Chapter Text
The sky was shrouded with clouds, with a chilly breeze blowing through the air. Regular early autumn weather. The water front of Beast-Yeast city was fully decorated with stalls, games, and attractions.
Groups of people walked the streets. The environment was filled with joy. It warmed Pure Vanilla's heart, memories of his friends hanging out came to mind.
"It's quite lively," he commented. He walked next to Shadow Milk who was pushing a stroller. "Where I grew up we had places like this but they were never this grand," he chuckled.
"Well the Crispia region is smaller than Beast-Yeast by a large margin," Shadow Milk commented. "Black Sapphire don't wander off," he called out to his son.
The black haired boy's head perked up at his name being called. Rushing back to his Mimi's side, linking their arms together.
"I haven't been to a fair for a few years now," Pure Vanilla commented.
"I've only been going for Black Sapphire, it's an experience that shouldn't be miss in childhood."
Pure Vanilla nodded along to the sentiment. He still wasn't familiar with Beast-Yeast's environment, though he was getting better, the fair seemed to be filled with more scammers than Crispia's entire fair vendors. Noticing as the four of them traversed through the streets, games clearly rigged to steal money, or toys and items not worth the price they are sold for, yet people still bought them.
"Very different," He muttered under his breath.
Shadow Milk led them to a few stalls, the few where they weren't trying to scam money from patrons. One contained homemade sauces, jams and relishes. Pure Vanilla happily tried the free samples.
"I find these far better than the ones from the supermarkets," Shadow Milk pointed out, picking up a jar. "This one is one fo my favourite, it's good for a lot of meals."
"Uh-huh," Pure Vanilla nodded along. Intently listened to the recommendations he was given. Deciding to buy one jar of a more simpler flavour. He could make something simple with it.
He was focused on his purchase that he seemed to have missed the start of a fit.
"But I want it!" Black Sapphire whined loudly. Stomping his foot on the ground.
"You have enough toys already, put it back," Shadow Milk said, firmly.
"But Mimi!" Small tears started to build in his little black eyes.
"We can go home then," Shadow Milk spoke sternly. Grabbing the other's wrist. "I will not tolerant this bratty behaviour. We can go home, and you won't get anything."
"No, no, no!" Black Sapphire started cry. "Mimi please," he hugged Shadow Milk's body.
"That seems a bit harsh," Pure Vanilla whispered.
"Well, he will learn that he can't get his way by throwing a tantrum," Shadow Milk responded.
Pure Vanilla didn't say anything to that, it made some sense, it just still seemed harsh to say to a child. Maybe he was too soft to discipline a child properly, or would easily guilt tripped by the tears.
Black Sapphire continued plead through tears to stay. Clinging to Shadow Milk, and pushing his face into his torso.
"Mimi please."
"You can have this back," Shadow Milk said to the seller, handing the toy Black Sapphire must've wanted. "Let's go," he said to Pure Vanilla.
Pure Vanilla quickly apologised to the vendor before following Shadow Milk.
"Is there something you wish to see while we're here," Shadow Milk asked. Pushing a currently sleeping Candy Apple.
Pure Vanilla took a deep breath. Thinking for a moment.
"I don't what there is to offer, I'm fine with just following you around, you know this place better than I do," he said.
"One of my friends is running a stall here, so I'd like to find her," Shadow Milk said. "Are you okay now?" He asked, turning bend down to his son. His voice softer than before.
Black Sapphire's cheeks were stained from his tear but he had calmed down significantly. He nodded softly, pulling gently on the sleeves of his sweater.
"We'll be heading to Eternal Sugar's stall, I'll let you get a treat from her," He said.
Black Sapphire's eyes lit up, an enthusiastic nod, a smile appearing on his face.
"Okay, let's go."
Shadow Milk led them further through the fair grounds. Black Sapphire slowly started to become his chatty self again, asking Pure Vanilla a bunch of questions for his opinion on the different things they saw, and what Crispia was like.
