"WHY WERE YOU ORDERING A PIZZA WITHOUT ASKING WHAT I WANTED ON IT?! AND WHY DID YOU JUST LEAVE TO GO TO SLEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF IT?!"

"MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEH!"

"SO YOU SAW A WEIRD LOOKING KID IN THE KITCHEN AND HE KNOCKED YOU OUT WITH THE CUTTING BOARD?! THAT'S THE WORST EXCUSE I HAVE EVER HEARD FROM YOU!"

"MEMEMEMEMEMEMEH!"

"NOW YOU'RE ASKING ME WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY IN YOUR PURSE?! MAYBE I SHOULD ASK YOU WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE BREAD AND BUTTER!"

"MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEH!"

"DON'T YOU SAY THAT AND WALK AWAY FROM ME! GET BACK HERE, MARGRET!"

Groaning, Gumball covered his head with newspapers in a futile attempt to block out the arguing from his neighbors. Sure, he knew that they had a hate-love relationship, but he never knew just how loud their arguments could be. It was already past when he usually went to sleep, too. While Rob's body wasn't sleepy at all, Gumball was absolutely mentally exhausted.

Glancing over to the butter and bread that he had 'borrowed' (along with silverware), the teen decided that maybe having something before bed would make his nemesis's body sleepy.

Even though the room was dark, his eye was apparently able to see in the darkness slightly better than usual when his vision adjusted, seeing how he could see just well enough in the pitch blackness to make himself a sandwich. It also made sense about how Rob managed to actually live in his own basement without them noticing for who knows how long.

The butter was fortunately not too melty thanks to the chilly basement, but Gumball knew that he had to find something to store it in regardless. With that in mind, he finished making four separate sandwiches and set aside the two food items on top of the tacky dresser.

As Gumball ate his 'dinner', a thought suddenly appeared in his head. If he were Rob, then... Was Rob him? The idea of it caused the former cat to wince. If that were the case, then that would be seriously violating. Then again, him being Rob might be violating the cyclops as well. After shaking the horrifying thought out of his head, he quickly finished what was left of the sandwiches and returned to laying down on the sofa. He definitely felt sleepy now, so hopefully he could drown out the argument and get some shuteye.

... And hopefully this would be over.

—

It was hard to tell what time Gumball awoke the next morning. The basement was still as dark as it usually was and with no clocks anywhere, he might as well have slept until noon. Groggily leaning himself up from the sofa, Gumball rubbed the sleep out of his eye, yawning. From what he knew, Rob didn't go to school anymore nor did he have a family, so that meant Gumball was free to do whatever he wanted. Which was definitely a big plus for him, since he was going to make his 'home' more suitable for long term... He hated thinking of this being long term, but it was obvious that it would take a while to fix. Plus, he enjoys the finer things rather than not. Rob might not really care about frivolities, but so long as Gumball was the one staying here, this place was not meeting his own standards.

Once he made sure nobody was around, he left the basement (more carefully this time) and surveyed the area.

It... Was actually still dark out. He had to have gone to sleep at around 11 or so (he usually went to slept at 10 on school days), so why was it so dark? Well, when you don't know the time, ask a clock... Figuratively.

Tiptoeing to the kitchen to read the digital clock on the microwave, it instantly made sense. The time that was revealed before him indicated that it was 5:30 in the morning. "So, Rob sleeps late and gets a maximum of six hours of sleep... No wonder he's so grumpy all the time," Gumball murmured as he left the kitchen to the front door.

Before he took ahold of the doorknob, Gumball went through just what he was planning on getting. It was then that the teen realized that hadn't exactly done the math. A few twenties weren't going to get him the things he needed to satisfy his needs. He'll need something else. Something with a near unlimited amount of money.

Something that you could carry everywhere.

Yep. He was going there. After checking around in a few of Mr. Robinson's coats, Gumball couldn't exactly find what he was looking for. That is, until he opened a compartment on the shelf next to the door. There, tucked away in the back of it, was Mr. Robinson's wallet.

As soon as Gumball flipped through it and found his neighbor's credit card, he didn't really need the twenties anymore. And if Mr. Robinson needed to get groceries, he wouldn't be able to with such little cash on him. Might as well put the twenties in his wallet so he could have some money on him. Once he made sure that all of the bills were in the wallet, Gumball placed it back inside the drawer where it was and shut it as quietly as possible.

He wasn't sure if the mall would be open this early in the morning, but he might as well just hang around it until it does. So, time to get a bike or something and—

Oh right. Rob didn't have a bike. Or a tricycle. Or a unicycle. Well, the bus was always the next best thing for a broke nemesis. After all, that was the guy's main source of transportation as far as Gumball knew. With a deep breath, he began his trek to the bus stop, fishing out whatever change Rob had left in his pockets.

Fortunately, the buses in Elmore didn't demand too much in terms of fees. So judging by what was in his pockets, Gumball had about three or so rides. Maybe if he really nailed the whole panhandler look while sitting on the side of the road, he'd get more...

—~—

For once, Rob actually had a good night's sleep. Normally, he wouldn't care if an annoying alarm clock was buzzing next to him and he'd get up without much trouble. But now? Now he wanted to smash the thing to bits so that he could fall back asleep. "Can you shut it off..? I think we know now that we have to get ready for school," Gumball's half-brother, Darwin, groaned next to him as he stepped out of his small fishbowl.

School. Right. He hadn't really had to care much about it since he dropped out. But it wasn't like he wanted to drop out. Planning to destroy the bane of your existence takes a pretty big chunk of your time.

