until the end credits. Marceline could see herself falling in love with all of this and the woman beside her. Maybe, if she were honest, she already had. She stayed there a little longer, feeling for a rare moment in her long years warm. Was it selfish to wait a little longer before she woke her? It probably was; Bonnibel was going to wake up with a major crick in her neck otherwise.But the princess refused to get up. Marceline caught the words ‘no’, ‘comfy’ and ‘bed’.“You said you had stuff to do in the morning, Bonnie. That you were going to back to the castle tonight.”“No,” she mumbled, “jus’ take me to bed.”The vampire couldn’t ignore a request like that.----Bonnibel stretched out her arms first, languid and slow, feeling content with the welcome weight of her lover’s head lying on her chest. The stiffness in her neck didn’t even register. She wondered why she couldn’t wake like this every day, right where she wanted most to be. A perfect morning, before the rest of her mind caught up. “…what time is it?” she asked herself, trying to reach Marceline’s phone on the nightstand to check without disturbing the other woman. “Just past nine.”The princess groaned but didn’t bother to move. Instead she played with the fingers splayed over her stomach.“Why aren’t you panicking?”“Because I don’t regret it.”“Really?” The vampire’s voice was unabashedly earnest. Bonnibel knew she made the right choice.“Really.”Marceline smiled, genuine and wide, and Bonnibel found a heart could, contrary to biology, indeed flip.She allotted herself ten minutes of comfort, which became fifteen and then twenty as she made no effort whatsoever to move.“Ok, I actually have to get up now,” she said at half past. Marceline sighed but sat up so the princess could stand. Bonnibel found a spare toothbrush under the sink and did her best to tame her bedhead in the small bathroom mirror. “Do you have a sweater I could borrow? Weather man said it’s going to be cold today.”The vampire floated over to her closet and tossed the first one onto the bed, slipping past the princess to get ready for her own bedtime.Bonnibel held up the article of clothing; white with three thick horizontal stripes of primary colour. It was a little pilled on the sleeves but she recognized it. “Hey, isn’t this mine?” “Hmmm? Oh, that? Yeah, I think it might be,” Marceline called over the sound of the sink, trying to play it casual. “I may have borrowed it…three or four months ago, I think?” “Huh, I was looking everywhere for this.” Her mind worried some nagging thread. “Wait, when I asked you, you said you hadn’t seen it.”“I forgot.” Marceline lied. She couldn’t tell her why she had held onto it more than a little longer than she should have; it still smelled like Bonnibel. “Besides…I don’t think it would be a bad idea for you to, uh, have a few things you need here at my place.”“Who said I’d be making a habit of staying the night?” Bonnibel teased. “You’re the one who wanted me to move in.” The princess could practically hear the eye roll. ”Think of it as a test run – with a few things trying it out before we do.” The vampire returned to the bedroom and made her way over to the younger woman. “If you want to, that is.”Bonnibel nodded her agreement. “Cuz we’re taking it slow?” she asked, a teasing lilt the words. Fingers gently threaded through dark locks, showing how much she wanted to with touch rather than wordsBonnibel, sweater and responsibilities and even science all forgotten, was drawn up into her girlfriend’s arms and off the floor. “Yep,” Marceline whispered and smiled against her lover’s soft lips, “Real slow.”