Penball/Carwin Oneshots

The Doubt

Requested by KunChan/just-yours-truly.

Gumball sat on the swing, silently swinging back and forth. The fur under his eyes damp from crying so much.

He bit his lip, looking down nervously. His heart ached as a whirlwind of thoughts filled his mind. He was about to do the hardest thing he'd ever have to do in his entire life. Something that would hurt him far more than the person he was doing it to.

He didn't want to do it. But he knew he had to. Because it was the right thing to do.

Because it was what was best for her.

What was going on? How had this all started?

Well, you see, a few days ago Gumball had tried to impress Penny by agreeing to go around and feed Mr. Cuddles for her since she would be out at a cheerleading practice at the time, and neither of her parents was available to do it for her either.

Knowing that her boyfriend had severe arachnophobia, which she had on occasion used to wind him up by playfully teasing the idea of her getting Mr. Cuddles out of his cage and letting him walk around, she had obviously been reluctant at such an idea. But the kitten had insisted that it would be okay and that she had nothing to worry about.

So, imagine her surprise when she came home to find most of her house trashed, insect tanks knocked over, escapees crawling and flying around as they infested the entire house. Meanwhile, Gumball was cowering in fear under a table, covered in webs and holding a frying pan, as Mr. Cuddles ran free feeding on the feast laid before him.

After putting Mr Cuddles away and encouraging Gumball out from his hiding spot the fairy had reluctantly spent the entire rest of the afternoon and evening rounding up all of the insects, whilst forcing the kitten to stay and clean up the house for her.

She hadn't said much to him the rest of the time he was there, but he could tell that she was mad at him. And not just regular shouting and berating him mad. Oh no, it was much worse than that. Scarier than that.

She was silent fury mad.

Her complete silence apart from a few responses or instructions every so often, as well as the occasional annoyed glance and frustrated sigh from her made this obvious. Capable of snapping and berating him or shifting into any one of her dangerous forms at any moment, it was needless to say this was far scarier than just being shouted at normally.

He'd tried to think of something to say to her before leaving, some way to apologize or make it up to her, but he couldn't come up with anything. He'd simply given her a silent look of guilt before leaving and heading home, heartbroken to have failed her.

His mother had noticed his upset demeanor almost as soon as he walked through the door, and had invited him to come and cuddle up with her and talk about what happened.

He'd accepted her embrace, but as he tried to speak he quickly felt himself become overwhelmed with emotions and broke down crying into her chest. As the older feline quietly comforted him all he could think about was how mad Penny was. How disappointed she was.

She had trusted him to look after her pet, to do something as simple as feeding him an insect or two. He had given her his word that everything would be okay. But she had come home to nothing but disappointment. To his absolute failure.

He continued to sob, warm tears streaming down his now-damp fur as his mother quietly stroked and hushed him. Why had he agreed to do something he knew he would be terrified of? Why did he ever think it was a good idea? What was he thinking!?