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Pure Vanilla Cookie slid carefully off his cot and tiptoed through the tent of his sleeping allies as precariously and light-footed as he could manage.
He grabbed his staff from its place leaning against the side of the tent.
Black Raisin Cookie opened an eye as he passed, ever vigilant, but he gave her a gentle smile that seemed to assure her everything was safe, and she rolled over, satisfied.
He slipped outside.
The door creaked open to Dark Cacao Cookie’s bedchambers, and Pure Vanilla walked slowly inside to find Dark Cacao getting into bed, pulling the covers over himself. His large frame looked unusually small in a bed so wide, illuminated only by the soft glow of a lamp and without his usual heavy armor to encourage a menacing silhouette.
“Oh good, you’re still awake,” Pure Vanilla mused, making his way towards Dark Cacao’s bedside.
Dark Cacao sat up and did his best to hide a weary smile. “What’s this about?”
“Well, after arriving in the kingdom today, there was barely any time for the two of us to sit down and talk together before you whisked us all off to sleep.”
He leaned his staff up against the edge of the large bed, and took a quiet seat, keeping one hand on the staff so he could see Dark Cacao for the little time he was around him.
“You’ve always told me rest is important,” Dark Cacao stated, rolling over onto one arm to look up at Pure Vanilla’s face.
Pure Vanilla Cookie frowned. “I miss you, my friend.”
It was as though Dark Cacao’s entire body relaxed at the words.
“I’ve missed you too.”
Pure Vanilla could feel the truth in that statement. How long Dark Cacao had thought him dead, had waited for his return- he could never imagine the extent of the grief he went through, but something indescribable was visible in the way Dark Cacao looked at him every time since his return.
After a moment, Pure Vanilla stood and made his way to the other side of the bed as Dark Cacao settled into the covers.
“All this tension isn’t good for you. You aren’t relaxing even when you sleep.”
“It’s difficult to relax when a war could be around every corner. I can’t be caught vulnerable and be responsible for risking the fate of my entire kingdom-”
“-Then let tonight be a reprieve.”
“Vanilla.”
“Nothing is going to happen tonight that cannot be solved in the morning. Let tonight be a reprieve,” Pure Vanilla reiterated.
He traced his fingers along the bed’s heavy sheets. “Besides, you will be stronger when you are not exhausted.”
Dark Cacao exhaled and turned to face the other side of the bed where Pure Vanilla stood.
“May I?” Pure Vanilla asked, and Dark Cacao lifted the blanket for him.
“I suppose I do have the best healer in all of Earthbread right beside me if something were to go wrong.”
Pure Vanilla Cookie hummed in agreement and slipped under the bedsheets, still a plethora of space between the two of them.
Pure Vanilla’s voice fell to a whisper. “I don’t mean to sound critical, but encompassing your entire life in fear is no way to live.”
Dark Cacao Cookie scoffed. “Well, I’ve done enough living for three cookies in my time.”
“And yet here you are, with so much living left ahead,” he countered.
Dark Cacao said nothing, only smiled. He noted Pure Vanilla’s hand resting between their faces, and gently placed his own hand atop his friend’s.
Seemingly surprised, Pure Vanilla Cookie’s eyebrows shot up, but it was only a moment before he smiled and took Dark Cacao’s hand in his.
In that moment, something left unspoken for so long was broken.
“We should do more of that living left together,” Pure Vanilla suggested.
Dark Cacao’s eyes trailed down the side of Pure Vanilla’s silhouette, tracing the profile of his hair, to the curve of his shoulder, down to their interconnected hands. “I’d like that. You were gone for so long, you have a lot of time to make up for.”
He rubbed his thumb over the side of Pure Vanilla’s hand. Pure Vanilla exhaled slowly, relishing in the softness and intimacy of the moment.
“Hollyberry would surely have words about this,” he whispered.
Dark Cacao shrugged, and the sound of shifting sheets almost obscured his soft chuckle.
“The three of us need to go for drinks sometime. Like we used to.”
“Agreed.”
There was silence for a long while- Pure Vanilla soaking up the comfort of the moment while Dark Cacao simply watched him. He took in the details of his face; details that he hadn’t been able to look at at all, let alone this close, in years.
The bags under his eyes were deeper, but Dark Cacao assumed his own were worse.
With a deep breath, he made the bold decision to reach his unoccupied hand out to tuck a stray piece of Pure Vanilla’s hair behind his ear.
Pure Vanilla grinned and shifted slightly closer, sliding a leg forward to press a knee against Dark Cacao’s.
“Goodnight, Dark Cacao,” he murmured. “Thank you for letting me here for the night. I enjoyed talking to you as much as ever, and I always will, no matter how much time passes.”
“Thank you for coming back,” he replied. “Goodnight, Pure Vanilla Cookie.”