It was a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon, and the Watterson brothers were planning to celebrate the hot weather with some ice creams.
"So, you ready to go?" Darwin asked waiting at the front door.
"Hang on, let me get my wallet. I left it upstairs, gimme a sec." Gumball said heading up the stairs.
"Ask Anais if she wants to come too!" Darwin called up.
"Will do!"
As Gumball neared his room he heard something odd coming from their room.
"Huh? What is that?"He thought to himself confused.
As he got closer he realised the sound was sobs mixed with the odd cry and sniffle.
His ears flattened against his head and his smile turned into a frown as he realised who it was.
"Anais?" He asked softly, knocking on the door.
"G-go away!"A muffled response came between sobs.
Gumball went to open the door but hesitated not wanting to upset her further but realised he couldn't leave her like this, and that he still had to go in to get his wallet anyway.
He slowly opened the door and walked in looking towards the bed and what he saw broke his heart.
Anais was curled up in the fetal position on the bottom bunk hugging Daisy and sobbing into his pillow her eyes red and wet from doing so.
"Hey, hey, Ani, what's wrong?"He asked going and sitting down next to her.
"Nothing..." She replied sniffling.
"Aww come on, we both know that's not gonna work."
She didn't say anything, hoping he would just go away.
"You know you can tell me anything, right? I'd never judge you o-o-r mock you or anything like that. Whatever it is that's upsetting you, you can tell me."
He smiled reassuringly placing a hand on her shoulder.
She turned to look at him, thinking about what to say.
"Just...just leave me alone, please."
"Anais, please. I hate to see you this upset and I'm not just gonna leave you here crying."
She looked to the floor and then back to him.
She sighed defeated."Al...alright...I'll tell you."
She slowly sat up and Gumball placed his arm around her slowly rubbing her arm to comfort her."Take as long as you need..."
"I'm...I-I-I'm getting picked on at school... pretty...pretty badly." She said holding back tears
Gumball gasped."What!? Why didn't you tell anyone!?"
Tears started streaming down her face. "Because...because...b-b-because I was scared that i-i-if I did they'd start bullying me even more or-or-orworse they'd start bullying y-you o-o-or Darwin."
She burst out crying again.
"Oh no, no, you didn't need to worry about us. You should have told someone..." He said pulling her in for a hug.
"I know, I know, I was just...I was so scared..."
She looked up whimpering."I-I-I was s-so s-s-s-scared!"She said quietly.
She cried even harder, sobbing into his shirt.
He began rubbing the back of her head. "Sshhhh, shhhh, it's okay."
She continued to sob not being able to hold it back.
"It's okay, it's alright, I know now, I promise, I won't let them hurt you anymore. They won't bother you again, I won't let them." He assured her.
"I-I-I'm so s-sorry!" She cried.
"For what?" He let out a light chuckle. "You don't have anything to be sorry about."
"I should've...I-I-I should've just told someone, I should've just said something, anything, but I was too...t-t-too scared. Too m-m-much of a coward."
"Aww no, no, you aren't a coward. Right now, you're being braver than I ever could."
"R-really!?" She looked up sniffing.
He nodded. "Really. Even though you're terrified of what might happen, you're telling me all of this, and reliving all these bad memories, facing them head-on to do so. You're the bravest little girl I know." He wiped her tears.
This earned a weak smile from Anais.
"There's the happy little girl I know." He rubbed her head affectionately.
She'd give a light giggle before hiccuping and being overcome with her emotions again, feeling the urge to cry once more.
Gumball noticed and held her paw, squeezing it.
"So...how long has this been going on for?"
"A...a few weeks.."
"That long!? How did you manage to go that long without saying anything!?"
"It was...it was hard. Really hard. I-I-I felt so...so alone. I had to endure so much from them. Being called names like 'Nerd, Little Miss Know-It-All, Miss Smarty Pants', being stuffed in lockers, getting things thrown at me, getting spat at. They made me feel like garbage. They...they made me hate myself. They even...they even tried to convince me that you and Darwin hated me and that I meant nothing to you a-and that I should run away and stop being a burden a-a-and..."
She'd paused for a breath before she began to cry again. "T-t-they even hit me. Gave me bruises and cuts. I-I had to use Mom's make-up to hide them..."
"They hit you!?" He sounded furious.
She slowly nodded tears streaming down her face.
He inhaled through his nose and started growling, his ears pinned behind his head and his claws unsheathing. He dragged them across the quilt cover ripping it.
"How DARE they! How DARE they upset my sister! How DARE they hurt her!"
"G-Gumball...?" She looked at him frightened.
"I SWEAR when I next see them I'll...I'll..."
He let out an aggressive hiss as he showed his teeth.
"G-G-Gumball!"
He snapped out of it and gasped as he saw her shaking, tears in her eyes looking terrified.
He hugged her."Oh hey, hey, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you!"
She sniffed.
