Chapter Text
"So... A date, huh?" Spoke a familiar voice, nearly devoid of all his cheer and enthusiasm. The only joy left in his voice was for naught but mockery.
He was upset... Perhaps, rightfully so.
"Dandy... I... I already told you, it wasn't like that..." Astro muttered, sighing as he closed his locker's door, looking down at the ground. He felt those eyes glare into his back, boring through his being and staring right into his soul.
Dandy knew far more about him than Astro understood.
"Oh yeah...? You got asked to go out... And your final decision was to go on a date with said asker... Is there even a need for an explanation?" Dandy replied, looking visibly annoyed despite that everlasting smile.
"Sprout doesn't like me like that... I promise you. He was feeling down.. So I just suggested hanging out together. As friends." Astro sighed, trying his best to clarify and turning around to look down at the chubbier guy.
"Right.. And care to remind me... When was the last time we went on a date? Many months ago... You were always so busy each time I asked... Yet not for Sprout, apparently." Dandy let out. Astro knew he was angry but... He sounded like a jealous kid, upset that his favorite person in the whole world gave someone else, someone unrelated, attention.
"So... Do you want to go out tonight?" Astro suddenly asked, looking down at Dandy with a soft smile this time, to which Dandy paused.
His eyes softened as did his expression. His body language became more relaxed, his eyes widened and Astro could swear he saw a wide blown grin beginning to form on his face before the other shook it off and pouted, looking away.
"...perhaps it'll do fine... Just this once." Dandy muttered, blushing softly. It was always adorable to see Dandy blush, he just looked too cute with that defiant glint in his usually cheery eyes.
"Alright... We'll go to Ginger's cafe then... Maybe grab a few cookies to take home too." Astro suggested in his soft, low voice, smiling down at his precious light blonde.
"Fine. That sounds like a decent enough plan!" Dandy declared, crossing his arms with a huff and a smile.
Astro had pleased him with his answers, it seemed... But still... He had only calmed the storm brewing inside Dandy's mind, a storm soon to be unleashed upon his dear friend Sprout very soon, although none of it was really his fault... Astro felt guilty for it but he knew Dandy saw Sprout as a little brother, so most likely no harmful measures.
"Then... Shall we head to Math?" Astro asked, to which Dandy scoffed.
"Only on the condition that I get a kiss first..." Dandy answered with his cheeky smile back on his face, his mood clearly elevated now.
"Ah, but of course..." Astro answered with a soft giggle of his own.
Perhaps Dandy deserved to have a little treat before class, considering how Astro had slightly neglected him due to his own duties...
--
"Cosmo..!" Yelled out a soft voice, waving in the air to catch the brunette's attention.
Cosmo immediately turned to the source of the call, recognising the owner to be none other than his good friend and 'student', Boxten.
Cosmo smiled as he walked over to Boxten and his smaller group of friends, much less popular.
Being much less popular also came with a price though... Especially when with..
Boxten at first had noticed the taller but had assumed it was just a coincidence... He would've never guessed Sprout would be following Cosmo around?!
Sprout seemed to be on his phone, scowling however his attention also seemed to be on Cosmo as he followed the shorter around without a care in the world.
So devoid of worries that... He forgot he was a popular, busy dude, even rumoured to be the strictest member of the student council.
"Good morning Boxten! Did you sleep well?" Cosmo approached the other, smiling as usual.
"Cosmo... I think we should... Talk on the way to class, h-huh?" Boxten suggested, surely Sprout being here was just a coincidence and they could just move away slowly and then all would be well-
"Is that SPROUT?" yelled a booming loud voice, energetic as could be as she ran over, Poppy stopped right next to Boxten, looking awe-struck.
"Uhm... Poppy-"
"Why is HE here? You made friends with ANOTHER popular kid?" Exclaimed Yatta from behind Cosmo, shocking the other and making him yelp.
