The sun rose on another calm Monday morning. All across Elmore families were sitting down together for breakfast, ready for another boring, uneventful week of work and school.
Today, however, would be far from uneventful.
"Mmmm, this bacon is so good!" Richard moaned as his stomach rumbled for more. "Can I have another slice?"
Nicole turned around, an annoyed glare adorning her face. "Richard, that was your sixth slice, along with the dozens of eggs, sausages, and slices of toast you've had already. How can you still be hungry?"
"I don't know!" The rabbit shrugged. "All I know is I'm hungry and I want more bacon!" He slammed his fork down onto the table.
"Well I'm sorry, but Gumball hasn't had any yet, it would be unfair to make him go without just so you can have a seventh slice." She crossed her arms.
"But...what am I supposed to eat then?"
The feline put down her knife and fork and stood up without saying a word, before walking into the kitchen.
"Nicole? What are you doing?" Richard asked confused.
"Getting you something else to eat, duh." Anais responded through a mouthful of bacon and eggs as she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Dad, I don't understand how you can each so much every single day and still be completely okay" She swallowed. "It should be scientifically impossible."
The older bunny thought for a moment before shrugging. "Good metabolism?"
"Nah, I don't think so." She ate a forkful of sausage and bacon. "If you had such high metabolism you wouldn't be so fat" She responded nonchalantly, before gasping, dropping her fork and covering her mouth, realizing what she had just said.
"What did you just say to me, young lady?" Her father crossed his arms as he glared at her.
The young rabbit began to panic, her heart dropping as she hurriedly tried to come up with something to save herself. "I-I-I mean, uh, b-because...b-b-because you, um...y-y-you...uh..."
"I think what she meant was that if your metabolism was that high you would be losing weight a lot faster, and so wouldn't be as...well built as you currently are." Darwin suddenly came in and saved her.
"Y-yeah, exactly!" She frantically nodded.
"Oh...I guess that makes sense." He smiled with a shrug.
Anais let out a sigh of relief, before giving a grateful smile to her brother. "Thanks for the save, Darwin. I owe you one."
"Any time sis." He smiled back.
Nicole finally walked back into the dining room with a box of granola and a jug of milk "Here, you can try something healthy for once." She placed the cereal and milk down.
"Healthy? But-"
"No buts. It's either that or nothing." The feline crossed her arms.
Richard hesitated for a moment, before sighing. "Fine...uh, I need a bowl though. And a spoon."
"You have legs, go and get them yourself.." She rolled her eyes.
The rabbit sighed frustratedly as he got up and left the dining room.
The feline shook her head before looking at Gumball's seat at the table, which was still empty. "Is Gumball still not ready? What on earth is taking him so long!?"
"He didn't get up when Anais and I did." Darwin replied nonchalantly.
"What!? If I go up there now and find him still in bed, I swear I'll-" Nicole growled as she went to head upstairs.
The fish quickly stopped her, frantically waving his fins. "No, no, it's okay, he's up now! When I came out of the shower he had only just gotten up though, so he was probably getting ready to go iinside to shower himself, and you know how long he takes in there..."
"Well he'd better hurry up in there, or he won't have any time for breakfast before the bus arrives!"
Anais sighed and got up. "I've finished my breakfast, I'll go and get him..."
"Thank you, sweetie, that'd be a great help!" Her mother smiled.
Anais nodded before jumping out of her highchair and heading out of the dining room.
As she headed up the stairs the rabbit let out a sigh. "Why is it always me chasing after him?" She asked herself, shaking her head.
As she neared the top of the stairs she paused as she heard Gumball singing some teen boy band's new single poorly and couldn't help but giggle.
The rabbit knocked on the door as she struggled to hold back her laughter. "Hey, I know you're in the middle of a concert but you should hurry up in there, the bus is gonna be here soon and you haven't had breakfast yet!"
She paused before smirking. "Besides, I'm pretty sure most of the audience has already left with singing like that!" She burst out laughing.
"HEY! My singing's not that bad!" A muffled voice replied.
"Seriously!? I've heard parrots that can sing better than you!"
"Yeah well, at least I don't just sit there mindlessly repeating everything that's said around me."
"Good point..." She paused. "You'd actually need a brain to be able to do something like that!" The rabbit teased as she once again burst out laughing.
"I have a brain! You saw it!" The feline defended himself.
"Yeah, but with a head that big you'd expect it to be bigger than a pea!"
"My head is not that big!" Gumball complained.
"Yeah, it is! I'm surprised it doesn't get stuck wedged in doorways it's so big!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm done anyway." The young kitten scoffed and turned off the shower as his sister continued to giggle.
He unlocked the door and stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist, glaring at her with crossed arms. "There. I'm out. Happy now?" He said snapped.
