Chapter Text
Looey had noticed that Sprout had been acting.. A little odd, recently. Cosmo had admitted that he wouldn’t join them for baking sessions as often, and seemed to only rarely come out of his room. Considering everything going on… Looey was worried. Extremely worried. Ever since the ichor operation had started, some of the toons had gotten.. Sick.
Very sick. They’d turn into terrible twisted versions of themselves, that Looey couldn’t bear to even think of. The ichor stained clothes, skin.. Glaring red eyes… A sharp toothed smile, or a griefed frown… Looey didn’t want to think about it. Luckily, Dandy and Astro had been working on ways to fix it, or at least sort of delay it. As long as you didn’t fully succumb to it, there was something to be done. This didn’t really apply to the copies of the toons that seemed to roam the elevator floors, Looey wasn’t really.. Sure what to think about those. He’d run into a twisted versions of themself once, it made him.. nervous, to say the least. It isn’t easy looking at an abomination sharing your reflection. As long as you weren’t as stubborn as some toon like Shrimpo, you’d be.. relatively fine.
Looey had thought about a million different things that could be wrong, and each and every single thing made him feel worse than the last. This had Looey make a quick decision, it was time for a wellness check. Sure, Cosmo being Sprout’s best friend probably should’ve had him being the one doing it, but Cosmo was far too busy. Especially with having to feed every toon on their own, with minimal help from other toons now that Sprout decided he’d rather rot in his room.
Looey wasn’t exactly sure what to bring, so he just got a serving of food or two (curtsey of Cosmo), some water bottles, and watermelon sour patch kids. Hey, even if he hadn’t been eating, not even Sprout could say no to watermelon sour patch kids, they were the best ones! Looey did a light knock on the door, to no avail. That was fine though, he wasn’t really expecting a response.
They still opened the door, making sure to at least announce their presence, “Hey, berry boy! It’s Looey!”
Looey frowned at the lack of response. He set the bag down, next to the small kitchenette. The mains rooms WERE much better than the regular toon, huh. It resembled more of a one room apartment, compared to the other toons that had more of a childhood bedroom type of feel. Looey glanced around before noticing the lump covered in a blanket, lying on Sprout’s bed. His mind immediately went dark as he was overtook with worry for his friend. They hesitated, before approaching Sprout. They didn’t lift the blanket, worried about what they’d find, but also generally wanting to have SOME semblance of respect for the toon. Instead, they opted to put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him.
“Hey..? Sprout? Wake up, it’s the middle of the day.” Looey said, a light hearted tone to his voice in an attempt to cover up any trace of concern for his friend. They didn’t want Sprout to think they were pitying him or something, he knew that Sprout wouldn’t accept help that way. Sprout always was so particular about being the helper rather than the helped.
“Mmph.” Sprout grunted, shoving Looey’s arm off of himself. He lifted the blanket, only enough to show his face. His leaves seemed.. outgrown. His smell wasn’t particularly awesome either, in fact it sort of smelled like rotting strawberries. Looey only seemed to now notice the state of disrepeair the berry’s room was in. “Why are you in my room?” Sprout muttered, his voice was dry and raspy. Looey could tell that he hadn’t drank nearly enough water recently, and was clearly paying the price for that.
“I wanted to check on you, man!” Sprout scoffed and rolled his eyes at Looey’s response. Looey flinced as the displeased attitude… he was just trying to help.
“I didn’t need that. It’s not like I’m sick or anything.” Sprout replied with a grumble, and Looey’s mood only dimmed further. This didn’t go without Sprout’s notice, but he didn’t have the energy to feel empathy for the balloon dog right now. He just wanted them out of his room, as quickly as convenient.
“Oh… I mean.. I was a little worried when you’d missed my last show, ahah… I guess, uh, you’re doing fine then?” Looey fiddled with his hands, what on earth was he saying? They regretted even speaking, but they didn’t want Sprout to think no one cared enough to check on him or something. “I got you some stuff, I left it by the kitchenette, but if you want I can set it by the bed..?” Looey added hesitantly, he didn’t want to provoke the toon or something.
Sprout grumbled under his breather, and his eye brows scrunched together as he stared at Looey. He sighed, “Don’t leave. I’m just in a cranky mood because you woke me up. Can we just.. Not talk for a little while?” Sprout said, turning on his side and closing his eyes, covering himself with the blanket once more.
Looey’s mood brightened quickly, he picked up the bag next to the sink, and sat it on the ground next to Sprout’s bed, clearing a spot for himself to sit as well. Sprout seemed a little more.. pleasant. Neither of them really spoke, but as Looey looked around the room he felt… bad.
It was a mess, Sprout’s room, and clearly mental health in general right now. Cosmo must’ve picked up on it too by now, but that poor toon was already far too busy to deal with any of this, and could only pop in for a little bit every once in a while. That couldn’t have made Sprout feel much better. Looey noticed the piles of dishes in the sink, the trash scattered next to his bed, and stars know what else. Looey genuinely couldn’t imagine how stressful this was.
That gave Looey an idea, he stood up, patting Sprout’s head, “Don’t mind me!” Sprout didn’t really seem to notice, and gave little protest. Well, that was until he heard Looey turn on the sink, and start humming to himself as he presumably started doing the dishes.
“H-hey?? Dude, what are you doing?” Sprout said, sitting up, he quickly pulled the blanket over himself though, shivering a bit.
Looey rolled his eyes and smiled brightly at him, “I’m cleaning, duh!” He then turned back to the sink, scrubbing away.
“What do you mean cleaning?? It’s my mess, I should clean it.” Sprout insisted, crossing his arms under the blanket, He didn’t want Looey to help him more than he already was. It made him feel kind of useless.
“Oh relax, will ya? I’m just doing some light chores to help set you on track again! Plus, I haven’t been able to thank you for supporting me at my shows yet! Might as well let me do this favor, right?” Looey said, practically beaming. Sprout couldn’t help but feel fuzzy at that smile. Looey always was so cheery, wasn’t he?
“No, no-“ Sprout coughed mid sentence, his eyes widened as he stared at his hands, but he just wiped his hand off on the blanket, “You don’t need to thank me for coming to your shows. I just like them. This is- it’s too much!”
Looey’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the toon, “And you sound super sick! I’m just gonna help you out for a little bit alright? And then you can help me out some time! That’s how friends work! I think..” He said, shaking his head with a smile, he just wanted to support his friend. His wonderful, dear friend, that drowned out every other thought of his. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to spend time with him, and maybe he just wanted to lend a helping hand. Neither of those things were even bad after all! Especially considering how bad Sprout’s situation seemed right now.
“…Alright, alright. After I feel better, I’m gonna pay you back though.” Sprout said lying back down, perhaps he didn’t mind the help. Maybe even just being around another toon helped ease him right now. Or maybe it was just because it was Looey. He couldn’t tell. He didn’t care.
Looey grinned, content on winning the “argument.” It’s not like he was going to listen to Sprout tell him to leave anyways, he clearly needed help, and Looey was going to deliver! Looey hummed to himself, scrubbing the dishes in a rhythmic pattern. At this point, Sprout had fallen asleep again, but that was fine with Looey. The toon definitely needed his rest.
Looey continued to do some light cleaning, but made sure to keep quiet for Sprout’s sake. They hoped he felt better in the morning.