Chapter Text
Something is wrong, terribly wrong. There's a lingering nausea sitting at the back of his throat, making every swallow meticulous and awkward. A growing sensation of satiety unprompted, this is unusual, nothing like he'd ever felt. Oftentimes Dandy would consult his mama, he trusted her with most everything but this time he didn't feel fond of the thought. That surely limited his options..a lot... but he could manage! He always did! It was a topic he had to sit on for a good portion of the day as simply thinking of it made a bilious feeling settle deep into his gut until he had decided on consulting Astro.
Dandy pulls himself up from his warm, welcoming comforters, there was a slight amount of embarrassment staring back down at the very bed he and Astro had initially made love in. It's a truly wonderful memory but.. y'know, it can catch you off guard, thinking that an act of passion was pursued in this very room, on this very furniture set. A measured, gentle breath escapes barely parted lips as he pushes himself up and starts on his journey to Astro's haunts.
The first destination, as expected, was Astro's sleeping chambers as he'd call them, it kept its trademark serenity always; a disturbance was sporadic. Dandy's vision dances around the dim-lit, peaceful space in an attempt to locate his beloved; that plan went down like a lead balloon. That's alright. There are still some areas he's neglected in observing.
Clearing his mind from the prior disappointment he continues on, moving forward towards the common areas. A familiar humming brings itself to Dandy's attention, a soft, serene tune that never fails to bring him back down, there. His search has concluded. Now moving with true reason he approaches the ubiquitous one
"Golly– there you are!"
Dandy exclaimed in his usual merry tone, bringing himself even closer to the familiar face. As soon as he felt contiguous enough with his partner he began to speak, something changed, his expression contorted into one of poorly obscured panic; that wasn't the only change apparent to Astro though, Dandy's tone became hushed and urgent
"I need to speak with you, just a small chat."
The raw stress presenting itself nonverbally disagreed with the casual tone of his dialogue but Astro attempted to act as if that wasn't a concern whatsoever.
"Yea, lead the way."
The contrasting sound of their footsteps brought more tension to the already agitated environment, a nearly synchronized cacophony with varying pitches and speeds. Astro found himself adjusting both his stance and walking speed to match up with Dandy's, although this attempt was fruitless. Astro returned to his regular walking pace as well as his rhythmic footfalls returning, he noted that Dandy's shoulders hadn't yet fallen into their habitual slump, he was uptight and absurdly rigid in his movements.
As soon as the pair reached the doorway of Astro's bedroom Dandy made a sharp turn and entered, this was yet again very unusual, he often preferred being in his own space.
"Well. I came here to-"
"No need for the formalities, tell me."
As soon as Astro addressed the situation in such a straightforward way Dandy felt a deep-rooted fear jolt through his entire body, his face flushed, and his posture straightened up further. (if possible, he was quite rigid prior.)
"Okay then.. I really didn't know who I should've talked to about this, because I felt weird about it. I felt like Delilah wasn't the one I should've told.."
"You haven't told Delilah??"
Astro couldn't fathom this for a brief moment, Dandy was very clingy and at times seemed dependent on Delilah, he saw her as a mother, someone he could always go to. But this... something was wrong. Dandy felt more blood rush to his cheeks, it was only when Astro witnessed it happen that he recognized that it sounded a bit accusatory.
"aH-ahm- yeah, no. Haven't... haven't told her."
"Okay, I'm not ..not trying to be nosy or anything I just–"
"You're surprised, I know, I get it. Just, give me a chance."
"Oh. Oh Dandy, just, just share. I'm not here to judge."
Dandy's expression had changed once more, as soon as Astro questioned him he felt almost like he wanted to curl up and never tell him anything again. If he reacted like this to little things who knew how he'd react to other, bigger things?
Suddenly the task of telling Astro the truth felt daunting, no matter the amount of reassurance he'd received his image had been tainted, in Dandy's eyes at least.
".. Alright. Well uhm..I ..not feeling too well. You could say that."
