Chapter Text
Dandy and Astro had been friends since they were kids. Their friendship began after Dandy’s parents divorced, he moved away with his father to a new town and it was there, in elementary school that he met Astro.
As fate would have it, they ended up living close to each other and over time their bond grew deeper, making them an inseparable duo.
They had known each other for so long and so well that words often are unnecessary, a glance or a small gesture was enough to understand what the other was thinking.
Astro was the quiet type, someone who preferred the comfort of books and the silence of his own space over the noise and bustle of the outside world. If it hadn’t been for Dandy, who was more outgoing and always full of energy, Astro probably would’ve spent most of his childhood indoors.
But Dandy never let that happen, he was always dragging Astro outside to play and to explore just to simply live a little louder. Despite all his complaints, Astro never really minded, even appreciated it deep down.
They grew up together, went through every grade side by side and eventually found themselves in their final year of high school. In preparation for university, the two decided to rent a small apartment closer to school.
One day, as they were sitting at their usual café near the apartment, Dandy finally brought up something he had been meaning to say for a while. He stirred his drink absentmindedly then looked over at Astro.
“Hey,” Dandy started, “I just realized I never told you this, but… I have a younger brother. He’s two years younger than me."
Astro blinked but kept quiet and paid attention nontheless as Dandy continued.
"After the divorce, he stayed with our mom, and to be honest...we haven’t spent much time together since. He was just a baby when we split, so we never really got the chance to grow up side by side.”
"Ah..that must be..tragic..?"
Astro shifted uncomfortably and stares at his drink while Dandy nodded, though he doesn't really looks that sad.
“My mom called the other day. She said he will be transferred to our high school, the one we were about to graduated from. But the problem is, it’s way too far from where they live now.."
Dandy knew Astro wasn't fond of new people, so he gets nervous for a moment, his hand move up to scratchs the back of his neck.
"So… I was thinking, maybe he could come live with us? Just until he finishes school. I mean, the apartment’s not huge, but we can make it work, right? What do you think?”
Astro thought for a moment before finally speaking, after all he can't be selfish about this.
"I don’t have a problem with it…But we only have two bedrooms. Where’s he going to sleep?”
Dandy chuckled, clearly having anticipated the question. “I already thought about that. I’m planning to have him share my room, my mom said some workers are coming by today to install a bunk bed for us.”
He paused before added with a more thoughtful tone.
“But if it bothers you, you can always stay in your room. He won’t be any trouble, I promise."
"You still haven’t told me his name…”
Astro asked again while glancing over with a curious look.
“Sprout Seedly,” Dandy replied with a small grin. “He’s started going by our mom’s last name. Legally, it’s still our dad's."
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Sprout moved in not long after their conversation at the café. It was only then that Astro truly began to understand what kind of person the boy was both in appearance and in temperament.
Despite being two years younger, Sprout was already taller than Dandy. His frame was lean and slender, giving him an almost graceful air but not in a fragile way, he simply moved with a kind of quiet attentiveness that made him seem mature beyond his years.
Dandy had been right: Sprout resembled their mom, while Dandy had taken after their dad, Mr. Dancider who was not particularly tall and always joked that he “gave all the good genes to the wrong child.” And Mrs Seedly scolded him for the insensitive joke when she was around.
Of course neither of them could match Astro in height yet, but the way Sprout carried himself gave the impression that he was older than he looked or older than he actually was. Personality-wise Sprout was reserved, not cold but definitely guarded. He wasn’t the type to speak up unless necessary but when he did it often came out too blunt and too sincere.
Not because he meant any harm, quite the opposite. He cared deeply for others, instinctively but lacked the filter or delicacy that made advice easier to swallow. Sprout worried constantly about people’s health, what they were eating, how late they were staying up, and whether they’d worn enough layers before leaving the house. In many ways, he acted more like a responsible older sibling than Dandy did. ( according to our observer Astro )
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One particular afternoon Astro witnessed the dynamic in full force. Dandy had just returned from class with his hand carrying a suspiciously greasy takeout bag that instantly caught Sprout’s attention the moment he walked through the door.
“You ate out again, didn’t you?” Sprout’s voice cut through the air like a knife and sharp with disapproval. He crossed the room swiftly, arms folded and eyes narrowed. “Didn’t I tell you it’s better and safer to eat the food I cook? You have no idea how much salt and oil they put in those!”
Dandy froze mid-bite, his eyes widen likes a kid caught sneaking candy before dinner.
“Relax, it’s just fried chicken..."
“That’s exactly the problem!” Sprout snapped, placing his hands on his hips. He had the kind, gentle-looking face that could’ve passed as cute if only it weren’t constantly scrunched up in mild frustration thanks to Dandy.
