It was late afternoon and Darwin was in the living room sitting on the couch and watching TV.
He was in a good mood, and, though he nearly always was, something about today just put him in an even better mood than usual. He wasn't sure what it was, he just felt really happy, and to be honest he didn't really care why.
That however was all about to change as Gumball and Anais walked up to him, looking at him unusually angry. In fact, it almost looked like they were...disgusted by him?
"Hey loser, get up, you're being evicted."
Darwin froze, unable to believe what he'd just heard. S-Surely...surely he must have misheard, right?
"W-w-what?!" He asked, hoping, no praying Gumball hadn't actually said what he thought he had.
"You heard, we're getting rid of you! We don't want you anymore. Honestly, we never did. You're nothing but an extra burden that we all know we'd be better off without."
His eyes widened as he teared up and felt his heart begin to crack. They...they were getting rid of him...his worst nightmare was coming true...
"That...t-that's not...that's n-not t-true!" He argued
"Oh, please! Don't lie to yourself, you know it is. You're nothing to us. We don't care about you, we never have. You've done nothing but get in the way and ruin our lives."
Darwin felt tears begin to trick down his face as a pit opened up in his stomach.
"The only reason I even let you hang around with me is that you're so gullible, so stupid, that you just went along with whatever I told you, like the obedient little pet you are."
"P-Pet...?" He felt his heart cracking even further. He was very sensitive about that topic, and hated anyone, even Gumball, calling him a pet, even as a joke, and to hear him calling him such a name now, and genuinely mean it...it hurt, it hurt so, so much...
"That's right, pet! That's all you've ever been, it's all you ever will be. Sure, you were useful, but I just can't be bothered to put up with you anymore! I can't keep pretending to love you, I can't keep acting as if I care, it's just too much hassle. It'll be way easier to just get rid of you as we should have years ago!"
Anais nodded in agreement and spoke up, her voice filled with genuine spite and disgust, "You're such a useless and pathetic pet, you know that, right? You're so naïve and stupid, You actually believed me when I told you that you were my favorite brother! I mean, how could I ever love a freak like you?!"
She and Gumball both began to laugh as Darwin's heart cracked even further, barely holding together, and he began to cry softly.
"Shut up!" He cried out, but they just ignored him and continued laughing.
"As if we would ever even consider him our brother in the first place! He could never be anything more to us than a pet! An ugly, unwanted, mutated freak!" Gumball managed to say through his tears of laughter.
They began to laugh harder, and Darwin felt the years begin to stream down his face. He quietly spoke through his tears as he pleaded for them to stop. They completely ignored him so he raised his voice.
"I said s-shut up!"
"Why would you even buy him in the first place?" Anais questioned.
'Oh, I didn't! Trust me I would never waste my money on something so worthless!"
"Who did then?"
"Dad did. It was probably one of the worst decisions he's ever made!"
"SHUT UP!" He snapped at them, only to yet again be ignored.
"Even worse than buying that star?"
"Oh, without a doubt! At least the star had some value to us!"
She began to giggle. "Imagine being so worthless! I mean, we only knew about that star for 30 seconds, a minute tops, before it went out, and it meant more to us than he ever has!"
They both began to laugh again, crying tears of laughter as Darwin began to sob painfully at the complete betrayal happening in front of him.
He loved them, trusted them, and here they were now insulting and mocking him, and saying they'd never reciprocated any of his feelings? That they'd been acting? How could they do that to him?!
He felt his heart finally shatter as he was now completely and utterly heartbroken, sobbing painfully as their laughs echoed in his head, getting louder and louder, mocking him and taunting him.
He shook his head as he held it painfully. "STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!"
Richard heard the commotion and laughter and walked over confused. "Hey, what's so funny?"
Oh, hey dad! We were just laughing at how little we care about Darwin and how bad of a decision you buying him was." Gumball informed him.
He frowned and rubbed his head ashamed. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that, buying him was a huge mistake on my part. I can't believe I wasted Nicole's hard-earned cash on something so awful. I wish I'd never even seen him!"
Gumball placed his paw on his father's shoulder. "Aww, it's okay Dad, don't get upset, we're finally getting rid of him. You'll never need to be reminded about that mistake ever again!"
Richard sighed in relief and let out a chuckle. "Oh, we are? About time!"
They all began to laugh again, their laughter continuing to echo around Darwin's head loudly and painfully.
"STOOOOOOP!" He begged, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as they just continued laughing even harder.
