Work Text:
Sprout Seedly was one of the first toons created. After the initial creations of the main star Dandicus Dancifer, his pet rock Pebble, and his best friend Astro Novalite, the baker boy in the shape of a strawberry was designed to inspire children to lend a helping hand to those that need it. Just like his role in the show, Sprout would cook meals for hungry friends, carry heavy loads that slipped from others’ hands, or simply help finish a large job that seemed too big a task to complete. He did anything he could to aid those that needed his help; it was simply in his nature, the way he was made to be.
Sprout Seedly was dependable.
That, however, did not mean Sprout Seedly was independent.
“It’s so stupid! Why do I have to go?”
“Sprout, it is a meeting for main toons. Are you not a main toon?”
“It’s just going to be a waste of time anyway!”
Cosmo eyed back and forth to watch yet another argument between Sprout and Sam.
Soon after Sprout had been made, his best friend Cosmo was made, too. Most toons were a bit shy and uncertain for a short period after creation, slowly growing comfortable in their existence and role as a toon. However, the one thing that was certain for Sprout and Cosmo was that they immediately clicked, as if they were made perfectly to be each other’s best friend. The two loved spending time together, and seemed much more at ease in each other’s presence. Where Sprout was, Cosmo usually wasn’t far behind, and vice versa.
Although, after a few months of living in Gardenview, the main toon seemed to become much more confident in the fact he’d rather stay with Cosmo than do anything else, thus causing a recent uptick in truculent behavior.
“Sprout,” Sam, Sprout’s toon handler, sighed tiredly as they pinched their eyebrows, “You know you have to go. You know how Delilah gets.”
“Can’t Cosmo come?”
“No,” they barked. “The answer’s not going to change. He’s not a main.”
“But he should be!” The berry threw his hands up in frustration. “He’s the coolest toon ever!”
The handler tried to feign a smile, though their twitching gave way to their seething anger. “I know, which is why he’s going to stay here. Someone has to get baking done!”
“No way,” Sprout shook his head. “I want to help. He feels better when I’m here.”
Cosmo chewed at his fingers. This was true, though he knew the point wasn’t helpful in this case.
“Sprout,” Sam gave as a final warning, staring sternly at the boy. “We need to go. You’ll see him when it’s done.”
Sprout stomped his foot into the kitchen tile. “No.”
The two glared at each other intensely for a long moment. Cosmo gulped, preparing himself for the worst. He knew how hard-headed each of them were, and that neither would let up.
Suddenly, Sam strided over to scoop Sprout into their arms, throwing the boiling toon over their shoulder. In an instant, Sprout began to yell vehemently, wailing his arms and legs uncontrollably, kicking and hitting against his handler. However, Sam’s grip only tightened, keeping him hoisted atop their shoulder.
“You’re only embarrassing yourself!” Cosmo could hear Sam scream over the insistent shouting.
Sam carried him down the hallway, and the yelling faded until Cosmo could no longer hear it, left alone in the kitchen.
He sighed sadly, his shoulders slumping as he stared at the ground. This was yet another moment that Sprout was getting himself in trouble because of Cosmo. He missed a meeting to bake with Cosmo, he brought Cosmo to a main only event, he stayed up past curfew to hang out with Cosmo. It was only a matter of time before they were going to be separated as punishment, or, worse, Sprout would have to meet with Delilah.
Cosmo shivered anxiously at the thought. After Scraps’s incident with the kid who had pulled on Goob’s arms, he had seen the state Scraps had come back in after being spoken to by Delilah. He would hate for anything to happen because of Sprout’s defiance.
He sighed again, picking up the cookie dough in the bowl. Well, these cookies weren’t making themselves.
“Toddler Tuesdays are the worst.”
Cosmo giggled, a damp facecloth in hand. “I can imagine.”
The pastry wiped at the multitudes of frosting and crumbs that covered his best friend from head to toe, an attempt at cleaning three-year-old tantrums and mishaps. It seemed he was more sugar than strawberry at this point, each swipe barely scraping the surface of the mess.
“I don’t even know why we have them. There should be an age minimum of kids that know how to read the signs,” Sprout grumbled in exhaustion. “These ones break half of them within, like, seconds.”
“Weelll… at least they don’t take pictures of Astro?” Cosmo grinned sheepishly, and the two toons began to snicker.
The boys suddenly heard footsteps, and they turned their heads to find Sam, who groaned agitatedly when they saw the state of the strawberry toon. They walked over, shaking their head. “Man, they really did a number on you, huh? I can’t imagine why Delilah thought it was a good idea to have you hang there with a bunch of brats eating messy food.” They extended their hand, and Sprout gladly took it. “Come on, we can use the sink sprayer.”
