A little more than friends?
Oh amazing, kind, and wonderful Ginger.
Bobette thought as she cleaned up The Workshop's center around the huge Christmas tree, putting up the presents and setting up the lights for another shooting of a new episode.
Bobette has liked Ginger for a long, long time now, not even remembering how she even liked her in the first place; it just… Came to be. I mean, who wouldn't like Ginger? She's a sweet toon who has a knack for baking things, even if the taste may seem a little different- But she's such… Such an adorable…-
She gets her thoughts cut off by the elevator dinging as Cosmo comes out of the door, waving goodbye to Sprout who went back up. Spotting her, he quickly ran over with a small present bag in hand.
"Bobette! Bobette! There you are! Sprout and I have been looking for you for ages now…" Wiping a bit of cream that dripped down his top, he lifted the present bag up to her level. "Ginger wanted to give you this, a thank you for helping her with baking last time!"
Bobette couldn't explain how happy she was, the heat already rising up to her glassy cheeks and making a new shade of red for her already rosy face. "Oh, really? Well, I guess I should go say thank you to her…" Her sentence ended with a soft hum as she inspected the gift bag.
Inside were two adorable cookies of her and Ginger, decorated in a (little too much) icing that was sweet to the taste.
Not as sweet as Ginger though…
Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she flipped her gaze back to Cosmo, giving him a hearty grin. "Thanks! By the way… How are things with Sprout?"
Her question was really just small talk since cleaning The Workshop was an absolute pain, but then again she also wanted to know what relationships were like… She didn't wanna just barge into Ginger's room, holly berries in hand saying that she wanted her hand in marriage or something, that'd be outrageous.
"Sprout? Oh! Sprout… Yeah- yeah… Sprout is a good guy, a little overprotective- But he's good to me… Treats me like I'm just glass sometimes… Always by my side, protecting me, acting all tough…" He laughed out loud as he fiddled with the strings of his hoodie, looking away from Bobette as a tan blush came to his cheeks.
"Amazing- really amazing berry…" Cosmo scoffed at his own words as he turned his attention back to Bobette, "Anyways, have you seen Ginger anywhere? I went into her room today to grab the gift bag but I didn't see her anywhere afterwards…"
"Must be something important since there is a new holiday episode coming out!" Bobette shrugged as she turned towards the lights she so painstakingly set up on multiple ladders (also falling multiple times and almost shattering her bauble), "I hope the kids like it this time…"
Cosmo sighed as he turned back towards the elevator, waving goodbye to Bobette, "Alright then, I'll be off so take care okay? You can always come back to the diner if you ever need to! Me and Sprout will always be waiting!"
Bobette waved him goodbye with a smile as he stepped into the elevator and went back up. With a soft sigh she went back to sweeping around The Workshop's Christmas tree.
—
It's already been an hour and Ginger still hasn't showed up, Dandy is getting grumpy, Rudie is slowly losing his jolly spirit that he worked so hard building up on, and Vee is just… Vee, she doesn't really care if Ginger shows up or not- As long as she gets to leave and go back to doing whatever.
Bobette is getting worried sick, sat next to Dandy and fidgeting with the hot chocolate Rudie made for her which did little to calm her down.
Where is she? Did she get lost? Did she run into one of those twisted infested floors? Ginger…
"Dandy, haven't you seen Ginger around somewhere? At least in anyone's room?" She pressured his words onto him and only frowned more when Dandy shook his head no.
"I saw her earlier in her room but when I came back, she was gone!.. I doubt she would have gone too far though..!" Patting her shoulder, Dandy gave her a smile. "How about you go look for her? I'm sure she'd love it if her best friend came worried sick!"
Best friend? Right… I'm just her best friend, just a… Good, good friend.
"... Right, right! I'm her… Best friend." Her tone sounded more somber than her usual as she slowly stood up, placing the hot chocolate down on the makeshift coffee table made out of presents.
Then, she ran off to the elevator, going up to check every floor for a sign of Ginger.
"... What's up with her?" Vee finally chimed in as she unplugged her cable from the side of her head.
