Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the last school day on Elmore Junior High until winter break and barely anyone in Gumball’s class was still listening to what Miss Simian was saying, as everyone was just waiting for the bell to ring, which would indicate the end of school for the rest of the year.

So luckily nobody was really affected by what the grumpy ape was trying to do to ruin everyone’s holidays while she still had the chance to make an impact.

“And that, dear students, is why you’re all just a bunch of spoiled brats that have no idea what Christmas is actually about and don’t deserve any presents. Not a single one of you. Better keep that in mind when your parents give them to you and you’re playing with them.”, she finished before the bell finally freed them all.

“Yes, finally! Now I only have to wait for the library to close in a few hours and I can stop pretending that I care about your education for 2 weeks. Class dismissed!”, Miss Simian happily announced, while all the students were cheering and running outside.

While most of the students were immediately heading to the entrance, Gumball and Darwin stopped in the hallways, as they were still waiting for their little sister to finish her class and join them.

“Man, this Christmas is going to be awesome!”, Gumball excitedly told his brother.

“I know, right? Not only are all of our grandparents coming over for the first time, but it’s also our first Christmas that we both have girlfriends we can spend some time with.”, Darwin replied, sharing his brother’s excitement.

“You can say that out loud.”, Carrie said with a smirk after teleporting in right behind Darwin, scaring the fish in the process as he was turning around.

“Ah!”

“HAHAHA! It’s so easy to scare you.”, Carrie smirked in amusement while high-fiving Gumball.

“Not cool!”, Darwin answered, trying to sound angrier than he really was.

“Aww, I know you could never be angry with me for that.”, Carrie teased before kissing him on the cheek.

“You’re right. I can’t.”, Darwin said as he was blushing before reciprocating the kiss.

“Well, we should probably…”, Gumball started while turning around, only to meet Penny right in front of his face as they were standing under a mistletoe.

“Oh, look at that. A mistletoe! Well, it can't be helped. I guess we need to kiss now.”, Penny said in fake surprise, while acting like this totally wasn’t what she was planning anyway.

“R-Right now? In front of everyone?”, Gumball answered, while rubbing his head and blushing madly.

“Come on, we just did it too! Don’t be such a coward.”, Carrie mocked him, while standing behind them with Darwin.

“Coward!? Oh, I'll show you how much of a coward I am. You want to see a kiss? Here we go.”, Gumball said, while grabbing Penny and kissing her on the mouth as long and intensely as he could. Penny was surprised for a second, but quickly gave in and kissed him back.

Meanwhile Tobias was just coming through the hallways as he saw Penny from behind.

“Hey, beautiful. I thought we could…”, he started before seeing her engaged in an intense kiss with Gumball.

“Alright, you’re kinda busy right now. Next year maybe.”, Tobias finished before walking off, trying to hide the pain in his voice and keep the little bit of dignity he still had.

Gumball finally pulled back from the kiss as he heard the voice of his little sister a bit further off, not sounding too happy.

“Come on! Can’t you just leave me alone?”, Anais tried to tell Julius off and not let him hear the fear in her voice.

“Now now, that’s not a very nice thing to say.”, Julius mocked with fake innocence. 

“You see, I was going to buy my parents some really cool presents, but I unfortunately don’t have enough money. You wouldn’t have something that I could borrow by any chance, would you?”, he said, while blocking the bunny’s way and speaking in a tone that made it clear that answering no wasn’t an option here.

Gumball was furious upon seeing the bully treat his little sister this way. He clenched his fists, just barely suppressing the urge to walk towards them and give Julius a good beating.

But he knew that getting into a fight in school so shortly before Christmas would mean trouble that he really couldn’t have right now. Aside from the fact that he probably wouldn’t walk away from this encounter unscathed.

Looking at the mistletoe above him and Penny as well as seeing Sussie just walking through the hallways gave him another idea though.

“Hey Sussie, could you come with me for a second?”, Gumball asked sweetly, while grabbing the mistletoe above him.

“Of course, dear Gumball! How can I help you?”, Sussie replied while following Gumball, unaware of his intentions.

They stopped just before Julius, who was still focusing on Anais and didn’t notice the blue cat holding the mistletoe above his head just as Sussie was standing beside them.

“Oh, look at that! You two are standing under the mistletoe. Well, I guess that means you have to kiss now.”, Gumball teased.

“Wait, what!?”, Julius asked in confusion while turning around, only now realizing what was going on.

