Archive of Our Own

When it was time for the toons to say goodnight and to get rest, a run was going on in the dusty grey elevator.

Of course, Looey had to be one of the toons in this run.

It had been going on for a few hours already, but they weren't calling it quits just yet, they desperately needed all of the supplies they could grasp. Medical items that were required for injuries too severe for a simple bandaid were running low, and food that was too sweet to be included in a diet was at low quantity as well. Toons were getting increasingly anxious, so a group held an emergency run.

Just by Looey's judgement, majority of the toons in the run were tuckered out. Astro was taking frequent power naps throughout the run, Connie was distancing from her mischievous acts, Goob’ distracting started to become more sluggish by the second, Finns fish puns started to die down, Sprout was getting more concerned for people by the minute, and Poppy was more quiet.

Speaking of Poppy,

She was sitting down next to Looey on the descending elevator, taking into account all of the supplies she had gathered. Her bubbly hair has gotten flatter, her once vibrant fuchsia dress is now all wrinkled and dull, but her ever so optimistic smile remains. It comforted looey somewhat.

The feeling of the elevator descending made Looey’s stomach churn. He didn't really know what to expect for oncoming floors.

“Uhh . . . Looey?” Goob broke the silence.

“Hm? Something wrong goob?” Looey responded.
Goob gave a sheepish smile when he said that. Poppy and Connie seemed to take an interest in the conversation, and looked in the direction of the two of them.

“Ohh it’s nothing! I was just wondering if you can distract for this floor! You're really good at distracting y'know!” Goob explained.
Something about the compliment struck looey badly a certain way. He knew that he should thank Goob, but he didn't feel that it was really appropriate.

“Oh! Hahaha… I’m not THE best you know,” Looey replied. “ But sure! I can distract for this floor!”

“Awh, thanks Looey! You're the best!” Goob complimented. Looey just gave an awkward laugh afterwards. Connie and Poppy seemed to lose interest after the conclusion, with Connie leaning back into the elevator wall, and Poppy zipping up her bag and then cupped her bubble head in her hands.

Looey crouched down and whispered to poppy's ears, “Poppy?”. Poppy shifted her head to face looey and gave him a joyous smile.

“Oh! Loo!” Poppy excitedly whispered back to Looey. She turned her body to face looey, and put her hands on her kneecaps. “What's up?”

Looey put one hand to cover his mouth and leaned closer to Poppy's ear.
“You…doing alright?” Looey whispered back.

Poppy eyes shifted towards her hands and then towards the floor for a few seconds while Looey was patiently waiting for a response. Poppy then glanced at Looey, breathed in some air and began to speak.

“Yea!” She said in a normal voice.
Shocked by the sudden burst of volume, Looey looked around the elevator to see if anyone had a reaction to the abrupt noise.
Only to find Sprout looking at him, but as soon as he looked back, Sprout looked away. How odd.

Looey was caught off guard when Poppy was speaking in a low whisper. “I just wish that we could finish already–just look at you! You're almost as good as deflated!” Poppy snickered and added that jokingly towards the end.

“. . . Hah.” Looey just responded. “Well don't worry Poppy, just a few more floors and we can go back to our rooms and call it a night,” he somewhat enthusiastically added at the end.

Just as the irony of comedic timing, the elevator abruptly stopped with a bit of a jump. Sooner than later, the giant mouth of the elevator opened wide, and the familiar landscape of one of the working rainbow rooms for employee work shone with deceptive nostalgia. The electrical wires that clung to the walls and to the corners of the ceiling snapped and crinkled, and the lights began to flicker.

Looey's breath hitched.

Almost immediately the entire floor was consumed with the shrouded depth of the deep darkness. Posters and children's scribbles that were once visible on the wall were replaced with the void of what seemed to be a shade of vanta black. The only thing that was illuminating the surrounding areas was the light shades of blue that of Connie and Astro.

Connie let out a tired sigh, “Great.”

“Did people bring their flashlights?” Sprout asked everybody in the group. A symphony of agreements were heard, and Looey began to fiddle in his pockets.

. . . Well.

“Uh. . . Haha. . uh,” Looey comedically croaked out. Sprout just sighed at the almost confession that Looey had just made.

“Hey Looey,” Poppy tapped on his shoulder. Looey quickly went to face her. “Do you want to borrow mine? I could just stick near the others who have one.”
Poppy said as she reached out her hand to give her flashlight to Looey. “I could just stick by Finn!”

“Yea don't worry Looey!” Finn exclaimed. “Don't f-eel bad just because you forgot! We also have those days!” Looey smiled at both the pun and what Finn said.

“Thanks Poppy. . . Haha,” Looey awkwardly responded.

“Anytime Loo!” Poppy just said back to him.

Looey turned on the decorated flashlight and shone the cone of light in the darkness. He then cautiously power walked his way through the dark in order to round up all of the twisteds in the frigid room they were in.

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The harsh fluorescent lights made all of the circus troupe squint a little bit.
The trio were formed in a line walking while holding hands, a little ritual that they had in order to stay together; Looey was in the front, Yatta in the middle, and Blot at the back. Yatta was chattering about the people she met, while Looey and Blot held a smile.

“OH AND SCRAPS!” Yatta announced after her previous sentence. “She's a cat! Isn't that AMAZING?!” Yatta continued

“Ah, Yatta I think Scraps is just a craft, Goob is her brother remember?” Looey corrected Yatta,
Blot nodded to that.

The ichor inside them was too fresh, too young to the point where they couldn't interact with the children just yet. This was just another day for the newly established circus troupe after their creation, just another day with getting used to and meeting new toons.

“OHH! You are so right, right, right!” Yatta corrected herself. She then continues to babble on about everything in Gardenview like an excited child rambling.

The trio continued to walk together in the stuffy room they were in; only stopping at the giant elevator that was in front of them. They then let go of each other's hands, while Looey then proceeded to press on the equally big button that was next to the elevator while they waited.
It only took a few moments until the elevator was available to them, and they then walked in before the evaluator proceeded to close with a rattle.

“Think we are gonna meet anyone new Yatta?” Looey questioned the giddy pinata girl.

“Maybe, I really HOPE so though!” Yatta exclaimed back to Looey. She then rocked back and forth to conceive her excitement. Blot just looked at their hands.

The elevator didn't take that long to descend to the randomized floor that looey clicked on.
. . . Only that floor was the main lobby, and looey ended up letting out a nervous chuckle.

“Ah sorry guys! Looks like I messed up,” Looey spoke as he was making his way towards the buttons on the side of the elevator. Yatta looked at the lobby and noticed something, or someone in this case.

“Nononono,” Yatta responded. Even with all of the ‘no’s’ she was saying, looey was still busy making his way to the buttons and about to press one.

“LOOEY WAIT!” Yatta yelled, looey yelped and backed away from buttons with comedic movements.

“Yatta, is there something wrong?” Looey questioned the pinata.

“LOOEY! there are new toons we haven't met yet!” Yatta reasoned. She then moved her arms to show something.
“OVER THERE! by the big tree!” Yatta motioned.

And there Yatta was right. Three toons were standing around each other chatting, and joking around. From afar, Looey could only see splashes of blue, purple, and orange, but when he peered closer, he noticed that it was a bubble, a music box, and a shrimp. The shrimp had an unknown expression on its face however, and Looey could've sworn he saw the bubble somewhere before.

“HURRY LOOEY, BLOT!” Yatta yelled out in an attempt to push them out with her words.
“The elevator is about to close!” Yatta continued. Looey and Blot quickly hurried out the elevator, and Yatta quickly followed.

The elevator quickly closed with the familiar rattle in its surroundings, and because of that, the toons that the troupe had never met quickly looked at them. Looey just stood there awkwardly, while Yatta and Blot waved at the toons, with Yatta doing it more enthusiastically.

“Oh,” the bubble shouted.
“Oh oh oh! Boxten! Shrimpo! It's the new toons!” The bubble shifted her body towards the two. The music box stiffened up and the shrimp just crossed their arms. The circus troupe then walked towards the group, accepting the invitation from the bubble to come closer. As they were finally together, the bubble then spoke.

“I'm Poppy by the way! Poppy the bubble!” Poppy excitedly mentioned.

Ah, so that's where Looey saw Poppy before.