Before Dandy could back away, Sprout lunged forward and pinched his cheek hard.
“Ow! Ow, okay! Mercy!” Dandy yelped while trying to wiggle away. “Why do you have such strong fingers?! You look like a twig!”
“You eat garbage, I get strong,” Sprout said flatly and frowning, though the corners of his lips threatened to twitch into a smile.
Astro watched from the kitchen doorway and was mildly amused. Strange, he thought, normally people would expect the older brother to be the one doing the nagging, but somehow in this apartment, logic had no place.
Still, despite all the scolding and the dramatics, there was still something warm in the way Sprout hovered around Dandy, not overbearing, he is just… protective. Dandy seemed to enjoy it whether he liked to admit it or not.
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Sprout wasn’t particularly gifted when it came to baking, but when it came to cooking he was genuinely talented. This kind of talented made you stop mid-bite and blink in surprise, wondering how something so simple could taste that good.
Astro suspected he must’ve learned from his mother. There was a quiet precision in the way Sprout moved in the kitchen: the way he handled a knife, the way he tasted and adjusted seasonings without fuss, the way he always seemed to know exactly when to take the pot off the stove. It was like a second nature.
Ever since Sprout moved in, meals in the apartment had changed dramatically. Gone were the nights of cup noodles and greasy takeout eaten half-heartedly over textbooks or phone screens. Now their kitchen was filled with the comforting sounds and smells of home-cooked food, soft sizzling, bubbling broth, the warm scent of garlic and simmering spices. It was nice and cozy.
Even Astro who didn’t usually voice such things had to admit, and only to himself, that Sprout’s cooking beat instant ramen ten times over. He wasn’t a picky eater but it was hard not to look forward to dinner these days. He remembered one evening clearly: Sprout had made a big pot of miso soup with tofu and seaweed, grilled mackerel with lemon and a side of stir-fried vegetables.
It was simple fare but after a long day of school, the first spoonful felt like someone wrapping a blanket around your shoulders.
“…This is amazing." Astro had said without thinking, halfway through his second helping.
Sprout who was quietly wiping down the counter, blinked and turned toward him. “Oh,” He said. “Thanks. I was worried the fish might be a little dry.”
It wasn’t, it fact it was perfect. Meanwhile Dandy was across the table, already on his third bowl and mumbling through a full mouth.
“Told you he’s a cooking god, i may never eat out again.”
Sprout rolled his eyes but didn’t hide the small smile tugging at his lips. He didn’t brag and didn’t seek praise, he genuinely liked feeding people. It was one of the many ways he expressed care because he wasn’t always the best with words. In that warm and cluttered apartment, something about it all just worked.
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Out of basic respect, Sprout had never once stepped foot into Astro’s room without permission. He understood boundaries, and even though they all shared the same apartment, he made sure to treat Astro’s space as entirely his own. That said just because he stayed out physically didn’t mean his voice didn’t carry.
Almost every day, Astro could hear Sprout yelling at Dandy from the room next door. It had become part of the apartment’s daily rhythm, right around late afternoon like clockwork, a sharp voice would pierce through the walls.
“Dandy! Your desk is a disaster again!”
“Why are there socks on the bookshelf?!”
“Are you trying to grow mushrooms in here or something?!”
Astro has gotten used to it. At first, he found it amusing, then he tuned it out. But lately, for some reason Sprout had started dragging him into it too.
One evening, when Astro walked out of the bathroom with a towel slung over his shoulder, Sprout suddenly turned to him with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised in full interrogation mode.
“You’ve been living with my brother for years, haven’t you?”
Astro blinked and completely caught off guard. “…Yeah?”
“And you never said anything to him? Not even once?” Sprout’s voice rose with exasperation.
“He’s a grown man who thinks it’s acceptable to leave half his laundry on the floor and live in a pile of snack wrappers! What’s he going to do when he gets married? You think his wife’s going to put up with that? She’ll leave him within a week!”
Astro opened his mouth, but Sprout wasn’t finished.
“Why do you guys always act like this stuff doesn’t matter? It does matter! By the time the whole room’s infested with flies, it’ll be too late to feel bad about it!”
There was a pause and Astro could only stares pitifully. Dandy who was still half-asleep on his bed, groaned in the background and muttered. “It’s just a couple of socks…”
“A couple?!” Sprout snapped and whipping around. “You’re building a sock mountain!”
Astro let out a long sigh then turned around and muttered, “This isn’t my fight,” As he continues his way to the bedroom.
But even he had to admit it was kind of impressive, Sprout’s endless energy and the way he could hold his own against Dandy’s laziness, and now apparently… his own indifference too.