"Gumball, can you turn it off already?"

"It's R—,"

Rob stopped himself before he could correct Gumball's younger sister. That's right... He was Gumball. His arch nemesis. His most hated adversary. And the two that were with him at the moment were his enemy's siblings. Or... His siblings? It was strange to think about.

After successfully shutting off the alarm clock (he wasn't sure if he pressed snooze instead or not), Rob followed Darwin's example and pushed himself off of the bed. "You do know that you could have turned it off yourself," he stated flatly to Darwin, who shrugged in return as he responded, "You usually do it, so I didn't want to ruin the routine."

Well, that made sense in its own weird way. If Rob wanted to keep up appearances, he'd have to really memorize this new schedule. He might have been diligent on taking note of Gumball's schedule outside of his private life, but this was going to be different.

"Y'know, Gumball, you were acting a little weird yesterday," Darwin began thoughtfully as the three of them exited the bedroom and steadily eased into the dining room, "I mean, you were being all reclusive and stuff. You wouldn't even hang out with me. And that hurts, man!"

"I agree with Darwin. It really was strange. Especially because you weren't bothering anyone else during that time," the younger sibling added, which made Rob to sigh. "Your point?"

"The point is that you've been really out of character, I guess. Did you and Penny get into an argument or something?" the goldfish asked. Penny... Who was Penny again? Oh right, it was Gumball's girlfriend. Rob vaguely remembered her from his time in school, but they weren't exactly close. If she was crazy enough to be Gumball's girlfriend, then she'll probably be ALMOST annoying to deal with. But that was the least of Rob's problems at the moment. If the fact that he wasn't as social was causing the two siblings to be suspicious, then he needed to get out of his comfort zone before they and the rest of Gumball's family and friends realized what was going on.

After sitting down at the dining room table, Rob and the rest of his 'siblings' were greeted by Mrs. Watterson—or, should she be called 'Mom'? Nah. That's getting too familiar. "Good morning kids! How'd you sleep?" the older cat asked as she set out bowls of cereal for each of them, to which Darwin happily responded, "I slept good, Miss Mom! Thanks for asking!"

In return, Mrs. Watterson smiled at goldfish's energetic reply, then sat down in her own seat at the table. It was then that Mr. Watterson arrived from the kitchen with a massive plate of breakfast items, happily humming to himself as he took his own seat. This seemed to catch his wife's attention. "Well, you seem to be in a good mood today, Richard. Did something happen?"

"You mean I didn't tell you guys?" Richard replied, genuinely surprised as his family (and Rob) shook their heads. It wouldn't really be the first time he had forgotten to mention something important, so it wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. Seeing as an explanation was in order, Mr. Watterson gave his family a proud grin as he crossed his arms, "Well, I'll have you know that my long lost son came to visit yesterday!"

It was silent as those words were processed. It was only after a good few seconds that Mrs. Watterson spoke up, "Richard, you don't have a 'long lost son'. The only kids you have are right here."

To make a point, she gestured to the equally confused children at the table. Her husband, however, remained adamant, "I might not know much, but if I know anything, then the kid I saw yesterday is my long lost son! I can guarantee it!"

It was Mrs. Watterson's turn to cross her arms. "Okay then. What was his name?" she questioned, intently studying her husband's face as he opened his mouth to reply, then slowly went deep into thought. "Hm... You know, I don't think I got his name. But he liked Gumball's leftovers, that's for sure! Finished them faster than I could finish my own lunch!" Richard exclaimed with a laugh. It was then that Rob noticed that Mrs. Watterson's calm composition was beginning to crack slightly. "So, if I'm hearing this correctly... You let a complete stranger inside of the house because you thought they were a son you never had, fed them your actualson's food, and let them leave despite not even finding out who they really were?"

"Well, that's a pretty harsh way of putting it, but that sums it up, I guess!"

Naturally, he older cat's palm met her own face as she let out a deep groan, "Okay. I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows that it's too early for this sort of stuff. Let's continue this conversation after I get off of work. And Richard, don't you even consider letting that kid into the house again unless we know more about who he is."

With a sad nod, Mr. Watterson sighed with a dejected look on his face as his wife drank the rest of her coffee and left the room. This left an opening for Darwin and the younger sister to begin talking amongst each other.

"Who do you think it is, Anais?"

"I don't know. It's probably not anyone we know too well, which makes me even more uncomfortable..."

Rob decided to join in (he figured that he needed to in order to ease any suspicions of his reclusiveness), "Think we should ask... Dad... What he looked like?"

Anais blinked, then replied with a grin, "Wow. That's not too bad of an idea for once. But we should ask Dad once he's done feeling depressed, so it might have to be after school since we're leaving in less than an hour."

Well, that made sense. And honestly, Rob didn't even have to act about his own curiosity as to who this person was.

—

"MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEH!"

"I TOLD YOU ONCE AND I'LL TELL YOU AGAIN, MARGRET, I DIDN'T PUT YOUR MONEY IN MY WALLET!"

"MEMEMEMEMEH!"

"DON'T ACT LIKE YOU HAVEN'T DONE IT IN THE PAST AS WELL! I WASN'T EVEN GOING TO TAKE YOUR MONEY TODAY! I WAS GOING TO DO THAT NEXT WEEK!"

"MEMEMEMEMEMEH!"

"OH, IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN MAYBE YOU COULD TELL ME WHERE MY CARD WENT!"