Chapter Text
It was presumably morning now, Dandy assumed. They had slept for while, him and Astro. It was weird being in another toon’s personal room. Sure, he didn’t really mind it, but it just seemed awkward.
Astro was still asleep where he sat on the beanbag, looking very warm, cozy and unbothered by anything. Good for him, huh?
Dandy got up from where he sat, trying to decide what to do while waiting for his friend continued to rest. Before leaving Astro’s room, Dandy looked back at the moon’s peaceful expression with something similar to admiration. How was he always so calm? That was a question for later.
Opening the door, it creaked a little bit, and Dandy winced in hopes that it didn’t disturb Astro. Thankfully, it didn’t, and the moon was still sleeping like a bag of rocks. Unmoving.
The multicolored dandelion headed out and back to the rest of Astro’s space-themed floor, shutting the door behind him with another strain of soft creaks.
•••
They were nowhere to be found on the first floor, and only Pebble was there, sniffing around. “Hm. We’ve searched up here twice, they ain’t here. They’re probably in one of the lower floors, then.” Arthur muttered.
“Wait, there’s lower floors?” Devan asked himself, trying to remember the map layouts he was handed on the first day.
”No shit, why do you think we upgraded the elevator?” Delilah muttered rhetorically.
“Damn, someone’s in a bad mood.” Devan shoved his hands in his pockets.
”She’s always in a bad mood,” Arthur pointed out, awkwardly stating the obvious.
Delilah just sighed and walked off, heading back into their office corridors and to her desk.
”I’ll check downstairs. I wonder if they have already discovered Astro’s themed floor.” Arthur informed Devon, which he replied with a simple thumbs up.
The two split up, Devan heading to take care of Pebble while Arthur wandered off to go find Dandy and Astro. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find them, hopefully.
Let the search begin.
•••
Astro woke up after a little while, then adjusting his hat slightly and standing up. He gazed around the room, turned the lights on and realized Dandy wasn’t there.
Where could he have gone?
He could be anywhere, really. Gardenview was huge, and there were so many places Astro had yet to explore.
Well, you gotta start somewhere, don’t you?
Astro checked around his room once more, noting Dandy was not there, and so he headed out to explore the rest of the floor in search of his new friend. He left the door open behind him as he left.
Astro wandered around the vast expanses of his space-themed floor, searching for Dandy. This might take a while, but who really cares? Astro was motivated to find his companion.
He followed the sounds of footsteps, faint but slowly getting louder as Astro neared his destination.
Dandy was just wandering aimlessly around the floor, taking in more of the floor’s calming yet still oddly eerie ambiance of it; that was until he accidentally wandered straight into Astro.
The moon fell backward slightly, then getting up and apologizing with a slight chuckle.
“Shit, are you okay? I did not mean to do that, I didn’t even notice you!” Dandy stated, slightly panicked and surprised. “I can fix this, probably!” He muttered to himself as he dusted off Astro’s blanket for him.
It was quite awkward for both of the two—Astro could’ve easily just brushed the dust off himself. “Dandy, there’s no need, I’m okay.” He replied, his face forgiving.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, don’t worry ‘bout it, okay?” Astro smiled ever so slightly.
”Fine, okay.” Dandy agreed, letting out a small sigh of relief that he didn’t know he was holding with him.
Being around your friend shouldn’t have things so awkward, should it? Dandy didn’t seem to understand. His actions were stupid and pointless, that was all.
Astro’s question snapped Dandy out of thought fast, as he asked, “I’m gonna go chill with Pebble. Are you going to be coming along?”
”Oh—uh, sure, yeah!” The rainbow-petaled flower replied, then following Astro and catching up to the crescent moon quickly.
Before they’d made it there, the two heard the elevator bell ding and the door rise, and a voice call out to them.
“Hey, uh, Dandy? Astro? Are either of you here?”
They were, and so the two ran to the elevator. “Yes, sir, we are!” Dandy replied for the both of them upon arrival.
“Okay, Good. Glad that you two are both here.” Arthur stated, then adding a warning, “Just tell someone where you’re going before you leave. Devon was in a near panic because you guys just wandered off.”
”Alright, Mr. Walton, we will try to remember that next time.” Astro agreed kindly. Dandy nodded along, adding into the pact.
Arthur sighed in relief, then turning back into the elevator and stepping in. The two toons followed behind him just in case there was something important going on besides breakfast.
After pressing the lobby floor button in the panel, the elevator door slammed shut and the three began their ascent upstairs.
They arrived shortly after, stepping out with the elevator shutting behind them. Astro and Dandy headed over to Pebble, who was playing fetch with Devan. “Oh, hey there, you two! Where’d ye go earlier?” He asked them.
”We were exploring the new space-themed floor!” Dandy replied with a slightly cheeky smile. “I hope Arthur told you two this, but just make sure someone knows where you’re going. Can’t afford to lose you guys in such a large building!”
“He did,” the two toons replied in concession to Arthur’s “I did.”
“Jinx.” Astro teased Dandy. “You owe me something. I’m not sure what yet.”
“Oh, come on!” Dandy pouted slightly.
“Keep doing that, it’s funny.” Astro joked around once more. Dandy just let out a small sigh in desperation. What could he do besides take the joke? He didn’t bother to think about that. He just focused more on playing fetch with Pebble, taking over from what Devon was doing the whole time.
Arthur watched over them for a little bit longer before leaving and heading into the staff offices, heading to his own desk and sitting down in his chair.