Looey remembered the amount of vending machines across the numerous floors the troupe traveled to, and how they had Poppy's face plastered to the machine with the notation of ‘Poppy Pop!’ beside her. Looey thought she would be a sweet and bubbly girl just like as seen on the machines, and turns out he was right.

“And these two are my friends, Boxten,” Poppy motioned to the mentioned Boxten, who did a simple, but nervous wave
“And Shrimpo!” Poppy then shifted her hand to motion to Shrimpo, who obviously looked a little heated, but not saying anything just yet.

“HEY HEY POPPY!” Yatta exclaimed, while Blot and Looey just did a simple wave; then suddenly began to speak.

“Hi Poppy! And Boxten—Shrimpo…” Looey greeted them.
“I'm Looey,” Looey spoke.
“That’s Yatta,” Looey pointed to the aforementioned Yatta. Yatta let out a loud toothy smile to the group in front of her.
“And that's Blot!” Looey pointed to Blot. They let out a simple wave in return.

“Oh, it's nice meeting you guys…!” Boxten spoke quietly, Poppy looked at Boxten excitedly while Shrimpo surprisingly stayed quiet.

“Same,” Poppy continued.
“It really sucks though, you guys just came in summer and not spring nor during the winter…”

“Hm? What do you mean by that?” Looey chuckled after.
A sudden wave of insecurity washed over Looey, coming up with reasons on why the bubble girl would say something like that. He felt unintended, and like some sort of alien.

“I'm talking about the tree!” Poppy corrected herself.
“Like, in the springtime, it's this really pretty pink color, and in the winter they decorate it for Christmas! I wish you guys were able to see it,” Poppy enthusiastically mentioned. Boxten nodded along with Poppy, he did like how the tree changed among the seasons.
Poppy put one hand on her hip and the other on her chin, “You’ll guys see it though, Christmas is just a few months away,”

“REALLY?” Yatta exclaimed.

“YEAH!” Poppy returned the same energy back.
She held a hold of fascination in her grasp that made anything she said, Looey utterly entranced.

“Ouh, get ready for the schedules though, they are PACKED.” Poppy notioned with her hands.

He winced at the packed schedules however, he didn't expect for the season to be packed.

Poppy noticed Looey;
“Yeah….since children are out of school because of summer break, parents usually just dump them here,” Poppy explained.

“Usually around those times, there are a few bad apples…” Poppy said while having a disheartened look on her face. Boxten just nodded to her statement.
“-But besides that, everything is really great!” She reasoned.

Gaining a somewhat newfound confidence, Boxten managed to ask a question.
“So uh — what do you guys normally do uhm,” Boxten paused to collect his thoughts, something Poppy taught him a while back when he was first created.
“When you guys y'know— perform?” Boxtem managed to finish, albeit stuttering.

“Oh! Well,” Looey took the initiative,
“I'm. . . sort of like a clown, Yatta is an amazing acrobat, and Blot's skills as a mime are truly a sight to see!” Looey uplifted his friends as he motioned towards them.

“!yeooL nwolc taerg a rof ekam od uoy ,lleW” Blot managed to gargle out. Yatta nodded enthusiastically in agreement, while Looey bashfully scratched the back of his head while blushing slightly. Poppy and Boxten smiled at the scene in front of them, it reminded them of each other.
Poppy then took a glance at Shrimpo right beside the group.

Oh. He did not look alright.

Shrimpo stood there with his arms crossed with his standard angry expression, with the exception of his bottom lip quivering and his left eye occasionally twitching. He seemed to be staring off into the distance, but as the circus troupe continued to chit and chatter, Shrimpo's spasms only continued and grew more frequent.

Poppy knew, She knew that any moment Shrimpo was going to say something like his usual self.

Trying to guide Shrimpo away, Poppy made a simple yet lackluster attempt to deescalate the future situation.

“Hey—uh, Shrimpo-”

“I HATE CLOWNS!” Shrimpo let out a sudden screech, with all of the circus troupe members' conversations coming to a halt.
Boxten's face looked nervous, and Poppy held a defeated expression, but most of all, Looey looked confused, but also hurt. Shrimpo just continued.

“I HATE ACROBATS!” Shrimpo continued with his hate session,
“AND MIMES SUCK. I HATE CIRCUS PERFORMERS!” He then finished.

Shrimpo then suddenly turned his heel, and stomped away to the elevator a couple of feet beside the group.
Boxten, embarrassed about the scene that happened, muttered a little apology towards the circus troupe and quickly fled to go after Shrimpo. Poppy stayed behind with the shocked and offended toons before her.

“Uhm,” Poppy started, “I'm—sorry about that.” Poppy solemnly said to the troupe.
“Shrimpo is REALLY short tempered, and it makes it worse that he doesn't have a filter.” She continued to explain the shrimp's actions.
The troupe only nodded in acknowledgement.

“It's. . .alright, I guess,” Looey responded with a lighthearted chuckle at the end, trying to remedy the situation. Blot decided to step forward a little bit.

“?siht ekil syawla . . .eh sI” Blot gargled. After a few seconds of silence, Poppy looked at the troupe. Realizing what Poppy meant, Looey took the initiative.

“Oh, he’s just asking if he's always like this.” Looey spoke for Blot.

“Oh! yea, he would always just . . . act like that.” Poppy explained as she looked behind her the scene of Boxten trying to rationalize with Shrimpo, but by the looks of it, the conversation was getting nowhere.

“Looks like I have someone to save!” Poppy jokingly said as a way to remedy the situation. The troupe looked at the scene she was referring to, and smiled, with Blot giving a light, inky chuckle.

Poppy then turned back, “Again, I'm really sorry about what had just happened right now, I hope we can still talk and be—ah uhm, friends?” Poppy said.

Yatta giggled. “Oh don't worry Poppy! I already consider you a great friend now!” She chipped away to the girl in front of her. Poppy smiled in relief and in agreement. Poppy then cleared her throat.

“Well, l’m afraid I have to go now before I'm potentially going to have to deal with a jammed up music box!” Poppy joyfully said.
Yatta ended up giggling even more at the somewhat morbid description. Poppy began to shift around while standing.

“Well, see you later Blot, Yatta, and. . .” Poppy paused before mentioning Looey's name. Looey began to become uncomfortable and a little sad. Had she already forgotten his name?

His thoughts got interrupted when Poppy suddenly walked up towards the taller toon.

“Are you fine with a nickname?”

Looey stammered for an answer.
“Ah uh—well, sure?” He managed to let out.

“Great! Now,” Poppy paused for a moment to think, before leaning forward motioning for Looey to crouched down. She then spoke into one of his bunny-like ears.

“How does Loo sound?” She whispered as her voice tickled his ear. Looey blushed slightly and began to turn the gears in his brain for an answer. She then backed down and backed away at the reasonable distance as she was before.

Looey just nodded in reply.
“That sounds great!” He then replied a little too excitedly.

Poppy just smiled in return, and then ran off to catch up with her friends. Be note before saying,

“See you sometime Loo!”

Immediately Looey's face started to heat up. And both Yatta and Blot snickered at the blushing mess he was right now. It was only until the elevator took Poppy and the others away before Blot brought something up albeit with him giggling.

“?elpoep rehto teem dna og ew tuoba woH” Blot said while trying to contain his snickers and giggles.

“Agreed!” Yatta exclaimed with laughter.

Looey just fidgeted and clenched his right ear where Poppy once whispered in. Just nodding in response to all of the bickering, while holding a lighthearted smile.

“!ooL dna attaY nom'C” Blot said while making his way towards an available elevator, with Yatta and a giddy Looey right after him.
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Looey's heart continued to thump against his rubber exterior.

In the cold darkness, four twisted's were hot on his tail, amongst them was twisted Brightney, clearing up the speculation on what caused the blackout. Thankfully none of them were mains.

Looey grimaced at the thought of one point of having to distract twisted Shelly or Pebble. Their speed was always a hassle for Looey whenever he was in good shape, ultimately having to take hits in order to be up to speed.
But what really struck a fear in Looey was the mutated forms their bodies have morphed to because of the ichor. The sight of Shelly's spine being morphed into a continuous backbone and tail to her dinosaur appearance always made Looey's back ache at the sight of it. When he saw twisted Pebble for the first time he almost threw up with how perfectly mangled the canine's body was. A toon, let alone a dog, shouldn't have to go through that process.

