The baking we enjoy

by SalutationsItsEva

Summary:

REQUEST FIC!!!!
COSMO x SPROUT CENTERED!!!!

Chapter 1: Leave requests pls

LEAVE REQUESTS!!!!!

wakey wakey Fruitcake nation, and give me all your ideas and requests. Pls? 

✅️CAN DO:

-heavy heartbreaking angst

-...smut? Not experienced but can try

-AU's

-graphic gore

-and stuff like that.

-multi-chaptered request. And if I like the idea, I'll make an entire own fic of your request.

-toon x toon

-twisted x toon (or the opposite)

-background ships

 

 

❌️CAN'T DO:

-Rape. Like. Please don't. Seriously. 

-weird kinks.

-other ships. I'll do another request fics with other pairs. SO CHILL OUT. Can do background ships tho.

-abuse? Like...relationship abuse. I don't see neither Sprout nor Cosmo being like that.

-uuuhhhhh...jshsvajqussjabajajs

 

 

Leave requests now, if you may :3

Premise! If I don't upload in a while, it's because I'm trying to write more than one fic at once! So LEAVE MORE REQUESTS!!!!

Update:
First request coming up either today or in a few days!
"Baking comes with patience"

Chapter 2: Baking comes with patience

Summary:

From: Don't judge me for this

"Ok so human au, Sprout and Cosmo were childhood friends, Sprout got moved away to become a child Star but they kept in touch and became long distance boyfriends in highschool. Now in their 20s sprout is a famous chef and Cosmo is in culinary school. Unfortunately no one believes Cosmo when he tells them about his celebrity boyfriend and all his collage friends are trying to convince him to stop “pretending” to have a boyfriend and own up to the “lie” And keeps setting Cosmo up on blind dates that he leaves hanging. Once they heard Sprout is visting their school they thought Cosmo would finally admit to making it up, what they didn’t expect was for the relationship to be completely real, or for Sprout to be so clingy."

We are starting with da human AU. Huh? Alr. Fair enough.

I go to culinary school, so I guess that helps a little.

Also, in this AU, Rodger is a few years older than the others. Like...3 years older. :3

 

Chapter updated:
-new extra
-fixed some grammar

"Cosmo! Look!" Sprout yelled out from the other part of the kitchen. Cosmo, who was just behind his mother, hearing the friendly conversation she was having with his friends parents, turned around curiously.

Sprout grabbed a brown box that was nicely wrapped with a red bow. The smaller kid, interested in its content, gently let go of his mother's hand and walked towards his excited friend.

"What's in it?" Cosmo asked with interested, just what his lil friend wanted from him to ask. With the proudness of a soldier, the boy unwrapped the box and showed its content to the curious one.

Very well-decorated cupcakes were revealed. Cosmo's eyes lit up at the sight and gasped with surprise. "Ooohhh! They look so good!" He exclaimed, already feeling his mouth watering. "Where did you buy them?" The boy asked, trying to use all of his self control to not snatch all of the sweets and stuff them in his mouth, like any kid would want.

Sprout giggled and grabbed one of the cupcakes, handing it to Cosmo, so he'd know that he can, in fact, eat them without staring at the food as if it was a forbidden treasure. "I made them with my mom! Kind of...they watched over me, fearing i'd burn the kitchen down..."

"Wow! Really?! That's so cool!" Cosmo murmured, completely fascinated.

"Everytime I try baking something, I end up burning myself...but so far I can make cookies!"

"That's awesome! Hey! How about you come to my house next week? We could bake something together! It'll gonna be fun!"

Cosmo gasped. "SOUNDS GOOD!"

The two kids chuckled before running to their parents to gain their consent for their so wanted hang out.

________________________________________

Some time passed...and in highschool, Sprout had to go. Many teachers, friends and even his parents recognized his gift for cooking, to the point where, unfortunately, they decided to move him into a more decent school with a vast choice for his dreams.

It was what any aspiring cook would want! Really! Yet...

"So...you ready for this?" Cosmo asked, helping Sprout put the boxes with his stuff inside the truck outside his house. "Yeah...no...like, not really. I will find many job proposals and better life choices there, but I don't think I'll find a better Cosmo!" He joked lightly, forcing in a smile. He really didn't wanna leave his best friend.

The other boy sighed, placing both of his hands on the shoulders of his ginger haired bestie, giving him a soft look, which made Sprout not wanna leave even more.
"You'll do great, dude! We'll keep in touch! Phones exist!" He reassured with a bright smile.
He didn't want his best friend to leave either, tough, if it guarantees a better future for him, then he's happy.

Sprout just scoffed with exasperation and averted his gaze away. "I'll miss our hang outs..." he muttered under his breath, making Cosmo soften his look even more. His hands moved from his shoulders to his cheeks and gently guided his face back to looking into him.

"Just our hang outs? Dang. I'll miss your stupid face in general! Seems like you're the lucky one!" Cosmo teased with a chuckle, trying his best to at least let Sprout go with a smile that didn't come. And so, his smile disappeared too, and a suffocation awkward silence came.

Welp.

That's sad.

...

"Hey, promise me that if you don't like it, we'll keep staying best friends." Cosmo demanded suddenly, making the other boy perk up with confusion.

"I mean...I think...what are you referring to?" He asked with pure oblivion before tensing up completely when his best friend pulled his head in for a kiss.

oh.

...

OH.

...

OOOOHHHHHH-

Sprouts face heated up completely, redder than he could ever be. Dude. He was shocked, flabbergasted, confused, flushed...SHOCKED AGAIN.

When his bestie (AHEM! Boyfriend) pulled away, he was met by the sight of a wide-eyed Sprout with cheeks as red as a strawberry. (Hehe, get it?)

"...did you...umh...was it...uuhhh..." Cosmo mumbled, not sure if he just ruined years of friendship or not.
Sprout, still with with the absolutely stunned look in his eyes, immediately reached out to grip on Cosmos shoulders, making making the shorter boy perk up.

"Dude. Why did you do that." He asked firmly.

Cosmo felt his heart painfully skip a beat.

Yikes.

"NOW I'M GONNA MISS YOU EVEN MORE!" Sprout whined loudly.

Oop- nevermind.

Cosmo blinked a few times in silence, before bursting out in quiet laughter, pulling his now-boyfriend into a loving hug.

(Your honor, they are not boyfriends. They are husbands. Let's skip the boyfriends part and go for the main course, please.)

"Sprout! Get your butt in the car! We're leaving!" Here comes that ☆individual☆ to ruin the moment. (Yeah, Sam Mclaughlin is Sprouts mother in this AU. Gotta make use out of the toon handlers in some way-)

Sprout, still in a state of daze, continued to gaze into Cosmo's eyes as if they were the most valuable thing to look at right in that moment, completely ignoring his mother's loud calling voice.

Buuuuutttt eventually, Sam lost their patience and went to forcefully drag their day-dreaming son into the car. When they drove off, Cosmo just stood there with a faint smile, putting his hands into his pockets as he watched the vehicle get far away from his position.

...welp. Guess we'll have to hope he'll send a message when he arrives to his new ho-

Ding!

Cosmo hummed with confusion and pulled out his phone.

It was a message from Sprout.

-it was awesome!
-[Message deleted]
-[Message deleted]
-[Message deleted]
-I CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE IT HJUGYGYRI
-WE ARE TOGETHER! IT SOUNDS WEIRD, BUT A GOOD WEIRD! AN AMAZING WEIRD! A SUPER DUPER FANTASTIC WEIRD!!!
-SORRY FOR THE SPAM!! CALL LATER?

...
The boy chuckled fondly.

-Sure! :D

________________________________________

NOW! WE'RE BACK IN THE PRESENT!!!

YEEPIE-

Cosmo groaned with exhaustion as he got up from his bed. After someone almost burned down the kitchen in the restaurant he was in the stage for, he had to stay overnight to clean and re-cook the burned food.

(Just so u know, "stage" is a thing where you go into a restaurant of your choice to learn how to work. Or at least, that's how it works where I live.)

Don't ask. It was either that, or he and his "friend" payed for the damage.
But it seemed like that "FRIEND" didn't show up for both the cleaning and cooking.

Neat.

Anyways. Back to the main story. OUR BOY IS 20! YAHOO! HE'S PAYING TAXES!!!

He quickly got dressed, went to the bathroom and had breakfast before going to school. He's in his last year of culinary school, so he's always doing stages rather than going to school at all. He went to class like...2 weeks max...in the whole year, which is not his choice anyways, its in the programming... But hey! This is the last week before graduation! Then he'll choose if go to another private culinary education site or start the restaurant he wanted to open with...Sprout.

