Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all started with a simple act of kindness… an umbrella being offered to me by a handsome boy in my class… and after that moment I fell deeply in love~

Is what Cosmo would say if this were a romance novel…

It was raining heavily on a day that was supposed to be sunny. Of course, one can never trust the weather forecast. And due to the fact Cosmo didn’t know it was going to rain, he hadn’t brought an umbrella and was about to take his hoodie off to use as a makeshift umbrella, but suddenly someone bumped into him.

“Watch where you’re going” Sprout said, not actually looking at who he bumped into.

Cosmo didn’t say anything as he just let it slide, not wanting to cause much trouble. Sprout took an umbrella out of his bag and fully extends it. He turned around to look at Cosmo, curious about why he was just standing there.

“Hey… Don’t you have to go to your dorm or something?”

“Oh… um… it’s just that I don’t really have an umbrella.”

Sprout looks at the rain that isn’t going to stop anytime soon and then looks at Cosmo. For a second, Cosmo thought that Sprout was going to offer to share an umbrella, but instead Sprout began to walk away, but not before saying one last thing.

“Good luck with the rain then.”

Cosmo wasn’t that upset until Sprout got into his car, which was parked in front of the second college building, opened the door and drove to where Cosmo was while holding his umbrella upside down outside his car and splashed Cosmo with his umbrella full of rain water.

Cosmo was now soaking wet and at that point he just began walking to his dorm since he was already wet. Being angry and wet, Cosmo went in his dorm, ignoring the fact that his roommate didn’t clean his mess and dishes from last week.

Cosmo removed his clothes and took a long shower as the soap cleaned his body from the sticky dried rain water. Once he got out, Cosmo got dressed in his sweatpants and shirt, filling out a survey to change his roommate on his laptop. The results of the survey said that they would reply within two to three days to see if it was possible to change his roommate.

“Oh great… at least it’s just three days more of being around this guy.” He said, clearly frustrated by the idea of having to wait for the confirmation of the change of a roommate.

Cosmo soon went to sleep, not wanting to talk to his roommate when he arrived. The next morning, Cosmo woke up and went to class as usual and everything was going great until someone came towards his table and placed a worksheet on his table. When seeing the name, Cosmo was surprised to see Sprout’s name on it.

“Listen, I know that… I was a bit of a jerk yesterday, but I need help with this worksheet… I’m not very good at math.” Sprout said, clearly embarrassed to even ask Cosmo for help.

“And why should I even help you with it? It’s not like I owe you anything, we just met yesterday.”

“Please Cosmo, I know that you’re good at this sort of thing, since the teacher always gives you an A on everything.” Sprout was at this point very desperate due to him almost failing the class.

“I already said no, berry boy.”

“Excuse me? Berry boy?! I know I was a jerk yesterday but you don’t have to be rude!”

Cosmo couldn’t help but laugh at Sprout’s reaction to being called berry boy, but Sprout mistook it as Cosmo making fun of him.

“You laughing? This is funny to you? Let me show you something fucking funny…” Sprout grabbed Cosmo by the collar and punched him in the face, leaving him with a black eye. Sprout soon went for the second punch until the math teacher stopped him and sent both of them to the principal's office, where they were both now waiting.

“Great… just great! Because of you I’m now in trouble.”

“What?! You were the one who punched me in the face for calling you ‘Berry boy’.”

“Can’t you just shut up already?!”

The principal arrived soon after, and handed both of them papers that stated they would both be sharing a dorm as roommates.

“Look boys… I know this isn’t ideal but here in Fruitcake university, we prioritize teaching our students how to bake and cook delicious and delectable food for the masses, not how to punch each other in the face and insult each other.”

Both Sprout and Cosmo were both embarrassed by the fact they were being scolded for their behavior and their actions as they both reluctantly accepted the fact that they would both share a dorm together.

After both of them got out of the office and received their keys for the dorm, they began to pack up their stuff and clothes as they moved their stuff to one of the free dorms. Sprout shoots at Cosmo with a nasty look, clearly not wanting to be sharing a room with him.

“What’s wrong berry boy? Scared?”

“Can you please stop calling me that? It’s getting annoying!”

Cosmo just rolled his eyes as he walked away, not wanting to get punched again by Sprout.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Sprout grabbed Cosmo’s collar and pinned him against a wall inside of the dorm, closing the door shut.

“WOW! Hey dude just calm down-“

“SHUT UP! I told you not to call me berry boy!”

Out of frustration, Sprout began punching Cosmo again, but this time in the stomach. Meanwhile, Cosmo began kicking Sprout. This continued for a while to the point it became a full-on fight between the two.

“Agh! You stupid strawberry, let me go!”

