Work Text:
Lively chatter filled the room as the toons worked. All in bunches, some worked on painting eggs, while others set up stands and wall decorations. The annual Easter event was coming to Garden View soon, and each toon had to put in their portion of work to get prepared.
Dyle however, was not among these groups, he was instead tasked with transporting the decorations to each group and ensuring that each task was being completed efficiently and on time.
Right now he was carrying a large box full of eggs, careful on his feet to not drop it and shatter the contents inside.
He walked slowly into the large building where the toons were at work, carefully placing it on the floor once he arrived inside. A few toons gave him a glance, and even less gave him a wave or a smile. Not that they needed to, many of them had no real connection to him. He was here to deliver, pick up, and repeat. There was no need to form close bonds with these toons he'd hardly spend any time around anyways.
As he turned to leave the room however, he heard a voice call out from behind him.
“Hey, Dyle!”
Dyle turned to face the room and found Astro staring back at him. He had one of his many arms up in the air, and held a warm smile on his face. He blinked at the moon a few times before walking over to the table he was working at.
“What is it, Novalite?”
Dyle held his usual emotionless expression, tilting his head slightly while staring down the sitting toon.
“Come paint with us! You never get a break from your delivery stuff, you deserve a chance to hang out and chill for a day.”
Astro held one of the many eggs up to Dyle, gesturing for him to take it from his hand. To which he did not.
“I do not have the time to ‘hang out,’ I have work to do and a schedule to follow.”
Astro's smile dropped into more of a pout, though his hand didn't fall any lower.
“C'mon, you've got to have at least a little bit of time in that schedule you could spare. It doesn't take that much time to paint an egg.”
Dyle stared down at the egg still being held in front of him. He sighed and took it in his hand, turning it around before sighing. He gestured towards Astro to scootch over on the bench, then sat down in the now vacant spot. Astro slid him over a small tray full of paints, a water cup, and a cheap paint brush.
Dyle got to work quickly, making a rather basic design on the egg with only pink, blue, and green on it. He held it in his hand, eyeing his work. He wasn't particularly proud of it, as it wasn't worth being proud of. Rather than that he felt more dissatisfaction than anything, he had wasted precious time making this and it wasn't even an impressive job. His lines were sloppy, the dots were uneven, all and all it was less than mediocre.
He felt the egg slip out of his hands and hit the floor, right between his feet. It made a mess. Its shells were scattered across the floor, and wet paint was left in trails.
Staring down at it Dyle couldn't help but think of the last time he had done this. It was the Easter prior to this one. He had a similar job of delivering the eggs to the toons, however last year he wasn't as careful with them as he was this one. He had dropped them at a point, a whole box. They'd shattered, all of them. Ruined and wasted, unable to be used. They were short on eggs that year, all because of him and his small mistake.
He thought of how Delilah and Arthur reacted. They had already been so stressed with Bassie and her own issues, that even such a small thing like that was enough to cause them both to freak out.
He remembered how they screamed at him, it was a foggy memory, but a few things still stuck out. They had called him worthless, and stupid. They'd made all the toons come and see, see how he had ruined their activity. He remembered their faces, sad and disappointed, staring at him with pity in their eyes. They saw the same flaws Delilah and Arthur did, they knew he was a waste. He had one job and he couldn't do it right, he had ruined their day, failed his one job.
Dyle felt tears spring up in his eyes but he didn't move to hide them.
He thought of how Delilah screamed at him whenever he'd mess up. She would grab him by the chain and keep him there when he'd try to run and hide, she would hold his face and make him stare her in the face as she threw insults into him.
She would threaten to throw him under the train, or to take away the “rewards” he had been given over time for his good work. The TV in his room, his blankets, his plushies, his suit, he never was sure if the next day he would wake up and they would be gone.
If he even did wake up. There were many times his punishments would include forcing him to work late. Oftentimes all night, he would be up driving the train, sometimes hoping that she would just throw him onto the tracks instead.
He would be lying if he said he hadn't tried it before. He would always chicken out, but it was tempting. The idea of a train coming and taking away his pain, carrying his consciousness somewhere nicer to him.
“DYLE!!”
He heard his name being shouted next to him.
Turning his head he saw Astro, his expression was panicked and sad.
“Dyle. Hey, it's okay, it's just an egg. It's okay.”
Astro felt distant to him, almost like Dyle was staring at him from someone else's perspective. He brought a hand up to his cheek and felt tears dripping down it. It was quite a humiliating thing, to be crying over an egg. But it wasn't just an egg really, it was years of mistreatment, years of abuse, boiling up after having kept it in for so long. It made him feel more stupid though because it came from an egg, a poorly painted egg, that he didn't care about. Yet he was still sitting here, shaking and crying over an egg.
“I- its not the egg its-” Dyle could feel the air catching in his throat, “I'm sorry, I- this is such an embarrassment. Goodness. I- I'm not crying over an egg Astro-”
He paused, taking in how close Astro was to him, his arms were gently outstretched, not quite touching Dyle but still lending him quiet support.
“It's her, I'm just, I'm just thinking about her.”
That was all he felt he could get out about it, any further and he knew he would make a mess of himself.
He felt Astro's arms gently wrap around him, pulling him under his blanket. It made him feel small in a way, even if he was noticeably taller than the other toon.
“I'm sorry, I don't think I can say anything more.”
Dyle’s voice came out rougher than he expected, he didn't know he was this affected by just the thought of how she would treat him. One of Astro's hands started softly rubbing his back, it was strange. Dyle wasn't used to being held like this, though it wasn't particularly an unwanted thing.
“It's okay I understand, I remember it, Dyle.”
He had forgotten that Astro was there, which only deepened his embarrassment. Astro slowly pulled away from the embrace, giving Dyle a soft smile, to which Dyle returned.
“I think I need to get back on schedule. I don't want to be late.”
Dyle stood up from the seat he was in and gently picked up the fragments of the egg he had dropped. He handed them to Astro, before quickly hurrying for the door.
“Hey!” Dyle paused in the doorway, hearing Astro calling after him. He turned towards the moon toon. “Come back once you're done, okay? I want to hang out with you more.”
Dyle gave a simple nod and a light smile, before making it out the door to continue his work.
THE ENDD YAYY!!!!
I don't write a ton of fanfiction so lmk if this was good or not, I'm always looking for criticism on my work so if you've got any pointers they're always welcome.
Anyways thank you for readdinggg