"She's gonna look for Ginger- I mean, you know, I envy their friendship a lot! They're just so perfect for each other, kinda like those platonic soulmates thing Cosmo told me about when we found out one of the computers in the gift shop still worked!" Rudie said with a grin on his face as his nose lit up a notch. "They just give me such a nice and jolly vibe… That makes me wanna sing!"
… And Vee decided to charge a bit more as Dandy sat back and let out a groan.
—
Bobette is sure she had checked every floor by now, but there is one floor she hasn't checked yet…The Warehouse.
The Warehouse was so annoyingly big and more annoying that Dandy basically used it as the stupid humans and Toon Handler's storage room! I mean, everything was in there, even cars!... Somehow? The garage doors were sealed shut with Ichor so I don't really- Okay, enough of the stupid thinking.
The elevator pinged and let out a soft hum as she exited, the doors closing behind her as she looked around. No Twisteds? Good, she didn't wanna find Ginger surrounded by them.
"Ginger? Ginger? Where are you?" She called out, only to be met with a soft shuffle that she barely heard all the way at the corner of The Warehouse.
Running towards it, there Ginger was, Ichor dripping from her hand as the machine next to her hummed a low buzz.
"Ginger?! Ginger! What happened? Are you okay?!" Bobette felt her heart shatter at the sight of Ginger's injured hand, instantly falling down to her knees, not caring if she scraped herself. "You should've told me you were the one repairing the machines! I could've come with you…"
Ginger gave her a soft smile as she reached out a hand to caress her glassy cheek. "No-... No, I'm fine… Really- Don't be worried about me." Yet the Ichor dripping from her hand said something else entirely.
Bobette frowned as she lifted her hand up, looking down at it and rubbing the traces of Ichor away, seeing the cracks as she looked back up at Ginger once more, "How did you even get injured? And why did Dandy say you should repair the machines?!.. Ginger…"
"... Dandy told me that Vee had to charge… And I just twisted a bolt a little too hard- My hand will heal in a few days anyways…" She tried to laugh it off but Bobette was not gonna let it off the hook that easily.
"Oh no- no way! I'm telling Dandy all about this." Pouting as she picked Ginger up with ease, making the toon let out a surprised 'ooh!' at her strength.
"B-Bobette! I can handle myself! …It's just an injury on my hand after all…" Ginger protested but Bobette was already making her way back to the elevator, pressing the buttons to go back to The Workshop.
"... Bobette? Can you even hear me?"
"... Fine…" She said with a soft smile as she leaned in to rest her face against the other's neck.
—
Back at The Workshop, Dandy was getting an earful by Bobette while Vee stood idly, just waiting for this to end so they could hurry up with the shooting… Well, if Bobette doesn't make Dandy delay it since Ginger is injured.
Back at the giant Christmas tree, Ginger and Rudie stood next to each other, Ginger's hand already had a signature bandaid to cover up her crack as she traced the lines idly while gazing off to Bobette's general direction.
Rudie noticed her smiling to herself as she watched Bobette scold Dandy, "Hey! Whatcha lookin at?.. Are you looking at Bobette?"
Rudie's words made Ginger quickly bring herself back to the present as she let out a strained giggle, sounding a bit too flustered for her liking. "O-Oh! well… Yes actually, she's just… Nice to me." Looking down, she fidgeted with the hem of her top which made Rudie take note that yes, both of the sugar cousins have the habit of fidgeting when they're flustered.
"I already gave her cookies for helping me yesterday… But now I wanna give her some more for helping me today too… She's such a kind girl." Ginger looked back, a familiar dreamy look in her eyes as she gazed off to Bobette.
"... Do you… Like her?"
That question instantly made Ginger almost choke on her own spit, letting out raspy coughs as she looked back at Rudie, "Goodness- Goodness no! She's… She's just a friend to me…" Staring for a few moments before continuing her sentence.
"... A very pretty friend…"
Rudie, already getting the hint, decided to go back to staring too.
Well, this is gonna take a long time for both of them to realize.