“Oh, I guess we do! Come here, Julius dear.”, Sussie said, while walking closer.

“What, no! I don’t want to kiss you!”, Julius answered in horror, while slowly moving backwards.

“But that’s the rules. No way around it. Come on, it’s just a little kiss. Maybe you’ll even like it.”, Gumball said with a smirk.

“Yes, come here. To be honest, I had a thing for you since you were giving me that piece of gum as a present anyway. You know exactly what I like.”, Sussie said, while coming even closer and preparing to kiss him.

“Argh! NO, GET AWAY! I ALREADY HAVE A GIRLFRIEND ANYWAY!”, Julius screamed while running away, with Sussie now following him.

“You can’t outrun true love forever.”, she said.

As Julius was finally gone, Anais turned to Gumball and ran over to hug him in gratitude.

“Thank you so much, Gumball! I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t come.”, Anais admitted.

“You didn’t even know any way out of that? Maybe you aren’t as much of a genius after all.”, Gumball playfully teased his sister, while embracing her in return. 

“But seriously, how did that jerk get a girlfriend in the first place? Some people must have some really low standards.”

“Like Penny for example, considering who her boyfriend is.”, Anais teased him back with a smirk.

“Hey!”, Gumball jokingly complained while moving away from the hug and folding his arms.

“HAHAHA! I’m just kidding. You know you’re the best brother I could ever wish for, right?”, Anais answered.

“Oh, am I? Better make sure Darwin doesn’t hear that. He probably wouldn’t appreciate you having a new favorite.”, Gumball said, while pointing towards his brother.

“Too late. I already heard it and I’m not happy about it!”, Darwin answered while turning away from them and folding his arms.

“Oh, come on. I didn’t mean it like that. You’re the best too of course.”, Anais said in a reassuring tone, while moving towards him, hoping she didn’t hurt his feelings.

“Yeah, I know. I’m just messing with you.”, he replied with a smile, while petting her head.

“You jerk!”, Anais said, while playfully punching his arm.

“Alright, we should probably get out. The school bus isn’t going to wait for us.”, Gumball called out, as they were all walking outside of the building together.

Chapter Text

After arriving home, Gumball and his siblings were greeted by their mother, who was happily decorating the Christmas tree.

“Ah, there you are my little angels.”, she said, while scooping them all up in a tight hug.

“Geez Mom, what put you in such a good mood?”, Gumball wondered while hugging her back.

“Well, aside from the fact that I finally have a longer vacation from work for the first time in an eternity, I can finally spend a Christmas with my family where I know that Santa exists without a doubt.”, Nicole explained.

“Oh yeah. Still can’t believe I was riding in his sleigh.”, Gumball answered, recalling the events of their last Christmas.

“I can’t believe that I didn’t and was just left on the ground while you and Dad had all the fun.”, Darwin commented.

“Well, don’t worry. This year we are all going to have more than enough fun. I’m already excited for my parents coming over so I can celebrate my first Christmas with them since I ran away from home.”, Nicole said, while pulling back from the hug.

“Which means we finally get all the Christmas parents they still owe us!”, Gumball reminded them.

This was met by disapproving glares from everyone as Darwin was punching his arm.

“I’m just kidding! I’m just kidding!”, Gumball clarified, laughing and rubbing his arm.

“Anyway, who wants to help me with decorating the tree?”, Nicole asked.

“I do!”, the kids answered simultaneously, before Gumball remembered something. 

“Oh no! I just forgot something very important in school. My gift for Penny is still in my locker! I need to go back while it’s still open.”

“Oh no. Should I just drive you quickly?”, Nicole asked.

“Nah, it’s alright. You guys just decorate the tree. I’m fast. I’ll get there by myself.”, he said while quickly moving towards the door.

“Alright, be careful!”, Nicole told her son, while he was already running outside.

As he opened the door, Gumball met his grandfather Frankie Watterson, who was just standing in front of him and about to ring the bell.

“Grandpa Frankie! Wow, you came early.”, Gumball commented.

“Well, I wanted to surprise my son. And to get away from that trailer I have to live in for as long as possible, but mostly I wanted to surprise Richard and be with the family.”

“DAD! I heard your voice! You’re already here! I haven’t celebrated Christmas with you since I was a child.”, Richard said, while running outside and hugging his father in excitement.

“Glad to see you too, son”, Frankie said while reciprocating the hug.