Oh, oh NO. Astro immediately recognized the absurdly quiet and shut-in Dandy's response was, a signifier that he had made a mistake, a really, really stupid one too.
"Mhm? What, doesn't feel right..?"
Astro questioned, he hopes that his clear involvement in the conversation will let Dandy see he's truly there for him and ready to be vulnerable, this does the exact opposite. Dandy believes Astro is pushing for more information to further understand his challenges and make it easier to share around, why did he think like this? He really doesn't know.
‘You might as well say it Dandy, he already thinks you're all wrong.’
"It's, well, uh, my stomach..I feel really uneasy and..full. I feel full for no reason."
Astro would've teased Dandy about this in nearly any other situation, it was just something they did, but there was a growing sense of distress in the room, this was no laughing matter. Astro clears his throat with a few brief coughs and begins once more
".. Yeah, you been sick a–at all recently?"
Astro didn't often stutter, his cadence was usually slow enough to prevent mistakes and speech issues, it was a nervous habit of his. Dandy felt a great deal of sickness well up in his gut at this short sentence, oh my god, he felt his face flush.
"Plenty. Plenty.."
Dandy muttered softly, this tone of voice coming from Dandy was..eerie. There is something horribly, horribly wrong here. Astro shifts his position and drops his arms from their crossed position, Astro takes a second to decide his next course of action, he leans forward a bit to appear more relaxed.
"Mhm. Has.." Pause, Astro had to consider his next few words, this could make or break their relationship in less than 10 seconds. "..Have you been prescribed anything unfamiliar..or.. maybe fed differently?"
Astro took care to choose words that didn't directly address Dandy as the cause, using language like that could cause somebody to shut down.
".. Not that I know of."
Peculiar way to say it, this gives the impression that he isn't in control of ..well.. anything. Astro notes this mentally.
Astro watches as Dandy's body language changes, immediately after speaking those.. peculiar words he visibly tensed, his posture became hunched over, and there was a bit of sweat accumulating on his forehead
"Yeah, uhm, what..do you have any idea what could be happening..?"
A pause.
"Anything?"
Astro's tone took a turn, becoming seemingly desperate, the pitch heightened, his cadence quickening, it was all pointing towards some sort of unease.
Dandy's posture somehow became tenser if that was even possible, his sweating now pretty obvious.. in reality he did know what was going on, maybe. You could never be sure, but there wasn't really any other possibility
his hands desperately tried to fidget with something, anything, to ease the growing sense of anxiety pooling in his lower abdomen. He settled on messing with his green petal while shifting his weight from one leg to another
"Well, I'm not sure but. Um.."
The reply came quieter than the last "i dont- i don't. Know." He felt his face burn with embarrassment as he replayed the possibility he had come to in his head, just how was he supposed to give voice to that? To his best friend, slash lover or possible boyfriend nonetheless. Pretending to be ignorant just felt easier to push past his throat. He made a mental note to bring up their relationship later
Dandy quite obviously had a suspicion linked to these symptoms, Astro shifted his position yet again, leaning in a tad bit closer and palms facing up. An attempt to relieve some pressure on Dandy's side and allow him to be vulnerable, it's all Astro needed here.
"..Yeah?...Well, let's go over things again..”
Astro makes sure his expression remains soft and relaxed, Astro you cannot fuck this up, you can't do it, not now. He gives a few meager nods and continues on
"Okay, okay, what was your initial symptom..?? Symptoms.."
he hesitates, thinking that the best course of action is dismissing this whole conversation and convincing astro (and himself) that he was fine and probably overreacting. But this was Astro, his first and best friend. The only person he trusts and the love of his life... maybe he could give this a shot, some comfort would be nice
"um.. nausea sometimes in the morning and uhh, back pain, exhaustion. B-but that could be because I've been working really hard at the shop lately right?!"
he retaliates with a horrible attempt at his usual jolly tone, which comes out sounding more delirious than joyful
Out came a chortle, not one full of joy, reminding you of the warm, loving summer air, no no no. One that seemed to burst from Astro's throat, as soon as the explosive interjection leaves his lips Astro feels a jolt of fear wrack his senses
"Yeah!- uh- ccccompletely..yea-!!!"
