Chapter Text
Gumball and Darwin, our favorite brothers in Elmore, stare at the counselor of their school, a fluffy, cloud-like creature; Mr. Small, who is standing outside the window and holding a sign reading “WORKERS’ LIVES MATTER!”
“What is he doing?” Gumball asks to Larry, a paper rock worker, who is at the counter, looking half-asleep while flipping burgers, taking orders, and mopping simultaneously.
“Oh, don’t pay attention to him,” Larry says, giving the boys the meals they ordered. “He’s been doing it for… weeks…” he adds, his eye twitches.
Steve presses his face against the door glass. “You deserve rest!” he mouths.
“I had rest… in May 3, 2011…” Larry sighs, looking away. “For 6 minutes… I remember because I panicked…” he continues, for himself.
“What does Mr. Small want?” Darwin asks.
“Oh… nothing big, just emotional stable workplaces, at least eight hours of sleep…” Larry yawns, “basic human rights, dental care…” he lists, smiling weakly. He serves Gumball a soda. “My boss told us to ignore him…, since it’s not possible for us to have any of that,” he nervously chuckles.
“What the what?!” Darwin shouts, slamming his hands on the counter. “That’s awful!” he pouts.
“Dude, we’re kids, not our problem,” Gumball interrupts.
“Well, yeah… but who gave you that fly haircut?” Darwin questions, gesturing at Gumball’s head.
“Larry,” he replies, smirking at his new look.
“And who sold you your new shoes?”
“Larry.”
“Humm…” Larry mumbles, falling asleep.
“Who is dozing off right now?”
“GASP! YOU’RE RIGHT! WE’VE BEEN BENEFITING FROM A BROKEN SYSTEM!” Gumball exclaims, standing up on his seat. “Wait- does this mean we’re the villains?”
“YES!” Darwin answers, already leaving.
“Cool…”
“Gumball!” Darwin calls out, “we have to fix this!”
They dramatically run towards the door, towards Mr. Small.
He beams, as Gumball and Darwin join him.
“Ah, young minds joining the movement!” He says, giving Darwin the sign.
“We’re here to help the… uh… worker guy…”
“His name is Larry,” Darwin says, giving an unimpressed look at Gumball. “You literally said his name 30 seconds ago.”
“I forgot,” Gumball shrugs.
“WORKERS LIVES MATTER!” the three yell, with their hands up in the air.
“WHAT is happening here?” Larry’s boss says, bursting out of his office.
“Sir, Mister Boss, Sir!” Larry stutters, waking up and standing right.
“Ugh… is that hippie guy again…” he groans, “and he’s not alone now…”
“Good afternoon, sir! I’m here to advocate for-“ Steve begins to say, only to be interrupted.
“Yeah, yeah! I know what you want. Listen, since I don’t want you being a nuisance… eh, I mean, making a scene… I’m only allowing ONE thing.”
“Only one?”
“Yes.”
“Chose wisely… it’s like in the movies, when someone always chooses the worst possible option…” Gumball says.
“Look at Larry!” Darwin says, holding the sign. “He’s about to pass out!”
“You’re right… Then… we want… need workers to have stable work hours!”
“Pssst, ooh… that’s not possible,” the boss shrugs. “But you can do… what was it? A therapy session?”
“Okay!”
At Mr. Small’s office…
“So… where are the other ones?” Gumball asks, Steve hums, meditating about what could be possibly be useful for the session.
“I’m the only one!” Larry says, standing awkwardly. He looks away, clearly anxious, he’s not used to not be working. “They voted me out… BUT I’M NOT THE ONE WHO NEEDS THIS THE MOST!”
The three others stare at him. Darwin fixes his “therapy assistant” pin that he and Gumball made a bit earlier.
“Alright… it’s obvious you need to relax, Larry,” Steve says, calmly, sitting on his desk. “Boys, please.”
Darwin closes the curtains, leaving the room in complete darkness, Gumball sets some candles and incense around.
