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To say Una was worried would be an incredibly huge understatement. Maybe it was the constant worry in her head making her overthink but she just could not be worried about sprout. They were supposed to meet in the kitchen at 2 pm, and it was now 4 almost 5. Sadly it couldn't be earlier, seeing as Sprout was a main toon, and that title came with an unnecessary amount of responsibility that any toon should have.
Sprout running late was not a surprise to Una though. The berry was constantly running, always a few minutes late and was always in an insane rush to meet with her, this little act always flattered her truly. But it was out of the ordinary for Sprout to be this late, I mean a few minutes sure but hours was so out of the ordinary for him.
Una's heels clicked atop the marble flooring, and a deep overflowing anxiety filled the sea urchin. She was sure to break the floor at this pace. But she had to remain calm, thinking the worse would do her no good. What would help her was finding out where in the living sea that berry could be.
Una checked all of the usual spots her and Sprout would spend their time. She checked the library where she would show him her spells, the garden where they would watch the stats, and even to the corner in the lobby Sprout would sometimes just hide in when things became too much. The last place she had not checked was his bedroom, mostly because it seemed like an invasion of his privacy if she just ran in there, even if he insisted she was never a bother.
As she stepped closer to the door she could hear the faint sound of light sobs from inside the room. Now that was a tad bit strange, Una had never seen or heard sprout cry before, but that didn't mean he didn't. Gaining courage to figure out who was making the noise, she raised her fist and knocked the door lighting twice.
For a moment the sobs from the inside stopped and Una was met with a loud bang of what seemed to be a lamp falling onto the ground. After a wide variety of sounds met her ears the door slightly opened, and she was met with Sprout's eyes, they were red and irritated and just screamed tiredness.
There was a slight moment of awkwardness as neither of the two had the right words for the current predicament they were in. Gathering the words in his throat, Sprout let out a single “sorry” as his eyes began to well up with tears again. It was clear that crying wasn't something the berry liked to do. It seemed that all his pent up stress just came crashing down onto him one random Saturday.
Una felt a grave pain seeing him like this, who wouldn't feel bad seeing someone you loved so much in so much pain. Una brought up her hands to hold his face, seeing as he relaxed into it, she was sure she was giving some sort of comfort. “Sprout, come on let's rest ok?” Una said softly with a hint of concern in her tone. The berry nodded as he allowed her into his room.
The room was clean, sort of. It was more of a cluttered clean but that was not important right now. What was important was getting sprout to rest and relax. Una grabbed Sprout's hand as she closed the doors and led him towards a bean bag in the corner of the room. She allowed Sprout to get comfortable as she laid onto the beanbag with sprout onto her.
Words weren't needed for the berry to relax, as Una combed her fingers through his hair in a repetitive motion. Allowing him to get used to the sensation and to focus on it only. Over and over again, Una offered Sprout a quiet and piece full type of comfort. One that didn't require words and focused mainly on actions.
And slowly and softly as possible Una began to chant comforting words to Sprout and his frame began to relax into hers. As she chanted her words of comfort, she was met with soft and subtle snoring from below. As she lowered her eyes she was met with the stupid love of her life snoring, calming in her arms without a care in the world.
Though she didn't know why, the sight made her chuckle, seeing someone uptight and hardworking as Sprout looking so utterly lazy in her arms got a chuckle out of her. So as softly as possible, Una dragged his unconscious body onto his soft and pillowy mattress. His body making the bed dip slightly.
Una then carefully raised his strawberry themed comforter on top of the two, creating a soft fluffy cocoon for them both to rest in. Una relaxed the muscles in her body and allowed the overwhelming comfort to take her, her vision slowly blacked out as she recalled the earlier moments of the day. What she mostly recalled was the state of her Sprout. How he was sobbing and sniffling when she arrived at the door, poor thing. The stress from every room and every run must've gotten to him. He was probably holding it all in for so long.
Una then made a mental note to always have a mandatory rest day for Sprout at least once a week, she doesn't want him to be like he was today ever again. So as her thoughts lessened and her body relaxed, Una then fell asleep in the arms of her beloved, their breathing meeting each other's paces and the world outside of the bed slowly disappearing.
Una swore that she would never let someone she cared so much about feel like this again, it was a promise she made in her heart as the realm of sleep slowly caught up to the sea urchin.
The end