Nicole suddenly walked out of the kitchen holding her phone "I've called pest control to come and take him away, they'll be here any minute."
She then grinned and let out a squeal of delight "Oh, I've been waiting to say that for years!"
Gumball shrugged. "Well, we might as well get him outside ready for them."
The others nodded in agreement. Anais went upstairs whilst Gumball shoved Darwin off the sofa as hard as he could, making him hit his head on the table as he fell to the floor, cutting open his forehead.
"OW, that hurt!"
"Good!" Gumball smiled and held his legs whilst Nicole held his arms as they lifted him up.
"Wait w-w-what are you doing?!" Darwin asked worriedly.
"Taking out the trash." Gumball quipped. Anais was heard sighing in frustration and he looked over to see her facepalm as she walked back downstairs holding Darwin's bowl.
"That was awful..." She complained.
"Come on, you're smiling!"
"I am and I hate it!" She sighed. "Just get him out of here already!"
"No, please! PLEASE DON'T!" He begged as tears streamed down his face.
They ignored him, carried him to the door, and threw him outside the house.
Anais stepped out of the doorway and threw his bowl at him, which smashed all over him, cutting him all over.
Gumball turned to go back inside before pausing as Darwin sat back up. "Oh, hang on a second!"
Darwin smiled weakly for a moment, hoping that Gumball was about to show him some mercy.
He turned and roughly pushed Darwin back over, ripping his shoes off of him.
"These belong to me!"
He turned to go back inside but stopped as he felt Darwin grasp his paw "No, please! Gumball, you're my best friend...don't do this!"
Gumball hissed at him aggressively before unsheathing his claws and swiping his fin, making Darwin release him in pain and begin to shake out of fear.
Gumball glared at him and spoke with genuine disgust. "Get your disgusting fin off of me!"
Darwin, with tears in his eyes. couldn't believe what was happening. "You...you attacked me..."
Gumball grinned. "and after all these years too...you have no idea how good that felt!"
Darwin was about to respond but froze in fear as he heard Anais gasp excitedly and announce. "Yes, pest control! They're here!"
He turned around terrified and saw the fan pull up. The two exterminators exited the truck, opened the back, and took out a cage.
"Please, don't let them do this me!"
The entire family just cheered as the exterminators grabbed Darwin and shoved him into the cage.
He began to sob painfully, tears streaming down his face as he was stuffed into the back, facing his family, as the doors were slamming shut on him.
"NO, PLEASE, DON'T DO THIS! I'M BEGGING YOU!"
The van started up and the family waved happily as it began to drive away.
"Bye, don't try to come back again, we don't want you, we never did! Oh, and don't worry, we won't miss you!" Gumball cheerfully called out.
They all turned and walked inside, and the last thing Darwin saw as the truck rounded the corner was Gumball grinning and slamming the front door shut.
He continued to stare out of the windows silently as tears streamed down his face. As he did he began to hear the horrible events he'd just been through replay in his head, over and over and over, the laughing and insults and mockery progressively getting louder and louder.
He curled up, head buried in his knees as he began to sob painfully to himself, and sounding defeated spoke up with a quiet, broken-sounding voice. "Stop it...stop it...please..."
"Darwin..."?
He suddenly heard Gumball's voice worriedly calling out his name faintly amongst the others.
"Stop! Please, I'm begging you, stop!"
"Darwin, wake up!"
He heard it again, sounding panicked and much louder than before, and for some reason felt himself being shaken.
"STOP, STOP!"
"D-Darwin, please, wake up!"
He heard it a third time, now much louder than the other voices and laughter, his voice filled with genuine concern and wavering slightly as if he were on the verge of tears.
"STOP TORMENTING ME!"
"DARWIN!"
Gumball shouted his name and Darwin woke up screaming, falling out of his bowl and to the floor with a thud. His bowl decided to come with him and unceremoniously fell off with him, joining him on the floor with a smash as water spilled everywhere.
He panicked and looked around the room as he shook heavily, breathing quickly as tears poured down his face. He realized he was still in his room, it was dark outside and a thunderstorm was heavily underway outside.
It was a dream...it was just...it was just a d-dream! He thought to himself, though this did nothing to calm him down.
Gumball watched with tears in his eyes, genuinely worried about Darwin, and immediately crouched down and placed his paws onto Darwin's shoulders, which made him jump and let out a small scream.
"Woah, hey, it's just me, it's just me!"
Darwin stared at him silently, shaking and sobbing, as his view of Gumball flashed from his reassuring, worried smile, to his disgusted, hateful grin, right on cue with a strike of thunder.
