Chapter Text
Eternal Sugar knows how to tell when her friends are lying. They all have little clues, some more obvious than others. Like a little hair twirling or a slight raise in voice pitch. She has it down to a certain science, well she knows how to tell if three certain people are lying. All except one, Shadow Milk. She can’t find a specific telltale sign that he’s lying or not, but he is new to the group so she guessed that it would take some time to find out his signs. She, him, Silent Salt and Mystic Flour were on the bleachers.
They were waiting for Burning Spice’s track practice to finish. She eyed Salt’s birthday invitations in their hand, they had one left. She was puzzled by this, all of them had an exemption from receiving an invitation since they were going to go anyways. She then realized that their parents hadn’t even met Shadow Milk yet, so in a way it made sense. They slipped the invite into his sketchbook as he drew, he picked up the paper.
“Salt, what is this?”
“An invitation to my birthday?” He looked at them with shock in his eyes. He kept reading the paper numerous times before he spoke again, “Of course!!! I’d be delighted to go!!!” Something about his response was… off. The way he answered so quickly was so weird, usually Shadow Milk would think on it and then give his response. Not this time though, which she clued in that it probably had something to do with the party.
Once Flour and Salt were picked up by their parents, she confronted him. “Milky, what are you hiding?” He looked at her befuddled by her question, she clearly caught him off guard. “What? Nothing!!” Burning Spice wasn’t buying it one bit, “Dude, it’s obvious you’re lying. What’s going on?” Shadow Milk caved in really quickly after that, he sat down on the bench. Running his fingers through Spice’s hair as he talked, “It’s the party… I don’t think I can go into the pool……”
Sugar glances at him, “Blueberry, why do you think you can’t go?” He takes a deep breath, his eyes still not looking at either of his friends. “I can’t swim…” Burning Spice couldn’t believe it, he looked at Eternal Sugar who had the same look of disbelief as she began to laugh in dread. “You’re joking right?” He shook his head and both were absolutely flabbergasted by this new knowledge. Burning Spice is the first to speak, “How the fuck do you not know how to swim?!”
“My parents don’t live near a pool, so they didn’t see any need to teach me.” Sugar didn’t mean to raise her voice, she was just appalled at the negligence that was being displayed in front of her.
“That doesn’t matter, because it’s a survival skill!! I learned that when I was a toddler!! How is it possible that more we hear about your parents, they get worse than before?!”
Shadow Milk began rocking himself, “It’s a talent that only they possess.” Sugar was starting to pace, she sees her limousine pulling into the car loop and an lightbulb went off in her mind. She grabbed both Burning Spice and Shadow Milk’s hands and pulled them into the car, Shadow Milk tugged away harshly at the unexpected touch. She quickly apologized and loosened her grip, Spice speaks up, “Sugar, what are you doing?!”
She gets in and sits down, “Okay, I have a plan.” Shadow Milk looks at her with curiosity in his eyes. “We’re going to teach you how to swim. I have a pool at my house, we have a week until the party! So hopefully that’ll be enough time to get you up to speed for when you go.”
Shadow Milk nods as his knee bounces up and down, the car pulls into the driveway and Shadow Milk is floored by the mansion. Eternal Sugar gets out of the car, the moment the door opens she’s off. Barely even registering her mother in the living room as she searches for her old pool bands. Her mother calls her, “Sweetheart?”
“Not now mom, I’m on a mission. Do you want where my old pool bands are?”
“They’re in the garage.”
She gave her a thumbs up and ran upstairs, returning quickly. She threw two pairs of swim trunks for Shadow Milk and Burning Spice, “Sugar, I’m not wearing your dad’s swim trunks!!” She snapped her head back at Spice, “Well they’re the only ones you got!! So take it or leave it!!” Burning Spice grumbles and went to the bathroom to change.
—
Shadow Milk changed into the swim trunks, he heads downstairs and stops upon seeing Sugar in the living room in her bikini. She looked really pretty in the pastel pink bikini, like extremely pretty. So pretty in fact, that he found himself staring at her. She gets up from the couch, her attention is now on him. “Mom is asking why we’re rushing to get in the pool, you wanna tell her?” He shakes his head, “No, I mean it’s kinda embarrassing…” She puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, he leaned into the touch.
“Mom as of now, the pool is off limits to you, the butler’s and Dad. The only ones allowed anywhere near the pool are me, Burning Spice and Shadow Milk!!” She nodded as Sugar and Shadow Milk went outside to the pool. Sugar hands him some pool floats, “You might have to wear this.” He takes the pool floaties, “Aren’t these for children?” Sugar rubbed her hand on the back of her head, “I know, but we’re trying to prevent you from dying an early death via drowning.”
Shadow Milk understands that it’s for his own safety but it doesn’t mean he didn’t like the idea. He stands near the edge of the pool, watching the way the water moves each time he kicks his feet. The sight sending a sensory delicacy straight to his mind, Sugar gets in the water.
“You coming in?” He shakes his head.
“I want to wait for Spice, first.”
The pool door opens and Shadow Milk turns around. His eyes widened as he saw Burning Spice shirtless and his hair tied up in a ponytail, he just stared at his friend. He tried to look away, but he was completely transfixed by his friend. He hears fingers snapping and he blinks, Burning Spice is kneeling down to his eye level. He snickers, “You enjoy the view, runt?”
