Chapter Text
“You! What are you doing here!?” yelled a voice.
With the plushie still in his hands, Pure Vanilla Cookie turned around and saw an agitated Shadow Milk Cookie floating in the doorway and making his way towards him.
“Ah. Hello Shadow Milk Cookie. I wanted to see how you were doing since we last met. It seems you’ve being preoccupied making these plushies of me.” Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled and held up the plushie, wiggling it. “A lot of them.”
Shadow Milk Cookie crossed his arms. “And? What about it?”
“May I ask what the plushies are for?”
Shadow Milk Cookie gave Pure Vanilla Cookie a blank stare while blinking at him a few times. There was a short moment of silence. Finally, a wide grin grew on the jester’s face.
“Oh. Were you hoping I made them for an endearing reason? Ha!” He plucked the plushie from Pure Vanilla Cookie’s hands. “Well these harmless looking plushies are actually bombs!”
Pure Vanilla Cookie turned his head from side to side at the room full of plushies. “These are bombs?”
“That’s right. It’s part of a devious scheme of mine that will deceive many Cookies. Everyone will associate these bombs with you and you’ll take all the blame!”
“What is the scheme, exactly?”
“I scatter these plushies all around Earthbread. A Cookie comes across one and can’t resist how soft and huggable the plushie looks, so picks it up.” Shadow Milk Cookie wrapped the plushie in his arms, giving it a hug. “Then boom! It explodes!”
“Aww, watching you hug that plushie makes me want a hug from you too!” Pure Vanilla Cookie said with cheery expression on his face.
After hearing Pure Vanilla Cookie say that, Shadow Milk Cookie became flustered and quickly tossed the plushie on a nearby table. “I-I said it’s a bomb! Weren’t you listening!?” he shouted.
“Yes, I was,” Pure Vanilla Cookie said. “Why didn’t the plushie explode?”
Shadow Milk Cookie cleared his throat. “Not all of the plushies are bombs yet. It’s a work-in-progress. You were lucky enough to pick one that isn’t a bomb. Also the ones that are bombs are deactivated, since I’m not testing them right now.”
“Oh, okay. What about that plushie over there?” Pure Vanilla Cookie asked, pointing to the plushie on the bed. “The one that is lovingly tucked in the blanket. Is that a bomb?”
“That— that one isn’t a bomb yet.” Shadow Milk Cookie tried thinking of a reason to give for plushie in the blanket. “It’s…unique! It’s meant to explode…in quiet, comfortable environments.”
“Did you give it a little kiss too?”
“Ye— No! That’s stupid!” Shadow Milk Cookie shouted, quickly correcting his slip-up. “This is only set up for testing purposes!”
Pure Vanilla Cookie chuckled. “Sorry, just a bit of teasing.” He pointed at the Pure Vanilla Cookie plushie and Shadow Milk Cookie plushie placed high on the shelf. “So what about those two plushies, up there? Are they both bombs?”
“Only the plushie of you,” Shadow Milk Cookie said with a smug grin. “The splendid plushie of me is happy to get a front row seat to the poor little plushie’s demise. That particular plushie of you would explode after hitting the ground. I’ve been working on various ways to set these bombs off.”
“I see.” Pure Vanilla Cookie took a look at all the plushies in the room once more. “And all of the plushies of me will be made into bombs and explode into pieces?”
“That’s right! That is their fate! Sooo sad!” Shadow Milk Cookie held a hand up to his cheek and pretended there were tears.
“If that is the case…would you be alright with giving me one? One that isn’t a bomb yet? These plushies are so well-made. It would be such a shame if all of them were destroyed. And the Shadow Milk Cookie plushie back home would have a friend.” Pure Vanilla Cookie said.
Shadow Milk Cookie’s eyes widened in surprise. “You…you took it with you?”
Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled. “I did.”
Shadow Milk Cookie looked away, trying to hide the blush inching into his cheeks. He was happy to hear that he kept it, but he tried to play it off. “Hahaha, how amusing. I can’t blame you. My craftwork is top-notch. Fine, I’ll give one to you. But on one condition.”
“And what is that?”
Shadow Milk Cookie floated in place, placing his hands behind his back. He shuffled his arms and averted his eyes. “Let’s hug…”
Pure Vanilla Cookie didn’t expect him to be so shy about asking for a hug, but he would happily oblige. “That’s all? Of course I’ll hug you! I said I wanted a hug from you earlier, remember?”
With a soft smile, Pure Vanilla Cookie walked up to Shadow Milk Cookie and wrapped his arms around him for a gentle hug. Shadow Milk Cookie seemed a little awkward about it at first, as he stood in place with his arms to the side, barely moving. But after a moment, he relaxed into the embrace and let out a quiet sigh. Pure Vanilla Cookie was glad Shadow Milk Cookie seemed less tense now. He even attempted to return the hug, since Pure Vanilla Cookie felt a light touch of one of Shadow Milk Cookie’s hands on his back, now. It was nice hugging Shadow Milk Cookie. Hopefully—
BZZZZZT!
Pure Vanilla Cookie let out a startled yelp and jumped back. It felt like his dough was zapped with an electric shock. Shadow Milk Cookie started cracking up with laughter while casually floating in the air with his back toward the ground. After finally calming down enough, he showed Pure Vanilla Cookie a hand buzzer he had on his palm.
“Oh, Vanilly…you’re too trusting. Me? Wanting a hug? You should have doubted my intentions. How gullible of you to let your guard down so easily!” He laughed some more, then picked up the plushie he had previously tossed on the table and handed it to Pure Vanilla Cookie.
Pure Vanilla Cookie scratched the side of his forehead and chuckled. “Okay, okay, I fell for it.” He took the plushie from Shadow Milk Cookie. “Thank you for the plushie. I’ll take good care of it. And the Shadow Milk Cookie plushie too!”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure you will. Bye-bye, now.” Shadow Milk Cookie closed his eyes and waved his hand dismissively towards the exit.
“I hope we can speak to each other again soon. Goodbye.”
After Pure Vanilla Cookie left the spire, Shadow Milk Cookie giggled to himself and picked up one of the plushies. He wrapped it in his arms and nuzzled it against his cheek, sighing happily.
“You’re so, so, silly, Vanilly…”
In the Vanilla Kingdom, Pure Vanilla Cookie dusted off a wall shelf in his bedroom and decorated it with two small houseplants on opposing sides. Then he placed the Pure Vanilla Cookie plushie and the Shadow Milk Cookie plushie on the middle of the shelf next to each other.
“There we go. Adorable plushie buddies.” Pure Vanilla Cookie said.
He took a few steps back to see how the shelf was arranged. Everything turned out nicely. He looked at the plushies and suddenly chuckled to himself.
“Plushie bombs…What a funny lie.”