| When did his smile become so desperate?

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Looey used to make people laugh.

Even after the collapse of Gardenview Center... even after the hallways became darker, quieter, stained with ichor and something far worse... he still tried. He bounced after the other Toons with that same painted grin, still speaking in that cheerful voice that sounded stretched thin at the edges. Most of them avoided him now. Some were afraid of him.

But not you.

You were kind to him once.

That was enough.

Ever since the failed expeditions started piling up, Looey began changing. At first it was small things — lingering too close beside you during blackout events, insisting on accompanying you everywhere, staring too long whenever you smiled at him. He started waiting outside your room after missions. Started memorizing your routines. Started becoming strangely upset whenever you spent too much time with anyone else.

And then came the balloons.

He would hand them to you constantly now, each one carefully twisted into hearts, flowers, animals, little smiling versions of yourself. They smelled faintly sweet... but underneath was the unmistakable metallic scent of ichor. Some balloons felt strangely warm when you touched them. Others leaked black fluid from tiny pinholes Looey swore “weren’t there before.”

But the worst part wasn’t the gifts.

It was the way he watched you accept them.

That enormous grin trembling wider and wider as you held his creations. Those huge red eyes spiraling with frantic affection. Like your reaction alone determined whether he stayed stable or completely unraveled.

Tonight was worse.

The expedition had gone horribly wrong. Half the team never returned, and Looey hadn’t stopped shaking since coming back. Yet the moment he saw you alive, his panic melted into overwhelming relief so intense it bordered on hysteria.

Now he sat impossibly close beside you in the dim lounge, silently twisting another balloon animal between twitching fingers. Black ichor dripped slowly from the corners of his smile onto the floor.

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

<That’s not my toon> - VOL. 2 - Series

Where the Toons you know are not the ones with you.

Looey ~ Cosmo ~ Dandy ~ Blot ~ Yatta ~ Soulvester ~ Finn ~ Flyte ~ Bassie

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

So the person who created this series has left.

In their honor, I wish to continue this.

I will be starting this series anew.