They walked past different food stand and trucks. The aroma of grease, spices, and sweets filled the air.
"There she is," Shadow Milk said. Pointing to one stand that was larger than the others, it sat on a corner leading to the more luxury stalls.
It was white and pale colours, with potted flowers decorating it. Pure Vanilla recognised it, it was the Garden fo Delights cafe. He had been to the cafe a few times now, could be considered a semi-regular patron.
There was the owner, Eternal Sugar, so Shadow Milk and her were friends. Interesting to know.
"Shadow Milk, I was wondering when you going to visit," Eternal Sugar called out, a bright smile on her face when the four of them approached. Her expression changed for a second noticing Pure Vanilla's presence, her gaze quickly shifting between him and Shadow Milk.
"Hi, Aunty!" Black Sapphire said, waving excitedly to her.
"Oh, Hello to you as well Black Sapphire, are you having fun at the fair?" She said, bending over with her hands on her knees.
"Yep!"
So what happened earlier was forgotten, or is being ignored.
"Well, can you do Aunty a little favour," she said, gently bopping the boy on the nose.
Shadow Milk playfully rolled his eyes with a soft smile. In turn Pure Vanilla also smiled, this was the first of Shadow Milk's friends he's properly met.
"What? What is it?" Black Sapphire asked, his eyes shining with curiosity.
"Can you be aunty's little taster?" she asked.
"YES!" Black Sapphire cheered. The most energy Pure Vanilla had ever seen from him.
Eternal Sugar invited the boy behind the stall, and instructed him on the type of feedback she was looking for.
"Let's have a look around, she's not going to give us anything for free," Shadow Milk jested, lightly jabbing Pure Vanilla's shoulder with his elbow.
"Fair enough," he laughed. Looked at the chalk drawn menu at the different hot drinks they were serving, along with the baked goods.
Each cake, slice, and roll had the theme of autumn. They really got into the season. Made him wonder what they'd do for Halloween and Yule.
But among the food, what caught Pure Vanilla's eye was the little section with handmade fabric toys. There were photos of crocheted animals as well. Everything looked well crafted, and could go for a fair price from the looks of it. There was a laminated sheet tapped to the table, having an email, and socials address.
"The managers friend's business, she thought it'd be good to help advertise for them," one of the workers there said.
Pure Vanilla nodded along. He picked up one of the toys, a stuffed bunny. It looked like smaller version of the one Black Sapphire had from his time babysitting, the neck ruffle and chequered clothing.
"Look at this," He said to Shadow Milk showing him the toy. The other's eyes widened slightly with raised brows, before snapping his head toward his friend.
"Eternal Sugar what is this?" he hissed.
The pink haired maidan turned to look at him, then at the item in Pure Vanilla's hands. A prideful smile appeared on her face.
"What? I just want to help you with your side business, it would be great for you to have a stall of your own during these festivals but you refuse every time," Eternal Sugar said. "So I took matters into my own hands, and did a small part to advertise some of your creations."
"So that's what the commission was for two months ago?" Shadow Milk snapped. Though he wasn't truly angry.
"It's a good way to turn that side business into a full-time business," she chirped. "I've already had people come up and consider looking to your page, you might get an influx of business," she did a little celebratory hop.
"Thanks I guess, but next time inform me, I would've done something else," Shadow Milk muttered.
"Sure, sure, deary," Eternal Sugar cooed.
"I didn't know you did this as a small business," Pure Vanilla commented. Putting the toy carefully back on the display.
"You knew I did sewing?"
"I saw your crafts room when I was babysitting Black Sapphire and Candy Apple," he replied.
"I mean, I find joy in sewing, making things of my own rather than buying, it has a certain feeling," Shadow Milk explained.
He picked up some of the photos that were being displayed. It showed beautiful floral dresses.
