Inspired by "The School" by Supersinger9000 on
TW: Second hand embarrassment /hj
Nicole dropped Gumball and Darwin off at school. It was Darwin's first day! Gumball was super excited to spend the School day with his little brother for the first time. Nicole kissed Darwin on the forehead after he left the car.
"Goodbye kids, be good!" Nicole called to them.
"We will!" They said in unison.
As Gumball walked up to the school he was jumpy and energetic, as usual, but then he noticed that Darwin wasn't walking next to him. He looked behind him and saw his little brother shyly walking behind him.
"Everything ok, dude?"
"Huh? Yeah, yeah everything's fine." Darwin began to rub his arm. "Just a little nervous, that's all."
Gumball put his hand on his brother's shoulder reassuringly
"Awwww, buddy, you have nothing to be nervous about."
"B-but this is a new school! I don't know anyone and-"
He began to hyperventilate. Gumball spoke to him in a soft voice.
"Hey, hey! Easy there, calm down, calm down."
Darwin sighed.
"There's one person you know."
"Who?"
"Me! And I know everyone! I'll walk you through it, you have nothing to worry about, I promise!"
"Y-you promise."
"I promise."
Darwin smiled. "Thank you."
"C'mon lil bro, we gotta get to class before we're late."
Gumball grabbed Darwin's arm and ran into school.
Everything went smoothly, that was until recess. Gumball ran ahead up him. Darwin tried to catch up to him, but he fell into the dirt. He got up on his knees and dusted himself off. As he did so, he heard laughter from behind him. That's when he realized that he didn't fall, he was pushed.
He looked behind him and saw Tobias Wilson wiping a tear of laughter.
"A fish with legs? You gotta be kidding me!"
"Oh, uhmmm..."
Darwin looked down at his legs. He was overwhelmed and didn't know what to say as this was his first time being picked on. He just blurted out "sorry."
He began to get up, but he didn't get a chance as Tobias asked another question.
"How did you get your legs anyways?"
"Oh! Well..." Darwin wanted to say "You coulda just asked," but he was pretty scared. He just wanted to do whatever the rainbow figure told him to do in hopes that he'll leave him alone.
"It started when Mr. Dad bought me from a van as a pet goldfish for my brother Gum-"
"So you're a pet?" Tobias interrupted with an eyebrow raised.
Darwin looked down and played with the dirt as he spoke shyly.
"N-not anymore."
Tobias snickered before laughing.
"You- you don't just stop being a pet."
He continued to laugh as Darwin held in tears. His cheeks began to turn an adorable shade of pink.
"Oh man, this is the best thing I've heard all day!"
Tobias kept the laughter and insults coming. Darwin tried to say something, but he was to flustered to do so. Luckily for him, a firm and protective voice came from behind.
"HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
It was Gumball, obviously. He was in a protective stance and his face was all scrunched up. He was pissed. Darwin hid behind his leg.
"Geez man, it's not my fault your pet can't take a joke."
"Number 1, he is NOT a pet..." he said stomping his foot. "And number 2, there's a difference between a joke and just being a jerk!"
Tobias crossed his arms. "Psssh, whatever."
The rainbow blob walked away.
Gumball sighed in anger before looking behind him to see how his little brother was doing.
"You ok, dude?" He asked as he helped Darwin up.
"Y-yeah..." Darwin sniffed and put on a fake smile. "Yeah I'm fine."
"You sure? You do know if you weren't you can tell me, right?"
"I said I'm fine." Darwin said, slightly annoyed.
Gumball hesitated.
"Ok..." He was definitely not convinced, but it was obvious that his brother didn't want to talk about it, so he resorted to the next option, taking his mind off of it.
"Lemme show you around the playground!"
Darwin nodded.
Gumball grabbed his fin and began to run when the bell rang.
"Aw man, maybe next time?"
"Ok" Darwin said, still trying to hold in tears.
The second everyone sat down, the teacher spoke.
"Class, today we have a new student. Darwin, please stand up and introduce yourself.
Darwin looked around the room. All eyes were on him. Oh no. It was bad enough trying to hold in tears in the middle of class, but trying to hold in tears while your the center of attention? This could not end well.
C'mon, Darwin, you've got this. Just pull through this and everything will be ok. He thought to himself.
He took a deep breath and slowly stood up.
"H-hi... my name is Darwin Raglan Caspian A-Ahab..."
He was looking down, but it was no use, his voice was too squeaky.
"...P-Poseidon..."
"Is he crying?" He heard someone shout from behind him.
"Nicodemius Watterson the-"
He couldn't help it. Tears came falling out like a waterfall.
"I GOTTA GO!" He blurted out as he ran out of the room as fast as he could. He heard some giggles as he left.
He ran into a stall in the boys bathroom and rocked himself back and forth while breathing heavily for a few seconds before crying hysterically into his hands whilst still curled up into a ball.
Gumball ran out of the class almost as soon as he did, worried as ever.
"Darwin? Where are you?" He called out. No answer.
He used his special older bro powers from The Origins and they lead him to the boys bathroom. Sure enough, he heard crying from there. He walked to the third stall and knocked.
"Darwin? Buddy? You in there?"
"No!" He called out.
"Oh... ok. I'll check somewhere else."
Gumball almost left the room when he heard sniffles coming from that stall.
"Wait a minute."
He walked back to that stall and knocked again.
"Darwin, I know you're in there, you can come out."
Darwin walked out of the stall, wiping his tears. He hugged his older brother instantly. Gumball threw his arms up in shock, but comforted him quickly after
"There there." He muttered.
"You- you didn't tell me the kids here were gonna be mean."
Gumball sighed.
"Look, Tobias can be a real jerk sometimes, but he's not that bad once you get to know him. He just went a little to far this time. You shouldn't pay attention to him, man. Who cares what he thinks? What matters is that I think of you as a brother and that will never change."
"T-thanks Gumball."
Gumball stopped hugging him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"You ready to go back now?"
"Mm-mm" he said as he shook his head.
"Why not?"
Darwin covered his face.
"I-I don't think I can ever show my face there again. They probably all think I'm a loser."
Gumball laughed a bit. "Well a least you didn't-" Gumball went on to tell embarrassing stories about himself.
"See dude? We're both losers." Gumball said as he playfully punched Darwin on the shoulder. Darwin smiled a bit and wiped a tear.
"I guess I feel better now."
"C'mon, dude."
Gumball (platonically) grabbed Darwin's hand to walk him back to class.
When they left the bathroom, they saw Tobias waiting for them outside, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.
Out of instinct, Darwin took a step back and Gumball protectively put an arm in front of him.
"What do you want?" He asked, angrily.
"I just wanted to apologize. I was just teasing! I didn't mean to make your brother cry like that in front of everyone."
"That's nice of you Tobias, but I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." Gumball said with his arms crossed.
Tobias sighed and looked at the cowering fish behind the blue cat.
"I'm sorry, Darwin."
"It's ok, I forgive you!" Darwin said cheerfully.
And despite the fact that Tobias' apology was half assed asf, Darwin's forgiving nature got the best of him and everyone was happy yayyyyy!
