Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Solo runs, Boxten always hated them, but since he’s a starter toon he always finds himself in the elevator alone. He never tried to push the others to take him with them like Poppy did. He just preferred to keep to himself and go only when they needed an extra to fill the elevator.

This time was particularly unsettling as Boxten had made it to the 12 floor without getting hit(somehow) and Dandy had been selling good items the whole run. All of his newfound confidence in himself quickly left his body as he heard the sounds of soft growling and adds popping up in his vision.

-Double mains, just my luck- he thought as he crept towards the edge of the elevator. He saw a flash of the big dog through the tinted window, breath quickening as it turned his direction. Boxten did a small dash behind some boxes in hope that the distorted version of the lovable puppy wouldn’t be able to see him. And just as luck would have it, he was seen at the last second. -Dam his good vision- Boxten cursed in his head as he ate a speed candy, barely avoiding the nasty jaws of twisted pebble.

Heart racing even faster Boxten ran until he ran out of stamina and out of pebbles view. -Oh god, it’s a dead end- in the midst of his panic the music box hadn’t realized that he had got himself stuck in the worst corner of the map, the pantry. -There’s no where to run in this dam bakery, I’ll have to try and slip past him again-.

Boxten peered from behind the shelf that enclosed him, checking for Vee or pebble. The sound of low snarling quickly made him freeze in place as he saw the dog coming towards him with adds obscuring his vision. While closing the many adds he realized that Vee had caught sight of him and was dashing towards his location. In the realization of what was happening, Boxten ran in a U turn flipping the TV around so that he wouldn’t have to face pebble while also being chased. (He saw Goob do it once while distracting so he wanted to try).

Boxten was able to run for a little bit before he was slowed by Vee, resulting in her getting a hit. -At least I have a band aid- he thought while putting it on and hiding behind the counter by the broken elevator. Boxten sighed as the glitching sounds cued when Vee lost sight. -now where is pebble at, he didn’t catch sight of me even though I heard him nearby- his thoughts were quickly answered as he saw the tall head bob up and down from above the stack of boxes on the other side of the room. -Please just not turn this way, they never check this spot so why now-.

The purple toon continued to watch pebble as he saw it move in the opposite direction, sighing with relief. Upon feeling a little safer Boxten started to work on machines getting three finished without having either of the mains spot him. All that was left was the machine he left near the elevator so that he wouldn’t have to run so far in panic mode. -This should be easy- he thought, but little did he know it was only the beginning of a nightmare.

When Boxten walked through the chambers, he hadn’t looked if anything was around the corner and when he did turn. *crunch*. Pebble had gotten a hit and Boxten wasn’t going to risk being chased by pebble, so he took the pause time to make a run for it as far as possible. Not learning from his mistakes he runs face first into Vee, taking another hit. -This isn’t good, all I had was that band aid-. Again taking advantage of the time twisteds take after hitting someone, Boxten was able to make it out of the chambers and to the last machine(which he partially did before he was chased by pebble the first time) finishing it in a couple seconds and rushing toward the elevator.

With all the adrenaline going through boxtens body, he was practically shaking to his core. Only with the sound of Dandy’s shop snapping him out of the trance. All he could do at the time was look at a concerned Dandy and sniffle on the verge of tears.

“I’d like to go back up please.”

“Sure thing.”

Dandy looked at Boxten with worry and got out of his shop stand, heading towards him.

“Don’t worry, if it would make you feel any better you could come over to my room later and talk to me about it.”

“I think I’d like that.”

Dandy held Boxten in a hug until they reached the main floor of Garden View. Instead letting go and just holding his hand as they walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

In the kitchen/eating area they found Sprout and Cosmo backing something with Poppy, Scraps, Astro, and Brightney sitting at a table together.

The moment they walked in all eyes locked onto Boxten, noting the bite marks and scratches the two mains had inflicted upon him. No one mentioned the two toons holding hands but it was well observed by the others in the room. After a second of silence, Astro got up from the table and made his way towards the two.

“What happened to him?”

“Two mains on a solo run.”

“Oh, which ones if I may ask.”

“Vee and pebble.”

“Wow, impressive you survived on your own, good job Boxten.”

Chapter Text

Boxten’s face became a light shade of pink, blushing at the compliment from the main toon. Dandy saw the way it made the other’s face light up, a bit of jealousy rising.
(They’re still holding hands btw)

Dandy started talking “So about coming to my room, would you like to eat dinner with the other toons or just go straight there getting something to eat on the way?”