Darwin let out another scream and backed away into the desk behind him.
"D-dude a-a-are you alright!? W-What's wrong!? Y-You're...You're r-really scaring me!"
Darwin stared at him, tears streaming down his face, and shook his head as he choked on his tears. He could barely speak he was so worked up. "N-N-Night...Nightm-mare...a r-r-really... b-bad o-one!"
Gumball's ears fell. "Oh, buddy...come here!"
He opened up his arms and Darwin immediately accepted. Gumball hugged him tightly as he continued to shake vigorously and sobs painfully over his shoulder.
He began to stroke him softly. "It's okay, it's alright, it's over now."
Darwin continued to shake and cry uncontrollably, unable to stop himself.
"Shhhhh, shhhhhh, you're safe, you're with me, there's nothing to worry about."
Gumball's words seemed to have no effect as Darwin just continued to ball his eyes out, leaving Gumball to watch, heartbroken at the sight.
Gumball silently thought for a moment, before he had an idea. He hadn't done it in a long time so he didn't know if he could still do it, but he had to try.
He slowly lowered his head, resting it on Darwin's shoulder, the sides of their heads touching, and closed his eyes, deep in focus, before beginning to purr. This was no ordinary purr however, it was a deep, soothing purr, unlike any Darwin had heard Gumball produce before.
He sniffed and listened to it, the vibrations being oddly calming to him. After a couple of minutes, he had calmed down just enough for Gumball to be able to help him onto the bed.
"W-what...what was that?"
"A special purr Mom used to do for me when I was young and came crying to her after a bad dream or if I was scared, and eventually she taught me how to do it as well. We call it 'The Purr of Love'."
"I wasn't sure I could even remember how to do it. I only ever used it for myself until now, and even then it was only on rare occasions, so not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous doing it for you..."
Darwin sniffed, still sounding upset. "It was..*sniff*...it was really nice..."
Gumball looked over to Darwin and saw he was still shaking, and on the verge of breaking into tears again at any moment.
"Dude, that nightmare really messed you up, didn't it...?" He frowned, hating to see Darwin in such a state.
"It...it was so bad, it felt so real, felt like it was really happening!"
Gumball continued to stroke him. "It's alright, whatever you saw or heard, none of it actually happened. We're all completely okay."
Darwin shook his head. "N-Nothing happened to you, it was m-me. I got...I got..." He whimpered and Gumball held and squeezed his fin and look at him with a reassuring smile. "Hey, it's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Darwin nodded slowly and they sat in silence for a while as Darwin gathered himself, resting his head on Gumball's shoulder as Gumball had his arm wrapped around him, rubbing Darwin's side to comfort him.
"Can...c-can I ask you something?" Darwin suddenly broke the silence.
Gumball smiled. "Of course you can dude."
Darwin hesitated, sniffing. "I want you to answer honestly. The actual truth, not just what I want to hear."
Gumball stood up and placed his paw on his chest. "I, Gumball Tristopher Watterson, solemnly swear I will say only, and nothing but, the absolute truth."
This managed to get Darwin to smile weakly and let out a small giggle. Gumball grinned and nudged Darwin playfully. "There's the smile I love!"
Darwin rolled his eyes before sighing and frowning again. "Seriously though, this is important, please, promise you'll answer me truthfully."
Gumball could tell he was serious so sat down and held his fin again. "Darwin, I promise, cross my heart, that whatever you ask, no matter what it is, I will be completely, 100% honest with you."
Darwin hesitated. "Do you...do you love me?"
Gumball's face fell. "W-What!? Of course I do, you know that! Why..." His ears fell "...why would you ever need to question something like that?"
Darwin teared up and raised his voice. "I told you to tell me the truth!"
"And I am! I love you, so, so much! You have to know that, after everything we've been through together, you must know how much I love you! How could you ever, ever doubt that!?"
Darwin held back tears and looked down. "I thought you did but now I...I don't...I just don't know anymore! I don't know what to believe!"
He began to cry into his fins.
Gumball thought for a moment. "This has something to do with the dream, doesn't it?"
Darwin slowly nodded, tears streaming down his face. "It was horrible...you...you all..."
He hesitated, trying to get out the words but struggling to do so.
Gumball held his fin. "I already told you, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I don't want you to have to relive such a bad experience."
"No, it's okay, I-I-I want to."
Gumball nodded slowly and wrapped his arm around him, speaking softly. "Okay then, take as long as needed. I'm all ears."