Stepping into the kitchen, Sprout stood in the center, and Sam extended the hose to point at Sprout. Carefully, Cosmo climbed to turn on the faucet, and the redhead sprayed the water at Sprout, who spun around like a child in a sprinkler. Cosmo grinned sillily at him until Sam stopped the water, in which Sprout began to shake it off like a dog, causing Sam to scoff and Cosmo to giggle. Cosmo then hopped off his stool to grab a towel from the closet, handing it to the strawberry.
Sam stretched out their arms, cracking their shoulders and neck in the process. “Alright, Sprouty, we’re on our final stretch. Just that last lesson, and then we’ll be done.”
“What?” Sprout visibly deflated, eyebrows lowering. “I haven’t seen Cosmo all day. I don’t want to go.”
“Sprout,” Sam mustered tiredly, struggling to find the energy to argue. “I know, buddy. Trust me. But you already missed yesterday’s baking lesson, and these kids are itching to see you.”
“Can’t Cosmo come?” the main pleaded, grabbing onto his friend’s hand.
Sam shook his head. “He’s not ready for that. You saw how he was yesterday after the lesson.”
The pastry averted his gaze and rubbed his arm. Since Sprout had gotten hurt, Cosmo had to step in to cover his Monday lesson. And, well, it was quite embarrassing, to say the least.
Cosmo had started crying about 15 minutes into the 60 minute session.
Sprout furrowed his brows, more angrily this time, and gripped Cosmo’s hand tighter. “Then I’ll stay with him and finish the orders. I don’t care what Arthur and Delilah say.”
Sam sighed tensely. “We’re going, Sprout. Don’t make this harder for us than it has to be.”
Sprout stared like he was trying to bore holes into Sam. Cosmo squeezed his hand gently.
“Sprout, um…” Sprout quickly looked at his best friend, his gaze immediately softening. “I-I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, okay?” He smiled kindly at the berry.
The toon frowned at the roll, squeezing his hand. “But…”
“See?” Sam walked over to put a firm hand on the strawberry’s shoulder. “Nothing to worry about. You’ll get to see him when you get back.”
Sprout crossed his arms crossly, furrowing his brows again. “No. Best friends always help each other!”
Cosmo worriedly glanced at Sam. He had overheard a conversation with Arthur about Delilah trying to “fix” toons that were struggling with their role.
“No, it’s fine!” the roulade quickly assured, pushing Sprout toward Sam. “I want to, um… try by myself and surprise you! You can be the first to try it.”
Sam eyed the pastry gratefully, and, before the strawberry had a chance to rebut, the human shoved him toward the hallway. “Well, you heard the man. Off we go! We’ll try Cosmo’s cake pops later, huh?”
Cosmo watched them as they left, Sprout aggressively trying to push against Sam to go back. Once they were out of earshot, the cake sighed nervously. He hated baking on his own; he had no idea what he was doing.
And he proved himself right. While decorating some cake pops with Dandy flower petals, he had forgotten he put the plastic sticks on the ones in the oven, and the fire alarm began to blare from the smoke. He definitely wasn’t going to be able to convince Sprout to leave him for his duties now.
“Cosmo!”
“Sprout!”
The two best friends grinned happily at each other with their arms open wide. They skipped toward each other and held themselves in a warm, loving embrace.
“You won’t believe the orders they had today,” Cosmo mumbled into the strawberry’s chest. “A fruit pizza? With chocolate sauce! That isn’t cooked! Who comes up with this stuff?”
“Blah, I hope no strawberries,” Sprout spat as he nestled into the roulade’s icing, hugging him a little tighter. “I wish I was there. I bet that was more fun than a birthday party.”
Cosmo giggled, happily snuggling into Sprout’s hold. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad! Plus, isn’t the next one Sprout themed? The kids will be so excited to see you!”
Sprout’s demeanor had suddenly shifted, and his voice fell flat. “Oh, I’m not going.”
“What?” Cosmo lifted himself off the boy to inspect him worriedly, giving an inquisitive look. “Why wouldn’t you go?”
“I’m not.” The main toon shrugged nonchalantly. “We have baking to do, right?” Sprout nodded surely. “Yeah. We gotta frost a few cakes.”
“Sprout,” Cosmo quavered, tilting his head. “You can’t just not go.”
“Oh, trust me, I can.” Sprout nodded assuringly, though this did not comfort Cosmo at all. “Someone’s gotta help you in the kitchen.”
