Usually, Gumball would hate being caught acting like an actual cat. Not only was it humiliating, but it normally caused a decent amount of destruction around him. This was only made worse by the fact he normally had no control over when it happened. Either his brain just took over on its own, or the urges to act upon and satisfy his catlike instincts were too strong for him to resist.
For some reason though, today was different. He didn't know why but today he was in a really good mood. He felt so excited and playful, so restless and energized. He felt like a firework waiting to be lit. He felt like at any moment he would explode and shoot off the sofa.
This only became worse when his usually annoying catlike instincts began calling to him, urging and pushing him to let go, to let it take over and have it's fun. The urges slowly grew stronger, pleading and begging to be acted upon. It was like an itch, begging to be scratched, begging for relief.
Eventually, this became too much for him to handle. These urges were driving him insane, they were almost unbearable. He had to give in, he had to indulge.
But... what if his family saw? It would be mortifying, he couldn't let them see him acting like that! The rational, normal part of his brain complained.
But his cat brain immediately pushed this aside. Pfft, so what if they saw? It's not as if they hadn't seen him act like a cat before. He'd done so in front of them many, many times before! Besides, he wasn't the only one who did stupid animal-like things! His mother did the same kind of things he did all the time, and he sometimes saw his father and sister hopping around or casually nibbling on carrots, despite his Mom telling them repeatedly that it wasn't good for them to eat them that often. Not to mention the fact his brother slept in a fish bowl and ate fish flakes. None of them would bat an eye if they saw him acting upon his instincts. So what was he waiting for?
As if to answer his question for him he suddenly noticed a fly buzzing around his face. His gaze locked onto it as he watched it fly around the room, his ears pricked up at the buzz of its wings. He let out a playful growl, finally giving in to his natural desires. Screw it...let's have some fun... He smirked.
And so for the next few hours, Gumball had the time of his life as he ran around the house and garden on all fours, doing whatever his catlike mind desired., from growling and pouncing at flies to chasing around and batting at pieces of paper and leaves. He played with Darwin and chased a laser pointer around the upstairs rooms and hallways, Darwin attempting to control it through his hysterical tears of laughter and with his father as he dangled a piece of string over him and made him chase it. He even crazily zoomed around the entire house for seemingly no reason, and hid in various places, such as the washing basket, under the sink, and under the bed, before jumping out at his family as they walked by and giving them all a fright.
And after all of that, as he came back inside from running around the garden. he still had energy to spare. He still wasn't satisfied. He wanted more. He wanted to do something else. Something fun, and engaging. Something that would really test him, make him use all of his instincts and skills...
...he wanted to go on a hunt. But if he wanted to do that he needed prey. What though? Or who?
He looked around, trying to find something suitable. He needed a challenge. This needed to be a true test of his skills. This needed to be satisfying.
It was then he noticed his sister, sitting on the sofa, deeply enthralled in a new book. He grinned, his eye narrowing as he let out a playful growl. Perfect...
He began his hunt, silently dashing under the table, eyes glued to his prey, observing her every move, waiting for the perfect opportunity to advance.
Suddenly his father called from upstairs, asking if she had seen his tie. She looked toward the stairs to answer him. She was distracted. Time to move...
As he went to move closer however he felt the grip of his claws on the carpet and stopped, realizing he had unsheathed them instinctively. He quickly retracted them again, now making a conscious effort to keep them retracted. He didn't want to end up hurting Anais, just give her a little scare and have a bit of fun with her.
He noticed Anais had gone back to reading her book. He'd have to wait for another chance to move...luckily he didn't have to wait for long however as Nicole walked down with a basket of washing and greeted Anais as she entered her and Richard's bedroom. As Anais was distracted Gumball made his move and dashed behind the shelf.
He was almost there, he just needed to move a little closer...he just needed one more distraction...he waited...and waited...and waited some more...but nothing cane. No one else seemed to want her attention, not even for a second. Guess he'd have to do without a distraction...
He carefully began to move forward, treading as quietly as possible, even holding his breath as he made his way toward the edge of the sofa. Almost there, just a little further...
Suddenly Daisy fell on the floor and Anais leaned down to grab her. This was his chance. He dashed forward and hid, only barely peeking out from the corner.
He had made it. He was mere centimeters away from her, ready to pounce at any moment and she was still none the wiser...just like he had hoped...now he just had to wait for the perfect moment to strike...