“Just shut up! If you didn’t call me berry boy… I wouldn’t be beating you up!”

Cosmo was crying at this point due to the pain from Sprout’s punches finally affecting him, his body getting badly bruised, but they were in areas where no one would notice them unless they were looking for them.

“Are you still going to call me berry boy after this?!”

“N-No…” Cosmo was already too scared to argue with Sprout, already holding his stomach due to the bruises.

“Come on… I didn’t hit you that hard… did I? It doesn’t matter… this will show you not to call me berry boy ever again, understood?”

Cosmo just nods as he goes to lay down on his bed crying, trying to forget about what happened.

“If you tell anyone about this… then I’ll just hit you again… okay?” Sprout wasn’t sure if it was okay to go this far but he just didn’t want anyone to call him berry boy again.

“… okay…” Cosmo covered himself in his blanket and went to sleep while crying.

Chapter Text

The past few weeks with Sprout were surprisingly very… normal… due to Sprout almost always just leaving Cosmo by himself at the dorm without much effort to strike any conversation.

Later one evening, Cosmo decided to walk at a nearby park already trying to forget that Sprout punched him a few weeks prior, the bruises still there but now they were faint enough that no one would notice if they were there.

After a few hours of Cosmo trying to clear his mind of things, he got pushed by someone passing by, making Cosmo almost fall.

“Hey watch it! You’re not the only-“ he paused as soon as he saw the person that pushed past him.

“Sprout? Are you okay? You’re all bruised up…” he was clearly concerned but still slightly angry at him because of Sprout beating him up

Meanwhile Sprout looked conflicted as he debated whether or not to tell Cosmo the truth. The truth that he lost his temper from being called berry boy again but it was him who ended up hurt.

“It’s nothing Cosmo… I’m fin-“

“No you’re not fine! Look at your face!” He quickly began to lean forward slightly to have a better look at Sprout’s face.

“Why do you even care? I literally beat you up a few weeks ago because I lost my temper, and now you’re acting as if I didn’t hurt you or-agh!” He sat down on a nearby bench out of frustration, and he got surprised when Cosmo sat next to him.

“You’re right… I should be angry at you, which I am… but I still want to help you out in some way since it seems like you didn’t meant to hit me or whatever you meant to do…”

Sprout is once again conflicted with his emotions as he tries to explain himself but just began to mumble slightly before stopping and properly speaking again.

“Listen… I just lose my temper whenever someone calls be berry boy because… I don’t know but it makes me feel like it’s bad to be a strawberry or that I-never mind…”

“No go ahead it’s okay…” he placed his hand on top Sprout’s hand gently to encourage him to continue.

“The nickname just makes me feel inferior? It’s hard to explain but it just makes me feel bad when someone calls me bad, I lose my temper and start hitting instead of doing literally anything else…”

They both sat there holding hands now, staring into the sunset as it was beginning to get dark, but they stayed there for a few minutes enjoying the comfortable silence they both helped create.

“You know Sprout… you hurt me really bad and not just physically but mentally too… I just-I guess I’ve gotten more stressed out because of it…”

“Cosmo I’m so sorry… I’m really trying to be better at my whole temper thing but I just can’t control it very well… I don’t expect you to forgive me or excuse my behavior but I just needed to apologize to you.”

“Thanks Sprout, I appreciate the apology… maybe someday we could be friends as long as you promise not to hit me again” he looked at Sprout and slightly blushed as they both held each other’s hands.

“I promise… friend.” Sprout leans in slightly, looking directly at Cosmo’s eyes as they both begin to lean in.

They both suddenly stopped, with Sprout not wanting to take advantage of Cosmo’s kindness towards him, and Cosmo not wanting to take advantage of Sprout’s vulnerability in the moment.

“Hey how about we… um… go to our dorm? It’s almost nighttime.”

Cosmo blinked slightly in confusion then nodded in agreement he got up with Sprout, soon they walked to their shared dorm. At night neither of them could sleep as they both thought of the way the other looked and how close they were at the park.

After a few weeks they both began to notice certain things about one another. Cosmo began to notice how handsome Sprout looked with his toothy smile, the way he would smirk at almost anything, and that look in his eyes that made Cosmo slightly melt at the thought of having Sprout look at him that way. Meanwhile Sprout couldn’t help to notice how cute Cosmo looked whenever he smiled and how he got slight dimples on both sides of his cute smile, as well as how Cosmo easily blushed and got all red whenever he would gently twirl his finger around some of Cosmo’s hair.

They both began to hang out more often than usual, with both of them wanting the other to like them back, but they usually just excuse their poor attempts at flirting as two friends messing around. Until one night they both received an invitation at a party organized by the college principal’s daughter.