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Footsteps echoed through the extraction room as a giant robot shaped like an Eastern warrior, purple and gray in color, made its appearance. It stopped in its designated area, and then its chest plate opened, revealing a mecha pilot with dark skin, dressed in purple with a diamond symbol on his chest, and long obsidian-colored hair streaked with white, tied back in a high ponytail.
The man stepped out of the machine and was greeted by the engineering leaders, Wild Berry and Crunchy Chips.
“I’m glad you’re back safe and sound, Mr. Cacao.”
“Did you have any trouble getting here, sir? Any technical or mobility issues?”
“No, Crunchy Chips. Thank you for your concern, but the equipment is working perfectly,” he said with a small smile as he faced the two engineers, then walked away.
He left the building, walking down a hallway until he reached the medical room; as he opened the door, the chill of the air conditioning and the smell of alcohol greeted him. Chief Medical Officer Peach Blossom appeared with a box of new supplies in her hands, and upon noticing the man with black hair, she greeted him.
“Good afternoon, Dark Cacao. I see you’re in one piece. I’m glad that invasion didn’t cause you any trouble.”
“Likewise, Peach Blossom,” he replied with a warm smile as he approached him to help.
“You don’t need to help me, Cacao. Besides, he’s waiting for you,” he added calmly. Dark Cacao blinked, but understood the order and, with a nod of his head, left.
He walked up to a door bearing the symbol of a three-flavor ice cream cone and the name “Pure Vanilla,” grabbed the doorknob, and with a sigh opened it.
Inside was a man with tanned skin and long, creamy-blond hair that reached halfway down his upper back.
He was wearing a sweater with a cloud pattern and brown pants, which were covered by a sheet. The man was sitting on the cot right next to the window, reading, but with the curtains covering half the glass to keep the sun’s rays from entering while still letting light into the room.
When he heard the doorknob turn, he looked up, turned around, and smiled as he pulled his hand away from the pages of the book he was reading.
“Hi, Cacao, you’re back early,”
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting your reading,” he said in a soft whisper as he approached and sat down beside him.
“Don’t worry, you know visitors have never bothered me. In fact, Strawberry Crepe and Black Raisin came by earlier and brought me some flowers,” he remarked, pointing to the vase on the nightstand.
The plum-eyed man looked up, his small smile turning into a sad expression. A brief silence fell as he picked up a small blue flower and gently tucked it behind the other man’s ear.
Vanilla flinched, but accepted the gesture, feeling his cheeks grow warm as he wondered if the other man was blushing too.
“Thanks,” he whispered, clasping his hands together and beginning to wiggle his fingers a little. “Um… Would you mind if I… braided your hair? I think my skills have improved.”
“Sure, I don’t have a problem” the straight, chromatic blond smiled and tried to shift his position on the stretcher.
It didn’t take long; the black-haired guy adjusted the chair to get closer and let his hair down. The blond’s hands slowly touched his hair, making his cheeks flush, then Vanilla began combing it with his fingernails, then tried to divide it into three sections without hurting his partner and started tying them off. The process was very slow, but it helped Dark Cacao relax and calm his mind; he felt the occasional tug, but he didn’t flinch, letting him continue.
Silence reigned once more, while outside the breeze could be heard brushing against the glass; the blond began to hum a little tune to entertain them both.
Cacao flashed another smile, though his mind tormented him once more with the memory that made him blame himself every day for not having done more to save him.
To save Pure Vanilla from this fate.
He, like his other friends, was part of the squadron of mecha pilots, giant robots created to protect and save humanity from alien threats.
Pure Vanilla was the leader of the group, alongside his mecha, Knowledge. Although many didn’t believe that someone with delicate features and a gentle personality could rise to the occasion, he was the best in his squad and worthy of the title, not because of his strength, but because of his sense of leadership and pure heart. He was even willing to sacrifice his life for others.
