Work Text:
Comso flinched as the elevator shut behind him. No matter how many times he’s done this, he’ll never get used to the sound. Currently, seven of the toons were doing a supply since they ran out of basic baking necessities. Rodger and Vee were talking about the plan for the next floor, Blot, Scraps, and Goob were all trying to stay in high spirits by telling jokes, and Shelly was standing with Cosmo to keep an eye on him. He hasn’t been able to be left alone since his breakdown after Sprout went missing.
Cosmo remembers when their lives were better, back when Gardenview was opened. Ever since the ichor operation started, their lives have been horrible. So many of their friends have been killed and became twisted, some couldn’t handle the pressure and cracked, it was horrid. Oh, how he wished Sprout was here to comfort him.
Everyone’s attention turned towards the door when they heard loud, leafy footsteps outside. There was a main toon out there. They never heard these footsteps before, so they had no idea who could be out there. The toons looked at each other, wondering what to do. Shelly tried to hold Cosmo’s hand, but he shook her hand away.
When the door opened, it revealed Sprouts floor. Everyone took a glance at Cosmo to see his reaction. Cosmo’s eyes filled with tears, but he wiped them away and walked out of the elevator. There were so many memories of him and Sprout baking here. Making the Astro cookies, baking cakes for kid’s birthday parties, when they made the caramel for their matching outfits, Cosmo couldn’t handle all of the memories. He missed Sprout dearly.
The toons saw twisted Razzle and Dazzle first, sitting in their ribbon circle by the picnic area. They were glad it was one less twisted to worry about, since the twins never moved from their spot. Vee and Rodger began walking around trying to find machines to extract ichor from. Goob ran around trying to find the other twisted that was lurking around. Scraps and Blot weren’t far behind him, Scraps worrying about her brother and Blot prepared to place a jr in case Goob was in trouble. Cosmo quickly ran away from Shelly, leaving her confused by the elevator. Cosmo ran towards the kitchen. There he hid behind one of the counters to sit and take a break.
Cosmo hated being here without Sprout. He hated being without him. He missed his stupid laugh, his stupid puns, his overprotectiveness, his scent of strawberry cupcakes. He missed it all. He wished he could find him, to comfort him, to hold him. He wishes he was here to kiss him and tell him everything will be okay. But he wasn’t here, so he had to continue for Sprout.
Cosmo jolts when he hears the leafy footsteps coming closer to him. He peeked his head out from behind the counter to see the main. It looked incredibly tall. It was hunched over, hand half covering it’s face. Cosmo looked closer and realized it was Sprout. His best friend had succumbed to the ichor. Cosmo started to cry even harder, but still tried to stay quiet. Unfortunately, Sprout heard his quiet sobs and screeched as he summoned a tendril. Cosmo gasped and tried to run away but the tendril wrapped itself around his ankle, tripping him. He tried to grab at it and remove it, but it only tightened its grip. Cosmo watched in fear as Sprout approached him.
Then, Goob rounded the corner and saw what was happening. He stretched out his arms, wrapped them around Cosmo, and brought him back to him. “Cosmo, are you okay? Who was that?” Goob asked frantically. Cosmo was too stunned to speak. He couldn’t believe his best friend didn’t recognize him. Was he that far gone? Cosmo stayed silent while Goob dragged him back to Scraps and Blot.
“?yako syug uoy erA” Blot asked. Goob then explained what he saw, “I dunno what happened, all I saw was Cosmo being attacked by that twisted!” Scraps looked worried. “Which twisted was it, little bro?” she asked. “I have no idea, I just panicked and-” “Sprout… it was Sprout…” Cosmo interrupted. The three looked at him, surprised.
“?erus eb uoy nac woH” Blot questioned. Cosmo just looked at him weirdly. “He asked how you could be sure it was Sprout.” Scraps explained. “I just know it was him. He had his scarf and Sprout would never get rid of his scarf!” Cosmo said quickly. He seemed to be spiraling. “Blot, go get Vee and Rodger quickly.” Scraps commanded.
Before Blot could come back with the other two, Sprout came back and screeched Cosmo’s name. Scraps and Goob jumped back as Sprout went to grab Cosmo. They watched helplessly as Sprout ran away with him. “Cosmo, don’t worry!” We’ll save you!” Goob yelled.
Cosmo stared up at Sprout, a little scared and a little relieved. He just sat in his hand as he took them to the small room with the security tape playing. Sprout plopped down and put Cosmo in his lap. He chittered as he grabbed Cosmo’s wrist to reveal his friendship bracelet. Cosmo then realized that Sprout did in fact remember him. Cosmo was relieved. He reached his hand up and cupped the side of Sprout’s head.
