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The Sage of Truth was rather annoying, Truthless Recluse decided.
That cookie taught incessantly about the Truth, and would send his pupils to climb the Peak of Truth to reach ‘true enlightenment’ as their final test.
On paper, there were only a few things wrong with this plan
Problems started arising, however, because he himself lived in said Peak.
One might argue he could just send the students away with a message to the Sage and ask him to stop sending cookies to his doorstep.
The issue? He had already done so, each message more bitter than the last.
Eventually, he decided to leave the tower himself, throwing multiple barriers and wards around his home to deter anyone who sought to reach it while he couldn’t defend it.
The Recluse, of course, landed a ways away from the sight of the town and tugged his cloak snugly over his wings, securing it in place with several clasps to make sure it wouldn’t fall off.
Witches knows what would happen if it did…
After examining the village from the shadows, he stepped out of hiding and walked amongst the residents going about their day, getting some strange but curious looks from those he passed.
Despite this, Town Square was peaceful for the most part. Of course, if you didn’t count the endless yammering on from the Sage himself, who was hovering over the fountain quite precariously.
Did he really not worry about falling in? Surely his levitation spellwork wasn’t infallible…
Setting the thought aside, Truthless slipped seamlessly back into the shadows between two buildings, observing the ‘lecture’ carefully.
Unfortunately for him, the Sage looked to be wrapping this lesson up, making Midnight Vanilla’s entire venture down the mountain pointless, as he had only done so for information gathering purposes.
He should try and learn the other’s schedule, as it would be far more convenient to show up at the proper time rather than waste his time like this for nothing.
Not to mention wasting his energy… that flight would take days to recover from with his limited stamina.
“Well! I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Are you new in town, friend?”
Crumbs.
At some point while he was busy thinking, the Sage had positioned himself in front of the Recluse, peering into the darkness with a disgustingly bright smile. That smile faded slightly as his eyebrows furrowed, however, before a look a realization came across the scholar’s face.
“Oh! You must be this ‘Truthless Recluse’ I’ve heard so much about! I was wondering when I would finally get to meet you!” The other idly twirled his staff in his hand.
Schooling his expression into a practiced glare, Midnight Vanilla locked eyes with the Sage. “You’ve heard of me?”
“Mhm! My students tell me quite often about the ‘scary lone hermit guarding the peak’ when they return. I have to say, you’re shorter than I expected.”
What was that supposed to mean?
“No need to look so offended, my dear! Just an observation!”
Dear? They had known each other for less than two minutes!
Truthless shook the thought away, trying to get back to his original point. “Stop sending your students to the Peak. Do you not realize the danger you are putting them in?”
A head tilt. “Whatever do you mean, friend?”
“We are not friends. But that’s beside the point. You are sending them directly into hazardous conditions. The wildlife that roam amongst the forests are far from friendly, not to mention the miasma emitted from the nightshade gum trees!”
Recluse himself was able to get past both of these obstacles easily with his magic. Using it to fend off the various predators up there was second nature, and the miasma was easy enough to counteract with a barrier as long as he kept repairing the damage the noxious gas caused to it.
Still, less advanced magic users could potentially crumble if they fail to maintain the shield! Whether that be by failure to mend it or simply running out of mana!
Which could be a likely occurrence seeing as they would have already had to fend off beasts along the way.
“If they cannot handle such challenges, they are not prepared for the Truth.”
What in the Witches name was wrong with this man?
“Do you not value your students' lives at all? They are actively crumbling up there because you underprepared them for what challenges my domain holds!” Truthless could feel Dark Moon magic seeping out from his very being from the sheer anger this heartless lunatic caused him.
The other glanced at the dancing waves coming off of him with intrigue but directed his focus back to the Recluse shortly after.
“I send only my best up there, my Recluse! All of which have come back alive. If any of my students crumbled, I would know. Those who died up there were no fault of my own.” The Sage’s smile became more menacing as his eyes narrowed.
Huh?
The scholar continued, crossing his arms. “If any had perished, I would have gone up there to investigate the cause and confront you myself.”
