Work Text:
Pure Vanilla hadn’t slept in seven days.
Not for lack of trying on his part, mind you! He just… hadn’t had the time to try.
See, there was an event he had been tasked with planning, and he was meant to host delegates, ambassadors, and leaders from all across Earthbread.
Why he was chosen out of all cookies, Pure Vanilla had no idea, but he had been regardless. Which meant that now he was in charge of planning out every detail of that entire week, as well as the plans on how to get everyone to and from his kingdom as well.
Airships would be necessary for almost everyone, as he somehow doubted that carriages would be able to reach his castle considering it was, well, in the sky.
But that just meant that he would need to calculate how long it would take each ship to get to each kingdom, how long it would take to get back, and somehow route them around each other so the hangers wouldn’t all be full at once. But he also needed to make sure everyone would arrive around the same time and-
“Pure Vanilla?” A voice said from behind his door.
He sucked in a breath, setting his quill down and grabbing a select few papers he had precariously set on the edge of his desk. “Coming!”
The Ancient was rather glad that he had mastered illusion magic by this point, as he didn’t have to worry about other cookies catching onto the… problems that had physically manifested by day three.
Using illusion magic, he could hide the disturbingly dark bags under his eyes, the pale complexion of his dough, the messy state of his hair, and just how rough his wings looked from the lack of proper maintenance.
And as long as he kept a smile on his face and acted fine, it was like nothing was even wrong!
He opened the door and was greeted by Shining Raisin, one of his advisors.
“Ah, I see you brought the documents I requested. Here, why don’t we swap, hmm? Take these down to Black Raisin, she’ll give you directions from there.” Pure Vanilla said, taking the papers from her hand and giving her his own in return.
And like that, he was rushing back to his desk.
Yes, he knew this amount of work most likely wasn’t healthy, but the Ovens would sooner freeze over before he allowed himself to dump this workload on anyone else.
Pushing his enchanted glasses up, Pure Vanilla grabbed another set of papers. The glasses had been a gift from Shadow Milk on their second anniversary.
His husband had apparently been working on them for months before giving them to the Avian, saying that they needed to be perfect. He handmade the frame and carved the lenses himself.
The lenses were enchanted with enhancement magic, drawing the required mana from the surrounding area as opposed to draining the user’s own magic. Which was perfect for Pure Vanilla’s current agenda.
Using magic to constantly enhance his vision cost a fair amount of mana, and there was no way he could keep that spell and the illusion spell up at once.
Sure, Shadow Milk might not like how the Avian was using his gift, but he wasn’t here!
Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he reached for the, now lukewarm, cup of coffee on his desk and took a sip.
Pure Vanilla absolutely despised the taste of the bitter liquid. No amount of sugar or creamer could hide the abhorrent taste from him. However, he was willing to suffer the taste in return for the caffeine.
And if he used a bit of healing magic to help keep himself awake and functioning on top of that, well, such acts were his secret to keep…
Anything just to make sure that this gets done properly.
Shadow Milk would be so mad at him if he knew.
His husband was away in Beast Yeast. He had been for a week now for a meetup with the other Beasts. They did so every year, each Beast hosting it in their own domain depending on whose turn it was.
It was much like the tradition he and the other Ancients had each summer.
Luckily, the distance meant that their soulbond was weakened, so Shadow Milk shouldn’t catch onto Pure Vanilla’s… work situation until he gets back.
Which shouldn’t be for another-
“-illy? Helloooo? Anyone home?”
His head snapped up from where he had been staring blankly at the papers in front of him for… Witches he had no idea how long it had been. His sense of time had fractured well into day two.
No, he didn’t need to think about that right now, there was something far more important going on.
Shadow Milk was here!
A genuine, bright grin erupted on his face and he jumped up from his chair.
Sure, his vision darkened at the edges and his hearing faded out in favor of ringing, but that had become normal at around day three.
“Bluebird! I missed you so much! How was the trip?”
Shadow Milk was oddly tense when he hugged him, but reciprocated regardless.
“It was fine.” He sounded oddly distracted and concerned. “Nilla when did you last-”
A knock interrupts him.
Ah. His two o’clock meeting.
Pure Vanilla sighed, rushing back over to his desk and grabbing a few stapled packets from off his desk. The presence of another cookie in the room made the Avian realize the organization of the various documents atop the table looked… random at best, but he knew where everything was and that was all that really mattered!
