Chapter 3: The Offer

Gumball had a look of shock and confusion on his face after hearing the man's name. "Something the matter? You act as if you saw a ghost," the man supposedly named Triston Amador asked. Gumball tried to shake it off. "Nothing... you just got a name like someone I knew, that's all," he fibbed, not wanting to really talk about anything like that at all, especially when he was in the crowd of students in the gymnasium. He tried to walk away after that. "Triston Smith, correct?" Triston asked. This just made Gumball's ears perk up. Now was where the questions he had in his head couldn't be withheld. "How do you know that?!" he asked with even more shock, but the adult feline told him to calm down. "Listen, Gumball. Meet me at the ice cream shop after school. I'll explain there," he claimed and walked away. Gumball just left from there with his head ready to explode from all the questions he had in his head.

After school, Gumball was trying to exit the school. He suddenly overheard a conversation from around the corner. He just stopped himself against the wall, giving a small peak around the corner to find Penny and Teri talking to one another. "I'm not breaking up with him. I've been with him for five months now. Why can't you just let it go?" Teri questioned the cheerleader with irritation in her voice. They used to be good friends, something which Gumball couldn't help but feel guilty about. "Because he actually likes me. You didn't even like him when you went on that first date," Penny responded. She wasn't entirely wrong. Teri was a bit reluctant to go on a date, but she had grown fond of her boyfriend as time went by.

"I don't want to talk to you about this anymore. Face it, Penny. Gumball loves me, and here's the proof," Teri responded, lifting up her shirt sleeve to show the tattoo that was similar to Gumball's, with the words arching around the heart. "This heart belongs to Gumball." Penny was frozen. Her friend had gotten a real tattoo, even though she normally drew fake ones on. The paper bear slammed her locker shut and stormed off, leaving the surprised Penny standing there.

When Gumball turned around to try and exit the school another way, he suddenly bumped into someone. He groaned, rubbing his cheek in a bit of pain until seeing his mother Nicole standing there, wearing her normal grey skirt and white shirt, with a rainbow pin representing the factory where she worked. "There you are, honey. I didn't see you in the gymnasium," Nicole said. "Oh, hey mom... I thought you left after the signup," Gumball responded confused with her still being around. "I figured since I already took the full day off I'd pick you up. Darwin and Anais already signed up, so I held you a place," she explained why she was at the school, showing him the registration sheet, but Gumball just sighed. "Sorry, mom, but I… uh… signed up for something else..." Gumball awkwardly claimed, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh… and here I thought all of you wanted to come to my work. Well alright. Come on, let's get home," Nicole offered, but she hadn't thought to ask her oldest son what he had signed up for, but Gumball knew that he had to meet with Triston.

"Sorry, mom. I uh… have a date with Teri… yeah… bye," Gumball said sounding like he was in a hurry. He dashed past his mother, leaving her confused, but she didn't dwell on it. Still, she remembered how different he had been acting since his birthday a few months ago, but she thought that he was just having some teenage troubles. She made her way out of the school to get back to Darwin and Anais.

Gumball walked at a fast pace, away from school and towards another part of town. He walked roughly a good two miles to the east until he arrived to the same shop that Triston told him to meet him at. He spotted him just standing around like he had nothing to do at all. "Oh good, you came," Triston said with his content smile. "Don't make this so friendly. I need to ask you a lot of questions," Gumball responded with his narrowed eyes, still disbelieving about it, but the man standing in front of him claimed to be someone he thought was long dead.

"Alright, ask away," Triston said. "What's with the grave? And I thought your last name was Smith. Weren't you dead?" Gumball asked many questions in about five seconds before Triston put a hand on his head. "Calm down. As for that supposed death, I faked it. My dad was a Grade A news reporter, so when he retired, I asked if my death could be the reason for it. Smith was a fake name I used to become a successful freelance builder," Triston explained while the two cats walked side by side, randomly walking around town while talking.

"Then why did you fake your death?" Gumball asked wondering why someone would give up a successful life. "Well, your mother told me about her pregnancy of course, so basically it's because of you," Triston answered nonchalantly. This was something Gumball couldn't tell if it was an insult or not, until he remembered the details of one of the arguments he heard when Nicole and Richard argued. "If I had any idea your mother was engaged, I wouldn't have advanced on her, but when she told me, I knew I would be drained of my money, so I faked my death to avoid a fight with your other guardian, and spending part of my life losing money," Triston explained further, every detail that was in his head.

"So… was I a mistake...?" Gumball looked depressed about it. "A good mistake if you ask me. Boy, I came to give you a silver tongue, a bronze brain, and a golden opportunity," Triston replied, crouching down to his height and putting his hands on his shoulder. "I want to make up for those years I missed. With the last few of my years, you and me are all that's left of the Amador bloodline," Triston said not acting so happy to admit it. "Wait a minute… what do you mean by last few of your years?" Gumball couldn't help but ask. "I have cancer, you see. I need a prodigy to leave my legacy to, so I came to find you. My time left is unknown," he claimed quoting one of the lines from the letter.

"Will you come live with me? It is up to you to either live the lie as Watterson, or live to let me make up for what I missed, and carry on my legacy once I am gone," Triston explained his offer. Gumball's ears perked down. He didn't know how to answer him. His father stood up and rubbed his head. "Call me when you decide," Triston said with a smirk, giving him his phone number. He walked away from his son, leaving him standing there, dumbfounded by the whole conversation.

End of Chapter 3