Midnight Vanilla’s magic reigned itself back in. “Regardless, I sent them all away to deter you from sending more to their potential doom. Why keep sending them even if you knew they would fail?”
That loathsomely cheerful expression came back as Sage spun his staff around in his hand. “Well, either they would reach enlightenment, or you would get annoyed enough to come see me! I was simply curious which would happen first, my dear.”
He was silent for a moment. “You are the single most irritating cookie I have ever had the displeasure of knowing.”
“Awww, you flatterer!”
Truthless narrowed his eyes and stormed past him, wings flicking in vexation where they were hidden under his cloak.
His boots clicked on the cobblestone, but unfortunately weren’t enough to drown out the obnoxious rambles of the cookie next to him.
“Are you leaving already? C’monnn, we were just getting to know each other! I haven’t met another souljam holder in ages! Besides, do you even have food and water up there? I’ve never seen you come into town to get any, can I at least buy you some-”
Truthless’s stomach clenched at the reminder but he kept walking.
He could survive off of nothing due to his souljam, the gem kept him alive so long as it was bound to his soul. And while he could still crumble from physical injuries and illnesses, he required no sustenance to survive indefinitely.
Midnight Vanilla barely even felt the pain of the hunger or thirst anymore. He’d learned to just block it out, and his robes hid most of the damage it caused to his body.
Not like he had any worthwhile visitors to notice how thin he was, anyway.
“-lloooo? Earthbread to Truthless Recluse? C’mon, you can’t keep ignoring me forever!”
“I can and will, Sage of Truth. Leave me, I will be returning to my abode.” Truthless stopped and turned to face the other.
With a showman-like smile, the scholar bowed. “Please, call me Blueberry Milk, my friend.”
He said nothing and stared.
“...Well? You know, it’s customary to give your name in response.”
“You said it previously.”
A head tilt. “‘Truthless Recluse?’ That’s a title, not a name.”
Midnight Vanilla’s eyes narrowed. “I am not obligated to give you my name, Sage of Truth.
“Fineee, but I’ll be bringing you food tomorrow!”
He took a moment to process that. “What- No you won’t-”
Blueberry Milk was actively zipping into a portal. “Bye now!”
…
Coming down here was a mistake.
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
“Oh Recluuuseeee!”
Blueberry Milk had actually shown up.
Hastily tugging his cloak over his wings, Midnight Vanilla ventured down the stairs.
And there was the damn Sage, picnic basket in hand and floating in his Witches-damned living room.
“What in the Ovens are you doing in my house, Sage of Truth?”
Dual colored eyes flitted over to him, and that annoying smile widened. “Why, I told you I would be bringing you food, did I not? It would be quite rude to break my promise to you!”
“You do realize breaking and entering is illegal, right?”
The Sage giggled. “Not when you’re stopping by to check in on your dear friend!”
“What part of ‘we are not friends’ did you not understand?”
Blueberry Milk seemed to just elect to ignore him and opened up the basket where it hovered next to him. “I wasn’t sure what you liked or if you had any allergies so I grabbed a bit of everything, I hope you don’t mind.”
He, in fact, did mind. Not the overpreparation, mind you, just the fact that he had a borderline stranger in his home.
Sage just continued like nothing was wrong. “Oh, and I also brought cutlery and plates just in case you didn’t have them. You never know with these things.” He said as he just kept taking dish after dish out of this seemingly endless basket.
At this point there were around eight separate plates suspended in the air around the scholar, who pulled out a tea kettle and two cups!
“How on Earthbread did you fit all of that in there?” He asked incredulously.
Blueberry Milk blinked. “Pocket dimension.” He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Anywayyyy, do you have a table or something? Surely you don’t just eat on the floor.”
He was really serious about this, wasn’t he?
Truthless sighed, not having energy to deal with kicking the other out. “Follow me, Sage of Truth.”
“Are you like… allergic to saying my actual name or something?”
Through the winding halls, Midnight Vanilla led them to what used to be the dining area, though he hadn’t used the space in… how long had it been now?
