"The Cold" - TAWOG

[Dinogirl23]

Dinogirl23, here! (Sorry about the lame title, I just didn't have a lot of other options!)

I've been planning to post this story for a while now. You see, so far, I've found only ONE fanfic on here for The Amazing World of Gumball. It's not like I was expecting more or anything, but I really wanted to see another decent TAWOG sneeze-fic, preferably including Darwin as well as Gumball. If you're reading this, you're probably a fan, too, and may have felt this way at one point or another. This is going to be my contribution to the fanfiction sub-forum!

This fic takes place chronologically after the Christmas special, in early-to-mid January, about a week after winter break has ended. (A great time for the main characters to get sick, don't you agree?) Because this is during the second season of the show, Gumball and Darwin are still voiced by Logan Grove and Kwesi Boakye, respectively.

The story was so long that I decided to split it into separate parts. It's mostly just Darwin for the first half, but Gumball might start to get sick later on in the story. Also, if you know the show like I do, then I shouldn't have to explain who and what the characters are.

Let's get on to the story, shall we?

-o-

- Saturday -

The rays of the morning sun shone through the Watterson brothers' bedroom window, and the first thing Darwin was aware of after coming into consciousness was a dull, pounding headache. He groaned quietly and shut his eyes tighter, wanting to sleep more, but the pain in his head didn't go away, and he finally allowed his eyes to flutter open lazily.

The Friday afternoon before had been a fun-filled one. Snow blocked the streets and driveways all over Elmore, so school was closed for the day. Once they had eaten breakfast and gotten bundled up in their usual winter clothes, Gumball, Darwin and Anais dashed outside to play in the snow. All day long, they built snowmen, made snow angels, and had snowball fights, with their mom and dad -- and even a few other neighborhood kids -- joining in on the fun.

But that fun soon started to fade for Darwin. As evening came that day, the fish with legs was starting to be bothered by a scratchy throat, and he felt unusually tired. But after an exhausting day of playing out in the cold and laughing alongside his brother and sister, what else could he expect? Definitely not to get sick from having fun.

And yet, that's exactly what happened.

Darwin eventually gathered the willpower to pop out of the fishbowl he slept in, weakly standing up inside of it. Whatever he had managed to catch yesterday had multiplied while he slept, quickly overtaking his body, and now it was almost in full-effect. Gumball, already out of bed and fully awake, came beside the bowl to greet his brother.

"Morning, buddy," the blue cat said cheerfully; when he looked over the orange fish, his smile faded. "Oh, dude...are you okay?"

Darwin was, in fact, visibly unwell; there were subtle bags under his glassy eyes, and the scales around his nose (or rather the space between his eyes and mouth) were tinted red -- even his gills looked irritated. The way he was acting, swaying and breathing through his mouth, he could have been mistaken for a zombie.

The sick fish sleepily rubbed his eye, sounding half-congested. "I don't feel so good..."

"You don't look so good, either," Gumball commented.

Darwin tried to climb down from the nightstand on his own, but he was so weak that almost lost his footing a few times, and Gumball had to help him. Once he was safely on the ground, the young fish steadied himself and held his aching head, dizzy and disoriented.

"What's wrong with you?" Gumball asked his friend with concern.

Moaning, Darwin began to explain, "My head hurts, my throat is scratchy, my nose is running, and I think I...ah...AAH-choo!" Before he could finish, the sick fish suddenly let out a wet, forceful sneeze (that, thankfully, his brother managed to dodge), which left him a bit dazed.

As he sniffled wetly, Gumball put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We need to get you to Mom."

Downstairs, in the dining room, Nicole, Richard and Anais were already seated at the table and eating breakfast. Darwin -- now wearing his green dinosaur-foot pajamas, as he was too tired to get dressed -- trudged sleepily down the stairs, with Gumball (who was dressed normally for the day) following behind to make sure his best friend didn't trip or stumble from exhaustion. Just as the fish with legs reached the floor, his breath hitched and he sneezed again, more modestly this time.

