Chapter Text
A pencil wrote somewhat hurriedly on a paper, the words straying from the line, but Boxten soon corrected his mistake. He has been messing like this and other ways for a while now, but he just can't avoid it. As he kept writing, his thoughts distracted him from what he was doing "is this too much?", "am I being too corny?", "maybe I shouldn't be too direct with some words..." Every one of his doubts made him mess up some of the words, his grammar notoriously bad, especially on this occasion.
It's a habit he has of writing in his room for long hours, often resting lying in bed, reading or drawing small doodles in various places on a single sheet of paper and on the back of the same. The times he has been out was for hanging out with Poppy or attending Cosmo's baking sessions which he organized when he was around and free of tasks, or even when Sprout wasn't around, he didn't want to bear with his questions and reminders to eat or drink water when he locked himself in his room... It made him nervous all the time for being scolded for that reason...
(Lies. It's just friendly reminders, Sprout was more brusque with his words with Toons like Shrimpo or Brusha, he knew how to treat Boxten, especially because of his nervous demeanor.)
... Lately he has been locked inside of his room more than usual, of course this didn't go unnoticed by his best friend, Poppy was soon hanging out with him, sitting on his chair and checking out the doodles he made at some point that same day.
— "Woah, you've been improving a lot with these, huh?... The lines are really precise! And the shading? You nailed it!"
— "Haha... Thanks Poppy, i appreciate that..."
His hand brushed behind his neck, his gaze locked in something totally different from Poppy and her close inspection to his recent doodles and more older ones. He could've stored them earlier and save the shame of sharing them with his friend. But Poppy wasn't particularly the type of Toon to knock before entering a room, gosh! It even gave him a scare most of the time she'd done that!...
— "...Hey, you know the reason I'm here isn't just for supporting your artistic imagination, right?"
— "You... You noticed, I guess... I'm sorry."
— "Why are you sorry? I'm worried about you! is something troubling you? The nightmares are back? We can talk to Astro if you want-"
— "N-No! No, no... It's.. it's not that, I promise, uhm... I guess i just don't feel like going outside that much, it's like... One of those days, you know?..."
— "Huh?..."
— "...Nevermind... I promise i'm okay, really. Uhm.. I'm running low on books to read, so.. maybe later today or tomorrow i will ask for company to fetch some new books, sounds good?"
— "Oh? Oh yeah! That sounds good, just tell me and we will go right away!"
— "Thank you, Poppy...!"
Later that day, it was almost time to sleep, most of the Toons were in their rooms after eating, some were sitting in small groups with related friends, others standing in the hallway where the rooms were, chatting and laughing quietly about whatever they were talking about. Boxten was standing in front of the counter of the kitchen, all the way to the end where it was that corner, he was mixing some leftovers from the refrigerator to make himself something to eat. Random vegetables cut in half or more, a small portion of fries and even a boiled egg. It was enough for him. As he finished sorting his late dinner, he sat at a nearby table, it only had 2 chairs left since the rest were taken for the bigger tables where the groups were. As he ate, he couldn't avoid getting his attention in the nearby conversations, mostly listening while gazing at his food.
— "[...]can't bear it anymore dude! Yatta almost gave me a heart attack after hearing something in the vents, i barely felt relief after knowing it was her in there!"
— "...Goob you look like a walrus with those fries in your mouth."
— "that's what I'm going for! Hehehe!"
Each conversation had its own topic, some were hilarious, some was straight up gossip, others were worrying about a expedition to lower floors, that gave him bad memories, so he tried to focus on eating his food instead. The conversations faded as he fully concentrated on the plate with food, it was barely touched, he hadn't realized how little he ate while listening to the others. As he ate slowly, taking his own time, something caught his attention. From his peripheral vision he noticed someone grab the seat at his table; for a moment he thought they were going to take it away until he just saw that someone was leaning towards it and sitting, just then he looked in that direction.
— "Hey Boxten, how's it going? Poppy told me a bit about you from earlier today, she's not the only one worried, you know?..."
— "Ah... Cosmo, hi."
His gaze went back to his food, seconds of silence passing by, making this way too awkward for him.
— "Uhm, you don't have to worry about that, i told her i'm alright!... And just letting you know that i'm alright..."
— "Mhm... I don't think so. Is there something wrong? You can tell me- Or i can organize a day for a baking session! Talk it out while doing something nice."
— "that... That sounds good, but i'm.. I'm not in the mood, sorry..."
— "Hey, it's fine... No need to apologize.."
