#moonflowertickles

(Art made by @kremethekrispy the silly awesome. My favorite artist pushing my fav agenda here)

Another day, another boring elevator ride for the shopkeeper. Another day of endlessly staring into the brown wooden walls, listening to the soft yet ever-prevalent mechanical whirring of the elevator. He was all too familiar with the setting, being there nearly every day, it began to bore him. He got quite tired of his same-old routine, usually being bored out of his mind just waiting for whoever decided to descend into the depths that day to come back from their escapades, just to usually get berated because of his “lackluster shop” (he didn’t really see it as that, he just thought the others were jerks. “Let’s see THEM try and constantly supply good items every day” he usually thinks to himself.)

There is one aspect of it he enjoys, though, and that’s when he’s able to see his darling little moon, Astro.

He always enjoys seeing him descend with the other toons, always taking the chance to strike conversation with him whenever he is able to. They talk about a variety of things such as how life has been for them, how the depths of gardenview have treated Astro so far, or even how Pebble is doing occasionally.

Having such a keen eye out for the shopkeeper, Astro has come to notice that he hasn’t appeared to be feeling the best as of recent times. Small details that nobody else would notice unless they were singled out. His petals seemed to droop a small bit, his characteristically pastel green cheeks seemed to have faded in color, and other small, yet telling signs.

This concerned the moon, as he never liked seeing his darling flower upset. He made it his goal to cheer him up.

After the elevator ascended back to the main area for the final time that day, Dandy sighed as he tiredly walked back to his room. He was almost to his door by the time the moon managed to catch up with him, calling out his name to get his attention. Seeing Astro did help lighten his mood.

“O-Oh! Hey Astro!” He greeted, trying his best to put on a cheery mask for the moon, which Astro wasn’t falling for. He knew the flower all too well to NOT be able to see right through his facade. “Do you n-need something?” He asked, secretly hoping that this would end so he didn’t have to put on this facade for long

“Dandy, dear, you don’t have to pretend to be happy for me. I can tell something’s eating away at you.” He replied sympathetically. Causing Dandy’s face to redden with embarrassment.

“W-Whaaat!! I’m not pretending to be happy that’s so sillyImeanwhowouldeverdothatlike-“ He rambled on before getting softly shushed by the moon.

“Shhhh, shhhh. It’s ok to feel sad, dear. You don’t always have to be happy. Now c’mon, what’s wrong?” He asked as he took the flowers hand and led him into the room, sitting down on the bed next to him.

Dandy almost immediately dropped the act as soon as they sat down. “I dunno…I think I’m just tired of doing the same thing everyday…” he drearily replied. “I like being a shopkeeper and all, but being cooped up in that elevator every day…it gets really monotonous y’know? Plus I still feel like none of the other toons have gotten over the whole…incident…” he added.

Astro’s expression softened. “Oh Dandy…” he said softly as he pulled the flower into a hug underneath his blanket. He began rubbing small circles into the smaller toon’s back as he practically melted into the hug. As Astro rubbed his back, though, he couldn’t help but hear small sounds coming from the flower, looking up to see that he looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh. This intrigued him, so just to test something, he scribbled his fingers along his back a little, which got a response from the flower.

“HEHEY Astro stohop that!” He said, snickering, pushing the moon’s hand away. Now Astro was REALLY curious. He never knew that the flower was this ticklish!

“Oh?~ Why should I? It looks like it makes you happier! Why else would you be laughing?~” He playfully teased as continued to lightly scribble along his back.

This received a blush from the flower, making him embarrassed. “Juhust!- Just stohop!! Ohokay!?” He continued to giggle.

“You know I can see your dreams, Dandicus. They’ve been rather interesting recently~.” Astro teased again, stopping the small tickling to look his lover in the eyes.

The blunt exposing REALLY flustered the flower, leaving him blushing and stammering to try and find an excuse, which made the moon giggle softly. He found this quite endearing.

Suddenly, the moon got an idea.

“…Y’know Dandy…” he said as he suddenly lifted and set the flower’s arms above his head with his magic, causing him to blush even more and panic slightly, “I heard that the itsy bitsy spider has said that it needs to crawl up the water spout…~” he teased as he lifted up his hand and slowly wiggled his fingers to mimic a spider, leaving Dandy extremely flustered and stammering, wriggling around to try and escape his grasp.

Without warning, Astro began scribbling up the flower’s sides with 2 of his arms, sending Dandy into a flurry of giggles.

“EEHEHEEP! AHAHASTRO STOHOHOHOP!!! OHOHO NOHOHO STOHOP YOURE SOHOHOHOHO RUHUHUDE!!!” Dandy was kicking and flailing around, but Astro kept a steady hold on him, finding the sight of the flower at the moment very endearing.

“Hehe~ The it-sy bit-sy spider climbed up the water spout!~” Astro sang teasingly as he slowly traveled up his lover’s sides

“Ahahahastro PLEHEHEASE!!! Ehehehehehestohohop!!!” He continued to giggle, not ever admitting that he actually thoroughly enjoys this.

Astro continued with this act, descending back down his sides once he reached the underarms. “Down came the rain and washed the spider out…~”

“Why ahahare you dohohohoing thihihis to mehehe!!! lehet me gohohohoho!!!” He pleaded, not really wanting him to stop.

“Becaaauuse…I wanna see you happy! Plus, you have the cutest little laugh~” he teased, which left Dandy speechless apart for his incessant giggling.

Astro let go for a moment, giving the flower a moment to breathe before he got an idea. He made eye contact with the flower before backing away and motioning his arms towards his feet with a smirk on his face.

“Noho, Astro…y-you behetter NOHOHOT-“ He was cut off as the moon intensely scribbled all along Dandy’s feet, causing him to howl with laughter.

“AHAHAHAHASTRO!! STOHOHOPNOHOHOT THEHEHERE PLEHEHEASE!!! EHEHEHEHESTOHOHOP! STOHOHOPIHIHIJIT OHOHOHOMY GOHOHOHOD!!!” He wailed. He attempted to kick and squirm, but Astro kept a steady hold with his other two arms.

“Oh my! You’re such a gigglebug! I knew you were ticklish but not THIS ticklish dandicus!”

“SHUHUHUHUT UHUHUP!!! EHEHEHEHOHOHOSTOHOHOP IHIHIHIT!!! PLEHEHEASE!!! EHEHEHEHEHE!” He retorted

“Hmmm…ok…but only if you admit that you enjoy this, because I know you do!~” Astro smirked, teasing the poor flower.

“WHAHAHAHAT! NOHOHO IHIHI OBVIOUSLY DOHOHOHON’T ENJOHOHOY THIHIHIS! EHEHEHEJUHUHUHUST STOHOHOP!!!” But they both knew he was lying, they knew that he enjoyed this a lot.

“Hmm…well I might have to punish you if you keep lying…” Astro clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“OHOHOKAY OHOKAY FIHIHIHINE!!! IHIHI E-EHEHENJOY THIHIS! AHAHARE YOU HAHAHAPPY??” He desperately blurted out, folding his petals inwards to hide the massive blush on his face from having to admit such an embarrassing fact.

“Hmm…alright!” Astro let go of the flower, letting his arms down as Dandy tried to catch his breath, still giggling a little bit.

“*huff*….*huff*….NEHEVER….*huff*…do that again…” He said breathlessly

Astro giggled at the state that Dandy was im, grabbing his blanket and pulling him into a hug. “Oh we both know you loved that, cutie~” he teased.