“Nilly-”
“I’m so sorry, Bluebird. I can’t be late for this meeting.” He pressed a quick kiss to Shadow Milk’s cheek as he walked by. “I promise we can catch up properly when I get back.”
He felt a little bad as he walked out of his office, but quickly brushed that aside in favor of planning how exactly he was going to propose his plans regarding the banquet held on the second day of the event.
…
Witches, he was so tired…
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
The meeting ran far longer than he had anticipated, as one of the guests apparently had a major allergy he wasn’t aware of. Obviously, Pure Vanilla had to completely rework what he had planned and painstakingly go through the list to rule out certain dishes.
He couldn’t do this later, either, as he had to get the order submitted tonight for everything to arrive on time. So the Ancient just decided to run everything by the cookies in the meeting instead.
But finally, he was back at his office.
Pure Vanilla could sense Shadow Milk inside, and opened the door with a small smile.
“I’m back, my love.”
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “So, what did you…”
His jam ran cold as he saw Shadow Milk sitting on top of his desk.
Now, that in and of itself would have been fine. However… everything had been moved.
“Your desk was a wreck, Nilla, so I cleaned it up. Something’s up with you, you’re normally a neat freak about everything.”
Pure Vanilla’s breath hitched as he rushed over. “I- Shadow Milk I had everything right where I wanted it. Why did you…?” His heart raced as he looked over everything, a tight feeling building in his chest.
What if something got misplaced? What if he needed to give someone a list and it got put in the ‘sign here’ section instead? What if-
“Pure Vanilla.”
Hearing his full name spoken by Shadow Milk was… jarring.
“When was the last time you slept?”
He blinked. “I…”
His husband fixed him in place with a hard look and crossed his arms. “When did you last eat or drink anything besides coffee?”
The Beast looked at the empty mug and then back up at him. “Actually, better question. Why on Earthbread are you drinking coffee? You hate coffee.”
Pure Vanilla drew his wings tighter to his back apprehensively, one hand gripping his other arm. “I… The caffeine helped me focus.”
“Okay. That’s one question answered. How about the others?”
He bit his lip and looked away.
It was silent.
“Answer the question, Vanilla.”
The Avian really didn’t want to answer this question.
“It’s… It’s not important. I’m fine.”
“That’s not an answer. That’s not even true, either.”
Pure Vanilla’s hand unclenched from around his arm and instead came up to rest on the brooch overtop his chest. “The souljam keeps me stable. Going a few days without any of those things is fine, Shadow Milk.”
His husband gave him an incredulous look. “I can tell just by looking at you that it’s been more than just a ‘few days,’ Nilla.”
Huh?
Had his illusion spell worn off?
“No, but the fact you need one to begin with is frankly concerning.”
Oh, he’d said that aloud.
The Ancient shook his head. “It’s only been a week, Shadow Milk. I’m fine.”
“... A week?”
Crumbs…
“I… It doesn’t matter right now, Bluebird. I need to revise and rewrite this list to get everything sorted out by tonight. If I don’t then the caterers won’t-”
Shadow Milk cut him off. “Nilla, I don’t care what you ‘need’ to do right now. What you actually need to do is get some sleep.”
He bit his cheek as he sat down in his chair, and he could feel the glare that Shadow Milk was sending him.
“I’m fine, Shadow Milk. Like I said, the souljam-”
“You shouldn’t need to rely on that!” His husband suddenly shouted, his hair flipping violently in the air around him as he angrily hovered over the desk.
At his silence, the Beast continued. “Do you think I don’t know how it feels to be forced to rely on that damn rock just to keep myself going for another hour? To lose track of day and night just to get a damn project done? I practically invented the practice of working yourself into the ground!”
Shadow Milk’s glare softened slightly. “I didn’t have anyone to help me back then. But you have silly little fools running around this castle just begging to help you with stuff like this. What good are they if you don’t use them?”
Pure Vanilla inhaled sharply, shaking his head. “I can’t.”
“Elaborate.”
He squeezed his eyes closed and ignored the headache that brewed due to how tight his expression was. “Someone else could mess something up. They could sign something wrong, list a wrong date, forget to include a location. If I do everything myself, I know that I won’t make that mistake. I just… I can’t trust anyone else to handle sensitive matters like this.”
