Work Text:
Gumball was just lying on his bed, his eyes focused on a comic book that he held in his hands when his phone suddenly started vibrating.
Feeling the temptation to just ignore the call, he decided to take a peak at the number to decide if it's important and in less than a second he held the phone to his ear.
"Hey, Penny! What's up?", he asked happily.
"Hey, Gumball. It's about our date today.", Penny said, trying to sound composed but Gumball heard a bit of worry in her voice.
"Oh, can't you come? Has something come in-between?", Gumball wondered.
"Oh no, it's not that. It's just... I wanted to ask if you would mind two more people joining us on it?", she eventually asked.
"Two more people? You mean like a companion for each of us? Because Darwin once asked me if he could be the third wheel on our tricycle which I thought was weird but if you have one too-"
"No, I meant as in another couple."
"So... you mean like a double date?", Gumball wondered.
"Sure, why not? Since we're long beyond the awkwardness that was once between us might as well see if we're ready for an even bigger one now!", he declared.
"And there isn't any bigger challenge for that than a double date. Should we ask Darwin and Carrie? Because I'm definitely not allowing Alan and Carmen to join us!"
"No, we don't need to ask anyone. There are already two people, that's why I'm asking.", Penny answered, chuckling at his enthusiasm.
"Leslie asked me if he and his boyfriend could join us."
"Huh, I didn't even know Leslie had a boyfriend.", Gumball remarked in surprise.
"That's because they just got together. They're still a little nervous so they asked if their first date could be with us together."
"Oh, sure. Always happy to help my sixth-best friend after all!", Gumball proudly declared.
"Sixth-best friend?", Penny asked.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment? Because that's not exactly a high ranking."
"What can I say, I just have a lot of friends. Overall, it's a solid position. He's just above Tobias by the way."
"Only one place above Tobias? Ouch, low bar.", Penny remarked in amusement.
After they had a quick laugh about that, Gumball decided to ask.
"So, who is Leslie's boyfriend anyway?", Gumball asked after noticing that she didn't say a name.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I only know it's someone from school but nobody who goes to the same class as us. Leslie told me but I didn't exactly got the name.", Penny replied, recalling their conversation.
"Oh, well. Doesn't matter, we'll find out later. Surely won't be anyone problematic.", Gumball confidently stated.
"Alright, great. Just wanted to let you know. See you later, Gummy. Love you!", Penny answered.
"Love you too, Pen!", Gumball responded before they hung up.
...
A few hours later, Gumball was arriving in front of "Dinner", the diner at the mall where Penny and Leslie were already waiting for him.
"Oh, there you are. On time even!", Penny remarked in mocking praise.
"Hey, that was just one time! The name of the diner did make it very confusing.", Gumball defended himself.
"Tell me about it.", Leslie decided to join the conversation.
"So Leslie, who is this new boyfriend of yours? Come on, I'm already excited to find out!", Gumball said.
"Whoa and here I thought I was the one obsessed with gossiping topics. Don't worry, hun. He should arrive at any moment.
Ah, there he is!", Leslie answered while waving at someone behind Gumball.
"Oh yeah! Now I knew who you meant earlier.", Penny commented, before Gumball turned around to have a look at the fourth member of their double date as well.
The moment the kitten laid his eyes on him however, his expression turned into one of shock and disbelief.
No! Why him!? Why out of everyone in the entire town had it to be him!?
Hot Dog Guy's thoughts were the same as he laid eyes on Gumball and a lot of unpleasant memories came back to his mind.
"That's your boyfriend!?", Gumball asked while turning towards Leslie and pointing at Hot Dog Guy.
"That's the guy your cousin is dating!?", Hot Dog Guy asked right afterwards while turning towards Leslie too and pointing at Gumball.
"Oh, so you two know each other well?", Penny asked in surprise.
Gumball and Hot Dog Guy quickly looked at each other awkwardly while trying to come up with an explanation that would make their acquaintance sound reasonable.
Eventually Gumball decided to speak up.
"Oh yeah, we... have some history. We hugged pretty often in the past."
Upon seeing the weird stares of his girlfriend and her cousin, Gumball realized that he should have said something else.
"No, wait! I mean uh... we showered together one time! ARRGH!"
Hot Dog Guy decided to intervene before Gumball made it even worse.
"What he's trying to say is that we once had an intense experience involving handcuffs... NO, I MEANT-"
"I ONCE SAT ON HIS LAP!", Gumball tried to save it.