“Oh, I’d like to eat with the others, it feels kinda awkward that a basic toon would be invited to and eat with the main character y’know.” Boxten said a little quiet, he would never admit to the other’s faces, but he liked Dandy and Astro. Not just as a friend, he was trying to avoid being alone with the other for as long as possible so he wouldn’t malfunction from all the attention he was getting. “Not to be rude or anything, I just don’t like being the center of attention, heh….” Boxten trailed off not wanting to make the conversation even more awkward.

“That’s a valid reason,” dandy knew the shy toon had a bit of stage fright, so he understood. Although it was already killing him that he couldn’t spend time with Boxten already. -just a little more time and then you can tell him- “so how about we go already, more time the spend later if we eat now.”

Boxten nodded his head and started walking with Dandy towards the other side of the kitchen where Sprout and Cosmo were making dinner for the toons. It smelled good, bread and seasonings all mixed together making a delightful aroma. When they approached the food toons they saw a delicious looking loaf of bread and an assortment of fruits and veggies.

Cosmo turned around and saw the others, greeting them politely “Well hello Boxten and Dandy, you come to see what we’re making?” Dandy nodded and Cosmo continued “We were feeling a little creative tonight so we made a loaf of bread, fruit/veggie plate, and the main dish is roasted chicken.”

Dandy replied, “That sounds nice!”

After Cosmo listed the food they heard Sprout yell “Dinners ready!” Signaling that they could start eating.

Once over at the counter with all the food spread out, the toons let go of each others hand so they could get their plates. Boxten hadn’t grabbed much to eat, just a plain piece of bread with a couple strawberries. On the other hand dandy had an assortment of different fruits and a slice of bread with butter.

Dandy faced Boxten who he assumed was done getting food. “I’m not really feeling chicken tonight so if you’re ready let’s go sit down.”

Boxten only smiled at Dandy and they both walked in the direction of Poppy and Scraps who were sitting together.

“Hey Poppy” Boxten said before reaching the table, “is it ok if Dandy sits with us tonight?”

“Of course! He's always welcome to sit with us.” Poppy replied at they both sat down.

Everyone was enjoying their meal and making small talk, but all Boxten could think about was the flower sitting next to him. His petals, smile, eyes, just everything about him was pretty. He hadn’t even noticed he was staring until he heard someone ask.

“You ok Boxten?” It was scraps who had noticed the toon spacing off, he hadn’t even touched his food and they had been there for 10 minutes now. Well, he didn’t feel hungry so he just took a bite of bread as to not worry the other toons.

“Yeah, just a little tired is all, if it’s ok I think we’ll be heading off now.”

“Ok, bye Boxten, hope you don’t get anymore nightmares.”

“Thanks, bye.” Both of the toons stood up from the table and cleaned their plates before heading towards the elevator. It was quiet for a while as it was a bit of a walk to Dandy’s room.

The silence was broken by Dandy who asked “What did Poppy mean by nightmares, hasn’t Astro been giving you good dreams?”

“He says that he does… and I believe him, it’s just that they don’t seem to be getting to me. Kind of like a barrier that blocks his good dreams getting to me…” Boxten paused for a second, realizing how absurd he must sound, “I know that Astros a good person and he wouldn’t just give me nightmares on purpose, so it’s either he doesn’t understand what a good dream is to me or it’s some kind of other thing that’s stopping him.”

“Well hey, how about we figure it out. We can invite Astro over too.” Dandy wasn’t keen on the idea of sharing Boxten for the time, but Astro wasn’t so bad and he actually kind of liked him. Not as much as Boxten though. He would do anything for Boxten to feel better, and this was the least he could do.

Boxten replied “I think that would be ok.” -oh no, I’m now going to be alone with both of my crushes, this is going to be a disaster- his mind spun at the thought of having all the attention of Dandy and Astro at the same time. It was going to be a long day.

They had finally made it to Dandy’s room and they had been able to call Astro through the cable phone in the dining room, due to Dandy having one in his room. Luckily he was still talking to some toons when they called and he was in the area. It would be a minute until Astro would be there, so they sat down on Dandy’s bed, Boxten being hesitant, and in the time they had Boxten told Dandy the details about the floor he was on.

“I was stuck in the pantry and both twisted pebble and Vee were coming from both sides, I would rather run away from Vee so I ran in her direction. Unfortunately I was out of stamina so I got hit.” Dandy had never seen Boxten’s this talkative but he really enjoyed hearing his voice. After a few minutes of talking they hear a knock on the door.