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As Sprout grew more comfortable in the apartment, the line between how he treated Astro and how he treated Dandy began to blur rapidly. Before long, Astro found himself on the receiving end of the same scoldings, lectures and nagging that his best friend had endured for months.
One afternoon, Astro was pacing tthrough his room and was deep in his thought, muttering half-formed ideas under his breath. He had been revising a draft all morning, tossing aside crumpled papers like autumn leaves and then Sprout suddenly appeared in the doorway with a half-full trash bag in hand.
“You’re no different from Dandy,” Sprout muttered as he bent down and started picking up discarded manuscript pages then stuffed them into the bag without ceremony. “No wonder you two get along.”
He paused while eyeing the mess with a sigh.
“Though I guess… you’re slightly less hopeless. No, barely, now get over here and clean this up!”
“I am cleaning.” Astro replied flatly, still crouched over a stack of papers.
“Oh, so now you’re arguing with me?” Sprout snapped, whipping his head around.
His voice pitched higher, just short of a dramatic yell as he pointed a finger accusingly at Astro like a prosecutor mid-trial.
“Unbelievable. Just like him! One second you’re ignoring me, the next you’re talking back, what is it with you older guys and your messes?!”
Astro stared at him for a moment, blinking slowly.
“I just sneezed, that wasn’t talking back...”
“Excuses!” Sprout huffed before storming off to get another trash bag. “Next thing I know, you’ll be ‘accidentally’ spilling soy sauce on the floor and blaming gravity!”
Astro sighed then shook his head with a reluctant smile. Somehow without even realizing it, Sprout had bulldozed his way into the rhythm of their daily lives, and maybe Astro didn’t really mind being yelled at.
Not that he’d ever admit it out loud, though.
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There were plenty of days when Dandy had to stay late at school for club meetings, group projects or just some spontaneous detour that kept him tied up until after sunset.
On those days, he couldn’t pick up Sprout from school like he usually did. Astro didn’t think much of it really, it wasn’t a big deal. Whenever Dandy texted with a quick, “Busy again, help me out?” Astro would simply grab his helmet, hop on his motorbike and swing by to pick Sprout up.
It became something of a quiet routine. Sprout never asked and Astro never made it seem like a favor. They’d just meet outside the school gate, exchange a simple nod or two and ride home.
“Thanks,” Sprout would mutter behind him, voice barely audible over the hum of the engine.
Sometimes they’d stop by a convenience store on the way back, Astro would buy canned coffee while Sprout preferred yogurt drinks or those tiny pudding cups he claimed were “for brain recovery.”
They didn’t talk much but the silence wasn’t awkward, it was comfortable like both of them had found a rhythm that didn’t need words. Astro began to notice the way Sprout sat on the back of the bike, always straighthen his back and holding onto the side instead of wrapping his arms around Astro’s waist.
He was respectful like that, careful to keep just the right distance and never being too much, not too little either. EVen though Astro told himself it wasn’t a big deal, that he was just helping out his best friend’s little brother… there were quiet moments between traffic lights or under orange street lamps where it felt like something had shifted.
Like this small act of kindness had become something a little more personal. But again he refused to say anything.
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Dandy wasn’t bad at school, he was far from it. He was smart enough when he focused but when it came to teaching others he was… less than ideal. His explanations always went in circles, full of vague metaphors and unrelated tangents that left people more confused than when they started.
So as Sprout settled into life in the apartment and started to relax around Astro, it became natural for him to seek Astro out whenever he needed help with his studies.
He’d knock on Astro’s door with a notebook in hand, already flipping to the page with the question.
“Hey, can you look at this? I get the formula, I just don’t get why it works.”
Astro who was usually hunched over his laptop or reading something would glance over and nod silently. He wasn’t much for praise or small talk but he was patient and methodical. He had a calm focused way of breaking things down to clean clean and logical explanations that surprisingly easy to follow.
After one of their quiet study sessions, Dandy walked by the table with an raising eyebrow as he caught sight of Sprout’s open textbook and Astro scribbling something on a scrap paper.
“Oh, so now you’re learning from him?” Dandy asked while grinning as he leaned over the back of the couch. “And who’s the big brother here huh?”
Sprout stuck out his tongue and looked at him with zero remorse. “At least Astro explains things in a way that makes sense! You just talk until my brain melts.”
Astro blinked then looked away trying to hide a proud smile on his face. “Thanks… I think?”
Dandy caught it and clutched his chest in mock pain.
“Betrayed by my own flesh and blood. After everything I’ve done for you, do you even remember who used to tie your shoes?”
“Yeah,” Sprout replied, not missing a beat. “You tied the laces together and made me tripped. Some role model you were.”
Astro tried not to laugh as Dandy groaned.