Archive of Our Own ^beta

        From now on, and for the past few months, Shadow Milk has been living with Pure Vanilla.

        Shadow Milk had called it “this whole ordeal that was incredibly stupid and horrid”, but he was having a rather good time now that he had been living there. Pure Vanilla couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t enjoying it too.

        Of course, though, the Beast had insisted on bringing his ‘minions’ as well.

        Over the course of the past few months, he had gotten to know Candy Apple and Black Sapphire very well. Pure Vanilla had figured out what breakfast they preferred, the one thing that got Candy Apple to shut up, which days Black Sapphire was most likely to sneak out, all the ins and outs.

        It took longer than Pure Vanilla would like to admit to realize that they were just his kids.

        Though it did take a long time, he never really caught any moments with either of the children with Shadow Milk. When he did, Shadow Milk was simply watching them.

        He remembers the first time he actually heard one of them call Shadow Milk dad. It had not phased Shadow Milk, but it certainly did Pure Vanilla.

        “Please Dad? Just a curfew extension for a few hours!” Black Sapphire said, looking at Shadow Milk with pleading eyes. They were not working.

        “A few hours on a night with school , no. On the weekend you can stay out as long as you want instead.” Shadow Milk crossed his arms, leaning to one side of himself.

        Black Sapphire seemed okay with that, before he left the room. The chances of him sneaking out anyway had gone up, sure, and Shadow milk knew that. He simply liked the ideal of someone at least having the decency to lie to him. Shadow Milk had only sighed and mumbled something about teenagers and their angst. 

        Pure Vanilla waited a moment, “He just called you dad.”

        “Oh yeah, he does that all the time. So does Candy Apple. It was this whole thing. They still call me Shadow Milk half the time.” He said plainly, rather unfazed by it all as he fell back on the bed of the room they were in.

        Pure Vanilla laughed at the memory. He couldn’t really place why the two calling the very feared Shadow Milk dad made him want to laugh. 

        Now that it had, really and truly, been a few months, there had been many more instances. He couldn’t recall everyone, there were simply too many. He was sitting outside, the sun began to shine brighter as he sipped his tea.

        The Priest recalls the first time he heard Candy Apple called Shadow Milk father. He was less phased by it the second time, after hearing the same from Black Sapphire.

        It was a sunny mid-afternoon. It was wonderful, in his own words.

        Shadow Milk had been dragged out by the other one. Not that he hated getting some sun every once in a while. The Kingdom was rather calming, anyway.

        The two had been drinking some tea, or coffee, Pure Vanilla couldn’t recall, when he heard the familiar cries of Candy Apple.

        “Dad! Dad! The brush got stuck in my hair!” Candy Apple squawked, not removing the hand from the brush that sat delicately in her hair. She feared removing the brush would only cause more pain.

        “I–Come here let me fix it, how’d you even do that!?” Shadow Milk beamed with amusement.

        “I was brushing my hair and it got stuck,” 

        “But how, Candy, how did you get your hair so tangled, your short hair, so tangled that the brush got stuck?” He was very clearly teasing her. She was known for going on such hyper and fun play-dates with various other cookies her age, no doubt that's how. 

        “I don’t know!” She cried.

        “Clearly–Hold still, I’ll fix it,” He took the brush out of her hair, earning an ow from the child.

        Candy Apple sat criss cross, making sure she was centered with the chair. From what Pure Vanilla could see, it looked like he was doing it so delicately as to not make a single hair pull out of her head.

        Not that the younger cookie was tender-headed, Pure Vanilla knew better than to fall for any tricks such as that.

        “Okay, Candy Apple, all better,” He said, his face so soft Pure Vanilla could’ve sworn it was another, “Now go annoy Black Sapphire to death, you got better things to do than sit here,”

        Her face lit up at the idea of making Black Sapphire annoyed, “Yes Sir!” She said, giggling as she ran away.

        Shadow Milk took another sip of his tea, returning the topic the two were on about before.

