Work Text:
The Roommates
Elmore was having a grey day. The sun had risen only to be enveloped by a thick sheet of clouds that sprinkled cold drops of rain onto the gloomy sidewalks.
It was good that Gumball and Darwin had been already indoors when the rain really took off- they were in the mall, the food court to specify, munching away at a mayo and ketchup smothered burger.
“I think if a gummy worm and a real worm met, they’d be friends.”
“Darwin, gummy worms can’t form friendships.” Gumball rolled his eyes, the bag of candy bugs on the table shuffling around.
“Speak for yourself.” Huffed an eavesdropping gummy worm before shuffling away, leaving the two boys confused but unfazed: not much of an important occurrence in the town of Elmore after all. The pair continued to eat until they noticed the drops of rain on the roof slow down a little- the weather was clearing up! Darwin hopped off the seat and put the remainder of his lunch into a to-go bag.
“Look! The sun’s coming back out!” He urged his brother to copy him. “We better get going back home before it starts up again.”
Gumball sighed and slumped down, but got up and the two made their way towards the entrance anyway- he could admit the fish was right. He HATED getting wet anyway.
“You’re turning into such a mom.”
“I’m just using my brain!” The shorter character tapped his temple.
“Since when did you have a brain?”
“Since the day I was born, I’ll have you know.”
“Dude, I was just pullin’ your fi-“ The cat trailed off as he noticed the all-too-familiar lanky figure standing on the kerb; he let out a little gasp and stepped back.
“Darwin- it’s Ross!”
“WHAT?!” The boy’s eye darted in their direction as soon as he noticed their presence. “YOU HAVEN’T EVEN SAID “HELLO” YET AND YOU’RE GETTING IT WRONG.”
“Oh, hey Ron!” Darwin waved to him with a smile. “You getting the bus to the junkyard?”
“O-oh.. uh...” The boy instantly became a little less aggressive, gently scratching the back of his static scalp. “No, I don’t live there anymore, my... my ride’s coming to pick me up and take me home...” If Gumball didn’t know any better, he could have sworn he saw a little pink “blush” mix in with the pixels on his face.
“J-just get going, it’ll be starting to rain again in a minute... a-and it’s ROB!”
With that, Rob turned and refused to say another word to the boys.
The brothers gave eachother a small side-glance, shrugged, and continued on their way home. Since when did Rob have anybody to give him a ride when one of his traits was that he had no friends or family? Well... people can defy assumptions; maybe he met somebody?
As they were stuck in their little thoughtful tangent, Gumball turned back around to see Rob climb into the passenger seat of a stylish black car; unfortunately, it had heavily tinted windows so he couldn’t pinpoint the driver’s identity as they drove past.
“Huh... well it’s nice our nemesis finally has a new buddy!” The cat smiled, hands on his hips.
“Yeah! Maybe they’ll convince him to be good again!”
“He likes being evil, Darwin.”
“Oh yeah.. maybe they’ll be his new evil apprentice then!”
“Uh... that’s not... a good thing?”
“I’m happy for him either way!” Darwin said, flapping his fins excitedly.
In no time at all, the two were finally back at their house, their family perched on the sofa and watching the famous “Win or Don’t Win”. Usually the boys would have joined in with family time, but Gumball had something else on his mind. Something that was bugging him more than it should be- after the events of that one scenario where they “broke up”, it was safe to say that Gumball kinda took new relationships... personally. They gave their family a cheerful greeting, but rushed into their bedroom, Gumball hopping onto the computer.
“Wha’cha looking for, dude?” The fish asked, sneaking a look on the screen.
“Trying to find Rob’s Elmore Plus account.”
“Wait- you remembered his name?”
“Of course I do! It’s just funny to get it wrong,” The blue boy kept tapping away at the keyboard, searching his account for any trace of his nemesis’ online presence... and couldn’t find anything.
“What? But EVERYONE has an Elmore Plus!”
“Cmon man. Just come down for dinner already.” Darwin insisted.
Huh? Oh. He’d been searching for 5 hours... that didn’t mean he was obsessed. Or creepy. Just Gumball being Gumball: he just REAALLYY wanted to find out who he was competing wit- he just REAALLYY wanted to find out who else Rob was friends with.