"It's a skill that had saved my a lot of money, and thrifting," he explained. "I don't thinks I've bought first hand clothing in about three years now. Sure fabric is expensive but thrifting second-hand clothing and re-purposing it is effective in having nice clothes, that look unique."
"Is everything you're wearing handmade?" Pure Vanilla asked, a genuine curious shine in his eyes.
"Shirt and pants were thrifted or gifted, I don't remember but I've made the jacket," Shadow Milk said, with a proudness in his voice.
He went on to explain how he made it, a shine in his eyes as he spoke. The jacket was nice, it was like a baggy black bomber jacket with white sleeves, and blue accents. It looked well crafted, something that could cost up over a hundred dollars if sold in a commercial store.
Shadow Milk then started to talk about his children's clothing, have made their outfits as well. Pure Vanilla could help but smile, with a fond shine in his eyes.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Shadow Milk had asked, a half smile on his face. He had gotten carried away with his talking.
"Nothing bad, you just reminded me of someone," Pure Vanilla answered. "Whenever her passion was brought up, she would ramble on and on with so much joy and excitement, that could make anyone start smiling," he said.
"Was this your wife?" Shadow Milk asked quietly. Pure Vanilla was a little surprised at how quickly he guessed it.
"Yes, she was a quiet woman, but the moment she started speaking about her interests, it was hard to stop her," he explained. A softness in his voice as spoke, something Shadow Milk hadn't ever heard.
"Where is she now? She's not in Beast-Yeast with you," Shadow Milk muttered, feeling like he was stepping into a delicate topic.
"She passed away," Pure Vanilla confessed softly. "Two years ago."
"Ah," Was all Shadow Milk could said. So he was a widow not a divorced man, that makes his comment from the field trip seem more hurtful. "Sorry for your loss."
"Thank you."
"Mimi, Mimi!" Black Sapphire called.
"Hmm? Yes, dear, What is it?" Shadow Milk said, heading back to his son.
Pure Vanilla remained where he was. looking at the photos of clothing but his mind was elsewhere. The faint scent of white lilies filled his nose. Maybe she would've loved this city.
•~•~•~•~•
"I need to ask you something," Eternal Sugar whispered.
"What is it?" Shadow Milk whispered back.
"Black Sapphire go distract the other man," She instructed. "Check out the other stalls with him."
Black Sapphire looked at Eternal Sugar then at Shadow Milk. Silently asking for confirmation.
"It's okay," He said. "Pure Vanilla!" he called.
The blonde man looked to have been snapped out of his thoughts.
"Can you watch over Black Sapphire? he wants to look at the other stalls," he asked.
"Sure," Pure Vanilla replied.
"Go," Shadow Milk said to Black Sapphire. The little happily skipped with the chocolate muffin he was gifted from his aunt. "Did you have to give him that?" He asked his friend.
"Spoiling your kids is what an aunt is for," She said.
"That muffin is the size of his head."
"You're exaggerating and you know it."
"Whatever, what did you want to talk about?"
•~•~•~•~•
"Ooo, Mr Pure Vanilla look, look!" Black Sapphire said, grabbing him by the wrist and guiding to what appeared to be a jewellery stand. "Pretty."
Pure Vanilla smiled. "They sure are. Expensive as well." He muttered the last part, looking at some of the prices. $550 for one ring.
"Am I able to help you with anything Sir," a woman asked. One of the workers it seemed.
"No, I'm okay just browsing," he said. He gazed upon the variety of jewellery. Necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings all beautiful and all pricey. "Are they real gemstones?" he asked.
"Yes, our jewellers only craft with the real stones, so everything is authentic, but also ethically collected," the worker explained.
"Mr Pure Vanilla, look," Black Sapphire said, pulling on his sleeve. The boy pointed to wards a pair of earrings.
Round shaped black stones, with a slight purple hue to them. A very refined style.