However, a disaster struck that even he never thought he would have to face. During a rescue mission, his team was ambushed by an enemy force; the mechas of White Lily and Dark Cacao sustained damage during the battle, leaving Hollyberry as their only line of defense while Golden Cheese protected the trapped civilians.
Then Pure Vanilla switched roles with Holly, harnessing her mecha’s full potential. At first it worked, until a malfunction was reported on her agency’s control panel. But this wasn’t just any malfunction, it was a virus that not even her engineering and science teams had detected.
He was warned that if he continued to use so much energy, the consequences would be disastrous, but their chances of surviving that mission would diminish if he didn’t do something. So he took the risk and, using a plasma beam, managed to create an exit through which they could escape.
There were some injuries, but no one lost their life, though the cost was his own. His control panel began signaling a serious internal failure; he tried to activate the escape pod, but it didn’t respond. He tried to unbuckle his seatbelt, but that didn’t work either, all his screens were flashing red.
The four of them were waiting for him to come out, and when they noticed the critical damage alarm, they panicked. They never knew what happened in there; they only remembered the alarm and their companion’s heart-wrenching screams of despair and pleas for help. Those were the most traumatic 15 minutes for the group, until finally the signal ceased and the robot fell. Dark Cacao rushed over and smashed the glass of the pilot’s cockpit, finding the blond man motionless and unconscious.
They took him to the medical bay, where Peach Blossom announced that the blond man had fallen into a coma, leaving him in a vegetative state with no set recovery date. Strawberry Creo and Black Raisin felt guilty; their friends were devastated, but Dark Cacao was utterly shattered.
He, who had been in love with Pure Vanilla for a long time, had now lost her. After she was admitted to the hospital and his mecha was put into hibernation, he began visiting her every day, hoping she would wake up someday.
Blaming himself for everything. If only he had acted sooner, if only his own mecha hadn’t been damaged, if only he had told her how he felt sooner…
If only...
“Dark Cacao?” The man turned, met by the blond’s calm gaze, though he noticed a hint of concern on his lips. “I wanted to let you know I’m done. Is everything okay?”
The dark-haired man returned to the present, touched his braid, noticing it was loose, smiled at him, and thanked him. Vainilla smiled back, letting out a little laugh.
“I was wondering what the weather’s like today. Lily said it’s starting to get cold outside the agency. I think fall has arrived, and…”
“Would you like to go?” The question startled him, even though it wasn’t the first time. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to disobey his doctor. “I’m sure Peach Blossom won’t mind.”
“Well… If you think so… Hey!”
Vainilla couldn’t finish his thought because Cacao picked him up bridal-style, holding his legs tightly to keep him from feeling any pain. This caused his arms to cling to the brunette’s neck, trying not to mess up his braid while his cheeks grew very red.
“Relax, it’s me,” he said with a slightly teasing smile, making the blond grimace, but he adjusted him more comfortably and grabbed the book he’d been reading.
The two left the medical wing, saying goodbye to Peach Blossom. Vainilla felt a slight discomfort in his eyes from the building’s lights, so he hid his face in the dark-haired boy’s clothes as they were carried to their destination. Cacao didn’t flinch, and the blond boy smiled slightly as he felt exhaustion overcoming him, settling against his shoulder and letting his mind relax.
After all, ever since he’d woken from the coma, his life had been peaceful, though it hadn’t always been that way at the start. As soon as he woke up, he saw that everything around him was dark, thinking he was still asleep because he couldn’t even move his limbs. It wasn’t until he asked where he was that he heard a tray fall to the floor and footsteps moving away from him.
Then he waited for whoever had left to return; the seconds felt like hours, and the darkness unsettled him, with only a *beep* to keep him company. But his pleas were answered when he recognized White Lily’s voice alongside someone else’s, though he didn’t know who it was.
Peach Blossom, who was now the new head of medical care, informed him that he had been in a coma for six months due to an accident on a mission; however, Pure Vanilla couldn’t remember what had happened. His mind only showed him the moment they were rescuing people before the ambush, and then everything went black.