He sat there silently, gaze locked directly on the young rabbit, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She suddenly leaned over to the table to grab her drink. It was time. His butt wiggled as he prepared to pounce, his eyes narrowed and locked onto his target, his legs readying for his attack...
"AHHHH!" She screamed as a blue blur suddenly flew at her, knocking her off the sofa and pinning her arms to the floor.
"GOT YOU!" He playfully growled, his tail wagging intently, as a proud smile grew on his face.
"What the...Gumball? W-What are you doing?" She asked with a small chuckle.
"I'm on a hunt, and you're my prey!" The feline purred, his eyes filled with glee and excitement.
The rabbit couldn't help but giggle at his behavior. "What's going into you? W-Why are you acting like this?" She asked through her laughter.
"Because I'm the king of the jungle, and I do whatever I want!" He tried to roar but ended up meowing instead, which made her giggle even more.
As she continued to laugh she began to squirm, trying to break free of his hold. "Alright, alright, you've had your fun, but can you let me go now?"
He smirked."Absolutely not! You're my prey, and now that I've caught you I'm gonna eat you!" He let out another playful growl and began to tickle her, the rabbit screaming and laughing hysterically, kicking and squirming as she begged him to stop.
Meanwhile, Nicole was in her and Richard's room as she folded up bedsheets. She stopped as she heard Anais scream. What the? Was that Anais? Is she okay? She thought about going to investigate before she remembered how Gumball had been acting all day. Earlier on he had been hiding in the washing basket and jumped out at her, almost giving her a heart attack. He'd probably just done the same to her...
A minute later however she heard Anais scream again, before bursting out into laughter. Again? What on earth is going on in there?
She put down the bed sheet she was folding and walked over to the door, poking her head out of the room. "Anais? Are you okay?" She asked.
She waited but got no response, other than Anais continuing to laugh and pleading for whoever was with her to stop.
"Anais?" She asked slightly louder. Still no response. The older feline left the room and headed over, beginning to feel worried.
She stopped and gasped delightedly however, smiling as she saw Gumball and Anais playing together, the two having fun as Gumball tickled her. "Awww..."
"P-Please stop! I can't breathe, I can't breathe! Ahhahahahahaha! Ahhahahahahaha!" Anais begged through her tears of laughter.
"Never! You're my prey and I caught you fair and square! Now I get to have some fun with you!" He laughed.
The older feline grinned as she realized he was pretending to be on a hunt. It reminded her of her when she was just a small kitten and used to do the same thing. She'd spend hours in her own world, hunting down and playing with whoever she deemed to be her prey. God, she'd had the time of her life during those hours, especially whenever her parents decided to-
She gasped as a long-lost memory suddenly sparked in her head, something she'd long forgotten, and as she let it play out in her head she began to tear up. How...how had she ever forgotten about this?
As she continued to watch Gumball and Anais play she began to smile, her reignited memory inspiring her, giving her an idea. The older feline suddenly went down on all fours and snuck behind the other side of the sofa, behind Gumball.
She poked her head around the sofa, watching the two, waiting for the right moment to strike. Anais noticed her and gave her a confused look. The feline simply responded by placing her paw over her lips and winking.
She suddenly emerged from her spot with a playful growl, smirking. "Oh my, what's this? Look's like someone's caught a nice, tasty rabbit..."
Gumball turned to look at her. "Mom? What are you doing?"
"It would be a shame if someone were to come and snatch it for themselves...someone like, oh, I don't know...me!"
She suddenly pounced and playfully batted at him, trying to steal his prey. He responded with a grin and a playful growl as he fought back, defending his catch.
This game continued for the rest of the afternoon, Nicole and Gumball playfully growling and running around as they playfully fought over Anais, who was laughing away as the two repeatedly chased and pinned her down, the three all having a blast.
"Hahaha, I've got you now little man!" Nicole managed to catch Gumball, wrapping her arms around him and picking him up as he squirmed and kicked, trying to escape the older feline's grasp. "No, let me go! Let me go!" He laughed.
She began to affectionately groom him, licking the top of his head as his ears lowered in embarrassment. He broke into a fit of giggles, squirming even harder. "Ah, no, no, s-stop, st-o-op! It tickles, it tickles! Ahhahahahahaha!"