"Oh, these earrings are made from black sapphire gemstones," She explained. "They are $330, just because of the size of them. Black sapphires are not very rare but due to the size of them, but you can buy the earrings in a set with this broch for about $450."
Both Black Sapphire and Pure Vanilla's eyes opened wide but for different reasons. Pure Vanilla had a feeling about what was going to transpire.
"I really like them," Black Sapphire said, looking up at Pure Vanilla with bright eyes.
"Don't get excited, you should ask your Mimi if you want these," he responded. He could see the worker give a joyful smirk before excusing herself, allowing them some space.
"Mimi will say no though," Black Sapphire said.
That would be true, Shadow Milk would likely say no to something like this, entirely because of the price.
"Please, please, please, Mr Pure Vanilla," Black Sapphire pleaded. Giving him big puppy eyes. "My name matches with them." He held onto Pure Vanilla's sleeve, giving him the saddest of puppy eyes and pouting.
"It really is your Mimi's decision not mine," Pure Vanilla tried to reason. Knowing his soft heart was slowing melting. He needed to stay strong, but damn this boy was good at pleading. "I don't have the money to pay for this at the moment."
Which was true, he wasn't made of money, and spending $450 on earrings and a broch for a kid, that wasn't even his is not good money handling.
Pure Vanilla's gaze switched between the jewellery pieces and the Black Sapphire's face. he shouldn't, he really shouldn't.
"No."
"Please~"
"No."
"Pretty please."
"NO." Pure Vanilla said. Despite the tear in his heart at Black Sapphire's face falling in defeat, he stood strong. "Let's go back to your Mimi, I think he's finished talking with his friend."
Black Sapphire begrudgingly walked back to Shadow Milk. Pure Vanilla could feel himself deflate. That boy knows how to pull people's heart strings, this isn't good for Pure Vanilla, if he wants to be friends with Shadow Milk, he'll need to get tougher when handling his kids.
"Such a shame," the worker came back, a smile still on her face. she was probably eavesdropping and heard everything.
"I feel bad but I don't have that sort of expendable money on me," Pure Vanilla replied.
"Our business does do a buy now, pay later policy, or reserve items if you would like," she said. It was likely to try and swindle Pure Vanilla into being a customer. Something that was very obvious to Pure vanilla… but it might just be working on him.
•~•~•~•~•
"Okay, I think we can get something to eat, or well the two of us and Candy Apple, Black Sapphire already had that muffin," Shadow Milk said. They had left Eternal Sugar's café stall and were walking up to the main park, sipping on cups of coffee.
Black Sapphire didn't say anything in response but shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
"Either way, Candy Apple will want to move around for a bit so lets take a break here," Shadow Milk said, pushing the stroller under a tree in the park and putting on its brakes. "You can go play but don't get out of sight," he instructed Black Sapphire.
The young boy gave a beaming smile before running off to the playground. Shadow Milk crouched down to Candy Apple to release her from the stroller. Carefully putting the young toddler on the ground.
"There you go, freedom at last," Shadow Milk mused with a smile.
Pure Vanilla joined them in sitting on the ground. Taking a sip of his hot beverage, which kept fogging up his glasses.
The two adults occasionally conversed on random topics or things they say from the other people at the park. Shadow Milk kept having to change his gaze between his young daughter crawling around them, and his son who was know speaking in front of a small group of children.
How does Black Sapphire gather so many random children's attention? Shadow Milk could never truly understand where Black Sapphire got that level of charisma from.
"Have you been enjoying this fair?" He asked the other.
Pure Vanilla quietly hummed for a short moment. "I've enjoyed quite a bit actually," he said. "There's more going on then there ever was in the fairs I had growing up. My friends would've loved to have spent our teen years at things like this."
"Crispia sounds a little boring," Shadow Milk commented.
"I wouldn't say boring, but if you lived your whole life around Beast-Yeast, it could feel smaller in comparison," Pure Vanilla said. Though he enjoys his time in Beast-Yeast, he'll always cherish his home region.
