Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello!! :)

Requests are CLOSED!! Will reopen once I finish all the requests :3

(REQUESTS MAY NOT BE DONE IN ORDER OF SUBMISSION)

Will Do:

• Any Ship! Rarepairs, LGBTQ+, straight, polyamory, any!*
• Platonic pairings!!
• Fluff
• Angst
• OCs + (Toon!)Reader (platonic/romantic, though OCs (should include personality/appearance[/abilities/stats if needed] may end up OOC)
• (Human!)Reader if platonic
• Headcanons
• AUs

*with some exceptions.

Will NOT Do:

• ANY KIND OF SMUT
• Toodles x Anyone
• Pebble x Anyone
• Scraps x Goob
• Razzle x Dazzle
• Selfcest

(may add more to these lists if there is anything missing.)

HEADS UP:

• Some characters may be OOC, especially unreleased characters
• 'Plot' might get lost somewhere in a oneshot
• I will end up inserting headcanons into them if there isn't a specific request
• You can make your request as specific/vague as you want ^^ I'll do my best to adhere to specific ahh requests
• Will also be crossposted onto Wattpad

Leave any and all requests on the chapter's comments and I'll try to do them!! I'll also be posting my own oneshots inbetween too :)

Any and all requests have been added to a list :)

Chapter Text

Cosmo liked not having to do supply runs.

Sure, he always felt bad when the others came back with loads of good stuff, and he would feel left out when he hears things like Goob and Poppy giggling about how Shrimpo screamed during one of their supply runs–

( "He screamed at a really high pitch!" Goob giggled, ignoring the fuming, red faced Shrimpo next to him.

"NO I DIDN'T! SHUT UP!!!"

"Not even Boxten nor I scream like that, Shrimpo! You must'a been really scared!" Poppy teased, making the shrimp even more furious. "I think it was even higher and louder than Toodle-"

Shrimpo let out a wordless yell. "SHUT UP! I HATE YOU BOTH!!!!" )

–or Toodles wondering why she gets good things like those special bandages or jumper cables from Dandy only when Rodger or Tisha are around.

Now. While he is prepared and all suited and booted for when he does go on a run, he isn't really… mentally prepared for the regeneration part of the runs. A lot of Toons end up 'dying' during runs, and Rodger (or, if Rodger is dead or still on a run, Teagan, Brightney, his fellow main characters, or even Dandy) usually brings them back using this ichor revival system the handlers set up years ago after one too many kids were being too rough with Goob and Vee.

The first few times any Toon was revived after the humans shut down and abandoned the place, there was something wrong with them. Some weren't as drastic, like Goob suddenly missing arms or Rodger having a mouth, but some Toon's revivals ended up changing even the way they think drastically . There was a time Shrimpo was brought back for the second time, and, well… he was just incredibly kind. Uncomfortably sweet. Goob levels of sweet. They almost considered keeping him until he started crying profusely when Scraps made a comment, so Rodger regenerated him until he was back to normal.

Hell, some ended up being regenerated as weaker Twisteds.

And Cosmo wasn't ready for if it were to happen to him. Thankfully, the others understood, and let him, Sprout, and Glisten (who just refused to let his beauty sleep and routine [how does a mirror have a routine?] be ruined but also doesn't want to be the only one not doing runs) join last and when he's ready.

Cosmo lets out another sigh, squeezing his eyes shut. He's got to stop thinking about doing runs in the middle of the night. It really keeps him awake. Astro's gotten worried, keeps mentioning that he can't see Cosmo's drea–

CLANK!

His eyes widen, and he sits up, recognising the source of the sound- it sounded like one of his baking pans (Sprout has questioned him before, how he would always know. Cosmo swears his baking pans and the frying pans sound incredibly different!) hitting the counter, maybe.

"…who the hell is in the kitchen at…" Cosmo grumbles and looks at his clock with squinted eyes, "…freaking 2 in the morning?"

He debates getting up, but curiosity beats his rationality by a long shot.

He pushes his blanket aside and gets out of bed, being careful not to make a sound as to not disrupt Glisten– last time he did, Glisten grumbled at him for a week and threw a hissy fit every time Cosmo was in the same room– as he left the room.

What he sees, walking into the kitchen at 2:30 am, is not what he ever expected.

He expected Poppy to be grabbing a snack and forgetting where everything is (again).

Or maybe Sprout felt like making something because of stress (again).

Maybe Toodles was hungry and forced Rodger to make her something (…can Rodger even cook?).

He did not expect to see Shrimpo– who is, by the way, banned from the kitchen– there, making cookies, putting them on the pan, a look on his face that just screams lovesick (not as lovesick as cartoons or shows since the only other expression Cosmo's seen on Shrimpo other than anger is fear, but it's what Cosmo thinks it is).

"…Shrimpo?" Cosmo manages to force out.

Shrimpo's head whips up to look at Cosmo, and his face flushes red. "What are you doing here?!" He whisper yells, visibly tense.

"I- I heard pans clanging about. I-" Cosmo's eyes trail down to the cookies. "…you bake? Are those even safe to eat?"

"Grah- I HATE being caught!" He growls, before scoffing, "Obviously." He shoves the tray into the preheated oven, setting a timer.

"…I'm surprised the kitchen isn't on fire. I- Let me back track, you bake ???"

" Yes , I bake, obviously !" Shrimpo snarls at him.

Cosmo winces, despite the large distance between them. "I… okay, why don't you tell anyone then?"

"Because I don't want them to know! I bake for myself and myself only!" He yells.

There it is.

"Huh."

Cosmo looks around. He glances at the ingredients used…

…eggs, flour, vanilla extract… yeah, all of those look like the right ingredients.

He glances at Shrimpo, who is avoiding eye contact with Cosmo, arms crossed, still frowning but still blushing too.

Hm. He supposes this is why all his baking ingredients kept suddenly depleting every now and then.

Glad it wasn't a rat or something.

Though he does remember a Toon anonymously receiving baked treats at his door the morning afte–

…no way.

Shrimpo grumbles to himself.

He just wanted to make some stupid cookies for… um. For no reason. Not for a specific toon or anything.

He didn't want to be caught.

He's gone so many nights without being caught!! WHY NOW!!

He sighs, wanting the cookies to be done faster so he can just wrap them up and go give them– store them for when Rodger forces him to give another apology.

He glares at Cosmo, who seems a bit spaced out. "Are you gonna keep staring at me?"

Cosmo blinks. "Oh- Ah, sorry Shrimpo, I was just–"

"Listen, Cosmo." He grabs Cosmo by the collar (and Cosmo, despite being taller, still found the shrimp intimidating), "You better not tell anyone about this, got it? YOU SAW NOTHING !"

"You- You got it…" Cosmo gives him a nervous grin. "I promise!"

Shrimpo huffs, pulling away. He looks at the cookies and groans. They still aren't done…

Cosmo fixes his shirt, looking at Shrimpo.

He still can't believe Shrimpo likes someone enough to… he shakes his head.

"I'm gonna… head back to bed. Uh, hope they don't burn." Cosmo waves. "Good night."

Shrimpo doesn't look at him, only letting out a small grunt.

"Okay- Uh, I won't tell anyone!" Cosmo rushes off, back to his room.

He can hear Shrimpo yelling back "YOU BETTER NOT!" as Cosmo shuts the door ( gently , he is not risking waking Glisten up) and sneaks back into bed.

…Cosmo is definitely telling Sprout.

