It was the next morning, all quiet in the house. The two boys were sound asleep in their respective areas, the room fairly dark as the sun had not yet risen up. Previous decorations from last night were mostly in the trash, though the lights were not, tucked away in a drawer, as well as a few cornflowers being placed on the nightstand.
Gumball was the first to wake up, rubbing his eyes as he quietly slipped out of bed. He was fairly quick to get dressed, his attire consisting of all black, with a hoodie to cover his head. The cat wasn't that dumb, he knew he could be spotted right away if he wasn't in disguise, especially considering his house arrest.
He began making his way to the window, but for a moment, he looked over at Darwin, freezing in his place. Was this plan worth it? Would it truly help his partner be free of bullying? The feline shook the thoughts away, as his heart told him yes.
This has to be done. He has to protect him. He couldn't lose him, not now.
Unbeknownst to him as he climbed to the outside, Darwin sleepily opened his eyes, hearing some of the cat's rather less subtle movements. The goldfish did not say a word yet, but saw him leave, questioning the situation before him.
The pieces began to fall into place in his head however, as he was fully awake now. Darwin carefully climbed out of his fishbowl, and followed behind the cat quietly, not daring to make a sound. He wasn't going to let this happen again.
Gumball was not aware of his presence, as he continued to stealthily walk through town. He had no weapon on him, at least, not yet. He figured there would be one already there. It should be a fairly easy task. Soon enough, he gazed upon the exterior of the Wilsons' home, seeing a light in what he assumed was Tobias's room in an upstairs window.
Just as he was about to step closer, a hand, or rather fin, yanked him back onto the main sidewalk, and he was soon face to face with Darwin. "W-What the?! Darwin?!"
"What are you doing?!" The goldfish was very much angry, fuming as he dragged him down the sidewalk, the other not bothering to fight. As they arrived home, he let him go, sending the feline onto the carpet. "Gumball how could you?! After everything!"
"D-Darwin wait I can explain, I-I didn't mean to I-I just-"
"What? Didn't care?"
"No that's not it!" Gumball stood up, hood falling down as he watched him with remorse. The last thing he wanted to do was upset him. "Of course I care! Why else would I have gone out?"
"..I said it was fine.. You didn't listen.." Darwin didn't look at him. He didn't want to look at him. "You SAID you were going to tell Mrs. Mom and let her handle it.."
"Darwin he literally HURT you! I couldn't just sit here and let you get beat up like that!"
"So you had to go try and kill him?" Anger was very much in the goldfish's voice, as well as on his face, yet sadness began to overtake it. Everything inside him was practically screaming, all sorts of emotions on his mind right now.
Gumball wasn't sure what to say at this point, hurt in his eyes as he tried to fix this. He was about to approach the fish, shuffling carefully. "I.. I just..."
"Just what? You say you're just protecting me but what kind of protection is this?!" Darwin looked up, his expression returned to that of heavy rage, as he glared at the other, making the cat freeze in response. "You promised Gumball! You promised not to hurt anyone and you were gonna break it!"
"Darwin I-"
"I TRUSTED you! I love you, and here you are sneaking behind my back for revenge I DON'T want! Why did I even bother staying with you-" The fish slapped a fin over his mouth, eyes wide.
Awkward dreadful silence filled the room, as the two could only stare at each other.
Darwin felt an immense fear at what could come, but.. Nothing. He soon noticed the cat was only looking at him with shock, yet hurt. There was no anger. It was then he realized.
This wasn't right anymore.
He could remember Nicole's words from that day of the confrontation, how deeply rooted they seemed to be inside him. Was that why he felt so afraid? Was he scared she was right? In a way, she had been, thinking back to earlier. What kind of partner makes the other feel unsafe and needing to hide? He should have seen the signs, but instead, he chose to ignore them.
Yet, nothing was happening.
It was then that Gumball cautiously broke the silence. "..What am I doing? This.. This is exactly why Penny broke up with me.."
Darwin didn't say a word, watching the cat with sorrow.
"It's.. It's just the diner all over again.." Gumball averted his gaze to the carpet, tears forming in his eyes. He felt his paws tremble, to which he held them to try and keep them still. "I didn't listen to her.. I could've prevented all this.. I.."
