Lust
“Can I get my usual order, please? Black coffee and some waffles. Also, some pancakes for Toodles.” A man said, ordering at a local café on a usual morning.
“Coming right up, same thing as always Rodger, maybe change it up a bit?” The cashier said as she registered the order into the screen in front of her, pushing some buttons and all until a receipt is made.
“No need Connie, I’m fine with my usual order.” The man said as he fixed the collar of his own suit. Connie, the woman behind the register nodded.
“Oi! Rodger’s usual order! Add some pancakes too with that!” she yelled to the kitchen area.
Behind the kitchen doors, two men were there, prepping ingredients to be cooked. As they heard Connie’s yell, the shorter one nodded. “Coming right up!” he said.
“I’ll handle Rodger’s order, Cosmo you can handle the pancakes” the other man, the taller one, Sprout said with a smile, an enthusiastic one at that. Which Cosmo also replied with a smile.
Though, Cosmo did notice something weird with sprout these days. He had known each other for almost 2 years now, and they’re best friends. It might seem childish, but the two even made a matching bracelet.
Sprout was avoiding him. And it surely made Cosmo confused since he can’t really figure out what’s going on in his friend’s mind. Did he do something wrong? He didn’t think so. Is Sprout avoiding him because he has feelings for him? Well, Cosmo knew about his friend’s crush on him (since it was too obvious to not notice) but his behavior changed too much recently.
There was something more, but Cosmo couldn’t think of any reason with how avoiding Sprout is to him.
Meanwhile, Sprout had it BAD these days. Sure, having a small crush on his own friend isn’t supposed to affect someone in a really bad way, but for Sprout it is. Sometimes he hoped that he didn’t meet Cosmo ever in his life.
’damned curse..’ he said to himself.
The others and Sprout himself knew how much Sprout hated himself when it’s about his predicament, and how his affinity is lust. Sprout hates himself so badly, especially if he relieves himself in some ways, he felt guilty for even feeling it.
Having someone to love was always what he avoided to not feel this, yet he fell for Cosmo, his co-worker and best friend. And he felt guilty for having weird thoughts about him. Every time Sprout heard his voice, it was like a silken serenade to his ears. His touch, his breathing, it all drives him insane.
Of course, he felt guilty after also thinking of the smaller man in such…vulgar ways. He can’t control it. He just can’t.
He wished that he was associated with another sin, where he wouldn’t have to feel this. Maybe Wrath like Shelly, or even Greed like Vee, he just wanted anything else except for this. He didn’t want to be known as some lustful guy who just ran around and hit on people. Something that shouldn’t make personal relationships with other people harder.
Right, now, as he made the order that just came in, he couldn’t stop and kept taking small glances at Cosmo, who was making some pancakes. Sprout couldn’t help but notice how his hand moved, how some sweat dropped because of the stove’s heat. How he looked happy making those.
Sprout mentally slapped himself to do his job. He straightened his back and proceeded to put out the orders to the front. Cosmo wasn’t done yet so he went to the front and personally delivered it to Rodger who was sitting beside the window, in front of him, sat Toodles, his daughter.
“Here’s your order Rodger, the pancakes aren’t done yet though, sorry Toodles.” Sprout said with a smile, seeing the kid was already waiting for her order. She pouted and nodded.
“Thank you Sprout.” Rodger said with a nod. He then proceeded to drink a sip of his coffee and went back to reading some files that he brought.
“Seems like you’ve been busy these days” Sprout suddenly asked.
Rodger nodded. “Yes, there are some unusual cases that appeared. Say, have you ever seen black liquid that suddenly appears in your room or home?” Rodger then turned to Sprout.
He froze for a second but quickly gained himself back to not raise any suspicion, the man In front of him was a detective afterall. “I haven’t, sorry Rodger”
“well, I think you should rest a bit Rodger, you look like you just hit 70 with those eyebags” Cosmo suddenly came, bringing some pancakes which made Toodles jump around her seat while Cosmo giggled.
Rodger also let out a playful chuckle. “Yeah, maybe I should. Thank you for the reminder Cosmo, but my work waits for no one, who knows what I’ll uncover?”
“Determined as usual then” Cosmo said with a nod.
