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Dandy held the sun in his arms as they choked on the ichor, their hands clawing at their throat as he attempted to cough the black liquid out. Only a few droplets escaped from his throat.
“Nonono, Gliese, please!” The rainbow flower exclaimed, trying to make sure that his head didn’t hit the floor. He held back a sob, not sure on what to do. This whole “ichor” thing was still new to him. He wasn’t sure on how it worked, or what it would do, but he didn’t want to ponder on that right now. He just wanted to get the damned liquid out of his close friend’s system.
The sun stared at Dandy with widened, bloodshot eyes, his tears that were now black fell through his cheeks as one of his six hands reached up to playfully pinch his cheek, a low, gurgling chuckle coming out from his throat, but muffled due to the ichor. Dandy just shook his head, holding Gliese closer to his chest. “Gliese, PLEASE. You’ll make it through, just-”
His head lifted up from the sun's forehead, looking back at the door that was halfway open. “D-Delilah!? DELILAH-”
“D…Dan…” His attention was set upon Gliese again. The tears he tried to hold back had surpassed, cascading down his face as he tried to comfort himself with the weakening warmth of Gliese’s hand on his cheek – but there was nothing comforting about this situation right now.
“H-Hur…hurts.” The sun gasped, pointing at his mouth with his free hand.
Dandy sniffled, his head rapidly nodding. “I-I know… b-but I’ll help you, okay!? You just- just hang in there, Gliese, please!” The flower slowly tilted Gliese’s head back, scooting closer. He had read something in one of the toon handlers books that he stole just for fun, and if anything, this moment was calling for it.
Before Gliese could gurgle out anything else, Dandy had placed his own mouth over his, breathing out a few times before placing his hands on the sun’s chest, pushing downward.
This poor attempt on saving the sun’s life had somewhat helped as a chuck of ichor had spewed from his mouth on the fourth attempt, but barely made any difference on Gliese’s condition.
“Dan…dy… I-”
“Gliese, please. Don’t talk. You’ll only make- make it worse.” He leaned back in for another obvious attempt, but Gliese had pushed him away, leaving the flower confused. “What’re you-”
“I…” Gliese coughed, more ichor droplets hitting the ground. “I… l-lov…”
Dandy shook. “Don’t even. Y-You can say that once I help you-”
“DANDY.”
Both of his hands grasped the sides of Dandy’s face, his thumbs wiping away at the tears that kept streaming through. His hands were now cold. “I love… YOU.”
Suddenly, Dandy couldn’t find the strength to breathe anymore.
He slumped over, his head laying on the sun’s chest as he let out every emotion he had bottled up inside through his sobs and cries: sadness, anger, fear, grief.
Dandy had come up with his final thought: he couldn’t save him. No matter how many times he tried, no matter HOW many times he called out for Delilah’s help – nothing was going to change the outcome.
His friend was dying. It's over.
But he shook his head. It couldn’t just end like this, could it? No, no, it wouldn’t. He HAD to save him, he just had- “Dandy.”
The flower's head picked itself up quickly, staring at the sun with wide, tear-stained eyes. It took a moment to find the words, but the sun would eventually speak, wrapping his two arms that weren’t limp around the flower’s shivering body. “You’re my… flower."
Dandy had to process the words. “W-what?” He stared at the colored tiles beneath them, taking the time to let the words sink in before looking back at Gliese, stifling a giggle and a sob at the same time. “T-That’s… cheesy. Gliese, shut-... I mean-”
His hand swiped at his cheek, catching an incoming tear. “Just… k-keep talking, G-Gliese.”
So he did.
Gliese, even under the amount of pain he was in, kept talking. He talked about the moment he was created, how Delilah and Arthur greeted him with such kindness, to the moment he first met Looey and began creating little animals out of balloons but always failed, to catching his first fish with Finn, Shrimpo, and Flop.
To how he first met Dandy, and how he knew, at that exact moment, that they would become best friends.
Throughout his entire rant, Dandy listened. He commented on a few things, laughed, giggled, but never interrupted him, as this could’ve been the last time he’d ever hear his voice.
Then, after a few minutes of him ranting, the toon stopped talking. It took Dandy a little bit to realize, but once he looked up at Gliese, the sun was staring at the ceiling, his expression blank.
“Gliese? Wait, buddy, don’t-” He nudged Gliese. No response. Second nudge. No response.
Then a third,
Then a fourth,
But still no response.
The tears were beginning to form again.
He kept shaking the limp Gliese, his arms that were around the flower drooped onto the ground as Dandy kept moving. “Gliese!? T-This isn’t- GLIESE.” He gripped the sun even tighter, shaking him with force. “Pleasepleasepleaseyoucan’t-... WAKE UP!”
His cries got louder and desperate, but no matter how many times he called out for his friend, he didn’t budge. Dandy sniffled, resting his head against Gliese’s chest again as he pulled his body in for a hug, mumbling sentences under his breath.
“I’m s-sorry for calling you cheesy… I-I… love you t-too, but you can’t l-leave me. I n-need you…” He looked up, taking a peek at his face in hopes that he might’ve moved.
“Y-You’re my… s-sun, Gliese… I need you… please. You’re my star.”