Chapter Text
Sprout was just mindlessly swirling the whipped cream in his mixing bowl while thinking of his interaction with Looey earlier that week. He had told Cosmo about what had happened and his best friend had put the pieces together and found out Sprout had a little crush on a certain balloon clown. Cosmo lightly teased him when Sprout basically told him everything and covered his own face with his hands trying to hide his growing blush.
They were making dinner, or Cosmo was, while Sprout made dessert. They were talking about random stuff, like me recipes, weird customer interactions, the latest gossip in Gardenview about certain toons.
“Heh, did you hear they caught Yatta in the vents near the magical train? She was trying to find out who conducts it.” Cosmo laughed a bit while saying it.
Sprout sighed with a smile, “Well, that's not very surprising, she's always coming to the kitchen in the middle of the night from those vents.”
“Oh! And Finn is officially banned from going within like, five or ten feet of Vee!”
“Oof. That incident last week must've been rough for her…” Sprout shivered as he thought of another incident he heard about, “and Shrimpo putting thumbtacks all over Looey's room? That's actually messed up…” he continued rolling the dough.
“Egh, he actually did that?! That's horrible.” Cosmo put all the carrots he'd chopped into the salad bowl.
“Yeah, I hope Looey's okay…” Sprout slowly stopped shaping the cookies and stared into the distance with one hand carrying his face as he leaned on the counter.
“Y'know, Astro can see your daydreams, so maybe don't dream up something too revealing…” Cosmo laughed a bit when he saw his friend getting distracted while thinking of Gardenview’s very own clown.
Sprout shot a look to his friend and kept putting the cookies onto the pan. Half an hour passed and food was finally done.
Gardenview closed for the night and dinner was ready so all the toons came into the diner floor to sit with their practically designated seat mates.
Flutter, Gigi and Connie at one table,
Brightney, Razzle & Dazzle, Astro and Squirm at the second,
Vee and Glisten gossiping on a box,
Goob, Scraps, Waxwell, Finn and Shrimpo at the next table,
Shelly, Tisha and Brusha at the other, (Pebbles sitting on top of this table beside Shelly,)
Rodger, Teagan, Toodles, Poppy and Boxten at one of the final tables,
And finally Blot, Yatta and Looey at the table close to the unoccupied corner table. Yatta and Blot were laughing at something Looey said and Looey was lightly covering his mouth as he laughed quietly. They were all in their PJs already, which was impressive considering they had multiple shows that day and one that took place just before closing.
Sprout wanted to be the one to serve the circus troupe, but also not the one to serve them. He completely ignored their table until Cosmo eventually told him in the kitchen to just go serve them since they're probably hungry. Sprout tried to argue but Cosmo just teasingly smiled, “I know what this is about, you and Looey! You don't want him to know, do you?”
Sprout's face became a dark shade of red but you could barely see it since he's usually red, “of course I don't want him to know!” Sprout whisper shouted, “why would I want him to know?”
“Just go!” Cosmo said quietly as he pushed Sprout out into the dining area.
He walked with as much confidence as he could muster toward the table where the circus performers sat. They were laughing with each other as usual, telling goofy stories that all of them were there for since they're almost never apart. Sprout quietly put the tray down trying not to make eye contact with Looey as he gave them each their own plates and utensils with their meal on it.
“AND THEN HE FELL DOWN!! BAHAHAHA” Yatta said, her usual loud voice was ever present.
Sprout was so focused on not looking at Looey that he didn't notice Looey who was staring at him.
“...gnirats s’yeooL erehw kooL...~hooOoo” (ooOooh~...Look where Looey's staring…) Blot said, raising his non-existent eyebrows towards Looey across the table from him.
“Hey!” Looey said, hoping Sprout couldn't understand Blot. He didn't, thankfully.
Sprout did look up though, since they'd all stopped laughing to look at Looey who was crossing his arms and looking to his side. Sprout was curious as to why he was upset, so he asked,
“Hey, Looey, what's the matter?”
“Nothing really, just these two being dumb.”
Yatta interrupted, “HEY! I'm not dumb! I was just saying that I see some chemistry happenin-”
Looey covered her mouth with his hands before she could finish.
“Well, thanks Sprout, this looks amazing! And those cookies look extra delicious! Byee!” Looey waved at Sprout as Sprout walked back into the kitchen. Sprout then saw Looey with a kind of serious expression while talking to his friends, but they just laughed and he rubbed the spot between his eyes on his red nose. Sprout couldn't hear a word but he couldn't help but stare.
Just then, Looey looked over at him through the doorway Sprout was watching from and Sprout immediately looked away and rushed deeper into the kitchen.