"It's okay, you don't need to be frightened, I'd never hurt you, never. I'm sorry I lost my cool there, I just got really mad at your bullies."
She thought for a moment before hugging him back smiling. "Nice to know you really do care about me..."
"Of course I do. You're my little sister, no one hurts you and gets away with it." He said trying to sound threatening.
She giggled. "You're too much of a softie for me to take that seriously!"
"I am not!" He said pretending to be insulted, making her laugh even more.
"Yes you are, you're just a big ol' kitten!"
He crossed his arms and looked away with a hmph making her laugh even harder.
He slowly looked back and grinned before laughing too.
He wiped his eyes and sighed.." I honestly had no idea you were going through all this though. I mean I noticed you were kinda quiet recently but I just assumed you were tired or something. I'm so sorry, I...I should have realised, I should have done something, I-I-I should have done better. I should have-"
"It's ok. I don't blame you, or Darwin. You didn't know. Besides, you always helped cheer me up at recess and lunch, helped get me through the day, even if you didn't know it."
He smiled. "Just know that nothing, not a single word those bullies have said to you is true. You are not, and have never been alone. Darwin and I love you so, so much. You are so, so important to us. You've never been a burden to us, you do so much to help us, to look after us, and we appreciate it more than you could ever know. Don't let anyone ever convince you otherwise."
She looked up smiling weakly.
"We would do anything to protect you, to look after you and you know that you can always come to us, always. We're always willing to help you with anything, anything at all. Penny and Carrie too. I'm sure they'd always be happy to help. You know, you're like a little sister to them."
She'd sniffle. "Really? They really think that?"
"Mhm, they told us so themselves, and you wanna know something else?"
"What?"
"Those bullies are right, you are a nerd, but not just any nerd. You're our nerd. Our adorable, smart, amazing, funny little nerd and we wouldn't want you any other way."
Anais looked up, her eyes shining and beginning to well out of happiness.
"You...y-y-you really mean that!?"
"Every word."
A huge grin would form on her face.
"Awwwww, c'mere you." He'd chuckle.
He open his arms for a hug and she'd come into a huge embrace with him.
"I love you so much!"
"I love you too Ani."
As they were hugging Anais heard faint vibrations coming from Gumball. As she listened harder she realised that he was purring for her and let out a small squee of delight which Gumball smiled at. She rarely, if ever, got to hear him purr so this was a real treat for her.
He thought for a moment then began to nuzzle her as he continued to purr which made her laugh." AHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHA! STOP, STOP, IT TICKLES!"
He continued nuzzling her for a bit as she laughed harder before eventually letting her catch her breath.
She thought for a moment then sighed and frowned again.
"What's up?"
"What am I gonna do about the bullies though? They're still gonna pick on me..."
"As I said, me and my uhhh...little friends want to have a talk with them..."
He unsheathed his claws.
"A-A-Are you really gonna fight them?"
"Absolutely. Nobody hurts you and gets away with it!"
She teared up."I...I don't want you to get hurt though!"
He thought for a moment then sighed. "Alright, I suppose there is another less satisfying solution..."
"What's that?"
"Simple, we tell Mom about them. Once she's done with them they'll be the ones scared of you."
She giggled imagining this. "Okay, that works!"
"Alright then, we'll tell her when she gets back from work. Meanwhile, how about me and Darwin treat you to an ice cream?"
She'd smirk. "You were already planning on doing that anyway weren't you?"
"What? How did you know? I never told you."
"You came upstairs looking for something in here when you heard me. I assumed it was probably your wallet."
He'd let out a light chuckle."Nothing gets past you does it?"
"Nope!" She'd smile.
"So, are you coming or not?"
"Absolutely! I'm not missing out on the chance of free ice cream!"
"Alright then, come on you, Darwin has been waiting for me this whole time."
He'd get up rubbing her on the head affectionately.
He'd pick up his wallet from the dresser and go to leave the room before stopping.
"Oh hey, how about afterwards we stop by Laser Video and you can pick out a movie for us to watch with you.
"Ooh, really!?" She always got excited when he brothers offered to hang out with her.
"Mhm, any movie you want." He smiled. "You could even be really evil and force us to watch an awful low budget pony movie if you wanted." He winked.
She'd giggled."Oh? Maybe I will..." She did a pretend evil laugh before transitioning into actual laughter at how stupid it was.
"Oh god, why'd I give you that idea? What have I done?"
They both laughed.
"Right, let's go, don't wanna keep Darwin waiting. We'll fill him in on what's been happening to you on the way."
"Okay!"
He left the room leaving her alone.
She sat there smiling, thinking about how lucky she was to have Gumball and Darwin.
"Hey, you coming or not!?" She heard from downstairs snapping her out of it.
"Oh, uhh, yeah, coming!"
She left the room before quickly coming back and picking up Daisy, hugging her, then ran out again bringing Daisy with her.
The End