Speaking of the strawberry. He hasn't been answering neither the calls or messages. Which was...strange? Even tho the berry-boy was always busy and suffering from success, he'd always find time to at least send a "goodmorning" message with lots of hearts.

That's why Cosmo hopes nothing bad is happening or it's gonna happen.

________________________________________

After it was finally time to go home, Cosmo picked up his bag with his cooking uniform and exited the school facility. But, he got met by a hug from our lovable POPPY!

"Hey Cosmo!" She greeted with a bright smile, Boxten, Brightney and Rodger joining in to say hi.

The boy smiled brightly, reciprocating Poppy's hug and giving a nod of acknowledgment to the other three. "Hey guys! You know, you could've went home without me! I don't think the teachers here love having students from other schools being visiting..." he chuckled nervously, looking at his surroundings just to be sure no teachers were there to scold, not only him, but also his friends.

Brightney scratched lightly under her chin, she knew Cosmo would say that as soon as he saw them. "Well...we know...but! We prepared something for you! And I bet you'll like it!" She tried to cheer him up, Boxten joining in. "And trust me! You'll forget ALL about your creepy parasocial relationship or whatever!" The boy said with a wave of his hand, not really noticing that he kind of offended Cosmo with that statement.

"Why don't you guys believe me? Like...I LITTERALY showed you our online chats!" Cosmo asked with a disappointed and exasperated voice, tired of his friends not believing that he was genuinely Sprouts boyfriend.

"Not to be mean. Just realistic- AHEM. Such thing can be falsificated." Rodger intervened to answer.

"Are you saying that I'm a liar?" Our poor boy questioned, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow with a slightly stern look.

Before Rodger could unintentionally say another mean affirmation, Boxten came in to shut him up and say a less meaner affirmation. "No! Just...umh...delusional."

"Wow. Thanks." Cake boy thanked with a strong hint of sarcasm behind his voice, making the other boy chuckle awkwardly.

Poppy sighed before grabbing Cosmo's hand and started to lead him somewhere. "Come on! Let's go! Dandy helped us prepare that one special thing we just told you about! Let's not keep him waiting!" She scolded while Cosmo followed right behind her, struggling to keep up with her pace.

Rodger, Brightney and Boxten let out a big breath before joining the two, hoping that the plan will work this time.

________________________________________

"Is...this for a special occasion? Is Astro finally touching grass?"

"...I would've organized a party for that, not a normal meal in a restaurant."

"Fair enough."

Cosmo and Brightney chit-chatted while Rodger texted someone as the other two friends stood at the entrance of the restaurant, seemingly waiting for someone.

After a few minutes, the man with glasses (Rodger) walked away to the front door of the eatery, joining Poppy and Boxten. This kind of made Cosmo have an unsettling sense of dread.

He turned to Brightney. "This is kind of worrying me." He said with a forced and quiet laugh, before having his shoulder patted by the girly. "Don't worry! This time, we tried going by your preferences!"

...

Oh no.

"This...time?...don't tell me." The boy sighed like a disappointed father would, pinching the bridge of his nose.

In that precise moment, Rodger announced with a clear but not so loud voice, so the other people in the restaurant wouldn't turn their head towards them and give the group unwanted attention.
"The date is here!"

A boy entered the eating house, he had messy amber colored hair, freckles on his cheeks, very pale skin, big green-yellowish eyes and was slightly taller than him.

The stranger walked up to the table where Cosmo was sat and proceeded to also sit down on the other side, keeping his annoying smile. "Hi! I'm Will!" The guy greeted, extending his hand for a shake.

Cosmo turned his head slowly to Brightney in a very unsettling way, showing his stern and serious expression. The girl laughed nervously. "Umh...he's...not your type?" She asked with concern.
"We tried going by your preferred aspects of your celebrity crush." Rodger said putting a hand on Brightney's shoulder, trying to defend her from the boy's angry gaze.

"Look! He's even ginger!" Poppy joined in.
"Appreciate that we were able to find a ginger homosexual guy in this whole city." Boxten said proudly, crossing his arm before being elbowed by the girl with the name of a flower. "That sounded disrespectful." She said with an angry look, making the guy next to her rub the spot where she hit him and look away shamefully.

"I...you...this date is over." Cosmo said firmly, getting up from his seat before walking up to his "date".
"Sorry if they dragged you into this. I already have a significant other. Hope you have a good night tho!" He apologized respectfully, helping the other young-adult up.

The ginger just looked at Cosmo, not really expecting this turn out, but he didn't mind. "Oh! Alright, I guess..."
The boy muttered, getting up from his seat before walking out of the restaurant, mumbling under his breath how he just wasted his time.

After the boys departure, Cosmo snapped his head towards his group of friends, who, as if from a cartoon, just stood there looking around, some of them whistling mindlessly.

________________________________________

After they were brought outside by Cosmo, they got ready for the scolding.

"Why the HELL did you bring me to another dang date I didn't even agree on?! I'm already in a relationship!" The boy lectured harshly, the four friends looking down at the ground like kids.

"Well..." Brightney trailed off before going silent.

"We don't understand. We tried going by your liking! We got the boy with the closest appearance of your celebrity crush!" Poppy exclaimed, scratching the back of her head shamefully.

"Gotta appreciate that we didn't bring a girl this time." Rodger testified.

"And we don't really appreciate how you keep lying, even to us. We're trying to help you!" Boxten mumbled under his breath with disappointment.

"Well, one thing I DON'T appreciate is how you guys think i'm a liar." Cosmo barked back, narrowing his eyes at his friends.

They all stood there in silence, not really in the mood to anger the young adult any further.
With a deep breath, Cosmo calmed himself down, now rather offended than angry.
"I'll be going. I have more classes tomorrow and a lot of studying to do. Let's catch up later." And with that, he slogged away.

When he couldn't be seen anymore, Dandy came. "Sooooo? How'd the date go?" He asked cheerfully, only to be confused when the group turned to look at him like a bunch of kids who just got their candies stolen.

________________________________________

Third day of Sprout not answering his love's calls and messages.

Cosmo wrapped a towel around his wet hair and one around his hips before getting out of the shower. The first thing he did was to check his phones notifications.

At the sight that there were none, his expression saddened.

Was he ignoring him?

Anyways, he had to get ready quickly or he'll be late for school.

________________________________________

"Now, as you can see on the periodic table, the elements have their-"

Boooorrrriiiiiinnngggg!

Boxten was currently fighting his inner demon to not fall asleep. Poor boi.
Poppy, who was right next to him, just secretly scrolled trough her phone, ready to put it away when the teacher turns to the class.

When Boxten was about to absolutely slam his head on his desk and pass out-

"OH MY FRICKING GOSH"

...

The class silently turned to look at her, teacher included.
Her face immediately went red from extreme embarrassment.
"Sorry...umh...i thought i saw a spider." she mumbled quietly.

________________________________________

When classes were dismissed, Boxten was immediately grabbed by the girly and was shaken util his insides were rearranged.
"SPROUT SEEDLY IS GOING TO COSMOS SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!" she exclaimed, finally speaking to her wanted volume of voice without anyone looking at her weirdly.

Except the person she was talking to.

Boxten averted his gaze from Poppy only to look back at her in realization. "Isn't that the famous cook that Cosmo affirms its his boyfriend?" He asked with confusion. Poppy immediately nod before unintentionally tossing the boy away, who almost fell on the floor.

She got her phone out and showed Boxten a site where the news was getting popular by the minute. "It says here that he's going there to 'teach about his ways of baking and relate with capable students'!"

"...oooookay? Isnt he too young to teach students? Especially the ones his age?" Boxten reluctantly replied, too stupid to understand where the girl was getting at.

"Dude." Poppy sighed in exasperation.
"What? Apart from my statement, Cosmo will be able to see his celebrity crush! That's awesome!" He cheered, rather happy for his friend, not like Poppy.

"I guess so...HOWEVER!" She continued, wrapping an arm around Boxtens shoulder before pulling him closer to her, her phone under their gaze.
"Here says that he'll be there sunday, since Cosmo's school sucks and teaches on weekends too! But we have the weekend free!"

"And you're suggesting to...?"

"We help out our friend!"

________________________________________

"This sounds unnecessary." Rodger stated his mind, even tho Poppy and Boxten, as the gremlins that they are, didn't care, quite the contrary, they were excited.
With no answer from the younger duo, the man exhaled a deep breath, proceeding on making his way with them to Cosmo's school.

