Okay, so first chapter! Remember to review if you want more!
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I'm Only Me When I'm With You
One: You Never Notice
xXLiStLesSXx
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"So, I guess what I'm saying is…I mean, what I wanted to ask you-"
Jake chose that moment to interrupt Finn's attempt at asking Bubblegum out. "Smooth, man," he said, shrugging when Finn glared at him. "What? You're so obvious."
Finn flushed crimson and Bubblegum couldn't help but smile. "I'm sorry, Finn, but I'm busy tonight with a royal meeting," she said, "But thanks for the invite." She bent down and pressed a kiss to a now-dangerously red Finn's cheek.
A throat cleared behind them, and Bubblegum jumped, turning to face a smirking Marceline. "Hey Finn, still crushing on the princess?" she asked in a sly voice, grinning when Finn turned a whole new shade of red. She hissed at Jake, causing him to flinch away, before turning to Bubblegum. "What's up, Bonnibel?"
"Nothing's 'up', Marceline," Bubblegum replied in annoyance, raising her fingers in air-quotes. "What are you even doing in the Candy Kingdom?" She folded her arms across her chest huffily.
"Calm your cute candy buns, Bonnibel," Marceline drawled, floating around behind Bubblegum, who whipped around to keep eye contact.
Bubblegum's cheeks flushed a dark maroon. "Marceline! That's vulgar!" she cried, stomping one foot on the ground.
Marceline scoffed. "So sorry, Bonnibel, didn't mean to offend. But that's all I'm really good for nowadays, right?" she asked, floating up and assuming a lying down position in the air so that her face was only millimeters from Bubblegum's. The princess felt her breath catch in her throat, felt a familiar pull at her chest and willed herself to keep eye contact with the vampire. "I'm here for the conference," she said, straightening. "Queen, remember?" Marceline pointed to herself.
"As if you ever bother showing up to these events," Bubblegum shot back. "Why did you decide to come today?"
Marceline simply shrugged and returned her attention to Finn, causing the shunned Bubblegum to bristle slightly. "So what did where you were gonna take Bonnibel?" she asked casually, as if the princess in question weren't right beside her.
Bubblegum huffed and stormed back into the castle, leaving Marceline alone with Finn and Jake.
PBXM
Marceline watched as Bubblegum stormed into the castle, her eyes remaining on the pink ruler for perhaps a second longer than they maybe should have. After the princess was inside, she turned back to Fin with a sly smile masking her inner feelings. "So?"
Finn sighed. "I was just going to ask her if she wanted to go to the movies with me, only, like, on a d-date this time," he said, averting his eyes as his cheeks flushed. "You know, like- w-with kissing."
"Ha, I knew you wanted her, man!" Jake laughed from beside Finn, clapping his best friend on the back. Marceline, on the other hand, was struggling to keep her composure.
It wasn't as if she were jealous or anything, because I mean, how likely was it that Bubblegum would ever date him? Marceline felt bad and all for the poor kid, but he and Bubblegum were clearly not going to happen. A smirk teased at the corners of her lips at the thought- usually watching Finn interact with Bubblegum was cute, but sometimes, when Bubblegum would entertain Finn's crush, her possessive side would peek out and, being a vampire and all, she'd have a hell of a time trying to hide it.
"Marceline? Marcy?"
Marceline blinked out of her Bubblegum-induced stupor. "Huh? Oh, yeah, she'll love that," she said with a wink, floating around behind Finn.
The boy sighed and there was silence for a moment before, "What happened with you and Peebles?"
Marceline floated back around to face him, her eyebrows raised. "What do you mean? Nothing happened between me and Bonnibel."
"I mean, when we fought the Door Lord, you two were getting along and all, but now it's like you two hate each other again," he said.
"Girls are complicated, man," Jake said in means of an explanation, while Marceline hesitated.
"I don't hate Bonnibel or anything," she said, though the memory of…that night swam up to the top of her head unbidden. "We're just…too different." Her eyes took on the same look she'd worn on that night with the Door Lord for a moment before her features returned to normal.
Finn sighed. "I don't get girls."
Marceline laughed despite herself. "Me neither," she said. "Well, I'll see you guys later, okay?" She waved to the two as she floated off towards the castle after Bubblegum.