Another ding of a completed machine sounded off in the distance, making Looey count off in his head.

‘9 out of 13’ looey said to himself.

Gargled angry noises and pained whimpers could all be heard behind Looey. The twisteds mangled appearances only made it worse whenever looey heard their bodies twisting and their feet thump on the floor and with their bones cracking. Looey felt a pang of softness realizing what all of the twisteds been through during the process.

By the 11th machine, Looeys distracting skills have become more sluggish and sloppy. Almost slamming himself onto tables and tripping over his own feet. His heart felt like it was thumping against his ear with how deafening the sound was. It was no wonder why Goob needed a little break.

More minutes went by until the noticeable sound of the elevator opening with a loud noise, signaling that the last machine had been done. Looey kept on distracting however, he still had time if toons hurried up. He began to focus entirely on maintaining the twisteds on the chase, making sure that not one of them got disinterested.

That focus was soon interrupted when he heard Sprout yell.

“Finn?! Poppy?!” Looey heard the familiar voice of Sprout yelling.

It felt like his heart was the only thing that felt real in that moment.

Poppy is not in the elevator?

She's with Finn though, she should be alright,

Did I not round up all of the twisteds?

Self deprecating thoughts began to plague Looey's head as he came up with reasons why his partner was not at the elevator. His heart began to ache and thump even louder than before. His breathing began to become staggered by the moment.

It was soon interrupted however. Thankfully.

“LOOEY!” He heard Sprout scream in the distance.
“COME TO THE ELEVATOR! EVERYBODY IS HERE!” He heard the strawberry toon continue.

Almost like something possessed him, Looey quickly turned on his heel and began to run while still having the twisteds chasing him.
Grunts were heard while he ran, wincing every time his waist had bumped into a corner of a crate, digging onto his elastic skin.

Eventually, the elevator came into view with toons inside of it with the exception of Sprout who was a few feet away from it. Immediately seeing Looey, Sprout opened his mouth to prepare for a lecture, but quickly glanced behind the balloon and changed his mind. The two toons then ran inside the elevator, with the harsh thump then sounding out right behind them.

Looey began to slump onto the floor as soon as the realization of what he had been through set in.

His legs gave out as he went to a crouched position onto the elevator floor. The burning sensation could be felt in every bone, muscle, and within the ichor that flowed through his legs. His clothes stuck onto his skin, as the ruffles from his clown attire had begun to be too itchy for him. His heart thumping was the most deafening sound he had ever heard, and he could certainly feel it with every shift that his body gave. The sticky sensation of sweat that draped on his forehead with the mixture of face paint made it start to wear off a lot more.

God this truly was a sensory overload for him.

“Looey,” Sprout asked while standing right beside Looey, “You okay? Did you get hurt while distracting the twisteds?” He asked further, examining the sitting balloon while asking, crouching down.

“Only in the way that would make me faster!” Looey awkwardly and breathingly chuckled as he made the joke, staring down at the tiled dirty elevator floors. He should probably stand up already.
As Looey stood up and dusted his clown attire in the process, he took a glance at Sprout in the process.

Oh, he didn't seem to like his joke that much. Sprout just sighed before speaking again.

“I’m going to check on everybody to see if they are alright.” Sprout says while crossing his arms. “Especially Goob, I’m going to check to see if he’s up for distracting again.” He further explains.
“You certainly don't look in good shape.”
Sprout turned his body to go to Goob, before eventually walking off.

‘Checking everybody?’ Looey thought to himself.

‘Oh, I should probably check on Poppy.’

Immediately spotting her in the elevator, alongside with her partner during the blackout floor. Finn looked as if he ignored the common breathing exercise and was just bending down with his hands on his knees and breathing in all of the air he could through his mouth. The water inside his head was about to spill on the elevator floor, until eventually he straightened his position.
Poppy on the other hand, was controlling her breathing as she breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth while kneeling on the elevator floor. The notion being more exaggerated in order for her to become more calm. Her hair seemed to be less bouncy than the last elevator ride, and her shoes seemed to be more scuffed than before.

As Looey began to walk towards the bubble girl, she took a glance at his form and then gave him a toothy smile.

“Hey Loo!” Poppy said to Looey as she quickly stood up from her position, her deflated hair giving a certain bounce when she stepped up.
“How was distracting?” Poppy asked while taking in a notice of Looey’s appearance, taking his clothed arm into her hands as she patted away some dirt that was left there when he was running back to the elevator.

“Not too bad, haha…” Looey chuckled nervously as his arm was being patted down by Poppy. “Especially for a blackout.”

“Oh well that sounds good!” Poppy said optimistically.
“I couldn't distract for my life, I would get too dirty all the time.” Poppy grabbed Looey’s other arm and did that same motion of patting away the dirt that clung onto his arm.

Looey took a moment to fully look at Poppy. Down from below, she had almost an ethereal, beautiful look of tiredness. Her light pink lips looked like they needed a reapplication of lip gloss, a closer look at her cheeks shows some scuffs, scars, and bruising that happened in previous incidents and also recently in the current run they were in. But the most prettiest thing about her was her eyes. Her eyes held the ever so light eyebags underneath them. With her eyelashes having a certain droop to them, almost covering her eyes. But however, even with all of the scuffs that her face had, she still held a small smile while she was still dusting off dirt from Looey’s arm.

Looey’s smile began to become more giddy. He was truly the luckiest toon in the entire world as he knew it.

“. . . And I think that is everything.” Poppy solemnly said as she lowered Looey’s arm to be resting by his side once again, but then returning to a daze. It was almost unnatural for her to switch from being enthusiastic to almost being numb in a way. Looey huffed a breath and cleared his throat.

“Uhm, Poppy,” Looey started off. He noticed Poppy perked up at the mention of her name, in the middle of what it seemed to be shewing at the inside of her cheek.
“It’s just . . .” Looey continued, marking the fact that Poppy was now staring at him to be a sign to hurry up.
“I noticed that . . uh well, you weren't at the elevator in time, Sprout had to call you and everything.” Looey finished, holding one arm as an anxious motion. Nevertheless, he still continued.
“Did. . . something happen?” Looey finally asked the question he’d been meaning to ask Poppy.

Poppy blinked a couple of times at Looey, before opening her mouth and pausing before quickly closing. She looked away at Looey, her smile being long gone and what also seemed to be her optimism, her eyes squinting and face now holding confused expressions. Her hands began to clutch her dress as she was deep in thought, squeezing and releasing as the fabric jumps from tension to normal.

“Poppy?-”

“No,” Poppy cut Looey off mid sentence, her voice sounding more rough as if all of the months if not years of doing the supply runs and the ichor operation as a whole got to her.
“Nothing happened, me and Finn were just away from the elevator,” Poppy continued, her voice beginning to have the optimistic tone that she normally had, as her face formed into a more enthusiastic look.
“. . . And I saw a Pop!” she excitedly said as she began to have a big smile on her face.
“Could’nt resist! Hah!” Poppy smiled and laughed as she dragged out her little one trick pony of being a pop addict.

Looey smiled. It was like he just overreacted. Poppy was just getting her precious can of Pop as always.

“Well, I'm glad it wasn't anything TOO serious, Ha.” Looey joked with Poppy. The two of them laughing off their small, ichor hearts out as the crushing sound of the elevator sounded off. A signal that another floor of then again filling up machines was due.
As if it were like clockwork, Goob began to spring out of the elevator and ventured out to the floor in order to gather up all of the twisteds. The other toons began to scurry out and stay beside the elevator. Just like in routine; until Goob had finally yelled that he had found and rounded up all of the twisteds.

It was quiet, but Looey felt odd.

He felt seen. The feeling was all too familiar and similar with the stage fright that he has. Looey began to twist and turn until he could find out who the culprit was. It felt as if something was crawling underneath his skin and giving him shivers and planting their seed of anxiousness into Looey. It was as if he could feel every beat of his heart, every pump that it would give to his veins, and it was as if he was all in the dark, as if he were alone.

He then looked at all of the toons that were around him. Connie and Finn were talking, albeit being more onesided, and Astro was just closing his eyes and relaxing for a little bit. He then looked at the one toon who was the culprit.

Sprout.

But it was weird. Sprout wasn't looking at him. He hadn’t even realized that Looey was looking at him.

Sprout was staring at Poppy.