Astro couldn't bring his volume or pitch down any more, it felt like he was losing control, completely. Something must be VERY wrong for him to behave like this. He straightens up again
"Sorry, I don't know what cam–mme over me. I-I could see that, yeah."
he just hums in response, his throat feeling suddenly dry and tight, not managing to get any words out despite the sea of internal monologues completely assaulting his thoughts. Maybe he shouldn't have given this a shot. His eyes darted around, trying to distract himself, the hand on his green petal tightened, threatening to rip it. All the while his foot tapped rhythmically on the ground. His instincts warred between running away or confronting the situation. The pressure in his chest just kept building up more and more until.
"OKAYSOITHINKIMIGHTBEPREGNANTBUTIMNOTSUREANDITALSOMAYBEYOURSIMSORRYIMSORRY."
all blurted out in one single breath. His eyes were shut tight as he slowly processed his own words. Suddenly this all feels like a horrible mistake. Disappearing into thin air sounds quite appealing right now..
Astro stopped breathing for a second, not yet out of surprise but in an attempt to figure out what Dandy had just said. Before the slurry of apologies there was, "your's, maybe, also" not too useful, keep going forward. "Not sure, pregnant"
Oh, ok. What.
"You're telling me, you. You're.. pregnant."
That was when there was a baby in somebody's belly, so there might be a baby growing inside of Dandy? Astro only ever learned because of a comment Vee made, he remembers exactly how she said it,
"Yeah, can't believe people WANT a parasite in them for nearly a year." It was awfully bitter.
"..Well.. wait, how would it be mine..? I'm not pregnant, I'm-I'm not.. Right???"
Dandy blinked once, twice. His shoulders slumped a tad bit, he was still unbelievably tense but he managed to lift his head up to look at astro. honestly he was half expecting him to get mad at him, the other half had no idea what to expect But despite the situation, he found astro's response quite amusing and bit back a giggle. Before his face dropped yet again as he thought of a response
"umm... okay so remember when we uh. you know..?" he made vague gestures with his hand, his cheeks darkening a bit from the ichor suddenly rushing to them "the.. ghem.. thing we promised never to speak about.." he mumbled, avoiding eye contact yet again
Astro glances down at his lap, a noticeable difference in that normally pale blue complexion of his, almost like a cloud was cast over his face
"Mhm. Yeah."
Astro shifts yet again, crossing his arms over his chest and rocking himself gently, god this isn't something he thought would happen today. Ever. Actually.
"..Is there a correlation between.. intercourse..and pregnancy..?"
Astro glanced back over to Dandy, seeing that flustered expression on the toon opposite him's face made Astro feel a bit better.
he felt his cheeks flush more at the mention of the word 'intercourse', the word somehow feeling more embarrasing than straight up saying they fucked
"mm.. ehe... yyyeah uhm- i-intercourse. Is kinda what causes... pregnancy.."
The silence after each sentence felt horrifying and suffocating, dandy had no idea if he was even breathing. He just wished he could disappear into thin air right now. God what would the others think of him? What would his ma- Delilah. think of him? His career was over at this point
"...What are we gonna do?"
Astro attempted to keep his voice low, less frantic than how he would've reacted in any other situation but this is fragile, this is big.
".. We'll. We'll get through this. It. Can we hide this..?"
Astro felt like he was gonna hurl up everything he'd eaten in the past six hours, this is horrifying, what would Delilah think? Just imagining her reaction made Astro shudder, was she gonna be selfish? What. What came next.