        And that brought him to today. He was currently playing chess (and losing, though he didn’t really mind) to a very tired cookie.

        He had yet to ask why he was tired.

        Suppose Pure Vanilla could do that now, yeah?

        “Why are you so tired today, Shadow Milk?” He began, “You slept until afternoon,”

        “Those dang kids, I caught Black Sapphire sneaking out, which isn’t a big deal, but I caught him packing ? So it took awhile to get the answer out of him, and then Candy Apple had a horrible nightmare so I had to stay with her for awhile,” 

        “Ah. Where was he sneaking off to?”

        “His boyfriends,”

        “The faerie?”

        “Uh I think so? He’s never actually brought him around,” Shadow Milk leaned back in his seat, his head rested up against the wall.

        “Ah. I do like that one. You wouldn’t believe, but sometimes I do forget that you’re a father,” 

        Shadow Milk let out a laugh, that was really just one big snort,

        “I am far from a father, Vanilly,”

        “I wouldn’t say that, think about it. They call you father and dad and such. I, for one, have seen several moments where you were acting like a father. You do not have to be related by blood,”

        “... I suppose ,”

        “Oh! And you call them your children too,” Pure Vanilla added, a smile to his barely opened eyes as he moved his pawn.

        “Doesn’t matter, Sapphire practically raised Candy Apple,” He crossed his arms. He flicked his hand as his bishop moved four spaces,

        “You were locked up in a tree,”

        “Because someone stole my soul jam,”

        “It was not stolen,” Pure Vanilla corrected.

        “Don’t care,”

        “You raised Black Sapphire, didn’t you?” He said suddenly, attempting to change the subject back to the one at hand.

        “I–well, technically. He’s not my birth kid,” He paused, “Technically Candy Apple isn’t either, she was made from the pureness of deceit and like I guess–hey! They are not my kids,”

        “Sure.” He was not longer losing, in fact, he was winning,“Check,”

        “They are not my kids! They’re just children I happen to take care of.” He countered, moving his king a space to the left, removing the threat. It left his king exposed, often how he felt in these endless conversations.

        He liked chess, and he was good at it when he wasn’t being pestered by a mock priest. Pure Vanilla only let out a hum as he moved a pawn, taking a sip of his tea.

        And those scenarios that he had been thinking of earlier? Another one was going to happen right now.

        Pure Vanilla knew it from the moment he heard bickering out the door.

        He heard Shadow Milk sigh.

        “Father!” Candy Apple shouted, slamming the door open. Black Sapphire was not far behind her, who was most likely coaching the girl on what to say, “On a scale of 1-10, how hard would it be for me and Sapph to convince you to let us go get food from a restaurant?”

        “We would be back by 9:30,” Black Sapphire quickly added. He mumbled something through his grinned teeth at Candy Apple.

        “And why would I do that?” Shadow Milk took a sip of his own tea. He knew the answer was going to be yes, it was a Thursday, after all.

        The two didn’t know how to respond to that.

        “Uhm… because… you… love us?” She looked more worried by the second

        “Compelling argument. Yes, you may go. I have some coins in the bag in my room. I want both of you home by 9:30 at the latest,” He said. He watched as the two visibly relaxed. 

        “Thank you for giving us this opportunity,” Black Sapphire said as he closed the door behind them, as if leaving a business meeting.

        A cheer or two could be heard when they closed the door.

        “So, who d'ya think they’re going to meet up with?” Shadow milk immediately turned to the spectator, a grin on his face.

        “Ah… Sapphire, one of the Faeries, and Candy Apple? Either she’s using blackmail to get food or Cloud Heatea. Oh but Pudding or Strawberry Crepe could be a good one.”

        “Solid choice, solid choice. I bet you’re right for Sapphy. Candy Apple Cookie… Either she's sneaking off to the playground or an underground rave,” He said, “Checkmate,”

        He moved his knight piece to the king's spot, knocking it over.

        “You’re a good father,”

        “Shut up.”