“You can come in.” Dandy loudly says so that the sleepy toon could hear through the door.

They watch as the door creeks open to reveal Astro, he seemed to have brought extra blankets and pillows. They stood for a second before walking toward the others and placing the blankets down on the bed they sat on.

“I hope it’s ok I brought some things, these will help me concentrate when finding out what’s causing Boxten’s nightmares, or preventing me from giving him good ones.” Astro had climbed on to the bed with the other two and they started to converse more, sharing funny stories and just general small talk.

It had been about 40 minutes since Astro arrived and they decided to try and figure out Boxten’s nightmares, as they had nothing else to do. Astro directed Boxten to lay with a pillow in his lap so that he could start to look at Boxten’s dreams. Dandy felt a bit of jealousy seeing Boxten in Astros lap, he’ll just have to wait but Boxten’s problem was more important right now.

“I do need you to fall asleep so if you could try and do that it would be appreciated.”

“Oh yeah, of course.”

Boxten closed his eyes and with the soothing sound of Astros humming he was able to drift into the dream world. They knew he was fully asleep by the sound of his music box playing and the key on the back of his head turning.

“He looks peaceful when he’s asleep” Astro whispered as to not stir the other toon. After a few minutes of Boxten’s sleeping, they heard a disruption in the steady song, a loud out of tune note setting the whole melody off. Astro started to use his ability and looked into Boxten’s dream. It was a nightmare alright, and one about the floor he was on today. Pebble chasing him and running into Vee, it didn’t look pleasant.

After a few moments of observing Astro started to make a new, happier dream, one where Boxten’s was in a safe place surrounded by his friends. It looked like a wonderful dream to want and Astro started to place the dream into Boxten’s head. It seemed to be working until Astro flinched back, as if he was shocked.

“That isn’t supposed to happen, why isn’t it working?”

Worry started to spread on the blue moons face as he tried again, and a third time, and a fourth. But every time he was shocked away. He was bout to try a fifth time when he felt a tug on his blanket.

“Look at this” Dandy pointed to the edge of Boxten’s clasp(the little thing that keeps his head locked.

And when Astro looks he knows exactly what he’s talking about, a little bit of ichor spilling out from the inside. Dandy looks at Astro as if he knew what to do, and he said “should we see what it is, it might be why you can’t give Boxten good dreams.”

“Yeah, let’s just be careful, it could mess up the mechanism in his head.”

Both help prop Boxten up against some pillows and look at him closer. He's still asleep but he seems to be on the edge of waking up. Dandy flips the little latch keeping the top shut and opens it. Inside they see a small puddle of ichor, jamming up a couple small cogs.

“Well I think we found what we were looking for.” Dandy stated, looking at Astro “should we wake him up and then clean it or…”

“Let’s wake him up. He looks quite uncomfortable in the moment.”

Dandy lightly shakes Boxten’s shoulder, waking the toon up with a gasp for air. Boxten’s heart beat wasn’t slowing down anytime soon but the sight of Dandy and Astro calmed him a bit. He let out a small stifle before lightly crying. Dandy pulled him into a hug and Astro wrapped his blanket around them all.

“Hey Boxten, we think we found what was causing your nightmares.”

“Wha… what is it”

“We found a trace of ichor in your head and it’s blocking a couple cogs, we wanted to wake you so then we could clean it” Astro explained.

“Ok, I just don’t want these nightmares anymore”

Dandy got up from where he was sitting “I’m going to go get something to clean it up, I’ll be back in a second”

Chapter Text

Sorry for not updating in a while, tests had come up in school and I was studying a lot ^\__/^ I will probably post a new chapter soon but I’m out of ideas. If there anything you’d like to see continuing this fic, I would love to write it for you:D I also wouldn’t mind writing about different ships in other fics >w< I’ll be writing a BerryFunny fic in the next week or so, just depends on my motivation and school :p

Chapter Text

Dandy left the room, leaving the other two alone. He headed towards the nearby staff room that was mainly used by Tisha to get cleaning supplies, and went inside. Looking around the dark space Dandy saw a roll of paper towels, cleaning spray, and a kind of rust prevalent. -This should do- he thought while picking up the items and rushing back to the room.

/with Astro and Boxten/

After a moment of silence, Astro starts talking “I’m glad we found what might be giving you those nightmares.”

“Me too, I always feel bad whenever I wake up Glisten or someone else because of my nightmares.” Boxten looked down at his hands, remembering all the times someone looked annoyed at him for waking them up.

