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Sprout and Astro have been in plenty of fights over the years. From favorite foods to movies, they could never agree on the same thing. The arguments weren’t so serious though and Astro would just say “agree to disagree” and that would be it.
But it seems that this time it was serious. Like very serious. So serious enough that Astro has avoided him for an entire week. An entire week! He asked Cosmo if he’s seen him but he only zipped his mouth.
“Cosmo, buddy. My best friend. My partner in crime! There’s no way you haven’t seen him. Is he seriously starving himself because of an argument!?” Sprout said as he pulled his leafy hair.
“Sorry Sprout. I swore an oath of silence and no he isn’t starving. I made sure of that.” Cosmo said as he set the trays back into the cabinet.
“So you did see him!”
Cosmo flinched and turned his head over his shoulder. “…No?”
“Cosmo. You and I both know you’re a terrible liar. C’mon! I haven’t seem him in a week and I’m getting antsy.” Sprout said as he played with his fingers.
“Sprout…” Cosmo sighed as he fully turned to his best friend. “He’s not gonna talk to you. Just give him some space. Y’know how he gets.”
“I did! For a few days. But it turned into a full blown week! I don’t understand why he’s mad.”
“Honestly what he told me would’ve made me mad at you too if I was in his shoes…socks? Anyways, he’s not really in the best mood. Maybe wait…another week?”
“Another week!?”
Cosmo gave an awkward grin. ”Yes…?”
“Ugh!” Sprout draped himself over the kitchen counter.
Cosmo shook his head in disapproval. Sprout had been mopey since Astro distanced himself. He kept making sad looking cookies, the icing was always too sickeningly salty that they had to redo the batch twice a day, and kept checking Astro’s door.
It was really starting to (and excuse his language) make him peeved. He wanted his best friend to be happy…but he also didn’t want to have nightmares. Astro was scary when he wanted to be and he did not want to be on that side of it.
But, Cosmo believed it was finally time they reconciled because it was becoming more awkward for everyone the more this situation dragged on. Especially since the dreams as of late for them have been…passive aggressive if he could describe it. They would’ve complained about it to Astro but alas, he has been hard to talk to or approach as of late.
Cosmo poked Sprout’s back as he stood next to him. “Maybe go ask Dandy?”
Sprout scrunched his face at the mention of Dandy. “Ugh. Dandy? He’s the last toon I’d ask for anything, Cosmo. He’s so cryptic and secretive for no reason. He’s like a little molerat y’know?”
“He’s Astro’s best friend, Sprout. I’m sure out of everyone here, he would know where he is.”
“Cosmo he is the last option. Last option, y’hear? He’s never really around anymore anyways.” Sprout got up from the counter and crossed his arms. “I don’t want a headache early trying to find him AND Astro in the morning, so I’ll just go ask around. Someone is bound to have spotted him, right?”
Cosmo rolled his eyes and lightly punched Sprout’s arm. “If you want to go the hard way then go for it. I’ll be hanging out with Shelly now. She said she’ll teach me how to sew our new costumes for Halloween and I don’t wanna miss out on it. I’ll see you later.”
“See you! Have fun and remember I want a diamond on the front!”
Cosmo gave a thumbs up as he left through the kitchen entrance. Sprout waved until he heard the sound of the elevator opening and closing leaving him in the now silent diner. Sprout hummed as he brainstormed Astro’s whereabouts.
”Oh!” Sprout said as he snapped his fingers.
Brightney, Razzle, and Dazzle! They probably know where he went! Today was the book club meeting so he’s probably in the Brightney’s room! Sprout ran to the elevator and clicked on the floor number where the toons resided. The doors shut in front of him as he shifted his feet onto the other, unable to keep still as the elevator went down.
The elevator door opened and he went straight towards Brightney’s door. He knocked three times. He hummed for a bit until the door finally opened. Brightney blinked and adjusted her glasses as she stared at Sprout like she’s never seen him before.
“Sprout? What are you doing here?” Brightney said in confusion.
“Brightney! Just the toon I was looking for.” Sprout said with finger guns．
“Are you finally here to join book club? We’re always opened for more toons!”
“Oh, no no no. I’m not here for that. I was wondering if Astro was here?”
“Astro?” Brightney said with her brows raised. “Astro isn’t here.”
“What?”
“Yeah, it’s unusual right! He’s always made time for book club. I hope he’s okay.”
“He probably is Brightney. I’ll find him so don’t worry. Detective Sprout is on the case!”
“Rodger has a new competitor I see. He better watch out before you take away his job.” Brightney giggled.
“Anyways! Good luck and you better tell him to come here on time! He’s missing out on the novel Dazzle brought in. I heard it’s the plot twist of the century!” Brightney said as she waved at Sprout.