"HE SLEPT ON TOP OF ME INSIDE A TENT!", Hot Dog Guy attempted again.
"*sigh* Why don't we just go inside for dinner?", Gumball asked, giving up in trying to explain it, for better or worse.
"Yyyyyeah, good idea.", Leslie responded, still a bit weirded out before they were all heading inside, Gumball and Hot Dog Guy completely embarrassed and their dates just confused.
As they all went inside, they found an empty table surrounded by a semicircle bench for multiple people, where they decided to sit down.
Gumball and Hot Dog Guy decided to move to the opposite ends of the table first to be as far away from each other as possible.
But as their respective dates placed themselves beside them and forced them to scooch over to the middle, they were sitting right beside each other again.
With no way to easily escape the predicament since both ends of the bench were blocked now.
Not sure what to say, or if they should even say anything as that seemingly just makes everything worse for them, they were freed from the awkward silence when Leslie suddenly spoke up.
"So I'm really glad that you guys helped us out with this date and didn't have any problems being seen with a same-gender couple."
"What!? Why wouldn't we? You know I'm a big supporter, Leslie!", Penny called out, feeling offended.
"Oh, no. I know you are, girl. But some don't like to make their support public considering the many... not so supportive people who are quick to judge.", Leslie explained for the lack of a nicer word.
"Oh please. I couldn't care less what they think.", Penny answered.
"Those people don't even know what we are about if they think their kind is tolerated here. We accept everyone in their own unique way and whoever doesn't like that is well invited to just leave and find something more suited for them."
"Couldn't have said it better myself, cous! They never had a place here to begin with.", Leslie proudly replied.
"Besides I knew Gumball wouldn't have a problem with it either considering the way he looks at a certain boy himself.", Penny said while smirking at her boyfriend, whose cheeks blushed madly.
"I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON HOT DOG GUY! THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOING ON BETWEEN US!", he called out so loud that everyone in the restaurant started staring.
"...I uh...was actually talking about your obsession with Rob.", Penny answered in shock about his reaction.
"Oh... sure, I knew that! Him I can get behind.", Gumball replied while smugly crossing his arms, proud that he didn't make the situation more awkward after all, or so he thought.
"You have a crush on Rob? That glitchy guy?", Leslie wondered. "Honestly, not that surprising."
"What!? NO, I DIDN'T MEAN THAT!", Gumball quickly decided to backtrack.
"Wait, so your name is actually Hot Dog Guy?", Penny asked the one the name addressed in confusion in order to change the subject, already knowing where this was going otherwise.
"Uh...yeah? Leslie said he told you that.", Hot Dog Guy replied in surprise.
"What!? You knew he was his date?", Gumball asked her.
"Kinda? I thought he just described what he looked like and I got something wrong, I didn't expect that to be his actual name.", Penny admitted.
"Well, I have you know that my parents put a lot of effort into naming me and my siblings!", he explained.
"Oh yeah, you told me about your two brothers that one time. What are they called? Hot Dog Boy and Hot Dog Dude?" Gumball asked sarcastically.
"Umm...yeah. How did you know that?", Hot Dog Guy asked bewildered.
"Hahaha. Oh my gosh, what are you gonna tell me next? That you also have a sister named Hot Dog Girl?"
"Well, I have a sister but that would be a weird name for her. She's called Natasha.", Hot Dog Guy answered nonchalantly.
"....Okaaaay. Anyway, I really need to go to the bathroom for a minute!", Gumball said before jumping over the table, deciding that he needed a moment for himself.
"Wait, I'll help you out.", Hot Dog Guy answered before jumping after Gumball which got him weird looks again.
"No! What I wanted to say was I'll... support him in there-I mean take a look at the problem-I mean I HAVE TO GO TOO!", Hot Dog Guy finally got it right before they ran to the bathroom together.
As they went inside and saw they were alone, Gumball turned towards the uninvited companion in his bathroom break.
"Okay, what are you doing!?"
"We needed to talk! This is going terribly.", Hot Dog Guy answered.
"You think!?"
"Alright, listen! We were able to handle the awkwardness between us last time right?"
"Yeah, but it's not just the two of us now. How are we able to handle it with our dates being with us!?", Gumball pointed out.