If he's not wrong, they will theoretically let them in if they promise to not cause trouble or remain for long.

________________________________________

Cosmo slowly walked trough the corridors.
Apparently, there was a special guest today who'll help and blah blah blah.
He dosen't really care.

His mind has been floaded by, the one, and only, Sprout Seedly.

He's been extremely weary of his phone more than usual for the past 4 days.

Maybe he should let it go? Berry-boy clearly dosent want to talk to him.

With a heavy saddened sigh, he turned off his cellphone and put it in his pocket. What a boring day. He's not even in the mood to bake anything.

"COSMO!!!"

Here they are.

Pastry-boy turned with a raised eyebrow towards the sound of the voice that called out for him, and there he saw Rodger, Poppy and Boxten.

Cosmo got immediately confused at the sight of them. "Guys! Hi? What are you all doing here?" He asked with a small smile of curiosity.

"For the special guest of today. Hope you're looking forward to it." Smart-ass remarked with a smile.

"..." Pastry-boy hummed. Was the guest that important? Surely not more important than Sprout, that's for sure!
...yeah.

The boy's face fell, remembering his boyfriends neglectful behavior towards him for the past days.

Boxten noticed, and proceeded to pat Cosmo's shoulder, giving him a soothing smile. "Hey dude, there's no need to feel guilty! We're friends!" He...reassured? Cosmo's sadness morfed into confusion.

He...didn't feel guilty? Why would he? Did he do something?
"Guilty? For what?" He questioned, not sure if his friend misinterpreted his emotions.

Poppy intervened, giving a big violent pat on Cosmo's shoulder, making him winch slightly, even tho it didn't hurt. "YOU KNOW! You're guilty because now that Sprout is visiting your school, you can't lie anymore!"

...

"Wha-"

"COSMOOOOOOO" Someone called from the distance with absolutely no regard of how loud his voice was.

Before pastry-boy could turn around, someone hugged him from behind and lifted his body from the ground.
It was in a metter of millisecond and Cosmo felt his cheeks being violently kissed.

Poppy, Boxten and Rodger were flabbergasted.

When the boy turned his head behind him to see who was embracing him, he couldn't believe his fucking eyes.
It was Santa Claus...kidding. sorry.

"Sprout!?" Cosmo exclaimed with pure shock and surprise. Berry-boy just continued to pepper his boyfriend with kisses to no stop.

"I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT ANSWERING YOUR MESSAGES! ONE DAY I WAS SO SLEEPY AND STUFF THAT I ACCIDENTLY PUT MY PHONE IN THE OVEN INSTEAD OF THE CUPCAKES I WAS MAKING FOR AN EVENT! I TRIED TO GET IT OUT ON TIME BUT IT WAS TOO LATE! I COULDNT EVEN GET A NEW ONE BECAUSE I WAS BUSY AS HELL AND-"

Woah. He's yapping too much. And Cosmo knows that. That's why he hopped off of his affectionate hug that was lifting him from the floor and proceeded to kiss him with all the love her reserved for his berry-boy.

And Sprout immediately melted into the kiss with no hesitation.
He's so love-starved istg
Cosmo too.

The group of friends just stood there with their mouth agape, and so did the students that passed by the hallways, some of them stopping to make sure they were seeing right.

When the two lovesick disasters parted lips, they hugged each others, almost cutting their air supply by how tightly they were embracing one another.

"GOD! YOU COULD'VE CALLED ME WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S PHONE, DUDE!" Cosmo scolded, but his tone was neither angry or upset. Only happy and joyful that after many years, he finally got to hug Sprout again.

Berry-boy felt the same too. Kind of. Maybe more than Cosmo did, actually.

"After school, I prepared a hang out to that one cinema near the park where we used to go, a dinner at a random 4 star restaurant, cause 5 stars are boring...AND! We are having the night all for ourselves! We atill have so many kisses to catch up with!"

Cheesy & cringey.

I swear.

This boy can't seem to stop yapping so much.

"YOU WEREN'T LYING?!" Poppy boomed in pure shock. Boxten, who may or may not have taken a few pictures, just stared into the oblivion. He was also shocked.
Rodger was trying to not look surprised, wanting to say that he knew all along that Cosmo wasn't lying so he wouldn't ruin his detective image.

But also because he didn't like calling people liars without proof. That's why he always called pastry-boy just "delusional". Not a liar. Gotta sign this.

Cosmo raised an eyebrow at Poppy's loud exclamation, before his expression turned stern and crossed his arms. "Told ya." He simply said with an offended scoff. When he turned his gaze to Sprout, he was just admiring him.

"I missed that face." He said with a fond smile, making his lover almost have diabetes from how sweet he was being.

Just in that moment, the bell rang, signaling the start of the new classes. Sprout looked around, as if searching for the source of the ringing sound before grabbing pastry-boy's hand and intertwining it with his.

"Come on! You wouldn't want to be late for the class I'll be in, right?" The taller boy teased, making Cosmo rolling his eyes with a happy lil smirk.

"Sure, dude. I hope you brought lunch, im pretty sure your class teaching hours last 3 hours or so." "...okay, they didn't tell me THAT." "Or were you just not paying attention?" "Hey!...Probably- but i was so excited to see you again!" Sprout excused himself, before hurrying to where they were supposed to be, leaving the small group just standing there with their mouth agape.

...

Poppy finally spoke.
"Do you think that tonight they are gonna fuck nasty style-"

Notes:

Sorry if there weren't many interactions between Sprout and Cosmo, and sorry for all the grammatical errors, but I kind of don't usually revisit my fics, and I have no beta reader at the moment.

:(

________________________________________

Extra:

As Sam drove to where they were going to live, Sprout just watched the road outside the window of the car, still mesmerized from Cosmo's kiss.

He wanted more.

Not in a nasty perverted way! Chill! But he seriously wanted more kisses...too bad he's gonna have to wait quite a while...

"Did he say 'no homo' ?" Sprouts mother questioned while keeping her eyes on the road.

Berry-boy immediately snapped his head towards her and shot at the woman a heated glare. "MOM! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"HAHA! You're gay."

_____________________________________________________

New extra:

"IT WAS ALL REAL?!" Brightney exclaimed in the phonecall, Rodger nodding even this she couldn't see him. "Mhm" he hummed.

"OH COME ON! TODAY OUT OF ALL DAYS?!"

"You could've asked for permission to skip a day from the library. You can't work there 24/7, Brighteney."

"But new books just arrived...I had to give them a check..."

Chapter 3: A Planned Recipe Combo

Summary:

From: I don't know

"After gardenview shut down the toons are free to look through all the previously restricted files, they find out that Cosmo was made for the purpose of being Sprouts best friend because Sprout wasn’t connecting well with other toons and was lonely so they made Cosmo to basically fix him and make him show ready. This causes Cosmo to start to question their relationship and his entire identity, after all does their friendship mean anything if they’re designed to like each other? After that day Cosmo distances himself from Sprout and talks to a bunch of other toons to try and figure out some things. Mainwhile Sprout is depressed and lovesick because Cosmo is avoiding him and the mains point of this isn’t really normal to act this way about missing a friend and force Sprout to realize that his feelings aren’t exactly the platonic kind. Then they kiss.

(Is this ok? Tell me if I’m doing this right?)"

YES. ME LOVE ANGST. YEEPIE-

Notes:

Btw, no Beta-Reader.
I'll update this chapters grammar later when I feel like it.
But for now, expect grammar errors.

"I...don't really think we should be here...do we even have authorization?" Astro mumbled quietly, looking around the room he and all of his friends were.

"Pshhh!! Of course! ...Partially of course!" Dandy 'reassured' dreamer-boi, before Shelly intervened.
"I used to always come here since the Gardenview shut down temporarily! Delilah dosen't seem to care...in fact, I haven't really seen her!"

...

"Who are you, again?" Vee asked from the other side of the room, stopping her rummaging trough the files she found on a desk.

Well.

Now Shelly is offended and sad. Thanks.

Sprout was looking with awe at his previous character designs and concept art he came across. He looked so silly and weird in those concepts.

"Hey Cosmo! Come take a look! I look so goofy here!" He called out between laughter. His best friend chuckled at how berry-boy was having so much fun, before going back onto checking trough the drawers before him. He'll see what Sprout wants to show him later.

Now he really wants to see some concept arts about himself.

How will he be?