Sage raised an eyebrow next to him. “You eat in here? I feel like I need a lint trap just standing here!”
“I don’t, but I suppose this is a special occasion.” He said dryly, using magic to sweep the entire area clean in a few moments.
Blueberry Milk tilted his head. “Well, then where do you normally eat?”
He doesn’t.
The deafening silence made Truthless realize he had spoken aloud, and he turned to the cookie next to him, who was floating there with a downright horrified look on his face.
Midnight Vanilla wasn’t going to be the one who broke it, however, so he simply started counting the tiles on the floor.
It took around a minute for Sage to pick his jaw back up off the floor and recalibrate his brain. “Might I ask why this is, my dear Recluse?”
Well, he counted seventy two of them in the time it took for the scholar to recover from whatever that was.
“You also own a souljam, surely you realize that it counteracts mortal needs such as this.”
“That’s… miserable! That doesn’t nullify the pains at all, why would you-”
Truthless cut him off. “Enough. I did not allow you to stay just for you to lecture me. Now leave before I make you.”
Blueberry Milk studied him for a moment. “Well, I suppose feeding you any of this would just cause refeeding syndrome.” The scholar nodded to himself. “Alright! I’ll be back tomorrow!”
And like that, the Sage was gone.
What a nuisance…
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
And for almost every day following that incident, Sage would show up.
This had been going on for three years now.
Witches…
It was weird thinking that he had only met Blueberry Milk three years ago.
And it was weird thinking about how passionately he hated him at first. But now here he was, at the Peak of Truth and sitting with Sage, who was talking his ear off about Witches knows what.
The Recluse had learned to tune him out very early on in their friendship.
“-and then she tried to milk a peppermint scorpion of all things! I mean, they don’t even have udders to begin with! Crazy, right?”
When had they gotten on this topic?
“Your stories never cease to baffle me, Sage.”
Said scholar flipped in the air while responding. “Oh, I have plenty more where that came from! Just say the word and we’ll be here aaallll year talking about it.”
Blueberry Milk never seemed to stop moving. He was just constantly in motion, and when he moved, so too did his mouth.
He was great white noise, however.
Batting the thought away, Midnight Vanilla shifted his legs from where they had been curled underneath himself, slightly displacing the grey blanket on his lap. “Please do refrain from doing so. I would rather not have my ears start bleeding from listening to you talk for that long.”
The Sage gave him an affronted gasp, jerking away with a dramatic hand over his chest. “Oh! You wound me, my Reluse! And here I thought we were besties!”
“Don’t ever call our relationship that again.”
Blueberry Milk’s sorrowful mask cracked, and he started grinning. “You make the best faces, Clusey.”
Truthless didn’t even realize he was even pulling a face.
“Perhaps you are just easily amused.”
“Only by you.”
Ugh.
The Recluse rolled his eyes. “Are you normally this unbearable or is today a special case?”
“Every day is special when I get to spend it with you.”
“Witches above, someone needs to sew your mouth closed.”
The Sage grinned. “Lucky for you, I know sign language.”
“‘Unfortunate’ would be a better term to describe my predicament, but alas, I could simply close my eyes to avoid your ramblings.”
“What if I got someone to transcribe it aloud for you?”
His retort was quickly replaced with a flinch and pained intake of air as his back twinged.
Ah, the numbing magic in his wings had worn off.
His feathers were in the process of molting, and he had been using magic to keep the pain of such away, along with the general discomfort of having pin feathers growing.
The Recluse really should check on his wings, as he hadn’t preened them past the bare minimum needed to fly in… Witches, how long had it been? He gave up on properly maintaining them years ago as no one was around to see it, and he could just numb them to make the resulting pain stop.
“-illa? Nilla are you alright?” Oh, right, Blueberry Milk was here.
Sending a wave of magic towards the feathered limbs, he looked at the other. “Simply some minor pain, nothing to be concerned over.”
“Pain? Are you hurt? What happened?”
“For an immortal, you are quite unaware of chronic pain from living several millennia of life.” The lie slipped from his tongue easily.