Cosmo’s face contorted further with worry. “Sprout.”
“Plus, I’d rather spend time baking with you than go to a dumb birthday party. In fact, I think we should always bake together, don’t you think?”
“Sprout.”
“Yeah! Wouldn’t that be so great? Just me and you. And maybe sometimes Ginger and Sam. We would always get to hang out, and I wouldn’t have to go to stupid main events and we could always support each other! And we could bake for hours and hours. It’d be so fun, don’t you think?”
“Sprout!”
Sprout grabbed onto the pastry’s hand, smiling dreamily. “I would be the happiest toon in Gardenview if I got to hang out with you all the time. I wouldn’t have to listen to Dandy’s dumb jokes, or Arthur’s speeches, and you wouldn’t have to be scared all by yourself, and it would be so—”
“Sprout Seedly.”
The two boys whipped their heads to the direction of the third voice. In the doorway of the kitchen stood Sam, huffing irately.
“Get over here. Now.”
A tense silence filled the air. Sprout glared at them. “No.”
“Delilah’s in the other room. What do you think is going to happen if she hears you blabbering about how much you can’t bear to be apart from Cosmo?” the handler hissed quietly, motioning their arm down the hall.
“I don’t care!” the berry barked, stamping his foot on the ground. “Let her hear!”
“S-Sprout,” Cosmo whined faintly as he gently tugged on his friend’s arm. “You’re going to get in trouble.”
“I don’t care,” Sprout insisted sternly. “I’m not going.”
“You’re going to that damn birthday party,” Sam snapped, stomping forward. “You can go without Cosmo. You know he is still nervous about large gatherings.”
“Yeah, so I’m not going,” he repeated, squeezing the roll’s hand tightly.
“I’ll drag you if I have to.”
“Sprout, please-”
Sprout positioned himself to shield Cosmo, eyes throwing daggers at his handler. “Don’t touch me! I-I’ll… kick your shins!”
Sam squinted their eyes at him. “You wouldn’t.”
“I will.”
Cosmo’s eyes watered as he stared at Sprout. “Sprout, please! You’re going to get in trouble! I don’t want-”
Loud, echoing, heeled footsteps could be heard entering the room.
Step, step, step.
Cosmo gasped as he saw a tall, eerie figure that stood in the entryway beside Sam, the ends of the figure’s clothes dripping with a black substance. A crooked smile was permanently etched into the being’s face, sending shivers down everyone’s spine. “Is there a problem here?” the woman asked curiously, her dark eyes burning holes into Sam.
“No,” Sprout coughed.
“Yes,” Sam grumbled, their eyes not meeting the woman’s. “Seedly here has been struggling to leave the kitchen to attend to his main duties.”
“I see.” The figure furiously scribbled onto a clipboard that she had in her hand. “Does there seem to be a cause?”
Sam squinted their eyes at the strawberry. “Would you like to tell Ms. Keen why you can’t attend to your duties, Sprout?”
Sprout looked up to Delilah, glaring angrily. “I want to stay with Cosmo,” he grumbled.
“What was that?” The woman put a hand to her ear.
“I want to stay with Cosmo,” he repeated louder, Cosmo shrinking in fear.
“…I see.” She seemed to write herself a note again. “You get to see him when you’re baking together, yes?”
Sprout squinted resentfully. “…Yes.”
“I would say you see him more often than other toons see each other,” Delilah added.
Slowly, Sprout averted his gaze. He straightened his posture.
“There is a reason you are a main toon, Sprout.”
Sprout did not reply. Delilah kept going.
“You are strong-willed and trustworthy. You are quite the leader, more so than many of the other toons. Even some of the other main toons.”
Sprout tightened his grip on Cosmo’s hand. It seemed as if he knew what was coming.
“However, this is quite the opposite behavior from what I expect of you. Missing out on duties? Fighting with your toon handler? This is not what we exemplify here at Gardenview. If this continues, we may need to do some reworking.”
Sprout’s eyes watered as he glared at the ground.
“One that involves separating you from Cosmo.”
As if her words triggered something in him, the strawberry suddenly bolted, causing the other three to gasp in shock.
“Sprout!” Cosmo called out anxiously.
Sprout ran, however, with few passageways to escape, Sam and Delilah quickly seized him, each grabbing onto one of his arms. Sprout pulled to try to release himself from their grasp.
“Sprout, you’re going to hurt your- fuck-” As Sam spoke to him, the berry suddenly kicked at their shin and dug his fingers into their arm, causing them to pull back, which gave him the room to slip from the humans’ hands. He darted toward the closet, closing the door and pushing himself against it.