"U-uhm... Yeah?" Cosmo let out, sounding a bit confused. Was it really such a big deal? Cosmo was already friends with a lot of popular kids, despite not being popular himself, Vee, Shelly, Astro, Dandy and many more...
"You do know that guy is SO busy and all the girls are just always fawning over the little attention he sometimes gives one, right?!" Poppy asked, baffled by Cosmo's ignorance.
"Geez! How would you even survive here without friends?!" Poppy sighed, before she grinned. "I guess your obliviousness could be considered cute!"
What a weirdly optimistic lass...
"Cosmo.. Let me walk you to your locker." Sprout suddenly chimed in, grumbling at his phone one last time and sliding it into his pocket.
"Oh.. Uh, sure thing!" Cosmo smiled happily, turning to face him.
Sprout passed a glance to Cosmo's friends, recognising only the baking club's 'leader', Yatta out of the bunch... He wasn't very well versed with his schoolmates.
Sprout looked back at Cosmo, signalling his head towards the lockers before Cosmo began walking first, Sprout following behind. Stalking behind Cosmo came like second nature to him...
Maybe that was a bit creepy if you pondered over it for too long... Sprout paused and shook his thoughts off, catching upto Cosmo with ease as he walked beside him and began chatting about whatnot.
"Okay so... What do we think? Totally in love, right?" Poppy muttered, crossing her arms as she watched the two disappear down the hallway.
"Definitely..."
"TotALLY!"
--
As the pair reached the boring ol' locker room. Seriously... Why did kids even think about hanging around this place? The paint was even cracking from how long this place had been neglected maintenance.
Sprout turned to Cosmo, who was fumbling with his locker. He noted that Cosmo's locker area was much farther from Sprout's locker in the student council... How annoying.
Still, it wouldn't stop him from pestering the younger who was currently failing miserably at opening his locker.
"Did you forget the code or something?" Sprout asked, turning to the shorter who struggled. Cosmo looked up at him and sighed, "No... It just jams in place every so often... It's really annoying, especially when you're late for class!" Cosmo sighed, trying to pull the locker open.
"Hey, lemme try." Sprout smiled, taking over, not much to Cosmo's will. Heh, this way he could impress the other and show off his strength! Maybe put in those extra hours spent at the boxing class to good use-
It wouldn't budge.
Sprout pulled again, harder this time but it still didn't budge a bit... Not even as much as it was budging for Cosmo...
Oh geez... Was Sprout weak?! This was gonna be embarrassing..!
"No... You're doing it wrong... Here." Cosmo mumbled, stepping in but standing behind Sprout and showing him the correct method to pull the broken locker.
Sprout could barely pay attention to what he was saying... His hand was right over Sprout's and he was way too close behind him!
Sprout nodded, having only understood him halfway before he suddenly jerked his hand back and voila! The locker door opened.
Maybe Sprout should file a complaint regarding the school's lockers... Or maybe raise a question in the next meeting...
"Eh..? Bobette gave this to you?" from the sweet voice next to him pulled him out of his thoughts, making Sprout look up at who Cosmo was conversing with, with an unintentional sour expression. As if he was deeply troubled by the interruption to his time alone with the other.
"Oh, yeah! She asked me to deliver this to ya. She said she was sent by a special someone." Spoke the unreasonably cheerful voice belonging to Dandy, a big grin on his face as he handed a bag to Cosmo. Then, his eyes suddenly fell on Sprout.
He looked..
Angry?
Was he angry at Sprout? What for? They had yet to argue today! Maybe he was in a bad mood after encountering Vee?
"You seem unusually happy, Sprout." Dandy spoke in an eerily calm tone, smiling up at the taller, who only furrowed his brows in response, trying to read the blonde.
"Did I do something wrong?" Sprout asked, crossing his arms as Cosmo quietly slipped past them, much to Sprout's dismay.
"Nope! I just think you had a swell time last Friday!" Dandy grinned, but it was a grin that didn't reach his eyes. Sprout had known the president long enough to know he was bubbling with rage.