Chapter Text

"Brightney, hello? Are- Are you listening?"

Brightney blinks. "O-Oh, sorry, Dazzle, I was just… wondering."

Razzle, finally looking interested (they were talking about books for the past hour and Razzle was about to fall asleep), raises a brow. "Wondering what?"

Brightney nods her head towards a certain group of people.

The main characters are standing together, talking about their most recent one to Sprout.

Vee's leaning a little bit on Astro, Astro visibly not minding as he tells Sprout, who's carrying Pebble, about whatever happened today.

Shelly stands behind the two, twiddling her thumbs, occasionally interjecting, only to pause as one of the two continue talking, none of them turning towards her, and she always ends up curling up on herself after.

"Is Shelly always…" Brightney tries to find the right words. "…is she always behind them like that?"

Razzle pauses, before a small, nervous smile makes its way onto his face. "I'm… sure she's not always –"

"I don't usually see her standing next to them though…" Dazzle muses. "She usually trails behind them..."

Brightney feels her chest tighten at that. "…really?"

"I don't know, I don't usually pay attention to when the main guys are hanging out, I doubt she's always being left out, they're friends, they wouldn't–" Razzle tries to explain, trailing off. Dazzle sighs.

"I mean, Astro pays attention to her… one time, he was wondering if she was alright…" Dazzle adds. "But the others…"

Brightney's mouth is in a straight line. Her eyes have not left Shelly. "Uh huh."

Razzle sighs. "Brightney…"

Shelly fidgets with the hem of her skirt, gaze switching between the three in front of her.

"Honestly, Astro, you help out a lot with your whole energy boost. I can't count the amount of times I coulda got hit by Twisteds," Vee grins, nudging him. Astro's lips curve into a small smile.

"Well, you letting us know where Twisteds are is really useful, especially when the power goes out." Astro chuckles. "Pebble was amazing, too."

Shelly watches as the praise goes around between them, never once talking about her.

She steps back.

"Um. Hey, guys, I'm gonna… head back to my room," Shelly smiles nervously.

Astro's brow furrows. "Are y–"

"Alright, good night, Shelly." Vee gives her a brief smile before turning back to Sprout, telling him about her encounter with Pebble's Twisted variant.

The moon sighs. "Are you alright? Not sick, or infected?"

She smiles, waving him off. "Promise I'm not, I'm just tired from the run… we made it to 30, after all."

He doesn't look convinced, but sighs. "Alright, just… let me know if you need anything." He turns back to the other two.

Shelly walks back to her room, ignoring the glances she gets from Brightney, Razzle, and Dazzle.

They probably thought she was annoying.

She locks the door, beelining straight to her bed.

...do her friends find her annoying?

...surely, surely they don't.

But why would they be ignoring her if she wasn't?

She groans, putting her head in her hands and curling up on her bed.

She gets up and grabs something random from her rock collection- a raw chunk of sapphire.

She picks at it and rolls it around in her hands, trying to move her thoughts away from everything that makes her feel left out.

Dinosaurs , she thinks, just think about dinosaurs–

"Wanna hear some dinosaur facts?" Shelly asked with a smile, stepping into the elevator, trailing behind Vee.

"I know them all."

She paused. "W-What?"

Vee turned back to her, seeming a bit annoyed. Who could blame her? They've been down here for hours. "They're programmed in already Shelly, I know them all."

Shelly froze. Right. "Ah… right!" She plastered on a smile. "Silly me!"

She watched as Vee turned away to face Dandy.

She smacks her cheek. Stop thinking about them!

She sighs, fiddling with her sapphire.

Maybe… the others are better off without her.

Her fellow main toons, even the others.

Then there's a knock.

"Shelly?"

It sounds like Brightney.

Shelly forces herself to get out from her bed, clutching the gemstone tighter in her hand, even if it hurts a bit from a sharp edge.

She opens the door, forcing a smile. Brightney looks… serious. A bit upset. Did she do something wrong?

"Hey, Brightney! What's up?"

Brightney sighs. "Shelly, are you alright? Be honest with me."

Shelly pauses. "I- Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because the others weren't really paying attention to you, Shelly," Brightney frowns. "Please, be honest."

Shelly pauses, forcing her smile. "I'm fine , Brightney."

"Shelly…" The lamp sighs, and gently pushes her way in, closing the door behind her.

Shelly gets a little pink as Brightney gets incredibly close, making Shelly step back a bit.

"I'm just worried about you. It seems like this happens often, so I just wanted to make sure." She sighs. "I won't tell anyone, if you don't want me to, but we're friends . I want to make sure all my friends are doing okay."

That's when Shelly breaks. She doesn't know if it's the fact Brightney called her her friend, or if it's the fact she's worried about her, but it breaks her.

She starts to tear up. "I've just felt so-" Shelly pauses, wiping her tears, "-so left out, the others all seem like great friends and they all have their own groups of friends, even Shrimpo has people he hangs out with, I just–"

Brightney outstretches her arms. Shelly drops her sapphire and falls into her, hugging her tight.

"…you know, Shelly, you could always join book club. We don't just do fiction books," Brightney smiles, wrapping her arms around the ammonite. "And we usually use that time to talk about whatever too, not just books. Astro and Dazzle have been pretty worried about you too."

Shelly sniffles. "You… you mean it?"

Brightney nods. "Of course I mean it. We're friends , Shelly. And, if you ever feel left out again, just come to me. I'll keep you company." She pulls away slightly, taking Shelly's hand in hers. "I'd love to hear about your dinosaur facts."

Shelly blushes. Brightney's hand is… cool. It's cold. It's nice. "Really? I'm not a bother?"

"Never." She hugs her again.

Shelly sighs happily, melting into the hug. "…thanks."

"No need to thank me."

Shelly pulls away again. "So… you said you'd like to hear some dinosaur facts?"

Brightney nods. "I'm interested."

The ammonite grins, and grabs Brightney's hand again, dragging Brightney to the couches. "So, have you ever heard of a deinonychus?"

"I- No, what's that?"

"So, basically…"

—————————————

"Good night, Brightney!" Shelly smiles, waving at Brightney, holding a ruby in her hand (Shelly is still panicking about that decision), at the door as the lamp heads off to her and the twins' room. "Thanks again for everything!"

"Of course! Don't forget, book club meeting tomorrow at 3!" Brightney waves back, smiling. "Goodnight!"

Shelly closes the door once Brightney's out of sight, sighing fondly to herself. She presses her back to the door, sliding down to the ground.

Oh.

She forgot about her sapphire.

She sighs, picking it up, hoping Brightney didn't remember what she'd said a month ago, when she first started collecting rocks and gems…

"Y'know, I might… give one. To someone, to confess my love, or something."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The gems 'n stuff are really important to me. Not as much as my fossils, but I'm not giving those away."

"Huh. Well, whoever you give it to is lucky to have you, Shelly!"

"…thanks, Brightney!"

God , don't let Brightney remember what she said.

(Little does she know, Brightney remembers.)

Chapter Text

Rodger trudges out of the elevator, clothes stained with ichor and skin covered in bandages.

He ended up being the last one to actually survive the horrible experience, making it for another 5 floors alone before deciding to call it quits after a Twisted Pebble nearly got him three times. It didn't help that useless items were forced into his pockets because of Astro and Vee insisting on it every time Dandy got upset.

He sighs, going to his room.

"Rodger~"

The detective perks up at the familiar voice. Two fluffy arms wrap around his waist, before they pull away almost immediately.

