Sprout bounced excitedly on the couch, his small hands clutching a box of Pocky. His eyes sparkled with mischief as he turned to Astro, who was sitting beside him, casually flipping through a book.

"Astrooo~, wanna play a game?"*

Astro barely looked up, but the sigh in his voice was enough to show he already knew this was going to be something ridiculous. "What kind of game?"

Sprout grinned and wiggled the Pocky box in front of Astro’s face. "The Pocky Game! You take one end, I take the other, and we see who pulls away first. If we reach the middle… well~" He giggled, clearly enjoying the thought of making Astro flustered.

A challenge. That was the one way to get Astro to entertain Sprout’s antics. With a quiet sigh, Astro took a Pocky stick from the box and placed it between his lips. He gestured toward Sprout with an indifferent shrug. "Fine. But don’t get any ideas."

Sprout beamed and immediately took the other end between his teeth. Slowly, they began to nibble toward the center. Sprout, as expected, was giggling the whole time, his eyes locked onto Astro’s with playful determination. Astro, on the other hand, remained calm, his gaze steady and unreadable.

(ASTRO POV)