Was he planned to be a pastry all along? Or was he something else? Oh! And was he supposed to have the personality he has right now since the start? Or was he planned to be a grumpy little dude like Shrimpo-

"GO AWAY! I'M LOOKING IN THIS PART!" Shrimpo yelled at Tisha, who only wanted to look at some tapes that were nicely put on a shelf.

...speaking of which.

He found a poster of the shrimp. And yep. He WAS supposed to be unsufferable. Neat.

"Mh...I look awesome as always." Vee giggled proudly, looking at some sheets where different expressions and full body drawings of her was on it.

When pastry-boy turned to check on what the others were doing, he found that...umh...what was her name again? Shell? Sally? ...oh! Shelly! She already put some tapes on a small Cassette-player and sat down in front of the TV, watching an episode.

On the TV, a scene was playing where she was talking with many toons, especially Vee. It was strange to him how the fossil watched the episode with such attention and...sadness?

Huh.

ANYWHO! Poppy chuckled as she sneakily stole some tapes and walked out of the room in tip-toes, Boxten following right after, trying to stop her from doing such stupidity and get them in trouble. Gigi, on the other hand, was stealing anything in general and putting it in her head so she could occupy her hands properly.

Connie, instead, was being helpful, unlocking drawers by possessing the furniture and forcefully opening them so the others (and her) could see the contents.

In a few words, everyone was going crazy with their temporary free will.

Let's just hope neither Arthur, Delilah nor the toon handlers will appear out of nowhere.

Teagan was taking some tapes to watch in her future tea parties, and Rodger was helping Toodles reach a shelf with a bunch of toys by placing her on his shoulders. Spoiler? They were still too short to reach the shelf, that's when Connie came to help! She floated up to the height of the wanted toys and made them fall.

Brightney was absolutely going crazy from reading some old scripts of scrapped episodes with Goob, who listened to her with full-on attention as if she was telling him a bed-time story.

With their circus experience, Yatta and Looey made a human tower to reach a few prints since Connie was too busy opening up...well...stuff? I explained it before, and I don't need to explain again.

Suddenly, Scraps caught Cosmos attention by tossing him some papers. Just as the boy was about to question her, she spoke "I'm giving everyone their character sheets! I found them with Flutter! Thank us later!!!" She said before running off to give her brother his own character sheets and concept art she found. Goob looked so surprised.

Now, let's see these character-sheets!

...

...

 

...

...emh...

These...aren't what he expected?

Turns out, what Scraps gave him were actually exchanged notes from Arthur and Delilah.

The notes said:

"Hey Delilah! Here's Sprouts design and character description, just like you asked. Tell me if you need anything else.

-your dear friend, Arthur."

 

"Hey. Got the letter. I'll start working on him asap.

-Delilah K."

 

"Delilah, i got your letter with your concerns in it about Sprout. I must say, it is unusual for his character to be so distant from the other toons. My theory is that maybe he dosen't find them interesting or worth being friends with. In any case, if you find a solution to this problem before me, please inform me.

-Arthur."

 

"If M-003's problem are the friends he currently is being provided, i'd suggest we make him one. I asked him what his ideal friend would be, he said that someone with the same interests as him and who isn't boring to talk to should be enough. You do the rest, and I'll continue. I'd raccomand you to do it as fast as possible. He's pretty lonely."

-Delilah K."

 

Cosmo paused his reading.
Somehow, he felt like he didn't wanna discover what was next to come.
The next letter was a few weeks after the last one he read.

With it, there was attached a drawing of him and above it, his personality description.

The letter said:

"Delilah, after struggling to come up with something, i finally made it. His name is Cosmo, he's designed to be Sprout's best friend. I hope this will make him not act out of character like you complained to me about. He should keep M-003 entertained.

-Dearly, Arthur."

...

"What...?" Cosmo mumbled under his breath in disbelief, re-reading the last letter. "Entertained"? Is this a sick joke?

Suddenly, he was startled by an arm wrapping around his shoulder. "Hey bud! Watcha looking at right there?" Sprout asked with a goofy smile and a raised eyebrow, making pastry-boy panic for a second, trying to hide the papers in his hands from his...best friend?

"Oh! Uh...you know...I kind of found my character designs sheets and stuff. Kind of boring. I expected more."
Cosmo said nervously, trying his best to sound truthful.
Aaaaaand berry-boy bought the lie. "Dude, I still have to show you mine! Come on!" Sprout chuckled, pulling unexpectedly Cosmo towards a desk full of scattered paper.

Honestly?

The pastry wasn't really in the mood for it anymore.

________________________________________

The next day, Cosmo just stayed in his room. He wasn't really in the state of mind to bake something with...Sprout.

...yeah.

...

Did he even WANT to bake?
Or was it just what he's been designed to want. To like. Does Sprout even like him for who he is? Does HE like Sprout for who he is? Or-

"Dude? Are you in there? You good?"

A familiar voice snapped him out of his melancholic thoughts, but not from his feelings. Cosmo frowned slightly, unwillingly getting out of his bed and walking up to the door of his room.

He didn't answer nor open the door.

Sprout waited a few more seconds for a reply before speaking again. "Are you okay? I can make you something if you're not!" The boy spoke with slightly worry for his bestie, but there was no answer.

After the silence, Cosmo heard him walk away while mumbling under his breath "Is he still sleeping?" Quietly.

When the footsteps got distant, Cosmo exited his room, carefully closing the door, before running to the opposite direction Sprout went.

________________________________________

Here we are back. Into the creation room...or at least that's what Dandy calls it.

Cosmo searched for his files, hoping that somehow he read the letters wrong or something. Even if he didn't, he'd use those papers to go and ask the handlers or Arthur about it.

No way he was gonna ask Delilah.

Eventually, he finally found the thing he was searching for and proceeded to go on his way.

________________________________________

"Okay, so, who the hell gave permission to that one parent to take a picture of their son with Astro?"

"I was busy with Sprout. He was stressing himself out with Cosmo trying to bake as many cupcakes as possible for the kids."

"We need to never let that happen again, Sam. I know you're not his handler, but when I'm not around, make sure he's fine."

"Dude. You said it yourself, I'm not his handler, therefore, I have no responsa-"

"Heeeyyyy..." Cosmo interrupted the chit-chat Sam and Austin were having

...

Well...

This is awkward.

"Hey Cosmo..." Austin was the first to greet him with a warm smile, followed by Sam's look of acknowledgment.

Cosmo smiled back at Austin and Sam...even tho they weren't really smiling, but meh. We are polite. "Hi! Could I ask a favor?"

Austin sucked in a deep breath before shrugging his shoulders. "Dunno, buddy...depends." the man said with a sigh, scratching the back of his neck, while the other handler beside him just silently looked down at the pastry before answering.
"I'm not taking orders from a brownie. Just saying."

That's nice.

Pastry-boy snickered awkwardly, shaking his head before showing the two humans the pictures of his designs Arthur made.

"Actually, I'm here to ask a little bit of questions! Don't worry! I won't be insistent like Rodger if you don't want to answer." Cosmo reassured, kind of. Even if he was insistent, they wouldn't have answered him anyways.

Austin and Sam looked at each others before looking back down at the toon.
"Go on..." they both said at the same time.

The pastry finally smiled in a genuine way, appreciating both of them accepting to comply.

He took a big breath, trying to find the right words that wouldn't put nor him or his friends in trouble for going into the creation room.

"Okay...so...uuhhh...me and the other toons were casually..." he paused, searching for the right excuse. "Looking at the posters on the wall with our descriptions on it! And I found this one about me! So...umh...I was wondering...why exactly was I created?"

Both humans went silent.

"To give Sprout some wanted company." Nevermind. Sam spoke.

Austin immediately snapped his head to his colleague with a worried and anxious expression. "Don't tell him that! It sounds so mean!" He argued with a frown, which Sam shrugged away.

The man looked back at Cosmo, who was staring down at the papers in his hands with a blank expression. Here comes the existential crisis moment.

Russo panicked and immediately went on his knees to put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Hey buddy! Don't listen to Sam! You were created with the same purpose as the others! To bring joy to the other children while having your own lives!" He tried to make Cosmo feel at ease about his being, but it didn't help much.

"I still remember how Sprout would sulk around in the kitchen before Cosmo came along. It was kind of pathetic." Mclaughlin said with a chuckle, crossing their arms together before being shot with a glare from Austin, which made them shut up for a few seconds.

"Thanks for the information." Cosmo gave up, turning back on his heels and walking away with sadness.

The man just watched with worry the pastrys departure then looked up at the handler. "You shouldn't mess with the toons like that! If that effects their performance at work, Delilah and Arthur will go nuts!"