Apparently, his mind had suppressed all memories of what had happened to his mecha, but his diagnosis didn’t end there. His muscles weren’t responding due to half a year of inactivity. And, above all, his eyes were the most affected due to overstimulation of his retinas by bright lights, and there was a high chance he would never see again.
Although many thought he would take it badly, Pure Vanilla understood and asked if any of the victims or his friends had been hurt; they replied that everyone had emerged unharmed, which made him happy because it meant her sacrifice hadn’t been in vain. He promised his friend and the others that he would do his best to get better so he could return to them.
However, the first few practice sessions were a nightmare; his body felt numb, and he felt unbearable pain just trying to move. Even so, he always smiled and held onto hope of recovering, without the others realizing that it was actually a facade so that no one would know that, when night fell and he lay in that bed, he lamented to himself that he was a burden, that he hadn’t been stronger, and worst of all, that he would now be surrounded by a gloomy darkness. It wasn’t until one day, as he was trying to read a book in braille, that he heard a door open and a voice he dreaded hearing.
“Pure Vanilla?” Dark Cacao was three kilometers away from him, and his presence terrified him.
But it wasn’t because he hated him; Pure Vanilla was in love with him, though he’d never told him so for fear of losing his friendship. However, now he was standing right in front of him, and he didn’t even know if his appearance was presentable. According to Raisin, his hair was longer and a bit of stubble had grown under his chin; it wasn’t that he considered himself ugly, but he looked very disheveled.
Not to mention that he’d overheard people saying that Dark Cacao and Peach Blossom had become friends while he was asleep, so what were his chances? None.
Even so, Dark Cacao always visited him and asked how he was doing; he brought him clean, comfortable clothes to wear; he helped him with his hair and shaved his beard for him; and even, when he wasn’t on a mission, he accompanied Vanilla to his therapy sessions, making his eternal darkness not so lonely and bringing joy to his heart.
One day he asked him about the eye patch; Vainilla replied that according to the doctors, he had to wear it, even though he had already recovered, a completely unconvincing lie, which he noticed, and he asked permission to take it off. At first, Vainilla refused, but he admitted he was tired of wearing it, so in the end, he let him.
And when he opened his eyes, he realized that the idea of going blind was a reality, but what left him speechless was Dark Cacao’s reaction.
“Wow, your eyes are like two pearls in the tide of a deserted beach.” Upon hearing those words, silence reigned once more, but his heart raced like never before and his face flushed. Then the guy with black hair realized what he’d said and began to stammer, “Ah… uh… I… I meant to say that…”
“Hehe,” he let out a sincere laugh and then thanked him for the compliment.
Time passed and his situation was improving, perhaps not as quickly as he’d hoped, but he didn’t mind, though that wasn’t the only thing. He felt it was time to confess his feelings to Cacao, but first he wanted to talk to Peach Blossom, who had become his friend, and he didn’t want to lose such pleasant company in the medical wing because of love.
“Actually, I wanted to confess my feelings to him. But when I saw how he visited you while you were in a coma, I realized his heart already belonged to someone else” the blond’s eyes widened at those words, and his face grew so hot he imagined himself as a tomato “I’m sure that if Cacao finds out I told you this, he’ll be mad at me. But I wanted you to know he’s my friend, and what matters most to me is that he’s happy.
“Thank you, Peach Blossom,” Vanilla managed to say as she hugged him, letting the tears she’d been trying to hold back spill out.
“What are you thinking about so much, Nilla?” The blond lifted her face and smiled calmly at her.
“Nothing, Cao.” He blinked and kissed the star-shaped scar on her forehead, signaling that they had arrived.
Dark Cacao gently set her down and sat beside him. Pure Vanilla could feel the cool autumn breeze, along with the sound of leaves falling from the trees. He rested his head on the dark-haired man’s shoulder again and picked up the book they’d brought.
“Would you like me to read something to you?” he lifted his head, his eyes closed.
“Of course, love,” he replied as he lifted his chin and gave him a little kiss on the lips.
The end~