Chapter Text
Looey looped around the stack of boxes once more, trying to get the twisteds off him. The elevator was dinging, counting down the precious seconds until the doors would inevitably close. He was always the distractor with this group, except for occasionally Flutter. He didn’t mind that much, but it definitely didn’t help his paranoia.
“Hurry up Looey or we’re gonna leave without you!” Vee yelled from the elevator.
“I’m trying!” Looey yelled back.
The twisted versions of his friends were still tailing him. Poppy and Finn. Not too difficult but annoying as hell still. He slid around the corner of the ichor stained wall, and jammed a chocolate bar in his mouth, hopefully speeding him up a little bit. He slammed into the back wall of the elevator just in time, Tisha yelping and jumping out of the way.
“Be more careful Looey! You’re going to make a mess.” Tisha scolded.
Looey grumbled under his breath, picking himself up as the elevator beeped.
“Not a single ‘thank you Looey for saving us!’, wow guys.” He chuckled a little bit at his own remark. Flutter glared at him.
“Hm, tough crowd.”
“Looey seriously, you’re getting worse and worse at distracting. I don’t know what’s getting in your head, but you need to step up your game. Cosmo is seriously injured because of the shit you pulled today.” Vee reprimanded.
“Yeah, I know.” Looey sighed, feeling guilty. He was letting his anxiety get the best of him again, and it was putting his friends in danger.
…
The silence was deafening as the other toons in the cramped elevator waited for someone else to break it.
“So, uh nice weather we’re having?”
“Shut up Looey.”
“Uhm, so we’re supposed to be meeting up with the holiday toons next floor, then heading back up, right? Correct me if I’m wrong-“Cosmo offered.
“The who?” Asked Looey.
“Has Looey never met the holiday toons?” Sprout turned to Vee, finally speaking up. “Nono, he was introduced too late to have met them on the last run before the- uh, ‘incident’, so…” He answered his own question.
“I feel like I’m missing some pretty important information here guys.” Looey interrupted.
“Yeah, if you just let me explain-“ Sprout was interrupted by the jolt of the elevator.
The door slid open to reveal the concrete basement. A bright red light could be seen through one of the broken, dusty windows.
“Awe, crap it’s Brightney! Seeya guys, I gotta go distract her- “ He sped out the door, excited to get away from these toons for a little.
“Looey that’s not- “Vee snapped. Too late, as he had already turned the dark corner.
Looey turned the corner, fully expecting the twisted lamp, but was surprised when he crashed right into something that was definitely not Brightney, knocking them both to the dirty concrete floor. He flinched and braced himself for sharp teeth and claws but was surprised when he was met but a sweet voice.
“Merry Christmas!”
Looey opened his eyes to a bright red nose and dark eyes under him.
“For the last time Rudie, it’s not Christmas” A female voice called from above.
Looey looked up, to see a gingerbread girl with a chunk out of her face looking judgingly down at, presumably, Rudie. He glanced back down at the deer.
“Hi, my name’s Rudie! Can you get off of me?” He held his hoof out with a large grin on his face.
“Oh- uhm, yes. Yeah, I can.” Looey felt his cheeks warm up. For once he couldn’t think of any crappy one-liners. He sat up, off of Rudie, and grabbed his extended hoof to lift the deer up off the ground. He then shook it, plastering a stupid grin on his face to match Rudie’s.
“I’m Looey.” He shook his hoof.
“Hello Looey!” His grin widened impossibly.
“Uhm, sorry to interrupt... this… but have you seen my cousin, Cosmo? Bobette said he would be with your group.” The gingerbread lady gestured to the small crowd behind Looey. Aw crap, they probably saw that whole thing, didn’t they? He hunched his shoulders slightly in embarrassment.
“He’s back near the elevator, he got hurt.” Responded Tisha.
“Oh my goodness, how? How bad?” Ginger said, panicked.
“Someone wasn’t doing their job.” Vee threw a nasty look at Looey.
Looey sighed. “Not this again.”