"...Friday...?" Sprout trailed off, before he suddenly remembered his 'date' with Astro, which had turned more into him embarrassing himself... But it also led to him getting to spend more time with Cosmo!
Wait a damn minute... How did Dandy know about Friday? Did Astro tell him? I mean, it wouldn't be a surprise seeing how close the two were but-
"Ah, you remember. Didn't you just have... Fun?" Dandy asked, a slight hint of madness swirling in his eyes, which would've gone unnoticed by anyone who was not as familiar with Dandy as Sprout...
He gulped the fear creeping up his spine down, why the hell was Dandy so upset about him and Astro going out anyway? Its not like-
"Hey, you two... Is everything okay?" Cosmo's voice pulled them both out the seemingly staring contest going on. He looked at either of them, a bit confused yet worried all the same.
"Everything's just... Well, for a lack of a better word, dandy, Cosmo!" Dandy giggled, ruffling the brunette's locks who whined in protest. His entire demeanor shifted, but they weren't his actual emotions at the moment, Sprout could swear he still saw the lingering anger.
But before Sprout could say anything else, his eyes landed on Cosmo, now standing in a change of clothes. He was wearing a pink hoodie this time, hands buried in the kangaroo pocket, also sporting a similar pair of white shorts as before.
Wait... He changed his clothes? When?-
"Ginger's pretty good at the whole fashion ordeal, isn't she?" Dandy suddenly asked and Cosmo sighed,
"She's way against me wearing hoodies... I can practically hear her scolding playing in my head..." Cosmo mumbled, his head drooped low. Ginger's nagging played from word to word in his head, having grown quite accustomed to it everytime he'd get ready for school; "Gosh.. Cuz, you'd definitely EAT in any good clothes... But you just gotta stick to those boring ol' plain hoodies! You should at least let me style them... God, how are we even related when you have this bad of a fashion sense! You were LITERALLY made for!-"
Enough!
Cosmo shook his head rapidly, pausing as he suddenly noticed two very persistent eyes staring down at him. He looked at the source of the glare, only to find Sprout just staring, unblinking.
Did he look that bad that Sprout's mind couldn't even grasp the fact he looked that horrible?!
Well, not quite.. Because over in the ginger's head, there was only one thought regarding Cosmo,
Cute...
Dandy seemed to have noticed the unusual behavior of the ginger, crossing his arms as he raised a brow at this questionable change in the taller's demeanor.
"Uh, Sprout... Is everything alright?" Cosmo asked first, having that very familiar glint of concern and nervousness mixed together in his eyes as he met Sprout's intense, silent gaze. He felt like he was being judged from head to toe here! What was going on?!
"Huh?" Out came the confused response as Sprout slowly blinked before he shook his head and tried to smile softly. (Keyword; tried)
It ended up concerning Cosmo even more... Did he look that bad in this hoodie that Sprout just couldn't believe his eyes at the absolute abomination he was laying his eyes upon?!
Sprout didn't seem like the person to judge appearances though... Did he?
"Oh, finally found you. Cosmo, I went around like... The entire school trying to find you." Entered a new voice, with a distinct taste of sass and confidence as he strode over to the shorter.
Glisten stood there, poking Cosmo's cheek. "Yatta was all over the place, going crazy for you, y'know? Well, she does have a habit of going feral for seemingly no reason though." He hummed, crossing his arms. The blonde turned to look at the company and simply waved at Dandy who smiled back his usual.
"Hope you both don't mind me taking Cosmo. Urgent work at the club, Yatta said." Glisten shrugged, pulling Cosmo along before anyone could utter a word of opposition.. That guy sure knew how to handle urgency.
"Aw man.." Sprout caught himself mumbling under his breath, sighing softly.
"Uhm, yeah, sorry, what were you saying earlier?" Sprout suddenly questioned, turning his head to Dandy in a speed never before recorded!