“Will do! Have a good club meeting, Brightney.” Sprout said with a nod.
Brightney closed the door leaving Sprout alone in the toon hallway. He sighed heavily as he scratched his head for new places Astro would be in or people he would talk to. Maybe he should just get it over with and talk to Dand-
“HEY!” Sprout was shoved hard causing him to stumble a few steps back.
“OW! What the heck!?” Sprout yelled as he stabilized himself.
“WHY ARE YOU HERE?!” Shrimpo yelled as he pointed at Sprout.
“Man, you really need to work on your volume, Shrimpo. I am hearing ringing!”
“ANSWER MY QUESTION!”
“Geez alright! Alright. I’m trying to find Astro…have you perhaps… seen him?”
“BADSTRO?“
“It’s Astr-“
“I SAW HIM IN THE PROJECTOR ROOM!! HE WAS STEALING MOVIES!! I HATE MOVIES.”
“Projector room, huh?” Sprout said as he tapped his chin.
“THAT’S WHAT I SAID. ARE YOU STUPID?”
“I heard you LOUD and clear, Shrimpo. Thanks for the help…I guess? Bye.” Sprout started to walk towards the elevator once more.
“I HATE BEING THANKED!!” Shrimpo screamed as he stomped the floor.
“THANK YOU!!” Sprout yelled and waved as the elevator shut in front of him.
The elevator stopped at the projector room with a slight shake. Honestly he wonders how the elevator still operates after 10 years of no maintenance. He steps through the threshold into the projector room. He spots up the stairs Poppy, Glisten, and Finn. They seem to be watching a comedy movie given the laugh track playing, but Sprout wasn’t really paying attention. He was here on a mission.
He walked around the room, looking over crates, and looking into corners. Call him dumb as a rock (no offense, Pebble), but he was hoping that maybe Astro was just gonna magically be there. That maybe he didn’t think Sprout would be here and hid. Like some game of hide and seek…that Sprout was losing horribly.
As Sprout looked into another corner of the room, a huge mirror appeared beside him. The huge mirror flashed brightly before disappearing just as quick. He jumped in suprise before realizing it was just Glisten.
“Well looky who we have here! Sprout. Main of the hour, gracing us with his presence…or lack thereof seeing you didn’t even bother to talk to us. What are you doing here?” Glisten said as he put his hands on his hips.
“Glisten…hey…” Sprout said scratching his cheek.
“Hey yourself.”
“Look, I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything or give out hellos. I didn’t want to interrupt your movie time. Manners and whatever y’know?”
“You already ruined it once Poppy stopped the movie to try to find you. Y’know she really wants those macarons she saw in that french movie we watched a while back.”
“Really? Those are hard to make though. Gonna have to ask Cosmo about that tomorrow.” Sprout shook his head. ”Agh! I’m getting distracted. I’m just trying to find Astro. Have you seen him?”
“Astro? Your little boyfriend just left.”
“What!? He was here!?”
“I am an excellent distrator, have I ever told you that?” Glisten laughed.” No, I didn’t even need to tell you. I already am. Anyways, Astro doesn’t want to see you. He seemed like he was in a bad mood.”
“Second time today I heard that…”
“Well. That’s none of my business. You want to join us? The movie is hilarious. An absolute hoot! You cannot miss out.”
“As much as I would love to watch a funny movie, I really need to find Astro. I miss him. A lot.” Sprout said as he sulked.
Glisten eyed Sprout for a good few seconds before sighing loudly. “If you wanted to know, he mentioned something about seeing Vee.”
Sprout brightened up at that. “He did?”
“Yes. Now shoo. Shoo! Also tell him that I want a fashion show dream. Need some inspiration for tonight.”
“You got it! Have a fun movie time!” Sprout said sprinting to the elevator.
“Of course! It’s always fun with me around, as usual.” Glisten said as he walked back to the sitting area.
Sprout stepped into the gameshow floor after the elevator door opened. Vee bragged about it non-stop when they were younger since her room was the first main-centric floor. The other main rooms following after. Sprout walked over cords and wires, almost tripping over a few as he made his way to Vee.
"Vee!" Sprout yelled.
"Berry-boy! If you're looking for Astro it's too late. Little dreamer left already."
"Aw what? He left?"
"Mhm! He really hates you, Sprout." Vee teased.
"He does not!"
"Does too. You should've seen his face when the elevator opened. Priceless! I took a picture of it. Look."
Vee broadcasted the picture of Astro on her screen. He look absolutely terrified and in the middle of booking it. Vee started to laugh while Sprout frowned at Astro's reaction. Was their argument that bad? It cannot have been that bad that Astro is now afraid of seeing him. Could it...?
