Milk Cookie x Reader : By My Side

I wish (part 4)

Once we were in the lotus garden, I just started feeling even more tired... How could it be? I slept so, so well last night... God I wish I could sleep like this again... and dream about Milk Cookie and I being cool adventurers...

Even Milk Cookie, mister 'morning workouts', still looked sleepy... but he seemed happy to be hanging out with me despite that.

Although... we remained awkwardly silent for a while.

"...Y/N... is something bothering you?" He asked with a tiny frown despite keeping his smile. 

"Oh!? Uh, um..." A lot of things were bothering me, and I was starting to contemplate telling him everything.

"...Ever since we talked to the Lotus Dragon, you've seemed a little... tense..." 

"Well-..."

"Oh! I get it!" He beamed. "You're anxious about returning home, aren't you?"

That wasn't my biggest issue, but technically he wasn't wrong. "Well, Milk Cookie... I think I've been enjoying my time in your company, a lot. I might even say discovering this land by your side is one of the craziest things that's ever happened to me... In a very good way. I mean, you made it a very good way. It would have been crazy in a bad way if it weren't for you..."

He blinked, surprised for a moment. "Aww... No one's ever-... No one's ever said thanks to me like this before..." He said as he was turning pink like strawberry milk.

I smiled. "It's more than a thank you... You matter a lot to me"

He was silently staring at me with glittery eyes, his tired eyes widening, then he finally beamed softly. "Goodness me... You matter a lot to me too, Y/N... I really hope I can visit you in your homeland, sometimes! Who knows? I do travel a lot...!"

Oh, Milk Cookie... I hope you'll never have to see this wretched land. 

"Yeah..." I replied. "Listen, Milk Cookie. There's something I have to tell you." 

"Hm?..." He blinked watching me curiously.

I felt like I was gonna explode if I said it. My own thoughts and something else were desperately trying to keep my mouth shut, but I finally let it out. I had to, for our sake. "I.... didn't wish to go home..."

He was staring behind me, with a blank stare. 

"...Milk Cookie?"

He blinked a few times, as if taken out of a trance and smiled at me excitedly. " Y/N, wait right here, I think I saw Purple Yam Cookie and Mala Sauce Cookie!!" Then he ran away, shouting our friends' names. 

I stood there and watched, dumbfounded and shocked. Did he really not hear what I just said??...

It shouldn't have felt like such a big deal, and yet... I just felt hopeless now... Did I have the strength to attempt telling the truth a second time? Maybe, but... why? Why did have to be so hard? 

Why couldn't it be easy, like it was in my dream? 

I took a deep breath to calm myself down, breathing in the soft perfume of the lotus flowers... I sat at the edge of the bridge to admire the water of the pond...   ❀

Then suddenly... 

I saw Milk Cookie's reflection in the water. I looked around, but he wasn't anywhere near me... 

I looked at the water again, and watched him, he was laughing happily, with me... even though I my reflection was... human. 

It was my dream... Damn, was I really that tired? To start dreaming while I'm awake?... Ah... It looked so inviting... We were having fun there, no matter how open I was about what I am... This must be what real freedom feels like... or real love...