Sage rolled his eyes. “Ugh, I’m not unaware. I just didn’t realize you also had it.”
They fell into silence for a moment, which was enough for his hybrid brain to start acting up about his wings again. He was able to suppress it for a while, but not forever, and the wing pain had unleashed the instincts to wreak havoc on his mind.
Pain. Hurt. Flock. Where’s flock? Nest. Find nest.
Mate?
He mentally recoiled from that thought.
No.
Absolutely not.
He was not even going to entertain the idea of Blueberry Milk as such.
“You should go, I have things I must do.” Half of Truthless’s brain was being highly uncooperative and actively rebelling at the thought of sending his ‘mate’ away.
“What? Where’s this coming from?”
Mate sad. Help mate.
Shut. Up.
“I just simply have things to do that do not require your aid.”
Sage studied him for a moment. “Okay…” He almost felt bad, as Blueberry Milk sounded really unsure and skeptical but actively floated towards the door, regardless.
Midnight Vanilla stamped down the urge to beg him to come back, to stay, to go back to the nest-
Witches, he needed to get him out of here as fast as possible. He hasn’t had an instinct flare like this since he sealed himself away.
Truthless turned himself away from the door to hopefully stop the raging storm in his mind.
It didn’t really help.
The moment Blueberry Milk closed the door, the Recluse started unfastening his cloak, wings shifting uncomfortably beneath it as he dispelled the numbness.
He ignored the Avian side of his mind screaming that Sage had left.
Once the garment was off, he was left in his robes, which had the back cut out for his wings to slot through comfortably, as did his leotard. The appendages themselves looked… rough.
Untensing the limbs and stretching them was painful, and he let out a choked chirp as he did so.
Now that he could see more of the feathers, many of them looked ready to come off, along with shed keratin shells from the newly matured feathers hanging off some of his old ones.
He stared at it for a moment, giving an annoyed chur at the thought of sitting through multiple hours of dealing with this mess.
“YOU HAVE WINGS?!”
…
Crumbs.
There, standing in the doorway was Blueberry Milk.
No. No no no no nononononono-
Sage couldn’t know about this.
Surely not.
This had to be a dream.
It’s not.
He’s going to get taken again.
No matter how far he ran, the hunters always found him. Even if he escaped the net, they just kept finding him.
This was no different, was it?
History would repeat itself.
He’d be locked away, put in a cage, put on display, used for his owner’s pleasure-
“-look at me.”
Midnight Vanilla flinched. He couldn't. He knew what he’d find there.
That money hungry stare, as if he were another object to be pawned off to the highest bidder.
But… that was all hybrids were to cookies, right?
Even up until his sealing, ordinary cookies would claim he was to be collared again, put on a leash, that his souljam shouldn’t be adorned by a filthy hybrid-
A hand gripped his chin, turning his gaze up.
Why was his vision blurry?
He blinked to clear it and a thumb swiped across his cheek.
Oh, he was crying. How embarrassing.
“Midnight Vanilla, what’s wrong?” The Sage looked uncharacteristically serious.
The Recluse looked down, a hollow feeling settling in his chest. “What kind of collar will you adorn me with? I must warn you, I have a slight allergy to unrefined tungsten.”
“What…?”
“You know the truth, now. Know what I am. Unless I am too hideous for you to consider shackling.” With the state of his wings he wouldn’t be surprised, all of his previous… masters only chose him for how ‘pretty’ he was compared to the others.
They called him ‘exotic’ for his albinism and would show him off.
Some would even ‘rent him out’ for the night, like he was a toy.
But that’s what he was, wasn’t he?
“You think I’m going to… make you a pet?”
Was that not where this was going? Sage had the power to subdue him, especially now while his magic reserves were being poured into growing new feathers.
He unconsciously drew his wings closer to his body in a self soothing mechanism. “That is all hybrids are good for, is it not?”
“Wha- How could you even think that? Whoever told you that was the case?”
Everyone.
Literally everyone aside from his fellow Virtues- no… fellow Mythics told him this.