“What are they…?” Larry asks.
“Shh…” Mr. Small shushes, covering Larry’s mouth with his index finger. “Lay down, on the beanbag.”
“I don’t really wanna…”
“Lay down!” The counselor says, raising his soft voice, making Larry immediately flip onto the beanbag. “Now, let’s close our eyes and take some deep breaths. We’re going to relax.”
“Breathe in… breathe out…”
Larry closes his eyes.
“Breathe in… clear your mind…”
Gumball and Darwin stand next to Steve.
“Breathe out… feel your body relax…”
With each breath, the fire of one of the candles tips closer to the curtains.
“Focus on your breathing…”
It catches fire.
“Uh… Mr. Small…?” Darwin quietly calls out.
“Release tension…”
“Mr. Small…!” Gumball says, staring at the increasing fire.
Larry feels a strange warmth behind him… he glances back.
“AK!” He exclaims, rushing for a fire extinguisher, shutting down the fire. The others stay quiet, watching as Larry frantically tries to pull out the fire.
“I had just bought those curtains…” Steve sighs, crossing his arms and thinking of another thing to do. “Oh, I know! Larry, you carry the weight of the entire town! It’s time to release that burden… through affirmations! Kids, do you have something you want to say to Larry?”
“Uhm…” Gumball mumbles. “You’re a good person…?”
“Eh…”
“Maybe something… more direct, for him.”
“Larry, your jobs are hard to pull off… you need a break sometimes, and that’s alright!” Darwin tries, smiling, remembering the time Gumball and him tried doing Larry’s work.
Larry smiles weakly. Steve nods.
“Well… thank you, Darwin…” Larry mumbles.
“Yeah! You’re like… the backbone of Elmore!” Gumball says. “Actually wait, that’s too much pressure. You’re like, the Internet! Nobody sees you until you stop working!”
“You’re the reason things work, but it’s okay to be you!” Darwin interrupts, before Gumball can say anything else.
“You’re a decorative spine! Totally replaceable!” Gumball continues, messing up with words.
Mr. Small face palms, sighing.
“What even are you when you’re not working…?” Gumball asks.
“…”
“I… I don’t know!” Larry cries, hiding his face on his hands. Steve, concerned, pats his back gently.
“Okay, okay! I got one…” Gumball says, worried. “You work at, what? 37 jobs? That’s actually pretty impressive, like a world record! Like a celebrity!”
“Yeah, a hardworking one!” Darwin agrees.
“Huh… and tired, who cries in different uniforms…” Gumball adds.
“That was… unnecessary, Gumball.” Steve mutters. “Let’s try… something deeper.”
“Good job putting him to sleep, boys. What did you use, the incense, or maybe a lullaby?” Mr. Small asks, searching through a box.
“You wanted him asleep…? Not unconscious?” Darwin asks.
“Well, technically it’s the same.”
“Yeah… it is the same,” Gumball says, quietly hiding a baseball bat behind his back.
Larry snores softly on the bean bag.
Mr. Small kneels beside him, gently waving a hand in front of Larry’s face.
“Poor guy…” he murmurs. “He’s exhausted, but his mind is probably still racing…”
“Can’t we just wake him up and talk normally?” Darwin asks.
Mr. Small sighs.
“I don’t think Larry knows how to relax anymore.” He pauses. “Sometimes, when someone buries their feelings too deeply, you have to meet them where they are.”
“…therapy people are so weird,” Gumball blinks.
“Thank you,” Mr. Small smiles. He opens a dusty wooden box full of… suspicious-looking herbs
Darwin slowly leans away. “Uh… are those safe?”
“Define safe,” Mr. Small replies casually. He starts preparing some tea.
“How is drinking tea supposed to help us enter Larry’s mind?” Darwin asks.
Mr. Small sniffs the herbs.
“Mmm… yes, this is the good stuff…” he mumbles. His eyes redden slightly.
“…Mr. Small?” Darwin asks nervously.