Darwin took a deep breath. "You...you all got rid of me...sent me away with the animal catcher as you all laughed at me, mocked me, and said how worthless I am...how you've never cared about me or loved me, that I...that I was just a freak, a p-pet and you could never consider me your b-brother...a-a-and when I tried to stop you, y-y-you h-hissed at me and...a-and you attacked me w-w-with your c-claws!"
Gumball covered his mouth as his eyes widened in horror, Darwin's voice breaking as he struggled to continue.
"It...i-it felt so real! I felt so be-betrayed...so hurt, knowing the...the people I consider my family hated me so much...w-would so easily t-turn on me and disregard me like that..."
Gumball was in tears at hearing this and his own voice broke as he spoke. "Oh, buddy...no, no, no, no, that's not...that's not true, not at all...we...we could never...we could never do that to you! I...I could never, ever hurt you like that, ever!"
He suddenly hugged him as he began to cry. "We all love you so, so much. You are our brother and we have never, ever thought of you as anything else, ever, and I'm so, so sorry if you've ever felt otherwise. We've never wanted to get rid of you, we could never, ever do such a thing."
Darwin suddenly snapped and pushed Gumball off of him. "STOP LYING!"
Gumball, in shock, leaned back slightly, as his ears fell." W-what? What do...what do you mean? You...you don't believe me...? I-I-I'm telling you the truth, I s-swear!"
"No, you aren't! I know you hate me, you all do! You tried to get rid of me before! You tried to dump me, abandon me in that lake! Do you have any idea how much it hurt, for you to just...to just throw me in a lake and drive away like I meant nothing to you?! I felt so unloved, so unwanted, so worthless! How could you do that to me?!"
Tears began to stream down Gumball's face as he struggled to speak through his guilt. "Darwin, o we only did that because we genuinely believed it was what you wanted, because we thought that it would make you happy! We'd tried everything else we could think of, we'd exhausted every option we had, and we were devastated when we realized what we were going to have to do!"
He whimpered as his ears lowered even further, now being pinned flat against his head as he began to sob.
He spoke quietly, barely able to speak through his sobs. "Having to let you go hurt me, hurt all of us, just as much as it hurt you, if not more. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I...I-I thought I would never see you again, I thought I was gonna lose you, again, for good this time! I thought I was losing my brother, my best buddy! I was absolutely heartbroken, we all were!"
He sniffed as more tears fell and Darwin's face turned to one of sympathy and guilt as he saw how genuinely upset Gumball was at recalling this.
"I couldn't sleep at all that night! I just sobbed to myself, for hours, because all I could think about was everything we'd been through, everything we'd done together, all the happy memories we'd made in the last eight years, and how all of that was gonna come to an end, how I was going to have to say goodbye to you, and how badly it was gonna hurt for me to do so."
He looked up, tears streaming down his face. "I was dreading that moment, I would have done anything, anything to prevent it, because I knew how much I was going to miss you, how hard it was gonna be with you gone. I don't know what I would have done without you!"
Darwin's face fell, as he felt his heart begin to hurt, heartbroken at seeing Gumball like this. Seeing Gumball this upset over the prospect of losing him made him finally escape the pit of doubt his nightmare had pushed him into. What...what was he thinking!? Of course Gumball loved him! How could he have ever doubted such a thing!?
"We deeply regret doing what we did, we felt so guilty, especially when we realized what you were really upset about. I'm so, so, so sorry we put you through that and I'm so, so, so, sorry if we've ever, at any point made you feel like we didn't want you or that we don't love you, because I swear, I promise, from the bottom of my heart, that isn't true. We all love you so, so, so much and I swear, we will never, ever, ever do anything like that to you ever again. P-Please, I'm...I'm b-begging you, y-y-you have to believe me!"
Darwin smiled and lovingly hugged him. It's okay, Of course I believe you...and I forgive you."
Gumball sniffed and looked up, smiling weakly. "You...y-y-you do?"
Darwin nodded. "Of course I do. I know you were just trying to make me happy, you never meant anything bad by it, you never would have."
Gumball sniffed again and hugged him back "Thank you..."
Darwin smiled weakly and sighed as he thought back to it. "You really did try everything you could didn't you...? I guess it shows how much you care...and how absurd you are..."
Gumball's smile grew slightly as he let out a giggle. "Absurd but loving... that's us alright...the Wattersons!"
Darwin chuckled. "A mermaid outfit though? Is that really the best costume you could come up with?"
Gumball grinned. "Hey, it was good enough, wasn't it? Besides I... thought I looked pretty good in it..."