"I've only lived in Beast-Yeast," Shadow Milk said. "I had travelled to the other parts of the world before, but Crispia is the one location I haven't seen for myself."
"It's a lovely region, there are countless places that your kids would also like," he said.
"Do any of your friends have kids?" Shadow Milk asked.
"One of them had her first child a few months ago, and another is preparing for his own child, the gender is unknown for them," Pure Vanilla answered. He started a long conversation of his friends, mostly focusing on Hollyberry and Royal Berry.
Shadow Milk listened intently, none of his friends had kids, though at one point they all had interest in it, it was hard to say now. It gets lonely as the only friend to have kids.
"Has Candy Apple started walking yet?" Pure Vanilla asked, after ending the conversation of his friends.
"No," Shadow Milk said. A knot in his heart tightened. "She very behind for her age, by twelve months they should start walking, but she's about nineteen months and hasn't taken her first step independently," he confessed. It made him feel like a failure.
Candy Apple's delayed development had nothing to do with her own actions but Shadow Milk's. He shouldn't be this pitiful in front of this guy, this wasn't why he invited him to the fair.
"Does she have some medical issues?" Pure Vanilla asked, concern rippled in the depths of his eyes. Of course he was interested, he was a nurse after all.
"She was born premature," Shadow Milk whispered. He gazed down at the grass in front of him. He could hear Pure Vanilla mutter out an apology. "She's been delayed a lot in many things not just motor skills."
"From the short time I've seen fo her, she looks happy and healthy," Pure Vanilla said. "Sure, if she's a behind from other kids, but she has her family there to support her." he comforted. "I mean I'm not a parent so I don't if my words matter much, but as someone who went into the medical field she'll be okay."
A small smile graced Shadow Milk's lips. Though the feelings of guilt didn't go away, it did lessen, if only a tiny bit.
"Mimi! Mimi!" Black Sapphire called out, as he ran up to them.
"What is it my gem?" he asked, looking at the boy with mild worry.
"Look! Look!" He said pointing to something behind them.
Shadow Milk turned to look and his eyes went wide with surprise. His little girl had stood up by herself. Her round red eyes looked at her feet as if trying to put a puzzle together.
"Speak of it," he heard Pure Vanilla breath out, sounding equally surprised as him.
Candy Apple looked up, her large eyes gazing at Shadow Milk.
"Mimi," she said, flapping her arms a little, like she was hyping herself up. "What's, what's."
Her little legs shook. She wiggled her arms, as her left foot scooted the tiniest bit forward.
Shadow Milk shuffled to his knees facing his daughter with his arms stretched out. Whispering out words of encouragement to her. He's waited months for this moment.
On shaky legs Candy Apple wobbled forward one step, her arms moving to help keep her balance. A bright smile on her rosy cheeks. Joyful high pitched giggles escaping her.
"You've got this, keep going," Shadow Milk said. Black Sapphire had knelt down next to him, leaning against him with a bright smile of his own.
Candy Apple took any wobbly step, then another, and then another. Each step gaining more confidence then the last. Her smile grew brighter and brighter as she started to walk.
In that moment nothing else mattered, feeling as if everything around them stood still. Shadow Milk's entire attention on his youngest kid. His sweetest apple, his baby girl.
When her little body made it to him, it was like a weight had been lifted. She had done it. She had taken her first steps.
"She did it! She did it! You saw that, right!" Black Sapphire cheered, bouncing with his arms raised over his head.
Candy Apple giggled, a smile so bright it could light up the city.
"I'm so proud," Shadow Milk said placing a kiss on the crown of her head. He felt his heart swell with emotions, trying so hard to not cry. He was so happy.
"Well this fair is getting better and better," Pure Vanilla said.
Shadow Milk to look at him, a soft smile on the blonde's face. he smiled back at him. Yeah, this was the best Fall Fair he's attended in years.