A Silent Night

By: Call Me Writefag

Gumball sipped the brandy and tried to hide his grimace at the taste. He was not a fan. Nicole however, clearly was, and she giggled at his reaction to the liquor. She stared at her little boy lovingly. She adored him. He looked so cute and handsome in that robe, like some kind of suave millionaire, trying to seduce a young woman who had nothing but her looks and charm to make her way in the world. And he had money, power, and...needs.

Nicole began to consider what she was doing. Was she just using him to live out her fantasies? It hadn't started that way, this whole...relationship had been an accident the two had stumbled into one cold, lonely evening. A warm embrace that had lasted longer than normal - a hand drifting down her body - her breath, hot and wanting in his ear - just a couple words and...Well.

Nicole drained her glass and glanced out the window before turning back to face a mildly stunned Gumball, who took another sip in an honest, but doomed attempt to catch up to her. She smiled and tossed the empty glass over her shoulder - hearing it shatter on the floor. The damned hotel could clean it up, she didn't have a thought for anything in the world but her and him. Right now. She crawled across the couch to pin Gumball down, plucking the glass from his hand and placing it on the floor, out of the way while she began to undo the knot on the robetie. It was a cold evening outside tonight, but it wouldn't be lonely.

Nicole gently pulled the sleeping Gumball closer to her, reveling in his naked warmth against her own. They lay in their bed, dozing contentedly from their lovemaking. Nicole holding him tight against her breast, idly fantasizing about some future time when Gumball could be the big spoon, holding her tight against his - while she was fantasizing she might a well go big - his muscular, rippling chest. Nicole gently 'mmmmed' to herself. She'd never been with a truly manly lover. Richard had been fat, lazy, and largely unwilling to take her. Gumball here was the opposite, skinny- no, wiry in that way only a young boy can be, he was energetic, and eager for the next time he could have her.

That thought intrigued Nicole. When she made love to Gumball, it was always her giving herself to him - never Gumball taking her. Nicole felt this strange need to be ravished grow in her. She was always the one in control, she was always the one deciding when and where they had sex. It made her wish just a little bit, that Gumball might tell her that he wanted her now, instead of that almost puppydog way he asked. She reminded herself to encourage Gumball to be more assertive - and to workout. It would be a few more years down the line but she might just be able to get that taut, rippling chest to lay her head against that she always wanted.

Still, she wondered at the events that had brought them here, into each other's arms in a hotel bed far from prying eyes. The gnawing loneliness that had been the catalyst for their unnatural union, Nicole knew her marriage had become a sham. She felt nothing for Richard, he acted as if nothing had changed, but they hardly spoke beyond day to day things. The spark was long gone between them. No one knew except Gumball, whom she had confided in that fateful night.

She had found him drying his tears, and when pressed, he explained that he no longer felt anything for Penny, his long time girlfriend. He couldn't explain it, being young and naive as he was. They simply didn't seem to care for each other the way they had. Nicole had tried to comfort him, but just ended up in tears as she told him the truth about her marriage. It had been hard on him, but harder on her. She remembered him sitting with her as she cried, holding her while he held back his own tears. He stayed strong for her when she needed him most. She remembered the strange sensation she felt when he had held her then. Like a spark in her heart. She had pushed that feeling down, not afraid of it as perhaps she should have been, more afraid of it being discovered. But when she had looked into his eyes and saw that spark reflected there...Nicole still felt conflicted, however. This...relationship...had not been planned. It had simply happened, and Nicole could not shake the feeling that it was not genuine. They had both just fallen out of love. Were they just rebounding into each other?

Nicole had pushed the doubts down, as well as the spark and just let it happen. After that first night of confused, but blissful passion they were both in too deep to deny it had happened. Now when she looked at Gumball, she could see that his feelings for her were true. If he had rebounded to her, he had stuck. But would she? She thought on her feelings for him, daring to crack open that chest locked in her heart. Till now she had been more happy to just let this be fun, simple and fun for her. It had only been what she had needed so far. But was it what she wanted?

Her thoughts from there wandered, and she wondered at whether she was a bad person. That thought niggled at her mind from time to time - mostly at moments like this, still able to feel his warmth against her and inside her. She wasn't supposed to do things like this with him, no matter how much they both enjoyed it - needed it even. Nicole softly petted his head as he slept, completely ignorant of his mother's attention and dilemma. Was she somehow hurting him, doing this? Could this … relationship somehow affect him in the future? Could it even last? She frowned at this persistent, worrying doubt.

She also thought about her own reluctance to use the word 'relationship' to describe them. Gumball had said something a few days ago about whether she was his 'girlfriend' or not. She had laughed it off and changed the subject rather hurriedly by removing her shirt - that was always a surefire way to distract him in a hurry. But again, that irritating thought struck out at her, was she just using him? Gumball seemed to be reaching for this idea of 'them'. Of them as an item, and well, Nicole puzzled over that for a long time.

She loved him, she shared herself and her secrets with him, but did she love him? Her thoughts were disturbed by him shifting in her arms and gently muttering something unheard. He turned over in his sleep, his face turned up to hers. And then it happened. He just barely breathed a single word in his dreams. "Nicole…" And her heart leapt in her breast. He never called her that, it was always 'mom' to her. That one word, her name mumbled in sleep made her feel giddy. Nicole grinned ear to ear like an idiot. It was just like back in high school, when Richard was still more man than child.

Nicole briefly pondered why she always seemed to fall for guys who were somewhere between man and child. At least Gumball was progressing from the latter to the former, instead of his father who seemed more a burden every day. She pushed those thoughts away. They didn't matter - nothing but them mattered. Nicole was content to feel that spark in her heart again, to let it grow and leave the troubles of the world aside. She smiled down at him, her sleepless soul searching at an end. She planted a kiss on his forehead and laid her head down next to her boyfriend's to sleep.