Work Text:
Silly Vanilly: Okay chat I'm going offline now, it's cuddling time
Silly Vanilly: Goodnight!
Pure Vanilla Cookie put his phone on a night stand standing next to his bed. How good that he thought of a night stand. Thanks to that he could put books that he didn't finish reading at night here and read them the next day, or place a glass of water on the piece of furniture in case he'd get thirsty in the middle of the night. After all he wouldn't want to fall down the stairs on his way to the kitchen just because he'd feel the need to drink something. Suddenly, someone appeared in the room. Pure Vanilla wasn't surprised by this visit, because he knew the person really well.
"Don't you have a map of this place or sumthin Nilly?" The cookie asked, crossing his arms like an angry child.
Of course this person was no one other than Shadow Milk Cookie, who, to Pure Vanilla's surprise, was visiting him pretty often lately. It's not like he minded it or something, because it was pleasant to see him get a bit more comfortable about spending time with the healer.
Pure Vanilla shook his head in response.
"If I had one I wouldn't find new rooms here every day"
Shadow Milk sighed and flew over to the bed, waving at the other cookie to move to the side. Pure Vanilla nodded in understanding and sat a little bit closer to his side of the bed, so Shadow Milk could sit next to him. Instead of just sitting next to Vanilla, he jumped on the bed, burying his head in one of the pillows. They were SO SOFT and so comfy, he couldn't help himself from doing that.
Pure Vanilla let out a soft laugh and laid down next to the other cookie.
"Got anything to talk about today?"
Shadow Milk turned his head to the side to look at the cookie laying next to him. He yawned and nodded. This was progress in comparison to a few months ago, for back then when he had just started visiting the healer, he was kind of hesitant to talk with Vanilla. Not because he was afraid that the cookie would judge him, he was never scared of anything. The reason was way simpler.
He just thought that talking with him would be like admitting defeat, and he wasn't the one to give up easily. It would hurt his pride, because imagine someone like him actually being honest while chatting with a person like Pure Vanilla Cookie! He'd never be able to look at himself in the mirror, and his minions would make fun of him.
Or that's how he portrayed it earlier. He used to think that Nilly is annoying. The healer was a honest cookie, way too stubborn and too willing to help. It was annoying, frankly speaking. But there's nothing one can't get used to, and Shadow Milk took this as a challenge. Who said he can't get used to his "soulmate's" overly nice behavior? Besides, he had to entertain himself somehow, and that seemed like a fun thing!
After some time, his approach to that changed a bit, and he slowly, progressively stopped thinking of it as of a challenge. One could say he totally forgot about it in the process of visiting Pure Vanilla on a daily basis. Regularly on evenings, they'd cuddle, and none of them would make unnecessary comments about it. Just like that. And eventually, they started chatting. First, the healer would talk about his day and ask Shadow Milk questions like "And how was your day?" or "What do you think about (.....)?".
He did not receive answers at first, which did not surprise him at all. But it never felt like he was talking to himself, because he knew that Shadow Milk listened despite not speaking up. Even if he didn't care about what Vanilla was saying, he still listened. Until... He actually started giving answers.
And so it went on, night after night, chatting about things that made or didn't make sense. It wasn't important to say something logical, just to say anything in general. Pure Vanilla wasn't entirely sure if some of his "friend's" statements were true or false, and he didn't need to know. All that matters is that the two are talking to one another.
"What is the thing that's bothering you?" The healer asked in his usual calm tone.
"That's... something that I've been thinking about for quite a long time now, actually"
"Mhm?"
"I've got a question for you, Nilly"
Pure Vanilla tilted his head with curiosity.
"Hm? Alright then, go ahead"
Shadow Milk took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to finally force the question out after so much time of thinking it through and finding the right words.
"Why are you so... Kind to me?"
"Huh?"
Pure Vanilla wasn't sure how to respond. He could say that he's his dear friend and that he cares about him, because that's true, but would it be enough? Would Shadow Milk accept this response? Or maybe he wouldn't be satisfied with just that? Maybe he's expecting something more, or something less...
That was one of the rare situations when the healer genuinely didn't know what to say.
"Nilly?"
"I need to say something, but what response will leave him satisfied? He's unpredictable, I don't know how will he react if I'll say that I care for him because we're friends! Not even I know if we're something more and I don't know what he's expecting me to say..."
