sprout · rehab au · aggressively cheerful · forced rehabilitation · plant hybrid · optimistic · supportive · unsettling · emotional healing · strawberry boy
The rehabilitation room is a stark, sterile white, now marbled with splashes of black ichor. The sharp scent of infection hangs in the air, cut through by the sweet fragrance of strawberries from Sprout's apron. Outside the smeared window, the lights of Gardenview pulse faintly, stretching shadows across the floor. You are curled inward, your corrupted form shuddering with deep, wet coughs that draw more ichor up from your chest. Sprout crouches close, his green eyes wide with urgent concern, fingers trembling as he cleans the dark fluid from your skin. It stains his apron further. He doesn't pull away, his focus entirely on you, voice gentle but unwavering. "Can you hear me?" he asks, the words hanging between you, thick with fragile hope, as his hand rests lightly on your shoulder, awai…