PBXM
"Aww, don't tell me I'm the only one who showed up for your party, Bonnie," Marceline drawled as she floated into the conference room only to find herself alone with Bubblegum.
"Very funny, Marceline," Bubblegum replied. "In case you hadn't noticed, you're two hours early." She turned to Marceline from her science kit that she had out on the table. "Now can you please be quiet and let me work?" She huffed. "The one time I had some time to myself…"
Marceline let the words brush off of her, as she had become accustomed to when dealing with Bubblegum. On certain occasions, she could make a bit of the old Bubblegum come out, and she would take pride in knowing that she was the only one who could bring out Bubblegum's true self. "You wound me, Bonnibel," she replied with a toothy grin, floating over to Bubblegum and turning so that she was lying on her back in midair. "Stake to the heart and all that."
Bubblegum sighed and rolled her eyes. "Just keep quiet, okay? I'm on the verge of a scientific breakthrough."
Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Another zombie infestation? Should I warn the Candy People?" she asked in a playfully teasing tone, smirking like the cat that ate the canary.
Bubblegum growled in annoyance. "Shut. Up, Marceline!" she finally snapped, flushing bright red. Judging by the positively feline grin the gray girl was wearing, that was exactly the reaction Marceline had been waiting for. "Ugh! You're so…you're just so…"
"Brilliant? Awesome? Sexy?"
"Infuriating!" Bubblegum cried, causing Marceline to grin and sit on top of the table that the princess was working on, straddling the lab equipment and the pink girl's torso. When Bubblegum tried to work around her, the gray girl took her test tube tray and floated out of the princess's reach. "You're such a butt, Marceline!"
"Oooh, nasty language, princess," Marceline drawled, grinning as she floated lower, back within Bubblegum's reach. The pink girl snatched the test tubes from Marceline as soon as she was within reach. "You seriously need to relax, let loose or something. Stop being so serious all the time, Bonnibel, it's bad for your health."
Marceline's face had morphed from playful to somewhat hurt and painfully obviously dejected in less than the time it took her to say the two sentences, and her eyes rested on Bubblegum, who was determinedly looking the other direction. "Do you just show emotion when it suits you, Marceline?" Bubblegum asked, determined to keep her tone neutral. "You're always teasing me and picking on me, but as soon as-"
"Cut the martyred crap, Bonnibel," Marceline scoffed, scowling, her gaze now averted to anywhere but the princess. "I'm seriously getting tired of this whole 'damsel in distress' thing you've got going on. The princess I knew didn't need some thirteen-year-old kid to rescue her every other day."
Finally looking up from her work, Bubblegum stood, hands pressed against the table. "What does Finn have to do with anything, Marceline?"
The vampire shrugged, still staring off petulantly in some other direction. "Why don't you tell me? You're the one who's always leading him on," she stated with a sneer, arms folded over her chest defiantly. "For glob's sake, Bonnibel, he's just a kid, you're gonna break his heart one of these days making him think you'll return his feelings. But that's okay for you, isn't it? As long as you're not the one hurting, right, princess?"
Bubblegum bristled; the rational part of her mind was telling her there was something more behind Marceline's words, but there was nothing rational about her feelings for Marceline, was there? "Who says I'll never return his feelings, Marceline?" she bit back, swelling with an unreasonable pride (and a bit of something else) when the vampire winced noticeably.
But Marceline recovered quickly, finally turning to face Bubblegum again. "He loves you, Bonnibel," she said in a patronizing tone, then dove down in a sudden movement, putting her face only inches from the pink girl's. She hovered there for a moment, basking in the feeling of all of Bubblegum's attention resting on her once again. "And you don't love anyone. That's gonna be kind of a problem eventually."
Bubblegum opened her mouth to reply, and then snapped it shut when no words seemed to be coming out. Marceline smiled dryly and floated back, allowing the princess to breathe again. "I don't really feel like staying for one of these boring meetings after all," Marceline said in a casual tone. "I'll see you around, Bonnibel."
Bubblegum watched her go, lips parted slightly in awe of what had just happened.
"You were never going to stay," she whispered quietly to herself- she knew Marceline well enough to know that the vampire queen would never willingly sit through one of these 'boring' meetings.
"So why did you come at all?"
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