"No. No yeah. I need to hide this, i- we cant let anyone know astro!". Dandy’s voice came out way more rushed than he anticipated "oh golly... what are they gonna think of me, what’s Delilah gonna think of me. She's gonna KILL me!" there was no hiding that he was scared, terrified even. He took a step back from astro, his small stubby hands trembling as he hid the bottom half of his face in them. What WAS he gonna do?? He couldn't just hide this forever, someone was bound to find out
Astro felt his expression twist into one of distress, it was uncontrollable, a tear sprung into the corner of one eye but Astro was swift to wipe it away.
"Yeah. Yeahh- okay– but when—when somebody gets pregnant doesn't their sss–sstomach get– like.. really– really swollen..? How dddd–do we hide that?!" Astro had completely lost control, he didn't understand, what, why them, why did Delilah have to be here, why did she have to LIVE??? All she did was order people around and she obviously scared the toons!
"Dandy.. what do we— ohhh my god–"
Dandy didn't reply, the hand on his face only tightened, he hadn't thought this far ahead. I mean he could probably hide the bump for the first few months cuz he was already pretty round! But then he would eventually have to... oh god no.
he couldn't bring himself to speak, not when all he could think of at the moment was how his life was practically over. The mascot and face of the company, was now carrying his best friend's child because he was too reckless. He could barely imagine what would happen if they found out that they had some sort of relationship, or that he was capable of getting pregnant! Let alone both.
Before he even knew it, he could feel the not so unfamiliar acidic feeling creeping up his throat. The bitter, horrible feeling suddenly coating the whole inside of his mouth
"a..ssstr- oh fhuck i f'ink imghon-" he barely had the time to warn the toon in front of him before he doubled over, violently hurling on the floor, thankfully not on his carpet. He had enough time to turn his head around so that he didn't throw up on astro, he doesn’t think he’d forgive himself if he got his dear blanket stained with his gunk.. Tisha isn’t gonna like this.
Astro's initial reaction is pulling back, feeling his stomach continue to twist and cramp, but this isn't a situation where he can just run away, n-no, no. He gets a slight bit closer to Dandy and reaches for his hand, he feels a bit ashamed, his palms are terribly sweaty..what if Dandy thought this was gross..
"Hhheyyy you're finnnee"
Astro started swallowing HARD, saliva pooling in his mouth as a wave of nausea hit him hard, no, not happening. He feels his belly clench painfully, which forces a slurry of acidic, vile tasting paste up his throat. He forces it down, but a few more bellyfuls come up, he continues forcing it down, can't let this happen RIGHT after Dandy threw up, he'll think Astro's grossed out– BREATHE c'mon you're being dramatic.. okay.. you're fine Astro..this isn't too bad…
But he was in fact. Not fine. Dandy just stared at the mess of ichor and the small amount of food he even had managed to keep down, his hands clutching his stomach. Great. He just had to do that, and he STILL felt sick. The smaller toon just barely managed to suck in desperate, shaky, and very much needed breaths as the reality of the situation crashed down upon him yet again after the momentary fog lifted off. Oh god he was probably gonna be sick again.
before he even realized it, one drop of moisture managed to escape his eyes, then another, and another. Until he eventually let his knees buckle and sat on his knees on the ground, barely trying to choke back sobs
"im s-horry. I'm so s–ssso sorry. I shouldnt.. *hic* I should've– been carefhul. A-and now i made–i made a mess innn— *hic* in your room"
Astro was so incredibly preoccupied trying not to lose his lunch himself that he could barely even talk, he began rocking himself gently and hunched slightly. Most of his focus was on NOT throwing up so his replies sounded strained and didn't have much substance.
"Hhnn.. you're.. you're fine just–"
Astro had to stop talking for a brief moment, please please not now not now. His eyes fell upon the puddle of chunks and ichor, then feeling his body lurch forward, nononono- please no.
The shorter one of the two managed to notice astro rocking slightly in front of him even through the blur of fat tears obstructing his vision and sharp sobs that made it hard to focus. It wasn't a new sight, Astro often started doing that when he was overwhelmed, scared, nauseous...