He almost held a sympathetic saddening look on him. All the while the same bubble girl he was looking at was smiling while humming, bouncing up and down. It’s like he knew something was wrong.

Looey couldn't understand. Did Sprout want to ask Poppy something, was there going to be a lecture?
All of Looey's thoughts and questions soon went unanswered as Goob let out a quick shout signaling that he rounded up the twisteds.

Everyone ran off to go to the machines that they were intended to do. Except for Looey.

He felt uneasy, but couldn't understand what it was.

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The room smelled like a vomit of sweet smelling perfumes alongside with the mixture of the smell of sugary sour candy. Wrappers were everywhere as it was intended to be a part of the decorations, and colorful sheets of pink, yellow, and blue splattered the room to make something noteworthy of a warm chaos.
Yatta's room was a welcoming place for some toons, and an abomination for others. But regardless of what toons thought about Yatta’s room, it was now the setting for the circus troupe’s sleepover.

Yatta was lying on her stomach, kicking her legs while reading a sweets magazine that her toon handler had given her, the cover showing gourmet desserts and current popular candies. Blot was fully sitting down on the floor, wiping off his face with a damp cloth, with many, many white and muddied-inked towels near him, (so he couldn’t permanently stain anything.) Looey was sitting criss crossed, fiddling with his trusty clown horn, feeling the roughness of the rubber bulb, and the smoothness of the yellow plastic horn beneath his fingertips.

Looey was deep in thought. It was stupid really. Poppy was taking over his thoughts like some sort of plague.

A few weeks ago, he remembered seeing Poppy and Boxten interact with a group of kids. They were all playing hide and seek, Boxten was covering his eyes with the palms of his hands while he counted from 15 out loud, Poppy placing a finger on her lips in order to signal the kids to be quiet while they all hid. Giggles from both the kids and Poppy sounded off quietly in the room, Boxten blushing while having a smile on his face as he tried his best to keep his giggles in while he also counted.
Poppy was pretty as ever in Looey’s eyes. The bounce of her hair, the certain glow her eyes had, her smile, her laughs, the way she held herself, the way that she treated everybody with such compassion and interest, and how she didn't let anything bring her down. He looked up to her in a certain way, if she could hang out with kids and entertain people so easily, then so could he.

He’d have to make sure nobody knows about this secret though.

“Hey! LOOEY!” Yatta exclaimed as she turned the page and looked up from her magazine, shocking Looey in the process, making him squeeze the bulb of his clown horn, making a honk in the process. Blot only managed to jump a little bit and continue wiping off his makeup, while Yatta giggled for a bit.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Yatta asked as she cupped her face with both of her hands, swinging her legs back and forth child-like.

“Well- auhm.”

Looey hesitated to answer for a bit. Obviously he couldn't tell the truth, but he couldn't exactly lie to his friends as well. What was he supposed to say?
But before any critical thinking was done, Yatta soon interrupted him.

“Hey are you red!?” She shouted, leaning forward in the process, while putting herself in a plank position out of sheer excitement. Blot paused, wiping his face for a moment, and completely discarding the cloth and looked at Looey with a surprised expression.

“Wait, IS THERE A LUCKY TO-” Yatta attempted to yell out before Blot jumped and proceeded to cover her mouth with his gloved hand.

“!peelsa eb ot desoppus era snooT !esaelP !attaY” Blot spoke to the pinata girl, who was currently bouncing off the floor and squealing from what was pure excitement and joy.
“?tuoba gnikniht uoy ERA tahw ooL ,hguoht thgir-flah si ehS” Blot continued to speak, while having trouble keeping Yatta quiet.

Looey, paused for a moment from the commotion, then let out a deep, shaming sigh. Fine. He’ll tell them I guess.

“Well uhm,” Looey spoke, before sucking it up and finishing his sentence. “Yatta’s right.”

In practically under a second, Yatta’s eyes sparkled and she began to shake and squeal, while Blot tried to contain her voice for just a few seconds more; before the action proved utterly useless when Yatta turned her head harshly and bumped into Blots inky head in the process. Yatta was fine, finally free from Blot’s hand confinement, while he was on the floor holding his head like it was porcelain in a pained position.

“OhmygodohmygodohmyGOD!” Yatta squealed as she began flopping her hands and jumping in her seat. If Yatta was exaggerating, and Looey was only a little pink and flustered before, then now he was a red-hot mess. Blot began to get up while still holding his head, groaning before he then took a seat next to Yatta, a little farther though.

“.wO”

“Hehe, Sorry Blot!” Yatta spoke as she quickly turned her head towards him and then back at Looey.
“So, who's the lucky toon to have caught your eye!?” Yatta asked as she now sat in a crisscrossed position. Having a delightful expression on her face.

“Well, its-”

“WAIT!” Yatta placed a single finger on Looey’s mouth. “Let me guess!”

Looey awkwardly chuckled at the motion, before mindlessly nodding along to what Yatta said. Blot looked amused at the situation.

“Alright! So,”

“Sprout!?”

“..No.”

“Hm, can you PLEASE give a hint!?”

“Haha- Nope.”

“Uh, Ginger? Imean- whenever she's here you, Sprout, and Cosmo always hang out together! Plus she's REALLY pretty!” Yatta explained. Blot nodded in agreement.

“Nooo….”

“WAIT!” Yatta came to a realization as she was listing off toons. “I know!”

“?od uoY” Blot asked. Yatta nodded excitedly in agreement.

“Yup Yup!” Yatta exclaimed as she shifted in her seat, clearing her throat as she prepared to say the fateful toon’s name.

“ITS POPPY ISN'T IT-”

Before Yatta could gush over Looey’s crush, Looey had taken the honor reaching far open to cover Yatta’s mouth with both of his hands. His whole head felt like it was going to pop at any moment, feeling too hot and too big for him. His face was red, if it weren't for his torso color, he would've been mistaken as a red balloon instead of a yellow one.

Yatta began to squirm and thrash around, almost begging to be released from the mouth jail that almost felt like she was constantly being thrown into. Blot watched from the side, almost bursting with laughter with the scene that he was presented with.

Yatta thrashing her head left and right managed to get a few words out,

“OHHHH you LIKE that Poppy girl HUHHHH!” she playfully said as Looey felt his face getting hotter by the minute.

Blot snickered. “-esaELp -attaY”

Yatta continued. “You just wanna HOLD HER and-and PLAY WITH HER HAIR DONT YOU!”
Feeling defeated with his effort of trying to contain Yatta, Looey eventually fell on the floor on his back while covering his face with both his hands and ears. If he couldn't stop her, then oh well.

Finally containing her laughter (especially after the numerous times Blot told her to stop) Yatta took a deep breath and asked a question to Looey.

“SOooo, when are you going to ask her out?” Yatta truthfully asked him.

Looey, caught off by the question, took off his hands and ears and then sprung forward into a sitting position.
He didn't know how to respond, it hadn’t really popped up in his head when he was going to get the guts to ask Poppy out, let alone the appropriate time to do it, and how to set the mood. He figured that time would come and tell, but would it really?
Figuring that a long time has passed, Looey mustered up a reply.

“Auhm- mayybee,” Looey dragged his words.

Shoot. He didn't think this through enough. Just give an answer and go along with it.

“-Next week?” He finally said, albeit with a questioning tone.

“REALLY?! That’d be AMAZING Looey!” Yatta exclaimed in a cheerful tone.

For the rest of the night, it continuously was babbling from Yatta and Blot about Poppy, and how the two were meant for each other, and the continuous embarrassed Looey trying to make them stay quiet.

.

.

In the midst of their conversation however, a certain toon was adjusting the amplifier on his record player to increase the volume of the soft, classical music that was playing.
He couldn't sleep. He had woken up from a nightmare, and combined with the circus troupe’s conversation he heard from above, made it so he couldn't really sleep at all after he jolted from his bed.
He’d have to talk to Astro for better dreams. And maybe talk to Poppy as soon as he can have the courage to.

.

.

.

.

.

After a few moments of standing alone by the elevator, Looey got a grip on himself and walked around the floor (avoiding the broken elevator of course) to look for a machine.
Not that long, Looey ended up finding a machine.

It's a circle machine.

Eugh.

It's not that he didn't HATE those machines, he just found them irritating at times. Especially when he ended up doing the skillcheck too early. He absolutely hated the blaring alarm that sounded off that was a glorified way of saying to the other toons that he missed his skillcheck. He hated negative attention like that.

