Penball/Carwin Oneshots

The Monster (Advent Day Nineteen)

Update 12/02/23: Went to fix a few typos and ended up remastering the whole oneshot. Whoops.

"We need to go here more often. The food is a nice change of pace from having Joyful Burger all the time..." Gumball thought out loud

"Oh yeah, for sure, the food here at Dinner is delicious!" Penny agreed.

As they were walking Penny wasn't paying attention and accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She apologized.

"Maybe look where you're going next time, freak!" The person quite rudely responded before walking away.

Penny's face fell and she looked down in thought. Gumball noticed this and took a hold of her hand. "Hey, don't pay attention to them. They're just a jerk."

"Hmm? Oh, err, yeah, of course." She smiled weakly and the two sat down.

The two ordered their food then began to talk for a while as they waited for the food to arrive, but Penny was noticeably less involved in the conversation, just nodding along and adding general comments here and there.

Finally, their food arrived and Gumball began to eat. He stopped however when he noticed Penny was picking at her food and not really eating any of it. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked softly.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't even hear him.

"Penny?" He placed his paw on her shoulder and she jumped, startled.

"Are you alright? You're being really quiet."

"Oh, um...y-yeah, I'm fine. Just...I don't know..." She sighed.

"Are you still thinking about what that douchebag said to you?" He asked.

She shook her head. "What? N-no, no, of course not. I'm okay, honestly." She ate some of her food and faked a smile, trying to assure him of this.

He could tell however that she wasn't being truthful. He knew Penny, and he knew when something was upsetting her, and something very clearly was.

And if she was upset, then so was he.

He slowly got up and went around to her side of the table, sitting next to her, and placed his paw on top of her hand, beginning to speak softly. "Don't let what they said get to you. You aren't a freak, you know that." He assured her.

"I know, but it's...it's not just that." She admitted as she began to tear up slightly.

He raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I..." She hesitated, before looking down and shaking her head, feeling like she had already said too much. "It's nothing..."

He gave her hand a squeeze and looked at her reassuringly, "You can tell me."

She sniffed. "You...you won't tell anyone?"

"Of course not. You know I'd never, ever do that."

She hesitated before looking back up, revealing the tears that were now streaming down her face. "I...I think I should go back into my shell." She admitted with a broken voice.

Gumball gasped, his eyes widening in disbelief. "What!? But I thought you were happy out of your shell? You love being out of it!"

"I-I do! I hated my shell but...but what's the point in coming out of it if everyone just thinks I'm a monster..."