Astro looked and the music box with sympathetic eyes as he hugged him, bringing them closer together.

“It’ll all be alright, once Dandy gets back with those cleaning supplies we can all rest with pleasant dreams tonight.”

When Astro was done talking, Dandy entered the room with the supplies in hand. He walked toward the bed and put the supplies next to the two while getting onto it himself.

“Let’s get started cleaning up your head, ok.” The flower said as he sprayed some of the cleaner in a paper towel.

Boxten looked at Dandy and moved so that he could reach the inside of his head. “Ok, just please be careful.”

Dandy took note of the other’s concern and moved with caution as to not mess anything up.

The shop owner started to soak up and clean the ichor from the little nooks in between the gears. He took a minute but eventually he had gotten the majority of ichor out. Dandy had never seen the mechanism that made the melodic sounds he enjoyed hearing so much, he was fascinated by how complex it actually was.

Dandy had been done with cleaning the ichor for a bit when he realized how long he had stared. Having been released from his trance he grabbed the rust prevalent to apply onto the gears, so that no rust could form from the ichor.

Dandy looked at the now clean gears then moved so that he was in front of Boxten “All done! Now you should have good dreams from now on.”

“Thanks Dandy and Astro, I know I’m only a normal toon and it’s your job to help others, but it means a lot that you helped me.”

Astro looked at Boxten with caring eyes and hugged him “Not to worry Boxten, you mean a lot to us and everyone, we wouldn’t want you to be tormented by those nightmares anymore.”

Dandy felt a bit of blush rising at the others thanks “Well, we still don’t know for sure yet, so let’s try and give you that good dream again.”

“Ok then”

Boxten layer his head back onto Astros lap and closed his eyes, falling asleep after a few minutes. Astro got to work making the dream again, the one of Boxten in a field full of flowers surrounded by friends. He brought the dream to the head of the box he was not shocked this time, but instead the dream disappeared into the other’s mind.

Astro looked at Dandy with a small smile on his face.

“I’m glad this worked.”

“Me too.”

Dandy looked away from Astro and forwarded his attention to the sleeping Boxten. “Hey Astro, can I tell you something.”

“Of course Dandy.”

“If I told you that I liked a certain person, how would you react.”

“Well I’m not one to judge who you like, but if it’s the person I think you’re thinking, we might have to share.”

Dandy looked at the other toon with a bit of confusion but also a bit of anticipation. “How about we give each other hints before saying the name, like a game of twenty questions.”

“Sounds fun, I’ll go first, my person has a shy demeanor.”

Dandy continued “My person has an interesting style choice, in a good way of course.”

“They are enjoyable to be around and have a good outlook on everyone they know.”

The two continued to describe the sleeping figure in front of them until they had both given ten details. After Dandy had asked the last question they both looked at eachother, knowing that they liked the same person.

Astro looked at the flower, “So, how will this work.”

“Well, if he likes us back, we could make it all three of us.”

“And if he only likes one of us?”

“We can figure it out from there.”

Astro fiddled with his blanket and looked at Boxten. “I’m not sure, but I’ll give it a try.”

Chapter Text

So sorry for not updating in a while >x< I haven’t had any motivation or time to really work on other chapters but I am trying to get one out soon, if you have any ideas I would be open to suggestions-w-

Chapter Text

After a moment of silence they both decided to go to sleep, not wanting to wake up Boxten. Eventually laying beside the sleeping figure and drifting off to sleep. They all slept peacefully until morning, when they woke up to the alarm in Dandy’s room.

Boxten slowly sat up, stuttering as he was only half awake. “Oh… is it really morning already?” He rubbed his eyes and looked over at Astro who mumbled and brought his blanket over his eyes, not wanting to wake up.

Dandy was the first to get up completely, being too lively for how early it was, he did have to open up his shop after all.

“Good morning you too! How’d you sleep?”

“Great actually, I didn’t have any nightmares.” Boxten seemed quite happy to have not had a nightmare that night.

Dandy smiled at the information “And how about you Astro?”

“Fine… I guess.”

“That’s good news! I have to go set up my shop for today so if you don’t mind I’ll be on my way!”

“Ok, see you later.” Boxten nervously smiled at Dandy as he watched him walk out the door, leaving the other two alone.

After Dandy was out of sight, Boxten started talking to Astro “So uhm, do you want to do anything.”

“Not anything that comes to mind…” Astro finally sits up and yawns, looking at Boxten thinking of anything they had to do today. “I don’t think we have any runs planned today.”