"Hah-choo! *sniff*...Bisses Bob?"

The sneeze is what first put Nicole on alert; her next warning was the almost-unrecognizability of Darwin's voice. (He was trying to say "Mrs. Mom," but that first sneeze up in the bedroom had totally stuffed him up, and he was incapable of pronouncing his m's or n's.) When she turned and noticed how unwell her younger son was, she came over to him with a look of worry.

"Darwin, honey, are you alright?" She asked softly, kneeling down in front of him.

Darwin shook his head. "Duh-uh. I thig I'b sick."

Nicole felt his forehead with the back of her paw, and he coughed weakly. "Hmm...you do feel a little warm. And you don't sound like yourself, either."

"Well, should we call a doctor, a vet, or a marine biologist?" Gumball asked, ignoring the annoyed glare Darwin was giving him.

Nicole considered this for a few seconds. "...I don't know, actually. But I think a doctor would do just fine."

By the time the doctor's car had arrived, Darwin was fully dressed in his winter hat, mittens, and boots, his knees buckling as he shivered. The feverish fish felt freezing cold, even while bundled up for the sub-zero temperatures, and worse, the non-stop shivering only made him more exhausted than he already was. The doctor noticed this immediately; he let Darwin sit down and told him to take off his hat before he could proceed with the checkup.

"Can you tell me what's bothering you?" The doctor asked as he pulled out his stethoscope, listening for his patient's heartbeat.

"Well," Darwin began, "by head hurts, by throat hurts, ad I've beed sdeezig a lot, too. I'b stuffy, I'b sdiffly, I'b exhausted, I'b gettig chills, ad I thig I have a fever. Eved by gills feel a little fuddy." He felt pitiful just talking about his symptoms.

"Uh-huh," The doctor said thoughtfully, moving his stethoscope over Darwin's lungs. "Breathe in...breathe out..."

The fish with legs did as he was instructed, and the doctor went on to check his eyes, nose, throat and gills. Lastly, he took Darwin's temperature, writing the results down on his clipboard.

"Well, you have a slight fever of 99.5 degrees," the doctor explained to him. "Your gills and sinuses appear a bit red as well. Along with your symptoms, I'd say you have a case of the common cold."

Darwin blinked. "That's it? I have the sdiffles?"

"Well, this just happens to be a more severe case," he continued. "The common cold virus usually targets the upper respiratory system; that's the nose and throat area. However, this virus has managed to infect your gills as well, which is why they look so red and irritated. You most likely contracted it yesterday while you were playing outside, where the low temperature would have weakened your immune system. Anyway, I suggest you keep warm, drink plenty of fluids, and get some rest, and you should be feeling better in a few days."

The doctor explained everything to the rest of Darwin's family, who were prepared to take his advice, before he received his pay and left. As it turned out, they didn't have to convince Darwin to do anything; he was already ready and willing to follow the doctor's orders. He didn't mind staying under the covers for a few days if it meant it would help his body fight off the cold.

Speaking of which...

"C-c-cad I p-please get a blaget?"

-o-

And that's the end of the first part! Like it or hate it?

Well, actually, I don't want to hear any hateful comments. I'm aware of my inconsistency, and there's not much I can do about it (though I do try to at least make my work more readable). This isn't my first attempt at writing a sneeze-fic, you know! ...It's just my first attempt posting one.

If you did like it, however, please tell me so. I only need the approval of a few people to keep writing. Remember, this is only an introductory chapter; I'm just getting started!

I'll be back in a week or less!

[SneezyHolmes]

Aww! How cute! <3

[VividBubbles!]

Awww, I love Darwin. This is really cute and well written. I hope you continue!

[Dinogirl23]

It's been almost a month since I updated, and I just wanted to issue a quick apology for the delay. I forgot to mention that I'm really bad with deadlines. And also, thanks for the support. I would have continued the story anyway (matter of principle), but I needed to see if anybody actually liked it (also matter of principle).

But whatever happens, the story will continue! Eventually!