That was only a fraction of the truth, but Shadow Milk really didn’t need to know the rest of the… more personal details.
It was quiet for a moment. “Do you trust me, Nilla?”
Huh?
“What? Of course I trust you, Bluebird! Why would you-” The moment he saw Shadow Milk’s expression, he realized what trap he had fallen into and an uncommon wave of annoyance washed over him.
With a tense sigh, he picked up his quill and dipped it in the inkwell that was placed near him, creating a list of ingredients the kitchen staff would need and the quantities of such in looped, sprawling cursive.
“Did none of what I just said make it through your skull, Nilla? Do I need to get a megaphone to repeat it into your ears?”
He bit his cheek as he continued writing, noting that his handwriting was… shaky.
Ugh, not now… He thought this went away on day five!
Shaking his head, he clenches the quill tighter, trying to smooth out the lines that he was writing. It didn’t really work and he was getting quite annoyed at this point-
The feathered pen was suddenly wrenched from his hands and he looked up with a confused frown.
“Go back to our room and lay down. I’m not asking this time, Nilly.” Shadow Milk said with a glare.
Pure Vanilla glared right back, gritting his teeth in a rare moment of genuine anger. “Shadow MIlk.”
A feeling of shock came through the soulbond, and the Beast’s expression melted into one of bewildered surprise for a moment before hardening back into a scowl.
“See? This is what I’m talking about! You’re not normal right now, Vanilla. Just go back to our room and-”
“I need to get this list finalized before my next meeting, Shadow Milk.”
“Have someone else do it!”
“I already explained why I-”
A knock came from the door, and both of their heads snapped towards the noise.
“Pure Vanilla don’t you dare-”
He cut off Shadow Milk’s venomous hissing with a cheery grin, one that gave the impression that he, in fact, was not about to lose his Witches-damned mind. “Come in!”
The door opened and a light haired cookie walked in, clipboard in her hand and round glasses perched on her nose.
“Ah, Sugar Cone! How may I help you?” Pure Vanilla asked, purposefully ignoring the glare that his husband was sending towards the new cookie.
“I won’t keep you for long, Your Majesty.” He wasn’t a king anymore, why did cookies still insist on using that title? “But I needed to confirm that the Parfaedians would be staying in rooms one through seven in the west wing. This information is correct, yes?”
That… wasn’t right. “No, they’re staying in…” His voice trailed off as a sudden wave of brain-fog came over him and pain shot through his head.
Pure Vanilla breathed in shakily and lightly rested a hand over the left side of his face, a strand of hair falling loose and covering a few of his fingers.
“-our Majesty?”
What… was going on with him? Why was his vision doubling?
No, he’s fine. He just needed to push past this and think.
He sent a pulse of healing magic through himself and took a deep breath. “...Apologies. The Creme Republicans are staying in those rooms; the Parfaedians are staying in rooms eight through thirteen.”
She looked mildly concerned but turned to her clipboard and wrote something down regardless. “Okay, I’ll make sure the others know of this corrected information. Thank you.”
And like that, she was gone, and it was just the two of them again.
Pure Vanilla could feel Shadow Milk’s gaze boring into the side of his head and sighed, apprehensively turning to look at the other.
The two stared at each other for a moment, and the Avian’s wariness grew with each second that the suffocating silence between them remained in place.
…
“You’re infuriating, you know that?” Shadow Milk finally said, his words breaking the tense air around them, if only slightly.
Pure Vanilla blinked at him with a blank expression. “You’ve told me as such before.”
“Yeah, but I mean it this time.”
He shook his head in exasperation, a tired smile coming to his face.
Wait, no. He wasn’t tired.
He didn’t have time to be tired!
Pure Vanilla could cake all the time he needed to rest after this whole event was over, but he had no time to indulge in such things beforehand. There was still so much he had to do!
“-a healer who can’t take care of himself. Hey, are you even listening?”
The Avian pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shadow Milk, you’re giving me a headache.”
“No. I didn’t do anything. Your inability to acknowledge that you have needs is what’s giving you a headache, Vanilla.”
He dropped his hand to look at Shadow Milk, narrowing his eyes with an unamused frown. “It’s probably just dehydration; I’ll deal with it later.”