"Couldn't care less. He'll forget about it eventually."

"You kinda suck."

"Heh, i know. I'm not doing okay."

"...I'll go back to Astro. Have a nice day..."

________________________________________

Sprout hummed to himself, cooking up some food for the toons, just for the fun of it.

As he worked on the dough he'll use to make some brownies, the oven rang, signaling that the cookies he made were finally ready.

Putting on his oven-gloves, he walked to open the furniture and got those cookies with the faces of his friends out of the heat.

"Loo-king goooood!" The strawberry complimented the food with a proud smile, putting them on top of the oven to cool down.

Now, he had to make brownies, a few sweets to give Cosmo AND a cake for an upcoming kids party! He didn't know they were taking birthday requests in the Gardenview, but that's no problem! Kids deserve to enjoy themselves, especially on their birthday!

But! There was a problem!

He really wanted to make the cake with Cosmo. If the kid wants to enjoy his special day, he'll need two awesome chefs to bake an even more awesome cake! He can't do it alone! Duh!

Just as he was about to exit the kitchen, he heard munching.

Don't

Fucking

Tell me.

He turned around slowly, being met by the sight of a stinky shrimp eating the cookies he just got out of the oven.

Shrimpo stopped his loud munching.

Silence was followed by the two.

"I HATE HOW HOT THESE COOKIES AR-"

"YOU FUCKIN-"

________________________________________

"What if I eat MY OWN candy? Would that be CANNIBALISM?" Yatta asked while drawing random things on a scrapped piece of paper.

"Let's...like...not talk about that, yeah?" Looey chuckled awkwardly, sitting right beside, staring down at what she was drawing on the paper.

Spoiler? It was her being awesome.

Suddenly, Cosmo appeared!

Yay!

Wohooo!

Awesome.

Fantastic.

Wow.

"Hey guys! Can I ask something?" The pastry-boy directly asked, not wasting too much time. Tho, he really looked tired out.

Looey gazed up at his friend with a smile, waving his hand at him. "Hi! Straight to the point? Did Rodger send you?" The Ballon asked with a knowing smirk, thinking he got it right! Too bad he didn't.

Cosmo fidgetted with his fingers nervously, shaking his head "Actually...uuhhh...no." he sighed, scratching the back of his brownie head. "Do you guys know how Sprout was before I came along?" He questioned.

Looey raised an eyebrow with confusion, while Yatta finally looked up at the pastry, slowly munching the cryon she was using for her drawing. "He was a party-pooper. LIKE Astro, but WORST!" The piñata described, gulping down the not-so-edible food before stuffing the remaining half of the color in her mouth.

The balloon nod, trying to ignore whatever the crap Yatta was doing with those poor crayons.

"Let's say...you coming along kind of fixed his ego and stuff! He's more enjoyable hanging around with now! It's as you were his missing puzzle piece!" Looey chuckled, punching Yatta's back, which made her spit out the pieces of cryoans she gulped down.

"AGREED!" She said with a thumb up.

Tho.

Even as they were complimenting him and his friendship with the strawberry, Cosmo didn't take those words as compliments AT ALL. He sighed with exasperation and nodded. "Thanks..." he mumbled before walking away, clenching on the notes in his hand.

The circus duo stared at him for a few seconds while he gradually distanced himself from the two, before looking at each others.

"Did I say something uncomfortable...?"

"NAH, you good, you good bud"

________________________________________

"Have you guys seen Cosmo?"
"Nope" "yeah, I saw him go to Brightney's"

"Have you seen Cosmo?"
"Yup, tho he left. Try asking Rodger"

"Have you seen Cosmo...?"
"Hmm...I must say I did, tho he didn't stick around too long. Need any help?"

"Have you...emh...seen Cosmo? At all?"
"Nope! I was with Goob the whole time."

Where the hell was that pastry?

Sprout groaned to himself, passing a hand trough his leaves while walking back into the kitchen. It was unlike his best friend to distance himself from him. Like...okay, they are always hanging out and stuff, and he surely needs to do the same with other toons! But he didn't even give him the chance to say "goodmorning" or "hi"!

As the strawberry was lost his thoughts, they were suddenly crashed when he heard someone yell from the kitchen.

When he got there, Cosmo was standing in front of the stove, looking down at his finger with a frown. "Crap..." he mumbled under his breath.

Instead of worrying, Sprout smiled as wind as he could before launching himself on the boy, wrapping his hands behind him. "COSMO!!! I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you!" He scolded cheerfully, flicking the pastrys forehead playfully.

The pastry, heavily surprised by the berry-boys arrival, just silently stared at him before gently unwrapping his arms from him. "Hey Sprout..." he greeted with a forced smile.

His stomach started to feel weird.

Sprout didn't mind at all how he was pushed away, thinking that he may have startled his bestie a little too much. He proceeded to just stare at him with a goofy smile, making Cosmo feel kind of awkward.

"I'll...be going now...see you around!" The toon said, turning back on his heels before being stopped by his friend "So soon? Why were you even here? Don't you want to bake something together?" Sprout questioned, sounding both disappointed and hopeful in his questions. Especially the last one.

Cosmo stopped and thought for a few seconds before resuming his walking. "I don't even know if that's what I really want."

And with that, he exited the kitchen, leaving the strawberry really perplexed.

Did he do something wrong?

________________________________________

"DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG?!" Sprout cried out loudly, beside him there was Astro patting his back, trying to comfort him in that strange situation.

"You're overthinking it! Of course you didn't!" Shelly reassured softly, walking up to also sit next to the sad toon on his bed.

"Yeah! He's just sick of you. It's not your fault!" Vee chuckled, making everyone that was trying to comfort the boy snap their heads towards her, shutting her up.

"Come on bud! Just give him time! Maybe he was in a bad mood!" Dandy tried to join the attempts of comforting the sulking strawberry, which didn't really work.

"Do you think he'll be back to normal tomorrow?" Sprout asked with a very depressing tone. Like...he was desperate for attention from his bestie fr.

Dandy fidgeted with his fingers nervously, trying to find an answer himself. Emotions are quiet difficult yk? "Mmmmmmaybeeee?" He answered, tho unsure.

Wow.

Dude can't even lie to make someone feel better. Great.

"He'll probably feel better by tomorrow. Don't worry." Thankfully, Astro was there to do what Dandy clearly couldn't. Reassure trough lies.

"Hope you're right..." Sprout sighed, covering his face with his hands from frustration.

________________________________________

Trying to forget about his problems, the berry-boy walked around the empty Gardenview to clear his thoughts.

Every toon that saw him, approached and asked him how he was feeling. Why? Because he looked fucking miserable. And I'm not joking.

His movement speed was at one star to make you understand, he looked depressed as shit and didn't want to talk to anyone.

Kind of like the time when Cosmo wasn't created yet.

He was so- WAIT. Is that...?

Sprouts eyes windened in surprise when he saw his bestie having a conversation with Tisha.

He had some papers in his hands. Did he draw something? Oooohhhhh he was curious now!

"HEY COSMO! WHATCHA GOT TH-"

"Gotta go Tisha. Thank you, by the way. See you!" The pastry said his goodbyes before walking away. He gave one last look at the strawberry before going on his way.

...

Sprout just stood there, his smile fading slowly.

Tisha looked at both boys with great confusion, wondering what the hell happened between those two.

"Did you guys argue or something?"

"I...don't think so...?"

________________________________________

A week almost passed, and Cosmo still couldn't talk to Sprout without feeling like he's being forced into doing so.

And honestly? Sprout was loosing his mind.

When he baked, he got reminded of Cosmo.
When he slept, he dreamed about Cosmo.
When he was in a conversation with someone, he'd think of Cosmo.
When he was alone...HE'D THINK OF COSMO.

HE WAS SO UNBELIEVABLY LOVESICK.

And the other toons noticed that very well.

"Coshmò" Sprout mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow he was currently pressing his face on.

The mains looked down at the pathetic boy-disaster sulking in his bed like an emo teenager.

"Screenshotted and saved stupidBerryBoy.png" Vee smirked proudly, crossing her hands together before Astro lightly punched on her shoulder, making the TV jump in surprise then glare at him.

"Sheesh. Sorry if I'm having fun!" Tv-girl apologized sarcastically. Astro silently stared at Vee before sighing and turning to look at Shelly, who proceeded to walk up to the strawberry and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on! You can do it! Get outta this bed and go try talking to him!" The shell encouraged with determination in her voice, but it didn't seem to infect the sad boy.

