amore, amourn ꒰ prompt ꒱

When Mourn fell in love, it had come as a bit of a shock.

Him and love simply didn’t mix. Love involved a million things he was never any good at; communication, desire, effort, negotiation. Mourn had always assumed that he’d be alone, and that he’d stay alone. The thought had never bothered him. Hookups were easier, anyway, than going through the rough-and-tumble rollercoaster that was a committed relationship. He’d ridden that rollercoaster before, and it hadn’t ended well for him. It was far more convenient- not to mention safer -to simply keep his heart out of the reach of others buns. Hookup culture was the rave these days, and it kept him satiated for the most part.

Everything had changed after that stupid blind date, though.

When Mourn had fallen head-over-ears for Amaranth, he was determined to do everything in his power to keep her. Her grumpy personality, her sourly sarcastic replies, the way the ribbons on her ears rustled when she gave a begrudging smile and a rare laugh; everything about Am was perfect. She was perfect. A doll that Mourn could only hope and dream of meeting once. When one date turned into two, Mourn knew immediately that he couldn’t lose her. He’d lost a lot of things in his life, but this was one person he refused to let go of.

He’d worked so damn hard on trying to make Matentines go smoothly for the both of them. He’d tried flowers, which had kind of worked, but then he got a bit sad when he had to watch them wilt. Everything made Mourn sad, but especially dying things. When flora had failed him, he’d simply moved on to the next best option- chocolates. Every bun liked chocolates, right? Surely Amaranth would like a bundle of sweets he’d hand-picked and helped make.

Mourn didn’t really know what kind of chocolates Amaranth liked. He’d never seen her eat any before. He couldn’t just go up to her and ask her, either, since that would ruin the whole surprise and he’d feel pathetic for giving up so easily. Am would probably make fun of him, too, for being too much of a loser to figure it out himself.

Desperate to avoid such an awkward situation, Mourn had done what any bun would do- he’d slaved away to try and come up with a palette of chocolates that was sure to appease his romantic interest. First, he’d tried to settle on a basic bitterness level. Would Amaranth like dark chocolate, or something sweeter? He’d settled for a semi-dark array. It kind of reminded him of his hopefully soon-to-be-girlfriend; sweet but bitter, just like Am.

After much further deliberation, he’d decided to hunt down chocolates that were filled with the taste of raspberries and cherries. It had taken a few weeks to hunt down a chocolatier he trusted with crafting the sweet treats. He’d managed to lend a hand in making them, too, just so he could tell Amaranth that he’d tried to pitch in a little. He didn’t want her to feel like he’d just bought some basic chocolates- Am was worth more than that, and he wanted her to know that.

After the chocolates were secured, he’d then had to wrestle with the anxiety of making them look nice. Did he wrap them? Did he put them in a box? Did he put them in a box and then wrap them? Mourn must have tried a dozen different ways to package the custom chocolates before he finally settled on something that looked at least half-decent. A heart-shaped box wrapped with paper that he’d made himself, doodled on in pink marker because pink was one of Am’s favorite colors. The wrapping job wasn’t perfect. It had a few crinkles in its surface, and one of the doodles was smeared a bit, but Mourn had tried his absolute best. He hadn’t expected all that much, anyway. His best was never good enough no matter what he did.

After all that preparation, the chocolates were ready for gifting. Perhaps the doll hadn’t needed to go so hard for just a gathering of treats, but Mourn didn’t want to risk screwing this up. He really liked Amaranth. If a girl of her standing was ever going to go out with someone like him, he didn’t have room for trivial errors.

So here he was, standing on the doormat of Amaranth’s apartment. The chocolates were clenched tightly in his hands, which were shaking a little bit from nerves. He’s been over to her apartment once or twice, just as she had been to his, but it never got any less nerve-wracking. Seeing Amaranth never got less exciting.

Taking a deep breath, Mourn reached a hand up to knock softly on the door. It was a light knock, hardly audible, but he knew that Am would hear it anyway. She always seemed to be attentive when he was around, something Mourn appreciated immensely as a rather reserved bun. Sure enough, he soon heard the sound of footsteps trailing near from the other side of the door. Steeling himself for the moment he’d worked so hard for, Mourn had to swallow down his anxiety so that he didn’t pass out. That would have been world-endingly embarrassing.

“Mourn? That had better be you, loser.” Amaranth’s voice filtered in through the door frame. The door to her apartment creaked open hesitantly, the familiar colors of black and pink appearing in the sliver of space. Mourn’s ears immediately did a happy little flutter at the sound of her voice. Amaranth always made him feel a little less full of despair.