His husband gawked at him with a borderline hysterical grin. “Later?! Tell me, exactly when you’ll ‘find the time’ to get a damn glass of water, later. You’ll just conveniently forget that you’re thirsty in order to keep working.”
“Shadow MIlk.”
It was silent for a few, tense beats before the Beast spoke again.
“I’m going to get you some water, and when I get back, you are going straight to bed.”
“Bluebird I don’t have time to-”
“Make time.”
Then he was alone.
Pure Vanilla remained frozen for a few seconds before sighing and holding his head in both of his hands, fingers tangling in the messy blond locks atop his head.
He was awfully lucky that he could use magic to clean his hair and wings as needed. Sure, it wasn’t perfect at getting everything, but it at least removed the oils!
…His wings hadn’t been preened by Shadow Milk since he had left for Beast Yeast, and he wasn’t sure when he would get to feel his husband’s claws in his feathers next, especially considering the fact they were fighting right now.
Witches… He didn’t mean to be that harsh with him…
Pure Vanilla just… wished Shadow Milk could understand his point of view. To know that this was the only way to ensure that everything would go to plan.
Guilt gnawed at his heart and the Avian bit his lip, fighting back the stinging in his eyes.
He really didn’t mean to snap at his husband, everything just felt like… so much. It felt like every little thing was trying to break him down, bit by bit, and if he stopped to breathe for even a moment then everything he’s put himself through this week would be for nothing.
No, not what he’s put himself through. What everyone else has put themselves through.
Pure Vanilla needed to make sure that wouldn’t happen.
Taking a deep breath, he sat up and reached for his quill. But his hand was met with empty space.
…Where…?
Oh. Right.
Shadow Milk had stolen it.
Pure Vanilla turned and reached behind himself, tugging a loose feather off of his wings and examining it.
It wasn’t exactly the size and shape he would normally use, but it served his current purposes fine. He would just ask his husband to keep the intact feathers he shed during his next preening session so he could look for a better one then.
Dipping the tip inside of the inkwell next to him, the Avian started writing once more.
Hmm, they would need a shipment of fruit from Hollyberry’s kingdom, likely strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes. Then, from Dark Cacao, he would need cocoa powder, cacao nibs-
“Y’know, I took this so you would stop working.”
His aural feathers raised at the sound of Shadow Milk’s voice.
When had he gotten back?
“That was an oversight on your part, Bluebird, as I have an infinite supply of feathers to work with.” He said without looking up from the paper.
The kitchen would also need spices from Burning Spice’s domain, so he would have to send a letter to Golden Cheese to ask if-
A glass of water was abruptly shoved in his face, blocking his line of sight to the paper in front of him.
“Drink.”
He blinked dumbly for a moment before taking the cup into his own, slightly shaky, grasp.
Pure Vanilla brought the glass to his lips and Witches, he hadn’t realized just how thirsty he had been until the cool liquid hit his tongue. Before he knew it, the glass had been completely drained.
The Avian set the glass down on his desk, slightly disappointed that it was empty.
No matter, he still had work to focus on-
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He looked up to see Shadow Milk gazing at him expectantly.
“Err… Thank you…?” A confused smile tugged at his lips.
“That’s- No that’s not what I…” His husband sighed and shook his head. “Bed, Nilly.”
Oh. Right…
“Bluebird, I really don’t have time to-”
“Fine, we’re doing this the hard way.”
Before he could even ask what the ‘hard way’ even entailed, the floor suddenly fell out from beneath him, and he landed on something soft and cushiony. The feeling of such would have been comforting if not for the sickening wave of unbridled vertigo that overcame him from the fall.
Nausea enveloped his whole being and he curled in on himself with a shaking groan. He could feel his body shaking as he fought back the bile rising in his throat, and he gripped the blankets beneath him just to have something to anchor himself to.
Pure Vanilla could hear a voice, presumably Shadow Milk’s, speaking around him, but everything just sounded muffled and distorted in his ears.
His wings curled around his sides and trembled as another wave of nausea hit him and the world seemed to spin in front of him.
He clutched the blankets tighter and tried to steady his breathing, the dizziness and queasiness abating somewhat as time went on.
Once he no longer felt like he was about to fall off the face of Earthbread and his stomach had stopped churning, a sense of overwhelming fatigue overcame him.
Being in the nest made him abruptly aware of just how heavy his eyelids felt, and all he would have to do to solve that issue was close them-
No!