***
“Do you think we know them?”
“Gumball...”
“Maybe they’re in our class?”
“GUMBALL!” Anais snapped, eyes red and pillow pulled around her ears. “ENOUGH.”
“But it’s IMPORTANT!”
“I promise, it isn’t.” The bunny turned over and plummeted into her sheets.
“Pft.. that’s what you think...” Gumball shut his eyes for a second, just getting comfortable and warm- he’d feel less competitive after a good nights of sleep. Or just a good 4 hours of sleep. It was already 3AM. That was fine.
“I’ll figure it out...” He mumbled as he found himself drifting off.
The “good nights sleep” didn’t help him take his mind off the situation at all. If anything, the array of dreams darting to places around Elmore his nemesis could be residing made it worse. He turned over in bed, bags under his eyes, and stared at the clock. 11:42. If he wanted to put his little plan into action, he’d better get up now; he’d already missed half the day! Of course, being the Gumball he was, respecting people’s privacy was NOT the path he would proceed to take.
He and his brother sat perched at the table together, with the fish happily watching the TV from across the room while munching on a bag of chips. Because Darwin was related to Gumball, this was now his problem too.
“DARWIN! I HAVE AN IDEA?!”
“Ooh, what what what?”
“We’re going to follow him around town, wait until he gets home, take a picture of his house, wait until his roommate comes home and they go to sleep and we figure out how and why he has a roommate all of a sudden!”
Darwin’s face dropped the smile immediately and he put his hands on his “hips”.
“Gumball, even you have to admit that’s overkill.”
“I am CURIOUS. And you know what they say?”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Wh- well… the one I was thinking of is “Curiosity means velocity’’.”
“Uh- what does that even mean? Nobody says that.”
“Well, I do, little brother, and today I will work as hard as I can to make that phrase come true!” He leaned into Darwin, hand placed on his back. “I am going to be the best detective you have ever seen, I will be focused, I will be motivated-“ Noting the fish’s uninterested face, Gumball dropped the act with a sigh. “And if you come with me I’ll buy you an ice-cream.”
Darwin sat on the public bench with a smile, a double scoop of strawberry ice-cream held in his flipper, while Gumball stared at the nearby bus stop with dangerous intensity, his brow furrowed so much it almost reached his chin. Rob wasn’t here yet, and Gumball didn’t exactly know where he was, or if he’d even come, but he was DEDICATED: if he wanted to know who Rob was living with (and why it wasn’t him), by GOSH, he would find out.
“I don’t think he’s coming.” Darwin hummed, still licking his ice-cream contently.
“No, he was here yesterday. He comes here all the time.”
“Just because someone came shopping one day doesn’t mean they-“ Darwin trailed off as he saw a bus pull up, and by some miraculous stroke of luck, the familiar figure stepped off, looking down at his phone. The fish could feel his brother’s smug look burning into the back of his head. “Whatever.”
“See Darwin,” Gumball began casually as he hopped off the bench. “It’s all about knowing your enemy. Keep ‘em closer than your friends. We’re surprisingly well matched, actually, we always know what the other’s thinking and doing and-“
“I think you’re a stalker?”
“What? No! I just… don’t want the hatred to die out again..” Gumball mumbled as he poked his head over the side of the wall, watching as the glitch picked up two cups of coffee. The fish was quiet for a second before gasping with a mocking grin.
“You’re JEALOUS! You like him, don’t you?”
“No! I’m jealous because I should be the only thing that matters to him!”
“Seems kinda unhealthy.”
“Just- shut up, watch him! He’s going into the supermarket!”
The pair (or more, Gumball dragging Darwin along) raced after him with the best stealth they could, watching as he collected his groceries- and getting a huge sense of deja vu from the time they helped him find his villain name. Good times. It seemed like he only needed a couple of select items, because he was out of there almost immediately.
“Very precise shopper.” Darwin commented tiredly, eyeing up the donut stand. If only his brother wasn’t an obsessive crazy person, he’d be able to have a nice day at the mall. Instead they were chasing after a humanoid lost-signal that he wasn’t even too worried about at this point. Rob wasn’t a bad guy really, Gumball just kept provoking him. He was in his right to lash out a few times.