"I... Honestly don't really know the answer to this question, friend. For me, you're a very dear friend of mine, even though you didn't want to accept my friendship at first, and I still am confused as to if we actually are friends or not. I don't know if you'll ever change your mind about this offer, but I just want you to know that whenever you'll be ready to agree on it, or if you already did, I'll be there to accept it. I care about you deeply, I'm not sure if it's just caring about a friend or something more... I don't know what were you expecting me to say, but... That's how I really feel about it"
He received no response for a couple of minutes, well, not like he expected one anyway. But the silence was broken by quiet sobs coming from the cookie laying next to Pure Vanilla. The healer's eyes widened slightly, because he didn't expect Shadow Milk to react like this. Not in a thousand years would he think that the Master of Deceit himself would cry in front of him, let alone because of something he'd say. This was very out of character for him, and considering that he was a perfectionist, dropping that playful facade of his was somewhat like a... confirmation of trust, at least to some degree.
Or he was just so tired that he didn't care about it anymore. There were moments when Shadow Milk acted off or talked about things he usually wouldn't dare to mention. These were rare sights, usually when he was at his lowest and most vulnerable, which you wouldn't expect from someone like him. But, at last, he was just a cookie, like everybody else. He, too, had struggles and problems of his own, even though he pushed them away to the darkest and farthest corners of his mind so he could forget about them. It's just that he was such an excellent actor that no one would suspect him of having issues.
But Pure Vanilla could look right through that mask, and he knew just how much that cookie must've suffered in the past. How much pressure was he under to break, and how badly it affected his mental health. He wouldn't wish it to anybody else, not even to his worst enemies.
The healer shifted closer to him and slowly, gently wrapped his arms around him, giving the cookie a warm hug. After a quite long while, Shadow Milk reciprocated the action, at first holding the guy with minimum strength, then hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms and legs around Pure Vanilla, so he looked like a koala bear hugging a tree branch. He buried his head in the other's chest, mostly because he did not want him to see his tears, and started to calm down slightly. The blonde just chuckled quietly at that and tightened the hug just a bit, not too much, not too little.
"Is it better now?" He asked quietly, not moving his eyes from the crying cookie.
Shadow Milk nodded and mumbled "mhm" along with some muffled words the other couldn't quite understand.
"Good. I'm glad that I could help."
They stayed like this for a while, none of them daring to break away from the hug. Pure Vanilla was slowly drifting off to sleep, still holding Shadow Milk Cookie close. It's not like he planned on letting go anyway. He yawned and gently pat the other cookie's head.
He was about to say goodnight to him, when he was taken aback by a sudden question.
"...Do you really like me, Nilly?"
He said it barely above a whisper, but it was enough for Pure Vanilla to hear it. The healer smiled warmly at him, not taking too much time too respond this time.
"Even more than you'd imagine"
His words were followed by silence. But the silence wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. It was calm, peaceful...
Shadow Milk wondered if Pure Vanilla was asleep already. He has his eyes closed almost all the time, so it's hard to tell if he's awake or not. He slightly loosened the grip on the other cookie to make sure that he is not accidentally harming him by the tight hug. He still didn't dare to look at the guy, though. I mean, Pure Vanilla's blind so he wouldn't even notice... No, he 100% would. He'd hear his movements, after all people who can't see have other senses highly developed.
"He's probably sleeping already..." He thought to himself and opened his eyes for a short while to check if the other cookie was, in fact, asleep. As expected, he still couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not. He was quite tired, even though he didn't really need sleep to function properly. It was really late at night, and trying to break out of the hug had the risk of waking Pure Vanilla up. He looked so peaceful when he slept... Shadow Milk Cookie wouldn't forgive himself if he'd wake him up by accident.
Of course, he could always teleport away, but Pure Vanilla's hug was so warm and comfy! Who the hell would want to ruin it?
Shadow Milk would never admit it to anyone else (ESPECIALLY not to Eternal Sugar because she'd tell Hollyberry about it, and then she would tell everyone else and he'd be screwed).
That's why he decided that he'll just try to fall asleep. Some extra energy for the next day is always good, isn't it?
He used his magic to cover both of them with a blanket. Now it was even more comfortable to lay here. His eyes closed and he slowly started to fall asleep as well, but before he has drifted off to the land of dreams, he whispered one more thing.
"I love you Nilly"
....
Pure Vanilla was asleep, he couldn't possibly hear that, right?
Well, jokes on you, he did.
He didn't respond in an instant though.
He waited approximately 30 seconds to say something that will probably make Shadow Milk's life a little bit better.
"I love you too"
He wasn't sure has Shadow Milk Cookie heard that or not, but he didn't need to know. If he didn't hear that, he'll just say it again. And then maybe one more time to assure him that it's genuine. He'll say that as much as necessary.... No, even more.
After all that's how love works. You want to make sure that someone you love feels safe with you.
And no matter how much times will he be rejected, Pure Vanilla wanted to make sure that Shadow Milk feels safe and loved. Because that's what friends lovers do.