IV - The Intervention

Nicole didn't usually get days where she was the only one home, but when she did, she absolutely made the most of it.

Cleaning, shopping, cooking, she did as much as possible while the house was peaceful and she wouldn't be interrupted by whatever ridiculous thing her family was up to that day. Today, she had taken up the opportunity to clean out her children's room while they weren't around to cause and drag her into various shenanigans because of it.

It was mostly rubbish, anyway. Nicole went through the underside of the bunk bed, thoroughly over and inside the desk, and even through their clothes drawers to fold and sort out things that they had long outgrown. She didn't throw out anything except the too small clothes and literal rubbish, leaving the various toys and knick-knacks be.

There was approximately a metric ton of said rubbish, and Nicole had hauled out several garbage bags full of it by the time she was done. To finish off, she would just make their beds, and then she could get on with pre-cooking a few meals for the coming week.

She climbed up and did Anais' first, it being significantly harder and more straining on her poor back. After that, she made sure to change the water in Darwin's fishbowl and neaten the stones at the bottom, before finishing with Gumball's anomaly of a bed.

The sheet was twisted in a weird rope shape, tangled up in the blankets in such a way that made Nicole spend a few painful minutes confusedly trying to pry them apart. But the powers of a mother were not to be underestimated, and she managed to get them removed and neatened to perfection, resulting in a wrinkle-free perfectly made bed, almost ready for Gumball to sleep in.

The last thing to do was to fluff the pillow. She picked it up in order to do so, but…

Nicole frowned as the pillow made a weird crinkling sound when she picked it up. She experimentally gave it a fluff, and sure enough, the sound was still there, even more apparent.

She felt nothing but grim apprehension as she removed the pillow from the pillowcase to try and find the cause. Nothing was immediately apparent as she held up the bare pillow, but she knew her son could be crafty. Grabbing the pillow case, she held it open-side-down and gave it a few firm shakes.

Sure enough, after a few jolts, something fell out of the pillowcase and straight onto the bed. It seemed to be a small ziplock bag of some sort, she thought as she picked it up. A ziplock bag full of-

Nicole paused in her thoughts, taken aback. Surely – surely not. She had raised her son better than that. He would never –

The bag was about halfway full of a dried, green plant. Even through the plastic, Nicole's every instinct was letting her know just exactly what it was.

She stared at it for a split second more, her mind racing and frozen at the same time. Gumball – he-

The plastic bag was lowered in Nicole's hand as she was filled with a surge of righteous fury and disappointment.

Later that afternoon, Nicole was waiting by the front door, her arms crossed, for the kids to come home. She had grappled all day with herself – it was technically harmless, but it was also highly addictive… and no matter what everyone else thought, it was still dangerous. She thought she had raised her kids, her son, better than that. Had she gone over this sort of thing with Gumball? She thought she had, but she couldn't remember.

She wasn't waiting too long – only a few minutes later, the sound of her kids chattering neared the door. Nicole quickly put on her best fear-inducing mother look, making sure to focus it at Gumball's eye level.

The door opened, and her three kids came strolling in, deep in conversation.

"...Why he could totally beat Tina in a fight-"

Upon spotting their enraged mother, Darwin abruptly stopped walking, causing Anais to walk into his back. Gumball hadn't yet noticed, still paying attention to Darwin.

"-Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm going up to my room to do homework, s-see you later Gumball!" Said Darwin hurriedly, before running past Nicole and up the stairs. Anais, now with a clear view, took one glance at their mother and faltered.

"U-uh yeah, me too-! Um-" Her eyes darted between her mother and the stairs awkwardly, and she quickly shuffled past before also racing up the stairs as quickly as she could.

Nicole was left alone with Gumball, who had realised it was him she was angry at. He slowly closed the front door, eyes shining with fear and sweat gathering at the sides of his head.

"I-I, um, I didn't do it!" He tried weakly.

Nicole didn't even dignify that with a single thought of exasperation. Facing down Gumball, she drew herself up to her full height and crossed her arms.

"That's not it, young man," She said, her voice ominous. She turned around and wordlessly made her way into the kitchen, knowing Gumball was following. She took a seat at the dining table, and after a second of panic so did he, one empty spot separating them.

"Uh, Mum-" Tried Gumball, but he was quickly cut off.

"I don't want to hear it, Gumball. Now… would you mind telling me what this is?"

Gumball gulped in fear, and after a tense second Nicole pulled out the ziplock bag. His eyes widened and flashed with panic as he realised what she had found.

"I can-! I can explain!" He said frantically, his mind scrambling to do just that.

"Oh, please do, young man," she said in a low voice. Nicole placed the bag silently down on the table between them, then returned to crossing her arms.

Nicole watched her son as he struggled to come up with anything remotely plausible. He opened his mouth, then shut it. He glanced at her face, then flinched away, then peeked open one eye at her, then flinched away again. He was sweating so much that she expected the carpet to be damp once they were done – the hand gestures he was half-heartedly making were flinging it everywhere.

A few seconds of tense silence went by, with Gumball making the occasional nervous noise as he struggled to come up with anything.

Nicole decided to have the slightest bit of mercy on him. "Do you know what this is?" She asked, tone clipped.

"Y-yes," he said.

"Why do you have it?" She asked.

"U-um," he replied, his voice cracking. "It's…"

"Let me guess," Nicole sighed. She raised her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "It makes you… happy."

Ashamed, Gumball averted his eyes and nodded.

Nicole sighed. "Look, sweetie… I know how tempting these things can be, but… we're here for you, honey," she said, toning down the anger into concern and exhaustion. "You don't have to resort to… this, in order to feel happy, okay?"

"Wait, no, that's not it!" Protested Gumball, coming back up to meet Nicole's eyes. "I'm plenty happy without it too, it's just that – well, it helps me sleep sometimes…?"

"Right…" said Nicole, exasperated. "Look, honey, how long has this been going on?"

"...a few weeks," Gumball squeaked.

Nicole felt a combination of relief and despair. It was both worse and better than she had thought – it wasn't too late. He could get off it now.

"Okay," said Nicole, determined. "You're quitting cold turkey, understand? Where did you get it?"

"I- but… okay," conceded Gumball. "It's… it's from Penny's front yard. Her mother thinks it looks nice," he finished awkwardly.

Nicole took in a harsh breath, letting it out slowly. "Alright," she said. "I'm going to have a talk with Penny's parents, then. And I'm going to… dispose of this," she finished, eyeing the bag in disgust.

That evening, after the kids had gone to bed, she and Richard were sat down in the living room with steaming cups of tea.

"...and I know it's not really dangerous, but what if he develops an addictive personality from it? What if his friends think it's something worse and he gets into actual drugs?" Nicole said in despair.

"I know, honey," comforted Richard. "But Gumball knows better than that. He wouldn't get into anything actually serious – and his friends are good kids too, right?"

"Yeah…" sighed Nicole. "And besides, Darwin would never let Gumball do anything like that. And if he couldn't stop him, I trust that he would tell one of us. Oh Richard…"

Nicole leaned into her husband, and Richard wrapped his arms around her. "It'll be alright, Nicole," said Richard warmly. "But… I don't think you actually told me what it was that you found in his pillow. It wasn't my sugar sticks, was it?!"

Nicole gave a light chuckle. "No, silly," she said. She closed her eyes and sighed. "It was catnip."

"Ooooooh," said Richard, understanding. "Then there's definitely nothing to worry about! I have no idea why you worry so much about that, it doesn't do anything! I once tried it myself!"

Nicole sighed again.