‘C’mon Darwin, he’s getting back on the bus!”
“Gumball, please, we’ve been chasing this poor guy for half an hour. Can’t we just give him a break?”
…
“Gumball?” Darwin was alone. He was alone, and his older brother perched on the roof of a moving bus.
“SORRY DUDE. I’M IN TOO DEEP.”
***
The overall journey was not comfortable, to say the least. Gumball was hit by bugs, birds, signs, plants… but it was worth it overall so he could see where his worst enemy resided. They’d been driving for about half an hour now, over the freeways and roads that seemed to run on for miles. Was it really worth it? The sky already seemed to be darkening… he was sorta wasting his day… wasting his life even, wh-
Nevermind. The bus finally stopped in the middle of a bustling and loud part of town, large buildings stretching up to the sky, making the cat feel nauseous looking up at; but his attention was captured mostly by the passenger leaving.
“Rob!” Gumball whispered as he jumped off the bus behind him, hiding in a nearby shrub before making sure he wouldn’t get caught.
The glitch looked behind him for a second, but shrugged it off and kept walking, unbeknown to him, Gumball was right behind him. This neighbourhood was a little… threatening, to say the least. Shades of grey and black, with occasional splashes of colour dropped in, decorated the area, giving it a sort of industrial air… very different to the suburbs he was so accustomed to. To be fair, this was the kinda place he could see his nemesis residing- now all he had to do was find out who his roommate was. He followed in his footsteps for what seemed like another hour, mind racing with who it could be: maybe one of the school bullies… would Tina and Rob make a good pair? Maybe Jamie? Mollie was always an option…
Gumball almost bumped into him as he stopped at an apartment block; Rob opened the door of the tall brick structure and stepped inside, taking the elevator and pushing a button that Gumball couldn’t make out from where he was standing.
“Shoot- I can’t take the elevator: He’s gonna see me!” He hissed, only for his eyes to lie on the staircase that stretched up floors and floors. “Gosh darn it.”
As the elevator began to move, Gumball let out a sigh of utter laziness and started to make his way up the staircase, keeping his eye on the elevator that his nemesis was standing in, probably so excited to go back home and see his roommate that WASN’T GUMBALL. After about 8 floors of straight up running, the cat heard the mechanism “ding”, and the glitch stepped off with his arm clutching a bag of groceries and a smile on his face. Finally. His legs felt like jelly. He hid against the walls, using Rob’s shadow and bad depth perception to his advantage: it was impressive he hadn’t been spotted yet, but he wasn’t going to say anything.
Rob turned the corner again and fumbled around with a keychain held between his fingers, unlocking the door and walking in- only to close it behind him right on Gumball’s face.
“Hey man! Thanks for getting that- I’ll pay ya back.”
“Aw, it’s okay, you don’t have to. I like getting out more often anyway,”
There was another voice. A familiar one… kinda low and kinda raspy, but Gumball couldn’t recognise it… it just sorta made him feel uneasy. Scared. Gosh… he really hoped that Rob was okay… Maybe there was a way to get a better look inside? There was a window right at the end of the hall... he could maybe fit through that... maybe scale across the building and look inside??
At this point, Gumball would have been told to stop. But Darwin wasn’t here. Gumball was on the side of a building clinging to dear life before he knew it.
“Ok. Maybe this was a bad i-“ He began, before a gust of wind blew him over with such force that he tripped, lost his grip and tumbled down... only to be caught by the hem of his jeans on a balcony fence on the floor below. And it hurt. Bad. It took all of his might to not scream as he experienced what might have been the 5th most painful wedgie he’d experienced… but he had to: Rob was above him now, looking out the window with a smile.
“Ooohhhoh don’t look down, don’t look down..” Gumball pleaded to himself- if he saw him now, this would be more than humiliating… maybe he was a bit impulsive, obsessive, all the things Darwin said he was, after all. Luckily, though, the glitch just looked out of the city with a smile, talking to his roommate quietly; through the wind and sounds of traffic, Gumball managed to make some of it out. Impulsive and obsessive as he may be, he was also persistent and stubborn. He WOULD find out who Rob resided with before the night was over. And he WOULD make sure he could beat them in a fight.
“Hey, Rob, did you say you were gonna order pizza tonight?”
