My first attempt at Bubbline, hopefully it's successful! The title comes from the way I've viewed the show- around everyone but Marceline, Bubblegum is composed and at her princessly best, but around Marceline, she starts acting like an actual teenage girl. Similarly (though not as noticeably), Marceline's cool façade breaks around Bubblegum, such as in the episode What Was Missing.

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I'm Only Me When I'm With You

Prologue: It Began With the End

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"Come on, Bonnibel, what are you saying?"

"I don't think I can be any clearer than I already have been, Marceline," Bubblegum replied in a haughty voice, though the shaking in her shoulders and uncertainty in her eyes would have given her away, had she not been facing away from the Vampire Queen. "You didn't really think we could always be together, did you? We could never be more than this, Marceline, and I thought you knew that!"

The heartbroken petulance written across Marceline's features made it clear that no, she didn't know that. "Why're you making this so hard, Bonnibel?" she asked, her voice lowering into a less angry, more pleading tone. "It doesn't have to be hard."

"You just don't understand!" Bubblegum finally exploded, whirling around to face Marceline, tears pouring down her cheeks. A heavy silence followed afterwards.

Making a disgusted face, Marceline shook her head to conceal the tears that were threatening to fall from her own eyes. "No, I guess I don't," she spat. "This is stupid, Bonnibel, you're running from something you don't even know will happen."

"I think I know my kingdom well enough to predict their reaction to my relationship with one of the most feared rulers in Ooo, Marceline," Bubblegum replied in a patronizing tone, her arms folded across her chest. It was a strange sensation, she had been hurting more than anything only a moment before, but now it was as if she'd gone numb, like everything was back to the way it had been before it had all begun. And she was thankful for that small miracle, because it had to be like that; as the future ruler of the Candy Kingdom, Bubblegum could not afford time to get over Marceline and whatever they had. "You're the one making this difficult. Just leave, Marceline."

The vampire queen stood there for several seconds, shell-shocked, before she scoffed and spat at the ground in disdain. "You know, Bonnibel, I kind of hate you when you're like this," she said, before turning and jumping out of the window.

Out of your life.

Bubblegum stood there for several minutes, as if she weren't quite sure what happened, and then she just fell apart.

She hit her bed screaming into her pillow, her sobs muffled by the fabric. Why did Marceline have to make everything so hard? Why did she have to say that? She didn't hate her, she couldn't!

Bitterly, Bubblegum wished Marceline hadn't left so easily, wished she'd done something more to get her to stay. But what would that have done? Only weakened Bubblegum's willpower when she needed more than anything to stay strong.

She had made the right choice, she knew she had.

So what was that queasy, churning feeling in the pit of her gut, the one that was telling her she'd just made the biggest mistake of her life?

That night, she held Marceline's old shirt to her chest, and just lay there, staring at the wall, unable to cry anymore.

PbXM

Its two years later and Bubblegum has become the best ruler that the kingdom of Ooo has ever known and made the acquaintance of a plucky young boy named Finn and his magical dog Jake.

He's in love with her, but she pretends not to notice.

One day, she hears that Finn and Jake were kicked out of their house by a mysterious 'previous owner', and she tries not to worry too much about it. Technically, it could have been anyone.

But fate isn't so kind (or maybe it is) to Bubblegum, and only weeks later, Marceline's reappeared in her life, always tooclosetooclosetooclose, always so unreadable, and it's like (they) never happened.

Bubblegum's not so stoic- Bubblegum loses her cool and her graceful, royal demeanor around Marceline with even the slightest provocation.

And then Marceline turns out to not be so over her, after all. Then Marceline sings her a song, comes so close to revealing their secret that it isn't even funny, and the worst part is, Bubblegum isn't sure she wanted Marceline to stop.

"I never said you had to be perfect!"

But sometimes Bubblegum really wishes she was, because then maybe she'd be able to see through her already crumbling façade, take her in her arms and make everything okay again.

Sometimes it feels as if everything that had seemed so important so long ago is so trivial now, and all that matters is her and Marceline.

But it can't be like that, not now, not while Bubblegum has a kingdom to rule.

Sometimes, she just wishes Marceline could understand instead of looking at her like she'd kicked her puppy to death, because that just makes Bubblegum feel like a horrible person, like she'd made the wrong choice.

And she hadn't, she'd made the best choice for herself, for both of them.

Right?

Please review! They let me know if the story is going well and motivate me to continue writing it.