"I... Nevermind that. Do you see how obvious you are?" Dandy asked instead, firmly planting his hands on his waist.
"Eh..? Obvious?" Sprout tried to play dumb... Of course he knew... He was crazy... Mad... Obsessed with that short brunette guy!
It had been driving his brain wild... How could Sprout... Someone who's never shown any interest in anyone... Suddenly become obsessed with the idea of a baker in a hoodie?! A baker with a freakishly adorable and endearing smile?!
"Okay, bro... I get it. You've got your first, puppy love." Dandy said, shrugging casually, "But atleast.. Try to act like a grown up." He added, as if rubbing salt into the wound.
That was just the thing... Sprout had no clue how to act around Cosmo!
He was probably looking like a lovesick creep around the other.. And he had no clue on how to counter that!
"Well.. What do you suggest I do?" Sprout found himself asking Dandy, of all people, advice on how to be... Normal.
"Wrong person, but I'll help. I usually grin at everyone, no one can tell who actually gets my real grin!" Dandy exclaimed proudly, but it didn't take a genius to guess who the right person was for him...
Even Sprout had noticed how Dandy somehow got quiet around Astro, especially on the days the other was dozing off a bit too much, even giving his rather unpleasant smile to those who dare to disturb Astro's small power naps around campus.
"I hope you know you look like an absolute mentally insane person when you do... Well, that." Sprout said, pointing at the suspiciously big grin on Dandy's face that didn't reach his slightly widened eyes.
"Oh really? Thanks for the life changing comment." Dandy replied, clearly sarcastic behind that optimistic tone.
Great so... Dandy was no help.
And Sprout couldn't just continue looking like a weirdo infront of Cosmo... He had to do... Something!
He found himself approaching Shelly next, in a free period, reading a book about... Well, dinosaurs. Classic Shelly. She was sitting unbothered... Or rather, ignored.
"Hey, Shells." Sprout let out and was met with an ecstatic screech,
"Yes?!" Shelly let out before she cleared her throat and smiled a softer one instead of her toothy grin,
"I mean.. Ahem.. Yeah, Sprout? Can I help you in any way?"
"Uhm... Well, yeah." Sprout sighed as he took a seat next to Shelly on the bench, hunching over and placing his elbows on his thighs for support.
"How do I deal with my feelings?"
"Your feelings towards Cosmo?"
"Oh come on, does the entire school know about that now?!" Sprout yelled, taken aback by how even Shelly had noticed...
"Hehe... Its really easy to see, Sprout... You have a crush on my friend! I see how you smile at him and how... How energized you seem around him!"
Ouch... That hit the nail dead right into the head.
"Okay, okay, enough of that... What ro you think I should do to.. well, not be so obvious?" Sprout said, trying not to let any of his embarrassment show on his face. Shelly was always so... Innocently oblivious.
"Uhm... Well... I dunno." Shelly muttered, looking as if she was trying her hardest to think. She smacked her head with a fist, puffing her cheeks up as she tried thinking...
Sprout was more concerned with how she kept hitting herself in the head, and before he knew it, he reached forward to grab her hand and pull i5 away. "You're gonna damage your head, Shelly!" He scolded in.. Well, Classic Sprout fashion!
"Ohh!" Shelly frowned suddenly, looking over, "I dunno how to help you, Sprout! I was thinking of using my own experiences to help but..." Shelly trailed off, now turning a bright shade of red.
"But... You've only had that kind of experience with Vee and you giggled like a kid in love around her and stuff, which apparently made her confess to you." Sprout said in her stead, which caused Shelly to turn even redder.
"Ahh.. Well... Yeah... That's true." She giggled again, kicking her feet in the air a bit as she was reminded of a sweet memory.
But Sprout only got one thing out of this interaction;
All his friends were sore losers!
Weirdos, even... Why were they popular to begin with?!