The rabbit stopped laughing, her face and ears lowering slightly. "Awww, hey, I-I-I didn't mean to upset you, I was only teasing you..."
"That doesn't matter. Words hurt Anais. Regardless of intention."
Her ears lowered further, pinning against the back of her head. She hesitated before holding his paw. "Come on, you know I'd never seriously mean any of those things I said. It was just a bit of fun, that's all."
"Not for me it wasn't." He crossed his arms and looked away. "Those things you said really hurt Anais!"
The rabbit looked down, letting out a guilty whimper as she teared up. "...I'm sorry..." She apologized so quietly that even Gumball, with his cat-like hearing, only just heard her.
The feline slowly turned back to face her. He paused, before breaking into a chuckle. "Awwwww, Ani! I'm just messing with you! I know you were just joking!"
She looked up with an annoyed glare as she punched his arm. "For god's sake Gumball, that wasn't funny! I seriously thought I'd upset you!"
Gumball smirked, playfully squeezing his sister's cheek. "Awww, does wittle Ani not like it when her big bwover is sad? Does she wuv him and care about him vewy vewy much?" He teased her in a babyish voice.
The young rabbit pushed him away and blushed deeply, crossing her arms as she looked at the ground embarrassed. "Shut up!"
This reaction only served to make him laugh even harder. "Ahahahahahahah, you're so embarrassed!"
"It's not funny!" She insisted, trying and failing to sound annoyed.
"You're right...it's hilarious!" Her brother continued to laugh. Slowly but surely a smile grew on her face as she let out a quiet snicker. This grew into a fit of giggles before finally she burst into full-on laughter with him.
As they laughed Gumball's thoughts drifted, and he began to think about how much he and Anais had bonded and grown closer over the last few months. Before they'd begun having their study sessions the two's relationship had been...complicated. Despite being siblings and loving each other deeply, the two of them hadn't really spent that much time together, had frequently argued and bickered over the smallest of disagreements, and had nearly always gotten on each other nerves.
Over the last few months, however, the two had started studying together. These sessions had started out small, with Anais simply helping him with anything he was struggling with, but they'd slowly grown and developed to the point where they were now an opportunity for the two of them to sit down and relax for a few hours, happily chatting away as they studied together. From retellings of previous days events, having a laugh, reliving old memories, comforting each other about anything they might be going through, offering advice, and anything else that happened to come to mind, all while of course throwing the odd cheeky jab or tease at each other.
He and Anais had grown to genuinely enjoy each other's company now and would always eagerly look forward to their weekly sessions, excited for their next catchup together, and had even started to hang out outside of these sessions. Whenever Darwin was out with Carrie he and his sister would come up with a new stupid bet or challenge in order to decide who would pick the activity they would do together, though most of the time he'd let her win as she got super excited whenever she did, and he loved seeing her so happy.
Not only that, but he had also begun inviting her to join him, Darwin, Penny and Carrie whenever they planned to hang out together. She had honestly grown to become one of his best friends now besides Darwin and Carrie, and he couldn't be happier about it. He loved his sister, and getting the opportunity to strengthen his bond and relationship with her as much as he was is something he very much welcomed.
Eventually, the two regained their composure. Gumball sighed as he wiped his eyes. "God, I love winding you up...it's so fun!"
"...Not for me..." She responded, playfully rolling her eyes.
He smiled, placing a paw on her shoulder. "and hey, don't worry about upsetting me, it takes a lot more than insulting my singing to do that."
She giggled. "You call that singing? Sounded more like a dying chipmunk to me!"
"Oi, don't push it!" He smirked, ruffling the fur on her head, which made her giggle again.
"Right, I'd better go get dressed. You go get your stuff ready and I'll meet you downstairs." The kitten nodded toward the stairs.
'Alright!" The young rabbit smiled and turned to leave but paused in thought before turning back and giving her brother a hug.
"Woah, what's this for?"
"For being such a great sport." She looked up with a grateful smile.
"Hahaha, any time sis. Any time." He chuckled and held out his fist. She grinned, knowing exactly what this meant. She raised her own and the two performed their secret handshake together, which they'd come up with during one of their sessions, before they both burst out giggling again.
"Okay, seriously, I need to get dressed. Go get your stuff. I'll meet you downstairs." He smiled, nodding toward the staircase before turning toward his room.
"Okay!" She nodded and headed toward the stairs as he walked over to his and Darwin's room. She suddenly stopped one last time. turning to him with a cheeky grin. "Oh and quick tip...invest in some singing lessons!" She burst into a fit of giggles and quickly ran down the stairs before her brother could respond.
The feline simply chuckled and shook his head in disbelief as he opened the bedroom door.
"...Love you too sis."