"Oh man your face! It's so sad it reminds me of a wet cat!" She flashed an image of a wet cat before bursting into more laughter.
"It's not funny, Vee! Astro is seriously mad at me! He's avoiding me like the plague!" Sprout sulked.
"Oh, Seedly."
"Don't call me that."
"Seedly." Vee continued despite Sprout's shout of protest. "You gotta give it up. You and I both know when he wants to hide, he can hide."
"I know, Vee. But it's getting ridiculous at this point! Is it too much to ask for a face-to-face talk? One-on-one?"
"...This is Astro we're talking about, right?"
"...You're no help, Vee."
"Whatever. Look, are you gonna help me get ready for my next show tomorrow or not."
"No."
"Then go away. It's 7 pm now too so maybe, I don't know, get back to cooking some dinner for everyone? Shelly wouldn't stop talking about wanting some potato stew for tonight."
Sprout rubbed his face in defeat. "Ugh. This is a bad day..."
"You look like a bad day."
"Zip it! I'm gonna be on my way now. Finding Astro! If you even care. Bye!" Sprout stomped on his way back to the elevator.
The elevator ride down was quiet. Only the sounds of buzzing was heard as he knocked his head against the wall in defeat. Sprout really wanted to know what he said that made Astro this mad.
He hasn't done something like this since they were kids for crying out loud! and that was when Sprout got a few cuts on himself trying to get Astro out the tree. Sprout was the one who got hurt, so why was Astro so mad? They never really talked it out either. The founders forced them to do more social training and the situation was forgotten about altogether.
But the founders weren't here.
"Ugh...Astro. Where'd you go?" Sprout said as he got up from where he sulked.
Sprout lazily walked back to the Diner kitchen. Cosmo was probably on his way back too to help him with prepping so he should get started with getting the ingredients. He stopped in his tracks when he heard a clinking sound.
He tip-toed as quietly and quickly as possible, putting his back to the wall to see who was in the kitchen at this time. He leaned over and squinted his eyes. Right there near the kitchen counter, eating the last cookie in the cookie jar mind you, was Astro.
Sprout immediately slid to the entrance of the Diner Kitchen and yelled. “ASTRO!”
“EEP!” Astro screamed as he dropped the bitten cookie onto the floor, the cookie crumbling upon impact.
“Astro. Oh my goodness! There you are! I’ve been-“
Sprout was cut off when Astro immediately started to sprint to the second entrance of the kitchen, the broken chocolate chip cookie left behind on the cold marble floor. Sprout’s mouth went agape in shock before following after him, his steps heavy against the floor as he tried to catch the escaping toon.
“Astro! ASTRO! Come back!” Sprout yelled but Astro kept running.
“Astro! Can’t we just talk it out!?” Astro still didn’t look back as he turned a corner.
“Ugh! You leave me no choice!” Sprout immediately jumped foward with his arms outs.
“What!?” Astro turned around only to be thrown down backwards onto the floor by Sprout’s tackle.
Sprout quickly put his hand under Astro’s head as they fell to the floor. He didn’t want to talk to a concussed Astro, y’know? He hissed in pain from his arms being crushed between Astro’s weight and the floor. The pained sound Sprout made apparently was a bad choice since this caused Astro to squirm underneath him.
“No! No. Noooo. Stop it! Astro! What are you a worm?!” Sprout said as he squeezed him in a tight hold.
“Let me go!” Astro said as he used his stars to hit Sprout’s head. It wasn’t really effective it felt like pats instead.
“No! I’m not letting you go until we figure this out!” Sprout got up and held Astro’s shoulders to the floor as stared into his eye.” Astro. Why have you been avoiding me? I know it was probably something I said, but for the life of me I cannot see why it would get you this upset.”
“…” Astro looked away with a frown as continued to try to get out Sprout’s hold.
“Astro please. Please I don’t…I don’t want us to resolve our issues by just…avoiding and dancing around it. I don’t really think that’s exactly healthy—“
Astro went quiet for bit before turning his head to meet Sprout’s gaze.
“…Yeah…yeah. I guess you’re right.” Astro shoulders became less tensed as he calmed down.
“Will you tell me what I did wrong?”
Astro scowled a bit. ”…I just…don’t understand why you keep—keep putting yourself in danger. That’s all.”
“That’s all?”
“…No.”
“C’mon, Astro! Work with me here.”
“Okay. Okay. I—this is so hard.“
“Take your time. I’m here.” Sprout said as he squeezed Astro’s shoulders gently.
Astro lips tightened as he tried to find the words. “When…when we were in our last run, right? When I got chased by those three twisteds?”
“Yeah I remember…I,” Sprout laughed awkwardly.” I died when I did that.”