....oh. right, he wasn't the only one with a weak stomach. The sudden realization that he had made his beloved feel this distressed crashed over him like a ton of bricks, the instantaneous crushing guilt so bad it made him stop crying for a moment, the whole situation momentarily disregarded in favor of the toon in front of him he managed to shuffle himself to be standing in way that would block the puddle of rejected food and ichor that he had spewed out and threw himself in astros arms, the tears came again
"oh golly im- i-im so sorry astro i didnt mean to. I'm so sorry."
he didn't care about the horrible burn starting to scratch away at his throat from the ichor, his voice coming out choked and raspy
oh how he wished he could just disappear into thin air. He didn't want to go through this, every passing second just made his chest tighten more, but alas death doesn't usually take requests. So he just shook and cried as he kept apologizing again in the arms of the only person he ever needed to care about.
Astro presses himself as close to Dandy as possible, a yearning for closeness despite the limitations, there was no closer, this was as close as they could ever get, it still felt inadequate.
"You're okay...nnnghhyeah you're okay.. I'm...hhhhohhhgod..nnm...just a little...shaken."
Astro's voice dies out as the sentence goes on, much like a flame, beginning with a certain passion and ending with a short, abrupt burnout.
"..Are you feeling alright now..do..do I need to get someone.."
Astro hadn't neglected the rasp building in Dandy's throat, it was abnormal in a way that felt sickening in itself. Dandy had this jolly, clear, excitable voice and hearing it like this was simply wrong, all wrong.
Dandy nearly recoils upon hearing the question, arms tightening around astro, the thought of someone, ANYONE even knowing about this situation made him feel sick all over again
"no. Please no, I cant let them see me like this.."
He sounded so weak, so small. Nothing like the facade he grew so accustomed to putting on, it always felt so odd to not be the dandy everyone knew, he almost didn't recognize himself, scratch that, he absolutely didn't, not anymore.
"fuck Astro. What ARE we going to do? I don't... I don't know how to handle this"
dandy never swore, this was one of the rare times he ever did, which just showed how serious the situation was.
Astro hadn't yet recovered from the overwhelming bout of nausea but he felt like he could function a bit better, he shifts in Dandy's arms and looks for the warmest spot.
"Mmhm.. okay... You're okayyy.."
Yet another spasm rolled through Astro's abdomen, a soft hiss escaping from his slightly parted lips.
"Mmf..." Astro continued to squirm, he wanted closer, to be WITHIN the other toon. The warm envelopment was comforting but what came next? How would they address the issue when the baby was here? What if there were multiples? What if, what if, what if. A taunting, ubiquitous phrase.
The flower in his arms just buried his face further in his blanket for a bit before shuffling up to have his head in his neck, his favorite position, they had always stayed intertwined like this for hours at a time whenever one or both of them seeked comfort, and this was no different
Dandy just closed his eyes and hummed in acknowledgement of astro's words, he didn't have the energy to talk anymore, this whole thing taking a massive toll on him despite it barely being evening, plus the lingering guilt that only intensified hearing astro softly hissing pushing him more and more towards a nonverbal state he often retreated to when everything became too much
"dont.. know. I'm tired. ....fffigure sumethin' later." brief, flat answers. That was all he could get out himself, he was clearly overwhelmed. if anybody other than astro heard him like that none of them would recognize him. His natural voice was probably 2 pitches lower than the one he constantly used, add to that how utterly spent and done he sounded. God did it feel odd to hear.
"yeah.. we'll, we'll figure it out.."
Astro's voice dulled as exhaustion tugged on every piece of him, his body, his soul, his heart, it all felt heavy, a Sisyphean task to keep up with. He often considered just how wonderful it would be to go to sleep without awakening, the sharp, cool air slowly transforming into a gorgeous beaming light, what feels like a hug from the sun, it's a beautiful thought, really. The comfort of this thought burned out quite quickly, what would happen with Gardenview, Austin, Dandy? His mind even drifted to Sprout.. suddenly the "easy way out" didn't seem so appealing.
They’ll get through this… yeah…