“Yes, this again. You can’t just ignore this forever-“
“Guys can we just- do the machines so we can get Cosmo to safety please?” Ginger said as she pushed her way through the small crowd to get to her cousin.
“That sounds like a great idea.”
Looey nearly jumped out of his skin as a new voice appeared from behind him, some ornament looking girl. Looey really couldn’t care less. He just wanted to get out of here at this point. He missed his bed.
“Alright, but can Flutter distract this time? I’m tired.”
Flutter rolled her eyes.
Looey wandered off to go find an ichor machine, pushing away the questioning thoughts about the new toons. Specifically, that deer. He seemed like an interesting character.
--------------------------------------------------
Rudie was extracting the last machine, slowly but surely. The turning of the handle was almost hypnotic. He can’t wait to see the toons’ base ,as his, Bobette, Ginger and Coal’s base was pretty puny. They had tracked each other down through a broken radio Bobette was able to fix, and they were running out of supplies fast. Coal was already gone, Bobette was very torn up about that, but they had to keep going despite the loss. The last drop of ichor filled the machine, and he dashed through the maze of concrete rooms to make it back to the elevator. The balloon dog he met earlier- Looey- wasn’t there yet. Everyone waited in silence, anxious about losing another, but too tired to do anything about it.
Looey finally stumbled through the door, shutting loudly behind him. Everyone was stained with ichor, and too tired to talk about it. Looey took a seat in the corner of the dirty elevator, covering his face, desperate for some kind of rest. They had gone past floor 30 today, everyone was exhausted. The elevator jolted, and started its journey upwards.
Rudie walked over and took a seat next to him, plopping down on the dusty tiled floor.
“Hello!”
“Mph.” Looey was too tired to put on whatever his persona was. He just wanted to get back to the base.
They sat in slightly awkward silence for way too long, until the elevator dinged, signaling that they had reached their destination. Looey peeled himself off the floor, and quickly trudged his way to his room, ignoring the toons who were waiting for the group's return. Sprout quickly rushed Cosmo past the small crowd to the medical room, Ginger following close behind.
“What’s up Looey’s ass today.”
“Connie, shut up we’re all tired.” Vee remarked.
“Vee, don’t act completely innocent, you were being quite harsh on him today.” Tisha spoke up.
“Well, I had to. Did you see the shit he pulled, leading the twisteds to Cosmo?”
Rudie’s eyes darted between the two arguing, slightly confused.
“He was out of breath, he clearly didn’t mean to.” Argued Tisha, trying her best to keep the peace. She hated when things got messy.
“Well he still did.” Retorted Vee.
“Do they do this often?” Rudie asked Flutter. She huffed, nodded and turned to head to the kitchen. The crowd slowly dissipated, everyone glad nobody was left behind this time.
“So, uhm where are we going to stay?” Bobette piped up. “I’d really like to lay down.”
Rudie agreed with that sentiment. It was Christmas, they should be enjoying the day, but instead they’ve been running from twisteds all day. He was tired.
“Bobette, you can take the room near the medical room,” Said Scraps. “It’s empty, and you should be able to fit maybe another person in there, so if you’re okay with sharing with Ginger, that would be nice.”
“I’ll ask her, but I’m sure she’ll say yes. Thank you so much.” Bobette sounded relieved.
This was a major improvement compared to their last shelter, Rudie thought. They all had to sleep in the same room, along with their dwindling supplies. It was very cramped, so this felt like a mansion to him.
“Looey’s the only one in a room alone, so Rudie, you’ll go with him.”
“Fine by me!” Rudie piped up.
He pranced off to Looeys room. He found Looey passed out on his mattress, sleeping very soundly. The room was very empty and bare, aside from a few balloon animals and clown horns scattered around. It felt slightly intrusive, being in his room while he’s asleep, but Rudie really didn’t care that much.
The room wasn’t big enough for two mattresses to fit, so Rudie decided to set up camp on the cold floor. He pulled one of the blankets Looey must have kicked off the bed over himself. It wasn’t very comfortable, but, hey! At least he had a blanket now. He curled up next to Looey’s mattress, and slowly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of snow, Christmas and balloon animals. For some reason.