Gumball’s heart melted at seeing their interaction but he didn’t have much time to appreciate it, as he needed to get to school quickly. Not to get a gift for Penny though.

He was about to visit the school library and get a rare book of a series Anais was collecting, which he ordered in advance for her as a Christmas present. He couldn’t pick it up right after school, as they were walking home together and knowing Anais, she probably would've suspected something if he came back late from the library.

And while he was already on his way to school, he was also planning to make a stop at the mall on his way home and buy presents for everyone else there.

After a while he arrived at Elmore Junior High, out of breath, but still in time to get his present for Anais before the school closed for the rest of the year. After walking inside the library, he found Miss Simian at the entrance, who wasn't happy to see him.

"Great and here I thought I'd finally have a break from you for the rest of the year. What are you even doing here, Watterson? The only time you usually spend in school after lessons are over is for detention.", she said.

"Not excited to see you again, either. I will just pick something up for my sister and then I'm gone.", he answered, not wanting to bother any longer with the grumpy ape.

"Geez, I hope so. Wonder how that family of yours can stand being around you the whole day. I can barely do it for a few hours.", she threw back at him just as Gumball was walking away.

Not wanting to take this from her, Gumball decided to turn around after all to give her a piece of his mind.

"At least I have a family who loves me. You only have Principal Brown and he even has shown in the past that he wouldn't hesitate to fire you if you became too much of a problem. Seems like you are the unlikeable one.", he smugly responded.

"Oh, that's it! DETENTION FOR YOU, WATTERSON!", Miss Simian decided.

"Not working. School is dismissed so I'm not your student anymore right now. Unless I coincidentally destroy something important or make another mess, you have nothing on me until next year!", Gumball threw back.

"I...well, ugh, I HATE MY JOB!", Miss Simian complained while Gumball was finally walking away from her, silently enjoying his victory.

As you long as you don't destroy something, huh?, Miss Simian thought as a sinister smile grew on her face.

After Gumball went to collect the book, he made his way to run outside so he could get to the mall in time. In his hurry, he unfortunately didn’t notice a pen that was lying on the floor, on which he slipped, causing him to fall against one of the bookshelves.

The impact of the young cat crushing into it caused the bookshelf to fall over and hit a bunch of others in a line and quickly all of them fell over. The books were mostly still intact, but some of the shelves were damaged.

As he was standing up, Gumball was in shock about what just happened as Miss Simian was quickly beside him, alarmed by the loud crash. She smirked.

“Even already in your holidays you can’t help but still cause trouble after all, can’t you Watterson? Principal Brown’s office, now!”, she asked in delight.

“No! I didn’t want to-”

“Principal Brown’s office, now!”, she screamed, not even bothering to hear him out.

Defeated, Gumball walked outside to the principal’s office, in shock about what just happened.

In his office, Principal Brown obviously wasn’t happy about the damage. Gumball tried to explain that it was an accident but Miss Simian was there as well, doing her best to undermine any effort of the blue cat to lessen his punishment.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to do it! I slipped over something!”, Gumball argued.

“Well, I didn’t see anything in the library that he could have slipped over, so he’s obviously just lying to get out of trouble. Your sorry unfortunately can’t fix the damage you caused, can it?”, Miss Simian asked with a sadistic smile.

“But-”, Gumball tried, before getting interrupted.

“I’m afraid Miss Simian is right, Watterson. Even if you didn’t mean it, you were responsible for the accident and must therefore pay for the damage. Now, don’t worry. I’m not expecting you to pay for it yourself since you’re a child. I’m just going to call your mother so she can do it.”, Principal Brown explained.

“WHAT!? NO! PLEASE! She worked so hard so we can finally afford a great Christmas! If she now has to pay for all of this damage, we won’t have enough left and she will be so sad!”, Gumball begged, tears forming in his eyes now.

“Well, that’s not our problem, is it? Maybe if she had a son who wasn’t such a screw-up, your family could actually enjoy things, but with you that just doesn’t seem to be possible.”, Miss Simian mocked him.

“That’s enough, Lucy! I get that you’re angry about the damage, but that doesn’t excuse insulting a student like that.”, Principal Brown scolded her.

“Of course. Forgive me, Nigel. My temper just got the better of me.”, Miss Simian apologized, although clearly not meaning it.

“Now as I said, someone must pay for the damage. So, I unfortunately have no choice but to call your mother-”, Principal Brown started, before Gumball interrupted him.