He couldn’t afford to be lazy and selfish and let everyone else down just because he was tired! Pure Vanilla was fine. He needed to be fine.
“Nilla, lay your ass back down.”
The Avian shook his head, pushing himself into a seated position. “I can’t fall behind, Shadow Milk.”
“They will survive without you while you rest.”
“I don’t need to, I’m-” As soon as he stood, the world suddenly felt very… far away.
His whole body went numb and the last thing he recalled was Shadow Milk’s voice calling out for him as the world went dark.
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
An all encompassing sense of soreness bid Pure Vanilla good morning, and he shifted his head with a quiet groan, fatigue already tugging at his mind again.
Witches, what on Earthbread caused this…?
He hadn’t felt this awful in… forever.
A throbbing, bone deep ache pulsed through him with every beat of his heart, his head hurt, and fog settled over his thoughts like a fine mist.
Pure Vanilla shivered as a sudden coldness wracked through his body and curled slightly more into the blankets, his wings also shifting uncomfortably from when they rested beside him.
…They felt surprisingly clean, especially with how horrid the rest of him felt.
What had even happened…? He couldn’t seem to recall anything through the sludge in his mind. All he really wanted to do was sleep, but that felt… wrong for some reason.
Why did he feel this sinking guilt over wanting to rest?
…
He wasn’t sure, but not being able to sleep this off for Witches knows what reason sucked.
Pure Vanilla chittered under his breath and shivered again, feeling his wings puff up beside him.
“See, this is what happens when you don’t do the bare minimum of taking care of yourself for a week.”
…Shadow Milk…?
Slowly, he blinked his eyes open and saw a blue blob sitting on the bed with him, back pressed against the headboard and what seemed to be a half crocheted doll in his lap.
He narrowed his eyes at his husband's impassivity towards his plight.
“Don’t give me that look; you did this to yourself, Nilly.” Shadow Milk set down the hooks and locked eyes with Pure Vanilla. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”
“...How kind of you…” The Ancient turned on his side, clumsily throwing a hand over towards his husband, who caught it easily and threaded their fingers together.
The eyes in the Beast’s hair didn’t reflect his annoyance, as they looked more concerned than anything else.
“You worked yourself until you literally passed out, Nilla. Not even at your desk, either. If I hadn’t been there to catch your stupid self, you would be sporting quite a bruise on your forehead and be laying on the floor.”
Pure Vanilla blinked slowly, the words slowly turning the rusty gears in his head. “Well… thank you for not letting me make a complete fool of myself, then, Bluebird.” He said, almost automatically, as he tried to figure out what had even been said.
Shadow Milk scoffed. “Oh, no no no, you already did that. Black Raisin’s forbidden you from even looking at any documents for the next week.”
…What was he…?
Oh Witches!
Panic shot through him as the memories came back and he shakily pushed himself up, ignoring the full body shaking and the horrid pain that surged through his dough at the movement.
How long had he been asleep for? How much had he missed?
What had gone wrong while he was-
“Nilly- lay back down-” Hands gently, but firmly, pushed him backwards onto the mattress.
“N-No, I… I’ve missed too much! What if-”
“Shut. Up.”
He blinked in surprise, hesitantly allowing Shadow Milk to tuck the blankets back around him, albeit in jerky, almost angry motions.
The Beast huffed, sitting in front of him and stared directly at him. His glare was sharp, and it took Pure Vanilla quite a bit of willpower not to look away.
“What exactly is your problem, Nilly? Why is it so hard for your cookie-pleasing ass to understand that you yourself are also a cookie?”
Pure Vanilla flinched, his gaze shifting to look at the nest instead. “It… wasn’t because of that, it was because I don’t-”
“What? That you ‘don’t trust anyone to help you with this?’ No, you’re the most blindly trusting cookie I’ve ever met, don’t try to lie to me.”
He drew his shoulders up, a sickening sense of guilt slowly washing over him. “I… I just… I couldn’t…”
“You ‘couldn’t’ what, Nilla?” Shadow Milk’s voice was quieter.
“...I couldn’t bring myself to ask for help…”
Pure Vanilla’s fist clenched as he continued. “Everyone… already does so much for me. The obligations were assigned to me specifically, offloading them onto others felt… wrong. I had no issue directing the staff on what to do for the larger projects, but only because I knew I couldn’t complete those on my own. However, I did all I could to alleviate the stress of working out each and every one of the details.”