“Yeah, I ordered it a minute ago, babe,” Huh. Weird thing to call your roommate. “I’ll get the tip ready in a sec.”
“You gotta start lettin’ me chip in. I have just as much stolen money as you.” So… they WERE a criminal.. a perfect match- wait, did that mean he had 2 nemeses now?
“I don’t mind. I like it.” Gumball saw another pair of gloved hands reach out the window and.. strangle Rob? Oh, wait, no, they were just wrapped around his waist. THEY WERE WRAPPED AROUND HIS WAIST?! Rob should know that GUMBALL WAS THE ONE WHO GOT TO HUG HIM. This wasn’t fair- no matter who he lived with, he was still expected to not betray his nemesis!
Things only got a little weirder when Gumball was distracted from his rage by the sound of the glitch laughing… and… wait, were they kissing? Gumball tried to swing himself up, back onto the balcony, only really hurting his backside even more; he was close to tears by the time he managed to swing himself up to climb onto the safe structure. He inhaled through his teeth, trying to ignore the pain, and breathed out again.
“Parkour.”
This was it. Gumball didn’t want Rob taken away from him. He couldn’t deny it for any longer, he felt genuinely close to Rob, and kinda didn’t want to share him- ESPECIALLY if Rob liked them more than him! With no further thought, the cat ran through the room leading from the balcony to the halls, apologising to the residents watching him with wide, confused eyes. He ran back up the stairs to get onto the same floor as he’d been at before and looked around frantically, trying to think of some sort of plan. Now all he had to do was get into their…
“Ding!”
Of course!
Larry walked through the elevator doors, deadpan as usual, bags under his eyes. Exactly as planned. Gumball began to side-eye the worker, creeping up behind him. Gosh, the amount of tip-toeing he was doing must be giving him strong feet. Without Larry’s attention, he cartoonishly managed to jump into his bag and zip it back up, the warmth of the pizza and small space making him feel a little cramped, but he would endure it to see his nemesis and fight his roommate. Partner? Gosh, what a rancid thought… that shouldn’t be allowed. He held his breath as Larry knocked on the door, almost immediately being answered by Rob.
“Oh, hey! I didn’t know you were dropping it off.”
“I’m the only delivery driver, Robbie.” Larry began to unzip the bag, but they seemed to be pretty deep in conversation, giving him an ample opportunity to sneak away and hide under a nearby coffee table- woah. These two weren’t bad at interior design. The room had a good balance of colour and black and white shades, with decor that was predominantly blue and yellow… well, those always were Rob’s favourite colours, even after the void.
“You got here so fast though! Isn’t it like… a few miles away?”
“Yeah, but I wanted to get this to you soon as I saw you ordered it. I did have closer orders but…”
“Nepotism.”
“Don’t tell my boss.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Thank you- oh, here you go!” Gumball saw him hold out a £20 as a tip. “I payed it on my card.”
“Aw, that’s sweet of you but I’d feel bad…” Why? Larry always was working for extra tips?
“C’mon, dad, I got it ready!’
What the ever-loving what.
“Ehh, okay, but I’ll get you something in return. Deal?”
“Fine.” Rob took the pizzas from Larry with a huge smile and carried them into the kitchen. Gumball needed a second to process that.
Well, it felt like a second at least. Somehow, he probably zoned out, an hour had passed since he found out Larry and Rob were… connected? There really wasn’t much he knew about him. His mind just ran through all the different things Rob could be hiding from him- it WASN’T FAIR. Without a second thought, the cat ran out and into the front room with a raging expression, red-faced. The glitch was laid out on the sofa, arm hanging over the arm, until Gumball came into his field of vision and he almost fell off the furniture.
“GUMBALL?!”
“ROB!”
“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?” He exploded, panicked, positioning himself in a fighting stance and his eye darting around in confusion. Both of them jumped at the sudden crashing sound from the kitchen, similar to one of a saucepan being dropped on the tiled floor; the sound’s creator came running out with a knife in each hand, just as mad as Gumball and panicked as Rob. The blue cat was… speechless, but not entirely surprise.
“WH- WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE- HOW DID YOU GET HERE?”
“J-Julius? Julius Oppenheimer?” Gumball felt his throat twist into a knot.