Sprout didn’t talk much after this to Rodger. Who knows that the man would get suspicious of him after this since it seems like the case that Rodger picked is…very much affiliated with Sprout himself. And Sprout did NOT want Rodger to know anything about him through this way.
He walked away as Cosmo still had some small talks with Rodger. Sprout also stole some glances at the kid, Toodles. He heard what happened at the museum with Shelly. She told everyone what happened that day, and Dandy got mad that night. Especially after hearing that Shelly used her ‘special abilities’ at the time. But he couldn’t get mad that much since Shelly did it to save someone (Who Dandy thinks is quite insignificant but alas, a living being so they must be protected).
These days Sprout is going to get a headache. These little ichor problems won't stop until they all find the source of it. And the source of it was small, a tiny crack in the ground. They had closed it off a few times before in their previous life times. Some took only a few months, some took even years.
Anyways, Sprout then sighed and went to the kitchen, doing some prepping for some of the regulars here. It was 7:07 AM, still early, and some regulars would come later. He just went to prep them, while also trying to clear his mind.
~~~
“What are you doing?” Connie said as she saw Sprout at the corner of the kitchen, hitting his head a few times to the wall. She raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. “Is this related to Cosmo again?”
Sprout stopped hitting his head for a moment, making Connie widen her smile and turning it into a smirk in a quick second. She went closer to him and nudged him a bit.
“Comee ooonn~ Why is Seedly here being shy? Oh! Your face is also red!!! Come on, tell me!!” Connie started to get so close to him, nudging him everywhere with a mischievous smirk.
“How much longer till our break time ends?” Sprout suddenly asked without even glancing at Connie.
“Dude we just started the break, we have like, 30 minutes-“ Before she could continue she got cut off.
“I'm leaving for a bit, getting some fresh air, later.” Sprout said as he dashed towards the door and left, leaving Connie dumbfounded.
“Seriously, what’s up with him?”
For Sprout, he wasn’t lying when he needed some fresh air. He sat on the side of the road, not caring that passerby’s are looking at him and his disheveled state. He’s messy right now, and he doesn’t know what to do. Truly.
Earlier, just earlier before this, it happened. It was cheesy and corny, some would even say straight up out of a teenager’s romance novel, but, to Sprout, it was more than that.
Cosmo rested his head on Sprout’s chest. Sprout remembers it so clearly. How Cosmo’s breath felt like on his chest. He could smell the smaller man’s scent, as usual, he smelled like baked pastries, ones that he would like to bake to put on display every day.
Cosmo also held his hand. Sprout could feel his hand touching Cosmo’s. sprout’s hand was skinnier but longer than Cosmo’s. Cosmo’s hands were soft yet rough. Their skin was touching. They were touching.
Sprout immediately ran away, not wanting Cosmo to know what the hell happened to him. He went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror while giving his face a quick wash. He felt disgusted by himself as he realized something came up in him.
He was disgusting for that, Sprout thought to himself right now.
“Arghhhhh!!!!” he let out a big groan which made some people stop their tracks and looked at Sprout. Sprout couldn’t care less tho.
“Hey dude, are you alright? People are watching all around.” Suddenly, a voice came from behind that snapped Sprout away from his own little bubble world in his head. He turned around to see a woman, with a smirking face.
“Come get in my shop for a bit. Don’t wanna be a street performer now, eh? " she said, which Sprout hesitantly agreed to do since she was right. He looks like a fool right now. So he stood up and followed her to a shop nearby. A pawn shop to be exact.
“The name’s Gigi, I just opened my shop here. You can give me some items and I’ll pawn it, I accept everything. Or maybe something caught your eye here? Go on” She said as she pressed her body weight on the counter of her shop.
Sprout looked around to see…some interesting stuff on display. Its mostly junk if he says so himself, like a rusty spoon, broken clock and all. But he did notice that some were actually valuables, like a ceramic bowl with clearly intricate patterns from the past, and a painting of an old figure, and he stopped to look at the painting.
Oh.
“caught your eyes huh? That thing is expensive I tell ya that if you wanna buy it. Got it from my uncle, been in the family for years.”
“And you wanna sell it?”
“Yeah, for a billion dollars. I’m not joking” Gigi said with a smirk, which made Sprout look at the price tag, and sure enough, he knew very well that she wasn’t joking about the price.