“Whoever told you we were anything but such? I assumed this was common knowledge to any non-hybrids. I had hoped my freedom would be less short lived, however.”
Once he got his souljam, it was easier to fend off those who sought to possess him as a trinket to show off, and he had been free. And only ones who could overpower him to change that status were his friends.
But… Nothing good lasts forever.
Now, yet again, his life and free will would belong to another.
As it should, he supposed.
Blueberry Milk broke him out of his thoughts when his hand cupped his Truthless’s cheek, and the other hand moved to cup his other one. “I don’t know who instilled this belief into you, but let me make one thing clear: You are as much of a cookie as I, and no one should even consider you as anything less.”
That was everything he didn’t know he needed to hear.
“...You… I…” Fresh tears lined his eyes, and before he knew it, his face was tucked between Sage’s neck and shoulder and blue hands had wrapped around his torso.
“You’re safe, my Recluse.”
That was all it took for the dam to break and all of his built up self hatred and disgust about his species to come pouring out of him in the form of choked sobs and whimpering chirps.
The hands that cradled him against Sage’s chest rubbed his back in soothing motions, which only made the tears flow faster.
When was the last time anyone held him like this? It had been far longer than even before his sealing…
That thought alone brought fresh agony to his mind.
His… former friends hadn’t reached out to him in years before the sealing. But he heard about their misdeeds.
Those stories were what sparked his decision to begin with.
The choice to seal each of them away.
They must hate him for what he’s done. He trapped them all in the remains of their fallen kingdoms, surrounded by the reminders of their failures and wrongdoings.
His flock was torn apart, and he had no one.
…
No, that wasn’t right.
There was still one cookie he had.
“Are you feeling better, Nilla?”
Wiping away the last of his tears with the back of his palm and leaning back, Midnight Vanilla looked down, unable to meet the other’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Curse his molting, it always made him so much more emotional…
“Wh- You have nothing to be sorry for, my dear! Whyever would you think that?”
“It was unbecoming of me to burden you with the sight of my current state. Much less task you to calm me from it.”
He didn’t think Blueberry Milk would hold this over him, but he has been wrong about such things in the past.
Said cookie took his hand, making him look up in shock. “Midnight Vanilla, it was a privilege to see you be so vulnerable with me, not a burden.”
Sage was such a strange individual…
They fell into silence for a moment before the scholar broke it. “Wow, some wings, eh? Didja grow them yourself?”
The sheer absurdity of the question made the Recluse let out a breathy laugh. “No, I obviously fished them up from a river- Yes I grew them.”
“Just had to check! They’re very beautiful, you know. I’ve never seen coloring like this.”
“...You don’t have to lie for my sake, Sage. I may have limited eyesight but I know what they look like as of the current moment.”
Blueberry Milk huffed. “I’m not lying, that’s your shtick.” He paused. “What… happened to them anyway?”
“Molting. It only happens every few years.” Truthless looked away from the other’s face.
An intake of breath. “Ohhh, Sugar told me about this! Wait, isn’t this painful? Don’t you need someone? Sugar always has her girlfriend or Flour to help her through it.”
“Does it look as though I have anyone available, Sage?”
“Well, I can help.”
Witches, he walked right into that one.
“No.”
“Awww, c’mon pleaseeee!”
Midnight Vanilla sighed, shoving down the hybrid instincts cheering that his ‘mate’ was going to help. “I’m not burdening you with yet another one of my problems.”
“It’s really not a burden.”
“You wouldn’t even know how to help.”
“I learn quickly!”
“You have students to teach, Sage.”
“I can cancel my lectures.”
“...You don’t know how to preen wings.”
“I do, actually! I’ve helped Sugar with hers countless times!”
“You…” He was out of excuses.
It was a mistake looking up, as the sheer hope and excitement in Blueberry Milk’s face made his already dwindling resolve crumble into nothing.
A long, drawn out, heavy sigh. “Fine.”
Sage leaped back from him and twirled theatrically in the air, kicking his feet like a teenage girl with a cheer.