“Hey Sprout, do you remember me?” he asked softly. Sprout tried to answer but with the ichor covering his throat, he couldn’t talk. So he simply nodded his head instead. Sprout cupped his hand around Cosmo’s back. Sprout started crying, his ichor tears staining Cosmo’s hoodie but they both didn’t care. They finally found each other. Their reunion was short-lived however, since the other toons found their hiding spot. They all began crowing around the doorway, Sprout hissing if any toon got too close. Cosmo found his protectiveness cute.
“Cosmo, what the hell do you think you are doing, cuddling with a twisted?!” Vee yelled. She could not believe her eyes. “He’s docile, I swear!” Cosmo yelled back. Sprout’s grip on Cosmo tightened. “Look, he won’t even hurt me!” Cosmo proved it by prying Sprout’s mouth open and sticking his hand into his mouth. All the toons screamed, but Sprout did nothing. Every toon was now looking at them with confusion. “See, he did nothing.” Cosmo said as he pulled his now slobber and ichor covered hand out. He made a little disgusted face and wiped his hand on Sprout’s chest. He didn’t care.
“Okay sure, maybe he’s docile right now. But that doesn’t mean he won’t suddenly go on a rampage and kill all of us!” Vee exclaimed. Cosmo looked at her angrily. “What do you know, Vee? You two always fought! I know him best, and I know he would never hurt anyone!” Cosmo argued. Sprout looked at Cosmo and then mimicked the angry expression he had on his face, then looked back at Vee. He hissed at her. Scraps tried to reason with him next.
“Cosmo, I don’t want any of us to get hurt. What if he suddenly gets worse and no longer recognizes you? I don’t want you to get hurt.” She said. Cosmo didn’t care. He wants Sprout and only Sprout. “You don’t know him! I know him! I love him! He should be able to come back with us!” Cosmo was crying angry tears at this point. Everyone began arguing with him. Everyone but one toon.
“I believe Sprout should come back up with us.” Rodger stated. Every toon shut their mouths and looked back at him. “What are you saying, Rodger?” Vee asked. “If he came back, I would be able to gather more research about the twisteds. It would be incredibly helpful for my studies.” Rodger explained. Vee looked pissed. “No one cares about your research, Rodger! This is a life or death matter!” She screamed. “And you!” she pointed at Cosmo, “You can just stay down here with your little boyfriend! Go die for all I care!”
All of the toons looked at her, stunned. Sprout hissed louder at her. She stomped away, mumbling about how stupid every toon was acting. They looked at each other and then slowly began to disperse. “.omsoC ,eybdooG” Blot said. Cosmo just waved at him.
Now that they were alone, they began cuddling with each other, missing each other’s embrace. Sprout had a twisted idea. What if he made Cosmo twisted, too? Then, they could stay with each other forever. He was unsure how he would be able to express that idea however, since he was still unable to talk. Luckily for him, Cosmo thought of the same thing.
“Sprout, what if you made me twisted, too? That way, we’ll never have to be apart from each other again!” Cosmo said. Sprout immediately nodded his head yes. Sprout began lowering his head so his forehead would rest against the top of Cosmo’s. His claw was now pressed against Cosmo’s chest. Sprout chirped once, asking if he was sure. “I’m sure, Sprout.” Cosmo whispered back.
Sprout began to slowly impale his claw into Cosmo’s chest. Cosmo began breathing harder, gripping onto Sprout’s arm as it dug it’s way into him. Ichor was pouring out of his wound, creating a puddle on the floor. Slowly, Sprout’s hand wrapped itself around Cosmo’s last heart. He sat like that for a minute, enjoying the feeling of Cosmo’s heart in his hand. He slowly began putting pressure on his heart, slowly breaking it. Cosmo began to sob with pain. Instead of normal tears however, he was crying ichor tears. He was twisting. Some of Sprout’s ichor began dripping on Cosmo’s head, slowly covering half of his face. Cosmo’s right arm also started to be covered with ichor from his tears. His arm now resembling Sprout’s claw, just smaller. His teeth became sharper, too. They stared each other in their eyes now, Sprout watching as Cosmo’s slowly became more and more red.
Sprout seemed overjoyed that Cosmo was now a twisted with him. He slowly stood up, picking Cosmo up with him, just to drop him on his feet. Cosmo looked up at Sprout, and Sprout leaned down to kiss him. They held each other’s hands and began walking towards the employee only door, walking down to a deeper floor.
A month later, the toons were on a supply run, having run out of food. When they reached floor 15 however, they were met with a surprising scene. The door opened to the projector floor, and all of the toons walked out to find what they needed. It wasn’t until Blot walked into the little office room that they noticed something was off. Blot used his walkie-talkie to tell everyone to come to him. When everyone arrived, they all began asking questions. “.ereht ni s’tahw ta kooL” Blot said. The toons looked inside to see what he was talking about.
Inside the room, Sprout and Cosmo were sitting cuddling with each other, Sprout looking at Cosmo with pure admiration. “Oh my god. Even in death, they’re still stupidly in love.” Vee said, annoyed.