"Ew," Traffis mumbles, wiping off the ichor on Rodger's sleeve.

Rodger scoffs, though there's a bit of fondness in his eye. "What did you think would happen, dear?"

"Your suit is dark , how was I supposed to know?" Xe huffs. "But how was your run? Got anything good? I brought a towel." Traffis pulls it out, tossing it to Rodger, who uses it to wipe off all the ichor he can.

"Thanks. It was… eventful. It went well until we breached floor 20…" Rodger sighs, taking Traffis' hand as he guides them to his room. "But other than that, it went fairly well."

"Did Shrimpo trip?"

"What?"

"Shrimpo was in your run today, yeah? Did he trip."

Rodger lets out a chuckle, being reminded of Traffis' and Shrimpo's rivalry. "He didn't, but he did end up dying before we got to the fifth floor."

As Traffis pumped his fist in the air, Rodger continued. "We ended up encounting Pebble's and Vee's twisted variants multiple times the moment we reached floor 20. But I was able to bring back many supplies for Cosmo and Sprout to use for mealtimes."

"Good."

"And you? How are you and your sisters doing? Still not ready to head out yet?" Rodger hummed, shutting the door to his room once Traffis came in, not really expecitng Shrimpo or Toodles to burst in.

Traffis seemed to light up. "They're doing great, and so am I. Obviously, I'm doing amazing, and of course I'm ready! I'm just waiting for my sisters because I don't wanna leave them alone!" He huffed. Rodger, taking his suit off, hums, not fully convinced.

"Sure, sure…" Rodger pulls on a turtleneck instead of his usual dozens of suits, sitting down on the bed next to his boyfriend.

Traffis blinked. "You… wanna just… relax?" They ask, voice noticably softer.

Rodger usually never did, always insisting on working on his next case or watching Toodles or whatever. Traffis was completely ready to fight Rodger on this like the two usually do, with them usually resulting in a compromise of Traffis clinging to the detective to make sure he doesn't overdo it.

But to Traffis' surprise, the detective sighed, finally leaning against Traffis. "Please. It's… been a long week."

The bug, without hesitation, wrapped xyr arms around him, pulling the both of them down. "Is this better?"

Rodger nodded, melting into his arms. "Much better."

"So… tell me about your day."

"You sure?" Traffis smirks. "I have a lot to talk about."

"Mhm. Your voice is… calming, to me. It's nice."

Traffis feels his cheeks flush red at that. "Oh- Well-" He regains his composure quickly, as if nothing happened. "It was real eventful. Everything started the moment I ran into Glisten and Shrimpo this morning…"

—————————

"…and so–"

Traffis paused, noticing Rodger had stopped humming or nodding whenever he said something.

…he's asleep. Traffis huffs, but smiles, glad that xyr boyfriend is finally relaxing for once. They hugged him tighter, pressing a light, chaste kiss to his forehead, keeping an eye on the door.

This was nice. Just him and his boyfriend, with nobody bothering them.

They should do this more often.

Chapter Text

"Rodger, what are they doing?" Toodles asked.

Rodger sighs, gently ushering her away from them. "Don't mind them, Toodles..."

The sight Toodles was asking about was the odd duo of Shrimpo and Goob.

"GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF!" Shrimpo shouted, thrashing and writhing around in Goob's surprisingly tight hug.

Goob grins, shaking his head. "Nuh uh!! You need a hug!"

"AND WHO SAID I DO?!"

"The big frown on your face!" Goob giggles, lifting him off the ground.

Shrimpo yelled wordlessly once more, giving up and going limp in his arms. "I hate you. I hate you and your hugs."

"You don't mean that!!"

"I DO!!!"

Shrimpo hates to admit it.

Goob is right.

He enjoys the hugs...but only because it's Goob and he's impossible to get mad at. And even if he did, everyone would gang up on him because EVERYONE LOVES GOOB!! BLAH BLAH BLAH!!! Even Rodger likes this stupid square fluffball.

Annoying.

He holds back a yawn as Goob keeps leaning on him, making him bend back a bit. Goob is warm. And fluffy. He feels like one of his weighte-

NO.

NO, he is NOT letting Goob have this!!

"GET OFF!!!"

Goob pouts. "You don't like my hugs?"

Shrimpo pauses.

He can feel Rodger glaring at him.

He grumbles, relaxing slightly in Goob's arms, yet still visibly tense and very upset about it.

Because he is.

"Fine..."

Goob grins. "Yay!" He leans more against Shrimpo, making Shrimpo feel ever so slightly sleepier.

Shrimpo blinks, eyes growing heavy. "I still…" His eyes shut. "Hate you…"

Goob nearly panicked when Shrimpo went limp in his arms.

"Shrimpo?" He asked, shaking the shrimp gently. "SHRIMPO???"

Then Goob heard a soft snoring. Oh , he thinks, he just fell asleep .

Goob holds Shrimpo tighter, making the smaller lean on his chest so he can try to drag him to his, Toodles', and Rodger's room.

He nudges the door open and sets Shrimpo down on the bottom bunk, assuming it's his bed (the top bunk had ponies on it and the nightstand by the other bed is littered in papers and ink). Goob hums. Looks left, then right, before closing the door.

He wouldn't mind… right?

He sits down next to Shrimpo, who (in his sleep) grabs Goob and weakly tugs him down. Goob flushes red, yelping. "S-Shrimpo…"

Shrimpo is still fast asleep, arms wrapped right around Goob like he's a teddy bear, face pressed into the fluff at Goob's chest. He looks so peaceful.

"…just for a minute."

–––––––––––––

Shrimpo wakes up to warmth.

A lot of warmth, actually.

And his face is buried in something soft.

…when the fuck did he even get in a bed.

He hesitantly opens his eyes, and yelps, face flushing red.

What the fuck is Goob doing in his bed?!

He tries to pull away, only to feel the craft's arms wrapped around him tight, somehow. Then he hears giggling.

"TOODLES, GET OUT!" He whisper yells, afraid to wake Goob up.

Toodles, who's giggling at the doorway, blows a raspberry at him. "I'm telling Rodger you have a boyfriend!" She giggles again, running away.

"NO- GET BACK HERE!" He raises his voice, trying to get up, only to accidentally force Goob up as well. "Shit."

The craft blinks, finally waking up. "Shrimpo…?" His eyes widen, and he lets go. "I-I'm sorry, uh, I just thought-"

"Shut up, don't apologise." Shrimpo gets out of bed, briefly putting his hand on Goob's. "I'm getting your ass, Toodles!" He runs out of the room, and Goob can hear the little girl giggling from afar.

He smiles.

…maybe Shrimpo wouldn't mind doing this again.

Chapter Text

Boxten groans, forcing himself to keep working on this machine.

He may have contracted the cold that Shrimpo had a couple days ago, and he may have forgotten to let Dandy know, but…

…he doesn't want to be useless. He kept making mistakes the last time he was on a run and nearly got several other Toons killed, he doesn't want people think he's faking it to skip on this one.

He yelps, failing another one of those stupid "skill checks" as Rodger calls them (it's really just this little button they have to press in time, probably to make sure kids that end up near one of these machines- reserved for emergencies- don't accidentally keep extracting the ichor. He doesn't know, the handlers probably did though. Maybe Dandy too) and he sighs. He glances over, noticing Goob still distracting the two Twisteds. He turns back to the machine, sluggishly extracting the ichor.