Delilah and Sam immediately rushed toward the door, attempting to bang on it and turn the knob. “Get away from me!” they could hear Sprout shriek from inside, his smaller body struggling to hold up against the two taller beings. Cosmo could only watch disconcertedly, his eyes watering as he covered his mouth with his hands.
After the two humans shoved the door with their hips, they were able to barge in, closing the door behind them. Though the sound was muffled by the door, Cosmo could hear Sprout screaming at the top of his lungs, as well as several small items being thrown against the door.
“Sprout!” Sam shouted over his insistent yelling. “We’re trying to help you!”
“We don’t want to hurt you,” Cosmo could hear Delilah mutter.
Shaking nervously, Cosmo grabbed a chair and pushed it toward the door, trying to see through the closet window. What he saw was Sam and Delilah standing on one end, with Sprout standing defensively on the other.
“Don’t come any closer!” he heard the toon bark. “Or I’ll rip my arm off!”
Delilah eyed Sam. “These are empty threats. No toon would willingly hurt themself.”
“He definitely will,” Sam mumbled.
“Sprout,” Cosmo heard Delilah begin stonily. “We are going to that birthday party. You and I can discuss logistics later. However, the more defiant you are, the worse the outcome will be.”
Delilah stepped forward, and, without hesitation, Sprout immediately chomped on his forearm and began to rip skin, thick black ichor spraying as his teeth pierced his arm. He bled profusely, and it seemed to worsen as his bite tightened to try to tear off his arm. Delilah and Sam stood there staggered before quickly grabbing onto him, attempting to pull his mouth from his arm. However, trying to draw his arm from his teeth only caused more skin to tear, and more of the thick, black liquid to drip from his mouth and onto the floor. Cosmo gasped as he watched in panic, tears quickly falling down his face.
After a few maneuvers of shoving the arm toward the berry’s face, the handlers were finally able to remove the toon’s arm from his mouth. The strawberry stood there angrily huffing as the two people spoke in perturbed tones, Sprout occasionally spitting ichor onto the floor. Delilah and Sam seemed to be discussing next steps, but Sprout wasn’t listening at all. Thick ichor oozed from the wound on the berry’s arm, dripping onto his and Delilah’s feet, as Sprout stared off at nothing.
But, to be honest, Cosmo couldn’t hear them either. He instead sat on the kitchen floor, head in his hands as he sobbed.
Sprout and Cosmo sat on plastic chairs outside of Delilah’s office. The room was silent except for the ticking of a grandfather clock.
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Sprout’s arm had been wrapped in gauze before he had been taken to Delilah’s with Sam and Delilah, Cosmo invited as well. The two toons were made to sit outside while the two humans conversed, unsure of their fate. Sprout stared off with an unreadable expression away from Cosmo, and Cosmo sat there and wept.
Neither of them had spoken. They sat in silence. Sprout’s leg bounced anxiously as he listened to the other boy cry.
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Abruptly, a red-head left the room, closing the door behind them. Cosmo quickly lifted his head, watching the human walk with wide-eyes as tears continued to drip down his cheeks. Sam stopped in front of the pastry.
“Are you guys done?” the toon asked gently, his breath stuttering as he took a breath in.
Sam nodded and let out a deep sigh, crouching to be eye level with the toon.
“I-is Sprout going to be in trouble?” Cosmo quavered, a tight frown building on his face.
Sam teetered their head back and forth for a moment. “I mean, he can’t exactly go without consequences.”
The roulade’s panicked breathing quickly changed into gasps and wheezes, almost to the point of hyperventilation. “I-I’m so sorry!” the boy squeaked softly, his eyes squeezing shut as he brought his hands to, unsuccessfully, wipe away his tears. “This is all my fault!”
“Wh— What.” Sam looked at him dumbfounded.
“I don’t want Sprout to get in trouble because of me!” he blubbered, sobbing between thoughts. “H-h-he just wants to hang out! So we can be together!”
Sam’s face softened as they grabbed onto the toon’s delicate hand, gently holding it in their own. As the cake cried, Sprout’s face seemed to twist with remorse, eyebrows furrowing as his leg bounced rapidly and he rubbed his arms. “I’m sorry!” the roulade wailed, curling into himself so much that he struggled to keep his head upright and fell into Sam’s shoulder. Sam held the boy in a loose embrace, rubbing his back as they watched Sprout hold himself tightly, still refusing to look in their direction.