"He dosent even want me around." Sprout groaned, tilting his head out of the pillow so his words would be comprehensible.

"That's not-"

"It's true." He interrupted her with a firm voice before slamming his head back into his pillow. "I can't even do anything without thinking about him."
He complained with desperation, burying his head even further into the soft material.

The three poor mains just watched the boy with a puzzled expression, not sure how to help him cope with his loneliness.

Vee stayed silent then finally spoke. "Ugh...are you that down bad for him?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, her tail moving towards berry-boy to tap on his head.

...

He froze.

"...what?" Sprout asked with full-on confusion, lifting his head from his bed to look at the trio.

"Are. You. That. Down-"

"What do you mean by that." He interrupted her.

"I MEAN that you're so inlove with him to the point that you can't even do anything without spending at least 30 minutes with him everyday." The TV argued with sassyness, which berry-boy reacted by widening his eye and blushing like crazy.

How can a strawberry blush, you may ask.

I don't know. This is a fic.

"IM NOT inlove...am i?...AM I?!" Sprout exclaimed, immediately sitting up and looking down at himself, starting to have a crisis about his feelings.

Astro awkwardly shrugged, agreeing silently with Vee's statement. "Well...I must say that the dreams you make about him are quite...peculiar." he commented shyly, Shelly joining in. "And just now, you're blaming yourself and sulking because he dosent want to talk to you!"

"Isn't that a normal thing to do when your best friends ignores you...?"

"Well. What about when you're with him? You two act quite clingy and happy."

"That's normal."

The three friends groaned in exasperation, not sure how to make the berry-boy realize that he was a twink.

"Look." Vee started. "How do you feel when you're with Cosmo?" She asked with seriousness.

Sprout stayed silent for a few seconds before answering based on what his mind told him. "Happy? I feel loved,in a platonic way of course. I feel understood, not alone, awesome, full of energy, quite-"

Vee interrupted his description by putting her microphone tail right before his lips, making him glare up at her. "Okay. Enough. What about when he's not with you? How do you feel?"
She asked again, feeling like a gosh dang therapist of some kind.

The strawberry stayed silent thinking of how to describe his emotions, his cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment. "Alone...? Like something is missing? I feel-"

"Lovesick." Everyone said in unison.

...

Oh.

"Does that mean-"

"You're inlove." Everyone said in unison again.

...

OH.

"ooooOooooOOOOOOOOHHHHHH" Sprout finally started realizing, the reality check hitting him a bit too hard.

"Litteraly everyone knows. How can he be the only one that dosent." Vee asked with disappointment, really not understanding Sprouts logic.

"Let him be. Feelings are complicated sometimes...or the person feeling them are too stupid." Astro said with a sigh, looking at Shelly trying to calm Sprout down from going nuts.

"IM INLOVE!!!!" Sprout exclaimed with panic.

"YOU'RE INLOVE!!!!" Shelly exclaimed with happiness.

Sprout started yelling again.

________________________________________

It was a busy day today in Gardenview.
You know, with kids running around and stuff while the toons had to supervise them and work after the center reopened.

Same old same old.

Unfortunately Cosmo didn't really have the motivation to prepare anything for the children, still kind of...yk, depressed that he exists just for the sake of another person.

Like...sometimes he wonders if his personality was chosen based on what Sprout wanted in someone.

...

"Cosmo!!!" A kid yelled from the distance, catching the toons attention.

"O-oh! Hey buddy! Whatcha need?" the pastry greeted with a forced smile, trying his best not to transmit his problems and emotions into a poor kid who had nothing to do with it.

"Have you prepared other sweets today? I want those pistachio cookies you made last week so bad!" The kid said with excitement.

...shit.

With all of his sulking and crisis, he really didn't feel like cooking anything. He wasn't expecting someone to want to eat some of his handmade food!

He sighed, ready for the outburst the child was gonna make. "Sorry buddy, but I didn't gave time to-"

"To get them before I did!" Sprout exclaimed, bringing a plate full of cookies of various flavors.

He was able to get them before Shrimpo did.

Cosmo flinched. Here comes the stomach ache.

"Thank you!" The kid politely thanked, picking up the cookies with his wanted taste and ran back to his group of friends. The main toon watched the child run away with a small smile.

Cosmo, in the meanwhile, tried to silently sneak away from the dining area, but as soon as he took the second step away, Sprout grabbed his hand and started sprinting somewhere.

The pastry panicked.

"Sprout-"

"Nuh uh! Shush!"

________________________________________

"Why are we in the kitchen...?"

"We need to bake a cake for an upcoming birthday party!" Sprout exclaimed cheerfully, getting the milk and eggs from the fridge.

"Sprout, i'm really not in the mood-"

"Can you pass me the flour and sugar, please?" He asked politely, yet again interrupting Cosmo in the middle of his speech.

Understanding that he had no choice, the brownie sighed with exasperation and nod, complying with his request.

After a few minutes, they were both busy preparing the cake.

Sprout was doing the dough while Cosmo was focusing on the icing.

Until now, there was pure silence between them.

...the strawberry looked up at the pastry, who was seemingly zones out.

"...Cosmo?" He called out, snapping his best friends out of his thoughts. "Are you okay?" He asked with confusion, gaining a nod from the other boy.

"Yup. Never been better..."

...

"This is quite awkward, isn't it?" Sprout snickered to himself, in which Cosmo hummed with confusion. "You mean...?"

...

...

"Did...I like...do something wrong or like...anything that upsetted you?"

Oop-

That made the cake-roll boy pause.

"We are still best friends, right?"

Ouch.

Cosmo was pretty sure he just lost a heart right in that moment.
"No! I mean...YES!...GOD I FEEL FORCED INTO THIS!" He groaned, making Sprout flinch at the sudden outburst.

They went quiet after that with the only sound being the pastrys angry breathing. He looked like Shrimpo, and since Sprout didn't wanna compare his friend with that shrimp, he walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Wanna talk about it? To get the steam out of you?" The strawberry proposed softly, in which the cake-roll took seconds to decide. "...I don't know...maybe?"

________________________________________

When the door of the storage room was closed, Sprout sat down on the floor next to his best friend, giving him a small worried smile.
"Talk when you're ready." He soothed quietly.

Taking a big breath, Cosmo pulled out some papers out of his pocket and gave them to the strawberry. "I got these back when we went in the 'creation room' or whatever it's called."

"You stole them?"

"NO-"

"You kept them with you this whole time."

"I needed to ask around some stuff..."

...

After hearing the excuse, the berry proceeded to start reading the letters in his hand. After he finished doing so, he didn't say a single word.

Cosmo was created only to make him company?

That was...something?

He really didn't know how to feel about that.

"That's..."

"Weird?"

"You could say that..."

Another quiet moment came by. That was an awkward and uncomfortable situation.

"I'm sorry if I kept ignoring you or just...you know...stuff. But every time I saw you, I felt like I was being forced to talk to you."

"But you weren't forced!" The strawberry argued with a frown.

"I was made for that."

And yet again, the mood got ruined even more.

Cosmo got slightly startled when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Especially when he saw a soft gentle smile play on Sprouts mouth.

Just as he was about to ask why he was smiling, the berry spoke before he did. "We don't need to be best friends if that's what bothers you." He reassured before continuing. "I'm just happy being with you! Okay?"

The pastry just stared at him for a while, making the strawberry sweat bullets and hope he didn't say anything wrong.

When he stood up, Cosmo finally spoke. "Yeah...I don't think we should be friends..."

Welp.

If that's what he wants.

Sprout sighed before giving him a nod of understanding. "That's alright...i understan-"

Sudden smooch attack.

It was very effective.

Cosmo just suddenly pounced on the berry's lips out of nowhere, making the red-boy skip a few heartbeats and maybe loose a few years of his life from the huge heart attack he got just in that moment.

When they parted lips, both of them stared at each others with a flabbergasted expression.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh-"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh-"

Both of their brains stopped working.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE HAVING AN EMOTIONAL MOMENT!"

"DUDE, I DONT EVEN KNOW! SORRY OKAY?!"

"SORRY?! I FRICKING THOUGHT YOU HATED ME FOR A SECOND!!!"

they both started arguing. Yep. What can i say.

"DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU FELT LIKE YOU WERE FORCED INTO BEING WITH ME?!"

"DUDE. THE MORE I STAYED AWAY FROM YOU, THE MORE AWFUL I FELT WITH MYSELF."

"ME TOO!"