Boxten looked around the room as if trying to find something to do or talk about, that’s when he saw the little sprout plush sitting on one of Dandy’s shelves. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure cosmo said him and sprout were making pancakes for breakfast today.”

Astro looked pleased at the thought of pancakes to wake him up more “Let’s head down then, don’t want the pancakes getting cold.”

Boxten nodded and got out from under the blankets, having to half drag Astro out too before he fell back asleep. The two toons continued down the hall before Boxten realized that they were still in their sleeping cloths.

“Uhm… hey Astro, we’re still wearing our pajamas, shouldn’t we change?”

Astro looked unbothered as he covered up his sleeping wear with his blanket, but he cared for what Boxten wanted so he offered to let him borrow some of his clothes so they wouldn’t have to go all the way to Boxten’s room.

After Boxten hesitantly said sure to going to Astros room they only walked a few more meters before reaching the blue moons room. Upon entering Boxten looked in awe as he saw all the details and decorations that adorned the room.

Clearly never having been to Astros room Astro tried to make it a short visit so they could show him later, quickly making their way to the closet. In Astro’s closet were a couple different options, one his iconic blue blanket and another being a pink one. He also had regular cloths that didn’t have four sleeves for regular toons. Boxten looked at all the things he could choose from, not knowing what to wear.

Astro was also looking, but not for himself, instead seeing what he thinks would look good on Boxten. After looking for a second Astro used his magic to grab a plain short sleeve white shirt and a pair of overalls.

“Hey Boxten, how about you try this on.”

Boxten looked over in Astro’s direction and saw the outfit he picked out, it was cute, so he grabbed the cloths from him and went to change. Not only did the outfit look good but it was also comfortable, fitting him perfectly and being made of soft materials.

Boxten returned from changing and Astro was just looking in awe, admiring all the features he loved so much about the music box.

“It looks nice in you.” Astro commented with a soft tone.

“Oh… thank you!” Boxten was a little surprised at the compliment, becoming a bit flustered. He tried to control the small blush rising on his face, turning away from Astro.

Boxten wasn’t the best at hiding it despite his efforts and Astro caught a glimpse of his face, smiling that his comment made Boxten happy.

They finished up in Astros room and walked out into the hallway, making their way to the elevator, and going down to the dining room.

The sweet smell of pancakes and syrup filled the pair’s sense as they entered the dining room. Immediately upon entering they saw the two bakers at the stove, both flipping pancakes and preparing breakfast for the other toons. It was calm, a little too calm.

Everyone who were present were talking amongst each other, soaking in the small bit of quietness that came from the morning. All was well and Dandy(hehe, I’m not funny) until they heard a crash coming from the other side of the wall.

Boxten was a bit startled, shaken by the sudden noise. He only became concerned when he remembered that Dandy’s shop was located across the wall. He immediately grabbed Astros hand and ran frantically to the door, connecting the lobby and the kitchen.

Bursting through the door faster than he ran from pebble, Boxten rushed towards Dandy’s shop. Upon seeing the flower who had his arm stuck underneath a box, he climbed over the desk concerned.

The box seemed to have fallen from one of the tall shelves in the shop and was pretty heavy, due to this Boxten struggled to lift the box until eventually flipping it over, freeing dandy’s arm.

“Oh my god, are you okay Dandy?!” Boxten didn’t know what to say only being concerned if Dandy was ok.

Watching Dandy sit up and collect himself, Boxten grabbed his arms, trying to help him get to his feet.

“Oh, I’m fine. At least I think, it’s only a small tumble. Nothing I can’t handle!” Dandy exclaimed, being a bit too happy despite having a box just fall on his arm.

“Well that’s good.” Boxten sighed. Realizing he had left Astro outside of Dandy’s shop, he looked over to see them staring at Boxten.

“Sorry about that Astro, I didn’t mean to drag you into this.” He awkwardly laughed, looking away from Astro who seemed to be content with what just happened.

“As long as everyone is safe, I don’t mind if you drag me along.” They smiled at him, trying to signal that they weren’t opposed to Boxten taking them with him when they wanted to do something.

“Well that’s good, started to worry you were mad at me.” Boxten nervously scratched the back of his neck, not wanting to sound awkward.

“I don’t see a reason why I would be.”

Boxten only smiled at them, feeling appreciated.

Dandy seemed to had recovered from his fall(he fell from a ladder while getting the box down).

“I think I might go eat breakfast before I get back to work, mind if I join you two?”

“Not at all.”

“We would love to have you.”