Weirdly, he hopes Goob notices and maybe comes over and worries about him and… no, going to stop that there, he doesn't want to worry Goob. As nice as it feels, to think about Goob taking care of him, he's pretty sure the craft already has a lot on his mind alread–

"WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW?! DO IT FASTER!" It's Shrimpo. Of course it's Shrimpo.

Boxten winces, his shaky hands nearly failing another skill check. "Shut up…"

"I COULD DO IT BETTER THAN YOU!" He yells. "I- AH!"

Shrimpo shrieks (like a girl) as the two Twisteds- Twisted Poppy and Twisted Boxten (it was still really freaky to see himself all messed up like that. He wonders if it hurts) run towards him, and Goob clearly not doing anything about it.

Instead, Goob is running towards Boxten.

"Boxten! Are you alright?" He asks, tilting his head like the most adorable puppy in the world, causing his heart to race just a bit (that's a lie. It's beating so loudly Goob could probably hear it).

"I'm… fine, Goob," Boxten manages to smile, a little crooked and small, but it's something. Hopefully. "Just, um-" He thinks of an excuse, not wanting to worry Goob, "-Poppy kept me up last night, so I'm a little tired…"

"Oh! Well, you go back to the elevator and rest, okay? I'll go save Shrimpo and ask him to do the machine!"

The music box's eyes widened. "N-No, you don't need to do that! I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I'm sure Brightney won't mind doing this last one!" Goob smiles.

"I'll be alright, I promise. I'm sure." He forces a smile again. "Go get Shrimpo, or something."

Goob seems… unconvinced, but he nods anyway, running off to find Shrimpo.

Goob feels like Boxten might be sick.

It's just a hunch, but… Shrimpo did refuse to stay in bed when he got sick, and Boxten was on watching duty at some point, so there's a big chance because Shrimpo doesn't like Boxten that much.

"Shrimpo!" He calls out, trying to brush away the thoughts for now.

He finds the shrimp cowering behind a bunch of crates as the two Twisteds wander around. "THERE YOU ARE! I'VE ALREADY BEEN HIT TWICE BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU SUCK!"

"I'm sorry, Boxten didn't look so well so I wanted to check on him!" Goob pouts. "You can respawn from this, I don't know if we could bring Boxten back if he died from a fever!"

"YOU CARE TOO MUCH ABOUT YOUR BOYFRIEND! IT'S GROSS!" Shrimpo huffs, watching Goob freeze, face turning red, before he runs to grab the Twisteds' attention. Shrimpo turns away. "WHATEVER. I'M GOING BACK TO THE ELEVATOR!"

"He's not my–" Goob sighed, trying to get rid of the blush on his face as Shrimpo runs out of hearing range.

He hears the elevator door open, so he runs around a bit more with the Twisteds, giggling as he circles them a couple times, before deciding to go back, thinking everyone should have gotten back. Surely Boxten isn't… that sick, right?

…where's Boxten?!

Goob runs back out of the elevator, ignoring Brightney's cry of concern.

"Boxten! Boxten?!" He calls out, running through the hallways.

He finds Boxten slowly walking towards him from the other room, holding his head.

"Boxten! Come here!"

"Huh?–"

Goob stretches his arms and grabs the clearly sick music box, dragging him into a hug and wraps his arms around Boxten tight enough to keep Boxten on him, running back into the elevator just as the door shuts. Boxten, cheeks flushed red (probably from his sickness) looks up at the craft tiredly. Brightney, who's right next to Goob, opens her mouth to scold both of them only to pause at the sight of Boxten.

"…we're going back up," She deadpans. "And I'm telling Dandy."

Boxten's eyes widen. "I'm sorry for-" He sneezes, sniffling. "…for holding you guys back again…"

Goob gasps. "Wha- No! We're telling Dandy that you're obviously sick! It's not your fault that Shrimpo kept coughing on everyone."

"EXCUS–"

"Shhhhh," Goob clumsily puts a hand on Shrimpo's face. "No saying buts, Boxten. We're ending this supply run."

Brightney nods. "I got us enough stuff anyway, don't worry. Not to mention, Pebble and Vee went on a run yesterday and got enough to last a week."

Boxten sighs. "…okay."

Okay. Goob does not have a reason to be this nice.

"Goob, you don't have to carry me–"

The craft presses a claw (?) to Boxten's mouth and shushes him. "Let me take care of you," He pouts. "You're sick, and you couldn't even walk over to me earlier! I think you're actually getting way worse… so I got Vee to let Sprout know, so he should come in soon with some soup to make you better!"

Goob puts Boxten down in his bed, pulling the blanket over him. Boxten would protest, but a nap feels… really good right now, but he also knows he has to eat. Sprout walks in a couple minutes later, with a tray of soup and some lemon and honey tea.

"Get well soon, Boxten," Sprout smiles, setting it down on the bedside table. "And Teagan wants that tea finished when I come back to pick this up, by the way."

"Thanks Sprout!" Goob grins, watching Sprout walk out the room. He turns back to Boxten. "Need help, or…?"

"…Boxten?"

Boxten freezes. He tries to figure out all the possible outcomes…

…letting Goob help definitely would make things much easier for him, but he could face lifelong humiliation and even risk others seeing him at his weakest. But… they wouldn't, probably, other than Shrimpo.

Saying he couldn't do it on his own would definitely end up with him spilling hot liquids all over his body and make him worse… and would end up with Goob helping anyway.

"Boxten? Earth to Boxten!"

The music box yelps. "S-Sorry, um… I'd like some help, if that's okay…?"

Goob, always so nice, gives him a smile that makes Boxten's heart flutter ever so slightly. "Of course! I wouldn't'a asked if I didn't want to help!"

He grabs the spoon and scoops up some of the soup as Boxten sits up, Goob putting a hand under the spoon. He slowly and carefully brings the spoon over to Boxten, who eats the soup and immediately puffs his cheeks.

"Boxten!" Goob panics, setting the spoon down. "What–"

He cuts himself off as Boxten points at his face and makes a fanning gesture, before swallowing the soup. "…forgot to cool it down," He admits, face flushing red. "I think I burned my tongue…"

Goob sighs in relief. "For a second I thought maybe the ingredients were spoiled… I'm glad it was just that!"

They both laugh a little, with Goob continuing to spoonfeed Boxten in silence.

"…you're really nice, you know?" Boxten mumbles, breaking said silence.

Goob hums. "Well, I try to be. Everyone should have a smile on their face, and what better way other than hugs than to be nice?"

"I guess…" He shrugs.

Boxten sighs, slowly grabbing the cup of tea and taking a sip. Goob's always this nice. He… has got to remember that, really… maybe that will finally stop him from feeling things for Goob.

Goob tries to stay focused on feeding Boxten, not wanting to overwhelm him with affection and hugs and all that. Scraps and Poppy might expect it, but Boxten… doesn't seem like a big fan… he's always looking away and wincing.

Sure, Goob always hugs Rodger and Shrimpo even though they always scold him for it, but… it's different! With Boxten! Rodger and Shrimpo are always like that! And Goob doesn't want to scare him… and make him hate him…

Maybe Scraps is right about him having a crush, but… he just- he's seen Boxten get scared and nervous really often and he doesn't wanna be the cause of that, okay?

Goob sighs. "Well, you should go take a nap! I'll bring these back to the kitchen and give you some room!"

Boxten looked up at him with some sort of… disappointment? Goob's confused. "Okay. Thanks again, Goob. I'll… make it up to you when I get better."