Once she was satisfied she let the smaller feline go, and the two sat down on the sofa, panting as they caught their breath.
As Anais watched she suddenly gasped, a smile forming on her face as she heard the two both happily purring away together. "Sounds like you two enjoyed that then!"
Nicole grinned. "Spending the afternoon playing with my kids. What's not to love?"
"God, I'm exhausted! I've never played like that before. It was amazing!" Gumball sighed
"You got that right! I'm knackered! I definitely don't have as much as energy as when I used to do this sort of thing..." The older feline admitted.
Gumball's head shot up, a look of surprise and confusion adorning his face. "Wait, used to? You've done this before?"
"Yes, I have. Watching you playing with Anais like that...it sparked a memory deep inside me. One I'd long forgotten about. You see, believe it or not... I actually used to do this sort of thing with my parents every so often."
Anais gasped. "You did this with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Daniel? But... I thought they were super strict and controlling! Since when would they do something as stupid as this with you?" She asked confused.
"Well, normally they were, but they believed it was a good idea for us to let our natural cat urges out every once and a while, rather than ignoring them and letting them build up. That way I wouldn't be distracted by them, and could focus on the..." She cleared her through. "...millions of other more important things they wanted me to do..." She looked down, her expression falling as the horrible memories of her childhood began to come back.
Gumball noticed her ears lower and hesitated before slowly moving his paw onto hers, giving it a squeeze. "A-Are you okay? I'm sorry, we didn't mean to bring those memories back up...we know how hard it was for you..."
She smiled. "Aww, It's alright sweetheart. I'm okay."
"A-Are you sure?" Anais asked.
"I'm fine, I promise. Don't worry yourselves." She rubbed the rabbit's head affectionately.
Gumball hesitated, looking down and biting his lip, unsure if he should continue the topic. His mother noticed his hesitation and gave him a reassuring smile as she placed her paw on top of his, returning his earlier gesture. He looked up to meet her smile. "It's okay. Go ahead." She assured him.
He gave a weak nod and exhaled, "So...so despite everything they did...you and your parents...still had fun sometimes? And got along?"
She smiled. "...Sometimes. It didn't last long unfortunately, only a few hours at most. Then we'd go back to arguing and fighting again. But those hours we got along, laughing and playing...I cherished every second of them. I never wanted it to end..."
Nicole chuckled, smiling and tearing up as she thought back to it again. "I didn't realize how much I missed doing this with themt...it's one of the few happy memories I had with them, one of the few times I actually heard them laughing...onethe few times I laughed around them..."
"Why'd you stop doing then it if you enjoyed it so much?" Anais asked her.
She sighed. "Well, as our relationship drifted apart more and more we eventually stopped doing i. We were too angry to consider anything like that anymore.. And once I stormed out on them I didn't have anyone else to do it with anymore. Besides, I was an adult with a future to worry about, I didn't have time to mess about doing silly things like that anymore."
"What about when Gumball was born? You could have done it with him." Anais asked.
"Yeah, I would have loved to do it. In fact, I did love doing it just now." He agreed.
"By that point it'd been so long since I'd done it that I'd completely forgotten about it. It never even crossed my mind . Until a couple of minutes ago that is. Seeing you playing with Anais like that, it sparked that memory, deep inside of me, made me remember something I... really wish I'd never forgotten about."
The smaller feline looked at her, hesitating as he took in everything she'd said. "Wow, I...had no idea you had any happy memories with your parents...you always told us they never let you have any fun. That they were always so strict and cruel..." He then began to smile. "I'm...really glad I helped you remember otherwise though. It's really nice to hear you talking about them so fondly for once. It's nice to see you so happy."
"Awww, sweetheart..." She raised her paw to her chest, tearing up as she began to feel touched.
He suddenly leaned over and embraced her lovingly, Anais joining soon after. "I love you Mom..." He purred.
"Me too...you really are the best Mom in the world..." Anais agreed with a smile.
Gumball nodded. "We're seriously lucky to have a Mom as awesome as you..."
She smiled, beginning to cry softl before embracing them back. "I love you both too...more than anything else in the world. I'm so glad I get to spend every day of my life with you...and I'm so proud to call you both my children. You're the best thing that ever happened to me...and I really don't know what I'd do without you..."
Her hug tightened as Gumball and Anais closed their eyes, enjoying the loving embrace of their mother, the two felines purring away louder than ever.
The End