“Cosmo, buddy, you aren’t responsible for what Sprout does. You know that,” the toon handler soothed as the cake continued to weep. “And he should’ve known how upset his actions would make you,” they added, shooting the main toon a dirty look, who quickly looked the other direction, his hands squeezing his arms guiltily.
“B-but it’s my fault I can’t go to things with him! If I wasn’t a stupid little baby maybe then—”
“Cosmo,” Sam coughed, and the pastry immediately lifted his head with wide, nervous eyes. “We don’t speak about ourselves like that. Sprout said why he did it, didn’t he?”
Cosmo sniffled and nodded. “Because, um, he wanted to stay with me.”
“Okay, and do you also want to stay with him?”
Squeezing his eyes shut, more tears falling from them, the boy quickly nodded.
Sam sighed, standing to stretch their back. “Well, I’ve got a few things to work out with Delilah, but I may be able to make it work spending time together outside of your job.”
Both boys gasped and whipped their heads to look at Sam with big, shining eyes. “Really?”
“Yup.” Sam nodded. “After hours at the end of the week. Maybe a movie night or something.”
Both boys gasped again, this time looking at each other.
“If Astro and Dandy can, I don’t see why the two of you can’t,” Sam added with a grumble, though neither toon paid them any mind.
“We can watch baking videos!” Cosmo gushed excitedly.
“Or we can see how many marshmallows fit in our mouths!” Sprout giggled.
“BUT!” Both boys looked back to Sam fearfully, their smiles quickly faltering. “If this is to happen, that means all of our work needs to get done.” Sam pointed an accusatory finger at Sprout, “That means we go to all of our events. No skipping, no yelling, no fighting. Is that clear?”
The berry briskly nodded.
“Good.” Sam sighed in defeat. They then glared at the strawberry. “You’ll be damned if I ever see you pull that stunt you pulled today.”
Sprout glanced to the floor dejectedly. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
“What’d you think was gonna happen if you ripped off your arm, huh? Everything was going to be fine and dandy while you bled out? You wanted Cosmo and me to watch that happen?”
The strawberry sat and kicked his feet for a moment, staring at the ground. He then nervously eyed his best friend beside him. “Sorry, Cos. I-I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
Cosmo sniffed and wiped his eyes. “Are you, um, okay?”
Sprout stared at the boy for a moment, then slowly nodded. “Yeah,” he mumbled raspily before taking the cake roll’s cheeks in his hands, wiping his tears.
“I’m sorry I didn’t help,” the cake added quietly.
Sprout shook his head. “No, no, don’t be sorry.” He pulled him into a warm hug. “I’m sorry.”
Cosmo giggled back at him. “No, I’m sorry!”
Sam groaned impatiently. “Why do I have to parent two emotional gay little dweebs?”
“Hey, I’m not a dweeb,” Sprout shot his handler a dirty look.
“That’s the part you heard, huh, dweeb?” Sam teased, ruffling the leaves on the berry’s head, causing him to scoff and his friend to giggle.
“Do you think Vee has seen this movie?” Sprout whispered.
Cosmo whispered back between giggles, “Shhh! It’s starting!”
The two baker boys sat together on a large, semi-worn chenille couch, huddled together to share a large throw blanket and a tub of popcorn. Their eyes were fixed on a gray box TV that sat on a short, wooden table, quietly playing the start of a classic children’s movie that felt appropriate for toons, the soft colors emanating a dim light into the room. The side of the roulade’s long head pressed against his friend’s arm happily, and Sprout was practically buzzing with a radiant euphoria. He tossed another mouthful of popcorn into his mouth and nestled into the cake roll’s head, smiling blissfully.
An exhausted Sam leaned against the back wall of the TV room, swiping through images on their phone while the two toons watched the film. Though getting Sprout through a week without the maximum time with Cosmo possible wasn’t easy, they were happy Sprout was easy enough to steer in the right direction with the promise of a reward he wanted more than anything- quality time with Cosmo. The hard work the two put in seemed to more than pay off as the handler listened to the two joyously giggle once more.
“They look so weird,” the strawberry snickered.
“That’s because it’s a movie! They’re supposed to look like that!” the pastry barked quietly, though it was clear it wasn’t of any malice. He once more cuddled close to the strawberry as he gasped, eyes shining brightly at the TV. “Ohhh, look at her pretty dress!”
“I hope those other girls rip it up,” Sprout commented.
Cosmo scoffed, playfully pushing against the berry. “No way! Those are her sisters!”
Sam shook their head and chuckled softly. Though they didn’t entirely understand it, sometimes, just sometimes, this job was worth it.