— "..."
Boxten took a fry with his fingers, eating it slowly, a cold and boring fry. He avoided looking at Cosmo at all, he didn't dare to. Yet he knew he had that worried look on his face, that one that makes him feel some kind of guilt. Guilt for taking his friend's time for worrying about him, he was fine! Just taking a few days off, like a vacation! Right? It was as simple as that.
— "I'll let you eat Boxten, if there's something you need to talk about, i'm here. Don't doubt it, don't overthink it, okay?..."
— "Huh? Oh- yeah, uh- i will, take care Cosmo, thanks for passing by."
— "Always glad to. Take care as well, please."
— ". . ."
— "See you around, bye!"
Just like that, Cosmo stood from his seat, leaving him alone in that corner, in the way, he noticed that a few Toons waved at him as well, his presence was well known, he really is a good friend and a good person, a valuable one.
— Sigh.
Boxten finished eating after most of the Toons left the kitchen, he made sure to wash his plate and store it. He made his way towards his room, slow and quiet steps through the hallway. Sometimes almost tripping in the way, his mind was full of thoughts that even walking made it difficult. Or was it his thoughts the real problem?.. No matter, he was feeling tired. That must be it.
The room was dark, at least until Boxten turned on a desk light which now made the room more visible, some corners were still dark but at least he could wander around without tripping. His first thought was going to bed. He face planted the soft sheets, the bed creaked under his weight, soon he positioned himself more to the center, lying on his side, since the key behind his head prevented him from resting his back, duh.
A long and tired sigh came out from him, a soft hum filled his mind with thoughts again. Already thinking about tomorrow, about looking out for Poppy, about returning the books he already read and the books he was thinking about reading next, about tonight's nightmare... Suddenly, he didn't feel like doing anything tomorrow. His body feels heavier than normal, something he has been feeling for the past days every time he laid down on the bed.
Knock,knock,knock,kock-
— "Huh!?- come in!..."
The door opened slightly, a shadow appeared on the floor, the first thing that Boxten noticed was that distinct V shape on that shadow.
— "...Shrimpo?"
— "YEAH."
Boxten rubbed his hand against his eye, taking the weight off his eyelids. Somehow. He looked a bit puzzled about Shrimpo's arrival, especially at this hour.
— "E-everything alright?..."
— "UH-HUH."
— "...So-"
— "I'M JUST PASSING BY. NOT A BIG DEAL."
From another room, someone shouted something about being quiet, seemed like most of the Toons were trying to sleep or were already asleep at this point.
— "YOU SHUT UP!... Whatever. I'm staying here for a bit."
— "O-Oh, uh, of course, sure..."
Shrimpo sat on the chair close to the desk, there was laying Boxten's doodles, untouched. Even if he promised himself about putting those away later.
— "You draw better than Scraps."
— "N-no, i don't think so, she uses colours really well and i-"
— "JUST TAKE the compliment. You shape these better than her."
— "...Thank you."
A small smile tugged on the corner of Boxten's face, Shrimpo was too busy looking at the drawings to notice, but his "tail fin" thing waved slightly as he kept looking at the doodles with a neutral expression. Boxten could only stare. He had nothing to say nor couldn't stop Shrimpo from what he was doing. That was until he curiously checked the desk drawer.
— "N-nono, wait don't open that-"
As soon as he said that Shrimpo already had one of the papers on his hands, squinting his eyes as he read the words on it with a bit of difficulty, he was holding the paper comically close to his face as well.
— "... That's..."
— "terrible, corny, i know... Sorry you had to read that."
Shrimpo looked at Boxten with one brow raised, a puzzled look on him as if questioning the things Boxten just said about his letter. He couldn't believe that someone who was the equivalent of an exposed nerve at conversations could write so amazingly. Sure the grammar was a bit questionable as well as the spelling, but the words had a lot of honest affection and thoughts on them.
— "Bullshit. Brightney wouldn't write as well as this. Hell, not even Razzle&Dazzle would have this level of writing in their theater shit thing."
— "Uhm... Th-thank you..."
Shrimpo returned his gaze towards the letter, shifting to the other letters which were discontinued or had messy scribbles over some words or the most of them.
— "Are you doing this for fun?"
— "Who else do you think i would write them for..."
— "...Oh."
Shrimpo knew well that this was for him, he just was acting like a fool because he didn't want to admit he loved the creativity of the letters. Just then he allowed himself to blush and keep waging his fin tail (I have absolutely no idea how to name that shit).