—------------------------------------------
Looey jolted awake to the sound of pounding on his door.
“Looey get up! It’s your turn to make breakfast.” Scraps yelled from the other side of the door. “And bring your roommate too. He needs to chip in.”
Looey hopped off his mattress. “What roommate-”
“OW”
He tripped over the, now awake, toon on the floor, landing right on the ground.
“Okay, wow good morning to you too.” Said Rudie, groggily.
“Dude why were you sleeping right next to my bed.”
Rudie shrugged. Looey held his hand out, and hoisted him up off the floor. His fur was disheveled as all hell. He looked like he just had the worst night of his life. Looey snickered a little bit at the sight. He instantly felt a little guilty, for laughing at someone, but Rudie chuckled right back.
“Aw man, is my fur all messed up again?”
“Yep.” He smiled. “ And also we’re on breakfast duty today. Come with me.” Looey led them to the kitchen, feeling oddly giddy.
Looey flicked on the kitchen light, thanks to the router Vee found, and brought out 3 boxes of pancake mix from one of the top cupboards.
“Here, I’ll put this in a bowl, you fill this with water and dump it in like three times or so.” He handed Rudie a measuring cup.
He dumped the dry mix into a large bowl, and smiled as he watched Rudie struggle with the sink a little bit.
“Here, you just gotta-” He turned the handle with a big stupid grin on his face. Why did he feel like this?
“Sorry, It’s a lot harder with hooves.” Rudie chuckled. He held the measuring cup between his hooves, and dumped the water in the bowl, spilling a lot on the way. Looey decided that bringing the bowl closer would be the best course of action. Rudie dumped in 2 more cups of water, with significantly less spillage, into the bowl.
“It looks too dry”
“Yeah.” agreed Looey. “Put one more.”
“Okay.”
“Now it’s too watery.”
They exchanged glances.
“Do you have any more mix we could use to even it out?” Asked Rudie.
“Well technically yes, but we’re not supposed to use more than 3 boxes per meal. Rations, you know.”
“Do you have any other dry materials?”
“Uhhhh let me check.” Looey shuffled through the cabinet. Mostly pop and candy. He found an old half-empty container of baking soda. He pulled it out with a big smile on his face.
“Okay that should work!” Offered Rudie. “It might be kinda gross if we add too much of just that , if we had something else to like even it out…”
“We have gummy bears.” Looey pulled out a couple packs.
“Perfect!”
The baking soda slid out of the container in one solid chunk into the bowl.
…
“Can baking soda expire?” Asked Looey.
“Nnnnnnnooooo…?” Rudie grimaced.
“What the hell man, I thought you were the expert?”
“Why would I be the expert?”
“You.. I don’t know.. you hang out with the cookie?” Looey argued.
“You hang out with the cake roll.” Rudie argued back.
“Okay, I wouldn't say I ‘Hang out with’ him.”
“Plus you probably do this more often.” Rudie continued.
“Well this has never happened before! I don’t know what to do!”
They glared at each other, not knowing what to say for about two seconds before Looey let out a small snicker. They both burst out laughing. Looey doubled over, and proceeded to slip on the water Rudie spilled earlier. They just laughed harder.
Looey picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself off after a beat. Rudie was trying to crush the baking soda block with a fork and it was? Kind of working? Not really. Looey couldn’t keep a stupid smile off his face when he grabbed another fork and started chipping away at the block in the watery mix. Eventually it was broken down into enough chunks to where it was able to be mixed together.
Rudie grabbed the bag of gummy bears and poured them into the mixture.
“Why is it fizzing.”
“Man, I don't know, just- just mix it!” Looey went in with his fork and started trying to calm the fizz by stirring it. Unfortunately, it just made everything so much worse. It was overflowing. Everywhere.
“Rudie turn on the stove so we can cook this”
“Looey I have hooves”
“Just do your best.”
