A/N: I wish they did this sort of thing in the show more often tbh. This is cross-posted on Ao3, anonymously.


I - The Box

It was sitting there, in the corner, mocking him.

Miss Simian was giving a lecture, but Gumball wouldn't be able to tell you on what. Darwin was quietly taking notes next to him, every so often glancing over to see if his brother was still staring intensely at whatever had caught his attention.

There, at the front of the room to the right of Miss Simian's desk, tucked snugly into the corner, was a large cardboard box.

It had previously been holding several rolled up posters that were pinned up that morning, and now… it was criminally, unacceptably, empty.

Gumball stared at it. It just felt so… wrong. A box like that shouldn't be empty – boxes were meant to be filled, right? And… the size. The size was so appealing; the corners closed in just enough to provide a cosy, but not suffocating space, and the position meant that it had an optimal view of the whole classroom.

And it was empty.

Gumball kept staring, his tail twitching occasionally when Miss Simian's voice reached a particularly high screech.

Once again, Darwin glanced over in concern at his brother. Gumball's attention was resolute. It was a bit unsettling.

Uncertain, Darwin followed his brother's gaze, trying to see what could possibly have caught his attention – it really wasn't often that Gumball remained so focused on something for so long. Darwin frowned in confusion when there seemed to be nothing interesting at the front of the room – what had gotten into him?

Luckily for the poor class, the torture of having Miss Simian lecture them came to an end as the bell rang. There was a collective sigh of relief and an animated chatter started up as the students gathered their things and eagerly made to leave the classroom.

Darwin was among them, shaking off his weariness. A sunny smile broke out on his face as he closed his notes and put away his pencil. He picked up his pencil case and workbook and turned to his brother, ready to head to the lockers and then out to lunch, only to find the seat that Gumball had been in one second ago was now empty.

Darwin's eyebrows shot up, especially confused since his brother hadn't even collected any of his things. He looked around briefly before turning to the corner of the room that Gumball had been so fixated on.

Sure enough, there he was, standing in the box that had previously been holding the new classroom posters from that morning.

"Gumball?" Darwin asked, perplexed. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," said Gumball stubbornly, crossing his arms.

There were still a few people left in the classroom, giving him odd looks as they left. Miss Simian was already gone, as eager to get away from her students as they were from her. One of the stragglers was Penny, who came up to stand next to Darwin, her face portraying amusement.

"Gumball?" she tried. "Are you coming to lunch?"

"U-um," stammered Gumball, his eyes averting. " No, I… actually… um, I wanted to stay here today, actually… to, uh, guard the classroom! To – to make sure Miss Simian doesn't... come back in?"

Darwin stared at his brother in disbelief. Penny let out a laugh next to him, moving to leave. "Alright, if you say so!" she giggled brightly. "Come on, Darwin, let's see if we can catch Carrie!"

"In a minute," waved off Darwin, still staring flabbergasted at his brother.

"Alright," laughed Penny again, leaving the room. "See you in a bit!"

With Penny's departure, the two brothers were the only ones left in the classroom.

Gumball stubbornly stood his ground, his eyes closed and mouth turned downwards in an embarrassed but determined look.

"Dude," exclaimed Darwin, raising an eyebrow. "Since when would you rather stay in the classroom than go to lunch? With Penny?"

"I…" Trailed off Gumball, his eyes opening and averting to where Penny had been sitting, at the back of the classroom. He began to sweat, and his ears flattened, unable to look at Darwin in embarrassment. "It's… it's this box, man. I can't resist! It was calling to me!"

Darwin's eyebrows shot up again, before something clicked in his brain.

Darwin burst out into laughter, causing Gumball to redden slightly.

"Hey!" exclaimed Gumball, his voice cracking. He managed to look back at Darwin, scraping up some determination from the remains of his dignity. "Boxes aren't meant to be empty, man! I'm just – h-helping it out!"

"Helping it out!" repeated Darwin, his voice shaking with laughter. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes, and he raised a fin to wipe them away.

"Hey, don't act like you don't hide behind plants for no reason sometimes!" defended Gumball, crossing his arms.

That was true, but it was Darwin's job as Gumball's brother to find this as funny as possible.

"Whatever dude," said Darwin, grinning brightly, his voice still light with mirth. "Me and Penny will be in the cafeteria when you're done guarding the classroom, okay?"

Gumball reddened further, and grumbled something that didn't quite reach Darwin. Darwin decided to have mercy on his brother, and gathered up the things left on his desk, hoping it would coerce Gumball into coming back to the locker to get them.

As Darwin left the room, Gumball sank down further into the box, until only the top of his head and his eyes were left peaking over the rim. His gaze was sharp, pupils dilating as satisfaction ran through him at the perfect position of the box, allowing him to keep an eye on the entire classroom at once.