Darwin grinned. "It did suit you surprisingly well..."
"Well, what can I say? I was just...born this good-looking..." He did a smug face and flexed his very weak-looking muscles.
Darwin giggled "No you weren't, we've seen the pictures remember!? You were far from good-looking! You looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame!"
Gumball grinned and playfully punched Darwin's arm. "Shut up!"
They grinned at each other before bursting out laughing.
They laughed for a good few minutes, before finally gathering their composure again. Gumball sighed and hugged him tightly and lovingly. "I love you so much buddy, you have no idea how glad I am you're still here."
Darwin smiled and hugged him back. "I love you too..."
Gumball released him and wiped his eyes of tears of both sadness and laughter as he thought to himself.
He smiled and turns to Darwin. "and hey, needless to say, Anais loves you too. In fact, she likes you even more than she likes me!"
"What makes you say that?"
"She said so herself when we were saying our goodbyes at the lake, remember? She likes you more than me. I mean, that alone proves that you're so much more to us than just a pet. It shows just how much she cares about you, how much she loves you and looks up to you. She adores you, Darwin, anyone can tell that."
Darwin looked up to her bed, thinking about what he'd said then smiled. "and I adore her too..."
Gumball hesitated then began to blush and rub his arm awkwardly. "and uh, I'm not gonna lie, I'm... actually a little jealous that you're her favorite..."
Darwin grinned and teased him in a mocking baby-like voice. "Awww, you're jealous our little sister likes me more?"
Gumball blushed even harder. "Don't tell her I said that okay!? She'll tease me about it to no end!"
Darwin chuckled. "I'll think about it..."
Gumball grinned in response. "Oh boy, I'm gonna regret telling you that aren't I?"
"Maybe..." Darwin giggled and Gumball rolled his eyes playfully.
Gumball sighed "I can't blame her to be honest. With our family, it makes total sense that her favorite would be the one not actually related to it."
Darwin chuckled "Yeah, I suppose it does make a lot of sense..."
Gumball thought for a moment before his ears lowered and he let out a whimper as he teared up, speaking in a more downbeat voice. "Besides, if I were her, you'd be my favorite too. I can be...really annoying and a huge jerk sometimes, and she always has to help clean up the countless messes and screw-ups I make...she must get so annoyed and fed up with me, it's no wonder she prefers you..."
Darwin places his fin on Gumball's shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up! Sure, you can be annoying and a bit of a jerk sometimes, but you easily make up for that with your heart. You're so loving and caring to both of us, you always cheer us up, make us laugh, and make sure we're okay, and you're always there for us whenever we need you, and even if you aren't her favorite, that doesn't mean she loves you any less. She adores you, we both do."
Gumball smiled as he felt a couple of tears fall down his face. "Thanks, dude that...that really means a lot."
He smiled. "Hey, it's no problem."
They both sat and relaxed, deep in their thoughts for what seemed like hours before Gumball looked over at Darwin to see his face had fallen and he was deep in thought, sniffing and shaking lightly.
"Hey, dude, you alright?"
Darwin didn't respond.
"Darwin? Darwin!?"
He suddenly jumped, startled. "Huh? Oh, uh...ye-yeah, I-I-I'm uh...I'm fine, thanks."
Gumball frowned. "There's something on your mind. Something's still bothering you, I can tell."
"Oh, uh...I-I-It's nothing."
"Come on, you can tell me."
"I-I-It's nothing, really. Anyway, uh, I-I'm tired, let's just go back to bed and get some rest!." Darwin quickly tried to change the topic and went to get up but Gumball stopped him, holding his fin and giving him a reassuring look.
"Please..."
Darwin hesitated before sighing and slowly sitting back down.
"It's just, well...I-I don't think the lake was the reason I had that nightmare..."
"It wasn't? Then why did you have it?"
Darwin hesitated again. "Well...I'm sure the lake probably had something to do with it, but I think the main reason was my..."
He stopped, scared to go any further, looking down and tearing up slightly.
Gumball squeezed his fin. "It's okay, you can tell me anything. You know I'd never judge or mock you."
Darwin hesitated again, looking at Gumball who gave him a reassuring smile. "I promise."
Darwin finally relented. "It was my...my self-doubt..."
"Your... self-doubt? What do you mean?"
He sniffed. "A part of me deep down has always felt like I...like I shouldn't be here, that I'm not good enough, that I don't deserve your and everyone else's love and affection. I sometimes think it wouldn't really matter if I weren't here, that...that you wouldn't miss me if I were gone, maybe even be happier if I were,..."