"Let's just act naturally. Okay, we were just unprepared for this but we were doing great there for a moment when talking about my family. We can handle this!, Hot Dog Guy declared.
"You have pretty low standards for a great conversation if you considered that to be one.", Gumball commented.
"Come on! You're with me or against me?"
"*sigh* Alright, let's give it a try. But don't ask if I'm with you again. With our history that will sound bad no matter how it's meant.", Gumball warned before they went outside the bathroom again.
And with new determination, the two boys went back to their dates, feeling for the first time like they could handle the situation.
"Ah, there you are. Feeling better now?", Leslie asked.
"Sure, we had a great time there together-I MEAN uh... we really went inside ourselves-I MEAN, yeah we're good now.", Hot Dog Guy explained with an awkward smile before they sat back down.
"Alright, we wanted to order. You guys already know what you want to eat?", Penny asked while going over the menu.
"I'm definitely taking something that comes with a Hot Dog. I really feel like chewing on one of them today.", Gumball answered absentmindedly before realizing what he just said.
"AH, WHO AM I KIDDING!? WE CAN'T DO THIS AT ALL!"; Gumball screamed before grabbing Hot Dog Guy, jumping over the table and running away.
"Wait, where are you going!?", Penny screamed after her boyfriend.
Gumball and Hot Dog Guy were meanwhile running together now.
"What are we supposed to do!?", Hot Dog Guy panicked.
"Find a place where we can sit this out and then make sure we never agree to a double date ever again!", Gumball explained.
"Hey, we can go in there!", Hot Dog Guy said before stopping in front of a club where there was seemingly a party with many people going on inside.
"Good idea. With so many people in such a small space, there's no way the attention will be on us there.", Gumball agreed before they both walked inside.
What they didn't notice was the sign in rainbow colors saying Pride Party above the entrance door.
"Alright, we're inside. What now? We just established that being around others just makes the cringe peak.", Hot Dog Guy asked.
"But those are random people and not our dates. Let's just split up and start a conversation with someone.", Gumball offered.
"Huh, guess that might work. You know you're not as dumb as you often seem.", Hot Dog Guy complimented before walking away.
"Of course I am.", Gumball smugly smiled. "Wait... what!?"
"Gumball, is that you?", a high-pitched voice asked from behind, causing the blue cat to turn around.
"Alan? Wow, I didn't think I would ever be glad to see you but right now everyone is better than the last guy I talked with.", Gumball greeted his semi-friend who was smiling as usual.
"Oh yeah, I saw who you came with. Didn't expect to see you here but that's what I admire about you! You're not too scared to hide who you are."
"Wait, what are you talking about?", Gumball wondered.
"You know, bringing another boy to a Pride Party and all."
"Pride Party!? THAT'S WHAT THIS IS!?", Gumball asked in shock.
"Come on, it's the month and you definitely saw the sign outside. It's okay, I understand.", Alan giggled, trying to reassure his friend.
"But I'm not here with him because of that!"
"It's cool, really. Kinda expected you to be more into that glitchy cyclops guy but it doesn't matter.
And don't worry about Penny finding out. I'm not picky about boys or girls either and Carmen is cool with it. Maybe I could even give you some advice on-"
That's when Gumball unsheathed a claw and popped Alan in panic before this got even worse.
He eventually found Hot Dog Guy, who was talking with a floating, multi-colored kid that looked a bit like Carrie before dragging him away.
"Dude, we need to talk!", Gumball said.
"Uhh, alright? See you later!", he winked his friend goodbye.
"You too, buddy."
"Who was that? Looked familiar to me.", Gumball asked after they were alone again.
"A friend from school. Rainbow Octopus is their name."
"Oh yeah, I saw them a few times in the past but never heard them talk before. Always thought they looked way too cool to just be a voiceless background character anyway.", Gumball drifted off.
"So what do you want? We wanted to split up, remember?", Hot Dog Guy reminded him.
"Yeah, but we have a problem! This isn't just any party we walked in on. It's a pride party!", Gumball informed him.
"...Wait, you found out this was a pride party and instead of taking advantage of the fact that we just separated-"
"DON'T CALL IT THAT!"
"-your first instinct was to drag me to a private talk where everyone sees us together again?", Hot Dog Guy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"...Okay, I maybe haven't completely thought this through.", Gumball admitted.
"*facepalm* Let's just get out of here.", Hot Dog Guy suggested before they started running back to the entrance.