The two looked at each other once more. Silently, they agreed. This couldn't be ignored anymore. They needed help.
Clanging of keys was heard at the door, as the voices of the rest of the family could be heard outside it, seeming to be deep in some sort of conversation that was hard to make out.
Not a word was spoken after, as Gumball went upstairs to the bedroom to change, leaving Darwin back in the living room to process the events.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Anais?.."
The young bunny turned her attention away from her homework, seeing Gumball and Darwin soon enter the room. She raised an eyebrow, sensing something was wrong. Though, it seemed rather obvious, the way the two were uncharacteristically quieter and sorrowful.
"We.. Need some advice." The cat was struggling to find the right words for it. This was already awkward enough. "..About.. Us."
"You want me to give you two dating advice?" Anais's eyebrow lifted slightly higher, as she couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed by the conversation. "Look I know I'm not stupid but I'm not the right person for this either, I'm only four."
Darwin sighed, taking over with the talking, the other allowing it. "We're talking about.. The relationship. The.. Bad parts."
This certainly got her attention. The bunny set down her work, turning her chair to properly look at the two. Her annoyance had vanished, leaving curiousity in its wake. "Alright, so what's the issue here?"
"..We feel.. There's.. Issues." The fish explained, his voice rather quiet. It pained him to even think about this. "..It's been going on for a while.. And it got worse after.."
He looked at his partner, unsure whether or not to say it.
"..He caught me trying to go kill Tobias.." Gumball muttered, doing the job for him. Having to say it out loud did make him realize how dumb the plan was in the first place. "After some uh.. Disagreements, we realized something was wrong.."
"..We came to you for help.. What do you.. See?" Darwin focused his attention back to the bunny, hesitant to continue. Admittedly he was afraid what she might say, but there wasn't much other options. This had to be done. "..Is this fixable?.."
Anais studied them for a moment, before motioning the two to come sit down on the carpet, to which they did so. "Look, I won't lie to you, but I knew this was coming. From the start, this relationship has been toxic."
She pointed at the cat, who flinched at the sudden attention. "You're a clingy obsessive murderer. From what I've heard, you lose it when someone even breathes in Darwin's direction badly."
"...No, you're right.." Gumball fixed his gaze onto the floor, letting out an exhale.
"Why do you do it?" She asked. Admittedly she was rather curious of the answer, especially with everything that had occurred lately. "This never happened before with you, yet now here you are on house arrest."
For a moment, the room was quiet. Gumball soon spoke up, not once looking at the others. "I.. I feel scared... When.. When Penny broke up with me.. My world crumbled apart.. Her words hurt, and I ended up refusing to listen to her, even... Hurting her.."
He teared up, struggling to continue. "..When I fell in love with Darwin.. I was terrified at the thought of losing him.. I didn't want to experience such horrible heartbreak again.. I didn't want it to turn out like before.. The.. The thought of being alone, and ruining everything.. It was awful.. Seeing Rachel flirting with him.. It.. It brought out something ugly in me.. I just.. I couldn't deal with losing the one I loved again.."
"...What happened to the new kid?.." Darwin finally spoke, careful in the way he put it. He knew talk of the previous relationship was hard for the other, especially now. "Did you.. Really kill him?.."
"..It was an accident.." Gumball glanced up at him, tears streaming down his face. "I was confronting him by these hallway stairs and.. He got pushed.. Fell over the railing with this awful thud.. I ran off 'cause I couldn't take looking at him down there.."
"Wait a minute.." Anais felt a little bad for interrupting, though a thought dawned on her. "Is this the new kid that was flirting with every girl on sight?"
"..Um.. Yeah.." He responded, fidgeting in his place.
She let out a deep sigh. "Gumball, he's not dead. The school only said he moved back because they were trying to dance around the truth that he got arrested at the gas station for shoplifting. I'm surprised you two didn't know."
"..Oh.. Uh.. I guess that's sort of one thing off my shoulders.. That's a relief.."
"Now Darwin," Anais turned to the goldfish, to which he slightly froze. "Gumball isn't the only one who's been going through something. What's your side of the story?"