Sprout could already guess what Vee or Astro would say, Astro would probably say something like 'talk it out' while Vee would probably decide making fun of Sprout was the much more significant task at hand.
Sprout bid goodbye to Shelly, lost in thought as he walked through the hallway, sighing. He was so torn apart... He had no clue what to do!
On one end, he did want Cosmo to notice his crushing feelings but... On the other, he felt they were moving at the speed of a falcon and didn't want to make a move too early.
But he also didn't know how to act 'normal' around Cosmo!
Sprout was so dang lost in thought infact, he didn't even notice someone standing in his way, resulting in them almost landing face first on the ground if it was not for Sprout's reflexes to immediately grab them.
"Oh shit- sorry!" Sprout let out, his hand instinctively wrapped around their waist before they huffed and turned around, a brow raised.
It was Glisten and.. Oh boy, he did not look amused.
"Off with the hand before anyone here gets the wrong idea, thank you very much." Glisten spoke with the same filling of confidence mixed into a sassy attitude.
He reminded Sprout a lot of Vee...
"Right, sorry." Sprout said, instantly pulling his hand back as the other crossed his arms.
"Now, spill. Why are you so not in your own head?" Glisten asked, curiousness hidden behind his seemingly stuck up attitude.
"I... Uh, nothing much. I'm really sorry for bumping into you, Glisten." Sprout murmured, trying his best to navigate these treacherous waters he was to meet a fate even worse than death in, to be judged!
Glisten observed Sprout for a good 30 seconds, looking him and down before he sighed. Sprout felt relief fill his veins before the blonde spoke,
"Okay, so you're concerned about looking stupid in front of Cosmo with those lovesick expressions, am I right or am I right?" Glisten asked, incredibly confident in his ability to read people as he checked his nails one time, only to boost his own ego.
"I..." Sprout would have had a snarky reply... If Glisten was not dead center right.
"Oh, nevermind, you don't need to tell me. I'm always right!" Glisten boasted with a giggle, looking rather proud of himself before he shook his head and spoke, "I'll give you a word of advice."
"Try not to focus on Cosmo's features too much, just look into his eyes or at his lips and focus on his words. Then, respond how you normally would to anyone else." Glisten shrugged simply, smiling out of pure pride.
This interaction had surely boosted someone's confidence... And it wasn't Sprout.
"Yeah, thanks.. I'll keep that in mind." Sprout mumbled.
"Oh, no, no, I'm not finished. Cosmo doesn't notice stupid expressions on people when he's focused, like baking. At all, trust me, I've seen Yatta make the most down horrendous expressions right in his face and he didn't bat an eye!" Glisten said, making it to sound more dramatic than it was. But it was a good observation.
Cosmo only focused on one task at an instance, and wouldn't lose focus on it until he had finished it. It was a great tip!
Well, for Sprout, someone who seemingly lost control of the steering wheel in his brain at the sight of Cosmo, it was.
Sprout hummed in agreement to Glisten's words but before he knew it, he was roped into a full on lecture of all the different quirks and weird things Cosmo did sometimes.
To be fairly honest, Sprout probably didn't even remember half of those. Glisten had fed too much information into his brain but he had a general idea on how to behave around Cosmo now!
Subtle glances, subtle touches... Yeah!
"Wait, Glisten! What was Cosmo called for earlier?" Sprout suddenly asked as Glisten was about to leave. (Oh, Its Literature class right now! He NEEDS to see what gorgeous dress Ms. Teagan came in today!)
"Something about an oven breaking down, I don't know for sure. Was too busy after dropping your puppy love off." Glisten said, waving to Sprout with his back to the taller, walking off.
Huh... An oven breakdown...? Why would that need Cosmo's attention?!
Well, Sprout would have to check on that another time. He didn't want to be late to Mr. Rodger's class... No.. That would end... Badly, to say the least.
Maybe he'd end up doing a whole research paper on a serious thievery case this time!