On the way they tried to avoid everyone and didn't look in front of them, causing them to bump into someone else.
"Tobias, what are you doing here?", Gumball asked.
"What do you think? Enjoying the Pride Party of course!", Tobias answered as if it was obvious.
"Really? Wow, unexpected. I mean I can definitely see it but I always assumed you were in the closet. Never thought to see you openly celebrating it."
"Why wouldn't I? Pride Month was made for people like me! I'm very proud of myself for how awesome I am after all!", he declared.
They stared at him for a minute in bewilderment before Hot Dog Guy suddenly punched Tobias to the ground and they started running again.
"Good call. I was thinking about doing the same.", Gumball admitted.
"Oh no, I just remembered that he was the guy who filmed us in the elevator the last time.", Hot Dog Guy answered while looking back at Gumball.
Since he didn't look in front of him again, Hot Dog Guy bumped into someone else, stopping them once more.
"ROB! MY NEMESIS! You here!?", Gumball asked while raising his fists as Rob turned around.
"Oh, didn't we talk about him earlier? That's the guy you have a crush on, right?", Hot Dog Guy asked obliviously.
"You have a crush on me?", Rob asked with a raised eyebrow.
"NO, I DON'T!", Gumball screamed at both of them while blushing madly.
"I mean I kinda suspected it, but-", Rob started.
"Okay!", Gumball interrupted. "I heard that for the fourth time today! What is this!? Does everyone in the town think I'm into you?"
"YES!", everyone at the party suddenly turned to him to answer.
"Well, he came to the Pride Party as well so maybe you have a shot.", Hot Dog Guy told Gumball.
"Actually I came here on nonamorous behalf. So while I'm flattered, I think we should just remain nemeses.", Rob explained before walking away.
"Damn, nemesis-zoned. Sorry for that.", Hot Dog Guy said while rubbing his head.
"Let's just get out of here!", Gumball ordered sternly while grabbing the other boy by the hand and dragging him out of the door.
The moment they stepped outside was exactly when Penny and Leslie were passing by in their search for them, causing them all to stare at each other wide-eyed for a minute.
"Did you two just leave a Pride Party together while holding hands?", Penny asked, breaking the ice.
Gumball and Hot Dog Guy quickly let go of each other's hands after realizing what the situation looked like.
"Why did you just run away earlier? And even more importantly: You went to a Pride Party without me? You're breaking my heart with that, darl.", Leslie dramatically added.
"Gumball, what is going on? You've been acting very weird today. Like, not your usual weird but weirder than that.", Penny demanded to know.
"Alright, look. We can explain.", Gumball started.
"WE'RE EXTREMELY AWKWARD AROUND EACH OTHER!", Hot Dog Guy blurred out.
"Dude, what are you doing!?", Gumball wanted to know.
"Choosing the lesser of two evils and speaking the truth. With our luck, whatever you said would've just made things worse for us."
"...I hate it when you're right.", Gumball admitted.
"What are you talking about?", Leslie asked.
"The two of us had numerous encounters in the past and every time we get into the most awkward situations with each other. We don't know why it happens, we don't know what started it and we looked really, REALLY HARD into it.", Hot Dog Guy explained.
"STOP WITH THOSE AWFUL-SOUNDING PHRASINGS ALREADY!", Gumball yelled.
"Right, sorry. Either way we really tried not to make it weird but it was impossible. We don't even like each other. Neither as friends nor otherwise but we have no idea how to stop it."
"That's what all the ruckus was about?", Penny asked relieved.
"Geez, you could've just said so.", Leslie responded in annoyance.
"Wait, you have no problem with that?", Gumball wondered.
"Gumball, I've been with you and everything that comes with it for three voice actors now. In that time I've seen a lot worse than you just being awkward around someone so that's definitely not a deal-breaker. No offense.", Penny reassured him with a smile.
"And you have no problem with it either?", Hot Dog Guy asked his boyfriend.
"Nah.", Leslie shrugged simply.
"Well, I guess we learned something really important today.", Gumball realized.
"That you should just be honest with people the next time?", Penny asked.
"That the cringe between us really is eternal, no matter what?, Hot Dog Guy asked.
"That you definitely have a crush on Rob?", Leslie asked.
"No, no and DEFINITELY NO!", Gumball answered.
"It's that double dates really are the epitome of awkwardness and we're not ready for it at all."
And to that, they could all agree.