"...I'm scared too.." He replied, slowly and carefully. "..That day of the fight.. I thought that it was okay.. That it was only one or two bad things, and that he wouldn't do it again.. That.. We could be happy.."
The fish unknowingly was fidgeting just like the cat was. "But.. I kept getting scared.. I tried not to show it.. But all the deaths.. Being kidnapped once.. A-And being chased by police.. Mrs. Mom too.. She.. She asked me what would happen if.. If I broke his heart.. And.. It got to me.. T-Then I got shot.. A-And there was that horrible nightmare.."
Tears were very much pouring out of his eyes, as he fought not to make sobbing sounds as he continued. "I-I shouldn't be scared of my own boyfriend.. I-I don't want Mrs. Mom to be right.. A-And my head and heart are always fighting each other.. I still love him but I'm scared!"
Anais was quick to come over and hug him, the fish crying as he returned the gesture.
Gumball had been watching with wide eyes, tears pouring down his face as well, as several thoughts were circling his mind. He felt awful, no, downright devastated by this reveal. Had he been really hurting him all this time?
"I-I'm so sorry.. I didn't wanna say it.." Darwin was trembling, looking at the cat with an utmost sorrow.
"No.. No it's not your fault.." Gumball came closer, wiping the few tears from the other's eyes, though, it didn't really do much as they were still falling. "I should've realized what I was doing was wrong.. You shouldn't have had to go through everything we did.. I'm a terrible boyfriend for that and I.. I-I can't apologize enough.."
Anais let go from the embrace she had on the goldfish, looking at the two with sympathy. She had a feeling it would've ended like this, with all that had happened. It was unfortunately bound to occur.
The three were all equally silent, seconds turning into minutes. Gumball and Darwin were staring at each other, each full of nothing but grief, heartbreak, and sadness. They all knew where this was going, but nobody wanted to say it.
It was then that Gumball finally broke the ice, taking the duty for himself. "..We need to break up.."
The goldfish didn't answer, the look in his eyes absolutely heart wrenching.
"..Face it Darwin, you and I both know this can't work.." The cat teared up, glancing away from the sight. It felt like his world was crumbling again, by his own hands. "Not now.. We have our issues to deal with.."
"..You're right.. But.. What about Mrs. Mom?.. She fought so hard to keep us together... What if she gets mad if we tell her?.."
Gumball hesitated, before letting out a sigh. "Well.. To be honest I had an answer for that. I.. I'm going to turn myself in."
Darwin and Anais shared surprise by the response, both looking at the cat with wide eyes.
"..You are?" The fish couldn't imagine hearing those words, especially not in this moment. He could still remember the way the cat was crying at the thought of being caught and killed in the woods. Was it really going to happen now?
Gumball nodded, admittedly sharing their emotions as well. It felt foul in his mouth to say such a thing, but he knew he had no choice. "Yeah.. There's no point in me being free, I killed people.. It's just.. It's not right for me to not get the consequences. I'd rather just suck it up and take the four or so years I'm in there."
"..I don't think mom will be mad, if you two were wondering." Anais wasn't entirely sure what to make of this conversation, feeling rather like a third wheel that was listening along to this dilemma. Her sympathy had remained however, as she knew there would be lots of sorrow to go around. She hadn't been the best with the two lately for good reason, but, she knew their pain. "She'll understand the situation, it's not like she can just force you to stay together. Come to think of it, I take it this is permanent?"
Gumball and Darwin looked back at each other, unsure of an answer.
"It's okay if you don't know yet, but.. I think it is a good decision to be apart for a while. You two clearly need to work out a couple things before you date anybody again."
"..Anais is right. To be honest, I don't really know if I'm.. Cut out for having a partner yet, at least not until.. My brain is a little happier." The cat replied, reluctant in his words. He and everyone else here knew it wasn't right to let this happen again. For all he knew, it could've gone worse.
"..Yeah.." Darwin stood up, as did Gumball. They nodded firmly to one another, silently confirming their decision. The fish then turned to Anais, and gave her a hug. "..Thanks for helping us.."
She hugged back, and soon motioned for the cat to join, seeing him standing awkwardly to the side. All three said not a thing, only embracing each other, as the atmosphere of the room was starting to slowly feel less suffocating.