“WAIT! How much would it cost? Maybe I can pay it.”

“…Are you sure? Well, considering what was destroyed, I guess it would all come down to about a hundred dollars.”, Principal Brown finished.

100 dollars!? That’s almost all the money I saved up to buy everyone presents!

But if I don’t pay it, Mom won’t have enough money to pay for her presents. She’ll be so disappointed in me. But so will everyone else be if I don’t have any presents for them.

Sigh, I guess it’s better to let them know that I let everyone down instead of letting Mom carry the burden, Gumball thought before coming to a decision.

“Alright, here you go.”, he muttered in a defeated tone, before handing over the money to Principal Brown to the latter’s surprise.

“Well… thank you, Watterson. Since you paid for the damage yourself, I guess there’s no reason for me to tell your parents about this. Have a nice Christmas.”, Principal Brown said, while Miss Simian waved him goodbye in a smug gesture.

“Yeah, you too.”, Gumball answered in a silent voice, before walking out of the office.

After a long and painful walk, Gumball finally arrived at home. He hoped that nobody would notice his miserable state and ask him about it, but he knew better.

To his fortune though, nobody seemed to be home as he opened the door and called for his family. After a while, he got a notification on his phone, where he saw a message from Darwin, saying that they were shopping for groceries.

Gumball sat down on the couch in sadness, replaying Miss Simian’s words in his mind. 

Maybe if she had a son who wasn’t such a screw-up, your family could actually enjoy things, but with you that just doesn’t seem to be possible.

She may have only said it to make him feel even worse, but Gumball was starting to believe that it was true. They finally had a perfect Christmas to look forward to, but he just ruined everything. Llike he always does.

In frustration, he picked up one of the glitter balls that didn’t fit the Christmas tree anymore and threw it somewhere without looking. He didn’t notice that he just hit the Christmas tree and that he hit it hard.

Hard enough that it hit the wall, before bouncing back and falling to the floor with all the decoration falling off and being spread over the floor.

He just did it again.

Why do I have to mess everything up?, Gumball thought.

He decided to take another walk outside, before he destroyed anything else in the house.

Chapter Text

While Gumball was walking, he was thinking further about how he just messed everything up.

I always cause chaos and destruction wherever I go. And everyone else has to suffer for it. They would be better off without me. Maybe I should just leave Elmore and never come back. I would be doing them a favor, he thought, before suddenly a voice called out from behind him.

“You really think that?”, it said.

Startled, Gumball turned around and saw nobody but Santa Claus himself, just as he remembered him from last Christmas, when he and his siblings were helping him to get his memory back.

“Santa!?”, Gumball asked.

“Ho ho ho. Did you expect anyone else?”, Santa asked in return.

“What are you doing here?”, Gumball wondered.

“Returning a favor by doing the same thing for you that you did for me last Christmas. Pulling you back to reality. You seriously think everyone would be better off without you?”, he asked.

“Well, all I really do is mess everything up, isn’t it? They all deserve someone better than me.”, Gumball sadly admitted.

“So what are you saying? You would prefer them to live in a world where you just suddenly vanished?”

“Well, not quite. I already did more than enough damage up until this point. Maybe it would be better if I had never been born.”, Gumball answered.

“Alright. Then allow me to show you how wrong you are about that.”, Santa said, while snapping his fingers.

A glowing light blinded Gumball for a moment before it vanished, leaving him confused.

“What just happened?”, he asked.

“I just granted your wish. That’s what happened. We’re now in a world where you have never been born.”, Santa explained.

“Well, that can’t be true. How am I still existing and talking to you if I haven’t been born?”, Gumball wondered.

“I just turned you into a sort of spirit. I can still see and interact with you, but nobody else can. I thought this was perfect for what I’m about to show you. How everyone’s lives are without you having ever existed.”, Santa revealed.

“No need to rub it in. I already know that everyone will obviously be in a much better place without me ruining everything for them.”, the blue cat answered, while looking down sadly.

“Alright, stop. I can’t take this attitude of yours any longer. If you seriously believe that, then let’s just take a look at it ourselves.”

After he said that, Santa snapped his fingers again and suddenly, Gumball and him were teleported to Elmore Junior High during a school day.

“What the… did you just teleport us!?”, Gumball asked in astonishment.

“I have the power to bring you into a reality where you don’t exist and THIS is what surprises you? Weirdo.”, Santa chuckled.