Shadow Milk’s face blooms with a blush as he turns his face away from Spice. His hands rubbing his face to try and rid the blush from existence. He feels a hand ruffling his hair, “Relax, Star. I’m messing with you!!” Shadow Milk stammers and stumbles over his own words.
“Ha! Yeah!!! Hilarious!!” Spice walked to the deep end of the pool and jumped in. The water splashing upwards, Sugar shrieked. “Never do that again!!” He laughed, “What difference does that make?” She glared at him, “You’re an asshole that’s the difference!! I have water in my ears now!!” Shadow Milk makes his way to the shallow side of the pool, his wariness potent. He looks up at Sugar and Spice, waving shyly to them.
Spice waves back, “Just keep walking until your feet aren’t touching the floor.” He does as he’s told, gasping once his feet lift from the ground. Sugar swims over to him, leading him to the edge.
“Okay, so we’re going to start with kicking. You put your hands on the border and use your legs to kick.” He places both hands on the border that separates the pool from the land, he starts kicking his legs. The sound of the water rippling brings a sense of calm over him. He hears Spice’s voice, “Dude, you’re barely kicking. You gotta do it fast if you want to get around.” Shadow Milk kept his eyes on his hands, “My legs are weaker than yours. So I might be slower…”
Spice slapped his hand over his face, “Right, yeah. But you gotta build endurance in your legs.” Shadow Milk started to speed up his kicks slightly, the splashes from his kicks echoed through the air. Eventually he turned his head to Sugar, “Can I stay over tonight?” She beamed as she splashed some water on his face, “You absolutely can!!!”
His eyes opened and he felt them stinging, the sensation being extremely uncomfortable, but not enough to cause a meltdown. He began to flap his left hand, trying to get rid of unwanted stinging in his eyes. Spice noticed this and swam over to him, looking concerned. He smiled, “I’m okay. It’s not bad enough to send me spiraling, just unpleasant.” He sighs in relief and swam to the shallow end, Sugar helps Shadow Milk in getting there too.
“Sorry for getting chlorine in your eyes. I have googles somewhere in my house, so you can use those next time.” He nods and heads inside the guest room to get dressed. Spice’s parents were there waiting for him, so he had to go. They bid their goodbyes and Shadow Milk began to sketch again while waiting for dinner.
—
Sugar lead her friend to her room, opening the door and his eyes lit up in awe. He jumped from one spot to another, stopping at one particular spot. “Sugar, you sleep in a HAMMO-” he covers his mouth and lowers his volume “You sleep in a hammock? I’m sorry if I was too loud.” She takes his hand gently.
“You’re alright, Blueberry. And yes, I do sleep in a hammock. I find it more comfortable than a bed.” He keeps looking around the room, his attention moving at every single item in her room. “Are all of your guy’s rooms like this?!” She tilts her head, confused by his question. “What do you mean, Milky?”
“Are your bedrooms full of stuff? Flour’s was similar and I was wondering if the same applied to the others.”
Sugar never thought that she would take something as simple as a decorated bedroom for granted. “Yeah obviously they are,” she takes a deep breather and asks her next question “is your room not decorated?” Shadow Milk cackles at the question, “My parents didn’t want me getting stuff for my room that I’m not going to use. So no posters, no books, no dressers, nothing.” And that broke her. Because her friend didn’t have anything in his room that reflected who he was as a person. She turns around to face him, fighting back tears as she talks. “Blueberry, that’s messed up.”
“I know, but I can’t do anything about it… I still want food to eat and a roof over my head.” She turns to her closet, shuffling around for a nightgown for herself and her friend. “That still doesn’t make it right… You don’t deserve that.” She tosses him the nightgown, he looks at her confused. “Put this on for the night.” He still looks at her, puzzled.
“But I can’t wear the same outfit tomorrow…” she snapped her fingers dramatically.
“Exactly!!! You’re going to decide from my wardrobe!!!” He looked shocked for a moment, before he stood up. He drummed his feet on the floor, bumping his balled up fists together, then hugging her so tight. “You’ll let me?!” She smiled at him.
“I’m not a woman who breaks her promises.” He flapped his hands rapidly and smiled at her. She smiled back, bringing out the sleeping bag for him. “Goodnight Milky…”
“Night Sweets.”
—
Shadow Milk couldn’t sleep. His mind kept asking the same question, a question that he didn’t know the answer to. Why did he feel the same attraction towards seeing Burning Spice in swim attire as Sugar? Guys were supposed to like girls…… right?? Which he does like girls, so why does he feel the same attraction towards men?
He found both Eternal Sugar and Burning Spice incredibly attractive. Sugar, he understood. She was naturally really pretty and sweet, so he expected to have an attraction towards her. However that’s nothing compared to Spice, who’s very being consumed his heart.
He didn’t know if whatever this was normal. And that frustrated him to no end, he kept staring at the ceiling as if it had the answers he needed.
He growled in frustration and turned over. Closing his eyes to sleep. Tomorrow was another day at school and another swimming lesson.
He needed rest. So he slept.