“At this point, you’re not selling it.”
“eh, worth a try.”
Sprout went to see the painting closer. It was a portrait of a man. Sprout knew this painting. It was made around 300 years ago if his guess was correct. He was there when it was painted. Of course he knew. The figure that was painted here was none other than Dandy.
He looked a little different, which makes sense because of the time period and how some of them change every life, but still similar. But it made Sprout think of the past. This painting of Dandy was not important to him in the slightest, but, the way it just made Sprout reminisce of the past just…. caught him off guard.
What did he do when he fell in love? What did he do when he couldn’t control himself anymore? What did he do to not let his lust take control of him?
There were multiple answers to that question which he asked himself. But what outcome was the best out of every other one? Which life did he actually overcome it for a bit.
The answer was obvious. Yet, the execution was hard on him. He just had to be straightforward and honest. It was the most optimal solution. He had only done it once out of all of his lives and it gave him the most peaceful life ever.
But what if Cosmo doesn’t like him back? They were best friends and Sprout didn’t want to ruin that. His mind began to run around again. Not to mention that at this point, he doesn’t know if his feelings for Cosmo was out of pure love or just his lust. He didn’t want Cosmo to just…be a victim of his own lust.
“Um, dude, you’ve been silent for a few minutes now, you alright?” Gigi suddenly broke the silence of the room.
Sprout snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, giving Gigi a smile. He then left the shop, leaving Gigi alone.
“…weird guy” Gigi said. She looked bored and monotone. She then looked at the painting and sighed.
“The sin of pride…How prideful is he anyway to be titled that.” Gigi murmured the title of the painting to herself. She then went to polish a coin that she kept at the sleeves of her own sweater.
~~
“whoa, Sprout, you’re back, get to the back now, we have some customers here, don’t wanna make Cosmo exhausted now would you?” Connie said as she saw Sprout rushing in the café.
“I know Connie, sorry about that.” Sprout said and went to the back immediately, seeing that people were there and ordering already.
“Sprout! You’re back! Can you make chicken Parmigiano here? Order for table 7 since my hands are full right now!” Cosmo yelled when he saw Sprout entering the kitchen. Sprout nodded and let out a “Yes! Coming right up!” as he saw how much Cosmo was working, especially since he left longer than he was supposed to be.
He’s gonna have to wait for later, if the job ain’t done here, he can’t really be truthful to Cosmo after all of this if the job ain’t done. So he worked. And sure enough, he felt a bit odd. Something was wrong.
~~
Sprout definitely felt like something was wrong. his instincts tell him so. Something was going on. like, something is gonna go horribly wrong. It could just be a side effect of his whole 'too much lust than he can usually handle' thing but it felt different yet similar at the same time.
But where? where is it coming from?
"well boys, nice work today! no customers in sight means its time to chill!" Connie said as she banged the kitchen door open with her usual energy. the two boys who were sitting at the back, looked towards her.
"hope no one comes after this so we can go home early. I'm very tired." Cosmo said with a smile, though he looked drained. Too drained in a matter of fact. Which of course, did not go unnoticed by Sprout Seedly over here.
"Cosmo, are you alright?" Sprout asked as he stood up from his chair and went to his side. the other man nodded and had a smile shown as a response.
"Im fine, just tired."
"Cosmo dude, you look pale, totally nothing wrong there huh" Connie also said her thoughts out loud.
"i'm fine guys, i'm telling you-" before Cosmo would have finished his sentence, his head ached like crazy and his whole body shivered, some cold sweat fell from his skin.
"Cosmo!" Sprout instantly helped him, supporting Cosmo's body with his own hands.
"Sprout, go and bring Cosmo home, i don't think he's in a situation to drive right now.." Connie said, clearly also worried.
"Don't worry about not coming to work tomorrow, Cos, Shrimpo's back earlier to town, he can work again so nobody is gonna have to cook alone in this kitchen" Connie said with a thumbs up.
Sprout was already carrying Cosmo on his back since he looked too weak to even walk. Cosmo tried to resist but he couldn’t.
Sprout went to the small parking lot and went to Cosmo’s car, Cosmo gave him the key from his pockets earlier, so Sprout opened the passenger seat and put Cosmo there while he himself went to the driver’s seat, starting the car and adjusted his seat, while also making sure Cosmo was alright.