Gumball rolled his eyes. “Alright, so what is it you wanted to show me?”

“How about this?”, Santa pointed towards Penny as she was walking towards her locker, but to Gumball’s surprise, she had her shell on.

“What the what? Why is Penny wearing her shell?”

“Why wouldn’t she? You don’t exist, so there’s nobody who ever encouraged her to be herself and come out of it in this reality. Also means she’s single. And guess who uses that to annoy her the most.”, Santa asked with a smirk, as Tobias came walking towards Penny.

“Hey, beautiful. I was thinking, you, me, the mall, one milkshake, two straws. What do you think?”, he asked confidently.

“I have a better idea. You, me, my foot, your butt, the trashcan. What do YOU think?”, Penny asked in a threatening tone, sounding a lot more frustrated than she usually was when putting Tobias in his place.

“Alright, I see you’re not in the mood today. But you can’t resist the charm of Tobias forever, girl. Maybe next time.”, he said while walking away.

“Grrh. Why can’t I meet a sweet, nice boy who cares about me for more than just advancing his dating game?”, Penny muttered under her breath.

“Does she sound happier to you than she does when you’re around? Doesn’t seem like it to me. More like the opposite.”, Santa told Gumball.

“Okay, I guess Penny is the exception since she’s my girlfriend and Tobias ás the only other alternative isn’t exactly a high bar to surpass. I bet my other classmates don’t feel that way.”, Gumball theorized.

“Oh, do you? Well, take a look at her then.”, Santa said, while pointing towards Carrie as she flew around the hallways, looking very sad, almost depressed, for some reason.

“Wow. What happened to Carrie? The only time I ever saw her like that was a long time ago. Before… um…”, Gumball started, but failed to completely remember.

“Before you and Darwin approached her and became her first friends, after which she became a lot happier upon realizing that she can connect with people and doesn’t just have to suffer in her loneliness? Well, never happened without you. So that never changed either.”, Santa revealed.

“But-”, Gumball tried to argue, but Santa didn’t give him a chance and just pointed towards more people.

“You want to see more? Clayton.”, he said while pointing towards him, as he was just telling Banana Joe some over the top-story about how he saved the planet before breakfast.

“Never got shown by you and your brother how bad lying is, so he’s still doing it in the worst way.”

“Then there’s Tina.”, Santa continued while pointing towards her, as she was right now threatening a group of younger, frightened students. 

“Without you becoming her friend and convincing her that she can be more than just a bully, she never stopped being one.”

After that he teleported him over to a classroom where Bobert was sitting all by himself in boredom.

“Bobert? What is he doing inside here? It’s break.”, Gumball wondered.

“Well, without you Bobert never learned how to be a real boy and interact with his classmates so as a result he decided to isolate himself after too many failed attempts and isn’t even trying anymore now. Oh, he also never found true love in the form of the Vacuum Cleaner.”, Santa explained.

Then he teleported them inside the cafeteria, where Sarah was sitting alone with her phone in her hand on a table, eating.

“Sarah. She’s also a loner who is just bored through her entire school day and never got the chance to pursue any of her talents, such as drawing or writing fanfiction.”

“Wait, why? How is that connected to me?”, Gumball asked.

“Well, without you and your brother around, there was just nobody around interesting enough for her to fangirl after and make use of those interests of hers.”, Santa responded.

“I could show you even more, like teleporting you to Clare’s new boring town, where she’s just as moody as she was before meeting you since nobody convinced her how amazing the world can be and to stay in Elmore, which means Jared and her aren’t a thing.

But I’m gonna go straight ahead to the most important example. Your sister.”, Santa said, as they were now seeing Anais and Julius in the hallways after yet another teleportation.

The same scene from earlier in the day played, where Julius was asking her for money, only this time nobody came in to help her, so she complied and just handed it over to him. She also didn’t do it reluctantly, but in a way that looked like she didn’t care.

“Oh no. What is with her?”, Gumball asked in a worried tone.

“Let’s just say your sister isn’t too well off without you. Not only does she have nobody to protect her from bullies, but she’s feeling a lot more lonely and sad in general due to being an only-child and not having any siblings at home to cheer her up or hang out with her. Which also means nobody encouraged her to try and make friends, so she doesn’t have any at school either.”, Santa revealed.