"Oh, no, no! You don't need to do that, it's no big deal! You don't have to make up for this, I'm just doing what any good friend would do!" He smiled, not noticing the way Boxten turned red again.

"Alright. Thanks." He smiles.

Just as Goob reaches the door, after nearly dropping the tray a couple times (he's not used to carrying this much), Boxten speaks up–

"Wait."

Goob hums, turning around. "Yeah?"

Boxten twiddles his thumbs, seeming nervous. "I… wouldn't mind, if you came back… would make this more bearable." He looks up, panicking. "Not that you have to! I- Um, only if you're alright with this, I wouldn't want to force you or get you s–"

"I'd love to!" Goob grins, trying (and failing) to hide the blush on his face. "I'll be back soon, and I'll bring some board games too! Promise!"

Boxten watched Goob run out the room, smiling.

He can't wait.

Chapter Text

Shrimpo scoffed, getting on the stupid elevator.

He doesn't get what's so hard about this. He made it to the twelfth floor!! He did six floors by himself because HE'S BETTER!!! EVERYONE ELSE SUCKS AT THIS!!!

Boxten thought he wouldn't get past the first floor. Well, TAKE THAT, YOU STUPID MUSIC BOX!!

"Just buy something already."

The shrimp jumps, being snapped out of his thoughts, but doesn't even spare a glance at Dandy. He huffs, crossing his arms. "Your stuff is always SHIT, Dandy! And I don't need it!"

He decides to turn around anyway. Two clusters of gumballs and a stopwatch. "USELESS!!"

Dandy's eye twitches, a timer going off, signalling that his selling time is over. "You're making a big mistake."

Shrimpo laughs. "What are you gonna do about it, you dumb daisy?"

Dandy scoffs, descending into the floor like usual. "You'll see."

He doesn't get it. The stupid Mains always think they're better and tell everyone to keep buying from Dandy when they can! Why? They clearly hate each other already, Dandy and the Mains, why not make Dandy pissed for the fun of it? Especially 'cus Dandy's always had that stupid grin on his face, every time they see him. Why do they care sooo much about keeping him happy?

AND they won't even tell the others why!

They're stupid, that's why.

As the elevator comes to a stop, he hears... music? Sounds like the flower's gross classical music.

Huh. Maybe Dandy's finally gonna do his weird magic shit and kick him back up to the main floor because he's JUST THAT GOOD!!

...he just doesn't remember Dandy having footsteps as heavy as those....

Oh shit , he thinks as the door opens.

There, in the distance, is a Twisted much larger than that stupid dog, a Twisted he's never seen, in the tiniest area of the educational centre- the fucking library .

He forces himself to step out of the elevator before it traps him inside forever, doing his best to stay away from that... that big backed freak.

...is that DANDY?!

He tries to squint at it once he's in a safe spot.

The gay petals, the tapes... yeah, that's Dandy.

He... usually isn't scared. He never is! He's just got a lot of things and needs to be hyper aware of his surroundings because he pissed Dandy off and clearly Dandy did do something about it.

He's. Not. Scared.

He starts making his way through the library, searching for a machine and very narrowly avoiding a Poppy.

When he finally finds one, he starts tugging hard on the wheel, banging his head on the glass of the machines in the process.

The moment he finishes, he hears Dandy's steps growing louder and louder and faster , Shrimpo's alone , who the fuck is Dandy chasing–

Dandy finds him.

He came for the machine , Shrimpo realised far too late.

He tries to run, and ends up being backed into a corner, panting heavily as he uses up his last bits of energy.

He gets shoved down to the floor by the Twisted's hand, feeling the ichor drip from its mouth and down onto his face.

Shrimpo writhes in its grasp.

"Just hit me already!" He yells. "Stupid flower!"

Dandy only growls in response, pressing him harder down onto the floor.

It hurts , he can barely breathe, it feels like his bones are cracking.

Why isn't he acting like the other Twisteds? Who just hit once or bite and keep chasing?

He doesn't get much time to dwell on that thought as Dandy's claw digs into his arm, slowly and carefully ripping off the skin. Shrimpo cries out in pain, tearing up, helplessly writhing under him.

"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I WON'T DO IT AGAIN, PLEASE–" He sobs, screaming as Dandy continues to pull and pull, the ichor pouring from his exposed flesh and pooling under him.

He hates this, he should have listened to those stupid Mains, of course they knew, it hurts so, so much.

He just hopes Dandy is merciful enough to kill him soon.

Boxten sits next to Rodger by the machine, waiting for Shrimpo's badge to send a signal that he died.

"He's actually lasting this long?" Boxten raises a brow, surprised.

Rodger huffs. "I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed on the same floor for a good.." He checks his watch. "80 minutes or so."

"Yeah, but he'd get bored and try to get past. Not to mention, he'd rather stay in his room all day."

"I suppose... but–"

The buzzer goes off, and Rodger swiftly begins the revival process.

Success!

Boxten sighs in relief, glad nothing bad happened, and glances at...

...Shrimpo?

He's. Shaking.

"Shrimpo?" He mumbles, a bit nervous. Is this the real Shrimpo?

Shrimpo's eyes widen, looking up at him, before quickly walking off towards his and Finn's shared room.

Boxten steps forward. "Shrimpo–"

The door slams shut.

Shrimpo curls up in his bed, hugging himself, trying to calm down.

It- He didn't stop for a good 15 extra minutes.

Dandy is a fucking monster.

He holds back a sob.

The door opens, revealing Finn. "Hey, buddy, I hope your run was FIN-tasti..." He pauses. "Shrimpo?"

Shrimpo sniffles, wiping the tears he didn't realise he let out. "GET OUT!"

Finn's brows furrow. "Shrimpo, what happened?-"

"I SAID GET OUT!" He shouts, pointing at the door.

Finn winces, but sighs. "Alright. But, uh, call if you need anything, buddy."

And the door shuts again, gently.

The shrimp claws at his skin, pulling and rubbing at his arms weakly, trying to calm himself down and replace the sensations of losing his skin... everything Dandy did to him before he died from blood loss.

He rubs angrily at his eyes, trying to calm down. He's Shrimpo , he's not supposed to be scared or traumatized, he should be fine...

"So?"

" So , you should go talk to him," Finn suggested. He'd just told Boxten about how Shrimpo is.

Boxten's eyes widen. "Why me ? Why not Goob or something?!"

"Because, my box friend," He puts a hand on his shoulder, "you're good at talking to people."

"No, I'm not..? Especially not Shrimpo..."

"Yeah, but you're kind and a really good listener." Finn grins. "Also don't you have a cr–"
"No," Boxten cuts him off, flushing red, "I don't. It's just… a phase…"

Finn hums. "Mhm. And whales are fish."

Boxten blinks. "…they aren't?"

"Did you not listen to my lessons with the kids?" Finn gasps, offended. "Well, I'll have you know, whales are–"

Finn pauses.

"We can have this talk another time. Right now, you gotta cheer Shrimpo up. A scared Shrimpo will shrimp-ly not do!" He shoves Boxten towards the door of their room. "Go!"

Boxten sighs.

Knock, knock.

"GO AWAY!" A muffled voice yells from inside.

Boxten goes inside anyway. "Shrimpo?"

He sees the crustacean wrapped up in several of his weighted blankets.

"Shrimpo…" He sits down next to Shrimpo. "Are you… what happened?"

Shrimpo curls up further within his blankets. "Nothing. Go away."

He's… visibly tired. His eyes are all red and puffy too, and theres a bit of snot on his face.