Rudie haphazardly turned one of the knobs on the oven all the way, and grabbed a pan from one of the shelves. Looey instantly poured some of the overflowing concoction into the pan.
“You’re supposed to wait for it to heat up!” Rudie exclaimed.
“Oh yeah.”
They stared at it for a beat.
“I don’t think you added enough gummy bears.” Said Rudie
“You added the gummy bears.” Retorted Looey
“Well you should add some more.”
Looey ripped open another pack of gummy bears and dumped them onto the pancake, if you could call it that.
“Dude I meant to the batter! You know, the bowl?”
“Oops.” Looey chuckled. He felt like he was getting stupider. Maybe Vee was right. But when he was with Rudie it didn't feel bad to be stupid. It was a good stupid. Rudie burst out laughing with him. Not at him. With him.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Connie floated in. They both nearly jumped out of their skin.
“It smells awful. Also something is smoking behind you.”
“WHAT!” They screamed in unison.
—-------------------------
After being scolded by Vee for being dumb again,(apparently she couldn’t tell if it weaponized incompetence so they would never have to cook again, or if they were just truly incompetent) and almost burning down the kitchen, Looey’s stomach hurt. Not the usual hurt of masked guilt or anxiety, but the hurt from laughing too much. When Rudie was there nothing felt as serious. Vee’s scolding felt like a comedy show. He actually felt like the persona that he puts on. The persona who makes jokes, the persona who doesn’t care at all.
He almost felt like the person he was before the incident.
For their punishment, Vee decided to banish them to Looey’s room for the rest of the day, with no breakfast, like they were little kids. Tisha was probably freaking out over the mess they made in the kitchen. Looey really couldn’t care less. They sat in the centre of Looey’s, and now Rudie’s , room. Looey was twisting a new balloon animal, and Rudie was watching intently.
“Look! It’s you!” He held out the balloon deer he made, with a big red nose.
“OH MY GOSH!” Rudie took it gently out of his hands, careful not to pop it. The biggest grin Looey had ever seen was plastered on his face, his dark eyes sparkling from the light overhead. He looked so giddy.
“Can you teach me?”
“Uh, duh!” Nobody had ever asked him that before, except maybe Toodles. He was so proud of himself. Rudie leaned to the side a little, trying to look at something.
“What?” Looey asked.
“Your tail is wagging!”
“Oh- yeah it does that when I’m excited or happy or whatever” Looey said, feeling kind of awkward.
“Mine does that too!” Rudie grinned. Looey grinned back, feeling a little relieved.
“Teaching you how to make balloon animals might be a little hard, but I believe in you.”
“Why?- Oh yeah, hooves.”
—--------------------------------
After hours and hours of failed attempts, Rudie was able to form some kind of vaguely dog-shaped thing under Looey’s guidance. Looey was extremely proud nonetheless. He felt accomplished.
“BOO!” Connie phased her head through the door.
“Connie!” Looey yelled, clutching his chest. “I thought I told you to not do that.”
“Haha, at least you guys weren’t like, making out or something. Just playing with silly balloons.”
“What.”
“What?”
“Okay, anyway dinner is ready, bye!” Connie phased back through the door
Looey decided to ignore Connie’s comment entirely, and head out for dinner. Sprout was cooking today, so it was definitely (hopefully) good.
—-----------------------------------
After supper, they talked for hours in their shared room about whatever came to mind. Fears, hopes, trauma, loves. Turns out Rudie had a crush on Ginger for the longest time, before he realized she would only ever see him as a little brother figure. And also she liked girls, which was heartbreaking for a little bit, before he eventually realized it was for the better. Looey had an almost identical experience with Connie, so they laughed about that extremely awkward, shared experience.
Apparently Looey almost misses the thumbtacks around his room, and almost - almost- misses Shrimpo. Almost. Rudie misses Coal a lot, and worries for Bobette’s stability after losing her. They’re both worried for the day they run out of supplies, or sanity.
At the end of the night, they felt like they had known each other for months, not just two days.
Looey offered to sleep on the floor that night.