“I, um, these are for you.” The door had hardly opened halfway before Mourn was shoving the heart-shaped box of chocolates towards the other. If he didn’t give the gift to Am now, he’d lose what tiny amount of shaky willpower he’d managed to gather. His cheeks were on fire as Am paused. He tried to ignore the way his hands shook a little as she took the box with a moment of quiet.

“....for me?” She repeated, an unreadable tone in her voice. Her pink eyes drifted downward to take in the doodle-laden paper, the smallest little smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“Yeah. For you.” Mourn’s voice was a little hushed, his fingers instinctively picking at the loose threads of his sweater-cuffs. “I know I fucked the paper up, but I wanted to get you chocolates. I like you a lot, and pretty girls deserve pretty chocolates.” His cheeks burned even brighter as he rambled, unable to stop himself. He had a tendency to talk when he got exceptionally nervous. “You, um, don’t have to accept them if you don’t want to. You don’t have to keep them.”

No sooner were the words out of his mouth before Amaranth was scowling and reaching out to give the collar of his sweatshirt a gentle pull. “Stop talking, idiot.” She grumbled, the box of chocolates already clutched tightly to her chest. “Of course I’m keeping them. I won’t pass up free chocolates.” Free chocolates from Mourn, specifically- Amaranth would rather die than let anyone take them away from her.

Some of the tension immediately flooded from Mourn’s frame, the doll’s body instinctively moving closer to Amaranth’s. He liked any ounce of physical attention from the other. Even if it was just her hand gripping the collar of his sweater.

“I’m glad you like them.” He mumbled, the positive response sparking the smallest amount of bravery within him. He let Amaranth pull him inside the entrance of her apartment, his tail swishing happily behind him like that of a love-sick impup. He had to ask now. Now, while he still had a little bit of courage flaring hot in his heart.

“Hey, Am?” His voice was an uneasy hum, his chin settling easily on her shoulder as he peered down to look at the chocolates she held in her hands.

“What?” She replied, more focused on inspecting the doodles he’d drawn on the wrapping paper to really pay him any attention. Had he drawn these all himself? They were stupidly cute, not that Amaranth would ever admit that to him out loud.

“I wanted to ask you something.” Mourn’s voice was softer, now, eliciting a wary glance from the other as he spoke. “Okay?” Am’s voice was a little cautious. Her grip tightened on the box of chocolates, bracing herself for an impact she knew she couldn’t handle. Here it comes. She thought, He’s going to break it off, whatever it is we have. Her spiral was interrupted by the tiny, hesitant voice of the other.

“Will you be my matentine?”

The question was small. Hushed, as if Mourn was worried that she’d burst out laughing at the mere suggestion. It wouldn’t have been the first time a girl brushed him off in such a way. There was a moment of pindrop quiet. Mourn’s heart plummeted to the floor, regret immediately bubbling up within him. Oh, fuck. He shouldn’t have asked. He should’ve just kept his stupid mouth sh-

“Duh.”

Amaranth interrupted, her tail betraying her casual reply. It was vibrating happily behind her, broadcasting the fact that she was trying to hide just how much she wanted to be his matentine. Christ. She’d thought he’d never ask. What a dick move that was; he’d nearly given her a goddamned heart attack by pulling that ‘I have something to ask’ bullshit. 

Mourn’s face exploded into a smile at the acceptance. Before he could stop himself, he’d already leaned down to press a gentle kiss to Amaranth’s cheek. It was a quick thing, small and affectionate, and he grew giddy with delight as the other’s cheeks flushed pink. “Get off.” Amaranth groaned, raising a hand to wipe at her cheek. She didn’t actively push Mourn away, nor did she mean it. Bastard. Giving her a kiss like that and expecting her to keep her composure.

Mourn immediately devolved into a plethora of pathetic apologies. Amaranth sighed, drawing the box of chocolates once again to her chest as she reminded herself that had picked this stupid loser to be hers. “Shut up.” She quipped, turning her head to press a small kiss to Mourn’s cheek in a begrudging return of affection. That shut him up real quick, the flow of apologies cutting itself off like a dam to a river. In fact, it seemed like all the words in Mourn’s head flew straight into the gutter and out of his vocabulary entirely.

“Now stay quiet. I wanna open up these chocolates and try some of them out. They better be good, or I’m making fun of you.”