"I'm… I'm no Goob, but…" He wraps his arms around Shrimpo, ignoring how his heart races.

You shouldn't love him, this is just a temporary truce, he'll go back to yelling at you tomorrow, Boxten.

"I'm here to listen. To whatever you want to say."

Shrimpo leans into him, huffing. "Dandy…"

"Sorry?"

"Dandy did it. I didn't listen to Vee, and I ignored Dandy, and he got mad."

Boxten's eyes widen. "I'll tell Astro or something, but…" He hums. "Do you want to… talk about something else for now? Take your mind off of it?"

Shrimpo stares at him, a bit in thought, hugging the blankets tighter. "…Finn's fish puns are stupid."

Boxten sighs. "I–"

"Everything is stupid! Other than shrimp, because I'm shrimply–" Shrimpo coughs. " Simply better."

Silence.

"I'm telling Finn."

"No, NO! DON'T GO TELL FINN, I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU THE MOST!"

Boxten pulls back, wincing harshly because he just yelled right in his ear. "Shrimpo–"

"Shut up." He grumbled, pressing into the corner. "…sorry, I guess."

"It's alright. You're… not in the best headspace right now," Boxten gives him a small smile, shuffling closer.

They sit in silence again, until Boxten squeezes his eyes shut. The key in the back of his head starts turning, and music begins to play.

Shrimpo winces. He didn't mean to yell at Boxten, he's… UGH, he HATES feelings.

He expects that dumb song that… the flower plays everywhere to play from Boxten, only to hear a different song. He hates to admit, but it's nice. Calming.

He didn't want to talk. Not when he didn't feel stable.

Boxten isn't talking, not anymore, sitting and keeping his focus on making the music play from his head.

He doesn't even know why he let Boxten come in.

I didn't , he thinks, but I didn't stop that dumb music artist from coming in like Finn.

He might care for Boxten and wanted to impress the music box a little but, but that doesn't matter.

He glances at Boxten. Boxten, who was always too scared to really want to spend more than a minute with him, was worried enough to try and calm him down.

…Rodger did tell him he should be nicer.

"…thanks." He mutters.

The music slows down as Boxten is shaken from his focus. "Huh?"

Shrimpo's face turns pink from embarrassment. "I said thanks, loser," He repeats himself louder.

Boxten smiles. "No problem, Shrimpo."

"Can-" He groans, trying to force himself to keep talking. "Can you stay here? And, like, kick Finn out or something? Your music is… fine, I guess."

"I–" Boxten blushes. "Sure, Shrimpo, I'll, uh, let Finn know. You… you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, but don't let this get to anyone else , okay?! If you do, I'll tell you more lies to scare you like the one about exploding machines!!" He yells, getting a bit defensive.

"That was a lie…?" Boxten murmurs, but looks back up at him anyway. "I- Ignoring the fact you just said that's a lie, I promise I'll keep it a secret. If Finn tells then that's his fault, I-I guess…"

"Good. Now stay. Don't touch me but stay here. Keep playing."

Boxten lets out a chuckle, focusing on his music again. "Okay, if that helps you out."

Shrimpo soon drifts to sleep mid-rant about something Glisten did, and Boxten slows the music down a bit. He smiles and tucks Shrimpo in a bit more, before quickly sneaking a kiss on the crustacean's forehead.

"I'll go tell Finn about the situation," He whispers to himself.

"And also probably ask Astro to give Shrimpo a good dream."

Chapter Text

Vee and Astro stood by the entrance to Dandy's room, waiting.

Shelly's badge went off, signifying she died during a run.

So now they're waiting for Dandy to get his lazy ass out of the shop and revive their partner. He, weirdly, never likes having people see his revival process, since it's apparently "different" to everyone else's.

Vee huffs, banging on the door. "Hurry up in there!"

"Vee, be patient," Astro sighs.

"Why did we let him do it? He's always so slow and you and I both know about his Twi–"

"But his revivals always have a higher success rate than everyone else's. Even Rodger's." Astro steps in front of her, a small blue star gently pushing her back. She pauses.

They both know what that means. When… others try to bring someone back using their little ichor system, there's always a chance that they come out wrong. Sometimes it's painful.

So Dandy, the only one who knew the process, decided to teach the others since he often disappears every now and then in his shop. Entrusted Rodger, Teagan, and Brightney– the most responsible trio of the Toons– and the Mains with the process.

Dandy's the only one who, so far, has perfected the process, making it so his revivals never mess up, but he always takes his sweet time doing it.

The TV sighs. "You're right, just… I want to see her really soon," She groans. "Shelly's run was so long and I'm pretty sure the others are still going–"

"It's been two hours, Vee," He chuckles. "We've gone on runs longer."

"Yeah, with Shelly," She scoffs. "Not without her. I don't trust her life with… him ."

Astro sighs, knowing exactly what she's talking about, leaning on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. "She'll be fine. He only turns when he's upset."

The door swings open.

Shelly and Dandy stand in the doorway, Dandy grinning. Shelly looks a little sheepish, walking over to her partners.

"Finally!" Vee huffs, pulling Shelly into her arms.

"Thanks," Astro mutters, turning away as Dandy shuts the door. "So…?"

Shelly hums, tilting her head curiously.

"How did you die?" The TV asks for him, smirking.

Shelly turns red. "Well– um. A Twisted Shrimpo…"

"Really?" She snickers. Astro nudges her.

"I– Well– I was knocked down a lot by the Twisted Goob in the previous floor and–"

"It's alright, love. Don't mind Vee, she's died more times than I can count to Boxten ."

Vee freezes, flushing red. "Astro–"

"So she can't judge," He continues, two small stars nudging the two towards him, trapping him between the two girls. "Now can we go and spend some time under the tree? I need a nap."

——————

The trio sits under the tree, the ammonite squeezed between the two as Vee rants on about what happened during the most recent trivia game.

"Like, can you believe it?" Vee huffed. "Scraps won. Again !"

Shelly wraps an arm around Astro, who's currently asleep against her, and chuckles. "I mean, she's not as dumb as you think–"

"Shelly. She guessed for every single question and kept looking at Goob."

"Oh. Well, she's always pretty lucky…" She chuckles, pressing a kiss to Vee's screen, making her bluescreen for a bit. "Don't get too upset about it, dear."

"Don't… do that…" Vee grumbles, her screen glowing a bit brighter.

"Maybe we could have another quiz on space… or dinosaurs!" Shelly grins. "That way Astro or I can immediately answer! Ooh, and make it not multiple choice too! Put a spin on it."

Vee hums. "Maybe. That could work." She smiles, pressing her screen against Shelly's head. "Thanks."

Shelly blushes, giggling a bit. "Of course." She grins, pulling Astro between them, the moon still fast asleep. "You've been grumbling about it for ages , you know."

"Oh hush," She scoffs, fixing Astro's night cap, which was askew. "You would too if you were me."

Shelly chuckles, hugging Astro. She glances at one of the elevators, the door shut. "Well, maybe we should go somewhere more… private if we want to continue."

Vee bluescreens again, the screen incredibly bright. She turns away to avoid flashing Astro awake. "W-What?"

"The others are coming back up and there was Shrimpo and Glisten in that elevator… and Finn too… they're gonna wake Astro up with all their bickering, so maybe we should go somewhere private! Like his room!" She smiles innocently. "What did… what did you think?"

"Um–" Vee turns back to normal. "Don't… don't worry about it, Shelly. Yeah, um, that's a good idea, Shel."