“Why.”
“Why what?”
“Why did you do that—you—you had low stamina. My cooldown was still counting down. I have high stealth, you know this.” Astro’s shoulders got tensed again. ”You—you didn’t need to die.”
“I was worried about you.”
“…You don’t need to be worried about me.”
“So I’m just not allowed to be worried? At all?”
“Not if it gets you killed. You keep doing this! And it’s not even when you’re protecting me either. I’ve seen you die multiple times trying to save others!”
Sprout face scrunched up in anger. “So what? What, do you want me to leave them to die?”
“No!”
“Do you want me to just mind my business and leave them alone with the twisteds chasing them!?”
“Sprout, that’s not what I’m trying to say!”
“Then what do you want!?”
“I WANT TO STOP SEEING YOU DIE SO OFTEN!”
Sprout went silent as Astro started to tear up from frustration.
“I can’t stand it! You keep putting yourself in harm’s way all the time and I can’t even help you because of my stupid cooldown. I know we all die eventually during the runs…but I’m getting tired of seeing you die early on so much because you’re just…naturally overprotective.”
“…”
“I don’t even know what I’m saying. I’m sorry…maybe—maybe I overreacted. It’s your choice afterall. It sounds so much more selfish when I say it out loud.”
“…”
“…Just let me go back to my room if you aren’t gonna say anything. I know what I said was dumb. Please let me go.”
“Astro. Astro, no. No, it wasn’t dumb.”
“It wasn’t…?” Astro said in suprise.
“No. It wasn’t. I understand what you mean. I’m sorry for making you feel that way, Astro. I’ve had comments from others about how overbearing I am sometimes, so your criticisms have some foundation…I really need to trust the others more, honestly.” Sprout said with an awkward chuckle.
Astro smiled weakily. “You really do. I’m sorry for ignoring you all week. That was childish of me…”
“It’s okay. It’s alright. Again I’m sorry for worrying you so much. I’ll try to have more self-preservation.”
“Thank you.”
Sprout sighed in relief as he collapsed onto Astro. Astro let out a small “oof” before wrapping his arms his blanketed arms around Sprout. They stayed there for a good minute before Sprout got back up again to look at Astro.
“Can I kiss you?”
“…On the floor. You’re asking me that…on the kitchen floor…?”
“I haven’t seen you in a week!”
“…You’re that desperate for a kiss…?”
“Yes, Astro. Very. Now can I or can I not?”
Astro laughed. “Yes you can. Just one. You still need to make dinner for everyone.”
“Two kisses!”
“One.”
“One kiss!
“Two!”
“Two it is! C’mere.”
“Wait no!” Astro laughed as Sprout kissed around his face.
”Let me love you!” Sprout said as he pressed a kissed Astro’s mouth.
”Gross! Stop it!” Astro laughed as he hugged Sprout closer.
“Uh…” a new voice interrupted the laughing couple.
Sprout immediately stopped and looked towards the direction of the voice. It was Cosmo and Shelly. Cosmo’s eyes were wide while Shelly blinked owlishly at the extreme display of pda in front of them.
This was when Sprout realized that their position was not very…innocent. If you consider him straddling Astro’s waist and kissing him on the cold kitchen floor, while Astro wrapped his arms around him innocent…then go for it. Sprout immediately got off him while Astro turned around and hid his face.
“Seems like…you…you both made up. Good…good for you. I’m gonna go over there…now.” Cosmo said awkwardly as he headed towards the fridge.
“…Okay…Okay, I can get why Cosmo is here…but Shelly. Shelly why are you here?” Sprout said as he dragged Astro to stand up, the latter loudly protesting as he was forced to get up.
“I was just here to walk Cosmo back. But it seems you two were being quite productive in here.” Shelly pointed at Sprout and Astro.
“Shelly please…” Astro groaned as he buried his face into his blanket.
“No, no. I get it. The throes of love and whatnot! Anyways I’m gonna go see Tisha on the gameshow floor. Have fun and make sure to call us first for dinner! I’m starving.” Shelly said as she went on her way.
“…”
“…”
“I’m gonna-“ Astro nodded his head towards the direction Shelly went.
“Yeah, I’m gonna just go do the dinner thing…see you later.” Sprout said as he patted Astro’s shoulder.
Astro nodded and ran to the elevator. The sounds of it opening and shutting in a one minute span almost made him laugh. But he didn’t since the reason this happened was because of him. Sprout looked to where Cosmo was and gulped as he walked over to Cosmo.
“It wasn’t what it looked like. You have to believe me.” Sprout said nervously.
“No yeah. I believe you. Just do that in private though next time. I think Astro would appreciate that more.” Cosmo said with a mischievous grin.
“COSMO!”