Chapter Text
When Thanksgiving ended and the upcoming Christmas arrived, the weather took a shift in temperature. Shelly was shivering in the cold as she had forgotten to wear a sweater or even a hoodie; she let out a sigh of defeat as she just sat on the bench by herself. Astro novalite, who was walking after a bookclub meeting with brightney and RND; noticed shelly shivering in the cold by herself which caused them to worry about her and astro did something rational, taking off his zip up hoodie before approaching shelly.
“ Uhm?.. shelly? ” Astro is trying to not startled shelly but that didn't work as Shelly indeed got startled by Astro's sudden appearance
“ Uhm- WOAH- ah astro!- w-what are you doing here? ” She stuttered with her words as she's still slightly startled by him and roses up from the bench immediately
“ ..sorry, I didn't mean to startle u by accident!.. ” astro immediately apologized and shelly forgave him almost immediately.
“ Anyway astro, what brings you here? ” Shelly repeats her question prior with a now relax and lace with a tint of perplexity, astro looked at her with a nervous still full of concern expression as he questioned her.
“ Why are you all alone in the cold..? ” That question hit shelly hard, leaving her dumbfounded and unable to find any words to respond. Shelly looks down onto the ground, seemingly guilty to herself but rather getting scolded or anything, Astro wrapped their zip up hoodie around her body; even helping her with zipping up the hoodie.
“ Astro?.. what's for? ” Shelly questioned them while she was staring at the hoodie that she was wearing as she heard astro response to her inquiring.
“ .. it's cold out here, shelly.. I think you deserve it more than me ” Shelly immediately panicked and apologized to them while trying to return the hoodie back to them however it was stopped by astro, chuckling lightly from her sudden panic expression as they explained, “ nono it's alright, shelly. I'm fine without the hoodie anyway and besides..
“ You look pretty in that hoodie.. ”
Those very few words sparkled her feelings for astro, shelly feeling her face getting red from embarrassment; turn away from them and attempt to cover it up.
“ are you ok shelly..? You seem a bit red.. " astro questioned her and shelly immediately brushed the question away completely. Astro could look laugh lightly upon seeing her flustered appearance while shelly trying to shake off the embarrassment then out of the blue, Astro received a phone call from dandy to assist him with taking care of pebble; the conversation was a blur to shelly to listen as she didn't bother to listen in our of respect for piracy until astro ended the call and turned to look at shelly.
“ sorry shelly, dandy needs my help with pebble.. ” Astro apologies with a slight guilty look. “ No no, it's okay!- I should be the one who should apologize for taking your hoodie in the first place!! I-i promise I'll return it to you!.. ” Shelly, panicked and stuttered with her wording but was comforted by astro before astro parted ways, waving shelly a goodbye. Shelly waved them back as well as she watched their figure gradually fade away in the distance, her heart was pounding like wildfire. Astro has been her long time crush ever since they first met with each other, seeing them and starting a conversation with them is already enough but Them giving her their hoodie and compliments her is on the next level..
She sat back down onto the bench and gently snuggled herself in Astro's hoodie, the faint Chamomile fragment lingering in his hoodie put her mind at ease. She feels her face getting flushed but is shaken away instantly after snapping out of her thoughts. Shelly slowly got up from the bench and headed back to the dormitory to rest up for the day, unaware that someone was there..
In the following days, Shelly has attempted to deliver back the hoodie to astro during school hours and break time but was to no avail as she couldn't find them anywhere at all. Shelly has tried to ask the others about astro's whereabouts however most answers are leading back to square 1 or straight up being ignored by toons. Shelly, sitting at her usual bench spot with the hoodie neatly folded on her lap; letting out a sigh of defeat as she has no clue on where could astro may be. Tisha, who just so happened to walk past the place; noticing shelly seemingly defeated and feeling worried about her best friend's mental health, approached her with a concern expression.
“ Hey shelly? Are you doing okay? You seem upset.. ” Tisha asked shelly, genuinely worried about her as shelly turned to look at tisha with a slight dumbfounded but was quickly shifted her expression.