Astro wakes up a couple hours later, tucked under the bed with the two on either side of him, arms draped over his blanket to reach each other.

They're both asleep.

…then he can go back to sleep.

But first, he presses his forehead against Shelly's, a soft blue glow around them. Then he does the same to Vee, giving both of them good dreams. Shelly's is of her befriending every dinosaur he can remember, and Vee's is… well, Scraps losing her gameshow.

He smiles, observing both dreams for a while in his stars, before drifting to sleep himself, wrapped in their arms.

His dream's already come true.

Chapter Text

She didn't expect this to be this… awful.

Well. Vee said it wasn't that fun.

Having to run away from evil, corrupted versions of friends and occasionalyl yourself. Always feeling afraid, having to rely on luck to find or be able to purchase useful items from Dandy.

But right now, it's not going well. Maybe she shouldn't have been so confident on her first supply-test run. She should have been more like Boxten. Yeah.

Scraps is currently heaving, slumped against a box as a Twisted Toodles chases after Pebble. She isn't… the most active, preferring to stay inside and get creative.

She knows she should head back to the elevator- she's all the way on the other end of the floor thanks to that little… ugh. She didn't realise the Twisteds were stupid , alright? Nobody really knows how they behave other than the Mains, the only Main being here right now is the one that can't even say a word.

She glances at her leg– Toodles managed to bite down hard on her ankle before continuing to chase– and winces. It's bleeding a lot , and it hurts way too much. She doesn't know if she can get up.

Then she hears the elevator door open.

Crap , she thinks, slowly and weakly getting up.

She tries her best to run there, despite the lack of energy.

She doesn't know what happens if you don't make it back.

She doesn't want to know.

Goob paced back and forth in the elevator, pulling at his fur. Rodger sighed, and put a hand on his shoulder, making him stop.

"Goob, calm down. Your sister will be fine," He tries to reassure the craft, but the craft didn't seem to hear him.

"What if a Twisted got her? What if she got too injured to move?" Goob whips around, grabbing Rodger by the shoulders and shaking him. "Rodger, I need to go out there and–"

"Goob, the elevator's gonna close in 10 seconds. Don't risk it. She'll get back, I'm sure," Brightney gives him a smile.

9.

Then, in the distance, trudges a familiar figure.

8.

"Scraps!" Goob cried out. "Quick!"

7.

Scraps is trying her best, though she has a visible limp and is obviously exhausted.

6.

"Closer! Quick! I– I can't hug you, I'm sorry!" He cried. "I-I hugged Shrimpo earlier!"

5.

Scraps doesn't mind. She knows it hurts for him to stretch his arms that far so often.

4.

She doubts she'll even make it. It's fine. Her little brother is safe.

3.

"Scraps! Please!" He sobs. He doesn't want to lose his sister. Not like this.

2.

An idea suddenly sparks in her mind. Maybe she can make it after all.

1.

She runs, and stretches her tail, the cup latching onto Goob's chest. She starts to pull herself in.

0.

The elevator door shuts on her tail.

Goob's eyes widen as her ichor splatters onto his face, the cup and the tail falling to the ground.

"Scraps…"

Everyone's shocked. Even Shrimpo, surprisingly.

"I hate this…" Shrimpo grumbles, looking away. "I hate… forever death."

( He's a bully, not a monster. )

"Goob…" Brightney mumbles, walking over to him. "I…"

The craft sniffles, wiping the big fat tears off his face. He whips around. "Can't we open the door? Can't we go back?"

Brightney and Rodger look at each other. Rodger speaks up. "I… I don't think so. I'm sorry."

Goob looks at the two, before slumping to the floor. "So Scraps is just… gone forever?"

The elevator goes quiet.

Poppy awkwardly tucks herself into the corner of the room. Rodger and Brightney are whispering to each other, both visibly concerned. Shrimpo huffs, crouched on the floor, trying to get rid of the splatters of ichor only to smear it everywhere, including on his shirt. Boxten is focusing on bandaging himself up, afraid to be the next one.

Pebble toddles up to Goob, nudging his leg.

"Not right now, Pebble…" He mumbles, face buried in his arms, knees drawn up to his forehead. He tries to avoid looking at his chest, fur stained with ichor.

Pebble licks his leg, whimpering. A determined look suddenly paints the dog's face, running up to the buttons and starting to paw at the wall underneath them.

Rodger raises a brow. "What is it, Pebble?"

The rock barks, continuing to paw at the wall.

Rodger looks at the wall, then the buttons.

A " GO BACK UP " button.

…how did they not notice this before?

"Alright, everyone. We're going back up, alright?" He presses the button. "I think it's better we do. Take a break, speak with the Mains."

His gaze drifts down to Goob. "Is that alright with you?"

Goob lets out a small hum, before hiccuping. Rodger sighs. "Alright, going up."

Scraps opens her eyes.

Wait.

She swears she died, tail severed by the stupid elevator timer, and getting attacked by the Toodles and Shrimpo on the floor.

She winces at the bright lights, taking a bit of time to get used to it.

"…nally. It worked."

…that sounds like Vee's voice, missing the usual malice carried with it whenever it's directed to her. Did Vee die too? No way.

"What–" She stutters out, god , her voice is dry, "–happened to me? How am I– Am I dead?"

"No," Vee says.

Scraps can finally see properly–

She's in a dark room, floors stained with ichor… but the oily, thick kind. Not like blood. More like… the ichor extracted from the machines. The ichor that powers the whole museum and center.

Astro is there too, illuminating the space.

"We just… brought you back. We found the machine our handlers used when kids accidentally harmed Goob or Vee past repair. It… took a couple times to bring you back to normal. We're new to this," Astro smiles sheepishly. "You… are doing okay, right?"

Scraps nods. "As normal as I can be. I-" She shoots up, eyes widening. "Where's Goob? Is he okay?"

Vee blinks, looks at Astro.

"He's… alright, physically," Astro sighs. "He hasn't handled the fact you died very well."
"We haven't told anyone we could revive you yet because, well, it's our first time. We weren't sure if we even had enough ichor, or if the process was right. All we had to work with was your cup," Vee adds. "So we didn't want to give any false hope."

Scraps lifts her tail, grabbing it weakly to look at the cup. It's a bit crushed. "Thanks. Can–" She looks up, "Can I go and see my brother, or…?"

Astro nods. "Go ahead. You seem like the normal Scraps."

Goob hiccups, trying to get the snot out of his fur from all his crying as he grabs a tissue from the bedside table. He's sat in his sister's bed, shaking, clutching her favourite blanket. The blanket she'll never be able to…

He cries harder at the thought, wailing.

Several Toons have tried to come in and check on him, but he's brushed off and pushed away each and every one. It's unlike him, to reject any and all affection, but he just… everything that happens would remind him of his sister. The only Toon he'll let come in is Vee and that's because she took Scraps' plastic cup. He needs it back, it's… a part of her. He needs to give it a bur… bar… whatever Rodger calls it. A funeral…? That's not right.

How can he go on without her? He can't even remember the word! She would know what he's talking about.

He hiccups again, tugging the blanket closer. He might not be able to. It… she was the one who was able to talk him into anything and everything, the one that helped him get over his fear, his source of comfort… she basically raised him.

So what now?

Goob sniffles, wiping his tears.

The door opens, and he doesn't even want to look as two arms wrap around him.

"Not… not right now…" He whimpers.

"Aw, really? You don't want comfort hugs from your big sister?"