~~
Sprout had been to Cosmo’s house a few times already, so he didn’t need any navigation to go there. But oh god the whole journey made him feel uneasy.
Cosmo smelled sweet, unbearably so. It’s like an aphrodisiac to him. An unnatural one at that. Sprout felt so overwhelmed, yet he couldn’t really say anything, since, Cosmo was still awake.
But this just made Sprout’s mind think critically at the same time. He was almost there at their destination, so when he arrived, he needs to check on it. This was no ordinary problem. And it’s clear this is related to it, the ichor problem. His guts tells him that a he felt the familiar feeling as he got to Cosmo’s house.
When they arrived and Sprout helped Cosmo get in, which Cosmo seemed to struggle, Sprout tried his best to focus. He just needs to confirm it, and then, he needs to solve it as fast as possible.
So, when Sprout entered the living room, he made Cosmo sit on the couch first, which confused Cosmo, but he didn’t budge.
“You’re there, aren’t you, little black blob of ichor.” Sprout said these words out of his mouth, and suddenly, something jumped from inside of Cosmo’s clothes.
Sprout kept an eye on it, watching as the little blob bounced around until it slipped through the backyard doors. So, Sprout went to open the glass sliding door, seeing the blob bury itself to the ground.
His steps stopped when he saw how the ichor started to show up and started to sculp itself into something. Sprout cursed under his breath when he saw what it was doing.
“Damn it…that thing took that much energy from Cosmo already...?” he muttered though clearly. Making the creature smirked with it’s new form.
“Oh come on, be a little nice with me won’t you? You really need to relax sometimes Sprout!” The creature, using a form and voice so familiar to Sprout said so. Sprout only winced from it, not liking how the ichor was mimicking his (probably more than) best friend.
“Don’t you dare use Cosmo’s looks and voice. It just disgusts me. You’re not him.” Sprout said as he glared a sharp glance at the ‘Cosmo’. The creature just chuckled, not taking him serious at all.
“Worth a shot. You’re all blushing and flustered around my new host here, I thought I could use it to my advantage. But, seems like I need to take care of you in another way.” ‘Cosmo’ said with a mischievous smirk.
Sprout only groaned. But at the same time, he was smiling. ‘seems like it doesn’t know who I am right now, probably thinks of me as someone normal.’
Sprout let his stance getting ready to attack, but put on a nervous face, as if he can’t hurt it, since it was using Cosmo’s form.
“Getting tough are we?” it put it hands to the back and suddenly, in a blink, they were already beside Sprout, touching him suggestively, using it fingers to trace at Sprout’s hips and going above.
Sprout shivered. One, it was a suggestive move so of course he’s gonna feel something. Two, but It did get canceled out and the shiver turned to a disgusted one, knowing it was not actually Cosmo doing it.
‘Cosmo’ then grabbed him hard, letting out a huge chuckle as It does so. “Well, thank you for the meal!” It said.
But not long after that, it hissed and writhed in pain, stepping away from Sprout who stretched himself after that and looked at ‘Cosmo’ with a smirk that said ‘gotcha!’ basically.
“You! You!! The abomination!! You!!!!” the creature of ichor yelled angrily, their form getting unstable as their eyes going red and some of the body parts turned back to their liquid ichor form, noticeably on the right side of its head and right hand.
“Let’s settle this outside, shall we?” Sprout said as he tackled the creature and with a swift motion, opened the door to the backyard and pushing the ‘Cosmo’ towards the ground outside.
The creature hissed as they didn’t expect Sprout to actually have the strength to push it there. Once they were outside, the creature started to charge at Sprout, trying to scratch him with it’s right hand (now claw) as fast as possible. Sprout focused on dodging them, not letting out a single attack.
Sprout went to the middle of the yard and gave an opening, making the ‘Cosmo’ charge right at him. When it did, Sprout quickly dodged and kicked the creature to the ground.
“You!!!-“ The creature tried to stand up but failed as it felt something restrain it’s body. It looked down on their body and saw tendrils made of ichor coming out of the ground. The creature tried to control it but only wasted their energy trying to do so.
Sprout looked at the struggling creature beneath him. It disgusted him on how it had Cosmo’s face and voice but he had to do something now, he remembers what Dandy told them all to do if met with this circumstances.