“If we want to understand Laurence,” Mr. Small says, stirring the tea dramatically, “we must expand our consciousness beyond the physical realm...”
Gumball stares.
“…orrrr we could just ask him stuff when he wakes up.”
Mr. Small pauses.
“…that’s actually emotionally healthier.” He thinks for a second. “But this is faster,” he giggles.
“Oh, forget it, I’m not drinking that stuff,” Gumball says, walking toward Larry. He presses the front of Larry’s hat like a button.
SWOOSH.
Mr. Small gasps as he suddenly gets sucked forward.
“OH-!”
Darwin screams while being dragged in too.
Gumball, Darwin and Steve stand in a chaotic world, where the background changes to multiple workplace across all Elmore every two seconds. Places where Larry spends his days.
Then, while taking in the surroundings, amazed by the wacky area they’re in, they find Larry, wearing a red uniform.
“Order up!” He calls out, using a Joyful Burger hat. Then, they see another Larry, now wearing a rat costume.
“Welcome to Party Rat Pizza Palace!” He says.
“Clean up in aisle 6!!” A different Larry says, now with a super market vest.
There’s more different Larrys, all with different uniforms. They all speak, overlapping each other.
“I CAN’T DO THIS!” A larger Larry says, clearly exhausted by all the noise the others are making.
“Woah… his brain is like a one-man economy…” Gumball says.
“That’s not an economy… that’s a monopoly,” Steve says.
“…No wonder it’s collapsing.”
“This is so sad!” Darwin cries. Another Larry rushed past carrying pizzas before anyone could add anything.
“If I stop… Elmore stops…” Larry says, the uniformed other ones start glitching. “Everything… stops…”
“Okay, I take it back. This is NOT okay,” Gumball says.
Darwin grabs his arm.
“It’s changing too fast…”
The background shifted from a grocery store to a gas station before Steve could properly focus on either.
“This is what he lives with… every day…” he takes a step closer to Larry. “Slow down, Laurence. You need to stop.”
“Do you need help?” Larry interrupts, smiling.
“You don’t have to carry everything by yourself!” Steve tries again.
The chaos slows slightly. All Larrys seems to slow down. The larger one looks intensely at the intruders.
“Take it easy, man! You’re nothing to everyone!” Gumball says. The chaos increases, worse than before.
“Gumball!” Darwin says, crossing his arms and glaring at his brother.
“Gah! I was only trying to help!” Gumball squeals.
The different Larrys begin surrounding them.
“Need help?”
“I’m here!”
“Tell me if you need anything!”
Talking louder. Faster. Overlapping.
Becoming overwhelming, even for them.
Gumball covers his ears.
“WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OF HIM?!”
Darwin flinches at the constant changes, panicking.
“He doesn’t even get a break on his own head…” Steve mumbles.
“Larry!” Darwin calls out. “You matter! You don’t have to prove anything to anyone!”
“To anyone?” All Larrys repeat, their voices echoing. The chaos pauses for a second.
“You matter… even when you’re doing nothing,” Steve says, getting closer to Larry. “It doesn’t make you worthless… it makes you human,” he adds, dragging Larry closer to them, by the hand.
The other Larrys stay quiet. They stop. They stare.
Larry sighs.
Larry opens his eyes, a bit startled.
“I feel weird.”
“We went inside your brain. It’s a mess,” Gumball says, attaching his “therapy assistant” pin back on his sweater, it was on the floor for some reason.
“But, like… a meaningful mess…” Darwin says, with a warm smile.
“How do you feel?” Steve asks, helping Larry sit down in the bean bag.
“Fine… a bit tired.”
“Do you need a break?”
“I…” Larry mutters, but before he can say anything else, he gets a call.
“LAURENCE! Your therapy time has ended!! You’re late for work!!” His boss says through the phone.
Larry instinctively stands.
“S-sorry, sir! I’ll be there in five!”
Gumball and Darwin sigh. Steve smiles softly, staring at the paper rock.
“MAKE IT TWO!”