"OH YEAH?!"

"YEAH."

...

they hugged.

"I missed you, bud." Sprout whined out, patting his...boyfriends(?) back, in which Cosmo chuckled. "Yeaaahhhh...me too. Trust me."

________________________________________

Tisha, Scraps and Goob walked around the kitchen, checking every perimeter of it.

They still had to bake a cake for a kid that was gonna have his birthday here tomorrow.

Scraps hummed when she saw the bowl full of cake dough and another one with icing. "It seems like they were making the cake..." she hummed before turning to look at Goob.

"I hear something!" He informed, raising one of his hands from the ground to point a claw towards the door that led to the storage room.

"Maybe they ran out of supplies and went to get more?" Tisha theorized, scratching her chin with confusion.

The three of them stared at the door, waiting for one of trio to take responsibility and open it.

The goober stepped in. He knocked first (cause he's very polite! Mind you.) then place a hand on the doors knobs before twisting it.

When the door fully opened, the trio stared inside with confusion on level III.

Sprout and Cosmo were on the ground, one with messy leaves and the other with a melty icing.

The cat and the tissue were absolutely shocked, while Goob just stared, still not getting the situation. "Cosmo...why do you have Sprouts scarf?" He asked innocently.

The two boys froze.

...

The berry immediately snatched his scarf from the pastrys neck.

...

"Heee-"

"What the f-"

Scraps covered Goobs ears.

"-uck were you guys doing."

The two of them looked at eachothers before looking back at the scary tissue.

"...testing if chocolate would go well with strawberry on the cake we have to prepare?" Cosmo said with an awkward chuckle.

Notes:

Please comment, I like reading what you think 👉👈💔

Chapter update:
-fixed grammar
-new chapter coming up

Next request coming up:
"They are important, tho you're the main ingredient."

Chapter 4: A rotting Strawberry 🍓

Summary:

From: Hehehe angst

"Sprout hadn’t been doing well since Cosmo became twisted. In his grief He started hallucinating Cosmo and lives in denial about his death, talking to his hallucination like Cosmo is really there. Toons are worried about him but don’t know what to do."

Guys. What if..
Like
Hey
Guys
What if
Angst

Sorry for taking so long to publish this. But it took me 3 attempts to make this request. I was sweating.

Notes:

Angst is my territory...never get me near it GRRRRRRRRRRR

OH! also, no beta-reader. I finished this request at 22:27 // 10:27pm

Sorry

________________________________________

Cosmo let out a sigh of relief after finally being able to heal Astro. The latter thanked him dearly before making his way to the elevator.

It was getting hard not to get hit in these floors...after all, they were on the 23th.

Teagan was on the last generator right next to the closed metal door they were supposed to go in every time.

After finishing the machine, she calmly went inside.

Sprout looked around.

He knew right away someone was missing.

Astro...

Teagan...

Cosmo...

Looey...

Goob-

Wait...

Cosmo? Where's Cosmo?
He started to panic.

Just as he was about to exit the elevator he saw the pastry running for his life from a Twisted Poppy.

"Thank God..." The strawberry muttered to himself before taking a step out of the elevator, taking the Twisteds attention away from Cosmo.

Huffing heavily and almost out of stamina, the pastry raised a thumb up to his best friend in appreciation, tiredly making his way to the elevator while the berry ran in circles with viscious ichor-stained copy of his friends following him.

...once again...Sprout felt like he was forgetting someone...

Just as Cosmo was about to take a step into the elevator, claws grabbed him from the distance and pulled him away.

Sprout snapped his head immediately to where his best friend was dragged, panicking at the sound of someone taking damage.

He was about to rush towards him, until he heard a loud crunch.

Everyone went silent.

The timer started ticking.

"Cosmo?" Sprout called out.

Nobody answered.

He stopped, the twisteds started catching up to him.

"COSMO?!" He called out louder, and more demanding.

Twisted Poppy was able to make him loose a heart. He flinched but honestly? Who cares.

As he was about to go check in on his friend, he saw a heart being thrown at him, making him go back to full health.

Through the wall, he couldn't see any hearts.

Until Cosmo reappeared from the corner of the wall, coughing and huffing uncontrollably with his eyes shut from chocking in his own ichor.

When he re-opened his eyes, they were pinkish, going slowly towards the reddish color, half of his pastry tore from him.

Just as the timer hit 5 seconds, and Twisted Boxten went for the kill, Goob grabbed the berry-boy and pulled him into the elevator in time.

The door crushed down, closing.

Sprout stared at the closed metal door, his expression blank.

But so did the others.

...

He forgot the twisted craft siblings were on that floor...

________________________________________

After that floor, Sprout refused to do anything aside of healing others and get tapes only when they called him out for it.

He honestly lost any fragment of motivation to continue the run.

While Looey distracted to avoid any more 'incidents', Goob was mostly with the remaining healer for moral support.

While Sprout stared intensly into the void, Goob sat on the ground, uncomfortable with the situation they found themselves into.

"...need a hug?"

"no."

The fluffy craft lowered his hands back onto the ground, deciding to just wait for the others to finish with the machines...

"...do you...need me to get you some tapes?"

"I have 347 tapes. No need."

"You su-"

"Yes."

Sprout didn't even bother looking or changing his stern voice to a softer one at Goobs will to help.

The fluffy craft looked down at his watch to see the info of the floor.

7/11 machines.

He let out a sigh of exasperation.

"You can go help the others do machines. You don't need to babysit me." Sprout suddenly spoke, lowering himself down to sit beside the elevator agaist the wall.

Goob turned to look at the strawberry with reluctance. He knew Looey was distracting the twisteds...but that was his friend. He was having a horrible time and he wanted to be there for him. At least until he accepted one of his hugs! Hugs are the best medicine after all!

"N-no! I-"

"Go."

...

"Goob. Really, go."

Goob slowly got up from the ground. He wanted to at least give the berry a comforting pat on the back or something, but honestly? He looked scary right now.

He slowly walked away, turning back to give the main a reassuring smile. "We'll be quick!"

"Hm-mh."

And with that, he ran to his friends.

...

Sprout reached a hand to search inside his scarf before pulling out his savory charm.

...he didn't even have the time to grab the sweet charm from Cosmo before the elevator closed...

Drops of salted water started to land on the friendship bracelet.

"Sprout!"

The strawberry immediately perked up and quickly stood up on his feet.

"Cosmo?" He called out.

...wait...

He immediately relaxed and dropped back on the floor.

Right.

He looked down at his watch.

10/11 machines done.

He felt someone sit next to him.

"Goob. I know they are almost finished with the machines, but I told you I don't need babysitting-" he stopped his sentence on its way of finishing when he turned to look beside him.

Cosmo was right there, smiling softly at him.

They stared deeply into eachothers for what seemed like hours, until the pastry broke eye-contact to look behind the strawberry. He noticed, and slowly turned his head around to see what was there.

...

Nothing?

He turned hid gaze immediately back.

Cosmo was gone.

"...what the f-"

DING!!!

Elevator closes in 35 seconds

Sprout didn't move from his seat, instead just staring at where his best friend was.

Was he even there?

Of course not?

Does that mean he was going insane?

"SPROUT! GO IN!!!" Tisha yelled while using her ability for Astro and Gigi who were falling behind.

He slowly turned to look at her, confusion and tiredness written all over his face, until it transformed into confusion when he was pulled into the elevator.
"Come here!" Goob exclaimed cheerfully.

Elevator closing...

________________________________________

Floor 87.

Sprouts eyes were almost almost closed.

His leaves were growing and becoming a grayish green.

He was slightly pale, almost not noticeable.

He slowly stepped out of the elevator, staring at the floor while looking dead inside.

On the opposite, everyone ran outside and immediately went to do machines while Looey searched for the Twisteds all over the place.

Gigi, instead of going with the others, she just checked on the strawberry. "Hey dude...it says gullible on the ceiling! Hah...ha..." she tried to lighten the mood, but he didn't even flinch.

Silence followed after, making the poor toon sweat bullets.

She sighed before getting a band out of her head and giving it to Sprout. "...I know it's against the rules...but take this just in case. You haven't been buying anything from Dandy, even the useful stuff." She mumbled, the awkwardness almost swallowing her whole.

At last, she left.

The main weakly stored the bandage into his scarf before going back into doing nothing. He heard someone hum next to him.

He turned around.

Cosmo.

He hummed a song to himself while admiring the savory charm in his hand. "I think your friedship bracelet is cooler than mine! I love the colors!" The pastry commented with a chuckle.

