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Astro turned the lights off in his room, sinking into bed with a content sigh. He could hardly call it a bed, frankly. It was more of a nest of blankets and pillows.
He hadn't been able to sleep as of late, but he and Shelly had spent all day talking and walking around Gardenview, and he was exhausted. He adored Shelly, as she was one of his closest friends, though he could get distracted easily since she could talk about anything and take up an entire day.
She's just being a people pleaser, he thought, scolding himself for being so ticked off by Shelly's ramblings.
He pulled a blanket up to his chin, closed his eyes, and disappeared into the world of sleep.
Or, rather, at least tried to.
Astro opened his eyes when he heard the distinct sound of someone knocking on the door.
"Come in," Astro called, silently grumbling about his interrupted rest.
Sprout walked in, immediately turning any annoyance Astro had into worry.
"Hi, Astro, uhm..." Sprout struggled to get the words out, feeling a wave of shame wash over him, mixed with quiet delight when Astro patted the spot next to him on the bed. He immediately sat down beside him and leaned against him.
"Nightmare troubles again?" Astro asked, smiling slightly when Sprout simply groaned and buried his face in Astro's shoulder. "So clingy today," he said, stifling a laugh.
"You don't understand how frightening a Flutter-cookie disaster can be," Sprout mumbled, hugging Astro tightly and scrunching his eyes shut. "The eyes melted, Astro. It looked like—"
"Maybe be quiet now?" Astro suggested, feeling sorry for interrupting Sprout, but he got queasy easily.
There was silence for a few minutes before Sprout finally groaned and squeezed tighter.
"Stop stalling. Can you just use your magic thing on me already?" he begged, looking up at Astro with an intentionally pitiful expression.
Astro suppressed a laugh. "What's the word?" he teased.
"Please? Please, my true love and one and only, whom I hold dearer than anyone else in this entire world, will you use your magic on me?"
Astro hummed, gently petting Sprout's leaflike hair. Sprout closed his eyes again, relaxing his hold.
It wasn't often that Astro teased Sprout—he was much shyer and more introverted than the other—but it was awfully annoying when he did.
Sprout fell asleep quickly under Astro's touch, and a small light-blue cloud of mist hung over his head for a few minutes before Astro leaned over and kissed Sprout's forehead.
"Goodnight."
It took Astro several more hours to fall asleep despite his fatigue, but he relaxed while he stayed awake. Sprout was curled up in his lap, who, in his current state, resembled a wet cat in many ways.
He was still pretty though—beautiful, even—and sometimes Astro wondered how he could have ever fallen in love with the loner who rarely even talked to anyone. He pushed the thought aside, leaning back and resting his eyes drowsily.
Just a moment's rest, then I'll go back to making sure the magic's working, he thought to himself. His magic required concentration, and he couldn't do that while he was asleep. Besides, Sprout had been busy the past week with how many toons wanted special requests. Astro knew because he remembered Sprout ranting to him for ten minutes about it before profusely apologizing.
Astro relaxed further as Sprout shifted a little in his sleep.
He wondered why, since Sprout should surely be dreaming right now, so he opened his eyes. The blue mist swirling around Sprout's head was thinner now.
Why? Astro couldn't have been that tired for his magic to fail.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Sprout groaned, rolling over again. Astro felt a pang of annoyance as Sprout woke up.
"Moonlight...?" he mumbled, reaching for Astro, but his hand was stopped.
Astro gently held Sprout's wrist and placed it back down at his side. "Go back to sleep," Astro insisted, unwilling to let Sprout stay awake because of his own stupid negligence.
It was his fault, anyway, that Sprout was tired. Sprout was always caring for others when he should have been caring for himself.
Astro should've told him to let Cosmo do the baking for a day or two, or tried to get Ginger to be more responsive, or should've—
"Hey." Sprout snapped his fingers near Astro's face before knocking lightly on the side of his head. "Anyone there?” He had been trying to talk to Astro for a minute now to no avail.
Astro's face flushed a deep blue as he turned his head away, embarrassed for spacing out.
"Yes, sorry. I was just thinking."
Sprout laughed, gently turning Astro's face toward him sleepily.
"You worry too much. You can go to sleep too, y'know."
Before Astro could answer, he yawned, and both of them laughed again.
"Maybe you're right," Astro said, letting Sprout curl up beside him again.
"Maybe?" Sprout repeated. "I'll have you know I'm right about everything, especially about the fact that you need sleep too."
"Oh, of course. How could I forget the all-knowing Sprout... well, uh, knows it all?" Astro giggled, relaxing a bit.
"You're just so speechless. It's adorable. Truly the cutest thing I've ever seen."
They both settled down, relaxing as Astro ran his fingers through Sprout's hair again.
"You're too good for me," Astro mumbled when he was sure Sprout was asleep.
Except he was wrong. About two things in Sprout’s opinion.
"Astro, you are my bestest friend and greatest lover. Which is a compliment, since I'm obviously the most loved and adored toon in all of Gardenview."
"You big-egoed strawberry," Astro scolded, kissing Sprout's forehead as a silent thank-you. "Now. Sleep time."
"Not until you go to sleep first," Sprout countered, grinning.
Astro mock-scoffed.
"You little..."
He pressed his face into the nape of Sprout's neck and bit him gently.
"Hey! That's rude, you know," Sprout whined, though he didn't bother to pull away.
Astro embarrassedly pulled away first, only enough for his teeth to release, but not enough for his face to be seen.
"Shy, aren't we?" Sprout teased sleepily.
Good. If he's tired, then he'll go to sleep first. Then I can stay up watching him, Astro thought drowsily, his train of thought much slower than it had been a few minutes ago.
"What did you just say?" Sprout asked, staring at Astro in bewilderment.
"...What...?"
"You just said you were going to watch me sleep," Sprout prompted, fighting back laughter.
"N-no, I didn't… I thought that," Astro insisted, his voice taking on a whiny edge.
"Mhm. Sure, buddy. Just go to sleep, okay?" Sprout smiled slightly, amused by Astro's drowsiness as he felt the pull of sleep himself.
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