His smile was blinding and made the Recluse’s chest burn with an indescribable emotion. It almost felt like-
Nope!
Locking that thought away in a box and throwing it as far away from his cognizant mind as possible, Truthless stood. “Come.”
He had already shown Blueberry Milk where his quarters lay, but this time felt different. Before it had just been satiating the scholar’s endless curiosity and prying about the layout of his tower.
Now… he was actually taking him inside.
Midnight Vanilla could practically feel the giddiness radiating off of the cookie floating behind him as he opened the door.
The room wasn’t super overly elaborate.
Just a large bedroom with a walk-in closet, mirror, desk, and bed. The two major things about it were the balcony and the bedframe itself.
His balcony was behind two glass doors, and had black vanilla orchid vines wrapped around its railings. He would often feed his bluebirds out there.
The bedframe was decently ornate, with four posts and canopy curtains on all four sides.
Wordlessly, he used his magic to tie two of the curtains back so he could sit on the mattress, and more accurately, in his nest.
Feathers from his molt were strewn about in it, some of which were tucked in between the meticulously woven together blankets and pillows and a few more joined them as the Avian sat in the center.
It was as he looked over at Blueberry Milk that he realized how bad of an idea this was.
Crumbs, he had been letting his stupid birdbrain influence his decision without even realizing it…
Maybe if he just gets this overwith, he can get rid of the cursed feelings?
That could work.
He was startled out of his thoughts by the bed shifting next to him, and the Sage was sitting beside him and looking at his wings curiously.
“So should I just like… go for it?”
The Recluse resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he, mildly painfully, extended the limbs. “Do what you will.”
As soon as a hand reached into his feathers, it felt like lightning shot up his spine.
If he thought the hug from earlier was bad… This was far worse.
He hated how good it felt and stifled several trills that tried to push past the confines of his throat.
“Woah, your feathers are so soft! Even softer than Sugar’s. Though, maybe it’s just been a while. Y’know, ever since she got her new girlfriend, she’s been far more busy. What was her name again? It ended with ‘berry’ I think… Eh, anyway-”
Sage’s rambling faded into the background as Midnight Vanilla focused on not shattering from how overwhelming the contact felt.
It was torturously divine.
Why had he thought this would be bad, again?
“You okay? You’re shaking, Nilla. Should I stop, or…?”
“N-No! Don’t stop, please.” His voice cracked on the last word, and he hated how desperately pathetic he sounded.
But still, he felt as though he might die if Blueberry Milk stopped now.
Luckily, the other didn’t, and continued sifting through his feathers in practiced motions.
The Recluse’s muscles untensed from their previously high strung state from the gentle touches. When they had wound up originally, he wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment.
All he could care about now was how amazing this was.
“You make such pretty sounds, my Recluse.”
What…?
Had he been…?
“Hey, no no, don’t get in your own head again. It’s fine.”
When Truthless opened his mouth to apologize, all that came out was a low warble.
Somehow, his message got across. “You have nothing to apologize for. As I said, I love seeing this side of you, my dear.”
At the questioning lilt to his following coo, Blueberry Milk laughed. “Ah, I can understand you quite well, my Recluse. I have much experience with Sugar and deciphering her own vocalizations.”
That… made sense.
He forced his muscles to relax again. Witches, he never noticed how often that happened when he was stressed…
Truthless brought his knees up to his chest and folded his arms on top of them, laying his head down where his wrists met in the middle.
His head was already getting fuzzy with the thoughts of Flock Warm Safe Nest Love Safe echoed through his mind.
The contentment from his latent flock instinct being satisfied, his exhaustion from the breakdown earlier, and the wondrous feelings of his wings being preened made it hard to keep his eyes open.
Perhaps he could just rest them for a few moments.
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
Consciousness came back very slowly, as trying to think felt like trudging through thick sludge.
He was surrounded by warmth, especially whatever pillow he was holding, it was practically radiating heat. Which, in all honesty, worked in his favor quite nicely, as he produced very little heat himself.