He received no response.

Since the first time he saw this...Cosmo apparition or hallucination, whatever you want to call it, for the first time...it kept reappearing.

"Is it?" Speout finally spoke.

The cake-roll nod.

"Yup! You honestly made me grow attached to the color red, dude! Funny, right? Cause you ARE red!"

"Funny."

Cosmo started laughing humorously before going back admiring the bracelet.

And Sprout admired HIM.

He missed that laugh.

"How long will you be gone for?" The main asked quietly, tilting his head weakly.

What a stupid question.

Cosmo hummed, genuinely thinking about the answer before sighing and sitting next to his best friend.
"A while...you want to go baking already?" He asked with a smirk, giving Sprout a friendly nudge.

"I just want you to be here."

"..."

Silence grew.

Suddenly, the strawberry started lifting his hand, and with it, he closed his fingers in his palm expect the pinky.
"Promise we'll be back together once more."

"..."

"Please...I truly miss you. I do." He begged.

And how could our cake-roll resist the sight of his pathetic-looking friend begging so committedly?

As he let out a big sigh, he intertwined Sprouts pinky with his own and gave him a soft smile. "Pinky-promise!"

DING!

elevator closes in 40 seconds.

Someone got hit.

Cosmo dissapeared.

________________________________________

Floor 95

At this point, Sprout couldn't even stand.

It's as if Cosmo's death effected him gravely on his physical health.

His back hurts, and so did his head. He was tired. He didn't want to do anything expect help who he could and talk to "Cosmo".

His sanity depended on those two things.

He couldn't bear neither seeing other toons die, nor staying one single floor without talking to his best friend.

But this time?

He decided to not be useless.

He finally got up from the floor and did a machine with his Veemote. He went to the broken elevator to do another one of them. He looked down at his watch.

"Guys, Looey says he can't find a Twisted! Be careful, i'm on the search!!!! *hugs*" -GOOB□

That's convenient...

Anyways...

"YAHOO! You're doing great!" 'Cosmo' cheered on, happy that Sprout was starting to finally show some energy after all these floors.

The strawberry gave a weak smile but immediately turned back to his machine.

If he wanted to feel better, he had to stop talking to that...hallucination.

It messed up with him.

It made him depended on it.

He needs to let him go. (HAHA GET THE REF???? GET THE REF????)

but the cake-roll didn't mind. On the contrary, he was proud.

So proud.

"I'll let you be for the time being! Be careful! Please?" He pleaded before walking away.

But no footsteps were heard.

...thank you.

________________________________________

Floor 100!

Everyone cheered, and Dandy, for the first time, gave out medkits and bands and bottles of pop to congratulate with the team.

He was happy they passed with how the tables turned terribly for most of the toons.

"Thank you for purchasing! I'll be back! Good luck!" The flower said his goodbyes before dissapearing in the small hatch he sank into.

After that, the elevator opened.

Everyone rushed out, Looey went on the search for the twisteds while Goob followed the extractors to make sure the twisteds weren't where they were going. And if they were, he'd take their attention and bring them to Looey.

10/20 machines already.

Sprout was extracting once again near the broken elevator.

"Why?" you may ask.

He wanted to take the machines that were too far from the working elevator so his friends wouldn't risk their life's when they had to do all the way back.

He was still griefing his best friends' fall, but was slowly getting over it.

"I can't find the last Twisted. I'm distracting twisted Pebble and Vee while goob took the normal twisteds, please bring them to us if possible."

Berry-boy hummed. "It can't be that hard unless it's a sniper, right?" He shrugged with a sigh. "As soon as I finish this machine, I'm gonna check up on the others..." he muttered to himself.

As soon as he finished extracting, he soon felt eyes on him.

Welp, looks like there's no need to check up on the others!

He sighed before turning around. "Just have to bring this one to Goob and-"

...

He stared at it.

It stared at him too.

...

"Cosmo?" Sprout said with a shaky breath.

That's right folks! Twisted Cosmo here! Yeepieeee!!!

He grimaced at the sight before his brain flashed him with the memories of how his best friend died right in front of him.

"Cosmo-" he groaned loudly as the twisted launched itself at him, taking away one of the latter's lives and knocking him down on the floor.

He immediately used the bandage he kept since Gigi gave it to him and quickly blocked the inky cake-rolls mouth with his arm before it could bite his face off.

Another heart was lost.

The berry-boy stared at his corrupted best friend in horror.

He suddenly started to slowly smile nervously.

"You came back...!" He whimpered, holding back his tears. Not because 'Cosmo' was currently biting the mains' arm off, but he was instead crying from happiness.

Lucky charm unactive.

He smiled fondly before hugging Cosmo with the remaining seconds of invincibility he had.

"...what do you want to bake today?"

CRUNCH

_______________________________________

Elevator closes in 40 seconds.

Everyone was in the elevator and continued to hear someone getting hit.

"I'LL GO GET SPROUT. EVERYONE STAY INSIDE!" Looey ordered before running off with unimaginable speed thanks to only having 1 heart.

He searched every corner, trying not to get the twisteds attention back.

Another hit. That means the berry is on his last heart too.

The ballon immediately ran to the broken elevator, that being the last place he didn't check.

He was determined to save his friend at all costs.

"SPROUT!!!" He called out loudly, gaining the nearby common twisteds attention, but they didn't exactly know where the yelling was coming from.

He turned an angle.

He ran trough a hallway.

He saw a glimpse of Sprouts scarf, moving as if it was windy in the room.

"SPROUT!" The clown called out again with relief.

Elevator closes in 15 seconds.

As soon as he had a clearer vision of the main, he froze.

His leaves was all tangled up and some covered a side of his face.

Most of his body was coated in ichor.

His eye was red

Other leaves grew from a side of his shoulder.

Sprout had twisted.

Just as the Looey took a step back, he was seen by the main Twisted, and it screamed at him.

________________________________________

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" Astro panicked, looking around with his eyes outside the elevator, hoping to sense someone's tiredness, failing to do so.

A crunch was heared.

Gigi and Teagan were getting anxious, and Goob was ready to grab the first person he saw come out from a corner along Tisha who was ready to boost the first person's speed she saw.

"SOMEONE IS COMING!" Vee announced before pointing towards some boxes covering the front of the elevator.

All of the toons went silent, trying to understand who's silhouettes were those.

Cosmo and Sprout came from the corner of the boxes, both of them covering their faces with a hand while walking.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Elevator closing...

Everyone stood there in shock while doors closed, and finally ascended to the next floor.

The two twisted stood still infront of the elevator for a few seconds before walking in different directions, not minding the other.

A bracelet slipped down Sprouts scarf and another one fell from Cosmos pocket.

The savory charm and the sweet charm fell on top of eachothers while their owners disregarded them.

________________________________________

"Hey Sprout."

"Hm? What is it, Cos?"

"If we twisted..."

"Not liking where this is going already."

"Do you think we'd recognize each others?"

"...well...do you want me to be delusional or brutally honest?"

"Hmmm...honest?"

"The ichor takes over the mind. We saw in many occasions what it does to us toons. Even the twisted versions of Goob and Scraps didn't recognize themselves."

"...what about your delusional response?"

"...I'd recognize that overly large head everywhere! Along with that oh-so sweet face if yours, bud!"

"First of all, that was mean! Second of all...thank you. I feel the same."

"Oh yeah?:

"Yeah. I'd never forget someone who has as their last name 'Seedly'!"

"..."

"PFFT- I'M SORRY! Tho you did call my head 'overly-large'!"

"...alright. Fair. As long as you aren't Vee."

"Heh..."

Notes:

I'm sorry, I'm pretty sure I missed the whole point of your request and the "Sprout being in denial about Cosmo's death. I apologize.

As I said it before, I wrote three versions of this request, and this was the version I was most content of.

Thank you for leaving a request tho ♡

Chapter 5: Uhhhh...more requests??? Please????

IM ACTUALLY ALIVE!!!

JUST BURNED OUT!

ID LIKE TO ASK FOR MORE REQUESTS FROM YOU GUYS...pweeese 👉👈

Don't get me wrong! I'm working on the other requests, but I'm having a hard time doing so! So I thought that maybe having new requests will make me more invested!

I'm also working on my very first original Fruitcake fic! Full of angst. It'll maybe be a oneshot, or maybe not!

After this lil update on this fic, Have a nice day/night! :)

(If you already requested a fic in the past, don't be afraid to leave another request! As long as you don't spam requests and stuff. Limit of requests one person can leave is 2 or 3)