Back Home (kinda one shots)

The Nightmare (Part 1)

This part takes place after Gumball and Darwin fall asleep in the car after The Origins pt 2

Gumball wakes up in the car and sees his new little brother hugging his arm tightly as he sleeps. Gumball smiled and went to move, but Darwin hugged him tighter and scrunched up his face in fear as he was still asleep. Gumball was confused at first, but then he took knowledge of the fact that Darwin must've still been scared after almost losing his family a just few minutes ago. Gumball lightly stroked his head which made him smile again.

"Oh man this is so amazing!" Baby Gumball thought to himself. "Not only do I have a pet goldfish, I have a pet goldfish with legs that can talk! Actually, I'm not even sure he counts as a pet anymore... definitely not. I sure do hope he's not insecure about being considered a pet for the next 8 years!"

Gumball continued to think about random stuff while staying close to his sleeping brother (as to not scare him) and they were home before he knew it.

Nicole carried Darwin into the house as Gumball rambled on about all the things he wanted to do with him. Nicole interrupted him.

"Now now Gumball, your brother has had a very stressful day and probably needs a lot of time to rest. After that, I will give him a bath and get him all fixed up, and then maybe you can play with him... only if he's up to it."

"Oh....... ok." Gumball said, disappointed, yet understanding.

Nicole was happy, but also surprised. Gumball usually could never suppress his energy or excitement.

"He must really care about him." She thought to herself.

A few minutes later after Darwin wakes up...

Nicole carries Darwin into the bathroom. He was still a bit tired and barely awake, but that changed when he saw that damned toilet. He scream and leaped out of Nicole's arm and presses himself against the wall, shaking. Nicole puts her hand on his cheek.

"What's wrong sweetie?"

Darwin only stutters in fear. Nicole looks behind her and assumes the answer.

"Is it the toilet?"

Darwin whimpers, indicating a yes.

"Awww, sweetheart, you don't need to be scared. We're never letting anything happen to you again."

"Y-you sure?" Darwin asked, still shaking.

"Of course, sweetie! See, look..."

Nicole goes over to the toilet and closed the lid.

"There. Now you can't fall in. Now, I need you to get in the tu-"

Darwin runs as fast as his new small legs can carry him and jumps into the tub, still cowering and shaking. Nicole looks at him with shock and sympathy. After the bath, Nicole noticed cuts and bruises all over his body. She put her hand over her mouth.

"Is everything ok, Mrs. Mom?"

"It's fine sweetie I just.... didn't know it was this bad. Here, I'll get you some band-aids."

She opened the cabinet inside their bathroom mirror and took out some band-aids. Applying them to Darwin's injuries took way longer than anticipated.

"Oh, sweetie, what in the world have you been through?" She mumbled to herself, but Darwin heard.

"Oh, not much, it's just..."

He began to explain many of the things he had to pull through in order to even have a family. His eyes began to fill with tears, and eventually, he couldn't even talk anymore. He was sobbing uncontrollably. He felt so sad, afraid, and alone. He was snapped back to reality by the reassuring voice of a mother.

"Shhhhh"

He then realized that Nicole was hugging him. He hugged back. They had a silent moment of hugging before Darwin was ready to go out and see Gumball.

"Darwin!" He shouted as he went to hug him.

"I've been waiting forever, man! What do you wanna do? We could..."

Gumball began to enthusiastically list all the things he wanted to do. Darwin found his excitement a little bit overwhelming.

"Uhhhh..."

Gumball noticed his brother looking overwhelmed.

"...or we could just watch TV. Do you want to watch TV?" Gumball asked.

"Y-yeah... yeah let's do that." Darwin said shyly.

Gumball and Darwin sat down on the couch and watched some Animaniacs 2020 (even though this episode takes place way before 2020. Just don't question it.)

As Gumball watched the show contently and laughed at almost every single joke, Darwin barely paid any attention at all. Actually, not barely, he didn't pay any attention at all. He was deep in thought about everything that happened. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the image of his family replacing him out of his head. As he was thinking, he curled himself up into a tiny ball and notably looking scared and sad, however, Gumball was too engulfed in the gay mice on the screen to notice this. Suddenly, a horrifying thought crossed his mind.

"It was all my fault for not being good enough."

After, Darwin tried his best to internally convince himself that this wasn't true, but he just couldn't, he believed it so strongly! He started to tear up a bit without noticing.

"Why aren't you laughing?" Gumball suddenly asked.

Darwin softly gasped out of shock. He almost forgot he was even there!

"Everything ok?" Gumball asked, worried.

"Huh? No, yeah, everything's fine." Darwin said, not making eye contact and hugging his legs tighter.

"Are you sure? Because I heard you crying in the bathroom...and you're also crying right now." Gumball pointed out.

Slightly embarrassed, Darwin wiped his tears that he just noticed were there.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"C'mon, dude, if you're upset about something, I wanna know about it, and I won't judge you. After all, you are my little brother."

Darwin finally made eye contact with Gumball and spoke as his voice broke.

"I-I'm you're little brother?"

He had a special glow in his eyes. One that Gumball would never forget. Gumball patted him on the head causing him to smile. Genuinely.

"Of course you are, lil bro!"

"Well, I'm still a little sad and scared over almost losing you." Darwin admitted.

"Awwww, here." Gumball wrapped him up in a blanket. "It's gonna be ok. I promise you're safe with us, we'll protect you!"

"Really!"

"Of course!"

Gumball lightly tickled Darwin on the cheek and he let out a high pitched giggle. Gumball found that adorable so he giggled too.

"Now c'mon, let's keep watching, Yakko's about to say something funny!"

"Ok!" Darwin said enthusiastically whilst not knowing who Yakko was because as I said earlier he was not paying attention. He was too busy being sad&cute.

Some hours pass and then it was finally time for Gumball and Darwin to go to bed.

"Night, bro!"

"G'night, Gumball!"

Darwin felt more confident than ever, like he really was part of the family, however that feeling didn't last long, for he experienced a horrible nightmare...