“ Oh! Yeah, Yeah, I'm okay! Just thinking! ” shelly reassured Tisha with a small smile, hoping that tisha would buy this but unfortunately, no.
“ Shelly, You know that I'm not stupid when it comes to U. Especially your feelings. ” Tisha's words struck her heavy as she has endured ignorance of toons around her whenever she tried to engage with them. Tisha sat down on the bench, right beside shelly then she noticed the folded hoodie on her lap.
“ Shelly, what with the folded hoodie? ” Tisha asked shelly, curious regarding the hoodie as she swore that she had seen this type of hoodie somewhere or more like someone but she couldn't point a finger randomly
“ Oh, this hoodie belongs to astro. I was supposed to return this hoodie back to them today but I couldn't find him anywhere.. I even asked toons if they saw them at all. Most of them said they didn't see them anywhere while some of them were just.. too busy to care.. ” Shelly explained while trying to maintain her cheerful persona but cracks began to form as her voice became less and less energetic. Tisha looks at her, guilt and concern filled her expression as she recalled that she had seen astro prior.
“ Shelly, I remember where astro is right now. I saw them earlier, you may have time to catch up ” Tisha informed shelly which gave shelly a glimpse of hope and she thanked Tisha as she took the hoodie with her, waving a goodbye to Tisha while Tisha waved her back; Watching her figure disappear in the distance. She stared at the place where Shelly had just departed, she felt her heart ached lightly but was shrugged off immediately, assuming that her mind was playing with her feelings.
Shelly rushed the direction that tisha gave her and indeed saw astro sitting at the edge of a fountain, reading a book regarding astronomy. Shelly approached them and called up to them which caught their attention successfully, they looked at her, curious as astro stood up from the fountain; storing their book into their bag.
“ Hello shelly, do U need something..? " Astro greeted her while also posed a question to her, perplexed by her sudden appearance. “ Yeah! I was searching around the campus to find you and I can't find u until Tisha told me where you at, And- and I'm here to... Huh? ” Shelly stopped her sentence as she noticed Astro's fixed glance towards somewhere.. Or more like towards someone else. Shelly fixed her attention towards the direction where astro has their fixation on, then she noticed her, walking past them. Shelly noticed her friend looked at her with a look of faded emotion that she couldn't understand..
What a sight for sore eyes
Shelly lowered her head as Astro looked at Shelly's seemingly saddened expression, immediately felt concerned for her as they asked if she's okay but was reassured by her instantly. Then, Astro realised that they had done earlier, began to apologise to shelly.
“ I-im sorry shelly.. I didn't mean to ignore you on purpose.. ” Astro apologies, ashamed of themselves but was promptly forgiven by shelly. “ no no, it's okay.. " Shelly reassured astro by accepting their apologies, etching on a small smile.
“ Anyway, Shelly.. What were you saying earlier?.. ” Astro asked Shelly to continue her sentence, curious lingering in their look. “ Oh.. uhm, I'm here to return your hoodie.. All clean and tidy I swear!.. ” Shelly lowered her head as she handed out the tidy hoodie to astro. Astro was slightly dumbfounded but accepted the hoodie back from shelly. “ I didn't expect you to.. did it but thank you.. shelly, I really appreciate it ” Astro thanked shelly with a small smile. That small smile sparks a faded light inside of her arching heart.
“ i-i must go. Goodbye astro!.. ” ” Shelly..wait! ” Astro couldn't even finish their sentence before Shelly disappeared from their parallel vision completely, They couldn't even stop her.. not even a second. Astro stared at the neatly folded hoodie in his grasp, couldn't even have a chance to explain themself to her. Sighing heavily as they headed off to their dormitory with the hoodie which is now in their bag..
While shelly was hiding behind a wall, her hand was placed on her own chest. She felt her heart arching.. was it love? Fear? Anger? Or something worse..
a feeling that she couldn't foreseen.