Begrudgingly, Looey started to work on the machine.

He watched the ichor oozing out of the nozzle. It looked like a black tar-like substance that was stupidly hot for no reason; not enough to cause a 1st degree burn, but also enough to make it unpleasant to walk across from.
Looey shuddered at the thought of it. He remembered the time he ran across two puddles of ichor when distracting Twisted Pebble; it was a horrible feeling, the ichor simmering his feet and calves. As much as he'd wanted to drop to the floor and wished for the feeling to go away, he still had to distract Pebble. The feeling was agonizing, he remembered whenever he put pressure on the raw skin, it would rival the feeling of having stepped on 10,000 needles. Ouch.

As he watched the thick ichor begin to pile up, (and when the thoughts about the hot ichor went away) he began to listen towards his surroundings. It has always been a habit of his, especially when he was distracting. Sound cues were important after all, he needed to hear callout for whatever the toons needed, or something important they had to warn him about.

He heard the rustle of multiple footsteps and miserable groaning signaling that Goob was doing his job of distracting well.

A ping of a machine sounded off in the distance, he could faintly hear Connie complain about the machine.

He could faintly hear a muffled conversation of Sprout and Astro in the distance. He didn't know what they were talking about, and he was unsure If he could really care or not.

BZTT.

The blaring deafening noise blared out from the machine, easily startling Looey in his gaze. He messed up on the timing, of course.

“Ohhhhnononono-” Looey panicked as he focused on finishing the machine as quickly as possible, wanting to get away from that area as soon as possible. Turning the valve as quickly as he could with all the strength he could muster.

Hearing the familiar ding noise, he let out a sigh of relief. One less machine to do. Before he could flee from the area however, he heard something.

CRASH!

Looey’s ears perked up near the direction to where the noise came from, he quickly turned his head. It sounded like something, or someone had bumped into a crate, and possibly fell to the ground.

Had a twisted gone out of Goob's hands? No, that couldn't be, Goob would've called out something like that if it were to happen.
Did an item just fall? If something like that happened, then the noise wouldn't be as loud as it just sounded right now. Plus, Looey wouldn't have heard it clearly.

Narrowing down the conclusions, Looey drew it down to two options, a toons just bumped into a crate, or a twisted that Goob forgot to round up was on the loose. With a sigh, he began to jog over to the area, his tail seemingly dragging to the floor behind him.

As he grew closer to the area itself, he began to hear clearer sounds by the second. Gargles and coughing were heard, the rusty sound of phlegm coughs made Looey winced. He didn't like the sound of that, or the feeling of something in his throat.
The coughs began to seem more serious by the second, with full on sounds of someone gasping for air and hiccuping sounds that sounded pained.

God. He better be prepared for whatever comes.

As he finally arrived, Looey moved cautiously. He didn't want to accidentally bump into the said twisted, or cause sudden panic to the person who was recovering from the crash. As he tiptoed to the recognized fallen crates, he saw the shadow of a toon on the floor, seemingly clenching their sides.

Okay. Good. Not twisted.

Looey then decided to speak up.

“Auhm, Hello? Are you alright?” He asked, with a notable concern in his tone.

All he heard in reply was an amalgamation of sobs, choking, and gasps for air.

With speed and concern, Looey made his way to the figure in question, finally taking a peek behind the pile of ragged crates.

His eyes quickly widened when he realized who the toon was.

It was Poppy.

“Poppy!” Looey yelled as he ran by her side, almost tripping in the process.

Panic started to rise and bubble within his chest, his heart pounding against his balloon torso like something wanting to get out of him. His arms were frozen, his ears were perked straight as a sign of being alert, and his tail was stiff as ever.

Poppy kept on choking on something and clenching her throat as she curled on her side. As soon as she notices Looey, she turns her head towards him, and manages to croak out a single, desperate plea.

Thump.

“LOo-ey,” Poppy pleaded as she held up her hand and gestured towards her throat.

Thump. Thump.

“PleAse . . . hhElp…” She continued to croak.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Finally snapping out of it and fully realizing the gravity of the situation, Looey sprung into action as he quickly pulled Poppy out of the ground and held her up.
He quickly had her back towards his chest, and put both of his hands to a fist and placed it right at her stomach, and began pulling inward and upward.

He remembered the lessons that the toon handlers gave to him whenever a child was choking. Tell another person nearby to get medical staff, perform the Heimlich Maneuver, and make sure the child is okay in the end. But of course, in this situation he wasn't dealing with another kid. He was dealing with someone he loved very deeply. Someone he cared for more than ever.

As he did the rounds of pulling, he began hoping, praying even, that Poppy would be alright in the end. She's a strong girl. She would be okay. Right?

As he did the fifth round of the maneuver, he heard Poppy coughing something out, and something plopping to the floor. In a few seconds after that, Looey felt Poppy slump behind his chest, noticeably more tired and exhausted then what he saw near the elevator in the beginning of the floor.

His instincts then came over, turning Poppy to the side and embraced her towards his chest. One hand held Poppy with panic, while the other one cradled her head as a motion of reassuring that everything was alright. Poppy in return clenched onto Looey, burrowing her face into his shoulder.

Remembering what happened earlier, Looey scanned the floor, trying to figure out what had Poppy choking and gasping for air only a few seconds ago.

It only took a few moments until his eyes had settled on something. It was the only thing that he could find near the two, but it couldn't be right.

Right?

only a few inches where Poppy was, he saw the familiar tar-like substance on the ground. The all too familiar hot liquid that made him always get minor burns on his legs whenever he distracted.

It was Ichor. Pure, splotchy, ugly Ichor.

“Looey,” Poppy muttered with a noticeably weaker and raspier voice than what he had heard before.
“It hurts. Please. I don't feel good.”
.

.

.

.

.

Looey was a little more distracted than usual.

After that . . . situation at the sleepover with the resort of the members of the circus troupe 4 nights ago, he was thinking more about Poppy, and with the last minute confession plan he blurted out.

He took a look at the section of the room that he was scheduled in for the hour. It was messy, undoubtedly, with several items used for their acts scattered among the floor. Candies of all shapes and sizes were carelessly thrown onto the floor alongside with their wrappers, and somehow dribbles and splatters of paint managed to get on the tables and on the wooden floor.

Whoops. Looey didn't even know how the paint got there, but it didn't even matter at this point. The custodians were not going to be happy, and neither was Deliah.

As he peered through the windows, Looey could see the bundle of children that were bunched near the elevator, eagerly waiting to get onto it.
He smiled, even though he wasn't that good with kids as the other toons, he liked seeing people happy in general. He averted his gaze when he heard a mumble from Blot however.

“?won thgir kaerb ruo ti t'nsi ,yeH” Blot gargled a sentence as he sat on the floor. He looked down at the floor, and noticed a pink splash of paint that was near him.
Looey thought that he was thinking how'd the paint get in there in the first place as well.

“?thgir ruoh nA . . .”

Yatta nodded eagerly with closed fists shaking as she made a mhm-mhm! noise. Even with all of the tricks and movements she did with hula hoops and balls with stars on them, she was still energetic as always.

“Right,” Looey shortly after Yatta.

With the amount of work he had to do today, break honestly completely slipped his mind. He'd thought that with the amount of attention and work he was doing, he would be looking forward to and thinking more about his break. But it didn't seem that way after all.

As thoughts shifted through his head about his schedule. Looey realized that he was thirsty.

Well.

“Hey-auhm, I'm gonna go get some water,” Looey turned his body around and said to the circus troupe.
“Does anyone want some?” Looey asked.

Blot shaked his head. “.naem I retal roF ?selttob retaw eraps emos gnirb esaelp uoy t'ndluoc tub ,yllaer ton ,oN”

Looey took a second before smiling and nodding his head. Had to put that in his mental checklist.
Bring water bottles to the group. Bring water bottles to the group. Got it.

“Alright then. I’ll be on my way.” Looey said as he began to walk his way towards the elevator. The kids had already gone inside the elevator, and descended to further floors for more activities to do. Looey thought about which set of toons was on the next floor in order to entertain the children.
Or he had hope it was a group of toons. That group was particularly energetic.

.
.