“Okay, wait a second. What about Darwin? She still has him. And a lot of the events I influenced, Darwin had his part in as well. So why is everything falling apart just because I’m not around? What happened to him?”, Gumball wanted to know.

Santa looked at Gumball sympathetically for a second, before sighing.

“Kid, Darwin is dead.”

-

“WHAT!?”

“Darwin is dead. Without you, your father never bought him from the Awesome Store and your love never caused him to grow legs and lungs. He stayed a normal fish and had the life span of a normal fish, which is over now. Nobody here even knows who Darwin is. Not his girlfriend Carrie, none of his other friends, not even anyone in your family.”, Santa finished.

“Holy shit!”, Gumball cursed unintentionally, trying to wrap his head around this.

“But… what about Mom and Dad!? Surely, they must be better off financially with only one child and nobody causing trouble for them?”, Gumball desperately argued.

“Alright, we can visit them as well.”, Santa said, before teleporting inside the Watterson house.

There sat Richard on the couch, watching TV, although not looking very enthusiastic, while Nicole was working inside the kitchen. There was a Christmas tree standing in the room, but it looked a lot less impressive than the one they originally had before Gumball destroyed it.

“What is up with that Christmas tree?”, Gumball wondered.

“Let’s just say your mother isn’t really a fan of Christmas here. Nobody restored her faith in Santa without what you did for me last year and even if she had that, she still wouldn’t have the money to buy a nice-looking tree without you and Darwin improving her working conditions in the Rainbow Factory that one time you followed her to ‘Bring your child to work-day’”, Santa answered.

“…I don’t believe it.”, Gumball said with wide eyes.

“Not to mention her also not having reconciled with her parents considering who sang the song that got them to make up again.”, he continued.

“Speaking of, as for your Dad, he’s probably sad about also having to celebrate another Christmas without his long-missing father as nobody unintentionally gave him the idea to adopt your Grandpa Louie to stop his relationship with Jojo, which started the whole event of you guys searching for Frankie to fix the whole situation.

So… do you still think everyone would be better off if you were never born, Gumball?”, Santa asked.

Gumball couldn’t answer for a moment, too overwhelmed by everything he had just seen.

“I… didn’t realize the impact I had on the people close to me.”, he admitted.

“Well, then I better not show you the impact you have on the town in general and how boring Elmore is without you kicking off some crazy adventure every 11 minutes or so.”, Santa joked.

“Just one more question which is kinda unrelated to this whole situation: Since you actually exist, why do we give presents to each other? Shouldn’t that be your job?”, Gumball asked.

“Oh, that old rumor. No, Christmas isn’t about presents. It’s about family and the people close to you. That’s why I’m doing this kind of stuff instead. Helping people like you who think they aren’t worth it to see how important they are to those around them. Besides, do you really think anyone could be fast enough to deliver presents to the whole world in one night without anyone seeing them? Like seriously, that makes no sense.”, Santa explained.

“I… guess you’re right. That would also explain your physique. You don’t really seem like the guy fit enough for that level of physical performance.”, Gumball concluded.

“Did you just call me fat?”, Santa asked in an unamused tone.

“Uh…no! I mean-”, Gumball realized, quickly trying to save himself.

“Uh, I could use some exercise. The milk and cookie obsession isn’t just a rumor, I love those things.”, Santa clarified.

“Oh, Milk. Yeah, I’m a cat so I can relate. Cookies too, but that’s just my love for sweets and not species-related.”, Gumball joined in.

“Yeah, you’re not exactly a prime example of physical fitness yourself.”, Santa joked.

“Well, at least it doesn’t take nine reindeers to carry me around!”, Gumball chuckled.

“Hey, that’s not my fault! That sleigh is heavy!”, Santa defended himself, although they were both having a good laugh.

“Not to mention the word Christmas. I get Christ, but always wondered who put the ‘mass’ into that holiday. I suppose you are to blame for that.”, Gumball continued.

“Hehe, okay seriously, that’s enough now! My work here is done. Time to go back to your reality. I hope you know what to do there.”, Santa warned, before snapping Gumball back to the point where Santa first approached him. Only now he was gone.

“Yes. I know what to do!”, Gumball said with determination before making his way back home.

Chapter Text

After a while Gumball returned home. He entered through the door as his family was just busy fixing the mess he made on the ground with the Christmas tree. As the blue kitten came in, everyone’s eyes turned towards him.

“There you are, Gumball. I didn’t think you would stay away for so long.”, Darwin said.

