A/N: Almost done! I felt like I had waaaay too much kissing in this fic lol. But eh. The last few chapters might be a little short.
The four kids met up near the center of the room. Gumball deposited a sleeping Penny onto the couch; Carrie did the same to Darwin, who had also dozed off. Then, they sat on opposite ends of the tea table.
In spite of the events of the past few hours, they smiled at one another.
"So…how was having a body?" Gumball asked casually.
"It was great." Carrie smiled. "It was like…like a relaxing vacation. Of course, all vacations must come to an end sooner or later…" she said wistfully.
Gumball just nodded in understanding.
"So how's being a ghost?" Carrie teased.
"It's also like a vacation," Gumball laughed. "Flying around is cool and all, but all the sadness and misery you feel…it's just weighs you down, you know?"
Carrie nodded. "You get used to it eventually, I guess…" She looked sad.
Gumball felt bad about bringing up the misery. He thought for a moment. "Say…how about I let you use my body once a week for two whole hours?" he suggested. "No junk food sprees though, okay?"
That cheered her up instantly. She nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! Thanks, Gumball!"
"I guess you'll have to hang out with Darwin, too…" a thought suddenly struck him. "NO making out while you're possessing me, got it?" he said, panicking.
Carrie just laughed. "I'll try…"
Gumball was about to retort when Carrie's father came out of his study, a potion in each hand. The one on his left was a disgusting mucous green; it represented disease and death. The one on his right was a vibrant, glittering red; it represented strength and life.
Darwin and Penny woke up and yawned.
"Here, drink these at the same time," he said, tossing the green potion to Carrie and the red one to Penny. "Carrie, the green one will turn you into a ghost; Penny, the red one will bring you back to life."
Carrie grimaced as she turned the bottle around in her hand. Not only because of how disgusting it looked, but because of how she wouldn't be able to kiss Darwin again…
Darwin noticed this and lay a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry; I'll love you, body or no body!"
Carrie smiled. Reassured, she went on with the ritual.
She jumped towards Penny. "Ready when you are!"
"Cheers," Penny said, clanking bottles with Carrie. They both emptied their potions.
"Whoa…" Gumball and Darwin said in awe of the spectacle that unfolded around them.
The living room they were in melted, giving way to a sea of bright, shining stars. A fantastic blue and orange light emanated from the two girls, spreading like fire into space, the flames tickling the night sky; a glowing circle materialized beneath them, and with a blinding flash of light, returned them to the living room.
"Did it…work?" Gumball asked. He and Darwin were still recovering from the blinding light. They opened their eyes slowly to see…
Penny, a living thing, and Carrie, a ghost.
"Penny!" Gumball cried out, running to give her a hug. He forgot that he was still a ghost, though, so he went right through her. "Oops, hang on, I'll go get my body back!" he said, tripping over himself as he raced to his lifeless body. Penny laughed, a lively laugh, now that she had lungs and a diaphragm again.
Carrie, on the other hand, just looked at herself (or through herself, rather, since she was transparent). She looked in a mirror – nothing, just as she expected. She felt someone trying to put their hand on her shoulder.
"Carrie…" It was Darwin.
"Hey…" she said sadly. Would he dump her now that she didn't have that hot body anymore? Now that she couldn't kiss him anymore? Or hold him tenderly anymore?
"I hope you know…I'm hoping this doesn't change anything between us…"
Carrie lit up, but her face didn't show it, couldn't show it.
"I really like you…I've always really liked you, even when you were a ghost. I'd go so far as to say I maybe love you…So…I'm hoping we can stay boyfriend/girlfriend…"
"…" Carrie was silent.
"I thought you might say that…" Darwin said, turning to walk away. He felt that, since Carrie is an emo ghost again, she wouldn't want to hang out with a dorky, goodie-goodie fish like himself.
Suddenly, Carrie flew to Darwin, grabbed his cheeks, and gave him his fourth kiss of the night. To both of their amazement, it connected – Carrie felt his smooth, tender fish lips just as he felt her icy cold, ghostly ones. Her lips could feel like splinters for all he cared, he was just glad he felt it.
They looked at each other; words couldn't describe how happy each of them felt. Then again, they didn't need any - they could tell just by looking at each other.
Meanwhile, Gumball had just stepped into the mouth of his body and pulled it over him like a shirt.
"There, all better!" he said, feeling his arms and legs snap into place. "Huh?" he looked down and saw his tail.
Penny broke out laughing at the sight of it. "Gumball, over here!"
Gumball turned around. "Penny!" Ecstatic, he started running; unfortunately, since his head was on backwards, he instead ran backwards, right into the wall. Penny burst out laughing again and walked up to him herself. Gumball decided to just forcefully twist his head in the right direction. Snap! A sickening snap sound echoed through the room.
"Owww…" Gumball whispered, a tear in his eye. Penny looked a little disturbed, but smiled nonetheless. They joined hands. "Sooo…now that we know what ghost kissing is like, how about we try live kissing…?" he suggested meekly.
Penny responded by drawing him in for another long, passionate kiss.
Carrie's father surveyed the scene from a distance, switching between Gumball and Penny, and Darwin and Carrie. He sighed, reminiscing about himself as a young boy, and of his first love. Speaking of first loves…
"Hello, dear. What's going on? Experimenting with love potions?" Carrie's mother asked, taking note of the scene.
In response, he pulled her in and gave her a big kiss on the lips.
"W-what was that for?" she asked, cheeks red. It's been a while since her husband had done anything as spontaneous and romantic as that.
"Eh, everyone was doing it." he responded.