His eyes stung and he wanted to stop talking but he just couldn’t. “With my souljam, I’m able to handle the physical strain of stress, exhaustion, and lack of sustenance better than those without one, so I thought that… that I would be fine. I thought that I could handle everything, but I couldn’t. And I think I knew that deep down, but I couldn’t stop myself. I felt that if I did, that if I gave myself even a moment of respite, everything that the others had worked so hard for would crumble to pieces.”
The Avian’s eyes squeezed closed in shame. “...But now I can’t help them at all…”
He knew he wasn’t in any state to assist with planning the event. His thoughts were jumbled, his body ached, and fatigue weighed heavy on his eyes.
If he had just taken it a bit easier, if he had just taken a few minutes to rest every now and then, he would still be able to help. He wouldn’t be uselessly stuck to his mattress, unable to do anything.
Witches, he was so foolish-
A hand rested on his cheek, angling his head up. His lashes fluttered open, and he was met with the sight of Shadow Milk looking at him with tired, yet fond, amusement.
“You are the smartest idiot I know, Nilly.”
Pure Vanilla let out a startled laugh, blinking in shock at the statement. “I…”
His husband shifted so he was laying next to the Avian, one hand messing with the tangled blond locks that were sprawled out across the mattress. “You can’t do everything for everyone else, you know. That’s not only impossible, but dangerous to try to achieve.”
He sighed. “I… I know…”
“You once told me that I need to rely on you more, to let my guard down and trust you to help me. But that goes both ways. You need to rely on me more.”
The Avian blinked at him before his expression faded into a wobbly smile. “When did you get so kind…?”
Shadow Milk rolled his eyes, his smile growing just slightly. “Your disgusting, gooey affection for everyone and everything seems to have cursed me. I’m doomed to care for you for eternity now.”
“I can’t say that I mind this fact…”
“Tch, you would love it, wouldn’t you?” The Beast said dryly.
Pure Vanilla laughed, though it faded into quiet sobs as the stress he had been suppressing for the past week started to trickle back in.
Arms wrapped around him and pulled the Avian into Shadow Milk’s chest, the claws from them gently carding through his hair and starting to detangle it.
It was such a small act of love but it only made him cry harder, Pure Vanilla’s own arms holding onto his husband like he may disappear if he loosened his grip even slightly.
He loved Shadow Milk. He loved him so much.
His wings lifted and cocooned around the two of them to the best of their ability.
A feeling of comfort was pushed into him through the soulbond, and a watery smile pulled his lips upward. Even if he couldn’t express it verbally, Shadow Milk still always seemed to want to soothe Pure Vanilla when his stress weighed too heavily on him.
Eventually, his breathing calmed and the rampant anxiety running through his mind faded into the background.
“...Thank you, Bluebird.” Witches, his voice sounded far hoarser than it did prior.
“...You’re welcome.”
Silence.
“Your hair is a mess, Nilla.”
That was quite a subject change.
“Did you… was that an offer to fix it, by chance?”
“Oh, it seems you’ve forced my hand. I guess I’m just bound by obligation to help you now.”
Yup, he definitely wanted to help.
Pure Vanilla both heard and felt a portal open next to him, and hands guided him up into a seated position with his body turned into Shadow Milk’s chest.
Soon enough, a comb started working its way through his hair, and he relaxed into the Beast’s hold.
“You know, I didn’t need to brush my own hair as a Virtue.” At his hum, Shadow Milk continued. “We were made as… ‘perfect’ beings, so I could just sort of will my hair into cooperating. That changed when… well… The Beasts came about. I can technically shapeshift it to look how I want, but that doesn’t exactly get rid of the tangles once they’re there. I learned that much when I took on the form of-”
The words slowly lost meaning on him as his body relaxed further, and the quiet ramblings of his husband created the perfect, comforting white noise to lull him to sleep.
Pure Vanilla only partially awoke when his position was shifted, but the body in front of him never left. In fact, he was drawn closer to the other as a kiss was placed on his forehead.
An absentminded coo left him as his wings once again enclosed the two, and the last thing he heard before sinking back into the warm abyss of sleep was Shadow Milk’s voice.
“I love you, Nilly.”