“Yeah, running to the school and back usually doesn’t take that long. Or did you get out of breath multiple times on the way? Maybe you should start exercising more.”, Anais teased playfully, but Gumball didn’t show the reaction to that which he usually would.

“The… tree.”, he started, not sure how to apologize for it.

“Oh yeah. It somehow fell over while we were gone. I thought I had it perfectly placed on the ground. What a mess. Can’t use that one again. You want to help us clean it up?”, Nicole asked.

“NO! That’s the thing. I-I was the one who destroyed the tree.”, he sheepishly admitted.

“Huh? What do you mean?”, Darwin wondered.

“I-I came back while you were out and threw a glitter ball against the tree. I didn’t mean to! I was upset about what happened at school and didn’t think about what I was doing and I- *sniff* I destroyed the tree. I was too ashamed to confront you about it so I went outside, but… I decided to come back.”, Gumball finished, deciding not to tell them about his journey with Santa or else he’d sound like a madman to them.

His siblings and mother were giving him sympathetic looks, before Anais chimed in.

“Wait, what do you mean what happened at school? Didn’t you just go back to get your gift for Penny?”, she asked.

“I lied to you, okay!? I was actually getting a gift for you in the school library, Anais. And I didn’t want you to know. And after that I wanted to buy gifts for the rest of you in town. But I- *sniff* I slipped in the school library and pushed over a bunch of bookshelves and had to pay for the damage and after that, I don’t have any money to buy any of you a present now.”, he continued, tears now streaming down his face.

“Gumball-”, Nicole reached out to her son.

“I’m so sorry! We had such a great Christmas to look forward to, but I just ruined it for all of you. Now we don’t have a tree and I can’t get any of you a present.”, he sadly apologized through his tears.

“Oh no, Gumball. Come here, it’s alright.”, said Nicole, while pulling her son into a hug.

“You didn’t ruin anything. It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone. Besides, we still have more than enough time to buy and decorate a new tree.”

“B-But *sniff* won’t that exceed our budget?”, Gumball asked.

“Well, normally it would have. But thanks to that time Darwin and you saved the Rainbow Factory when you came with me to ‘Bring your kid to work’-day and improved our working conditions, I have enough money now that we can get a new one without any damage to our finances.”, Nicole reassured him with a smile.

“See? You didn’t ruin Christmas for us! Aside from that, the presents aren’t that important. Christmas is about family.”, Darwin said, while joining the hug.

“Yeah. And I consider myself really lucky to have you as part of my family, Gumball. You always look out for me, comfort me and stand up for me, even against people who are bigger and stronger than you are like Julius.”, Anais carried on, joining the group hug as well.

“You r-really mean that?”, Gumball asked, a last tear escaping his face.

“Of course, dude. You’re the best!”, Darwin said while hugging him tighter.

“Thank you. That means a lot.”, Gumball answered, reassured of his family’s love and forgiveness.

Just after that, Richard just came down the stairs with news.

“Hey Gumball, I just got a call from school. Principal Brown says that they checked the security footage in the library and saw that you indeed tripped on a pen that was put in place by Miss Simian just a moment before you fell over it.

Since that makes the accident her fault, she’s coming over now to give you back the money and some book from the library that you ordered, as well as apologize to you. He says you’d know what that means.”, Richard finished before walking back up the stairs.

“Really!? Oh man, I don’t believe it. That means I can still get everyone presents after all!”, Gumball happily realized.

“See? All is well that ends well. Can’t believe Miss Simian is personally going to come over here to not only give us money, but also apologize to you.”, Darwin said, while Anais grinned at the thought of her doing that.

“I should have known Miss Simian did that to sabotage me after I insulted her at the library. Principal Brown probably ordered her to do it and she’s really frustrated about that. No way would she ever do something like that voluntarily, especially for me.”, Gumball laughed.

“Oh my gosh, you not only insulted Miss Simian but got her to come over and suck up to you now!? That’s my boy!”, Nicole proudly said, while hugging Gumball again, since she disliked the old ape just as much as her son, due to her own bad experiences with her as a teacher. 

“I’m going to get my camera for when she gets here, so we can look back at her doing this forever.”, she beamed, while running up the stairs.

And so, everything worked out in the end after all for Gumball this Christmas. He was reassured that he indeed made a positive impact on those around him, he could get everyone their presents and they could celebrate Christmas together as a big happy family.

The End