“If any of you meet with these little ichor creatures that can already mimick real people, try and get any information out of them. They’re already sentient enough to know crucial information. After that, kill it, destroy it. Those twisted creatures could cause loss of lives if it got to that phase.”
Yeah, he said that like a few times already like in his past life, but a reminder is a reminder. Anyways, there was one crucial piece of information they need, having that information could end the ichor problem now. So he stepped on the creature with his right foot.
“Where’s the core. Where’s yours and every other ichor fragment core? Answer me or I’m gonna have to destroy you now.” He said making his face look more intimidating so the creature would spill out what he needed to hear.
The creature just growled, as if it couldn’t say any words from its mouth anymore, only groans, small roars like an animal. It’s body getting worse as the ichor was looking like it was melting as an attempt to escape the tendrils, which was useless at this point.
Sprout sighed knowing he won’t get anything from the creature, so he raised his left arm, and it slowly turns dark as ichor started to cover his whole arm, making it bigger, turning his hand into something akin to a claw.
His claw-like hand then stabbed the Cosmo shaped creature right at the chest, making the creature finally go limp as it started to melt back to the dark liquid it was once once, leaving a puddle behind, which the tendrils that Sprout summoned also melted into the puddle.
Sprout’s huge claw like hand then started to absorb all of the ichor from that puddle, merging it into his arm, then disappeared along with the ichor that covered his hand, making it look back to normal.
Sprout looked at his left arm and stared.
“You…really need to explain to me what just happened here….” Suddenly, from behind, Sprout heard a familiar and tired voice. Cosmo’s voice. The real one.
Sprout’s eyes widened in shock as he hid his left arm in a panic. He thought that Cosmo was unconscious so that he couldn’t see what he was doing. Well, he was wrong from the looks of it.
“How much did you see?”
“Everything”
Sprout basically froze in place and time, regretting his life decisions for the past few days. Oh how he hoped that he’s dead right now from embarrassment. But he was stopped as Cosmo broke the silence.
“Tell me about it tomorrow, I’m…very drained…” Cosmo said as he held his hand to the door frame to support his own body. Sprout noticed and immediately went to be by his side, lending aid.
Sprout helped Cosmo get into his bedroom, and once there, Cosmo instantly fell on the bed, leaving Sprout off guard with how everything happened. Sprout was gonna leave until he felt a tug on his sleeve.
Cosmo wouldn’t let go and Sprout didn’t have the heart to leave. Cosmo looked so peaceful sleeping, he went to his side and snuggled up on Cosmo, ignoring the fact that both of them didn’t even change their clothes and it reeks of the smell of cooking oil, sugar and flour.
They both slept that night, falling into a deep sleep.
~~
Sprout woke up first, looking at Cosmo beside him who was still sleeping. His energy was drained so it made sense why he was still sleeping. Sprout sat up and went to the kitchen, making some food for Cosmo when he wakes up later.
He had to explain many things to Cosmo. Too many things. But he hoped that he could be as honest as possible now.
Since, maybe, he can be honest with his feelings a bit more with Cosmo.
~~
“Rodger darling, you don’t look nice, why don’t you take a rest, I see that you’ve been working on your case all the time these days.” Teagan said as she poured him some tea, Rodger was rubbing his head from a headache.
“Real, Rodgy, I think you need to have a day off…me and Teagan here can take care of Toodles, I don’t have a shooting schedule this week anyways.” Glisten said as he sipped his tea.
Teagan nodded. Both of them were worried for the detective. He looked rough. So rough.
Rodger nodded even though half heartedly. “I will, thank you for the offer…”
‘But I need to know more’
At night, Toodles saw her dad sleeping on his office desk. So, being the great assistant she is, she decided to go and wake him up! Teagan and Glisten had always told her to take care of her dad if this happens!
And she saw it. Small but her small eyes caught a glimpse of it.
A little black blob at the edge of her dad’s sleeve.
Her eyes widened, realizing what this is.
‘I gotta tell big sister!’
Meanwhile, a certain sleeper was confused on why Toodles haven’t slept yet. He had to give her some dreams, since it was Shelly’s request. Well…a little nap won’t hurt anyways..so he drifted to the dream world, sleeping.