His wings felt great. Cleaner than they had been in ages.
Midnight Vanilla nuzzled into the pillow he was hugging with a content trill. It smelled like blueberries and cream.
That… reminded him of something, but he couldn’t quite recall at the moment.
“Oh, are you back to the land of the living? I was starting to worry you crumbled on me.”
Ah, the Sage was here.
…
Wait.
The Sage was here?!
Now, very much wide awake, Truthless shot back and rapidly blinked to adjust his eyes to the lighting.
“S-Sage?! What are you…? How did you…?”
Then, the memories of what he assumes was yesterday came flooding back.
“Honestly, you make no noise when asleep. I had to check if you were still breathing a few times just to make sure you didn’t crumble! Though, I have to say, you are far more cuddly than I thought you would be. Practically latched onto me the second I laid you down last night and refused to let me go. With surprising strength despite being unconscious, might I add!”
Mortification would be an understatement for whatever he was feeling in this current moment.
Blueberry Milk seemed entirely oblivious to his current plight and continued talking. “Apparently, according to the other Divines, I’m the same way, though. I’ve awoken several times to Smoldering Spice tapping my forehead and asking if I’m alive. Rude, amiright?”
All he could do was blink owlishly at the Sage, trying not to burst into flames out of sheer embarrassment.
Actually, no, perhaps that would be preferable rather than dealing with this nightmare of a situation.
“Uh, Earth to Nilly? Anyone in there? Helloooo?”
Breaking away the torturous eye contact and willing his feathers to lay flat rather than puffed up like a frightened cream cat, Midnight Vanilla cleared his throat. “How… long was I asleep for?”
“Eh, around thirteen and a half hours give or take. You looked like you needed it so I didn’t wanna wake you.”
Thirteen hours?!
Blueberry Milk, once again, continued on like he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on the Recluse’s psyche. “Best sleep I’ve had in years myself, honestly! You’re a great cuddle buddy, my Recluse!”
Witches above, he was going to crumble himself.
Trying to will the jam to anywhere but his face, Truthless spoke again. “I… Thank you for helping me, but I should be fine on my own from here.”
That was a bold faced lie, he had just started the molt a week ago and it wasn’t due to end in a month or so. But there was absolutely no way he was having Sage stay for that long.
“You sure? It’s really not a problem, my dear.”
He nodded. “Yes, I will be fine.”
For some reason, Blueberry Milk looked a little saddened as he got up. Surely he didn’t want to stay and deal with this mess. Why on Earthbread would he desire to inconvenience himself with something like this? No, it was probably just Truthless’s imagination.
His Avian side seemed to have no such reservations in being selfish, however, as a distressed trill burst from his mouth the moment Sage reached the door.
Both of them looked surprised, but then, to Midnight Vanilla’s mortification, Blueberry Milk got an amused grin on his face.
“Are you suureeee you don’t want me to stay, my Recluse?”
Midnight Vanilla covered his face with his hands and peeked at the other from beneath his fingers. “Please leave before I accidentally drag you back in…”
“Alright, I’m going nowww!” Sage sang out, disappearing from his line of sight.
It felt like he blinked and he had abruptly gotten out of his nest and was clutching desperately onto Blueberry Milk’s sleeve, wings fanned out behind him.
“Y’know, I’m starting to think you were lying about wanting me to go, Nilla.”
He sighed. “My hybrid side won’t let me allow you to leave…”
“Well, I guess that means I’ll just have to stay, then!”
“You sound awfully happy about being burdened with my problems.”
Blueberry Milk placed his free hand over the Recluse’s own. “How many times do I need to tell you this, me dear? You. Are. Not. A. Burden. I’m just honored you trust me enough to be vulnerable around me.”
Biting his lip to quell the welling emotions bubbling up inside of him, and once again cursing his molting hormones, Truthless nodded wordlessly.
“C’mon! I’ll make breakfast.”
As the Midnight Vanilla followed, he silently thanked the Witches that he had met Blueberry Milk.
And, for once, he had hope that everything might be okay in the end.