As he stepped out of the clanky elevator and onto Sprout’s floor, the immediate smell of freshly baked confections came into his senses. It was a pleasant smell, it wasn't overwhelming and hard on the nose; it was something akin to the christmas floor with the smell of earthy christmas tree and baked gingerbread cookies.

Looey wondered how Ginger was doing. It wasn't long until they would see her again, around 4 months or so.

As he paced around the floor, he noticed the brief cheering of children echoing throughout the floor. He tensed at that. Looey didn't really want any kid to notice him after he just went on this break thank you.
He searched around the floor for Sam. Originally it was going to be for Sprout, but with the children on his floor it was best not to be. As he walked towards the small room that Sam was held in, he looked at the surrounding areas around him. He took notice of the lush greenspace that the floor had occupied. The real trees, the vibrant flowers that he saw, and the giant cliffs that looked a little unnatural.

He hadn't seen the outside. Ever. Nobody had seen it in this center.

He’d like to see the outside. All of the hills, the sky, the clouds, the fresh air, all of it. He remembered once that the circus troupe’s toon handler told them about carnivals and fairs. Looey saw the enlightenment and sparkles in Yatta’s eyes when he mentioned the carnival food and the games that were there. He saw the intrigue in Blot’s face when his handler mentioned the amount of mimes he saw in parks and in fairs. Looey had to admit that he also felt a tinge of giddyness when his handler mentioned the abundance of clowns in the carnivals, how they always had a smile on their goofy faces when they were entertaining the children. How they felt confident, at ease when performing.

Looey smiled at the memory. He liked his toon handler, and somewhat looked up to him.

When he arrived at Sam’s corner, he peeked his head inside and was met with a tired Sam who was organizing some papers. Their hair was a mess, ginger curls had sprung out from the gelled curls from before, and their clothes were wrinkled. Yeesh.

“Uhm, excuse me? Sam?” Looey stepped inside the room fully and sheepishly asked Sam. He held both of his hands right on this stomach and his tail was dragging on the floor. He’d hope Sam was in somewhat of a good mood.

“Hm?” The redhead let out a confused noise before they swiveled their chair to face the person behind them. Looey noticed that Sam had a pair of reading glasses on crookedly, decorated with a pair of pale, lavender eyebags underneath. Oh they looked rough.
“Oh it's you Looey. Did your handler need something?” Sam asked as they grabbed a packet and quickly looked at the title before giving a groan under their breath.

“Noo . . . I was actually going to ask you if you had any water bottles . . .” Looey replied back as his voice grew anxious. He didn’t have a problem with Sam, it was just any authority figure that made him a bit anxious.

“Oh? If that's it then there should be a fridge right outside in the corner with some water bottles and pop inside. Take as much as you need.” Sam solemnly said as they were still reading the packet that they grabbed.

“ . . . Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

Taking a mental note that the conversation ended, Looey quickly scurried out the room while Sam immediately went back to work.

Going to where Sam said, Looey quickly saw the fridge and went straight for the handle in order to open it up. The immediate wave of cool frosty air came to his face when he opened the fridge and was met with a plethora of water bottles on the top section and cans of pop on the bottom half. Quickly aiming for the water bottles, Looey counted as he grabbed the bottles.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Looey now held 5 water bottles near his chest as he somewhat struggled to hold them all. Thank goodness he was thinking clearly and didn't grab 6 or 7 water bottles instead.

As he began to close the fridge, the cherry pops had entered his peripheral vision and he quickly looked downwards. He looked at the pop for a few seconds, looking at all of the different flavors that it had to offer. Cherry, Orange Crush, Limenade . . . and Cream soda.

Hm.
It was as if the pop had entranced him, Looey somewhat thought about if this is what a child felt when they saw sugary drinks. The more he looked at the pop, he thought about the amount of people who loved it.

People who loved Pop. Poppy.

Goodness it was like that girl had that balloon wrapped around her finger.

The more he thought about Poppy, the more he realized that he hadn’t seen her at all today. Not in the Lobby, the other floors, or even the cafeteria, the place she usually hung out the most besides her room. She was working right? Was she busy?
He’d probably just ask Sam first before drawing conclusions.

When he went inside Sam’s office again, he had caught them in the middle of yawning before jotting something down on a clipboard. They probably moved on from the packet quickly.

“Uhm, excuse me,” Looey spoke up before Sam glanced at him with the same tired eyes as before.

“Hm? Something happened Looey?” Sam asked while giving Looey their full attention, still holding a fancy ballpoint pen in their grasp, not preoccupied as before.

“Nothing really, I was just wondering do you know where Poppy is?” Looey finally asked.

After he asked, Sam accidentally let out a snorted giggle, before quickly putting both of their hands on their mouth in order to conceive their laughter. Looey tensed up as if his entire body was made of marble like a statue and not an air balloon. Was that a stupid question?

Wait.

Did he just give out his crush?

In almost an instant, Looey became pink. He quickly began to try to calm down, trying to reassure himself that it was probably a misunderstanding. But this is how the conversation about Poppy several nights ago started off; Looey giving off that he had a crush with his behaviour.

His internal monologue was soon paused before Sam cleared their throat and spoke laced with the motion that they were about to burst out laughing.

“Oh, Poppy is in her room,” Sam said before releasing a set of giggles. “Between you and me- Delilah had been ordering Poppy to clean her room for a while, but Poppy was a stubborn girl as always.” Sam said gleefully.

“She didn't clean her room, and Delilah forced her to clean it for today, excusing her from her schedule.” Sam finally managed to say with a voice free from laughter.

Looey stared at Sam blankly. Who knew Poppy was the kind of gal who had a messy room. More than not, it looked like he’d been overreacting again.

Sam looked at Looey, still holding all of those water bottles like a fool, cleared their throat and then spoke again.

“Right, do you like a bag for your water bottles?” Sam asked Looey with a pitying expression, looking at Looey’s chest and noticing that the water bottles were leaving a wet area on his chest.

Looey snapped out of his daydream, before sheepishly saying a ‘Yes please’ in return. Sam smiled before opening a cabinet on the side of their desk and pulling out a plastic bag with Dandy’s face on it, before puffing the bag and handing it to Looey.
Looey smiled as he grabbed the bag handle with one hand, and proceeded to empty the other one with the water bottles. He looked at his chest and noticed the wet damped part of his clothing. Eugh.

“Are you planning to visit the girl?” Sam asked almost disinterestedly. Looey nodded in reply.

“Well in that case, if you want you could give her a pop, the girl probably needs it.” Sam spoke before turning back to the desk, and taking a look at the papers.

“Thanks, I will.”

After he went and grabbed the single pop can, he made his way towards the elevator to go visit Poppy. On the way, he saw Sprout and Cosmo on a picnic blanket speaking to the children that were all circled around them.
Sprout seemed to notice Looey, sending a smile towards his way. Looey smiled back.

He then pressed the elevator button, and went inside the elevator to visit Poppy.

.

.

When he descended to the floor where the toons' living quarters were. He noticed that it was considerably empty. Of course it was, mainly all of the toons were on break or entertaining the children. With the exception of Poppy of course.
As he strode to Poppy’s room with the bag of refreshments beside him, he could hear the faint squelching noises the mop produced as he presumably thought that Poppy was mopping her room.

Before walking inside, he took a peek in the room; he noticed Poppy in the center of the room, her hair was done in a high bun, with her bangs parted from the middle and was framed back with the help of pink bobby pins. Her bow was noticeably not on her head. She wasn’t in her usual fuchsia dress, she was dressed in a plain white shirt with pink shorts to go alongside it, and had paired pink slippers for footwear.

Looey smiled at the appearance of her. She looked cute.

He then knocked on the doorframe of her room, fully walking to appear in the doorframe. Poppy looked up from mopping the floor, confused at first, but then smiling once she saw that it was Looey.

“Hey Poppy!” Looey gleefully said as he smiled at her.

“Oh! Hello Looey! I didn’t expect to see you today!” Poppy said as she still held the mop in her grasp.
“Come in! Come in!” Poppy optimistically offered Looey. He then fully walked inside, and looked for a place to set the bag down, before looking at the top of her vanity.

“Mind if I set this down here?” Looey asked her. Poppy nodded enthusiastically in reply.

“Sure! Sorry if it's a little messy, I am cleaning afterall,” Poppy responded as she continued to mop a little.

“Haha- I bet Tisha would see this as a nice surprise,” Looey joked as he set down the bag and fished out the can of pop out of the bag.

