Work Text:
A gentle breeze stirred the trees and flowers, making them sway with the wind. The way that the gold rays fell on Cosmo's eyes was absolutely mesmerizing. At least Sprout thought so. It was plain to see—Cosmo was flawlessness in his eyes.
Sprout closed his eyes for a moment, letting himself bask in the tranquil warmth of the sun. He lay on the soft, sunlit grass beside Cosmo, without a single worry in his mind. There was nothing more he could ever ask for. They didn't even need to be having an active conversation — everything about the moment was perfection in itself.
"So, Cos, what should we do after this?" He asked, waiting for an answer. Silence.
When he sat up and turned, he realized that Cosmo had dozed off. Tilting his head, he chuckled softly. He didn't want to wake him up, not when there was nothing to rush about. Maybe he could sit like this, just for a little while, before getting back to whatever responsibilities he had.
"Huh? What did you say? I was resting my eyes." The cake roll toon woke up, giving Sprout a sincere grin.
"Oh! You're awake! I just wanted to ask what we were gonna do after.." Sprout trailed off, letting out a yawn. Honestly, he just wanted to stay here forever. He didn't feel like getting up and doing anything else when he had everything he could ever want here. "Has anyone ever told you how nice your eyes look in the light?" He blurted without a thought.
A flustered Cosmo opened his mouth as if to speak, but the words seemed to get stuck. His eyes really did look nice in the light.
Sprout's eyes widened as he quickly covered his face in his hands. "Sorry! I just-"
"Well," Cosmo interrupted. "Has anyone ever told you that the way your leaf hair blows in the breeze is really pretty?"
He felt his already red face grow warmer with the unexpected compliment. He had so much more he wanted to tell Cosmo, like how warm his hands were, or how his smile could light up the mood of everyone nearby, but he's saving that for another day.
Their gazes were warmer than the sun above them, as the two sat together, lost in the comfortable quietness of the moment. They both tried to think of what to do next, but the time passed like the moment was nothing.
Time passed like the moment was nothing. Was it ever really anything, anyways? Sometimes, Sprout tries to remember how the sun felt that day. The warmth, Cosmo's smile, the gentle breeze—but the memories slip through his fingers more and more as what used to be an educational children's center fades into a dull, lifeless hell.
Sprout aimlessly wanders around the abandoned halls of Gardenview. Or at least, a shell of what was Sprout. What is he anymore? The ichor in his lungs and throat makes it difficult to remember anything but the unbearable pain now.
He doesn't exactly remember when this happened or how this happened, all he was sure of was that he was much taller and that his legs, torso, half his face, and his left arm were covered in ichor. He'd rather just die than stay like this for the rest of eternity.
Whenever he tries to speak, his throat burns as if glass was lodged in it. The sounds that escape are anything but his voice anymore—they're ugly, hoarse, twisted shrieks and groans that sound nothing toon-like at all.
The fluorescent lights emit a lifeless buzz, a pale imitation of the sun's warmth. They could never be anything compared to *Cosmo's* warmth. He'd give anything to sit in the sun with Cosmo, just once again, before he accepted this miserable fate.
There was nothing left to do but rot in the abandoned diner. The abandoned diner that would never hear the laughs of children again. He couldn't sit anywhere other than the floor either, the diner chairs were too small for his size now.
He let out a hoarse sigh before he heard an elevator ding. Someone got them working. Someone's here. Someone's here!
He immediately went there to investigate who had come, leaving footsteps of ichor on the floor. His gaze fixated on the elevator door as it opened to reveal a smaller toon. A *cake roll* toon. Or moreso a cake roll twisted, considering what was left of him. That face that Sprout cherished so much, even though half of it was now obscured by ichor, was one he'd recognize anywhere, no matter what had happened.
He wished, with every single fiber of his being, that he could say how much he missed Cosmo, no, how much he loved Cosmo. But all he can do is give him a big hug, trembling as he wrapped his arms around his best friend once again, after what felt like an eternity of being separated from each other. For a moment, he could almost pretend - pretend as if time had barely passed, as if Gardenview wasn't abandoned, as if they weren't overcome by ichor. In that situation, a hug was more than enough for him. A hug was everything for him.
Wow. His eyes still look beautiful in artificial light.
Cosmo didn't hesitate. He didn't flinch away from what Sprout had become. He hugged his best friend back. The size difference made him feel small, but that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered right now is that they'd found each other again, after who knows how long.
"Sprout! Is that really you?" Cosmo's voice cracked with a trace of hope still left. Hope that the Sprout he had always known, the Sprout that he had grown close with, was still there, somewhere beneath the ichor.
Sprout's heart sank when the thought occurred to him that he couldn't give Cosmo an answer—only a weak, broken mutter that echoed through the empty diner. He knew that the words would never come out, but hopefully Cosmo would still understand.
He can't help but wonder—what would've been if none of this had happened, if they had continued living normal lives, if the wretched ichor operation never was? What would've been if they were two other people who didn't need to say goodbye?
They didn't know what they were going to do, how they were going to get everything back to normal, or even if getting everything back to normal was possible, but that was something they were going to think about later. The only thought on their minds for now was each other.