Gumball looked shocked, heartbroken by this revelation.
"a-a-and I know that none of that is true and that I'm stupid to think so, but that doubt has always been there, nagging away at the back of my head, and every so often it starts to shrink and grow weaker, but then, just when I think it's finally gone, it pops right back up stronger than ever..."
Gumball placed his paws on his shoulders. "Oh my god, buddy...how long has this been going on for...?"
"Oh, err, not long, only a year or so..." Darwin lied, trying to downplay it so Gumball wouldn't worry as much.
"Darwin. How long?" He asked again more sternly, not believing him.
Darwin hesitated. before sighing. "...ever since you adopted me, 8 years ago."
Gumball gasped. "That long?! Why...why didn't you talk to any of us about it? We could've helped!"
He rubbed his arm and looked down. "I thought...I thought it didn't matter, I thought it wasn't important and I didn't want to bother or annoy you all with it."
"Oh, Darwin, of course it wouldn't have annoyed us, you're our brother, you can come to us for anything. As for it not being important, of course it is, your mental health is extremely important to me. I want to always make sure I'm doing everything I can to make you and Anais feel as happy and as loved as possible."
Darwin sniffed. "R-really? You do?"
He nodded. "Really, and now that I know, I won't have you going around doubting your place with us or our love any longer. I need you to know how important you are and that you are so, so loved, by all of us."
Darwin sniffed again. "You mean that?"
He held Darwin's fins and looked him in the eyes. "Of course I do. You absolutely deserve all the love and affection in the world and then some because you are Darwin Watterson and you are completely and utterly amazing."
Darwin began to smile weakly at Gumball, who smiled back.
"You are so, so incredibly important. You matter, you are invaluable, and you are completely irreplaceable, to me, Anais, Mom, Dad, Carrie, everyone. There is only one Darwin Watterson and that is you."
Darwin began to tear up out of happiness as Gumball continued.
"We need you. You are an integral part of our family. We would be nothing without you, nothing. You belong here, with us, because you are a member of our family, a Watterson, and you always will be, no matter what. We're so, so, immensely proud to have you in our family, as our brother, our friend, and nothing will ever, ever change that."
Darwin began to cry softly and hugged Gumball. "Thank you...I've...I've needed to hear that for so long and it means so, so much to hear it finally said out loud, especially coming from you. You have no idea how much I appreciate it."
Gumball smiled and hugged him back. "You're welcome buddy. And please, if you ever, ever have those kinds of thoughts again, talk to me about it, or if not me, Mom, Carrie, or Anais, or... anyone! I'm always here for you, and I know they are too. You have no reason to feel stupid or embarrassed about it, loads of people have similar thoughts, not just you, and you're lucky enough to have friends and family to turn to for help. Not everyone can say that"
Darwin sniffed and gave a weak smile as he nodded. "I will, I swear."
Gumball held his fin with a stern look and as he teared up, the genuine concern could be heard in his voice. "I'm serious, you can't keep this bottled up or hide it anymore. It's not healthy, and I'd hate for you to be pretending to be okay when you aren't."
"I promise you, if I ever have even a single thought like that again, I'll come straight to you."
"You promise?" He asked, his voice breaking.
He nodded. "I promise."
They hugged for a while until Darwin released Gumball and looked at his broken bowl.
He hesitated and blushed, rubbing his head and looking down. "Hey, so, uhh... do you...do you think I could maybe...sleep with you for the rest of the night? M-My bowl is destroyed and I...really don't feel comfortable sleeping by myself on the couch right now, I'm still a bit on edge and worried that I might have another nightmare..."
Gumball chuckled and affectionately rubbed him on the head. "Aww, of course you can dude, you don't need to be embarrassed about it!"
He smiled. "Thank you..."
"Any time dude...any time..." They both got into his bed, Gumball holding the cover open for him.
Darwin snuggled up to Gumball, who placed his arm over him protectively.
Darwin smiled. "I love you Gumball."
"I love you too Dar..."
Gumball closed his eyes and snuggled closer, resting his head on the side of Darwin's, and began to smile and purr happily.
Darwin smiled, as he listened to Gumball's purr and felt the doubt in the back of his head finally dissolve again, hopefully for good this time. He belongs here. He's a Watterson, and he's proud of it.
He closed his eyes and the two fell asleep cuddled up together, Darwin feeling warmer, safer, and more loved and appreciated than ever.
The End