“She would!” Poppy giggled as she continued mopping. Looey then walked towards Poppy with the pop in hand, preparing to give it to her.

“Got you something,” Looey said as Poppy turned to face him. Her face morphed to surprise as she took the pop out of his hands.

“Oh! Thank you Loo!” Poppy thanked as she cracked open the can with uncanny efficiency and proceeded to take a sip before leaning on her bed.

It was a long, but comforting silence that happened afterward. Poppy had let the mop handle drape on the other side of her bed, deeming this moment as a break from all of the cleaning she had done. Looey also decided to lean on Poppy’s bed, albeit stretching his legs a little due to his height.

The silence was soon interrupted before Poppy spoke.

“Yeesh, sometimes Deliah gets on her nerves.” She said as she laid back on her fixed bed, making sure the can of pop didn't spill in the process. Looey thought if her bed was the first place she started to clean.

“It's like- It's like- she nags a lot. I get she means the best for me- but honestly it's starting to sound a lot like how Shrimpo complains.” Poppy fussed. Looey just listened, he hadn't had that type of experience with Deliah at all, just orders and the usual checkups for his health.

Poppy let out a groan as she quickly sat upright, her feet dangling off the bed. Looey had an idea.

“Poppy? Would you like me to help you clean? At least when my break is over. ” He asked Poppy. She then looked at her with a confused expression, but morphed it into something of sweetness.

“Really? I’d appreciate it!” Poppy eagerly responded

Looey and Poppy then proceeded to clean up her room. With Looey offering to help with all of the bottles and cans of pop that he had hoarded her room with, while Poppy on the other hand focused on fixing her vanity and floors.

When Looey was taking out the bags of bottles and cans of pop respectively, he looked at the analog clock that was hung up where the kitchen area was.

15 minutes till 3.

Looey took a mental note of the time, and then emptied out the bag in the recycling bin. Before he set off to Poppy’s room again, he took a look at the door leading upstairs to further rooms for the toons.
Looey thought about the sleepover. How he’d said to his friends that he would confess to Poppy next week. Today was already the week of the confession. Looey started to grow anxious. He didn't expect for the week to go by so soon, he did not plan through his confession, only the date that was planned.
He decided to forget it. Just go to her room and finish up.

When he walked inside Poppy’s room, he felt anxious. It was a feeling of a knot in his stomach, the feeling that his neck scarf was just a little too tight.
“Oh! You’re back!” Poppy chippered. “I already finished fixing my vanity, and my room is now clean again!” She said while making a ‘Phew!’ sound.

Looey quickly averted his gaze from Poppy, he could already feel his face turning pink by the second. Did he really need to feel this right now?

Poppy seemed to notice. Crap.

“Looey? Are you alright?” Poppy questioned as her tone went from joy to concern. Looey almost let out a simple ‘mhm’ before stopping to think.

Should he confess? Right Now?

He glanced at Poppy.

Might as well bite the bullet.

“Hey . . . uhm, Poppy?” Looey asked.

“Yea?”

“Can we sit down for a moment, I have to tell you something.”

Poppy paused, blinking a few times, opening her mouth and closing, before she finally said something.

“. . . Yea!” Poppy spoke before she made her way towards the bed, before sitting on it. Looey stood by for a few seconds before eventually following Poppy and sitting down right beside her.

They both sat in silence, but it wasn't comfortable as before, it was awkward, hostile even if Poppy had taken it the wrong way. His heart felt as if it could beat out of his chest at any moment now, his tongue felt tied in his mouth, and he felt as if he didn't have a voice. It made it even worse when Poppy was staring at him sweetly with a sense of understanding. His heart was beating uncontrollably. Faster.

“Something happened?"

His heart beat faster.

“Poppy, I uhm, need to tell you something. It's important.” Looey spoke, trying to make eye contact with the bubble girl, but failing, not miserably, but still failing.

“What's up?” Poppy responded, still having a sweet smile on her face as she still looked at the balloon boy.
Faster.

“I. . .” He started.

“You . . . ?” She ended.

Faster it went.

“. . .”

“. . . Poppy, I really like you. A lot.” Looey finally spoke, looking back at Poppy.

Silence followed. Poppy looked at Looey with a surprised expression, her face starting to grow pinker and pinker by the second. Then, as if the sweet symphony of angels singing happened, Poppy responded.

“Looey. . . I like you too.” Poppy responded. She sounded taken back, like she didn't expect this at all.
Poppy then motioned with her hands, Looey knew what this meant.

‘Hug?’

Looey fell into Poppy’s arms, draping into the scent of her sweet smelling perfume and warmth.

Hug.

It was as if everything had gone right. There was nothing bad that was going to happen at all. He thought going outside was a minor inconvenience, and not that big of a deal. Looey took a few moments to just succumb to her touch. His vision seemed to be more colorful than usual, with the once bright colors of her room becoming more saturated. Maybe from the sheer happiness? A flash of purple and blue went by from his right peripheral vision, but he ignored it.

Something of a sinking feeling had happened though.

He felt a sense of doom.

He didn't understand it. Why’d he feel it at a time like this?

He then felt a rumble on his hands as he felt Poppy talk.

“Looey?”

It was as if something had punctured him right in the chest.
He heard Poppy's pitiful cry to him, as her body weakened and slumped towards the ground. He still had a hold on her, but he could tell the more he held on her tightly, the more it caused pain to her.

This couldn't be happening. Not at a time like this. They were also in the middle of a run. If he made a big scene, panic would arise and it would make the two of them panic even more. Looey had to calculate his moves, he had to think, but Poppy's gargled cries were crushing his heart bit by bit.

He immediately thought about Sprout. Sprout would know what to do. He was always a calm toon whenever there were situations that caused concern; just like right now.
Looey took a much needed deep breath as he still held onto the form of Poppy, just loosening his hold a little bit.

Okay. Deep breaths. You are going to leave Poppy right here and immediately run and find Sprout. Okay. Take it easy.

Looey just as planned, carefully leaned down and settled Poppy sitting upright on the fallen crates. He winced when Poppy had begun to whimper with the reception. Once he sat her down, he then held her chin and shifted her head up in order to inspect her face.

Oh no.

She was crying, obviously, but the bubble suds that she used to cry in front of him many times was now replaced with black ichor that seemed to cause her pain. Her sclera was turning pink, something he noticed with Glisten before he fully turned. Looey could see faint dribbles of the liquid substance leaking out from her mouth as she kept it closed. He shifted his gaze from her face, and towards her neck.
He tensed up.
Her neck was bruised black. It hadn't been tainted with ichor like he saw with numerous twisteds with their feet covered with ichor. It was a part of her. It showed that it was happening internally.

Looey then cupped both of her cheeks and made her face him; gently of course.

“Poppy. You need to listen to me,” He shuddered, almost about to cry.
“Im going to leave you here—But only for a little while okay? I'm going to find Sprout so he could help you.”

He knew it was an empty promise. He didn't know when she would fully turn. But he still clung onto the sliver of hope that she could be reverted as soon as possible.

Poppy, who looked at him in what seemed to be understanding, whimpered and let out a response.

“Please- just hurry.” Poppy said, akin to a whisper. Looey could hear her having trouble breathing.

Looey quickly scrambled up, taking a final look at Poppy before quickly taking off in order to find Sprout.

He could hear his heart pounding again. This time instead of being for something bad, it was for something much more worse. He started to pray. Not for someone to reassure him, but someone to reassure Poppy instead. He knew he wasn't going to be much help.

When Looey turned a corner sharply, he came across Sprout at the middle of the hallway doing a regular machine, he was about to be done with it. Perfect.
With the speed he needed, Looey ran down the hallway with a mixture of panic and determination, almost out of breath with the sprinting he had done before.
Sprout head footsteps coming for him, and with instinct he quickly turned his head towards the noise. He didn’t expect Looey to be running for him. When Looey stopped in front of Sprout, he quickly lowered his back and had his hands on his knees, taking a few deep breaths.

“Looey? Is everything alright? Are you okay?” Sprout questioned the balloon, with the familiar ding of the machine sounding off before he fully turned his body towards him.

Looey panted and took several deep breaths before he started to speak.

“. . . No, Sprout- you need to help me.” Looey spoke, still taking several pants while speaking.