“Jr. You know this, what I wanna know is WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE?!” The bomb spat, pointing the weapons at the blue boy, who blinked for a second before dropping his stance and placing his hands on his hips.
“Really? Julius? You’re with Julius?” He raised an eyebrow, oblivious to the bomb’s expression worsening in rage. “Pfft- I knew you don’t have anything going for you but: JULIUS?” He laughed, still not aware of Julius’ fuse beginning to light up. “Wow… you know he’s just a thunder jerk? He can’t DO anything for you.”
“WHAT?!” Julius’ fuse was almost at the base, until Rob gasped and grabbed a bottle of water that was sitting on the table and splashed it onto the sparking string.
“Babe, look, he’s just… annoying. He doesn’t mean it,” The glitch muttered quietly, wrapping his arms around the monochrome boy’s waist, smiling at him for a second before glaring back at the cat. “How did you get in my house?”
“I- the door was unlocked.”
“It wasn’t.”
“FESS UP, DABY.”
Gumball looked at the pair holding each other: Julius’ arm on his hip, knife still perched between his fingers. Rob was capable of destroying a town. Julius was capable of destroying a person. It was only now that Gumball became aware of his situation. WHY did he not stop when Darwin told him to- if he asked, Rob probably would have let him come to visit anyway.
“I… I wanted to see who your roommate was…”
“Oh, brother, don’t tell me this is another Banana Joe situation,” Rob sighed as he ran his hand down his face. “You have issues, man.”
“I was curious!” He looked around at the pair interrogating him- he might as well come out with it all honestly, it’d do him no favours if he just sat there lying. “Okay, maybe it is another Joe situation. I just… I don’t like it when you…” Wow. He was a BAD person. “Think about other people…”
“Gross.” Julius commented, turning to put the knives back in the kitchen. Rob began to massage his temples, but sat back down, inviting Gumball to do the same.
“Look, try and understand, my life might have revolved around you ages ago, but not anymore. You’ll always be my nemesis; I hate you!”
“Awww~”
“But I have my own gosh-darn life, okay? I’ve got an apartment, I’m getting a job, I- look, I just got stuff going’ on, okay? And I can’t handle your weird obsessive stalky tendencies.”
“But I wanted to know!”
“And now you do. Please leave me alone.”
“B-but, there’s still so much I don’t know about you! Like, when was Larry your dad?!”
“Since he and Steve adopted me? Like… a year ago?”
“LARRY AND MR SMALL ARE MARRIE-“
“Ugh, look, this is gonna go forever- just please get out of my house. You know where I live now, you know who I live with, you have no reason to be here. Look- I’ll call you a taxi or whatever. It’s getting late.”
“You’d do that for me?” The cat asked, crawling towards him a little with a grateful grin.
“Sure! I hate you but I’m not gonna let you walk home!”
Once Rob had ordered the cab, Julius had come back into the room and Gumball apologised for stalking them, the atmosphere of the room felt… a little less tense. After all, Julius was friends (to some extent) with Darwin; they didn’t have much of a disagreement. Maybe out of everyone who was gonna steal Rob from him, he was a good option. Maybe. He still didn’t think it was fair, but if Rob was happy (and he definitely looked it with Julius’ arms holding him close) then it was probably fine. He couldn’t hold the grudge forever, and he had other people who were important to him. He should probably let it go.
“Hey, little man. Cab’s outside.” Julius hummed, eyeing the notification that appeared on his boyfriend’s phone.
“Thanks, I should… probably get going anyway.” He got up, glancing at the clock, and turned towards the door.
“Hey-“ Rob waved to him as he grabbed the handle to turn it. “It was nice to see you. I guess. Hope it’s a safe drive.”
Gumball only grinned at him as he walked through the door, but as soon as it clicked shut, he let out an excited giggle.
“I’M ROB’S FAVOURITE!” He punched the air and ran down to the cab, leaving Rob and Julius to stay in that position acting like the whole building didn’t just hear him scream that.
“What is wrong with that kid?”
“I have no idea, but he’s a decent nemesis,” Rob turned to face Julius, planting a small kiss on the corner of his mouth. “No way is he my favourite, though. That’s been taken.”