"No, Scraps, I–"

He freezes.

Scraps?

He pulls away just enough to look at her properly.

She's sat there, in front of him, holding his arms. She's got a soft smile on her face. "I'm here, Goob. I'm alright. They–"

Goob wails, tackling her and knocking both of them off the bed as he hugs her tight. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" He cries, burying his face in her shoulder.

Scraps chuckles, rubbing her paw on his back. "Yeah, remember that machine they used to fix you when the kids yanked your arms?" He nods. She continues, "Well, they used that on me with my cup!"

"Oh…" He sniffles, pulling back a bit. "So you're okay?"

Scraps nods. "Yeah. Everyone will now, thanks to Vee and Astro."

"That's… good…" He mumbles, tugging her back into a tight hug.

"I'm here. We don't have to go on a supply run for now. We can just chill here."

Goob looks back up at him. "So, we're okay?"

Scraps smiles, and nods.

"We're okay."

Chapter Text

Cosmo doesn't know what he expected, really.

He expected his best friend's poor excuse to spend more time with Glisten to be time in the kitchen. That man never leaves this dang kitchen.

He expected Glisten to obviously say yes. Everyone can see him flirting with Sprout oh so obviously , and his best friend is unfortunately very stupid when it's love.

He expected Sprout to beg him to third wheel in case things go wrong, and they both know he can't say no to Sprout.

He just. Did not expect Glisten to be this bad of a cook.

Glisten looks up at Sprout with a pout.

"Do you really expect me to be able to cut these?" He huffs, grabbing the knife.

Sprout, who is currently heating up chicken broth he made a while ago, sighs. "You… don't know how to cut vegetables?"

Glisten blushes, shoulders rising. "N-No, I've never been in the kitchen to cook , and I don't want to cut my fingers trying to cut these!"

Sprout looks at Cosmo. Cosmo sighs fondly.

"Alright, I'll handle this. You go woo your boyfriend, Sprout," Cosmo whispers, grinning.

Sprout turns red, nudging him. "Shut up. He isn't–"

"Not yet."

The strawberry scoffs, before walking over to Glisten. "Here, let me…"

He gets behind Glisten, placing his hands on the mirror's hands, slowly guiding him. "So you hold it and put your fingers like this… and you hold the knife like that."

Glisten isn't really listening anymore.

He can feel Sprout right up against him, his chest against his back. His head is on Glisten's shoulder as he teaches him how to properly cut a damn carrot. He also just smells like cheesecake, it's unbearable in a good way.

"Did you get that?"

Wha–

Oh. The carrots are cut.

His cheeks turn red. "Mm… mind running that through me again?" He gives a little flirty grin. "And keep guiding me with your hands. Don't pull away yet."

Sprout's cheeks flushed slightly red (it's hard to tell, the berry beauty himself is red ). "Oh- G- Sure."

He continues to guide Glisten, helping him cut every other vegetable. Sprout's hands are so… so so soft, and so warm, he can feel Sprout's breath on his neck, Sprout himself is just so incredibly warm, gods .

Sprout's fairly sure Glisten is either not listening or lying.

But he's also very sure he doesn't want Glisten to stop, whatever he's doing.

It's nice and also making him feel several things, basically hugging Glisten from behind. God, if Cosmo wasn't here, he wouldn't be able to keep all his focus on Glisten. He'll need to repay his friend later with some macarons…

"I'd ask if you got it, but we've already cut up all the stuff we need to," Sprout chuckles, his face even redder than it should be. "So time to put it all together. You can, uh, sit and look pretty, I guess."

Glisten blushes a bit, but smirks. "You think I'm pretty?~"

Sprout tenses, and whips around. "Anyway-" His voice cracks, and he curses at himself mentally. "Cosmo, thanks for the help."

Cosmo gives him a mischievous look. "You owe me."

"I know," He sighs, feeling sheepish. "Are macarons okay?"

"Yes, please. But I'm not thirdwheeling for you again, though," Cosmo chuckles. "You two are way too sappy."

"…shut it. I didn't do anything."

Cosmo takes the spoon out of the pot, being careful to make sure the wet part isn't directly on the counter, on a folded up tissue instead. "Well, I'll leave you two, I…" He hums. "…promised a secret Toon that I'd help taste test his food. See you!" He waves, rushing out of the kitchen, but not before giving Sprout a wink.

Glisten sits on a barstool, leaning on the counter as he watches Sprout bustle around the kitchen. It's as if he lives here- he wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.

"Darling, when will I be allowed to have a taste?" He huffs, trying to woo and seduce Sprout into giving him food. "I was promised some soup, dear."

Sprout visibly flushes a deeper shade of red. "It's not done yet."

"You've added so many things to that soup, darling," He pouts, watching Sprout tense up, making him smirk. "And anyway, anything you make is wonderful, babe."

"Ba–" Sprout clamps his mouth shut. "O-Okay. Maybe you're right. I just…"

"Want to impress me, maybe?" Glisten leans close, grabbing Sprout by his scarf and yanking him closer. He knows it's probably far from the truth, he's seen Sprout and how he's oh so finicky with the food he makes.

Sprout can't focus anymore, wide, panicked eyes locked with Glisten's relaxed siren-like eyes. They're so close– Surely Glisten knows what he's doing to him. This stupid little…

"Hello, Sprout?" Glisten coos, leaning even closer. "Sprout?~ Are you there?"

Screw it , he thinks, what's the worst that could happen?

Sprout leans close, before pressing his lips against Glisten's, holding him in a firm kiss.

This feels right.

He feels relief when Glisten loosens up under him, letting go of his scarf and putting his hands on his shoulders, tugging him even closer. Sprout wraps his arms around Glisten's waist, deepening the kiss slightly.

Glisten starts tapping his shoulder, making him pull away. "Are you okay?" He licks his lips. Vanilla. He tastes like vanilla.

It takes a while for Glisten to respond as he pants heavily, eyes slowly fluttering open. "You…"

"Me?"

"Who the hell taught you to kiss?" Glisten pants, flushed pink, ignoring the thought of he tastes like strawberry cheesecake .

Sprout chuckles sheepishly. "N-Nobody? That was my first. Just did what felt right."

"My god…" He looks away, leaning against him. "Kiss me again?"

Sprout grins, leaning in before yelping as he remembers– THE SOUP!

He pulls away, rushing to check on the vegetable soup, swiftly turning off the stove.

"Ughh, Sprout!" Glisten whines.

"Sorry! Didn't want to leave the soup for too long…" Sprout grabs a smaller spoon, scooping up a bit and blowing on it. "Want a taste?"

Glisten hums. "Maybe… only if you feed me. In a kiss."

Sprout turns red again. "Oh– Um–"

"Only if you're okay with it, of course. If not, just use the spoon." Glisten smirks. "But I'd be very happy if you fed me with your kisses…"

"O-Of course."

Cosmo watches from afar with a smile, leaning slightly on a very grumpy Shrimpo.

"So I don't get to run in and trip Sprout onto Glisten?"

Cosmo chuckles. "No, sorry about that."

"Ugh, I HATE–" Cosmo slams a hand over Shrimpo's mouth.

"If you keep this quiet and between us, I'll help you make extra cookies for your secret crush. Don't blow our cover either."

"…FINE."

Sprout pulls away from the… seventh… kiss? He's lost count, feeling dazed and overwhelmed (in a good way).

"Thanks darling," Glisten grins, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "We can continue this later."

This is the best day ever.