“Did someone get hurt? Did YOU get hurt?” Sprout asked while he stepped closer to Looey, shifting his body to inspect Looey if he got punctured or worse. He stepped back when he realised it wasn't the case.

“No, no no, it’s Poppy,” Looey said while finally looking up at Sprout, meeting his eyes.
“Something is wrong. Wrong with her.”

Sprout looked at Looey while biting his bottom lip and started to take a look at the bag he held beside him. Looey waited anxiously, hugging his stomach. It held the familiar knot that it had before, only this time it had begun to tighten.
He felt like vomiting, but knew he couldn't do it right now.

Sprout spoke while digging through his bag.
“. . . I have some medications, bandages, and gauze if something is really bad.” Sprout spoke while closing his bag and looked directly at Looey.
“Show me where she is.” Sprout asked with a voice of seriousness.

Looey had begun to thank him numerous times, and the two of them sprinted with Looey leading the way. He hoped that Poppy was still there. He hoped that she would be at least a little better than before. But for the most certain, he hoped that the process would be reversible.

As they ran closer to where Poppy was, both Looey and Sprout could hear faint coughs and sobs coming from the area. Looey’s heart had begun to thump.

When they arrived at the area, the two slowed down as Looey crept to the spot, Sprout following him. When the two saw Poppy, Sprout stopped in his tracks.

Poppy was worse than before. There was a pool of warm ichor near her, and her dress was tainted with the liquid mess. She was covering her mouth with both hands, a futile attempt to conceal herself from vomiting and spitting out ichor. Her bow had begun to droop down, the effect of ichor being shown. Her eyes had started to become more pinker.

Sprout quickly kneeled beside Poppy with panic and efficiency.

“Crap. Was there an ichor spill somewhere around here?” Sprout asked the shocked Looey, while examining Poppy.

“I- I don't know, I just saw her on the ground.” Looey truthfully said. Forgetting to leave out the part where he found her choking.

Sprout began to examine Poppy thoroughly, looking at the back of her head, her legs, her arms, anywhere that the ichor had a direct impact on her. He then looked at her collarbone and neck, and had begun to stare at it. His eyes dilated, and was at a loss for words.

“Looey.” Sprout said in a voice where if you could hear it closely, it showed that he was terrified. It just made Looey feel all the more anxious.

“. . . Is- something wrong?” Looey questioned, leaving his arms dangling on his side.

“Did you notice her neck?” Sprout asked, shifting his neck towards the balloon. Looey had forgotten about her neck. How could he? It was the last thing he saw of Poppy before we went to go find Sprout.

“. . .Huh-”

“We need to talk. Now.” Sprout immediately stood up, and walked to an area that was a reasonable distance from the girl. Looey immediately followed. Looey could hear a faint machine ding go by, he remembered that there were only 3 machines left after Sprout finished his.
When the two of them were there, Sprout talked in a hushed whisper.

“Looey, I’m sorry but there's nothing I could do.” Sprout said point blank.
“Believe me- I wish that I could do something for her, but the ichor entered her internally, if it was externally, I could’ve cleaned up the wound and-” Sprout continued before he quickly ended it. He felt bad, he knew the girl hadn't done anything to deserve this.

Looey was taken back. He knew what this meant, Poppy was turning into a twisted. Just in the distance, he could hear another machine ding in the distance. 2 machines left now.

“Really? I didnt- I didnt realize uhm-” Looey stuttered, threatening to break down in front of Sprout. The strawberry just looked at him with sincere sadness. Sprout began to avert his gaze from Looey, turning his head to the left. Something had caught his eye however.

“Looey?” Sprout asked, while walking towards the object.

Looey just stood there in silence, taking a glance at Poppy in the distance. She was vomiting more ichor. He hoped that none of this was real, that when they were finished with the run, Poppy would greet him again with the giant toothy smile that he adored.

“Did you . . . notice this?” Sprout said to Looey, grabbing something and then walking back to show him.

Sprout had carefully grabbed it with nimble hands, avoiding areas that were tainted with ichor. There he held a pop can, cherry flavor, with areas that were stained of ichor. Noticeably at the top, where there were specks of ichor. It could have been easily missed, but Sprout was known for remembering things. He looked inside of the can and sucked in air through his teeth before speaking.

“It's tainted with ichor. She couldn’t have known that it was with it.” Sprout solemnly said while still inspecting the can. Looey still didn't know what to say, but one thing was still on this mind.

Stay with Poppy, she can't be alone.

Another machine ding went by. Just one machine left to do now. Looey heard Finn’s memorable voice in the distance that he was on the last one, and for all the toons to get to the elevator.

“Looey, I’m sorry but we have to go.” Sprout said as he discarded the can and stepped closer towards him.

Looey averted his gaze, before quietly saying something under his breath, but Sprout heard oh so clearly.

“Just go- I'm staying with her.” Looey said tears were threatening to spill out. Sprout’s eyes widened.

“What? Looey I’m sorry but you can't do this,” Sprout said, pleading with him to not do something like this. In the distance, Poppy was eerily quiet.

“Sprout, I can't do this- I wish this wasn’t real.” Looey said, as he covered his eyes with his hands.

“Looey- please- It's going to be okay, we can still cure her along the line,” Sprout pleaded with Looey. Seeing Looey like this broke Sprout’s heart, he had been one of the first toons that Looey and the circus troupe had met, and had the special privilege of being one of Looey’s best friends.

Looey just ignored Sprout. It further made him sad and anxious of what was about to come.

The two heard Finn’s loud yell that the machine was about to be done. What was meant to be a warning solely for Goob became a warning to both Sprout and Looey. Both for different reasons.

“Looey.” Sprout pleaded. “Please. Don't do this.” It was a futile attempt. They both already knew the answer to it.

“Sprout . . . Im- Im sorry, I just cant leave her like this.” Looey explained, a single tear trailing down, further ruining the clown makeup he should've taken off hours ago and went to sleep.

In the distance, the two toons could hear the clanky elevator open up with a roar, and the sickening cranks that the elevator gave that the toons had adopted to be the elevator countdown.

The two toons stared at each other.

25 seconds.

Sprout sighed and sucked in air. He knew that he was no longer in control of the situation. That part ached him the most. He couldn't do anything to change Looey’s mind. But deep down, he knew he was in the situation, and Looey was Poppy instead, he would be as stubborn as the balloon.

20 seconds.

“Hopefully, I’ll see you again Looey.” Sprout said with an empty promise. He then turned on his heel and quickly fled to go to the elevator.

Looey took this time to finally go to Poppy again.

15 seconds.

Looey sat beside Poppy, not with caution, not with panic, but with acceptance. There was no turning back.

He looked beside him and at her. She was numb. He knew this as a sign that she was turning. Sprout had said to him that when someone was becoming twisted, there were a few moments of an interval where the toon is said to be blank, numb.

10 seconds.

Poppy suddenly twitched, and moved. Looey took notice of this.

9.

She quickly forced herself to get up. Albeit sluggishly. Looey just stayed there, for a few moments at least before also standing up.

8.

Poppy and Looey both made eye contact. Except for this moment, instead of the loving yet daring eyes he always looked into before, were a set of bright red, saddened eyes. She had streaks of ichor running down her face, and she was still holding her throat.

7.

“I love you Poppy, I hope you still know that.” Looey solemnly said.

6.

Silence. Poppy stared at him.

5.

Poppy then lunged forward towards him, pinning him on the ground. Maybe this was her own sicken version of ‘Hug?’ that Looey came to love.

4.

Poppy’s hands had grasped onto his throat. Looey began gasping for air, but didn't resist as much. The elevator was already going to go soon. What was the point of resisting and running?

3.

The twisted and toon both made eye contact. Looey saw in twisted Poppy’s eyes that she didn't want to do this. But there was a certain impulse that she couldn't get rid of. Looey began to wonder if all twisteds felt this way. Conflicted. Sad. Guilty.

2.

Looey managed to croak out a final message directed to his one true love, and once his best friend.

“. . . Lo Ove- y . . .ouu . . .”

1.

Twisted Poppy then without any effort crushed Looey's throat with both of her hands. The gargled mess that came after was a mixture of extreme sadness and absolute joy to the twisted’s ears.

In his final moments, Looey thought about his friends, Poppy, and how much of a bright girl she was once.

The elevator then clunked down. Signaling the end of the run, and a goodnight to the lovers that started their new life.