Just Pretending (Bubbline/Sugarless Gum)

Official fake girlfriends

It was a boring day, with boring people, and with boring scenery, for Princess Bubblegum at least. She was being held at a council meeting for all the princesses and kings across the land, but all she could do was sit there on the greyish squishy chairs they offered, and she wasn’t allowed to say anything. She didn’t like feeling useless, but this meeting was making her feel exactly that. 

 “So, we have decided to clean up around here! This city is disgusting, but my wife and my citizens are helping recreate this place,” The prince of this city they were holding the meeting in said, adjusting on his wobbly chair. Several agreed, and some of them pitched in a few ideas on how to make it cleaner. “The streets are filled with crime!” Wildberry Princess exclaimed, looking horrified. “There’s trash everywhere,” The Hot Dog Princess said with a frown.

 After several minutes of the conversation spiraling into how to successfully grow watermelons within this town, the council was dismissed. Princess Bubblegum stood up and dusted off her dress, a couple pieces of dirt on it that probably fell from the crumbling ceiling. “Thank you so much for coming Princess,” The prince said, tugging on to her dress. She turned around and politely smiled and said, “Of course! Oh and what’s your name? I’m afraid I didn’t catch it.”

 The Prince told her he was the Urban Prince, and that he was the not so proud owner of this city. Princess Bubblegum smiled as kindly as she could, silently agreeing this was not to be proud of, and said, “Thank you for hosting us, I can’t wait to see your city when it’s much cleaner!”

 As soon as she left the building, she noticed all the smog that lay over the city, like a thick blanket. She didn’t like it very much, and how it clung to the top of the glassy skyscrapers. Figuring it would be best to get back to her beloved kingdom as fast as she could, she picked up her pace.

 After a few minutes of walking, she saw the first people outside of the building since she got here. They were a sweet looking couple, both with brown hair and purplish skin, their hands clamped together swinging to and fro. Princess Bubblegum couldn’t help but smile a little, feeling a sense of longing for a sense of normalcy like that. They disappeared out of eyesight when they turned a corner, muttering to each other, the girl grinning ear to ear. But then when she turned around the bend, the couple had vanished. There was no trace of them, not in the alleyway, not behind the dumpster, and not even in the nearest building, which happened to be abandoned.

 Reaching either the conclusion that there is some interdimensional portal in that exact spot or they were kidnapped, she decided to start knocking on nearby houses and entering stores to ask if they’ve seen the couple or know them at all. The only result she got was from the bakery with the plump woman behind the counter said they were ‘common customers’. But she was shooed out when the woman told her she had to buy something or she’d have to leave, and when the Princess politely told her she didn’t want anything the woman's cheeks flushed and she shouted at her to get out.

 She asked around some more, her first stop being at a dingy one story house that was probably smaller than her bedroom. “Hey have you seen a couple, both of them with purplish skin and brown hair walk around her?”

 The woman timidly stepped back behind the door, showing only a portion of her face and said, “Yes, I have. They walk around here often. Why do you ask?”

 Princess Bubblegum began to explain that they were missing and she was walking behind them just before it happened. The woman seemed to perk up a bit, and opened her door a bit more, revealing how dark and humid it was on the inside. “Couples have been going missing around here lately. I’ve warned those two to keep their affections private but no, they never listen! And now they’re gone...” The woman said, waving a bug away.